Anya Bast - Witch Fury

Thomas stood on the other side along with Micah. “The front desk told me what room you were in.” Thomas had two sword sheaths in hand, which he handed to Theo. “I brought these for you and Sarafina.” Theo backed away, allowing the two men to enter. They said their hellos to Sarafina and then settled onto the couch.

“So did you find anything interesting in the building?” asked Sarafina, settling back into one of the armchairs and crossing her legs.

Thomas and Micah exchanged The Look. Theo knew what the The Look meant and it wasn’t anything good. He set the sword sheaths down next to a chair and crossed his arms over his chest.

“We found evidence of daaeman magick,” said Thomas. “No big surprise there since we could all smell it once we entered the building.” Micah spotted the room service cart and got up to peruse it for leftovers. “Either Stefan is brewing a really big pot of herbal tea, or he’s planning a very strong spell against all of witchdom. I’m going with the second thing.” He turned and wagged a French fry at them. “You guys going to eat this? I’m starving.” “Go ahead,” answered Sarafina. “How do you know it’s targeted at all of witchdom?” Micah picked up the plate of lukewarm fries and replied with his mouth full. “I strongly suspect . The combination of herbs that were found there suggest it. Not all of the herbs were from Earth, by the way.” “Any idea what kind of spell?” Sarafina asked.

“If I knew that my life would be all kittens and sunshine.” Micah threw the remains of a fry back onto the plate, his voice turning sour. “Instead it’s all daaeman blood and warlock guts. I’m sifting through it all now.” He speared Thomas with a look of disdain. “It would have been nicer to have a tidier site to investigate. Acidic blood melted a lot of the evidence.” Thomas coolly looked away from Micah to Theo. “We’ll be staying here in Louisville for a while until we can get a handle on what’s going on. We’ve got Claire and Micah analyzing the building and have sent for more witches from Chicago to guard the place if Stefan returns. I want you to go with Mira and Jack back up to Chicago. We have reason to believe that Stefan might be there. Jack and Mira are your backup if Bai shows up prematurely.” Thomas paused and seemed to choose his next words carefully. “But it seems clear that Bai won’t come for Sarafina until Stefan’s plan, whatever that is, plays out.” “And when that happens, we’ll be ready for him.” Theo growled out.

“When the Ytrayi Cae came here to collect Claire, he offered us an alliance,” Micah ventured, his gaze on Thomas.

“Yes, and I refused him, said there was no reason for one and there never would be.” Thomas passed a hand over his face. “Rue told me he hoped I never regretted those words. With so many Atrika Earthside. .” “You regret your words now,” Micah finished.

Thomas sighed. “The Cae of the Ytrayi obviously doesn’t know what’s going on since he hasn’t contacted us. There’s no way he wouldn’t show if he believed Claire might come to harm.” “And there’s no way to contact him,” Theo added.

“You know as well as I do that it’s impossible to open a portal from this side.” Thomas shook his head. “Somehow the Duskoff managed it, but short of killing seven witches in an intricate blood magick spell, it’s unfeasible. And it’s not like we have an interdimensional telephone.” “So we find a way to defend ourselves against the impending threat,” said Micah.

“Or we take the offensive,” Theo asserted. “And attack them first.” Thomas met Theo’s gaze and smiled. “Or we take the offensive. You reading my mind now, Theo?” “Yeah, well, first we need to find Stefan,” Micah said. “I’ll bet anyone in the room five hundred bucks he’s gone underground again.” Thomas smiled bitterly. “Bet you five hundred bucks Mira has heard him whispering.”

THE BLACK CAULDRON WAS A POSH LITTLE NIGHTCLUB in a bad part of town. Frequented by witches, it fairly teemed with pulsing elemental power. Sarafina stopped a half block away, feeling the thrum of the music shaking the building on its foundation.

Mira stopped, too, swaying against the brick wall of a storefront in a way that Sarafina now recognized meant she’d caught something on the air. A whisper, a murmur, something leading her to Stefan. It had been happening a lot lately.

Jack caught her by an elbow and kept her from falling over. “Did you hear something?” Mira nodded. “Stefan’s in there, all right, but there are two Atrika with him.” She glanced at Sarafina. “Not Bai, but that doesn’t mean he might not show up.” Sarafina swallowed down a cold surge of fear at the possibility. “I know. It’s okay.” “I don’t like this,” said Jack. “It’s too fucking easy. Why isn’t Stefan taking more care not to let you hear him?” Theo shifted beside her. “Because it’s a setup.” Mira shook her head. “I don’t think so. I think Stefan’s confident, cocky. I don’t think he feels like he needs to shield his conversation from air magick anymore.” “He’s cocky because he has an army of Atrika to call on.” Theo growled. “Since Kentucky, we all know that. There’s no reason for him to be coy or careful anymore. He has no secrets left to guard now.” “He might have an army of Atrika , but we have an army of witches,” Mira answered. “Maybe Stefan will become overconfident and we can take advantage of that.” Theo just grunted in response.

It was pretty clear to everyone that Stefan had the upper hand. It was nice that Mira could be so optimistic, though. They needed that.

Annie, an earth witch, was standing by the entrance. “The others are all ready.” Jack was in charge here in Chicago while Thomas was still in Kentucky. He had ordered a group of Coven witches to enter the building earlier. Now they were mingling with the magickal and non-magickal patrons of the club.

“Good.” Jack nodded. “If our suspicions turn out to be true, one of us will send a text message. That will be your cue.” They weren’t going in there without all their bases covered. There was a plan in place.

Annie, a diminutive brunette, smiled. “We’ll be ready. I hope we get to kick some warlock ass tonight.” She turned and reentered the club.

“Shall we?” Sarafina asked, moving toward the building.

They entered the building and were immediately enveloped in darkness. The beat of the trance music pounded in their ears and the club seethed and pulsed with dancing bodies and roving colored spotlights.

Theo pulled Sarafina close to him, up against his body to make sure she didn’t become separated from him in the crush. Sarafina remembered the story about Isabelle and Erasmus Boyle in this very club. Thomas had lost sight of her for only a second and Boyle had snagged her and dragged her out to the alley at the back of the building. Clearly, Theo didn’t want the equivalent to happen to her with Bai.

Sarafina wanted to tell him that she could take care of herself, but that would be a lie. Everyone needed help when dealing with the Atrika . Everyone, even the most powerful witch, needed someone watching their back. She was glad she had Theo to do that for her, and she would watch over him as well.

Anyway, she enjoyed the press of his body against hers.

Mira moved toward the back of the club and the four of them moved with her, since she had the best idea where to find the warlock. The best-case scenario would be to somehow draw the Atrika bodyguards away and take Stefan back to Gribben if they could.

Sarafina let her hand stray to her back pocket, where she had a syringe full of Ketamine, a drug to render Stefan witless, alongside two syringes of hard-to-make and very rare liquid copper for the Atrika .