I didn't say anything. If he started to pull the trigger, it was over. I'd stab him and leave his body here with the others. I'd deal with Finn and Roslyn and the cops and the consequences later, along with my emotions.
"You're an assassin, everything that's wrong with this city, everything I hate." The detective tightened his grip on the gun. "I should kill you right here, right now. Do the city, the world, a favor."
I wondered if he thought killing me would be a public service. If the mayor would give him a medal for it. My chapped, blistered lips twitched, and I wanted to laugh.
Funniest damn thought I'd had all day. Hell, all week.
The silence stretched out between us. Seconds that felt like a lifetime.
Caine lowered his gun. "But I can't. I can't kill you. I feel something for you. Lust, gratitude, curiosity, I don't know what the fuck it is, but it won't let me kill you, no matter what you've done. So what does that make me?"
"A good man," I said in a soft voice.
Caine shook his head. "No. It just makes me stupid." He threw down his gun and walked away.
I sat there, wondering at my reprieve and trying to muster up the strength to move, when a car drove into the bottom of the quarry. The same car I'd stolen from the country club earlier this evening. The vehicle slid to a stop a few feet away, kicking up dust and blood. Finn bounded out of the driver's seat and ran over to me. Roslyn Phillips also got out of the car and followed him at a slower pace.
Finn stopped in front of me, his green eyes sweeping over my clothes, body, face.
Once he realized I was more or less in one piece, he relaxed.
"What happened?" I croaked. "How did you get away from Stephenson?" Finn jerked his head at Caine, who stood a few feet away brooding over the giant's body. "Roslyn and I ran into the detective. He exchanged a couple of shots with the good captain, who turned and ran like a scared little girl."
I nodded. So Caine had come back after Stephenson, not to save me. Not surprising, except for the disappointment that fluttered in my chest.
Finn kept staring at me. After a moment, he smiled. Amusement filled his green gaze.
"What's so funny?" I asked.
"Oh, nothing. But tell me, whose face do you think looks like shit now?" I touched my cheek and winced as pain shot through me. Alexis James had been stronger than she'd looked. She'd gotten in some solid whacks, not to mention the ugly, puffy blisters her Air magic had raised on my skin. Every part of me felt sore and raw and chapped from the intense magic I'd survived, and the bullet throbbed in my shoulder. "Mine."
"Yours," he agreed.
Finn held out a hand, and I let him pull me to my feet and into a tight hug. His arms closed around me, and hot tears stung my eyes.
"I thought I'd lost you too," he whispered in my ear.
I pulled back gave him a crooked smile. "You should know better than that." Roslyn Phillips stood off to one side. The vampire looked mussed and tired. Her dark gaze focused on the blood leaking out of Stephenson's back. Her fangs gleamed like pearls in the twilight.
"Thirsty?" I asked.
Roslyn snorted. "For that giant shit? I don't think so. I'm just sorry I didn't get to tear the bastard's neck out myself."
I grinned at her. After a moment, she smiled back.
Donovan Caine cleared his throat. I turned so I could see the detective.
"You and Finn need to leave. Now," he said. "Roslyn, you're staying with me."
"Why?" I asked in a soft voice.
Caine swept his hand over the bodies that littered the quarry floor. "Here's what happened. I went off the grid to investigate the Gordon Giles case. Men came to my house to kill me, but I escaped from them. I've been hiding low the last few days tracking down leads, one of which was Roslyn. Thanks to her, I discovered Gordon's files, but Alexis James found us. She brought us out here to kill us, but I managed to turn the tables on her instead."
"What about Stephenson?" Finn asked.
Caine shrugged. "He was pretending to work for Alexis to bring her down. He came to the rescue, but was killed in the crossfire."
"You know Stephenson was working for Alexis, that he liked to abuse young girls. Why are you protecting him?" I asked.
"Because he has a wife and a daughter who'll need his pension. Because they shouldn't suffer for what he did." Caine's eyes flashed with amber fire, daring me to contradict him.
I didn't. "And the mysterious woman at the opera house?"
"Mistaken identity," Caine said. "Alexis picked her out to frame her. A composite sketch of a person who never really existed. I'll think of something."
"I'm sure you will," I murmured.
"Where do I come in?" Roslyn asked. "Why do you need me to stick around?" Caine looked at her. "Because people saw Stephenson drag you out of the country club. And I need somebody to back me up."
I stared at Roslyn. "Are you okay with being a star witness to all of this?" The vampire shrugged, but I saw something flicker in her eyes. Guilt. Hmm.
Something to think about later. "Think you can sell it?" Donovan asked her.
Roslyn laughed. The delicate, pealing sound reminded me of wind chimes. "Oh honey, selling myself was what I did for years. So yeah, I think I can manage it. You just tell me what you want me to say. By the time I'm done, the angels will be crying." I believed her. Donovan did too, because he nodded his head.
"Well, it's nice and tidy all the way around," I said. "You think your superiors will believe that bizarre fairy tale?" Caine shrugged. "Don't know, don't fucking care.
That's the story I'm sticking with. Plus, I have this."
He held up the flash drive. The detective must have picked it up off the quarry floor while I was having my reunion with Finn.
"It's all the proof I need," Caine said. "I already used my cell phone to call it in. The first units will be here in ten minutes."
I grimaced. "Time for us to go, then."
"Time for you to go, then," he agreed.
Finn looked back and forth between the two of us. "I'll get the car." He trotted over to the vehicle. Roslyn followed him. I swayed back and forth for a moment before finding my balance once more. My eyes met Donovan Caine's. Gray on gold.
"I suppose this is good-bye, then," I said.
"It is. Don't let me catch you again," he said in a harsh tone. "I won't be so generous next time."
There was that confidence again. One of many things I found so appealing about the detective. I tipped my head. "Don't worry, detective. I'm the Spider. I know how to stay hidden in the shadows, remember?"
Guilt and a touch of regret flashed in the detective's eyes, although he kept his face hard and remote. I did the same, even though a knife of emotion twisted into my heart.
Finn and Roslyn said their good-byes, and the vampire went to stand by the detective.
Finn pulled the stolen car over to me. Somehow, I stumbled forward and picked up my various knives and the remains of my ruined vest. Then I yanked open the car door. I fell into the cushioned seat and flopped around like a rag doll, all the strength gone from my body.
Finn stared at me. "Gin-"
"Not tonight, Finn. Not tonight. Drive," I said. "Just drive." I put my head back against the seat and closed my eyes.
Chapter Thirty-One
Finn drove me straight to Jo-Jo's. This time he had to help me up to the porch while he banged the cloud-shaped rune knocker against the door.
The familiar, heavy footsteps sounded, and a moment later, Jo-Jo Deveraux threw open the door. Her eyes widened at the sight of my battered, blistered face.
"Ding-dong," I said. "The bitch is dead." Jo-Jo just smiled.
"Are you sure you couldn't have killed her sooner, Gin?" Finn asked. "Before she made your skin look like you had the worst case of chicken pox and poison ivy ever?"
"I don't know," I sniped. "Why don't we rewind time and see how you would have fared against Alexis James's Air magic?"
Finn cocked an eyebrow. Jo-Jo sat in front of me, but I glared over her head at him.
"Shush," Jo-Jo said. The dwarf's eyes glowed white with magic. "It's harder to concentrate while you two are having one of your spats."
Jo-Jo had spent the last hour pouring her magic into me. Unlike Finn's previous wounds, most of mine had been caused by elemental magic, which meant they were harder to heal, despite Jo-Jo's own strength and expertise. Magic was always harder to undo than it was to create in the first place.
The dwarf using so much of her magic on me at one time also hurt like hell. Even though I knew Jo-Jo would never harm me, my body felt like it was still back in the rock quarry being thrashed with Alexis James's Air magic. Which is why Sofia Deveraux stood behind me, pinning my arms to my sides so I wouldn't move or try to get up out of the padded chair before Jo-Jo was finished with me.
She sent another surge of her Air magic into my left arm, working on the bullet that was still lodged in there. I gritted my teeth and looked for something to focus on besides the way Jo-Jo's power made the spider rune scars on my palms itch and burn-along with the rest of my body. My eyes latched onto Sophia's hands. Despite the Goth dwarf's love affair with black, pale, little-girl-pink polish covered her short fingernails.
"Nice color," I said.
Sophia grunted her agreement and tightened her grip on me. I bit back a groan. I could have been pinned under a Mack truck, and it wouldn't have felt as strong and solid as Sophia's hands. No wonder she could throw dead bodies around like they were plastic dolls.
While Jo-Jo worked, Finn filled the dwarven sisters in on everything that had happened the past few days.
"So Alexis James actually thought she was going to dethrone Mab Monroe?" Jo-Jo asked. "She's not the first one to think that way. Poor girl was really touched in the head, wasn't she?"
"Stupid," Sophia agreed in her raspy voice.
I thought of the pure, raw power Alexis James had possessed. Her desire to take on Mab for control of Ashland didn't sound as far-fetched to me as it once had. But Alexis was dead now, and that was all that mattered.
After Jo-Jo fixed the damage, Sophia let go of my arms, and she and Finn moved into the kitchen to get something to eat. Jo-Jo got up, went over to the sink, and washed my blood off her hands. I stayed where I was in the padded chair, relaxing.
"You were wrong," I said.
Jo-Jo wiped her hands off on a paper towel. "About what?"
"About nothing being able to penetrate my Stone magic. Alexis James's Air power did."
The dwarf shrugged. "You said yourself your concentration broke. Next time, you'll know what to expect. Besides, you're still young, Gin. You're just now fully coming into your power."
"But Alexis was stronger than I was," I protested. "Her magic was stronger. I felt it.
You saw what she did to me with it."
Jo-Jo gave me a sly look. "If she was so strong, how come she's rotting out in the quarry and you're sitting here in my chair?"
I didn't have an answer to that.
The dwarf chuckled. "Pure strength is one thing, darling, whether it's magical or natural. It'll only get you so far. But how you use what you've been given-that's what really matters. When you figure that out, ain't nobody going to be able to touch you. Not even me or Mab Monroe."
Jo-Jo threw her paper towel away and started puttering around the salon. While she worked, I just sat there in the chair pondering her words-and the cold fear they raised in me.
The Alexis James story played out for the next week. To say it was a circus would have been to underestimate the rabid appetite of the Ashland media. Story after story flooded the airwaves and newspapers about James and the trail of bodies in her wake.
Donovan Caine must have been a better liar than I'd given him credit for, because the detective placed the blame for everything on Alexis, and nobody seemed willing to contradict him.
Haley James might have, if she'd been able to. But her home burned to the ground with her in it the night after the incident at the rock quarry. Only the house's stone foundation survived the blaze, along with a few of Haley's teeth. Everything else was totally obliterated by the heat. The fire was ruled an accident, and the coroner said Haley probably died from smoke inhalation, since he didn't actually have her body to autopsy. But I had no doubt Mab Monroe had paid Haley a visit for hiding Alexis's activities from her. So the very thing Haley had feared came true after all. Irony.
What a bitch.
Finn made his own discreet inquiries into the matter, reaching out to his various contacts. He wanted to know if Haley had spilled her guts to Mab, if she'd said anything to the Fire elemental about Fletcher, Finn, or me. About what we did or what the James sisters had hired us to do. But evidently, Haley had never gotten the chance. Rumor had it that Mab had been so enraged at Haley's part in the embezzlement scheme that the Fire elemental had fried her on the spot. No questions asked. And with Alexis and the rest of her men dead, there was no one else to tell the tale. Which meant that Finn and I were safe from anyone else nosing around or blowing our cover to Mab.
A week after the incident at the rock quarry, we buried Fletcher in Blue Ridge Cemetery. Me, Finn, Jo-Jo, Sophia, the waitstaff and cooks from the Pork Pit, some of Fletcher's buddies, who were as gnarled and old and grumpy as he'd been. Roslyn Phillips also showed up for the service, although the vampire stood off to one side by herself.
