She chewed her lower lip. "It is possible that when Rue was tweaking my magick, he had a goal in mind. Maybe he was trying to transform my elemental magick into demon magick."

Thomas shook his head. "I don't understand why this is relevant."

Micah turned and walked away, apparently deep in thought. "What they're saying is that perhaps the special brand of magick that Claire possesses isn't that far from demon magick. Perhaps there's a way to push her magick that extra inch, make it truly behave like demon magick. Maybe that way the elium won't react by adhering to her seat and we can extract it without taking away all of Claire's power."

Thomas shifted impatiently. "And how long would it take to figure that out?"

Micah turned to Thomas. "I have no idea, but we have some time."

Adam met Claire's gaze. She'd crossed her arms over her chest protectively, as though the thought of losing her magick was worse than death. "What do you mean?"

"The spell that will extract all the magick from Claire will take a couple days to cook."

Adam blinked and shifted his gaze to Micah, who looked nervous. "Two days? We've got to hope the Atrika don't come after her for two whole days?"

"There's nothing I can do about it, Adam. These spells, especially the ones using blood magick, have to be cooked under very specific circumstances."

Adam and Thomas asked in unison with strident voices, "Blood magick?"

"Yeah, uh…" Micah swallowed hard. "Claire's blood."

Adam laughed harshly and pushed a hand through his hair. "You know, Micah, I might take back my previous statement about not hurting you."

Claire stepped toward him with a staying hand extended. "It's not much blood, Adam. Just a pint or two."

He stared at her.

She laid her hand on his chest and looked up into his eyes. "It's the only way. We do this spell, I get rid of my magick… and I live." She paused. "I get to stay with you."

Adam covered her hand with his and held her gaze. Fuck. He loved her so much.

Thomas cleared his throat. "Look, this is Claire's call. This is up to her."

Claire held his gaze a moment longer, then turned to Micah. "We can look into this, but only up until it comes time to perform the spell. If we don't have an alterative by then, we take it… all." Her voice broke on the last word.

Micah nodded. "I think that's the best course of action."

"I agree," answered Thomas.

"It's late." Micah walked to the door. "And we're all exhausted. Let's pick this up tomorrow morning. I'll start preparations to cook the surgery spell."

Claire nodded as Adam pulled her into the circle of his arms. "See you tomorrow morning."

Thomas gave them a little smile as he also left.

Claire turned in his arms and Adam kissed her. "Let's go upstairs and get some rest. Are you hungry?"