Page 12 of Shadow Seeking

“I’m not sure, but given my heritage, I’m not all that comfortable with this,” I said.

“There’s a bestiary of all sorts of demonkin,” he said, pointing to another book.

I thumbed through the chapter, which consisted of drawings of different kinds of demons. “I wonder…”

“What?” Dante asked.

“I wonder what kind of demon I am. My mother refused to tell me who my father was, other than he was demonkin, and she wouldn’t tell me his name. I look at all these drawings, but nothing jumps out to me.”

Once again, I felt at a loss. I knew I had special powers, given I was half demon, but I didn’t know what they were, or if they’d ever show themselves, given I was half-human. I was stronger than most humans—in fact, I was as strong as a vampire in many ways. I had a trigger-hair temper…but it always felt like there was more for me to find out…I just didn’t know how.

“You’ll eventually figure it out,” Dante said. “And I’ll be there to help you deal with whatever it is that crops up.”

I gave him back the book. “You’ve already helped me more than I ever could expect,” I said. “You helped me at a point when I thought I couldn’t get any lower.”

He pulled me to him and gave me a hug. “And I’ll always be here,” he whispered. “Yes, you made some serious errors in judgement, but I knew that you were better than that. I won’t ever let you go back. You have my promise.”

I let out a shaky breath, pushing away the memories before they could flood to the surface. We had a job to do, and I needed to focus on why we were here. “All right, take all those books. We may want to copy them, or—if Angela doesn’t mind—keep them for our research.”

We finished with the office and moved onto the bedroom. I glanced through her dresser drawers, finding nothing other than clothes. Dante looked through the closet, finding a trunk with old photos, but there seemed nothing out of the ordinary in there. I glanced through her nightstand, and again, nothing.

We sorted through the house, but something struck me as odd. “Letty was a powerful witch, but I haven’t seen anything to indicate she practiced magic here. Where are all her tools? Her crystals, wands, oils? I doubt if she stored them all at the school.”

“Let’s ask Angela,” Dante said.

Angela had ordered takeout, which was on the kitchen table. “Please, have some if you like. I was hungry, so figured I’d order lunch early.”

It smelled good, but today was fish-and-chips day back at the office. “Thank you, but we’re eating back at the office,” I said. “Say, where’s all your sister’s magical gear? We haven’t come across anything yet.”

“She kept it in the basement. I don’t think you’ve been down there yet,” Angela said.

“Okay. Which way?” Dante said.

“Where’s the door?” I asked.

“Over there,” Angela said, pointing to a door in the corner of the kitchen. There was a cat-door in it. “That leads to the basement, and the other leads to the back porch, where Letty kept her herb garden.”

I headed for the basement, Dante following me. As we headed downstairs, Angela flipped the light on from behind the door. She followed us down.

“Letty might have some wards that could be dangerous to strangers, so I’ll come down and make sure that everything’s good to go,” she said.

The stairs to the basement were steep, but they were in good shape, and the light was bright enough to see all the way to the bottom. This was no cellar, with cobwebs and skeletons hiding behind the corner, but it was—as Angela had said—fully finished, bright, and oddly cheerful.

The only thing that made it clear we were in the basement was the relatively low ceiling, and the furnace room. There were three other rooms—one was a small laundry room, the second appeared to be a storage room, and the main room was large, lined with bookshelves and cabinets. A large table in the center was covered with magical supplies, and there was a love seat next to one of the bookshelves. A fireplace stood against one wall, mirroring the one above it in the living room, and it looked well used.

A cat, gray, large and fluffy, was resting on the love seat. I had a connection with cats and the moment I caught sight of him, I knew it was a boy. He looked a little lost, and I realized he was missing his person.

“Oh, what’s his name?” I asked.

“Murdoch. He was Letty’s familiar. I’m not sure what to do with him, given I’m allergic to cats. I won’t die around him, but he makes me…” She paused, sneezing at the perfect moment.

Murdoch looked as though she had called him a dirty name, then slowly stood, stretched, and wandered over to greet Dante and me. He rubbed against Dante’s legs and then jumped into my arms, curling up against my chest and starting to purr.

“Oh, hey there,” I said, almost staggering as his full weight landed against me. He had to weigh close to twenty pounds. Jangles was fluffy, but she was thirteen pounds, which was solid enough as it was. “Well, hello,” I said as Murdoch licked my chin.

“He likes you,” Angela said, her eyes glittering. “Say…”

“Oh no,” I said. “I have a cat and she’s…” But I hesitated as Murdoch gave me a look that saidrescue me. There was something about him… “All right, I’ll give it a try. If Jangles is okay with him, I’ll take him. If not, you’ll have to find him another home.”

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