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"Be careful. The spell—"
He released the button, cutting off the rest of her warning, then clenched his fist and hit the door with everything he had—physically and kinetically.
For too many seconds, nothing happened. Then, with a screech that sounded like a live thing dying, the door exploded inwards. Wood and metal fell around him as he ran inside. The smell of burning flesh hit him immediately. Lenny's screams pierced the muggy air, the beat of his heart loud and erratic. Beyond that, further down the room, two more heartbeats. Human heartbeats, suggesting Nikki and Jon. The slower beat of a second vampire's heart was nowhere to be heard. Obviously, Marcus was dead.
He swore under his breath and ran swiftly around the boxes, heading for those two beats. Nikki knelt next to Jon, her hand on his shoulder, pressing a T-shirt into his wound. She glanced up as he approached, a mix of anger, confusion, and fear warming her expressive amber eyes.
"What took you so damn long?” She grabbed Jon's free hand and placed it against her makeshift bandage, then stood, thrusting her bloody hands on her hips.
Her anger burned through his mind, and he almost laughed out loud in sheer relief and joy. There wasn't much wrong with her if her temper was this high.
"Surely you could see what was going on in here?” she continued tartly.
"We did.” He grabbed her, pulling her into a hug that was as fierce as it was loving. “And I'm sorry, but Lenny barred the door. It took a while to force my way through. Are you all right?"
"Yes,” she said, her words muffled against his chest and at odds with the trembling in her body. “It was Jon who got hurt and...” She hesitated, her voice catching. “The other vampire was killed." He held her away from him, his gaze sweeping the length of her then coming back to her face. Her left cheek was swollen and beginning to bruise. He gently brushed a tear away from her cheek. “Any loose teeth?"
"A couple,” she admitted.
He saw the blood on her teeth and knew she'd probably cut the inside of her mouth as well. He pulled her into his arms again, brushed a kiss across her mouth and glanced down at Jon.
"Thank you."
Jon nodded. Pain still lingered in his blue eyes, but Nikki had pulled the white ash out of his shoulder, and the healing process would have begun.
"Thank me by finding out how that bastard got a cross bow and white ash in here. I thought we had spells set in the foyer to detect such things?"
"We do, but all spells can be countered if you know how.” What they had to find out is how someone like Lenny, who had no apparent knowledge in magical law, had managed it. And what his connection to Nadia might be. Michael had no doubt that there would be a connection. Two attacks, both using magic to get around the spells interwoven in this building, and both performed by people with no talent in magic—that was more than just a coincidence.
"You need a hand up?” he added, offering Jon a hand.
Jon's good hand clasped his, and Michael hauled him to his feet. “You'd better head to medical for a checkup, just in case those arrows were tipped with something." Jon nodded and walked away. Michael pulled back from Nikki and brushed the sweaty strands of dark chestnut hair from her forehead. Her skin still burned with the heat of the flames she'd directed at Lenny.
“You'd better get down to medical, too."
She raised an eyebrow. “You're not coming with me?"
His smile was grim. “I have a vampire to question."
Surprise and relief flitted through her eyes. “Then he's not dead?"
"No.” And he was no longer screaming. Either he was unconscious or the flames had stopped eating his flesh—though this second option suggested that Nikki had retained some control over her fire. It had not been so when the flames had first appeared in the sewers of San Francisco. Then, they'd cindered all that they'd touched. “Did you mean to kill him?"
"No."
"Then that's surely a good sign that the lessons have been of some use."
"Perhaps.” Her expression was dubious as her gaze searched his. “But how did I raise the fire when this room is supposed to be a psychic dead-zone?"
"The fire must fall into the zone of personal magic rather than psychic abilities. Same as the connection between us must be personal magic."
Her frown deepened. “I thought personal magic was something you were born with. My pyrokinetic skills are a leftover from the time the flame imps inhabited my body."
"Suggesting, perhaps, that for the brief time they were in your body, they became a part of you spiritually."
"Meaning the flame imps are now part of whatever I am?" He smiled. “Don't sound so horrified."
"Why shouldn't I be? I'm not human anymore. I'm not vampire. I'm not any thing, because no one seems to know exactly what I am."
