Page 3 of Which Witch is Willing?
"Clawing through the rubble looking for..." She couldn't finish, and Tierra was grateful that she didn't say bodies.
A thought entered her mind. She had the power over earth, didn't she. She could sift through the debris faster than any of them. "Can you call Dru back? I need to search the rubble. I can find them."
Claire closed her eyes and telepathically sent Dru a message over their special connection.
Tierra knew that Claire didn't mind having Dru in her head anymore, but no way did she want that kind of connection with Killian. It was enough the control issues he had, deciding everything for her, not giving her a choice. Gotten her pregnant, though in reality that was just as much a surprise to him as her. But bonding her without her permission, and then squirreling her away for weeks on end to another world. While it had been beautiful there, and they had some incredible orgasmic moments, he still should have at least asked her first. At the very least, let her contact her sisters so they didn't worry when she disappeared, and given her time to pack a bag so that she'd had something to wear.
She'd been naked when she'd saved his sorry ass from Hell, and then spent weeks in another world, with not a stitch on. Sure, he hadn't minded, and while she liked seeing him in the buff, it had been too Adam and Eve for her. It hadn't helped that he'd taken her to the loveliest, lushest garden she'd ever laid eyes on to boot.
They really needed to have a talk about his bossy ways. As soon as they could catch a break from the damned Apocalypse, he'd be getting a piece of her mind.
Dru scampered over the broken bits of concrete, rushing to Claire's side, pulling her into his chest. He shared a worried look with Death, giving him an almost undetectable shake of his head.
Tierra ignored that and walked over to the edge of the rubble. Closing her eyes, she opened her other senses. Chunks of crushed concrete rolled out of her way as she searched for organic material hidden within.
In mere seconds, she located two beings. She couldn't tell if they were Moira and Aerin, just that they were alive.
Concentrating further, she raised her hands out in front of her and made a large sweeping motion. Wood, plaster, brick and mortar moved as though she had swept a broom in a pile of dust. A few more swipes of her arms, and Nick's swearing could be heard.
"About bloody fucking time," Nick said, climbing out of the hole he'd been pinned in.
"How about you just say thank you?" Killian helped him down from the wall of rubble.
"Moira?" Nick asked.
"We don't know yet," Death softly delivered. "But I don't feel her or Aerin's soul."
"Thank the Goddess." Julian Roarke, Pestilence, the third horseman of the Apocalypse stood on the pile of destruction, carrying an ancient trunk. What could be in that trunk that was more special that he risked saving it, rather than make sure her sisters were squirreled to safety?
"Where could they be?" Tierra asked. "There are no more organic signatures inside that mess." She gestured to what remained of Manresa Castle, the largest, grandest private residence built in Port Townsend back in 1892. It had withstood two hundred years of Pacific storms, two depressions that had taken the town down to a ghost of its former glittering Victorian seaport, only to be destroyed by one fire witch belching a fireball.
"Good thing we'd cleared the castle of the servants when we decided to use the place for a demonic meeting." Nick ripped off his tie. "Goddamn it, I loved this tie."
Claire sniffed back a sob. "This is all my fault. I thought I killed everyone, and I still might have killed Aerin and Moira."
"They aren't dead," Killian said.
"He would know," Dru said, rubbing Claire's shoulders trying to offer her comfort.
"What about Reaper? Would he have...?" Tierra trailed off.
"No. I would have known that too." Killian reassured her.
"I suggest we head back to the manor," Julian suggested. "They aren't here, and Maison de Moray will be their first obvious refuge. I'm certain they are as worried about you as you are them."
"Call up the horses," Nick said. "No way are we driving there." He pointed to where Tierra's beloved Prius lay crushed like a beer can under the rubble. "Shit, my Ferrari was parked in the garage."
"As well as my Hummer," Dru drawled.
"You wait for your horses," Killian said. "I'll take Tierra and meet you there."
Before Tierra could take in another breath, Killian had her airborne.
4
Tierra ran for the house as soon as Killian touched down in the front yard. She didn’t pause when Killian bellowed out her name in warning.
Warning for what? The manor was warded up the ass. This was the safest place in the world for her and her sisters.
