“He sounds like Aunt Justine and all her crazy-ass talk.” Moira took another bite of toast and licked the stream of butter trailing down her thumb.
“He’s wrong, Claire.” Tierra met her gaze head-on, sincere belief echoing from her eyes. “Aunt Justine feared the same thing, but they’re wrong. Look at us. We’re three women. Good women, not spawns of the devil. We’re not going to hurt anyone.”
“Least not anyone who don’t deserve it,” Moira added.
Tierra nodded. “Everyone knows it’s the Horsemen who bring about the end, not us. War having your power plays into that scenario better than anything does. Fire is your gift, your heritage. It doesn’t matter if you believe he took it for a good reason or not. It’s yours, and you need it. You’re lucky you’ve survived without it.”
Claire slowly nodded. Her soul without fire was like the heavens without the sun. She’d die without it. If not now, then soon. Perhaps Dru hadn’t known that. If he’d wanted her dead, he could have just killed her. “I need to talk to him. If I explain, maybe he’ll give it back.”
Tierra choked on her tea. “Oh, Claire. I’ve lived one of the most sheltered lives, and even I’m not that naïve. It’s because your fire is missing. I know you wouldn’t talk like that with your energy burning inside you.”
“Like I said, you ain’t the first person to believe a man’s lies,” Moira added. “Before I started helping guys on a regular basis, they was telling me all kinds of wild stories.”
“Why didn’t he just kill me outright, then? Why let me live? Why bring me to your house after he had what he wanted?”
“Can’t you see?” Tierra shook her head, emerald earrings dancing at her ears. “This was the only way to take your power. If you die, it dies.”
She bit her tongue as she stared at her sisters. Were they right? Had Dru lied to her to get what he wanted, and she’d fallen for it?
There was only one way to know for sure. She needed to look him in the eye. “I’m going to get my power back.”
“Damn skippy! Let’s light a fire under that boy’s ass!”
“How exactly do you plan to do that?” Tierra asked.
“I’m going to his house, and I’ll ask for it. If he won’t give it to me willingly, I’ll figure out a way to take it.” She glanced at her sisters. “I might need your help.”
“Don’t you think we would have done that already if we knew where he was hiding out?” Tierra asked. “Moira and I have been planning a few spells while you recuperated, but we have to wait until we find him…unless you have his address.”
“I don’t have his address, but I know where to find him.” She touched her chest, near the empty, aching spot inside her. “This will lead me. My power wants to come home. I feel it with every breath I take. I hear it sometimes, calling to me. Sometimes, I think I hear him, too.”
“It’s not going to be easy,” Tierra cautioned.
“But it will be funner than mud-wrasslin’ a drunk monkey,” Moira added. “We should try that spell we found in the book Justine kept under her bed. The one that uses gun powder.”
Tierra shook her head. “No. We can only fight blood magic with blood magic. That’s why nothing we’ve tried so far has worked.”
“You’ve been trying to get my power back?” The thought that someone would fight on her behalf left a warming tingling in her heart.
“Yeah, but all we got was smoke and no fire.” Moira frowned.
Tierra took her sisters’ hands, a grave expression on her face. “I have to be honest. I have very little experience with most spells. None with blood magic. The coven forbids it even in the smallest circles because it’s so dangerous. Aunt Justine always said it could bring hell down on us. If we do this, I can’t promise something bad won’t happen.”
“Like what?” Claire whispered, fear striking deep inside her.
Tierra shrugged. “That’s just it. I don’t know. Aunt Justine would never discuss it with me. No one would.”
“I can’t ask you to put your lives on the line for me. I’ve just found you both, and I don’t want to risk losing you again.” Her sisters were the reason Claire had given up her power in the first place. She couldn’t ask these two women to share the consequences of her decisions. “I’ll