Protective Ink (Urban Fantasy) (10 page)

“Sit down,” Lissa said, her brain whirling with ideas. “I have a plan, but first I have to ask a question.”

Chapter Nine

“I have no idea if that will actually work.” Jackson sat heavily into a chair, his world tilting under his feet.

“Can you at least try?” Lissa asked, her eyes narrowed.

“Where, Lissa? There are dozens of cameras in these places. I don’t even know how the power works exactly.”

She pursed her lips and he couldn’t help but think of the kiss in the car. She had started the world tilting with those lips. He dragged his gaze away, afraid he might do something he would further regret if he kept looking at her.

“You can try it in the doorway. You have more in there than I thought.”

“I don’t.”

“You do if I say you do. This is my talent.”

“And it’s my life.”

Dory sniffed and wiped a tissue under her red eyes. She wasn’t a pretty crier, but somehow it made her even more endearing. Garrett could not have begged for a better woman. Jackson only hoped his friend would live long enough to tell her. The thought of Garrett dying was a punch in the gut.

“Stand up,” Lissa said.

“I’m comfortable where I am.” He sprawled back, slinging his hands over the top of the couch. He was not going to be her trick pony. “And you just ordered me to sit down. Which is it?”

“Don’t you want to do every damn thing we can to help Garrett?”

“Low blow.”

“I don’t care. Now stand the hell up.”

She met him toe-to-toe in the middle of the waiting room. Dory huddled on the chair, alone and so small. His heart was breaking for her, but he wasn’t sure what he could do about it.

“I’m standing. Now what?”

“Move into the doorway, uncross your arms and concentrate.”

He looked down into her fiercely determined eyes and sighed. She’d been a wreck in the car. If this would help her get over the guilt that shouldn’t have been hers in the first place, he would at least try. Walking to the doorway, he uncrossed his arms.

“Now what?”

She circled him, her heels clicking across the linoleum. “It’s there. I can feel it. I know it’s there, but how can we bring it out?”

“Your mumbo jumbo is not going to work on me.”

“It’s not always directly connected to the tattoos, Jackson. Sometimes someone’s ability is more subtle. Be quiet while I think.”

His gaze found Dory, who smiled shyly at him. He’d do this for her, too. Lissa wouldn’t find anything, but he’d stand here all day, like a cow on the auction block, if it would help.

“I’m going by instinct here. I have no idea if this is going to work, but it’s worth a try.” Lissa ran a hand down his back, making him straighten his stance. Not to get away from her, but because fire had followed her fingers. She drew a pattern against his lower back with her fingertip, something with curls and swirls. The fire turned into a line of electricity that would have made his hair stand on end if it had been any longer than a high and tight.

“Okay. I might be able to magnify your power, but you have to concentrate. Think of hiding. Of deflecting attention. Pull up a trench and put yourself and Dory in there. Think about the enemy’s eyes moving right over you as if you were a bush.”

She was asking a lot of him. Especially with her hand still on his lower back.

He didn’t willingly go back to those days. Ever. But there was a new glint of hope in Dory’s eyes as she watched him. He dropped his lids, thrusting himself into the scenario she’d described. In his mind he crouched in the dirt, watching a tank slowly move down the road, looking for a target to obliterate in the dry stillness. His gun at the ready, he made himself invisible to the periscope on top of the machine. He would take the fuckers out and keep them from ravaging the small village up the road.

“I knew it!”

Lissa’s shout jerked him back to the present. She was crowing like a damn bird.

“What? Knew what?” But Dory was staring at them in wide-eyed astonishment. He gripped Lissa’s upper arms to stop her impromptu boogie. “Slow the hell down. You knew what?”

“It’s not limited to you. You can make someone else invisible if they’re touching you.”

“The hell I can.”

“You can,” Dory said quietly from her perch on the hard plastic chair. “It’s not like you blipped out of sight or anything, but my eyes passed right over both of you.”

“That’s impossible.” He took a step back and ran into Lissa. Her hands gripped his hips, her fingers digging into his flesh, sending another arc of fire banded around his middle.

“Not impossible, Jackson. Magnificent.” She let go long enough for him to turn around to face her. “Absolutely magnificent.”

“What the hell did you do to me?” He took another step back, this one to avoid her touch.

“I didn’t do anything. It was already in there before I tattooed you. I’ve been thinking about it since it happened. You’ve probably had a low level of ability to do this for years, I would think, just not consciously. All those times you were sent on missions they didn’t think could be accomplished. All those times you came home without a scratch. Think about it.” Her gaze bore into his, and he had to look away or he might throttle her.

“I did all those things because I was damn good at my job, not because I’m some sort of superhero.”

“But you are now. The tattoo I gave you had an unintended effect, but apparently a potent one. And it means that you can help Dory and Garrett.” She turned to Dory. “Dory, hold on to Jackson and see if he can cloak you, too.”

He took another step back and came ass up to the wall. “No, I’m not going to do this.”

“Please, Jackson.” Dory stood and laid a delicate hand on his chest. “Please. If I can get into Garrett’s room, I’m sure I could save him. Or at least heal him enough so that we can bring him home. Please.” The tears flooding her eyes were his undoing.

He shot a dirty look at Lissa that promised they would talk about this at another time, one of his choosing. “Fine. But if it doesn’t work, I’m not the one to blame.”

“Oh, it’ll work,” Lissa said with supreme confidence.

Minutes later, Dory was clamped to his side, and they were inching toward Garrett’s room as he concentrated on the war and his time there. Perhaps that was what gave his regular ability another level, allowing him to cloak another person with him. He didn’t know, but it had better not stop while he and Dory were en route to Garrett’s room.

He’d always tried to stay out of the line of vision of the cops while he cleaned up after Garrett and in battle he had always tried to keep himself camouflaged, but never like this, never with magic. At least not that he had known. But what Lissa had said made sense even if he’d never admit it to her. Lissa with her fingertip that had traced a trail of fire on his lower back. Lissa who, even now, was distracting the doctors and nurses assigned to Garrett’s floor with a very deliberate bout of hysterics to clear the way for him and Dory.

Jackson and Dory ducked into the cubicle at the end of the hall where Garrett was hooked up to all manner of beeping machines and IVs. Jackson had to look away and swallow for a moment before he could stand seeing it.

“Oh, my God,” Dory whispered.

He put his hand over her mouth and shook his head. He could see her and she could see him, but no one could see them. However, he didn’t know if his cloaking ability extended to sound and this was so not the time to experiment. They could not take the chance of being caught. She nodded and he removed his hand.

He kept a grip on her waist as she bent over Garrett, moving his dressing gown out of the way to lay her hands directly on his too-pale skin. She mouthed words Jackson couldn’t make out—that mantra thing he’d never really understood—moving her palms over Garrett. When she hit the spot Lissa had tattooed earlier that day, Garrett jerked and moaned, his heart rate spiking almost enough to make the monitors go off.

She started to shake desperately and he gripped her harder.
Don’t lose it now, Dory.

Garrett’s breathing evened out and his heartbeat on the monitor dropped to something closer to normal. He released a sigh as his left hand rose to grip Dory’s. His eyes were still closed, but a faint smile had traced its way across his lips. He mouthed her name and then jackknifed into a sitting position.

Before Jackson or Dory could stop him, Garrett began yanking tubes and adhesives off his body, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. “The ink. It has to be the ink.”

Even Lissa at her loudest and most obnoxious could not have kept the staff from running into Garrett’s room at that point. Jackson had about two-point-one seconds to get Dory out of there before doctors and nurses came streaming in.

He lifted her away from Garrett and double-timed it out of the cubicle, barely brushing against the first responders. The nurse looked over his shoulder, but he apparently didn’t see them, because he continued on his way.

Jackson didn’t breathe easy again until he deposited Dory into one of the hard-backed chairs and dropped into one himself.

“Jesus.” He dropped his head in his hands and started shaking. A soft hand on his shoulder made him jerk, but it was just Dory. She was looking at him with eyes shining again, eyes filled with hope.

“We did it, Jackson. We did it. I could kiss you!”

“Why don’t you let me handle that for you, Dory?” Lissa said a split second before she launched herself into his lap and covered his face with kisses.

He jerked to his feet but she hung on and he was forced to cradle her in his arms.

* * *

“They’re not going to let you out on good behavior if you’re not exhibiting it, Garrett.” Lissa clamped his wrist against the sheets of his hospital bed, determination making her stronger than him for once. They needed to get out of here so Garrett would not be found out and so she could process the extremely intimate connection she’d made with Jackson. She’d heard of other Meridians, what people with her talents called themselves, enhancing a person’s powers by touch alone, but she’d never tried it herself.

She shouldn’t have tried it this time, dammit. It had created an even more intimate connection between her and Jackson. And now she had to deal with the fall out. She needed space and time to think about what had happened.

“Get me the hell out of here,” Garrett said in a low growl, interrupting the train of thought she should have never boarded.

“Dory’s working on it. But if you don’t act like a model patient, they might keep you. You don’t want them running a bunch of tests on you.” Jackson was even now using his newfound power to search out and destroy every vial of Garrett’s blood that had been drawn while he was in the hospital. There was no telling what was in it, but everyone would be better off not knowing.

“Ten minutes and then I’m leaving with or without permission.”

“To display your cute little ass all over town in that flapping hospital gown? I don’t think so.”

That was when the doctor came in, scratching his head, his brown hair curled around his ears and his glasses slightly askew. “I’m not sure what to tell you, Mr. Blackwell. The difference between when you came in and now is remarkable. I don’t know what kind of episode you were having, but I don’t see signs of a seizure at all.” He shook his head. “Your fiancée is filling out the paperwork now. When we get the lab results back, we’ll definitely give you a call, but I don’t see any reason to keep you beyond curiosity.”

“Thanks,” Garrett said roughly when Lissa pinched his arm. “Can I get my clothes back now?”

“I’m afraid we cut those off you, but I can offer you a pair of scrubs.”

“Whatever. I just want out.”

The doctor made a note on Garrett’s chart then left, his shoes squeaking against the polished floor.

“You might try to be a little more polite.” She nudged him with her shoulder. “So do I owe you my congratulations or was Dory just trying to get the doctors to pay more attention to her by calling herself your fiancée?”

“I haven’t asked her yet. Hell, I probably haven’t told her I loved more than a handful of times. What if this is all too much for her someday?” He shrugged and there was a world of eloquence in that gesture.

“First off, she’s a strong woman, stronger than I gave her credit for. And second, you know she’d say yes.” She gripped his hand, hoping against all odds that he would finally see he was worth something.

“What do I have to offer her? A life of crime and violence? She’s better than that.”

She smacked him on the arm, ignoring the fact that he was sitting in a hospital bed after a trauma to his system. One she might have caused.

“Ow.”

“Don’t you ‘ow’ me. What kind of stupid crap is that?” she demanded. “You fight crime, Garrett, not start it. Dory knows she’s as lucky to have you as you are to have her, you pain in the ass. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you and you are the best thing that’s ever happened to her.”

He opened his mouth to protest, but she rolled right over him.

“Don’t be a nimrod. She’s doing what she was meant to do by healing you. Each day she glows more. She’s coming into her own and she’s putting her past further and further behind her.”

He squinted at her out of the corner of his eye. “You sound like a mom.”

“And I’ll continue to until you stop acting like a kid. Why can’t you see that you make her happy? That you make each other happy? In a world like this, that’s worth a lot.”

“You really think she’d have me?”

“In a heartbeat, Garrett,” Dory said as she stepped through the door with her fingers locked tightly as if in prayer.

Lissa knew she should leave these two to have a moment together, but Garrett squeezed her hand.

“I’d rather be able to do this on one knee and with a ring, but since Lissa very clearly reminded me that my ass might hang out of this gown, you’re going to have to settle for a hospital bed and my words.”

“It will be enough coming from you.” Dory moved a step closer to the bed, seeming to almost glide forward.

Lissa felt a pang in her chest. It was a feeling of joy but also of envy. She didn’t recognize the envy at first until it occurred to her that she wanted this for herself. She wanted someone to love her like this, treat her like this and want her like this. Wishing Jackson would be that person wouldn’t make it so. It would have happened long before now if they were meant to be together. The passion between them didn’t mean that they would ever mesh like these two.