A golden haze crackled across the hawk's body, and by the time he hit the floor, it was a man with golden hair and rich blue eyes. A man she knew. Jon Barnett. And he held two halves of a quarterstaff.
Things were about to get tough.
She glanced around, but there was nothing in this room that could be used as weapons. Which was entirely the point.
He leapt at her, wooden staffs little more than a blur. She backed away, dodging and weaving, but there was no way on Earth she could avoid every blow. Yet for all the speed, the blows were little more than taps. Had it been anyone other than Jon, she probably would have come out of this with bruises.
Her back hit a box. She cursed and dropped, sweeping with a foot. He jumped her leg, and then smacked it with one of the staffs. She cursed again and dove at him, tackling him at knee height and knocking him to the ground. Before he could move, she scrambled up his body and punched his chest.
"Trust a short ass to tackle someone at knee height," he muttered, blue eyes diamond bright in the dusky light.
"Blame Maddie. She's the one who told me that if all else fails, tackle them." Nikki grinned. "You're just lucky I didn't grab you where she told me to grab you."
"My wife told you to grab me?"
"Yep. Said she didn't mind, as long as I didn't bruise you too much."
"Charming." He smacked her leg. "You'd better get going."
She nodded and rose. But her smile faded as her gaze swept the remainder of the room.
One vampire stood between her, the end of the room and the end of this damn test.
And that vampire was the one who felt so wrong.
"Why the hell is she just standing there?" Jake's voice echoed loudly in the control room.
Michael glanced at the screen. Nikki was a small and slender shadow surrounded by the dusky shades of the testing room. Her breathing was rapid, a fact confirmed by not only the fast rise and fall of her chest, but by the beeping of the monitors on the main panel.
"She's afraid." And he could feel it.
He didn't know what she feared. She knew nearly everyone in the room with her, knew no one would hurt her. Yet her fear crawled inside his mind and begged him to take action.
She'd kill him if he did.
He flexed his fingers and resumed his pacing. While he knew this test was necessary, he didn't like watching. It was hard to stand back and let someone hit her, even if he knew they weren't about to hurt her. He should have stayed away, as he'd said he would.
But he just couldn't. Passing this test was important to her. When she came out of that room, he had to be here to celebrate or commiserate.
"Temperature's still rising in the room." Camille pushed her blue-rimmed glasses back up her nose as she glanced at him.
"It can't be Nikki," he said. "The room is a psi dead-zone."
"Then explain how the temperature in an environmentally controlled room suddenly shoots up ten degrees in a matter of minutes."
"You're the witch. You tell me."
"Doesn't that fire gift of hers appear when she's afraid?" Jake asked, brow furrowed as he stared at the small screen. "Could it be that?"
"It could be," Michael agreed, "but it shouldn't be. That room is chock full of spells that prevent magic and psychic gifts happening within its four walls."
Jake raised an eyebrow. "So how did Jon shapeshift?"
"That's personal magic—magic from the soul," Camille said. "Totally different thing altogether."
"So you can make a spell to target or confine one type of magic and not the other?"
"You can make a spell to do anything you want, as long as you've got the skill and the time." Camille glanced at Michael. "So what's she afraid of?"
"I don't know."
"Yet you can sense her fear?"
"Yes."
Camille raised a silver eyebrow. "Another thing that should not be possible. Interesting."
It certainly was. If he could feel Nikki's emotions through all the barriers in that room, then their connection went far deeper than anyone had realized. Maybe Seline was right. She'd suggested that when he'd shared his life force with Nikki, more than a binding of minds had happened. Maybe it was a merging, one of hearts and souls. It would certainly explain why they were beginning to share some of their gifts—why his kinetic powers had gone off the scale, and why she now had night vision similar to his infrared vampire vision. And why she could now sense the nonhuman as well as he could. But it didn't explain why both of them were developing new psi gifts, such as clairvoyance and precognition.
"Temperature is still going up," Jake noted into the silence.
Camille glanced at Michael. "You want me to stop it?"
"Not yet." Not when there wasn't any real reason to.
Besides, he very much wanted to see her in her wedding dress. Very much wanted to watch her expressive amber eyes as he said I do .
If he stopped this test, their wedding would be put off. Seline had insisted on that, stating it was a waste of time and effort if they stopped Nikki's training halfway through just so the two of them could get hitched.
It was an insistence that worried him. He'd known Seline a very long time. There was something else behind her push to train Nikki, something the old witch wasn't telling him.
Actually, she wasn't telling him much at all at the moment, not even where she was currently hiding. That in itself suggested that whatever she saw happening involved him in some way—and that he could very well be a threat to her safety.
He'd asked her about it, of course, but the old witch could be stubbornly mute when she wanted to be.
The old witch also has very good hearing, so watch your thoughts.
Seline's sharp voice arrowed into his mind and he smiled. If the old witch wasn't so nosy, she wouldn't hear so many disparaging thoughts.
What's the point of getting old if you can't be nosy?Amusement spun down the mental lines. How's Nikki doing?
He glanced at the monitor again. She hadn't yet moved, and the temperature had gone up another notch. She has Lenny to get past, then she's home.
If she got past Jon, Lenny shouldn't prove to be a problem.
Shouldn't, but he is.
Why? She's coped with vampires a hell of a lot meaner than Lenny.
I know that, and she knows that.He stopped pacing as Nikki looked up at the camera closest to her.
Sweat beaded her forehead, and fear sparkled in her warm eyes. But her expression was determined, and after a moment, she took a deep breath and took a step forward.
Then another.
Lenny didn't attack, and the temperature rose yet another notch.
"Another three degrees and I'm stopping it," Camille commented. "We'll be risking everyone's safety otherwise."
Maybe it's not so much Lenny as the wedding,Seline commented. Maybe she's decided she doesn't want to marry such an old man after all.
This old man will track you down and box your ears, if you're not very careful Seline's sigh was a cool breeze through his mind. You're annoyed because I won't tell you where I am.
No. I'm annoyed because you won't tell me why you won't tell me where you are.He crossed his arms, watching Nikki duck around a box. Though Lenny had circled around behind her earlier, he now stood near the window, so she still had some breathing space before he attacked.
Remember that vision I had when you and Nikki were in San Francisco?
The one about someone coming after me in revenge for what I did to his brother?
Nikki took another step. Two boxes and shadows were all that stood between her and Lenny now.
Yes. It appears the vision was slightly off. He had a go at me first.
What?