Spider’s Revenge (13 page)

“Well,” Don said in his thick accent. “It’s not exactly
you
that we’re after. But we figured that you were the easiest way to get to the person that we really want, so here we are. So quit talking and drop your gun, detective. Or me and my boys will drop you.”

I didn’t have to imagine the horrible, brutal things that these men would do to Bria if she surrendered. All of them were eyeing her, their cold gazes flicking from her crotch to her chest and back down again, already salivating at the prospect of getting their hands on her. My sister made no move to lower her gun. She was too smart for that. She knew as well as I did what the men had in mind—and that they would swarm over her the second she showed any weakness.

Instead of giving up, I felt the faintest trace of cold power trickle off her, like ice melting in a glass. Bria was an Ice elemental, a magic that she’d inherited from our mother, just as I had. Now my sister was reaching for her power, getting ready to use it against the men. Another weapon to her, just like the gun in her hand—and one that was just as deadly. I’d once stumbled across a giant that Bria had blasted with her magic. He’d looked like a human Popsicle after she’d gotten done with him, and I had no doubt she could do the same thing to the dwarves. The only problem was that she’d get only one of them before the rest overpowered her.

Don must have seen the blue glow that tinged Bria’s eyes because his expression hardened with resolve. “I’m going to count to three. After that, my boys are going to put a few rounds in you. And when we have you down on the ground, well, trust me when I say that you won’t like what happens next.”

Bria didn’t say anything, but she kept her gun up and level with Don’s chest.

“One,” Don said. “Two—”

I didn’t wait for
three
. I sprinted out from behind the
SUV, grabbed the man closest to me, buried my hand in his hair, yanked his thick neck back, and cut his throat. Even a dwarf wasn’t tough enough to survive a severed carotid artery. The man gurgled out a scream at the sudden, brutal wound, and everyone’s head snapped around to see what the noise was all about.

For a moment, no one moved. Then everything happened at once.

Another one of the dwarves swung his gun toward me, apparently to try to shoot me through his dying buddy.

A soft puff-puff of air sounded, and the man hit the ground a second later, already dead from the two bullets that Finn had put through his right eye. I shoved the dwarf that I’d stabbed away from me. He slammed into the side of the SUV and slid to the pavement, twitching violently as his body shut down from the massive trauma it had just received.

“Take care of the bitch with the knife!” Don snapped. “I’ll get the cop!”

Don pulled the trigger on his gun.
Crack! Crack!

Bria threw herself to one side, and the bullets slammed into the Dumpster behind her. My sister rolled across the cracked pavement and came up on one knee, raising her own weapon to fire at Don. Her other hand was outstretched, and a blue light flickered there, as she formed a ball of elemental Ice to fling at him. Even across the parking lot, I could feel the cool caress of Bria’s Ice magic calling out to my own.

But the bastard was quicker than she was. He rushed forward and slapped the weapon away before she could put a couple of rounds in his chest. The blow also broke
Bria’s concentration, and her hold on her Ice magic slipped, the blue light cascading away in a shower of icy sparks. My sister retaliated by bracing her hands on the pavement and kicking up with her foot. Her boot slammed into Don’s knee, and he staggered back, hitting the hood of the SUV. But the dwarf never stopped moving, bobbing, weaving, and gathering himself for another strike at her.

Another puff-puff of air sounded, and Don grunted as two bullets slammed into his left shoulder. A rare miss for Finn, who had no doubt meant to put the bullets through his eye instead, but the dwarf was moving too quickly, too erratically for that. Two more puffs of air hissed out, but by that point, Don had tucked into a tight ball and launched himself back at Bria. The bullets punched through the hood of the SUV, hitting the radiator and making it steam.

Lincoln Jenkins cowered on the right side of the vehicle, hugging the chrome rim like it was a shield that would protect him.

That all happened in the three seconds it took before the other two guys turned and came at me.

They both raised their guns and fired, but not before I used my Stone magic to harden my skin into an impenetrable shell.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

The bullets pinged off my body and disappeared into the darkness. The dwarves exchanged a puzzled look, wondering what was going on, but I didn’t give them any time to recover. I stepped forward, my knife flashing.

I used my blade to slice a path across the closest man’s
stomach. He screamed and tried to punch me in the face, using his gun for extra pop. I dodged his awkward blow, palmed a second knife, and buried that one in his heart, twisting and tearing through the thick, hard muscles in his chest to get to it. He screamed again, even as his limbs went limp, and I let him flop to the ground.

The second guy snarled with anger and threw his body into mine, tearing my knives out of my hands and smashing me up against the side of the SUV with his dwarven strength. He raised his gun up to put a couple of bullets into my face, but I grabbed the barrel and shoved the weapon back into his nose, breaking it. The gun slid out of his grasp and clattered to the ground. Blood spattered onto my face, just the way it had a hundred times before. A thousand times before. I grinned. Nothing gushed quite like a broken nose.

But the guy wasn’t done for yet. He came at me again, this time trying to wrap his hands around my neck and choke me. I stepped up and sucker-punched him in the throat. He stumbled back, gasping for air, and a silver-stone knife from my boot ended the rest of his struggles.

With my two men eliminated, I turned my attention back to Bria and Don, who were still fighting. The two of them rolled back and forth across the pavement, punching each other, although Don didn’t even grunt as Bria’s blows connected with his chest. Not surprising, given his inherent dwarven toughness. Blood covered both their faces, and I couldn’t tell who the majority of it belonged to. No more puffs of air sounded, and I knew that was only because Finn didn’t want to risk hitting Bria with a shot meant for Don, not while they were grappling.

Good thing I had my knives for the up-close wet work.

I sprinted over to the two of them, and the second that Don got back on top of Bria, I kicked him off her. The dwarf rolled back before climbing to his feet once more, looking all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, despite his fight with Bria and the blood soaking the shoulder of his electric blue track suit.

Although I wanted nothing more than to see how badly Bria was injured, I stepped over my sister, putting myself between her and Don. Now that the other dwarves were down, I knew that Finn would come around the Dumpsters and see to her.

“Hey,” I snarled. “Why don’t you give me a whirl, if you really want to play?”

Don tilted his head from side to side, cracking his neck and considering me and the bloody knife in my hand. “Well, well, looks like I was right after all. The quickest way to get what I want and all the money that goes along with it is the detective here.”

And then we danced.

He came at me, and I stepped up to meet him. Don was much better than I’d realized, moving with the speed and grace of a natural-born fighter and someone who’d gotten in a lot of practice along the way. The bastard had the muscled body of a true athlete, despite the cheesy nylon suit and pricey sneakers.

All of which meant that I couldn’t immediately plunge my knife into him the way I wanted to. Normally, I tried to avoid this sort of hand-to-hand fight with a dwarf, as Don could do far more damage to me with his fists than I could do to him with mine. But I was still holding on to
my Stone magic, still making my skin as hard as marble. His punches would hurt, but they wouldn’t completely debilitate me like they would have if I wasn’t using my elemental power to shield myself.

We moved back and forth on the cracked concrete, exchanging blow after blow. I punched him in the face. He landed a solid blow to my stomach. I followed with an uppercut to his chin. He turned and snapped his elbow into my chest. We broke apart, both of us bruised and more than a little bloody.

“Not bad for a dead man,” I murmured. “Care to tell me what your interest is in the detective before I finish you?”

Don smiled, showing me a mouthful of bloody teeth that looked particularly garish against his swarthy skin. “Nah. What fun would that be?”

Before I could respond, he came at me again, swinging, swinging, swinging hard. I dodged his first two blows, then let the third connect on purpose. His fist thumped into my stomach again, and I crumpled to the ground in front of him. I didn’t get up.

But Don wasn’t as dumb as he looked because he didn’t stop, not buying my ruse. He swung his leg back to kick me in the head and splat out my brains. I didn’t give him the chance. As soon as he drew back, I rolled forward and used my knife to sever his femoral artery. Don screamed, but even then he got in another solid blow to my chest before the heel of his sneaker caught in a crack in the pavement, and he fell back. He writhed back and forth on the ground, cursing me and clutching his wounded leg. I stood there and watched him bleed out. It didn’t take
long, not with the deep, jagged wound that I’d inflicted. When he’d weakened to the point that he was no longer a threat, I leaned over and cut his throat, just to be sure.

“Why don’t you leave being tough to me, and I’ll let you handle being dead?” I asked in a cold voice.

Don gurgled once, almost in agreement, before his eyes glazed over and he was still.

Bloody knife still in my hand, I glanced over my shoulder.

Finn had pulled off his ski mask, come around the Dumpsters, and was helping Bria sit up. He gave me a thumbs-up, telling me that Bria would be okay until we could get her to Jo-Jo to be healed. Satisfied, I turned my attention to the last man cowering—Lincoln Jenkins.

It had taken awhile, but the wannabe gangster had finally realized that the tide had turned. He’d come out from his hiding place beside the SUV and stood in front of the vehicle, eyes wide, staring down at the blood, bodies, and carnage that painted the pavement. But before I could slither over there and finish him off, the thin bastard turned and ran. I let out a curse.

“Stay here with Bria!” I shouted to Finn. “I’ll get him!”

I had to get him. Jenkins had seen what had gone down here, and he almost certainly had to know that the Spider was responsible. There weren’t any other women
running around Ashland who were as handy with knives as I was. At least, not to my knowledge. If Jenkins didn’t realize this yet, surely he would when he got somewhere safe and calmed down. Now it was my mission to make sure that he never got to that happy place.

Jenkins was quicker than he looked—much, much quicker. Must be from all that time he spent skulking around and transferring ownership of certain items. He took off like a jackrabbit across the snow, and I had to hustle to keep up with him. Despite the fact that I’d used my Stone magic to shield my body, Don had still gotten in a few good licks on me, and I could taste my own coppery blood in my mouth, as well as what felt like a broken rib scraping against my lung.

Jenkins looked back, realized that I was following him, and picked up his pace, crossing the icy street like a speed skater and disappearing into an alley on the other side. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to push the pain away and move faster, run harder. I entered the alley to find that Jenkins had gained ground on me, since the thief was already halfway down the narrow corridor, which was largely clear and free of snow. He looked back again, his eyes wide with terror.

Instead of taking advantage of his natural speed, Jenkins reached out and grabbed one of the trash cans that lined the alley. He slapped the lid off it and turned it over. All sorts of refuse spilled out of the can, and several bottles tink-tink-tinked my way. One by one, he dumped the cans over, putting all sorts of disgusting things between us. Greasy fast-food wrappers, crushed cigarettes, used condoms. The sour stench alone made me gag, but I
churned through the garbage, my boots smashing everything that was underfoot.

Jenkins thought he was doing the smart thing, but his tactics cost him precious time and slowed him down as well, when he would have been much better off just hot-footing it away from me as fast as his matchstick-thin legs would carry him. Still, he might have made it even tipping the cans over, if he’d been a little quicker or I’d been a little less determined.

Or if I didn’t have my Ice magic.

We reached a spot in the alley where it was a straight shot for about a hundred feet with no garbage cans in sight. Up ahead, a light burned at the end of the corridor, indicating another street and possible escape for Jenkins. I was determined that the bastard wasn’t going to make it that far, not after he’d sold out Bria. But by this point, the pain in my ribs had intensified until it felt like I was stabbing myself in the chest with my own knives, and I could feel myself slowing with every step.