This Side of the Grave (Night Huntress 5)

My whole body braced for impact when I felt a whoosh and distance abruptly began to grow between me and the river. For a split second, I thought Bones had caught me, deciding at the last moment not to let me crash into the water after all. But just as quickly, I realized I didn't feel the hard pressure of his arms. No, I felt nothing but the oddest sensation of air cushioning me, like invisible jets had magically appeared to propel me upward. A glance down proved I was now dozens of feet above the river, moving upward with every passing moment, nothing supporting me except those pulsating currents of air.

A wild grin split my face. Holy shit, I was doing it! I was actually flying! That former panic at once turned to elation. I was flying and it was the most amazing feeling. Far, far superior to the occasional dreams I'd had where I could soar without explanation or practice. The air continued to feel different, too. Like it had form that I could mold and manipulate. No longer empty space, but a canvas of opportunities and exhilaration instead.

I looked around, trying to spot where Bones was, when just as suddenly as I'd risen, I began to fall. My arms started doing that mad flapping again, but this time, nothing happened. A dull resignation filled me as I saw the distance disappear between me and the river. Good thing Bones has my leather jacket was my last thought before I landed into the river with a tremendous splash.

The jolt went through my body like a roundhouse kick. My momentum plunged me several feet under water and I came up spitting out the mouthful I'd accidentally sucked in when I gasped at the impact. Bones's face was the first thing I saw when I resurfaced. He hovered a few feet above me like a beautiful apparition, staring at me with a grin.

"Told you jumping off that bridge would flare up your instincts enough for you to fly." I gave a pointed look at the less-than-aromatic river I was floating in. "Yeah, but I'm still in the water, so it didn't work as well as you thought it would." His grin widened. "Never said it wouldn't take practice before you learned how to keep from crashing."

I lunged for him, determined to plunge him into the water with me, but he neatly avoided my grab, chuckling. Then he hauled me out of the river by my shoulders. An expertly controlled glide later -  showoff - and I was back on the top of the bridge, soaking the metal ledge with my waterlogged clothes.

"All right. Again," Bones stated.

I glanced down at the river and then back at him, noticing he was far enough away to avoid any other attempts I might make at grabbing him. Before we're done tonight, I promised him silently, you're taking a dip in that water with me. Necessity might have prompted him to insist on this extreme form of flying lesson, but his smirk said Bones was getting a kick out of seeing me splat into the river while I struggled to find my vampiric wings.

"I'd forgotten how much you used to enjoy giving me a hard time in training. Take every cheap shot, every low blow, right?"

His grin became more wicked, confirming my guess. "Be harder to stress you into flying now that you've already jumped once. Might have to throw you off to get your blood up enough this time."

"Don't even think about it," I warned him.

A brow arched. "That a dare, Kitten?"

He was somehow on the other side of me, moving with a lightning quickness that left me no defense. I felt an instant's strong grasp, a push - and then I was tumbling end over end toward the river, my curses flowing as fast as the wind and rapidly approaching water.

"Goddammit, I'm going to get you for this! You just wait until I get my hands on you - "

"Sticks and stones, luv," I heard him call out in reply. Then I smashed into the river, cutting off more of my furious rampage. I came up sputtering again, seeing Bones hovering over me, this time without even bothering to hold back his laughter.

"You look like a drowned rat. Perhaps you should try less flapping and more concentrating next time."

"You are so going to pay," I swore, lunging at him.

"If you want your revenge, come and get it," he taunted, flying just out of my reach as I continued to swim toward him.

My gaze narrowed. He wanted to play games, huh? Well, maybe I'd forgotten how much he enjoyed being a hard-ass in training, but he'd obviously forgotten that I was a fast learner. You've flown twice before, which means you have the ability. You just need to sharpen it, he'd said just a short while ago.

Oh, I'd sharpen it. Right now.

I channeled all my plans for paybacks into picturing the air above me as a ladder I could climb, if I could make it solid in my mind. Bones continued to fly in tight circles above me, asking how I enjoyed my evening bath and pondering that it must not be true that cats didn't like water. I ignored those witticisms, continuing to picture the air as something that was malleable.

Energy began to push against my skin, building until it thrummed with the same steadiness that my heartbeat once pulsed inside me. Remember how the air felt before.

It's not empty space. It's something you can shape and mold, propelling you upand after him, if you just concentrate hard enough . . .

When I felt the air above me pulsating in time to the energy in my body, I vaulted straight up out of the water. Bones was in the middle of his next pass over me and I barreled after him even though he yanked himself backward at the last second. That exultant feeling returned, like a shock of adrenaline to my system, as I felt the air bend to my will, allowing me the momentum and support to catch him with an aerial tackle that flipped both of us around.

And then, with a victorious snicker, I tightened my grip and tumbled us into the river, his answering laugh the last thing I heard before the water closed over us.

Chapter Thirteen

Now I know why you chose a room located all by itself on the roof," I remarked as Bones dropped us down in a graceful landing on the outside courtyard of our suite. After several hours of practicing, I probably could've managed to land myself, but I might have taken out some of the wrought-iron furniture in the process.

"Comes in right handy now," he said, with a meaningful glance at his ripped pants and shirt, casualties of my midair grab on him before. Between that, our wet clothes, and our dripping hair, we'd give any snooty patrons of the hotel a heart attack if we took the normal way in through the lobby.

I smirked. "Told you I'd get you back."

His laugh was its own caress on my senses. Even wet and smelling like a stinky river, Bones still managed to entice me. His clothes might be ripped and his leather jacket dripping water, but he made that look sexy. Maybe because being waterlogged meant his pants and shirt clung to all the lines of his body with explicit snugness, highlighting the lean muscles and hard planes like they'd been molded onto him.

He leaned down. "Dare I hope that vengeance was sufficient enough to make you forget your other vow of retribution?"

My hands trailed over his chest, pausing near his ni**les, which were rigid due to his wet clothes - or because he knew how those tight buds practically screamed to be touched. Without conscious thought, I licked my lips.

"And let you go back on your promise to work hard to change my mind?" I couldn't keep the husky catch from my voice. "That wouldn't be smart of me, would it?" He moved closer, pressing his chest more firmly against my hands until I could feel all the play of his muscles as his arms rose to encircle me.

"No, not smart at all," he murmured, his breath landing on exactly the right spot near my ear.

I closed my eyes, savoring the sensations rising in me. Then I pushed him away and began digging in my pants. Just a short distance away from us was a bedroom. That's where we needed to be, and the sooner the better.

"Hope the room card didn't fall out . . . ah, thank God for button pockets," I said, pulling out my card. This outdoor courtyard had key card entry access, though I'd bet it hadn't been used as the first way into the room before.

But when I went to the exterior door, Bones following closely enough for his energy to throb along my back, nothing happened when I pressed the card to the slot. I did it again, double-checking that the arrow was in the right position. It was, but still no green light.

"Try yours," I said, frowning.

After a few moments, Bones had his card out and in the correct position, but several tries later, the door still didn't open.

"Getting them wet must've shorted the magnetic strip," he said, shrugging. "Wait here.

I'll go back through the lobby and let you in once I've gotten new cards."

"Dressed like that?" I asked with a laugh. "I should let you just because I'll crack up imagining the looks on people's faces, but I'll go. I might be just as wet as you, but at least my clothes aren't ripped half off, and my jacket's dry because you left it by the bridge before I pulled you into the river."

"I don't care what any of those toffs think," he replied dismissively.

No matter that I'd done far more questionable things myself in recent months, shades of my rigid upbringing insisted that one did not appear with indecent gaps in their clothing in public if one could avoid it. I tried another tactic.

"Come on, have mercy on any older women who might be in the lobby. You don't want to give them heart attacks if they catch a glimpse of your goods," I teased, trailing my fingers down the front of his torn pants.

His hand closed around mine, bringing it flush up against the goods in question. Things low inside me clenched in response, drawing a short moan. God, feeling him grow thick and hard in my grip almost ended my control right there. It was all I could do not to drop to my knees and replace my hand with my mouth.

"I'm leaving," I said, the words hoarse from the willpower it took for me to pull my hand away. "I won't be long."

His eyes were bright green, matching the hunger in his expression, fangs tantalizing me from underneath those perfectly sculpted lips.

"Hurry."

I jumped off the roof without even looking to make sure someone wasn't below me until I'd almost reached the ground. Good thing it was almost four in the morning, late even for most of this city's residents to be out and about.

Then I rounded the corner and went into the Ritz, giving a brief nod to the doorman. One short elevator ride later and I was in the lobby, pretending not to notice the surprised looks the employees gave my wet hair and shoes. I pulled out my driver's license - fake, but registered to the same last name Bones booked this room under - and explained my room key was somehow not working. While I waited for my new cards, a man checked in, holding a sleeping little girl in one arm while awkwardly signing his forms with the other. From his hushed voice, it was obvious he was hoping to have her in bed before she woke, and after hearing his weary comment about airport delays, it was also obvious he was just as tired.

I got my new cards at the same time the employee finished checking the man in, so we waited for the elevator together. He blinked a little at the drips of water that pooled at my feet when we stepped into the elevator, but said nothing.

"Tripped and fell in a big puddle," I whispered.

"Ah" was his equally quiet reply. At least he didn't give me the same kind of stink eye that the fur-wearing, plumber-banging older woman had.

We'd gone up about ten floors when all of a sudden a booming noise preceded the elevator shuddering like we were caught in an earthquake. The man staggered and I grabbed him so he wouldn't accidentally drop the little girl, who awoke with a cry. I had a split second of confusion before dread slid up my spine. Supernatural energy filled the air, coming from the top of the elevator, where moments ago, it sounded as if a boulder had dropped on us.

Except boulders didn't drop from nice hotels onto elevators, and they also didn't make ominous growling noises.

Oh shit, I thought, right before I heard the first cable snap.

"Get in the corner!" I ordered, shoving the man when he just stood there.

"What's going on?" he shouted. His little girl began to wail. The elevator shuddered again, this time accompanied by a horrible whipping noise that sounded like another cable being ripped away. At the same time, pounding began on the roof of the car. I ignored that, plunging my hands into the seam in the elevator doors hard enough to bloody my fingers before shoving them apart. A slab of concrete and steel met my vision, no open spaces to escape through. The elevator was suspended between floors, but not for long, judging from the latest snapping sound.

"Oh God, what is that?" the man screamed.

Metal, plaster, and glass rained down on us as a hole appeared in the roof where none had been before. A ghoul's face came into view, a savage smile lighting his features as he spotted me.

"Reaper," he hissed.

I pushed the man aside just in time to knock him away from the ghoul's grasping hands as he lunged for me.

"Get down!" I yelled, trying to fight off the ghoul while standing under the hole he'd torn open. If the ghoul got inside, both father and daughter would be dead in seconds, and that's only if they were lucky enough for the elevator not to drop before then.

Pain slashed across my arms and face, red immediately coloring my gaze. He's got a knife. A silver knife, I realized, judging from the burn it left on my skin. I tried to avoid that flashing blade while still keeping the ghoul from dropping into the elevator. Another snapping noise and the car dropped a few feet before coming to an abrupt stop, metal groaning under the strain of a last brake kicking in to hold the elevator up.

But one good thing had come out of the elevator's fall. Now, shiny steel doors took up part of the concrete and metal wall. The car had dropped halfway to the opening of a new floor.

"Pull those doors open and get out now!" I shouted, a crimson-filled glance revealing that the man was crouched in the same spot as before, clutching his daughter while gaping up at us.