Anya Bast - Witch Heart

Claire spent the morning with Micah, experimenting with her magick while Adam hulked in the corner like a protective dark shadow. With the demons loose and no way to ward against them, he wouldn't let her out of his sight for anything beyond bathroom breaks.

She tapped her magick hard and fast, the way she had in the corridor that morning — all four threads together — and magick exploded in her face. Claire fell backward, right onto her ass. That had happened because she hadn't aimed at anything. Shaking her head to clear it from the ringing, she found Adam by her side, one hand on her upper arm.

Micah sprawled near her, also on his ass, looking dazed. "Fuck me!" Micah yelled.

"No way, man," Adam snapped back instantly.

Micah glanced at him and grinned. Claire was content that the tension between them had eased somewhat.

Adam helped her to stand. "What the hell was that?"

"Demon magick, after a fashion," Claire answered, a lopsided grin spreading over her face. "That was demon magick."

Micah stood and shook his head. "Amazing. All four elements of our magick, when woven together, is their brand of power."

Adam wore a dubious expression. "Didn't seem too controlled to me."

Claire laughed. Houses, it felt good, too. "That's because it wasn't. I can't control it yet, I can only pop out a little burst of it unless I have a direct target."

Adam looked at Micah. "Does this mean anything in terms of the spell you're scheduled to perform tomorrow?"

Claire sobered at the reminder.

"Maybe. I don't know yet." He paused, deep in thought. "The problem is that we need to find a way to combine the elements within the seat of her magick. If we can do that, the power may be enough like demon magick that the elium will stop adhering to it and we can take it out without having to strip Claire of all her power."

Claire bit her lower lip and then turned away. "This is ridiculous, Micah. We'll never find a way to do all that by tomorrow. We don't even have the first clue how."

Adam's hand fell on her shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Don't lose hope, Claire. We have to try everything we can, even if we can't be sure it will work."

"She's right about it being a long shot, though," Micah broke in. "I'm doing the best I can, but I'm in the dark on blood magick like this… at least in practice. In theory I know a little bit about it, but trying to bind the elemental magick within her seat?" Micah shook his head. "It would be a miracle if we could manage to do that within the next twenty-four hours."

"Way to raise her spirits, Micah," Adam growled.

"I didn't say it wasn't worth a try!" Micah objected, spreading his hands. "I'm just saying, as her acting… uh… magickal physician here, that the chances of this working aren't very high."

Claire turned toward them both, chewing the edge of her thumb. "And the amputation spell? What's the chance of that one working?"

Micah's silence was answer enough.

Adam shot Micah a look of doom. "Anything is worth a try, Claire."

"I know. And I know Micah is doing his best."

"Yes, Micah is doing his best," Micah put in. "So Adam should not kill Micah, who is losing sleep over his girlfriend's problem."

Adam rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to kill you."

Micah looked relieved.

Adam gave Micah a shark's grin. "I might beat you up a little, but I won't kill you."

Claire hit Adam's chest. "Stop it, Adam."

"Micah knows I'm kidding."

Micah shook his head. "No, I don't."

Claire took a step back. "Okay, no one is beating anyone else up and we're going to keep trying."

"Sounds good to me," Micah answered.

They tried allowing Adam's power into Claire once more, in an effort to use his magick to bind the threads of the elements within her. It didn't work.

They tried various spells.

They tried deep, guided meditation.

They worked for the rest of the day, trying everything, ever more cognizant of the deadline looming near.

Nothing worked.

Claire found a bench in the middle of the Coven's conservatory and sat down. The conservatory was a lovely place, filled with all kinds of flowers, birds, plants, and trees. A stream ran through the middle of it, and walking paths with small, picturesque bridges wended their way around the large space. The area brought together air, earth, and water perfectly. To make sure fire was also included, several tall basins sat at regular intervals where steady flames burned.

Above Claire's head stars scattered the darkened sky past the glass ceiling. The moon was full this evening and its light radiated down and joined the illumination given off by the small lights along the walking paths. People walked by her now and again, sometimes couples, all of them talking in low, muted tones. All of them witches.

It was nice to be among her own kind. She had changed so much since the day she'd found herself thrust back to Earth. Now she couldn't remember how — or why — she'd ever wanted to go back to Eudae.

She was home.

Claire closed her eyes and sank into the silence. This was the first time she'd been able to get away from Adam. Not that she wanted to get away from him. She thought his constant need to protect her was unbelievably sweet. It was just that, for now, for a few minutes, she needed to be alone with her thoughts.

She wrapped her arms over her chest and breathed in the flower-scented, warm air. It smelled of earth here, the actual ground, and of magick. In fact, she sensed all the magickal elements this space, just as the Coven founders had intended.

In unison the elements spoke to her — a deep, rich murmur that touched the whole of her. She supposed, oddly, that she had Rue to thank for that. Deep within the heart of her, her magick responded to that cohesive, magick murmur. Air touched air, water touched water, and earth touched earth. Her fire magick reached out and sought fire, danced with it, and retreated.

If only she could bring them all together in her seat.

As they'd worked throughout the day, she'd grown surer that was what Rue had intended all along. She'd always known she'd been an experiment to him, she'd just never understood what kind. Now she thought she knew — he had been trying to make demon magick from the elemental magick of an aeamon, not just seeing if he could get her to wield all four elements.

But she would never, it appeared, have demon magick at the core of her. On the face it, the very idea made her vaguely ill. So she was slightly relieved. Yet, she'd do pretty much anything to keep her power.

One good thing had come from the day's work. Now, at least, she had a much better control over her new ability. Now she could weave the threads together into a rope of all four as she drew them and wield her magick in lots of new ways. If the demons did come back, she felt more confident than ever she could fight them.

Of course, unless the demons came for her this night, she wouldn't need to. She'd be losing all her magick the next day. Losing her magick, but gaining Adam.

It would be a fair trade.

"Claire."

She opened her eyes to see Adam. Claire smiled. "Hello."

"You okay?"

She nodded. "I am. I feel better now, a bit more centered." She stood and held out her hand. He took it. "I'm hungry, though. I say we get something to eat and go to bed."

"Sounds good to me."

They made a meal of vegetable soup and cheese sandwiches on thick-cut rye bread in the kitchen before heading up to Adam's room.

In silence, Adam caught her hand, led her to the bedroom and undressed her slowly, almost with a sense of reverence, leaving kisses over her body as he went that left her breathless. He didn't push her onto the bed, as she'd expected. Instead he slipped her soft, cotton nightgown over her head and kissed her lips.