Anya Bast - Witch Fury

She rolled her eyes. “You know, you really need to work on your people skills. Good night, Theo.” She slammed the door in his face.

Something really irritating about her.

SARAFINA SLID INTO HER OWN BED, WITH HER OWN sheets and her own pillows, snuggled down, and sighed. It was almost perfect. She was just missing. . Grosset jumped up and settled at her feet. Ah, now it was perfect. She smiled and closed her eyes.

Immediately, an image of Theo popped into her mind. Her smile faded and she shook her head a little, grimacing.

She tried to snuggle back down and immerse herself in the treat that was her own bed and apartment after the hellish few days she’d had, but rest didn’t come. Really, it was no surprise. The book Theo had given her lay on her bedside table. She’d spent all afternoon and evening reading it.

It was not material that made for good dreams.

Warlocks — witches gone bad — and demons? Demons? Really? And she was part demon? Or at least, created through a demon’s magickal tampering. It was all so unbelievable. Yet she’d felt the power inside her. She’d wielded it. She knew it was all for real, no matter how bizarre it was.

Earth, air, water, and fire. She was fire. At the thought, the seat of her magick gave a little pulse.

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy . That was Shakespeare, she was pretty sure. Had it come from Hamlet ? She wasn’t sure, but wherever it had come from, it was true.

She’d spent most of the evening stunned that she wasn’t more surprised by the contents of the book and by what had happened to her. In an odd way, the information she’d been given completed a circle of knowledge within herself. She’d always known there was something more, that she was something more, but until now she hadn’t known what.

Like a puzzle piece finally fitting into place. Now she had the complete picture.

Her mother had been crazy, there was no doubt about that, but maybe she hadn’t been quite as crazy as everyone thought.

Ugh.

She couldn’t think about her birth mother without a cold knot settling in the pit of her stomach. As she always did, Sarafina turned her mind from the woman who’d given her life. . then had tried to kill her. Anything else caused too much pain.

And who knew that witches were men, too? She’d always thought that women were witches and men were. . wizards or warlocks or something. The term witch had always meant something feminine to her.

There was certainly nothing feminine about Theodosius Winters.

Why did she have to keep thinking about him? He was like some kind of virus she couldn’t shake.

It was true she did feel better with the wards up around her apartment. If she concentrated, she could sense them: solid, unyielding, better than a moat around a castle. Ironically, Theo would help her sleep tonight.

Forcing Theo and the book from her mind, she closed her eyes. After her foster mother’s death, she’d taken all her paid vacation from work and planned to use the time to get her head together. She would just have to ask her landlord to give her an extension on her rent. If she gave blood or something, maybe she could actually afford a few groceries and some dog food.

Double ugh.

First thing on her agenda tomorrow was a trip back to the Coven. That meant she needed to get some rest tonight.

Eventually, she drifted off only to be awoken by a crash in her living room. Grosset jumped up and started barking. Sarafina shushed him so she could hear.

More movement.

Panic sending an icy jolt through her body, she threw the covers off and grabbed the baseball bat she kept by the side of her bed. She still wasn’t comfortable enough with her fire magick to use it as a weapon. Thanks to the warding, at least she knew it couldn’t be Stefan or any other warlock — well, she hoped like crazy, anyway — but it could be a burglar. The way her luck had been running, she wouldn’t doubt it.

She inched to the doorway of her bedroom, holding a hand up to keep Grosset on the bed. He sat down and put his head on his paws with a whimper. Something crashed in the kitchen and Sarafina winced. It sounded like a wild animal was loose in her place.

She peered around the doorjamb at her darkened apartment. Luckily, she was a lover of nightlights, so she could see a little. . enough to know a hulking dark form blocked her path to the front door. She’d hoped she could grab Grosset and make a break for it. She’d had quite enough of fight or flight during the last few days, thank you very much. This time around she was choosing flight .

The large form turned and ambled toward her room. Oh, no .

Sarafina turned quickly, her back pressed against the wall of the bedroom and her hands clenched on the baseball bat. Her breath came fast and hard and her nerve endings were electrified with terror. Grosset had his nose buried under his paws, seemingly as nervous as she was. God, she hoped he wouldn’t bark.

What was that smell, by the way? It smelled dry and sort of bitter. How odd. There was something about that kind of scent in the book, wasn’t there? She searched her memory, knowing she’d read something about a smell like that. Wasn’t it caused by. . Her whole body shook as realization took hold.

Daaeman magick.

Demons.

The intruder reached her doorway and she swung her bat high and hard, aiming for the man’s face. The trespasser simply grabbed her bat and swung her instead. She slammed into the doorjamb with a crack of blinding pain. She collapsed on her ass, stunned for a moment.

Grosset went ten different kinds of Pomeranian wild at the man’s feet.

“ Vae Sarafina. It is good to see you.”

SHE LOOKED UP AT HIM, RECOGNITION BLOOMING. RED eyes. . killing rage. That’s what the red eyes meant, right? Right? She couldn’t answer, couldn’t move. Terror and pain had frozen her in place.

Her thoughts came in quick succession. Demon. The same demon that had visited her at the farmhouse. There was a demon in the room and she was going to die.

Grosset grabbed the demon’s pant cuff and shook it, growling. The demon’s massive red-eyed head swung toward the dog and he jerked his leg, sending Grosset flying. The little dog hit something and yelped.

Fury exploded through her. “ You bastard! ” She lunged across the floor, grabbed the baseball bat, and rolled to her feet. Giving a battle cry that came somewhere from the very depths of her body, she swung the bat with all her strength at the demon’s head. This time she connected with a satisfying thump that sent the demon careening sideways into the wall.

“Bai? Is that your name? Don’t ever, ever touch my dog!” She drew back to hit the demon again, but a hand grabbed it before she could swing. Sarafina looked behind her to see Theo, who grunted at her and stalked toward the demon. Theo’s magick rose in the room, making the hair all along her body rise. The scent of freshly turned earth filled the air.

The demon pushed away from the wall with an animalistic bellow and turned his attention to the earth witch. Theo pushed her to the side and stepped toward him. Ordinarily, she might have been miffed, but in this case, if Theo wanted to fight the demon, it was her pleasure to be pushed aside. He could go for it .

Sarafina ran to the corner of the room and scooped a cowering Grosset into her arms. He immediately licked her face and she sighed in relief that the little dog was all right.

Magick exploded around her for the second time in two days. The bitter scent of demon magick burned her nose, mingling with the earth power Theo wielded. The demon blasted a hole in her wall in an effort to hit Theo, who’d leapt out of the way. Smoke filled the room and made her cough. Her night table exploded, along with her bookshelf, making it rain paperbacks and the occasional hardcover.