Kate Daniels 02 - Magic Burns

became individuals in their own right.
    Aunt B nodded. “Corwin was a good person. He came here a lot.”
    â€œHe liked to play,” the female bouda added.
    â€œYes, he did. He was shooting blanks. No harm done.” Aunt B looked at me.
    â€œThat’s to be expected, the beastweres are sterile,” I said to say something.
    Aunt B’s face stretched a bit. “Not always.”
    â€œOh.”
    â€œOccasionally, very, very occasionally, they make babies.”
    â€œOh.”
    Andrea sighed. “Sometimes babies survive.”
    â€œYou’re a child of a hyenawere?” I just blurted it right out.
    Everybody winced.
    â€œYes,” Andrea said. “I’m beastkin. My father was born hyena.”
    Now it made sense. She didn’t catch Lyc-V from the attack, because she was born into it. “Does Ted know?”
    â€œHe might suspect,” Andrea said. “But he has no proof.”
    I shrugged. “I won’t tell him if you don’t. What happened to Julie?”
    â€œJust like that?” the female bouda interrupted. “It doesn’t bother you that she is a child of an animal?”
    â€œNo. Why should it? Anyway, what happened to Julie?”
    The boudas looked at Aunt B. Aunt B looked at me. “The Code says we’re human first. We’re born human; we die human. That is the natural form, the dominant form. We must assert it and set it above the beast, because that is the natural way.”
    â€œThe beastkin are born beast,” Andrea said softly. “It follows that beast is our natural form, but as we grow, we lose the ability to become beast, because we’re hybrid. Therefore I’m an animal that’s crippled at birth. Unnatural.”
    Oh for crying out loud. “Andrea, you’re my friend. I don’t have many of those. How you were born, what you look like, what anybody else thinks makes no difference to me. When I needed help, you helped me and that’s all that matters. Now, can you please, please tell me what happened to my kid?”
    Andrea twitched her nose. A nervous cackle spilled from her and she choked it off. “A homeless boy came to the vault.”
    â€œRed.”
    â€œYes. Julie told me he was her boyfriend. He was covered in blood and he collapsed by the door. Julie went hysterical. I opened the door and he threw something at me, a powder.” She frowned, exposing white teeth. “I carried a shaman charm in my skull to keep from turning during the flare. Usually I have no trouble, but the magic ran too high. Whatever he did…” She raised her hands. “It interfered with the charm. I started turning, but I couldn’t finish. He grabbed Julie and dragged her out.”
    Red made me very, very angry.
    â€œYour sword’s smoking,” the female bouda said.
    â€œIt does that occasionally.” My voice sounded flat. That little shit. What the hell was he doing? And where was I going to look for him? The city was full of spots where two street kids could hide. Ten million to one, the reeves would find them before me.
    Aunt B leaned forward. “By tradition, all beastkin are killed at birth. If any of the older shapeshifters find out she’s here, I’ll have a mob at my doorstep.”
    The male bouda licked his lips. “It might be fun.”
    Aunt B reached out and casually smacked him on the back of the head.
    â€œOw.”
    â€œIs that Curran’s cat outside my door?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œHe’s caught Andrea’s scent by now and he’ll report. You’ll have to tell Curran something. It’s better not to lie.”
    â€œI’ll take that under advisement.” I walked out.

CHAPTER 20
    CURRAN’S HAIR FELL TO HIS SHOULDERS. LONG, blond, luxuriously wavy, it framed his face like a mane. He sat in a room in the Pack Keep, reading a battered paperback under a cone of electric light from a small lamp. He didn’t raise his head as Jim ushered me into the room and closed the door.
    Just me and the Beast Lord. And the night, spilling into the room through the wide-open window.
    Jim hadn’t said a word to me on the way over here. I was on thin ice.
    â€œWhat’s the deal with the hair?”
    Curran tore his gaze from the book and grimaced. “Grows every flare. Can’t help it.”
    We stared at each other. “Waiting for the Fabio joke,” he said.
    The fatigue rolled over me in a