Protective Ink (Urban Fantasy) (3 page)

Unlocking the front door of her apartment, she let herself in and dropped her bag and keys on the sideboard. She unzipped her boots and left them in the hallway on her way to the living room. A glass of wine would help her relax and regroup. Not all her “special” tattoos came with a price or she would have stopped doing them years ago. She needed to remember that, too.

Diving into a book would take the edge off and give her some distance from the situation. Originally, she’d been planning to invite Jackson up for dinner in celebration after his tattoo, but that clearly wasn’t going to happen now.

It had been cool to see him disappear, though. She would bet dollars to donuts he wouldn’t have to hurt himself to make the power work, either. But once he set his mind to something there was little chance of changing it. She knew that one all too well. He was the most stubborn person she’d ever met. And her family was filled with stubborn people. It was going to be hard to convince him that having a power wasn’t a bad thing, but she’d have to try.

There was a distinct possibility that Jackson could use his power without suffering. After all, not everyone she gave a “special” tattoo suffered from the experience. Still, she hadn’t tried to do more than small boosts since her experience with Garrett. Perhaps it was time to finally get the answers to questions she’d been afraid to ask about the art that had been passed down in her family. She picked up the phone to call her mother for advice when a knock sounded on her door.

“I need you,” Jackson said without preamble as he shoved his way into the apartment.

Her heart fluttered. “What’s going on?”

He stood stock-still in the middle of her living room, not a single muscle moving. “Garrett’s in a bad way and I can’t find him. Can you do some kind of charm thing to locate him? Do you know someone who can track people?”

“I… No, I don’t. What happened, and why on earth are you here instead of out there looking? Where’s Dory?” Now her heart was really pounding. Next to Jackson, Garrett was the most important person in her life. He might not know it, since she was often tough on him when he came in to have work done, but it was true. And now he was in trouble. Dory had to be out of her mind with worry.

“I called her, but she’s not answering. We have to get him. Can you help?”

“I can’t do anything more than you know about, and I can’t tattoo our way out of this one. The only tracker I know of lives hundreds of miles from here.” Helplessness swelled in her chest. Something in her gut told her that this was not a usual tussle—that Garrett was in real trouble.

* * *

“I am going to fuck up whoever has him.” Jackson stalked along the pavement with Lissa trailing behind him. It wasn’t a big city, but there were plenty of abandoned buildings, not to mention neighborhoods where he wouldn’t take Lissa in full daylight much less at night. Thank God he’d remembered he had a GPS tracker installed on Garrett’s cell phone. They weren’t far from him, but the place they were going to was not nice.

“I’ll help,” Lissa said, her boots clacking along the sidewalk.

“Can you, for God’s sake, be a little quieter? You shouldn’t even be here.”

“Think what you want. He’s my friend, too.”

“Yeah, and you might get us all killed with your high fashion. We’re not exactly making a stealth approach right now.”

The expression on her face told him she was holding back some kind of comment that would start a fight, and he almost sent another jab her way to get it rolling. But she wasn’t the focus of his anger, and he wanted to save the rage that was pounding through his veins for the people who had Garrett cornered.

As they neared the GPS location of Garrett’s phone, Jackson took a deep breath. A light was on in the front window of 547 Manheim Street. Jackson crouched at the corner of Smith and Manheim behind a decorative set of trees in pots. He tried to scope out the situation when really he just wanted to bust in and kick some ass.

Grabbing Lissa’s hand, he pulled her down beside him. “Keep a sharp eye out. Let me know if you see anything.”

She jerked her hand out of his and punched him in the shoulder, right where the tattoo gun had been earlier. It hurt like a bitch, but he kept his groan in, barely.

“If you’d use the power from that tattoo, we wouldn’t have to sneak around. You could be up in that room already, surprising the hell out of whoever has Garrett.”

Whipping his head around, he sent her a glare that should have stopped her in her tracks, but Lissa was not a woman to be intimidated. Never had been.

“Yeah, you heard me. You could be in there taking care of business.”

“I don’t want it. Now be quiet so I can assess what’s going on. Don’t make me regret that I brought you with me when you could have been searching for Dory.”

Her lips clamped into a flat line, but she didn’t say anything more.

No noise came from the run-down house, a little saltbox from the early 1800s whose heyday had come and gone decades ago. No shadows crossed in front of the drawn shades. He’d thought about calling Garrett back, but if his attackers hadn’t figured out he had a phone on him, Jackson didn’t want to be the one to alert them.

For a brief moment he did consider going invisible. Lissa was right, after all. It would make saving his friend a snap. But he didn’t want the responsibility of the power, and he certainly didn’t want to risk the agony Garrett’s abilities cost him. Lissa might think it wouldn’t happen, but if Jackson had learned one thing in life, it was that there were always consequences.

“You keep watch out here. See if you can get ahold of Dory. We have to know where she is.… Whatever happened, Garrett is going to need her.”

Lissa’s cell phone was already in her hand when he made a dash for the back of the house, which he figured was the safest way to enter.

The kitchen door was unlocked. He entered and closed the door as quietly as possible behind him. The house was laid out like many he’d seen before, with the kitchen taking up the back of the house and two rooms up front. Depending on the layout, the staircase would probably be in the middle. From the placement of the windows, though, he knew it was going to be on his left. Being in construction had its perks.

No boards creaked under his feet, thankfully. He wondered briefly if his invisibility power would mask sounds, too, or just his appearance. He shook the thought off. He wasn’t going to use it, so it didn’t matter.

The stairwell was indeed on his left. He used it as cover to peek into the front room. Empty. He’d figured as much, but better safe than sorry. The last thing he wanted was to give someone an opportunity to jump him from behind.

The stairs weren’t as quiet as the kitchen floor, and each squeak set his nerves on edge until he broke into a run and raced to the second floor. If anyone was here, they would have heard him by now, so there was no point in favoring stealth over speed.

When he reached the landing, he burst through the first door to his right and found nothing. Well, shit. To his left was another door and, given the layout, there would probably be one more door down the hallway to the right. One would have to be a bathroom, the other a bedroom. Which should he check first? Jackson had rarely let indecision hold him in its grip, and he wasn’t about to start now.

The bedroom held nothing but some old crumpled trash and a plump purple chair. The house obviously wasn’t in use.

That left the bathroom. He had no idea what he’d find, but hanging back and thinking wasn’t about to give him the answers he needed.

Taking the door with his shoulder, he busted it in.

It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but it wasn’t pretty either.… Garrett’s wrists were tied to the shower rod with rope, and his bloody and beaten body was suspended over the tub. As Jackson used his utility knife to free his friend, he thought about Lissa. He sure as hell hoped she’d managed to get ahold of Dory. Without her—and her ability to heal Garrett—his friend might not have much time left.…

Chapter Three

Lissa practiced an ancient religion whose name had been lost over the ages. It incorporated parts of different well-known religions, including Wicca. Still, she had no idea where to send her prayers as Jackson climbed into the backseat of her car with a pulverized Garrett essentially draped over his lap.

She’d finally reached Dory, who had been working late on some local business owner’s taxes. It had taken every ounce of charm and persuasive power Lissa could channel to make Dory go home to wait for Garrett instead of rushing to the scene.

Lissa screeched to a halt behind Garrett’s apartment building. She hoped the dark would cover them as they dragged him into the building and up the stairs. If anyone saw his injuries, they’d insist on a hospital visit. Given that Dory was the only one who could set him right, that could be fatal for him.

Dory was waiting at the back door, holding it open with one hand as she covered her mouth with the other. Lissa could see the scream in her eyes, but could also tell she was as aware of the need for surreptitiousness as they were. She kept silent.

Jackson slammed out of the car, ran around to Garrett’s door and dragged the other man out. Setting him on his feet, he ducked under one arm as Lissa ducked under the other.

“You ready?” Jackson asked.

“As ready as I’ll ever be. We need to make sure Dory doesn’t go off the handle,” she murmured, pitching her voice low so the other woman wouldn’t hear her.

“She’s strong. She’ll do what’s necessary.”

Lissa braced herself to help haul Garrett’s inert body up the stairs because the building didn’t have an elevator. When they got him to the door, Dory immediately started laying her hands on the visible bumps and bruises on his arms, strange marks that looked like they came from a needle. Her eyes welled with tears, though she kept them from falling.

Jackson jerked to a halt on the first landing, and Lissa took the opportunity to catch her breath.

“Dory, why don’t you go on up and get things ready?”

“I…”

“Please.”

Her mouth turned down at the corners, but she followed his request.

“Why’d you send her away? She was helping him. He already looks a little better.”

“Lissa, I do not want to trip over her and fall with Garrett. Do you? He’s going to come through this like he has everything else. Three more minutes without being healed is not going to do him any harm.”

Lissa couldn’t do anything except agree as she prepared herself for the next set of stairs. Thank the heavens he lived on the second floor.

But who had done this? And why? Garrett had never been injured this badly before—at least not as far as she knew. It scared her. As the older sister he’d never had, she might just have a talk with him about letting the police do their job. Not that he’d listen, but she would say her piece anyway.

They finally reached the second floor and carted Garrett into the living room of his apartment. While they hoisted him onto the couch, Dory flitted around like a hummingbird at a flower.

“Should we leave?” Lissa whispered to Jackson.

“No. I want some answers. Tonight. We need to work this through together.”

They waited in the kitchen, making coffee and tea while Dory tended to Garrett’s wounds, healing them as if they’d never been. Lissa had only heard about what she could do from Jackson. She had no idea how it worked or why, and she would never ask. If Dory had a story she wanted to tell, Lissa would listen, but it wasn’t in her to intrude. It was fascinating, though, to watch the woman work.

Dory placed her hands over each of Garrett’s wounds, murmured an incantation of sorts and sucked in his darkness. As it drained out of him, Garrett’s incredibly resilient body did its own work, healing him at a superhuman speed. But there seemed to be more going on here. Dory actually seemed to be helping him heal. The questions of how she had tapped into that power and what happened to the darkness once she drew it out burned in Lissa’s throat. Perhaps it was as simple as the strong love they shared. Lissa would like to think that Garrett had found the answer to his dilemma and the key to his heart in one fell swoop. The need to believe this idea made her pause; she’d never been a romantic before.

But there was no time for pausing now. As soon as Garrett came to and sat up on the couch, rubbing his head, Jackson growled, “What the hell is going on, man?” His demand was spoken from the kitchen, but the words carried into every corner of the small apartment.

“Let him at least get a good breath, Jackson.” Dory pushed up the bridge of her rectangular glasses then crossed her arms over her chest. Behind the eccentric librarian look there was the heart of a lioness.

“We don’t have time, Dory. Something’s going on and I need to know what…for everyone’s safety.” Jackson returned his gaze to Garrett. “Is there cleanup I have to do somewhere?”

“No.” He rubbed the back of his head again. “I’m the only one who got my ass handed to me. I don’t even think I touched the guys.” Pressing a hand against his rib cage, he drew in a short breath. “I took on one guy and then suddenly there were four more. I probably landed one blow before they descended. Then it was Garrett the punching doll, part four.”

“Maybe you’d better lie low for a few days.” Jackson stood there with crossed arms, anger and aggression radiating from him. An utterly inappropriate urge to wrap her arms around Jackson came over Lissa, and she blinked. Honest to God, she did not have time for her libido to start working now. She was just getting her life back on track. Now was a good time to remember that instead of trying to imagine what it would feel like to have her hands on him and those rock-hard biceps. Anyway, this particular ship had sailed ages ago.

“I can’t, Jackson. There are too many things going on lately. Crime has been escalating steadily. Used to be I’d have maybe one or two disturbances I’d get involved in within a month and now it’s like they’re coming to me. I can’t back down, or go into hiding. If someone wants me, I’d rather they find me than try to get to me through my friends and loved ones.” He gripped Dory’s hand and looked up at her in a way Lissa had yearned for over the years. She’d given up on the notion of love for herself, but was thrilled Garrett had finally found someone to adore with his whole heart.