Anya Bast - Witch Heart

Before Tevan had a chance to strike Claire, Adam strode out from behind the furnace and raised power. Doing it through the wards was like pulling it through two inches of concrete, but rage burned inside him so intense and so strong that the concrete holding back his power simply crumbled.

Adam's magick exploded from his chest and burst down his arms in an almost uncontrollable flash of heat that warmed his skin.

The demons turned toward him, surprise clear on their faces. They had been so intent on whatever torture they were inflicting on Claire that Adam doubted they even knew there were others in the building. He took advantage of their shock and blasted the wall behind them, just like Claire had taught him. The bolt of power ricocheted off the wall and hit them from behind, side-wise.

They were so stunned they didn't even throw up shields. The white-hot fire enveloped them and Adam turned his efforts to holding back the flame from Claire, who lay so near them.

The demons roared, covering their heads with their hands. They shook off the fire magick easily enough, but Adam didn't let up, giving them little time to recover and launch an offensive. He sent blast after blast of it at them, over and over, driving them away from Claire.

Soon his vision blackened a little and his chest ached. He was quickly exhausting all his reserves. Fire rained down from the ceiling and roared up the walls and over the floor, forcing the demons to retreat backward into darkness.

Adam stumbled, trying to get to Claire while keeping up the assault on Tevan and Kai.

Behind him, he heard the approach of the other witches. Reinforcements. The villagers chasing Frankenstein's monster, but instead of pitchforks they carried copper. He didn't know if they could breach the wards like he had through his burst of emotion, but he hoped so. Adam's magickal stores were just about on empty.

Creating a safe pocket in the fire for himself and the Coven witches, he reached Claire just as the others ran past him, chasing the demons into the bowels of the basement. Adam lifted her into his arms and her head lolled to the side, eyes open and unseeing.

Oh, gods, no.

Adam's body coiled tightly with grief. It bubbled up from him like a toxic thing. Disbelief made him shake his head, his expression twist in anguish. Had he been too late?

He put his lips to hers, but her flesh was warm, living. Her breath hit his mouth like the sweetest, most expensive wine made into air. Not dead. He chanted it in his mind. Not dead. Not dead. Not dead.

He'd reached her in time.

In his panic, he'd forgotten the venom and the paralysis. The abducted witches in the cargo van had looked like this, too. Tevan and Kai had simply bitten her to keep her pliant and unmoving. The venom would wear off and she'd be fine.

Thomas came up on his side and yelled, "Get her out of here."

He didn't have to say it twice.

Adam tightened his arms around Claire and held her close to his body as he ran through the falling debris dripping from the ceiling, loosened by demon magick and on fire from his rage. His boots pounded on the stairs to the first floor and he carried her through the central lobby and out the front doors.

He didn't stop until they were far into the woods, away from the structure. If he could, he would have run for miles — anything to get Claire away.

He collapsed into a grassy patch, held Claire to his chest, and, breathing heavily, lifted his head to the sky. The waning sunlight, the soft twilight breeze, and the birdsong coming from the treetops seemed so odd considering where they'd just been. Nothing beyond the walls of the hospital hinted at the hellish battle now being waged in its industrial bowels.

He lowered his head and kissed her temple. He smelled like soot, but he'd managed to keep her free of it. "They're never getting you back, Claire," he murmured. "I have you now and I'm never letting go."

After a moment she stirred a little, her arm twitching first and then a leg. Slowly, she regained her ability to move, though not well. That would take some time. "Adam," she whispered in a labored voice. "Houses, I'm… so happy to see you." She winced, as though pained greatly by the mere effort to form words.

"Don't try and talk, Claire." He rocked her back and forth. "Just rest, okay?"

Fingers gripped his sleeve. "They never got it." She smiled.

"I know." That was clear enough by how frustrated the demons had been.

"You arrived just in time, Adam," she rasped. "They were so angry. If you'd come any later…" She trailed off and swallowed hard.

Coldness seeped through his bones at her words, freezing him motionless for a moment. "Don't talk, Claire. Please. We're going to get you safe, to a hospital—"

"No! No more hospitals. I hate them." Her voice was as strident as she could manage. "Okay." She smiled and rested her head against his chest. "Now I'll stop talking."

Adam hap made a promise he wasn't sure he could keep.

He watched Claire limp across the room and hand Micah a piece of paper. She leaned over and talked to him softly, while Adam drummed his fingertips on a desktop, deep in thought.

Back at the hospital, he'd told her that he would never let demons take her again. Gods, what a stupid thing to say. At any time Tevan or Kai could just pop in and jump her like they did at the gas station.

Quick. Easy. Painless… at least for them.

There was no safe place for him to take her, no place to hide. Not even the depths of Gribben, the best warded building on earth, could stop the demons.

But, apparently, lots of witches could.

Even though Adam had been the only one able to punch through the demon wards at the hospital through the sheer weight of his will and emotion, the witches had managed to beat the demons back… even with limited power.

There had been some injuries, but no deaths and the demons had jumped out of there once they realized how outnumbered they'd been.

Thomas said that Adam's magickal display had gone a long way in wearing the Atrika down. Thomas had been a little in awe of the whole thing — how Adam had busted the warding and managed to make the demons retreat with his fire magick alone. Adam hadn't even drawn his copper sword. His power had been enough.

Adam only cared that he'd been able to do enough to pry Claire loose from their claws. He hadn't been too late.

It had been a victory for the Coven and they'd celebrated all the way back home to Chicago. The battle had raised the spirits of the Coven as a whole, something they needed after the demoralizing destruction of Micah's lab and the abduction and murder of the witches sent as backup to Minnesota. The Coven was locked in a battle like they'd never known in the history of their record keeping.

The warlocks had nothing on the demons.

Gods help them all if the Duskoff and the Atrika ever decided to ally.

Yes, the victory was sweet, but they all knew it was temporary. As they'd returned to the Coven and walked back into the extensive damage still being repaired from the recent attack, the lessening of their spirits had been palpable. The demons were stunned for the moment, sure, but they weren't defeated… not by a long shot. And they'd be back.

For Claire.

They needed a miracle.

Micah stood and gave Adam a wary look. It made guilt twinge through him. He knew he wasn't Mr. Good Spirits these days and he'd been especially hard on Micah. "We have a surefire way to remove the elium."

Adam bolted to his feet. "What?" Hadn't he just been wishing for a miracle? But why didn't Micah seem happier about it? Standing beside him, Claire looked a little gray.

"So, what's the catch?" asked Thomas from across the room. "I can tell there is one."