Witch Blood - By Anya Bast Page 0,21
to exert control over something directly of the Earth herself, like the ground or a tree, a charm had to be created beforehand. Earth witches had to anticipate the spells they’d need, cook them up, and transfer the pure resulting energy to their bodies to be accessed later. Because of the planning involved, earth magick was the least convenient of the four types of power, but also the most flexible.
Earth witches were the most stereotypical breed of the four elements. They were more what the non-magickals imagined when they thought witch. No one understood why earth witches were different, though there were plenty of theories.
“I hope the wards hold,” said Isabelle, looking doubtfully out the window toward Alexander’s apartment.
Yeah, so did he. They were in new territory with this one, having never done surveillance work on a suspected demon before. Alexander was at work now, which had given them some time to get the spells in place.
“I made the warding hard to detect,” Thomas answered. “The upside is that if Alexander sniffs them out and comes after us, we’ll know for sure he’s the demon.”
Isabelle raised a brow. “That’s an upside?”
“Yeah, I’d rather not find out that way,” groused Adam.
“We’re about to know one way or the other because he’s home,” murmured Isabelle. “I can feel it through the water in his apartment. That was none too soon.”
Adam slipped on his headphones and Thomas went to a small table nearby and did the same. The shades were drawn on the windows of their apartment and the wards were locked down tight. From what they knew about demon magick, theoretically, the creature shouldn’t notice their spying. According to Micah, demon magick and elemental magick were fundamentally different and one shouldn’t be able to detect the other.
Of course, they really didn’t know for certain.
Micah had successfully obtained the digitized books Stefan had provided and was feeding them information as he scoured and gleaned it. Unfortunately, this lead on Alexander had popped up so soon Micah hadn’t had a lot of time to do research. They were flying blind and had to take as much care as possible.
They settled in to listen. Through the magickally imbued headset, they heard Alexander cough, blow his nose, go to the bathroom, open and close the refrigerator, pop the top off a beer, and then settle down on the couch with the sigh of one happy to be home from a long day at work.
The TV flipped on. “Wheel…of…Fortune!” sounded the television audience.
Adam looked over and gave him an eye roll.
Thomas took the headphones off and laid them on the table in front of him. “This may be a false alarm.”
Isabelle slumped her shoulders. “When I tune in remotely to him, using the water in his body, he doesn’t feel like anything more than a non-magickal human male.” She paused and looked morose. “Not even a witch.”
Thomas nodded. “If he were the demon, you’d know it.”
Adam pulled his headset off one of his ears. “And I don’t think he’d be watching Wheel of Fortune, if this was our guy. I don’t think demons like Pat Sajak.”
Isabelle sat up a little straighter. “He could just be playing with us. The demon has to be able to seem convincingly human. Otherwise witches would be spotting him all over the place. Maybe he knows we’re watching and he’s masking. Or maybe he’s become humanized during his stay here and he’s grown to like TV game shows.”
Thomas and Adam only stared at her. “I think you’re reaching,” Thomas said finally.
“I’m just trying to think outside the box here, guys.”
Adam leaned toward her. “Isabelle, I think outside the box with the best of them, but I still suspect he’s a non-magickical human male just home from work with one hand down his pants and a beer in the other.”
She tossed her headset to the table in front of her with force. “Damn it!”
Thomas considered her for a moment. “It’s not over yet. Mira heard this man’s name for a reason. He could be connected in some way with the demon.”
“Maybe.” Isabelle chewed the side of her thumb and slumped in her chair.
“I need to talk to Isabelle alone, Adam.”
“Okay. I’ll keep listening to Wheel of Fortune,” said Adam with a sarcastic thumbs-up and grin. He placed the headphones to one ear. “I think I know this puzzle. Buy a vowel!”
“Let me know if anything unusual happens or if he leaves.”
Adam nodded. “Sure thing, boss.”
Isabelle looked confused, but Thomas led her into the