Anya Bast - Witch Heart

"There is." Micah cast another uncertain glance at Adam, like Adam was about to jump across the room and rip his throat out. Adam forced himself to relax his body and facial muscles a little. "And it's a doozy. There's a slight side effect."

"A side effect?" Adam's voice sounded gritty in the cool air of the library. "What kind of side effect?"

Claire had been looking at the polished wood floor. She raised her gaze to his. "It will strip me of all my magick, not just the elium. It will, essentially, leave me a non-magickal."

The room went silent.

"It's like surgery." Micah gestured with his hands and avoided catching Adam's gaze. "It's like surgery to remove a tumor. Thing is, in this case, the tumor" — Micah made air quotes—"has inexorably attached itself to another organ, in this case, the seat of Claire's magick. In order to get the tumor, we have to remove everything."

Adam ran a hand over his face. Fuck, he was tired. "Gods."

Thomas shifted and stood. "What happens to the elium in this scenario, Micah? Does the core of her magick stay intertwined with it?"

Micah shook his head of shaggy brown hair. "Got me. I've never tried anything like this before. I mean, there are spells that will let us make small adjustments to the flow of a witch's power, but this is like a complete… complete…"

"Amputation," Claire finished for him, her voice dull and dead-sounding.

Micah looked sick. He swallowed hard and continued. "Something like that. In any case, I'm not sure what elemental magick does once it's removed from a witch. The elium is different. It's demon magick, first of all, and was designed in a sort of self-contained ball that can be moved from demon to demon—"

"We're all demon at the heart of us," Thomas cut in gruffly.

"Yeah, but our magick isn't demon magick. Not completely. Our magick is born more purely from the elements than theirs is. That's why Claire carrying the elium was never a good idea. It reacted to her elemental magick by adhering to it."

"Wait a minute." Adam walked toward Micah and Micah took a step back. "Relax, already. I'm sorry I lost my temper with you during the last spell, I really am. Will you chill now? I'm not going to hurt you."

"As long as I don't hurt Claire."

"You got it. That's my trigger, Micah."

Micah touched his throat. "Yeah, okay. If I can, I won't trip it."

"When Claire pulled magick on the demons here in the Coven, it was different — explosive. It felt, smelled, and tasted like demon magick to me, just on a subtler scale. Claire told me she did it by pulling all the threads of the elements together. What if demon magick and elemental magick aren't so different, after all? What if there's another way?"

Micah rubbed his chin. "It's something to look into."

"We don't have time," Thomas put in. "If we intend to save Claire's life, we have to act now. Tevan and Kai could show up here at any moment and take her back."

"They'll kill me right away next time," Claire added. "They tried every other way to take the elium and nothing worked. Now they'll try to take the elium as I die. They're willing to risk it."

"That's why we need to act now," Thomas answered.

She chewed her lower lip. "It is possible that when Rue was tweaking my magick, he had a goal in mind. Maybe he was trying to transform my elemental magick into demon magick."

Thomas shook his head. "I don't understand why this is relevant."

Micah turned and walked away, apparently deep in thought. "What they're saying is that perhaps the special brand of magick that Claire possesses isn't that far from demon magick. Perhaps there's a way to push her magick that extra inch, make it truly behave like demon magick. Maybe that way the elium won't react by adhering to her seat and we can extract it without taking away all of Claire's power."

Thomas shifted impatiently. "And how long would it take to figure that out?"

Micah turned to Thomas. "I have no idea, but we have some time."

Adam met Claire's gaze. She'd crossed her arms over her chest protectively, as though the thought of losing her magick was worse than death. "What do you mean?"

"The spell that will extract all the magick from Claire will take a couple days to cook."

Adam blinked and shifted his gaze to Micah, who looked nervous. "Two days? We've got to hope the Atrika don't come after her for two whole days?"

"There's nothing I can do about it, Adam. These spells, especially the ones using blood magick, have to be cooked under very specific circumstances."

Adam and Thomas asked in unison with strident voices, "Blood magick?"

"Yeah, uh…" Micah swallowed hard. "Claire's blood."

Adam laughed harshly and pushed a hand through his hair. "You know, Micah, I might take back my previous statement about not hurting you."

Claire stepped toward him with a staying hand extended. "It's not much blood, Adam. Just a pint or two."

He stared at her.

She laid her hand on his chest and looked up into his eyes. "It's the only way. We do this spell, I get rid of my magick… and I live." She paused. "I get to stay with you."

Adam covered her hand with his and held her gaze. Fuck. He loved her so much.

Thomas cleared his throat. "Look, this is Claire's call. This is up to her."

Claire held his gaze a moment longer, then turned to Micah. "We can look into this, but only up until it comes time to perform the spell. If we don't have an alterative by then, we take it… all." Her voice broke on the last word.

Micah nodded. "I think that's the best course of action."

"I agree," answered Thomas.

"It's late." Micah walked to the door. "And we're all exhausted. Let's pick this up tomorrow morning. I'll start preparations to cook the surgery spell."

Claire nodded as Adam pulled her into the circle of his arms. "See you tomorrow morning."

Thomas gave them a little smile as he also left.

Claire turned in his arms and Adam kissed her. "Let's go upstairs and get some rest. Are you hungry?"

"Starving."

They'd barely eaten or slept since they'd returned from Tennessee. They'd been working nonstop on a way to extract the elium. Too bad the end result sucked so bad.

On their way to his apartment, they stopped in the kitchen and picked up some sliced apples, grapes, cheese, and other various goodies, along with some wine and a couple glasses. Adam tucked it all in a basket he found in one of the cabinets.

They could have cooked a real, hot meal there in the kitchen, but they both were in agreement — they wanted to be alone for a while.

Once they reached his place, he set the basket on the nightstand in his bedroom. A picnic with Claire in bed sounded good to him, never mind the crumbs.

"My last meal?" Claire asked, sliding her shirt over her head.

He turned to her. "Please don't say that."

She finished undressing and slipped a short cotton nightgown over her head. They got into bed together and Adam pulled her close.

They didn't know when the demons would show up, which meant they needed to savor every single moment together.

"I love you, Claire."

She stiffened in his arms and then relaxed. Kissing his chest, she mumbled. "I think I knew that when you came charging after the Atrika all on your own, armed with nothing but aeamon fire magick… through demon wards, no less." She laughed softly. "But it's nice to hear."

He rolled her beneath him and kissed her. "Then I'll say it again. I love you, Claire."

"I love you, too."

Adam closed his eyes and let the words wash over him, through him. They lightened him. He accepted those words as he accepted the love he felt for her and they lifted something heavy from him.

After a few moments of holding her, enjoying the scent of her skin and the weight of her against him, he pulled the basket onto the bed. "Want something to eat?"