by Tessa Cole
My pulse stalled. “Is that a person?”
The big, bulky shape took out the top of the spire of the next building, careened off the wall of the six-story high rise beside it, and crashed into the park ring forest with a resounding boom.
My thoughts lurched as my power surged, burning up my forearms to my elbows. That was a person. A man. A big one by his size and build. Even if I hadn’t clearly seen him, my magic knew it.
I reached for my phone but realized I’d left it in my office and there wasn’t time to go and get it. There also wasn’t time to change out of my pastel blue silk camisole and tan linen pantsuit. But this wasn’t the first time I’d ruined my clothes to save a life, and I doubted it would be the last.
“Tell Cassey to prep triage.” I pushed a trickle of power into my back and, with a white flash of angelic light, released my wings, the magic allowing them to manifest through my clothing without damaging what I was wearing — something I highly appreciated. I didn’t release my wings often, but when I did, it was usually an emergency and while my clothes might end up bloody, they could sometimes be saved. Very little would save them if my wings had ripped massive holes in the back.
“Amiah, wait.” Cassius grabbed for me, but I leaped off the roof before he could stop me. Light flashed at the corner of my eye as he released his wings and flew after me. “Just wait.”
“Some supers can survive a fall like that, and my magic says he’s still alive.” But he wouldn’t be if I didn’t get to him right away.
I pushed myself to fly faster headlong into the breeze that hadn’t been there moments ago. It whipped my long blond hair out of its tight chignon and away from my face and cut through my thin clothes, chilling my skin everywhere except for my hands and forearms where my magic pulsed.
Everything within me narrowed to a pinpoint focus on the man. I could get to him in time. I could save him. I had to save him—
My thoughts lurched at that. I’d never had to save anyone before. The possibility of death had always been an option. My magic knew that. As long as I did everything in my power to save someone, I didn’t experience any backlash. If I didn’t do everything possible, my magic turned inward, sweeping through me and painfully incapacitating me.
“Stop. I’m the agent in charge. We know nothing about this situation.” Cassius flew close and tried to grab me again.
I jerked away and held up my now-glowing palms. “We know someone down there needs medical attention.” I dove into the alley between two four-story buildings. There was no way I could shake him or even out fly him. He was the stronger flyer, the stronger angel in every way, but maybe I could dodge him long enough to get to whoever had fallen out of the sky.
I took a quick turn out of the alley onto the next major street. Cassius drew close and reached for my ankle again, but I darted back into another alley and jerked to the side narrowly avoiding the metal fire escape clinging to the building’s red-brick wall.
“I don’t want to write you up,” Cassius said. “Amiah, please. We have to follow protocol. We’re already on probation with head office.”
“You know I have to go to him.” He knew how my magic worked, knew that if I fought it when it locked on to someone like this, I’d be useless for hours, sometimes even days.
“I promise. You’ll go to him. But we have to follow protocol.”
“I can’t wait for protocol. If I don’t want to be useless tomorrow, I can’t.” No matter how much it made my heart race to disobey the rules, the call of my magic was the stronger compulsion. It always was.
I shot out of the alley, across the empty two-lane street at the edge of the Quarter, flying so low I skimmed the roof of a small silver sports car parked at the curb, and barreled into the dark shadows between the thick tree trunks into the park ring.
My magic urged me on. Fly faster. Save him. Go go go.
I twisted avoiding branches and kept low to the ground, half trusting my night vision that allowed me to see reasonably well in low light and half trusting my instincts as I followed a dirt path heading deeper into the forest.
Cassius was right on my heels. If he put in a push, he’d be able to grab me. I didn’t know why he didn’t, but I was grateful he let me keep going. Probably the practicality of not wanting Operations’ chief physician incapacitated by something that could be avoided. And with the amount of magic building in my hands, if I didn’t try to save whoever had fallen out of the sky, I’d be out of commission for days.
My magic jerked me to the left toward thick underbrush and dense evergreens. With a pulse of power to my back, I yanked my wings into my body, hit the ground running, and shoved through the foliage.
I broke through into a clearing illuminated by the pale light of the half moon. A wide deep groove had been cut into the forest floor, the dirt pushed to the sides and heaped at the back, and broken branches littered the area.
At the far end, Sebastian Bane, his skin so pale it seemed translucent and radiating a pale icy blue light, knelt beside the broken, bleeding body of a massive, completely naked man.
Chapter 2
Amiah
“Amiah?” Sebastian’s eyes widened at our arrival. “Cassius?”
My thoughts stuttered over his presence… and, if I was being honest with myself, his breathtaking appearance. If the man had been a demon, he’d have been an incubus. And a part of me wondered — since no one knew much about fae or their realm — if he wasn’t the fae equivalent of one given his lascivious nature.
His stunning good looks, unusual pale eyes, and spiky white and silver hair gave him an exotic appearance, and with a body that I knew from treating him was all sculpted lean muscles covered in mesmerizing black tattoos, he probably had just as much success satisfying his needs as an incubus. He’d certainly know what he was doing—
“What the hell—?” Sebastian said, leaning forward, pressing his hands harder against a laceration in the naked man’s abdomen and doing little to slow the blood oozing between his pale fingers. “What are you doing here?”
I ignored him and heaved my thoughts back to the immediate problem. Assess the situation and save the man. From his essence and his lack of clothing, I guessed he was some kind of shifter — since a shifter’s magic destroyed his clothing when he shifted — but I wasn’t sure what type. His essence seemed wilder, more primal than Marcus’s, so I didn’t think the man was a werewolf, but he also didn’t have the sleek predatory feel of a feline.
Whatever he was, he was something that could survive that terrible fall, although just from looking at him, I was certain he’d broken every bone in his body, and his left fibula and ulna protruded through his skin. He probably had ruptured organs as well. This was going to take everything I had and then some. If we could get him to Operations, I’d be able to supplement my magic with human surgery, but first I’d need to stabilize him so we could move him.
“Why aren’t you calling triage?” I snapped at Cassius. I didn’t wait to see if he pulled out his phone or not, and dropped to my knees in the dry crunchy summer weeds on the other side of the man from Sebastian.
Even broken and bloody, the naked man was a stunning specimen, his massive body a study in powerful musculature. He wasn’t as gorgeous as Sebastian or handsome as Cassius, but with his mussed dark red hair — longer than that of both Cassius and Sebastian — and a few days’ worth of scruff along his jaw, he had a hard, rugged appearance that spoke tantalizingly of power and passion which was just as attractive.
The pressure of my magic grew stronger, the glow from my palms bright in the dark forest. If I didn’t connect with him soon, I’d pay the price.
I placed my hands over his heart and let my senses slide into his body. It didn’t matter if Sebastian still kept pressure on the man’s wound. Until my magic released me, it would heal the most grievous injuries first, not letting me go until this man was stable or someone else was in greater need. Given the state of the naked man, I doubted any of my magic would
go into Sebastian at all before I ran out.
My power connected and I instantly knew that yes, almost every bone in his body had been broken, some, like his right femur had been shattered. Both of his lungs had been pierced by broken ribs, his spleen had ruptured, and he was bleeding out from numerous deep lacerations.
It was a miracle he was still alive, and I could feel his life rushing out of him. There wasn’t time to be gentle and slowly seep my power into him. But in his condition, I doubted he’d feel the painful burn of being healed too quickly, so I drew in a steadying breath and released my magic without restraint. It crashed into him, a massive, hot wave, that always felt like blood pouring down my arms and over my hands and into my patient even though it wasn’t actually blood.
He screamed and jerked upright.
Oh, my goodness!
With his eyes still closed, he rammed his palm into my chest. The air burst from my lungs, and I flew back, slamming into a large rock at the edge of the clearing. Hot agony blazed through my chest and the forest lurched around me as my power surged inward, threatening to drown me.
Sebastian grabbed the naked man’s arm — too little too late — and the man collapsed back to the ground as if he hadn’t just sat up and hit me with his broken arm.
Cassius scrambled to my side and cupped my cheeks between his palms, trying to lock gazes with me. But I couldn’t get my vision to steady. It had been a long time since I’d been hit so hard that the world spun, my breath had been knocked out of me, and my ribs had been cracked — which I knew with certainty two of them were. And never before had I been hit by a patient like that. Yes, I’d been hit and clawed and bitten, but that—
“Amiah.” The angelic light radiating from Cassius’s eyes flared as his concern intensified.
“I’m okay,” I gasped, trying to push his hands aside. The naked man was still dying and my pain was nothing compared to that. I could deal with it later, and even if I hadn’t been okay, my magic still wouldn’t have allowed me to leave him.
Cassius didn’t let go and his eyes narrowed. “You’re not okay.”
“And he’s dying.” I matched his glare. “Call triage.”
“No, don’t,” Sebastian said, his hands back on the gushing gut wound, seemingly unaware that his white button-down was getting bloody. “It’s too dangerous. Just get him stable. I’ll take it from there.”
“Stable doesn’t mean he’s out of the woods.” I shoved at Cassius, shooting agony through my chest. He glared at me but sat back, letting me pass, and I scrambled back to the naked man.
Sebastian’s lips quirked and he rolled his pale eyes at me. “You did not just say that.”
“Say what?” I placed my hands back over the naked man’s heart, but held my power back. I didn’t want a repeat of the first time I’d flooded him. “Both of you hold him down. I don’t want to get hit again.”
The hint of Sebastian’s smile turned wicked, heating my insides with a yearning I’d spent my entire adult life ignoring and one I was going to continue ignoring because I was certain Sebastian was about to make fun of me.
“If you stabilize him,” he said, “I’m pretty sure he will get out of the woods.”
…because Sebastian would drag whoever this man was out of the park ring… which was more of a woods than a park.
“That wasn’t in the least bit amusing,” I huffed.
“You just don’t want to admit you like a little word play,” he said, making word play sound like it was supposed to be something else, something hot and dirty, that increased the aching heat inside me.
Cassius grabbed the naked man’s shoulders, and Sebastian pressed down hard on the man’s gut wound.
I drew in another steadying breath and, even though I didn’t really have the time for it, strained to release my magic slowly, praying I could increase the flow without making him lash out again. All the while my magic screamed to work faster. Hurry up. Save him.
My power flowed back into him, thick and viscous and clinging to his damaged cells while the excess leaked down my forearms, making them burn. Slow and steady. Build it up gently. I’d resisted the compulsion before — not often, but I had — and I could do it again.
“Okay, Bane,” Cassius said. “Start talking. Why is it dangerous to take this guy to Operations?”
“Titus is—” Light flashed from a small tattoo almost completely covered in blood on the inside of Sebastian’s wrist. “Fuck.”
He jerked around as a man materialized out of the shadows behind him. One moment there was nothing, the next, a man — or rather fae from his delicately pointed ears — had appeared, the shadows partially bleeding out of his face and hands, leaving a few billowing clouds of darkness undulating under his skin. He wore all black and had a scarf pulled up covering his mouth and nose like a bandit… or an assassin.
He stabbed at Sebastian’s heart with a knife the length of my forearm, and only Sebastian’s sudden turn to face the other fae saved him. The blade sliced into Sebastian’s side, his white button-down soaking up his blood in a dark, growing stain. With a grunt of pain, Sebastian seized the man’s wrist, but the man jerked back, breaking free of Sebastian’s hold, and lunged in again.
My power flared, the sudden shock of being attacked breaking my control of my magic. The power leaking down my forearms slammed into the naked man— what had Sebastian called him? Titus? It burned through his body, making him scream and his muscles seize.
“Because of this,” Sebastian gasped, as he twisted just enough so the blade cut his shirt but not skin, allowing him to get close to his assailant. He seized the man’s wrist again and punched him in the gut, drawing a surprised oomph.
Cassius leaped to his feet, his fire magic bursting around his right hand, and he snapped a fire whip around the assailant’s neck, but another man— no— demon from the hellfire in his eyes— no— vampire from his still lifeless essence rushed out of the shadows, his long black hair tied back in a ponytail sweeping behind him with the movement.
He sliced Cassius’s whip with a black katana, the blade only visible from the momentary glint of moonlight and firelight off the metal, and sparks showered the ground, catching in the dry weeds and turning into small fires that were sure to get out of hand quickly.
They did, however, offer better illumination, and it was clear I been right about Cassius’s assailant on both accounts. The man had both the hellfire of a demon in his eyes and the fangs of a vampire, which meant he had to have been half demon half human in order to be turned by a master vampire, since the ritual didn’t work on pure demons.
He, too, wore all black: black leather pants and a black wrap tunic with an East Asian feel to the cut and fabric. It hung past his knees, was bound tight across his chest and secured by a wide sash and a leather belt.
He barreled toward Cassius and slashed at him with his katana. Cassius drew the flames in the weeds back into his palms putting out the mini fires as he jerked out of the way of the blade, but the demon-vampire didn’t press his attack, instead shifting to lunge at me.
My pulse froze. I had to move, get out of the way, but my magic held me captive, refusing to release me until Titus was healed enough to move or I was physically pulled away.
This was why I never did field work. It was too dangerous. No matter how hard I concentrated or mentally fought my power, if it had locked onto someone, it wouldn’t let go, even if I was in danger.
“Amiah, move,” Sebastian shouted, but the glow of my power burned brighter and the hot sticky flow seized my muscles, keeping me locked in place.
Cassius snapped his fire whip around the demon-vampire’s neck as a force-wave rushed from Sebastian’s palms and slammed into me, ripping my hands away from Titus and knocking me onto my back. Pain sliced through my chest from my cracked ribs, stealing my breath, and my magic surged inward with the promise of a crushing backlash.
The demon-vampire staggered, but didn’t go down, and Cassius yanked him a few steps away from
me with his fire whip before the demon-vampire twisted and severed the whip with his katana.
I heaved myself back to Titus, my power reconnecting with his injuries and taking control of my body as the weeds beside me caught fire.
“Cassius.” I gritted my teeth and forced my hands to slide down Titus’s body to get away from the flames. But I only managed to get to his abs before my power jerked me to a stop, not allowing me to move farther from his heart, the place where my magic had the easiest access into his body since he didn’t have just one grave injury to concentrate on.
My heart pounded with a mix of fear and frustration. If I hadn’t been locked onto him, I’d have been able to move my hands anywhere. It had been years since I’d let myself end up in a situation like this. Working in a medical center, first for the war, then the emergency department at the supers’ hospital in the Quarter, and then in Operations had been enough to keep this nasty part of my magic at bay.
“Cassius. Your fire,” I said, determined to keep my voice stern but calm. No one liked it when their physician panicked.
Except everything within me screamed. Fire! But also save him!
The heat seared my skin, the flames singeing my pant leg. Even if Titus’s condition wasn’t dire, I didn’t want to have to waste magic healing myself since it took a lot more magic to heal myself than someone else.
I scrambled over Titus to his other side to get away from the flames and, grabbing his shoulder while my other hand was still stuck on his heart, tried to roll him out of danger. But the man was heavy — he must have been solid muscle — and I couldn’t get him to roll, at least not while my healing magic was still rushing out of me into him, taking my strength with it.
“Cassius!” I wrenched my attention from my patient and the flames in search of help.