Page 39 of Claws for Celebration
Now, three hours later, the bookstore buzzed with activity as Twyla, Miriam, and two other women Moira hadn't met before worked to establish what they called a "crash course in magical fundamentals." The urgency in everyone's movements spoke volumes about how seriously they were taking the vampire threat and the timeline for her training.
"Right then," Twyla said, setting a collection of crystals and herbs on the table where genealogy books had been that morning. "No more gentle awakening process. We need to assess exactly what we're dealing with before you accidentally level the building."
"Level the building?" Moira repeated, her voice rising with alarm. "I thought we were talking about basic magical control."
"Honey, basic magical control went out the window the moment you manifested protective barriers during an emotionalcrisis," said the auburn-haired woman Twyla had introduced as Elena Ashford. "What you did the other night in the garden, that light show that was visible from three blocks away? That was raw Shadowheart power expressing itself through passion. We need to understand your limits before you exceed them catastrophically."
The memory of golden magic dancing around her and Lucien made Moira's cheeks burn with embarrassment and something deeper that made her pulse quicken. "It wasn't intentional. The magic just... responded."
"Blood magic always responds to strong emotion," explained the fourth woman, a silver-haired elder named Cordelia Greyward whose pale eyes seemed to see straight through to Moira's soul. "Fear, anger, desire, love, all of it feeds directly into your magical core. That's what makes Shadowheart witches so powerful and so dangerous."
"Dangerous how?"
"Show her," Twyla said quietly to Elena, who nodded and picked up a simple white candle from the collection on the table.
Elena held the candle in her cupped palms and closed her eyes, her breathing becoming slow and measured. After a moment, the wick burst into flame without any visible ignition source, burning with steady orange light.
"Basic fire magic," Elena explained. "Controlled, focused, contained. Now watch what happens when I add strong emotion to the working."
She thought about something that made her expression shift to profound sadness, and the candle flame immediately tripled in size, roaring upward with heat that made everyone step back. When she forced herself to calm, the flame returned to its normal size.
"Blood magic multiplies that effect exponentially," Cordelia added. "Where Elena's emotional fire magic might singe someeyebrows, yours could burn down half the town if you lost control during a moment of intense feeling."
Moira looked at Lucien, who had positioned himself near the bookstore's front windows where he could watch for additional threats while still participating in her training. "Is that why you've been so careful with me? Why you didn't tell me about the mate bond until now?"
"Partly," he admitted, his dark green eyes holding hers with the intensity that always made her stomach flutter. "Strong emotions between mates can trigger magical feedback loops. The more we feel for each other, the more powerful your magic becomes."
"Which brings us to the practical problem," Twyla said with her characteristic directness. "How do we teach you control when the person you're most emotionally connected to makes your power spike just by being in the same room?"
"Maybe we start with basic grounding techniques," Miriam suggested. "Help her establish a foundation before we worry about the more complex interactions."
"Right. Moira, I want you to place your hands flat on the table and focus on your breathing," Cordelia instructed. "Feel the wood beneath your palms, the weight of your body in the chair. Ground yourself in physical sensation."
Moira followed the instructions, noting how the simple act of conscious breathing seemed to quiet her anxiousness since the vampire confrontation.
"Good. Now I want you to reach for your magic deliberately. Don't wait for it to respond to emotion. Call it consciously."
"How do I do that?"
"Think of it like flexing a muscle you've never used before," Elena suggested. "The power is there, waiting. You just need to learn how to engage it intentionally."
Moira closed her eyes and searched for the golden warmth she'd felt flowing through her during moments of unconscious spellcasting. For several minutes, nothing happened. Then, gradually, she began to sense something deeper than physical sensation, a reservoir of energy that felt both familiar and foreign.
"I can feel it," she whispered. "It's like... like there's a sun inside my chest that I never noticed before."
"Perfect description," Twyla said with approval. "Now, very gently, try to draw a tiny bit of that energy into your hands."
The moment Moira attempted to channel her magic deliberately, everything went wrong.
Power roared through her with the force of a dam breaking, far more than she'd intended to access. Golden light erupted from her hands, spreading outward in concentric circles that encompassed the entire bookstore in shimmering barriers of protective energy.
"Whoa!" Elena exclaimed as the magical dome settled around them like a giant soap bubble made of light. "That's not a tiny bit of energy."
"I can't stop it," Moira said, panic rising in her voice as the barriers continued strengthening. "It's like trying to stop a waterfall with my bare hands."
"Don't fight it," Cordelia commanded sharply. "Fighting blood magic only makes it more unstable. Lucien, we need you."
"What do you need me to do?" he asked, already moving toward Moira's chair.
