Anya Bast: Witch Heart

Adam raised a brow even as he lowered his mouth to meet hers. "Okay, baby, then let's see how dirty we can get."

Using her magick, even though she'd employed just a minute amount, had made Claire ill. Or perhaps it was the drugs they'd been pumping her full of. Maybe it was both.

When she'd regained consciousness she'd wanted to die for about four hours. Luckily, most of the negative side effects had passed and she'd regained her will to live.

Claire didn't know if it was the elium in her that had made her sick or if it was the drugs. She only knew that nausea was her constant companion, along with a head-splitting migraine. Her cognitive processes were sluggish and dull.

And apparently, no air witch had heard her call.

Perhaps Rue had made an error and sent her to some alternate version of Earth, one in which no aeamon existed. But that would mean Rue had made a mistake and Rue didn't make mistakes. Surely, there had to be some witches around. After all, the daaeman had bred them themselves when they mated with humans eons ago. By now they should have comprised a large portion of the population.

Maybe, for whatever reason, they didn't. Maybe that's why they were underground, a secret. Maybe that's why none of the humans knew about them and why they thought Claire was a raving lunatic.

"Let's talk more about the demons, Claire," said a doctor in a charcoal gray suit.

Houses, she was beginning to hate all doctors.

Claire shifted in the uncomfortable chair. She'd spent most of the last couple of days drugged. This was the first time she'd felt truly lucid and the first time she'd been able to plead her case to someone in charge.

She folded her hands in her lap and looked up at him with an even stare. "I told you, Dr. Charnowski, I don't believe in demons."

Claire knew he could ferret out a lie with her body language and she was definitely lying.

He tipped his silvered head to the side. "Then why were you found screaming about them on the street? We tested you for drugs and found none, so there has to be another reason."

She nibbled the edge of her thumb. "I was… going through a bad time, Doctor." She glanced at him from under her lashes.

Claire understood she had to act like the sane person she was, a sane person who didn't believe in demons or witches. She needed to play the system if she was going to get out of this place.

The Atrika were probably outside the hospital, waiting for her. She needed to get out of here before they tried to break in and get her. Between these walls, without her magick, she was even more defenseless than she'd been on the streets.

Claire continued her lie. "My boyfriend had just tried to kill me. He was chasing me! I was confused, frightened. I guess, I guess… I thought he was a demon."

Doctor Charnowski sighed and set his tablet and pen on his desk. "I understand that sort of trauma can be disorienting, but you suffered a strong delusion if the witnesses are to be believed." He pressed his lips together. "Look, I'd like to be able to release you, Claire, but you won't give us your last name and your fingerprints turn up absolutely nothing in the database. And with this delusion you had…"

She leaned forward. "Please, Doctor, I just want to be able to get on with my life. I'm fine."

"Yes, but what life, Claire? It's like you're a ghost in the system."

Should she choose this time to tell him the truth? Well, actually, Doctor, I'm from an alternate dimension, one where daaeman rule. There I have a blossoming career as the handmaiden to the Cae. I'm an earth witch, you see, but like none you've ever seen because my magick has been twisted and subverted by my master. I'm like a human guinea pig… except I'm not human. Not completely.

Yes, that would buy her permanent residence on floor eight here at Stroger Hospital she had no doubt. These humans only believed what they could touch and see. There was no room in their minds for anything beyond the mundane.

She only stared at him stonily.

He clasped his hands together. "Look, I understand that you're afraid of your boyfriend. You have reason. We can help protect you. Just, please, help us out a little. Tell us who to contact. You must have family, friends. Someone to care for you."

She jerked her gaze away. She had no one. No one anywhere. Not on this Earth, not on Eudae. She was completely, crushingly alone. The emptiness that existed in her chest grew a little wider, a little blacken with the reminder.

After a moment, Dr. Charnowski sighed. "Fine, Claire, have it your way. A judge has issued a commitment order. You're staying here until we can determine whether or not you're a threat to yourself or others."

Later in her bed, after they'd locked the door and turned out the lights and her roommate lay moaning in the bed beside hers, Claire reached into herself one more time and parsed out a thread of the twisted, heavy magick. She could not take any of her own now without it being tangled with Rue's daaeman magick.

This time she did it deliberately. After all, the last time she'd pulled it she hadn't died, she'd just almost died. If she didn't risk it again, she'd perish here anyway.

Immediately, her gorge rose. She lurched to the side and brought up her lunch of spaghetti and Jell-o onto the polished hospital floor even as she used the magick to broadcast a thought to any air witch able to hear her. This time she'd make it more complete.

Please … I need help. My name is Claire and I'm at …

ADAM SAT IN THE LIBRARY, ALSO THE ROOM THAT Thomas had adopted as his office, watching Mira pace in front of Thomas's desk with Eva in a brightly colored sling around her shoulders.

"All of them heard it, Thomas," said Mira. "Every last one of the air witches in the Coven heard her plea, down to Molly, who just has a bare whisper of power." There were only three, not including baby Eva.

Thomas sat back in his chair and rubbed his chin. "It doesn't seem possible that Claire could be this side of the doorway."

Adam stood. "Boss, a year ago it didn't seem possible a demon was running around on Earth killing witches either. We need to go check this out."

"It could be a trap. We haven't heard from Stefan or the Duskoff for months. This seems like just another way to draw us out. We need to contact Darren and Eleanor and find out if they've noticed anything out of the ordinary."

The Chicago coven was the largest of the covens and ruled all of the United States, but there were two smaller covens, too. The one on the West Coast, located in San Francisco, was headed by Eleanor Pickens. Darren Westcott led the East Coast coven in Boston.

"Regardless, we owe it to Claire to investigate," Isabelle put in. She sat on the edge of Thomas's desk, the only one in the Coven able to do that and not be dismembered. "You would have died on Eudae if it wasn't for her intervention."

"I'm aware of my debts, Isabelle. I just don't want to go into this half-assed. We need to plan."

"Look," said Adam, coming forward. "Out of all us, I have the least personal history with the Duskoff, and I used to be a cop. I'm probably the best one to go in. You create a distraction and I'll get her. If I'm stopped, I can play it off."

Isabelle jerked. "You used to be a cop?"

He grinned. "One of Chicago's finest, and I wasn't even corrupt." Adam averted his gaze. "That was a long time ago, though."

He could feel the weight of Isabelle's stare. They'd become good friends, he and Isabelle, but he didn't talk much about his past, not to anyone. Thomas was almost the only one at the Coven who knew the whole story.

Eva squalled and Mira bounced her a little to quiet her. "I don't think this was the Duskoff. Neither do any of the other air witches. Even Eva heard it. She woke up from a sound sleep and started to cry. It had a strange magick behind it."