Anya Bast - Witch Fury

“Thanks. She was a good woman. I believe in an afterlife, though, and that gets me through.” “Even now that you know all this about witches, daaeman , and other worlds?” She smiled. “Especially now. What do you believe in?” He shrugged. “Most witches take a patron goddess or god, but some of us are broader in our beliefs.” “Let me guess, you’re broad.”

He looked down into the pot. “Yeah, but I believe in an afterlife.” Theo reached over and pinched some herbs from a pot on the counter, then dropped them into the pot. The air popped with a burst of earth magick, teasing her nose with a whiff of freshly turned soil. Apparently, he’d just absorbed the charm he’d made.

He turned. “Don’t worry about the dog or your. . thongs. . hanging over the towel bar. Just go ahead and make yourself at home.” He paused, studying her with his intense eyes. “But, Sarafina, don’t make the mistake of thinking I’m not dangerous to you.” A little thrill of alarm jolted through her veins. “What do you mean?” He gave her a lingering, smoldering look that nearly singed off the fine hairs around her face and made a hot ribbon of want curl through her lower region. Her answer was in his dark eyes, on his face.

Oh. That .

Theo left the room, disappearing down the shadowed hallway.

Yes, she was beginning to realize just how dangerous he might be.

THEO SKATED HIS HANDS DOWN SARAFINA’S SMOOTH arms and decided immediately this was not a good idea. She needed someone else to help her learn to handle her fire magick. A witch of her own element, one who wasn’t attracted to her. God, she should have gone to stay with Adam and Claire.

Sarafina shivered a little and extended her arms the way he’d instructed. He set his palm on the seat of her magick, right between her breasts and tried to ignore just how much he enjoyed his hand there.

They stood in the center of fire’s brand-new training room. Thomas had spared no expense. Pads covered most of the floor, for practice in hand-to-hand combat. The walls and floor were all fire-resistant. Numerous tools were supplied for aiding new fire witches in learning the finer points of control. . and Sarafina really needed to use them.

She had an incredible amount of raw talent in healing. . but that’s where it stopped. Defensive fire magick seemed to be a skill beyond her grasp. It was a good thing she hadn’t tried to fight the demon in her apartment with magick; she’d have lost.

About ten feet away from them stood a large metal bowl on a pedestal. “Concentrate on hitting the bowl,” he said, using a little earth magick to help her draw her thread of power and keep it steady. “This will teach you control.” Taking her time, she aimed a stream of fire toward the bowl. . and hit the wall behind it with a radiant flash. The ball of fire burst into white-hot brilliance, then faded to a slow burn. The bowl still stood, completely unmolested.

Theo allowed his hands to drop away.

“Wow, I really suck at this, don’t I?” she asked, staring at the black spot on the wall.

Theo pushed a hand through his hair. “I think that’s a little harsh.” It had been some variation of the same all day long. Anyone who came to their power so late in life should have trouble adjusting and controlling it, but Sarafina seemed. . exceptional.

“Don’t try to sugarcoat it, Theo. I suck.” He sighed. “Yeah, okay, you suck.”

She grimaced. “So no gold stars for me today?” “You probably just need more practice. Look, your healing ability far surpasses anyone’s I’ve ever seen, and you have a lot of raw power. It’s learning to direct and control it. That’s your difficulty. You just need to train more.” She raised an eyebrow and cocked her hip. “What about all that stuff you said about witches overtraining, and all we really had to do was tap into our seats and be one with the power?” He studied her for a moment. “Yeah, well, in your case, you need to train.” “Okay, let’s do it then. Let me try the candle thing again. I almost got that one.” He pulled out a new taper and placed it in its holder. Then they stepped back away from it. She could light a candle close-up; that had been the first thing she’d learned to do. The objective here was to light the wick from a distance, something that took considerably more control.

She melted the entire thing, even the holder.

Together, they stared down at the bubbling mess. “That was even worse than the first time, wasn’t it?” she asked.

“Last time you only melted half the stick.” She sighed. “I’m not giving up. Let’s keep going.” And he wasn’t giving up on her, either.

They practiced for the rest of the day with varying degrees of success. Sarafina was tireless in her efforts to learn what he was trying to teach her, and little by little she improved.

At the end of the day, Theo pulled her back ten feet in front of the bowl once more. “Try it again.” Sarafina closed her eyes and concentrated on drawing power and wielding it. An arc of white-hot fire raced from her and exploded in the bowl in a brilliance of sparks, setting off the sprinkler above it. Perfect shot.

She did a little victory dance and then turned to him with shining eyes. “Good?” Theo stared at the water hitting the faraway fire and smiled. “Much better. I think you’re finally getting it.” The woman had so much untutored power it was mind-boggling. It was a miracle she’d managed to get this far in life without torching herself like her mother had. Sarafina was probably among the stronger fire witches in the Coven. Her only hang-up was control.

She stood with her hands hanging loosely at her sides, dressed in a pair of clingy gray cotton workout pants and a burgundy halter top.

“You’re improving, but you still need to work. I think I’ll have Jack come in to help you with some of the finer points of wielding fire. But this portion of your training is finished for the day. Your seat must be exhausted.” She grinned, but it quickly faded. “ This portion of my training? What’s the other training I’ll have to do?” “Claire will need to teach you how to use your magick against demons. They have effective shields against elemental magick, but there are techniques to get around them.” She nodded. “Okay, that seems like a good thing to know.” “Isabelle will work on training you to use a copper sword.” She nodded. “I read about the sensitivity of the daaeman to copper in Micah’s book.” Daaeman, all the breeds, had an allergy of sorts to copper. When the Coven had first learned of it, they’d had weapons made to take advantage of it. The daaeman could use a type of magickal inoculation against their reaction to copper called caplium, but it wasn’t completely effective. Copper, even though it wasn’t a surefire way to defeat a daaeman in a battle, was still better than nothing. It was one of their only weapons against them and they all trained diligently with the swords.

“And I’ll have to teach you self-defense,” Theo added. “The non-magickal kind.” Her eyes widened a bit. “Oh. Like kung fu?” “Something like that.” Theo couldn’t help but grin at the look on her face. “It’s necessary. Magick doesn’t always work.” “Hey, if I had known how to kick Stefan’s ass back at the farmhouse, I would’ve tried my best to do it.” “After I get through with you, you will.”

SARAFINA LANDED FLAT ON THE MAT, UNDER THEO’S big body. Her heart rate had ratcheted up, but it had little to do with the exertion she was putting forth and a whole lot to do with the man forcing her to exert it.

Theo’s breath teased the fine hair around her face. He stared down at her with such intensity it made her breath catch. “Give me more.” More. She closed her eyes.