A Little Wicked (The Bewitching Hour Book #4)(40)

So once she had her phone, that was it. There was nothing else she needed to take with her. “All right. What now?”

Claudia stood. Claire couldn’t help but admire her outfit. It was all black, standard for Claudia, but the pants were a flowing loose fabric that looked fabulous and functional at the same time. Claire never thought she’d feel underdressed when going to her death, but Claudia had that effect on people.

Without another word, Claudia set a hand on Claire’s shoulder, and a second later, the world seemed to shift and melt away before resolidifying around them.

The new location was bright and Claire blinked as she adjusted to the light. It was an apartment, and from the looks of it, an expensive one. They were up high in a skyscraper that overlooked Central Park. It was too dark to make out the trees, but Claire could tell from the absence of light from the large rectangle.

“Is this yours?” She wandered to the windows to look out at the city.

“I’m borrowing it,” said Claudia evasively.

Claire had wondered where the woman went after Abigail had evicted her from her building, but she hadn’t exactly been able to ask.

“So what’s the plan?” She turned back to Claudia. “There’s a plan, right?”

“That’s the beauty of you. You don’t need a spell or incantation or herbs for this. All you have to do is be yourself. Just like Jackson. As soon as you touch my daughter, it will start.”

Claire nodded and curled her hands into fists. So all she had to do was touch Abigail. That sounded so easy and hard at the same time. “What about Abigail?”

Not a single expression crossed Claudia’s face. “You can’t choose what life force you are drawing from. As you pull the darkness from her, she will be expelled as well and die.”

Damn it. Sam would lose her mother and Claudia would lose a daughter. In some sick way, it made Claire feel better. At least Claudia wasn’t asking herself to sacrifice her life so she could go back to normal. They would all lose in this situation.

“And the darkness is going to take me with it?” Maybe Claudia was wrong. Maybe this would be just like Jackson.

“A life force is power incarnate, but it is not alive. Once you absorb it, you gain the power and it dies. The darkness is a living entity. When you take it inside, it will fight you. It will try to take over. Because of who and what you are, it won’t win. It will fight until it dies and we will finally be free. But your own life force won’t be able to survive the assault.”

Claire nodded as if she understood anything Claudia was saying. She remembered what it felt like to take the life from Jackson, but there had been no fight. It had felt warm. As sick as it was, the actual process of killing him had felt fantastic. She’d been energized and refreshed afterward.

But Jackson wasn’t Abigail. He had been working with the darkness. Abigail was the darkness. You didn’t go up against that kind of evil and expect to make it out alive. “So what now?” asked Claire.

“You stay here. Prepare yourself the best you can. I will find Abigail and once I know she’s vulnerable, I’ll take you there. We won’t have much time. The second she realizes you’re there, she’ll try to kill you. The element of surprise is our only chance. You see her, you touch her. Understand?”

She nodded. “I won’t hesitate.”

“Good.” A second later, Claudia was gone.

Claire blinked a few times, confirming she wasn’t imagining anything. She’d never seen anyone teleport before. Was that a normal witch thing? Probably not. Maybe it would’ve been something she could’ve learned if she’d had long enough to get a hold of her magic.

She was about to wallow in her own self-pity when she heard movement in the other room. She stiffened as she approached the sound. “Hello?” she called.

A second later, Bastian appeared in the doorway to what appeared to be the kitchen and Claire let out a sigh of relief. “You scared the hell out of me.”

“Sorry,” he said.

She never thought she’d be in an apartment alone with Bastian. Partly because Bastian seemed to be a package deal with Claudia. “You’re not doing bodyguard duty?” she asked, struggling for small talk with the man she had so little in common with.

“Moving around space like that takes energy,” he said completely seriously. “It would be too much of a strain to take me with her.”

Claire frowned. She didn’t want to think about Claudia being tired. Claudia keeping her wits and power were kind of instrumental to her getting to Abigail. And Claudia needed to find Abigail and get away before she was discovered. What if Claudia never came back? Would Claire have to search Abigail out on her own? Would she chicken out if she didn’t have Claudia standing sternly behind her?

She hated to think that the fear could get the best of her, but every time she stopped to think about what she was actually about to do, the fear and doubts would swarm her mind.

So she refused to dwell on it and instead turned her attention back to Bastian. “You’re not afraid.”

Bastian didn’t say anything and walked back into the kitchen. She followed him as he pulled out a plate of some sort of meat—it looked like chicken—out of the microwave. He normally wore a suit and, since the darkness came around, a long sword. In this more casual setting, he had taken off his jacket and his sword sat on the counter, a menacing reminder that even here he wasn’t totally comfortable.