Death Taker by J. C. McKenzie

Author:J. C. McKenzie
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781990143298
Publisher: J. C. McKenzie

Chapter

Seventeen

The silence that settled over the dinner table didn’t last long. Chaos erupted, mostly a battering of questions from Logan and me.

“We’re part barghest?” Logan’s eyes widened. A shadow passed over his expression and he sat back in his seat, his lips pressed together.

“You told us Grandpa was a necromancer,” I pointed at Mom accusingly as if she wouldn’t know I spoke to her.

“I said he had death magic.” Mom lifted her chin. “You just assumed.”

Well, that was a bullshit excuse, and she knew it.

“Wait,” Brandon interjected. “Just so we’re clear. Of Lark and Logan’s grandparents, two were necromancers, one was a barghest and the other?”

“Was a drab,” Mom said. “My mother was a necromancer, my father a barghest. My husband’s mother, bless her heart, was a drab and his father was a very well known, powerful necromancer.”

“My brain hurts,” I complained. “You know I barely passed my biology classes in high school.”

“Who was your father’s family?” Connor asked. He spoke quietly, but somehow his words cut through the barrage of questions forming in my mind.

Connor had told me there weren’t many barghests left. That his kind had dwindled in numbers and only a few major families remained. “Oh, god. We’re not related, are we?”

Mom shook her head. “My father was adopted, but he comes from the Bedoe line, not Sharrock.”

“Well, that’s good news,” I muttered and reached for my wine. The Bedoe name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it.

Connor grunted.

“Wait…how did Grandpa know what line he was from if he was adopted?” I asked.

Mom pursed her lips. “He always knew what line he was from. After both his parents died, family friends took him in and ensured he understood the danger of sharing his biological family’s information.”

“Why did you always tell us to stay quiet about his name and abilities, then?” I asked. “He wasn’t a necromancer anyway, and he wasn’t using his birth name. We would just be spreading the same lie.”

“Because it would take two seconds for someone looking to figure it out,” Mom snapped. “Maybe it was overkill to swear you all to silence, but I wasn’t willing to risk your lives to find out.”

Okay, I could understand where she was coming from, maybe. Maybe more than a little bit. If my grandpa’s parents were killed and then their friends magically had a son appear with necromancer skills, anyone looking for barghests might make the connection. “Are there many barghest slayers running around?”

“Not anymore,” Mom said. “Now it’s more societal suicide to out yourself as a barghest. You’d lose your job, sweetheart. And if there were any barghest slayers, you’d find out the hard way. Safer to hide in anonymity.”

I squinted at Connor. “I’m surprised you didn’t run a background check. Surely you already knew this?”

He leaned back and took another sip of his drink. “I did run a background check, but obviously wasn’t thorough enough.”

I’d bet my entire stash of sour gummies he’d rectify that the next time he was in the office, and I wasn’t upset about it.

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