Protective Ink (Urban Fantasy) by Misty Simon

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