Anya Bast - Witch Heart

She hurt everywhere, but especially her chest where the elium dwelt side by side with her own magick. Nausea curled through her stomach and her head pounded. Her whole body felt cold and shivers wracked her.

Adam's fire magick enveloped her in an effort to stave off the deathlike chill the elium produced, but did little to improve the coldness that had overtaken her.

Claire tried to sit up. "Tevan. Kai. Where are they?"

Theo's strong hands pushed her backward, into Adam's arms. "The elium vanquished them, Claire. It zapped their ability to use magick, as well as ours. They seemed shaken that you'd been able to use the elium and jumped out of here."

She shook her head. "They'll be back."

"That's for certain, but maybe not for a while. It gives us a chance, at least."

"We couldn't use our magick for a time, either," Theo continued. "We thought you were going to die on us."

She tried to sit up again. This time, Adam helped her. She drew a deep breath and pushed away her pain and discomfort. Her head swam. "The other witches. Have you found them?"

"Take it easy, Claire," said Adam. "The demons poofed out of here and then we had to take care of you. We're going to look for them now, but we had to make sure you were okay first."

She tried to push up, but Adam held her firmly. "I'm fine. Let's go."

"Are you sure?" Adam looked doubtful.

"I'm feeling better," she amended. She stood with Adam's help and staggered forward. "We don't have time to lose."

The three of them headed out the door, Claire aided heavily by Adam but regaining her balance quickly. She had no choice. If the witches were out there somewhere in the woods, they needed help.

The charming vacation cabin that Claire would be happy to call home was now trashed. The floor was warped and distorted where Theo had altered it with earth magic and tried to drown Kai. Fire had burned in several places, leaving behind ash, cinder, and the heavy smell of smoke. Between her air magick and the combined daaeman magick of Tevan and Kai, almost all of the furniture was smashed beyond repair. Some of it was now beyond recognition as well.

To top everything off, the elium had apparently shattered all the windows in the cabin. Cool early morning air rushed into the room. At least it took the edge off the smoke smell. One had to look on the bright side sometimes.

Not far from the front of the cabin, they found an unlocked white cargo van. Kai and Tevan hadn't expected to be defeated, so they hadn't even bothered to hide it. Claire was betting the kidnapped witches were inside.

Adam stopped short. "Well, we didn't have go far."

Theo hesitated, then went for the van. "The Atrika jumped and just left them behind. I figured they were more valuable than that."

But they all knew the cold, hard truth. The daaeman had an unlimited supply of unsuspecting aeamon they could use for blood magick. They could just pluck them off the street and use their life force to cast finding spells. No one was safe, not her, not any elemental witch within the grasp of the Atrika.

Inside the unlocked cargo van, they found four witches bound, gagged, and lying on the floor. Only four. That meant six were still missing, presumed dead.

Claire's hopes plummeted to her toes. Four .

All of the four suffered the effects of a daaeman bite. They lay mute and staring, eyes wide open. Claire knew they could see and hear what was going on, but couldn't speak or move.

"She's not here." Theo's voice was ragged from more than just the recent battle.

"I see that." Adam sat down heavily. "Lots of them aren't here. That means… Ingrid… shit." He looked up at Theo. "I'm sorry, man."

Intense sorrow enveloped Theo's face for a second and then was gone. Like a cloud passing over the moon. His expression steeled into businesslike resolve. "Let's get them untied. We can grieve Ingrid and the others later."

Together they freed one witch at a time and got them into the cabin. Other than almost being daaeman food, they looked no worse for wear. Not even a bruise marked them.

James was the first to rouse. He rolled to his side on the bed where they'd laid him and put his hand to his reddish blond head. "Fuck… me." He fell silent, then rattled off a string of curses.

Before they barraged him with questions, they allowed him some time to rouse and recover. Claire snuggled back against Adam's body, which was taut with tension. He eased his hands down her upper arms and embraced her, laying a kiss to the top of her head. The circle of his arms gave her safety and strength.

After they'd dealt with the witches, Adam had stripped her clothes off and treated her burns with both his healing ability and good old-fashioned antiseptic and bandages. She would probably bear some scars, but at least she'd not lost her life.

Yet.

Theo returned from the living room where he'd been using earth magick to clean up the battle site as much as possible. Leaning against the wall, he crossed his hands over his chest and waited, as they all did, for James to recover and tell them what had happened.

As they waited, the other three witches began to stir. They'd brought in glasses of water for each of them and a little bread. They probably hadn't eaten for a couple days.

Finally, James sat up and dragged in a few deep breaths through his nose and into his powerful chest.

Claire leaned over, took a plate of bread and a glass of water and handed them to him. He pushed them away.

"You should," she insisted. "It will help you recover from the venom and we need you strong."

He hesitated, then accepted the glass and plate with mumbled thanks. He drank the water down and took a couple tearing bites of the bread. They didn't want to give them anything more substantial until the effects of the venom had completely worn off.

"They killed them," James finally gasped, setting the plate on the mattress beside him. "They ambushed us right on the other side of Wisconsin, after we'd all met up again. I think they'd been following one of us. When they attacked, they killed two of us right off. The rest of us beat them back, retreated, but they followed. They kept coming and coming all night long until we were too weak to fight anymore. When the dust cleared, two more of us were dead and the rest of us were mute and paralyzed. They left us in the middle of the woods while they went to get the cargo van and then came back for us."

James rubbed his shoulder and winced, looking over the other three witches, who were groaning and sitting up. "Where are Ingrid and Tom?" His voice was flat. He probably knew.

Theo shifted against the wall, grief passing over his face. He said nothing.

"You didn't see what happened to them?" Adam asked.

James shook his head, his face ashen. "They took Tom first, Ingrid the next day."

Claire pursed her lips, not wanting to say the words out loud. But it was her responsibility to do it. "They used the witches for blood magick, James. They used their life force in finding spells to locate us." She paused. "To locate me."

He stared at her for a moment, then lowered his head and closed his eyes.

So Ingrid had been killed in a spell-casting, not in the battle. Claire glanced at Theo, who was staring at the floor in front of him, hands thrust deeply into his pockets. She snuggled back into Adam's arms and he laid a gentle kiss to her temple.

"You're Claire… right?" asked a diminutive blonde with a sharp chin. She winced on every word, her hand pressed to her head.

"Yes, I am."

The woman's gray eyes went flat and hard as gun metal. "So you're the reason for all this."

Claire flinched.

"Look, Andrea," Adam said, pulling Claire against his chest. "I know you've been through a lot, but shut up. Okay?" His voice shook with anger.