Black City

“But the spell will keep out vampires and pix demons and all that?”

Nathaniel nodded. “If it works correctly. If we can project enough power. This is a very large hospital, and I am presuming that you are not simply interested in protecting this building.”

I shook my head. “Of course not. Why would we protect the helpless patients in this building and ignore the others? I wonder if the whole complex is under the sleeping spell.”

“We are not going to check,” Nathaniel said.

“So what are we going to do?”

Nathaniel looked uncertain for a moment, like he knew I wouldn’t like what he was going to say. “We have to combine our powers.”

“Okay…”

“We will need to mingle our blood in order to most effectively achieve this.”

“Are we talking about an I’m-your-blood-brother paper cut here, or a gaping wound? Because I’ve had enough gaping wounds today, thank you.”

“The cut itself will be relatively small,” Nathaniel assured me. “But combining our magic will feel…intimate.”

Now I was the uncertain one. “You mean, I’ll feel you inside me? And you’ll be able to feel me?”

Nathaniel nodded. “I understand if such a thing is reprehensible to you.”

Reprehensible? Not exactly. More like a betrayal. Because there was only one man I’d ever been intimate with, and mingling anything with Nathaniel felt a lot like I was spitting on Gabriel’s grave.

But if I didn’t do this, then everyone in this hospital was nothing but a buffet for the vampire horde.

I held out my hand to Nathaniel.

4

NATHANIEL TOOK MY HAND IN HIS. HIS SKIN WAS SO much warmer than mine. Angels are born of the sun, and the light of the sun beats within them. I had the heartstone of an angel, but my light would always be tempered by my humanity. I would never really be one of them.

He turned my hand over, drew his sword. “It will only hurt for a moment.”

“I’ve had worse than a slice from a sharp blade,” I said.

All the monsters I’d fought flickered in my memory for a moment, and then Nathaniel cut my palm open with the sword. I flinched, because it’s natural to flinch when you see your flesh rent open, but I didn’t make a noise.

Nathaniel repeated the same action on his own palm. He held the bloodied hand up for me to match. I pressed my wound against his and felt the tingling of magic, still banked.

He pulled me close, wrapped his other arm around my waist. I was hyperaware of all the places where our bodies touched, of the warmth of his breath on my hair. The air crackled with energy.

“Hold tight,” he murmured.

The glass of a nearby window exploded outward. Nathaniel shot through the opening and into the sky. We hovered above the roofs of the giant complex that composed the hospital.

Nathaniel leaned close to my ear. “I want you to push your power up and out, into the place where our blood touches. I will direct the spell. Now.”

I closed my eyes, found the place inside me where my ability lay quietly waiting for me, and I woke it up. I didn’t try to control or direct it anywhere except toward Nathaniel. The power roared forth, an unrestrained howl. As the heart of my magic met Nathaniel’s, my eyes flew open and met his.

Magic scorched the air.

Bitter wind cut through our clothes but I barely felt it. All I could feel was Nathaniel. It was like he was running wild in my blood, burning me from the inside out.

I knew his power, and his heart. I felt his struggle to direct the spell, to corral this wild surge that neither of us had expected.

I felt the confusion that roiled inside him, the passion for me that he had proclaimed but that I had always denied.

I don’t know what I revealed to him, but he looked as shocked as I felt.

We were locked together by magic and surprise, by a spell that had gone out of control almost as soon as it had been cast. The power poured forth from us, its strength almost beyond comprehension. It settled beneath us, draping all the innocents below in a protective veil. I knew that no vampire or demon would be able to harm the sleeping inmates of the hospital.

Our magic mingled and swirled, and when he put his mouth on mine it didn’t seem like a choice but an inevitability.

Part of me wanted to pull away. Part of me thought that it was far too soon for me to kiss some man who was not Gabriel.

The rest of me welcomed the heat, the burn, the wild play of magic in my blood, his mouth ravenous and devouring, our bodies pressed so tight that there was no air between us.

I don’t know what would have happened if someone hadn’t started shooting at us.

Nathaniel tore his mouth away, and the shock of his retreat brought the flow of magic to a grinding halt. I could still feel the remnants of him inside me.

A bullet whizzed past, close enough for me to feel the disrupted current of air that trailed behind it. I tried to look around, to see who was shooting, but Nathaniel held me tight and flew upward.

I was still full-body pressed against him, and this is not the best position for flying. I released his bloodied hand and put my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. This made other, more intimate parts of us press together. I tried not to think about what was touching and focused instead on the fact that our lives were in danger. But the lingering remnants of the spell remained, and I could tell that Nathaniel was having trouble concentrating on the situation at hand as well.

“Do not move around,” he said through gritted teeth. “And keep a tight hold. I am going to have to let go in order to blast them with nightfire.”