Venom

Mab whirled around on her heel and glared at the silver-haired attorney. "I'm never hasty, Jonah. Elliot and his men need to take care of it. Tonight. Am I understood?"

McAllister nodded his head. So did Slater.

A limo pulled to a stop at the curb in front of them. Mab said something else to her two flunkies, but the rumble of the engine drowned out her voice. The Fire elemental slid into the back of the limo, and a moment later it sped away into the night. One of the valets brought another car around, a late-model Mercedes. Jonah McAllister slipped into the driver's seat, whipped a U-turn, and raced away in the opposite direction.

That left just Elliot Slater standing on the sidewalk. The giant pulled a slim cigar case out of his jacket pocket and lit up a Cuban with the help of a heavy silver lighter. Slater leaned against the brick of the restaurant and puffed away. The giant enjoyed two more cigars in rapid succession, but he made no move to leave.

"What is he waiting for?" I murmured. "Christmas?"

"I don't know," Finn replied.

We sat there and watched Slater smoke. About five minutes later, a black Hummer stopped in front of the restaurant. Slater crushed out his cigar and climbed into the back of the vehicle. Finn and I slid lower in our seats as the Hummer roared down the street past us.

Finn let the driver get a block away before sitting up and cranking the Aston's engine. He turned to me and grinned. "Care to follow the white rabbit down his hole?"

"Sure," I replied. "Let's see what kind of late-night errand the giant is doing for Mab Monroe-and how we can fuck it up."

* * *

Finn hung back at a discreet distance, and we followed the Hummer through the downtown district. The vehicle took one of the on ramps to the interstate, so Finn was able to blend in with the rest of the evening's traffic.

"Looks like they're headed for Northtown," Finn murmured.

Ashland might sprawl over the mountainous region where Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina met, but the city was really divided into two sections-Northtown and Southtown. The Pork Pit and Ashland Community College lay close to Southtown, which was home to the disenfranchised, down-on-their-luck, and dregs of society. Junkies, vampire hookers, and homeless bums wandered the Southtown streets, along with menial, blue collar workers barely eking out a living.

Northtown was a different story with its cutesy subdivisions, cookie-cutter homes, and sprawling estates. That was the part of the city that the white-collar yuppies and moneyed, social, and magical elite called home. But that didn't make that part of Ashland any less dangerous. I'd rather face down a dozen junkies than have to put up with a self-important yuppie snob who thought he was better than me just because he had little logos on his polo shirts and chinos.

"It's not terribly surprising that Slater's headed to Northtown," I told Finn. "Northtown folks are the only ones rich and dumb enough to make trouble for Mab Monroe."

"Yeah, Mab just ignores Southtown trash like us." Finn snorted.

I smiled. "Going to be the death of her. One day real soon."

Finn stared at me out of the corner of his eye. After a moment, he shook his head and returned my sly smile.

The Hummer carrying Slater and his cohorts got off the interstate. Finn slowed down and followed the black vehicle. The Hummer rumbled past a couple of cobblestone shopping malls filled with pretentious bookstores, overpriced coffee bars, and designer clothing shops. There was just enough late-night traffic to keep us from being spotted. Not that I really cared if Slater realized we were following him. If the giant stopped and confronted us, well, I'd solve Roslyn Phillips's problem on the pavement, witnesses be damned.

But the giant was far too busy plotting his foul deed for the evening to notice us tailing him, because the Hummer never slowed down or did any sort of evasive maneuvers. After about twenty minutes of driving, the massive vehicle turned into a subdivision. A spotlight on the brick entrance highlighted the name-Paradise Park. Finn waited until the Hummer had made the turn into the subdivision before killing the lights on his Aston Martin and following.

I peered at the houses we passed. Mostly two-story affairs with wide porches. Roomy enough for a family, but not enormous. Swing sets, plastic castles, and other toys littered most of the sloping lawns.

"Not as nice as I'd expect for someone causing trouble for Mab Monroe," I said. "These are middle-class homes, not McMansions."

Finn shrugged. "Doesn't matter either way, does it? We're here to watch Slater, not Mab's target."

I returned his shrug. "Not really."

A block ahead, the Hummer's taillights flared red in the darkness. The vehicle made a final turn, coasted halfway down the street, then stopped. I peered out my window. Unlike the other jam-packed avenues in the subdivision, this one only featured two houses sitting on opposite sides of the corner. The Hummer sat several hundred yards away from each one. What was going on? Did Elliot Slater need his exercise or something? Was the giant going for a jog out in the suburbs?

"I wonder why they're stopping here," Finn murmured, voicing my silent question.

"No idea. Let's find out."

I picked up a pair of night-vision goggles from the dashboard and peered through them. The Hummer doors opened, and Slater slipped out, along with four other giants. Elliot Slater ran his hands down his suit jacket, smoothing out the wrinkles. Then he jerked his head at his men. But instead of walking back down the street in our direction, Elliot Slater and his men tromped through the grass to the right of the Hummer. I scanned over and spotted a modest house hidden behind a thin row of freshly planted trees. It looked like it had just been built, given the amount of loose dirt, cement blocks, and two-by-fours that still ringed the structure. The house was the only one on its block, and more than a half mile from the next-closest building.

"Looks like they're slipping up on a house on the next street, Jasper Way, according to the sign at the end of the corner. Going in the back instead of the front," I said.

"Jasper Way?" Finn asked. "What's the name of this subdivision again?"

"Paradise Park," I replied. "Why? Does one of your many conquests live around here?"

"Probably, but the name sounds familiar for some other reason." Finn frowned and tapped his fingers on his thigh, trying to remember something important.

I peered through the goggles again. A light burned in one of the downstairs windows of the home, but the curtains were drawn, so I couldn't see inside. A gleam of white caught my eye, and I looked to the right.

"The name on the mailbox says Coolidge." I frowned. The name tickled my memory for some reason.

"Coolidge?" Finn asked.

"Yeah, Coolidge." I snapped my fingers. "I remember now. After Elliot Slater finished beating me that night at the community college, I heard Mab talking about someone named Coolidge. About how Mab wanted him taken care of-the sooner the better. Must be why Slater and his men are paying him a late-night visit. I wonder what the poor guy did to piss off Mab."

Finn sighed and closed his eyes for a second. "Not him, her," he replied. "Coolidge is a her, Gin."

"How do you know that?"

Finn stared at me, his green eyes flashing like emeralds in the semidarkness. "Because it's in that file of information I gave you."

A hard knot formed in my stomach. "Which file?"

"The one on Bria," Finn replied. "Bria Coolidge. That's the name she's using now."

Oh, fuck.

Chapter Ten

I dropped the night-vision goggles, grabbed my ski mask from the dashboard, and yanked the black fabric down over my head, hiding my pale face and brown hair from sight.

"Gin-"

Finn said something, probably telling me to wait for him or slow down, but I couldn't make out what it was. I was already out of the car and sprinting toward the house.

Elliot Slater and his giants had a good head start on me-almost a quarter of a mile. I saw the five of them slip through the trees that circled the back side of the house. Another few seconds and they'd be at the back door and surging inside. An icy fist squeezed my heart and lungs, making it hard to breathe. I'd just found my sister again, and now Slater and his men were here to kill her. Why else would they be sneaking around Bria's house this close to midnight?

Run, run, run, run... The thought drummed through my head as my boots slapped against the pavement. I chugged past the parked Hummer, leaped over the concrete curb, and ran through the frost-covered grass. The tiny blades crackled like glass under my smashing feet. If Slater and his giants bothered to stop and listen, they'd hear me coming for sure. But I didn't care. All that mattered was getting to Bria before she got dead.

I broke through the line of spindly pecan trees, and Bria's house rose up in front of me, two stories of charming gray brick. I blocked out the blood roaring through my ears and reached out with my Stone magic. But the house was freshly constructed, and the stones were too new to tell me anything about Bria-or what might be happening inside.

I was a hundred feet away from the back door when lights flashed and a series of pop-pop-pops sounded. The distinctive sights and sounds of someone firing a handgun. A window shattered, and a series of loud curses spilled out into the night air. Bria was putting up more of a fight than the giants had expected.

A few seconds later, an intense, bluish white glow filled the downstairs windows and burst through the open back door. Even though I was outside, I could still feel the cold caress of Ice magic surging through the house. A sensation so like my own Stone and Ice power that it made me want to weep. Not surprising, even if it was something that I hadn't thought about in years. Because Bria was an Ice elemental, of course. Just like our mother, Eira, and older sister, Annabella, had been. I was the only one who'd inherited our father, Tristan's, Stone magic as well. I just hoped Bria had enough juice to hold off Elliot Slater and his men until I could even the odds.

The Ice magic flowed around me a second longer before snuffing out like a candle. Either Bria didn't have much power or something had broken her concentration-like a fist to her face or a bullet to her gut.

The brass hinges of the back door barely clung to the stone frame. One of the giants must have just shouldered his way through it, rather than bother with the pretense of knocking. Although my heart screamed at me to keep running, to get to Bria as quickly as possible, I slowed my steps and paused just outside the door. Me barging into whatever fight was going on inside wouldn't help Bria. That's not how I'd operated as the assassin the Spider, and I wasn't going to do it now. Besides, there was always the off chance that Bria could mistake me for one of the giants and turn on me. Being killed by one's own sister would be a shitty way to die.

So I stood there and listened. Another series of pop-pop-pops sounded, followed by three more shots. Two people exchanging gunfire.

"Fuck!" A sharp, masculine cry. One of the giants had been hit.

Then silence.

I crept a few feet inside the door, taking care to be exceptionally quiet. The back door opened up into a kitchen, and the white tile floor and countertops gleamed like they were made of ivory. The fight had started in here, judging from the black splashes of blood on the floor. Sharp, melting pieces of elemental Ice also littered the tile underfoot like a wet carpet.

But what was most surprising was the refrigerator. The top door had been blown off, and a rune shimmered with a bluish white light inside the frosty depths of the freezer. The symbol zigzagged up and down like the teeth of a saw. That's what it was called-the saw. Symbolizing pure, biting force. In addition to using runes to identify themselves, elementals could also imbue runes with magic. In other words, make the symbols come to life and perform some specific function.

The saw was a defensive rune that could be used by any elemental and was especially popular as a sort of magic trip wire and bomb rolled into one. Since Bria was an Ice elemental, she'd drawn the saw symbol in her freezer, using the rune and appliance to contain her frosty magic. When the giants had broken into her house tonight, she'd most likely sent a burst of her Ice power into the freezer, triggering the explosive saw rune inside. And then-boom! The freezer door had blown open, spraying the giants with sharp, jagged icicles. Hence the blood on the floor.

I recognized the trick. I'd done it myself with stone a time or two. Baby sister had booby-trapped her own freezer. Despite the situation, I found myself grinning underneath my ski mask. Nice.

I saw all this in the three seconds it took me to creep to the opposite side of the kitchen. I crouched down and peered around the doorjamb. A long hallway stretched out before opening up into the front of the house. Rooms branched off either side of the hallway, which was now littered with debris. A couple of porcelain vases had been shattered, chairs overturned, a table splintered, a mirror knocked off the wall and broken. More blood glistened on the wooden floor, and a couple of bullets had punched into and blackened the walls. I started forward-

"Give it up, Coolidge!" Elliot Slater's voice rumbled through the house like thunder. "We've got you surrounded, and it's only a matter of time before you run out of ammo. We'll kill you quick, I promise."

"Fuck you, Slater," Bria snarled.

Not the most original of retorts, but it was hard to be witty under pressure. Still, I frowned. Despite her bravado, Bria's voice had sounded high and thin, like she was in pain or injured. But she was still breathing. As long as she kept doing that, Jo-Jo Deveraux could fix the rest of the damage. From the sound of things, Elliot and his men had Bria trapped somewhere in the front of the house. Which meant they wouldn't be expecting a sneak attack from the rear. Excellent. ns class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">