Spider’s Revenge
After about thirty seconds, the cold penetrated my pain, and I snapped back to myself. My hurried, staggered steps had taken me away from the immediate proximity of the ballroom. I risked a glance over my shoulder, wondering if Mab was racing up behind me, flaming fists held high, ready to unleash another blast of magic. But all I saw was the fiery outline of the ballroom. The elemental Fire that Mab had created had already spread to the roof, and a second later, a loud, ear-shattering groan ripped through the building. Sparks, smoke, and ash erupted like a volcano into the night sky as part of the structure caved in on itself. No, Mab wouldn’t be coming after me that way. A brief respite, but I’d take what I could get.
My stumbling, sluggish path had taken me out into the open, into the dead space between the tennis courts and the edge of the golf course. Everyone might be concerned with the fire right now, but it wouldn’t be long before Mab rallied her giants to start searching the grounds. If I was still here when that happened, I was dead.
I’d made Owen promise me earlier that he’d slip out of the club and wait by the car while I went after Mab. The plan had been to meet there and get the hell out of Dodge if things didn’t go well. I didn’t want to be anywhere near the flames pouring out of the building but backtracking and following the curve of the structure was the quickest way to get to Owen. So I made myself turn back, getting as close to the elemental Fire as I dared, and slogged past it. Even from ten feet away, I could still feel Mab’s power in the flames, still feel her magic pricking at my skin like red-hot needles. I hissed at the sensation and hurried on.
Another piece of the roof caved in. The smashing roar momentarily drowned out the startled shouts and screams of those who’d been inside the country club. No matter what happened the rest of the night, no one in Ashland would ever forget this party. Fire and Ice ball, indeed. I grimaced at my black humor and kept moving.
Mab had blocked the exit on this side of the building with her last burst of Fire, so I didn’t see or pass anyone as I hurried on. A small favor, but luck owed me a little something tonight.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity but couldn’t have been more than five minutes, I rounded the side of the building, and the snow gave way to smooth pavement. Still I kept moving, my heels clacking like talons on the concrete. Already, I could hear the mutters in the stone, low, ugly sounds that whispered of fire, heat, death, destruction. The stone wouldn’t forget what had happened here tonight either.
I sprinted through the parking lot as fast as I could, considering my injuries, heading toward the space where the valet had parked Owen’s car. Hopefully, he would be there waiting, and we could at least get away clean—
Thwack-thwack-thwack.
The steady sound of fists pummeling flesh dashed that hope. Up ahead, shapes moved back and forth, backlit by the flames. Owen. Mab had raised the alarm, and her giants had found Owen already. My heart twisted in my chest, so hard and tight that I couldn’t breathe, but I forced myself to run as fast as I ever had in my entire life—even faster than when I’d been trying to escape Mab’s elemental Fire minutes ago. If anything happened to Owen, I’d just—I’d just crumble inside. What little there was left of my heart would disintegrate into ash and blow away, leaving nothing behind but aching, bitter emptiness.
I rounded a row of expensive cars and charged ahead, my eyes already locking onto the struggle in front of me and focusing on who my first target would be. Despite my fight with Mab and subsequent stagger through the snow, I’d somehow managed to hold on to my silverstone knives, one in either hand. Good. I didn’t want to waste even half a second reaching for them—not while Owen was in danger.
Owen stood fifty feet in front of me, his back to his BMW. He’d gone to his car like we’d planned—he just hadn’t gotten to it quite fast enough to drive away. Four giants surrounded him in a loose semicircle, trapping him against the car. I didn’t know when the giants had spotted him, but they’d been fighting for a while now, because blood and bruises covered Owen’s face like a second skin.
But my lover was determined to take the bastards down with him.
Owen gripped a blacksmith’s hammer in his hands. I’d never seen him fight before, and I hadn’t spied him putting the hammer in the car earlier. But he used the solid, heavy, black hammer like it was a staff, swinging it first one way, then the other, with easy, deadly skill, his movements as beautiful and graceful as those of any dancer. Two giants already lay crumpled at his feet, their blood shimmering like oil slicks on the pavement. Judging from their caved-in skulls, they wouldn’t be getting up anytime soon. Good.
The four giants who were left eased in toward Owen, but a couple of cracks of his hammer against their ribs sent them scurrying back. They all stared at each other, hesitant to step forward and take the full force of Owen’s assault. One of the giants was a little bolder or perhaps just a little stupider than the rest because he rushed toward Owen, intending to overpower him with his sheer, brute strength and then let the others pile on. Fool.
Owen waited until the man was in range, then pivoted and swung his hammer in a perfect arc. The metal slammed into the giant’s temple. That side of his skull collapsed, and blood squirted out of him like juice from an orange. The giant never made a sound, although his body hit the pavement with an audible thump.
“Come on!” Owen roared. “Come on! Which one of you bastards is next?”
The three remaining giants exchanged uneasy looks, but none of them dared to step up and get their head bashed in like their buddy just had. In that regard, they were smarter than they seemed—but not smart enough to do something as simple as look behind them.
With an angry hiss, I leaped out of the shadows and slammed my knives into the giant closest to me. The blades flashed silver in the firelight just before they ripped into his broad back. One cut, then two, and he was dead. The giant gurgled out a weak scream before he went down, and the others’ heads snapped around at the surprise attack from the rear.
I didn’t hesitate, and neither did Owen.
He moved forward and slammed his hammer into another giant’s knee, before whipping around and plowing his weapon into the man’s other knee. The giant howled with pain, staggered back, and did a header onto the pavement. I grabbed his hair, yanked his head back, and cut his throat before letting him flop to the ground once more.
That left only one giant, who started backing away from us, eyes wide with surprise and more than a touch of fear. Normally, I would have charged after him and put him down, but there was no point in it. Not tonight. Not when Mab and Jonah McAllister had both already seen my face and knew that I was the Spider.
Owen tightened his grip on his hammer and started after the giant, but I grabbed his arm and pulled him back toward the car.
“Forget him,” I rasped, my throat burning from the effort of talking. “We need to get out of here. Now!”
Owen nodded, and the two of us hopped into the car. He cranked the engine and threw the BMW in reverse. By this point, more people filled the parking lot, taking refuge from the flames that had skipped from one roof to another of the country club’s buildings. Most of the people wore dazed, shocked expressions, but there were several of Mab’s giants in the mix—men determined to find us, to find me.
The giant who’d gotten away from Owen and me waved his arms and screamed at his brethren before pointing in our direction. The other giants got the message and raced forward. Those who had guns raised them up and took aim at Owen’s car.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Bullet after bullet slammed into the vehicle. One splintered the windshield in between us, while the others thudded into the metal hood.
“Go!” I told Owen. “Go!”
He threw the car in gear, stomped on the gas, and roared out of the parking lot. The car raced down the hill and took a turn on two wheels. One of Mab’s giants must have gotten the bright idea to alert the man in the guardhouse at the bottom of the hill, because up ahead, I could
see the club’s iron gates closing. Owen spotted them too and slammed his foot on the gas pedal so hard that I thought he might punch it through the floorboard. He knew as well as I did that getting trapped on the grounds would seal our fate. But for once, luck actually smiled on us, because the BMW shot through the gates just before it was too late. A few sparks flashed into the night air where the iron scraped against the sides of the car, but I didn’t care because we were out of the country club and safe—at least for the moment.
But the others weren’t. Not by a long shot.
“Phone,” I rasped. “I need your phone. Now!”
Keeping one hand on the steering wheel, Owen used the other to dig into his pants pocket and hand me his cell phone. I flipped it open and hit a number that I’d programmed into his speed dial.
“Pick up,” I muttered. “Pick up, pick up, pick up.”
Just as I was starting to worry that I was already too late, she answered on the fifth ring.
“Hello?” Jo-Jo Deveraux’s warm, friendly voice filled my ear, making me want to weep with relief.
But there was no time for that. No time to give in to emotions of any kind. Not now, when Mab finally knew who I was. No doubt, the Fire elemental was already mobilizing her army of giants and bounty hunters. So I said only one word to Jo-Jo.
“Run.”
“Mab?” Jo-Jo asked, her sweet voice sharpening as she heard the tight worry in mine.
“Not dead,” I said. “She saw me, Jo-Jo. She knows who I am. So does McAllister. So get Sophia and go to the safe house just like we planned. Right now. Owen will go pick up Eva. He’ll meet you there. I’m going to call Finn and Bria next.”
“Who else do you want me to round up?” the dwarf asked.
I thought about the other people that I’d helped over the last few months, all my friends and even friends of friends. “Tell Xavier and Roslyn, and call Violet and Warren Fox, just to be sure. I don’t want anyone left behind that Mab can snatch and use as leverage.”
“Got it.”
We both hung up.
“What now?” Owen asked, driving away from the country club as fast as he dared on the slick, snowy road.
I didn’t answer him. I was too busy dialing. But instead of picking up like he should have, Finn’s cell went to voice mail. I tried again, with the same result. One missed call I could understand, given what a sprawling labyrinth Fletcher’s house was, but not two. My stomach flipped over and started tying itself into tiny, worrisome knots.
I tried a third time. Same result. No answer, only voice mail. Why wasn’t Finn picking up his phone? He knew what was going down tonight, what was at stake for us—for all of us. Had Mab, her giants, or the bounty hunters gotten to him and Bria already? Maybe, if Mab had put out the call to her minions immediately after our fight at the country club. Now that the Fire elemental knew who I was, Fletcher’s house would be one of the first places she’d start looking for me.
The thought that Bria and Finn could already be in trouble—could already be dead—made me sick, made me physically ill, but I forced myself to remain calm. To be as calm and rational as I had ever been as the Spider. To remember all of the old man’s training over the long years, everything Fletcher had taught me about how to survive and make sure that my enemies didn’t. It took a minute, but my breathing slowed, and I felt the cold, hard, unending blackness fill my heart once more. I embraced the cold, welcomed it, reveled in it, even. Because this was the only way I had any hope of living to see the sunrise—and making sure that the people I loved did the same.
“Gin?” Owen asked in a quiet voice, sensing the change in me. “What’s wrong?”
“Finn’s not answering me,” I said. “Which means that something’s going on with him and Bria. Either they’ve both gotten on the other’s nerves and killed each other in a fit of rage or something bad is happening at Fletcher’s house and they can’t answer me. I have to go there, Owen. Right now.”
“Okay. I’ll take you.”
I shook my head. “No. We’ve got to split up. You need to go get Eva and drive her over to the safe house just like we planned. I’m going after Finn and Bria—alone.”
“Gin—”
“I’m not going to make you choose between me and your sister, Owen,” I snapped. “I would never, ever ask you to do that—not when I know how much your sister means to you. Eva’s in danger right now, and you need to get to her. Just like I need to get to Bria and Finn. But we can’t be in two places at once, at least not together. Splitting up is our only option. We both know it’s true.”
Owen turned his head to stare at me in the darkness. After a moment, he let out a loud, vicious curse, and his hands gripped the steering wheel like he wanted to rip it to pieces. He knew I was right, and he didn’t like it one bit. I understood his anger, his frustration, because I was feeling it too. So I put my burned, blistered fingers on top of his, trying to soothe him—and myself—in some small way.
“I—I appreciate your concern and the fact that you want to come with me. But we both know that it has to be this way. I would never forgive myself if something happened to Eva because of me. Because of the fact that I missed Mab tonight. I know what it’s like to think that your sister is dead, and I don’t ever want you to have to go through that pain. I care about you too much for that, Owen.”
“I know you do,” he said in a soft voice. “And I care about you too, Gin.”
“Good. Then pull over into that parking lot.”
Owen did as I asked, steering into a lot that fronted one of the many upscale shopping centers that populated this part of Northtown. A few folks had decided not to try to drive home in the snow, because a couple of cars remained in the lot, despite the late hour. Owen parked his BMW next to a late-model sedan.
“What are you going to do?” he asked. “First of all, I’m going to boost that sedan right there,” I said. “Then I’m going to drive over to Fletcher’s house, hide the car at the bottom of the hill, and hike my way up to the top of the ridge. If everything looks kosher, I’ll go in and get Finn and Bria and see why they weren’t answering the phone.”
“And if it’s not kosher?” Owen asked.
I shrugged. “Then I guess I’ll be killing people until it is.”
He just nodded, and we fell silent. Both of us bruised and bloody, and me with burns covering my hands and arms. Mab hadn’t completely melted my leather jacket with her elemental Fire, but she’d singed the sleeves in places, letting me see the raw, blistered skin that lay underneath. Something else that made me sick. Unfortunately, the night was far from over—for me or Owen.
“I’m sorry, Owen,” I said in a low voice, staring at my burned flesh instead of at him. “So, so sorry. All of this is my fault. If only I hadn’t missed Mab tonight. If only I hadn’t missed her again—”
Tears scalded my eyes, and frustration burned my throat, even harsher than Mab’s elemental Fire. Fucking emotion. Something that I didn’t need. Not now, not if I wanted to survive—and save the others.
Owen understood what I was feeling because he put his arms around me and pulled me over into his lap. For a moment, I buried my head in his chest, and he rocked me back and forth like a child.
“It’s okay, Gin,” he whispered against my hair. “Everything is going to be okay. You’re going to make it okay. I know that you will. You always do.”
His words gave me the strength to blink away my tears, lift up my head, and look at him. Moonlight painted his chiseled face in soft lines and dappled shadows, and I trailed my fingers down his bruised jaw. Owen winced, since he’d taken a couple of the giants’ punches there, but he didn’t pull away.
I leaned forward and kissed him as hard as I dared, given our mutual injuries. I poured all of my pent-up emotions into the kiss, trying to tell him everything that I felt just by touching his lips to mine, just by pressing my body against his. Trying to tell him how much I cared, even if the words always seemed to get stuck in my throat. r />
I don’t know if it worked, but Owen kissed me back, his arms tightening around me. The familiar heat filled my stomach just by being near him, but there was no time for that. No time at all.
I drew back and stared into his violet eyes, wondering, as I always did, at the concern that shone there for me and what the hell I’d ever done to deserve it.
“I’ll see you at the safe house,” I whispered.
“You’d better,” he murmured back. “Or I’ll come get you myself—no matter what.”
Owen called his younger sister, Eva, and told her what was going on. She was at home with her best friend, Violet Fox, and Owen told the two college girls that he’d be there to pick them up as soon as possible. While he did that, I rummaged around in the trunk, pulling out the tins of healing salve I’d gotten from Jo-Jo.
In addition to healing with their hands, Air elementals could also infuse their magic into certain products, like creams and ointments, and give them an extra kick. When Jo-Jo had come over to Fletcher’s house earlier to do my makeup, she’d given me several containers of just such an ointment, in case Mab got a few licks in on me before I killed her. I was grateful for the gift.
The lids of the tins all featured Jo-Jo’s puffy cloud rune, painted on the tops in a vivid blue. I cracked one of them open, dipped my fingers into the ointment, and slathered it all over my hands and arms. The soothing smell of vanilla wafted up to me, and warm tingles spread throughout the blistered areas, just like they did when Jo-Jo was around in person to work her Air magic on me. I sighed with relief as the pulsing pain of the burns lessened. The ointment wasn’t as good as Jo-Jo healing me herself, but it would keep me together long enough for me to get to Fletcher’s house and see what trouble waited for me there.
Owen hung up with Eva, and I popped open another tin and passed it to him. He smeared the ointment onto his face. The salve soaked into his skin, and Jo-Jo’s magic made short work of the cuts and bruises that marred his features.