I couldn't help but grimace at the irony, though. The last time that I'd been this close to the Fire elemental had been in another bathroom-hers-the night that I'd killed Jake McAllister. I'd been disguised as a blond, busty hooker, one of Roslyn's girls from Northern Aggression, and I'd gone so far as to proposition Mab in order to distract her from finding Jake's body in her bathtub. The Fire elemental had turned me down, with obvious regret, but my ruse had helped me escape.
I wondered which one of us would make it out of here alive tonight.
I kept my face calm, serene, blank, as Mab stared at me. The Fire elemental frowned, as if something about me bothered her, and I wondered if the moment that I'd been waiting so long for was here. If Mab had finally recognized me as the Spider.
Like everyone else in Ashland, Mab knew me as Gin Blanco. In fact, the Fire elemental had been there the night that Jonah McAllister had ordered Elliot Slater to beat me at Ashland Community College to try to find out what I knew about Jake's death. Mab knew exactly who I was and what I looked like as Gin-especially when I was covered with my own blood.
The door swung open again, and two more women stepped inside. After another second of staring at me, the Fire elemental turned her attention to the two women, giving them the same sharp perusal.
I dried my hands, left the bathroom, and stepped out into the hallway. But I didn't go back to the ballroom. If I did that, I would lose whatever chance I might have to kill Mab. The Fire elemental wouldn't expose herself again. Not tonight.
So I meandered down the hallway, my eyes scanning the rooms that branched off either side, looking for a spot for a potential ambush. Mab had been expecting someone to come at her in the bathroom. In those tight quarters, the odds were in her favor-she could easily fry her attacker with her Fire magic before she had time to retreat or mount any kind of defense. It was exactly what I would have done if I'd been in Mab's position.
But maybe luck would finally smile on me, and the Fire elemental would lower her guard and be careless enough to let me take her by surprise on her way back to the ballroom.
More than a few folks moved back and forth in the hallways, going from the ballroom to the bathrooms and back again, or outside for a quick smoke or an even quicker fuck. They were all wrapped up in their own little dramas, so no one saw me slip into a room and close the door almost shut behind me. No lights burned in the chamber, which was a sitting area, but I could still make out the crouching shapes of the thick, heavy furniture. I stayed in the shadows by the door and palmed two of my silverstone knives. Then I waited.
More people came and went in the hallway in front of me, laughing, talking, drinking, gossiping. Normally, I wouldn't have dreamed about doing a hit in a place like this, one that was so open, so exposed, and with so much foot traffic. But I didn't have a choice. Killing Mab was the only way to get the bounty off Bria's head, and I'd be damned if the Fire elemental would ever get her hands on my sister.
I started counting off the seconds in my head. Ten... twenty... thirty... But Mab was being just as patient as I was, because I stood in the shadows five minutes before the bathroom door down the hall opened, and Mab stepped outside. The Fire elemental stopped where she was a moment, surveying the scene around her. Her mouth thinned out into a flat, ugly slash in her face. Whatever she'd expected to happen in the bathroom, the fact that I hadn't taken the bait infuriated her. My hands tightened around my knives. Not for long, though. Not for long.
Mab rapped on the next door down the hallway, and two giants slid outside. Ah, so that's where she'd stashed her backup, in the next room over, ready to come in behind me if I somehow got away from her in the bathroom.
"Anything?" Mab snapped. Her anger made her normally delicate voice rasp almost as badly as Sophia's.
The giants both shook their heads.
"Nothing, ma'am," one of them rumbled. "We've checked everyone on the guest list. There's no one on the grounds who wasn't invited and identified when they came inside. No missing waiters, no extra workers, nothing like that at all. None of the regular staff even called in sick. If the Spider's here, we can't find her."
The Fire elemental glared at her two men. "Incompetent fools," she snarled. "Go check again. The bitch has to be here. She wouldn't pass up a chance like this."
The giants nodded and scurried away to go do their mistress's bidding. They passed my hiding spot and made the turn to go back toward the ballroom.
Mab paced back and forth in the hallway, muttering something under her breath. I imagined it wasn't very complimentary to me, though. A few people started to wander down the hall toward the bathroom, but one look at Mab had them backtracking the way that they'd just come. Good. I didn't need an audience for this.
I stood there and waited, just waited for her to come closer, close enough that I could leap out of the shadows and bury my knife in her back with one swift, fatal blow.
Finally, the Fire elemental dampened down her anger and quit muttering. She turned on her heel and stalked down the hall toward me. My hands tightened around my silverstone knives that much more. Thirty feet. Twenty... ten... five... Mab walked past my hiding spot, not even bothering to glance at the partially closed door.
I drew in a breath, slipped out of the room, and fell in step behind her, gathering my strength for what was to come.
I'd spent years learning how to be quick, quiet, and invisible, so Mab never heard the door open, and she never sensed my creeping up behind her. She was moving quicker than I'd anticipated, but five more steps and I'd be in range. Five more steps, and I could finally kill her.
Four... three... two... one... I raised one of my silverstone knives, ready to strike-
And that's when Jonah McAllister rounded the corner and entered the hallway in front of us. He spotted me at once-along with the knives in my hands.
"Behind you!" McAllister yelled.
Fuck. Just-fuck.
If I could, I would have slipped back into the shadows. But I was too committed now to turn back or wait for another opportunity. There was nothing else to do but go through with my strike.
McAllister's warning tipped off Mab, and she threw herself to one side. So instead of punching into her back, my knife only nicked her shoulder. Mab hissed with pain, and she went down in a heap on the floor. I started to throw myself on top of her to finish the job with my other knife, but some sense of self-preservation, some subconscious whisper of warning, some sense that it just couldn't be that fucking easy, made me pull back at the last second.
Good thing, since her fists burst into flames.
The elemental Fire flickered around her fingers and spread outward, snapping and cracking against her skin. I bobbed and weaved, trying to duck the arcing flames and stab her, but Mab managed to stay just out of arm's-and knife's-reach. Meanwhile, McAllister started bellowing for the giants who'd just left the hallway.
"Guards!" the lawyer roared. "Guards!"
I had maybe fifteen seconds before someone answered his frantic call, and I planned to make the most of them. This time I didn't hesitate. I reached for my Stone magic, used it to harden my skin, and threw myself on top of Mab, all in one motion, my first silverstone knife slashing through the air again.
Mab saw the movement out of the corner of her eye and rolled away at the last possible second. Again, my knife only scraped along her arm, instead of doing the massive, fatal damage that I so desperately wanted it to do.
But I wasn't done yet-not by a long shot. I propelled myself forward that much more. My body slammed into the Fire elemental's, and we hit the floor again. Mab immediately blasted me with her magic. The hot, hungry flames engulfed my body, forcing me to push back with my Stone magic just to keep from being burned alive. Even then, I could feel the strength of Mab's power-the sheer, raw, all-consuming force of it. I brought all the Stone magic that I had to bear, but her Fire still burned me, cutting through my defenses and making blisters pop out on my skin, searing my flesh one layer at a time.
But I wasn't the only one who felt the effects of Mab's overwhelming power.
Her Fire magic also ignited the carpet underneath our rolling bodies, and more flames and smoke began to fill the hallway. Mab swung her fists at me, and with every blow, red-hot sparks fluttered up into the air like butterflies. The sparks only helped spread the elemental Fire, which leaped up the walls and consumed everything in its path, including the expensive oil paintings and elegant drapes hanging there.
Over and over, we rolled together, with me trying to stab Mab with my silverstone knives and her blasting me with her Fire magic. The threat of my knives distracted and kept her from truly unleashing her elemental power on me, but the flames burning on her fists also blocked me from doing the quick, deadly damage that I wanted.
It was a fucking stalemate.
By this point, other people had noticed what was going on, and hoarse screams and shouts filled the air, along with thick smoke and the blare of a fire alarm. But even that sharp, steady clang-clang-clang couldn't quite drown out the sounds of our guttural snarls. Heavy footsteps also thumped down the hall, making the floor quiver and quake, as Mab's giants ran through the flames toward us.
And I realized that I'd already lost.
I just couldn't get close enough to Mab to stab her with my knives, not without being consumed by her Fire myself. My Stone magic just wasn't strong enough to completely shield me. Maybe I should have used my Ice power as well, but I wanted to have a little bit of magic left in the tank for my getaway. Besides, I'd planned to stab Mab in the back, not confront her. Of course, that plan had gotten shot to hell, like so many of my best-laid ones before it.
Now, with more and more of her giants filling the hallway, my escape route would soon be cut off. I knew what would happen after that. Mab would pin me down and burn me to death, just like she had my mother and older sister before me.
And then she'd go after Bria.
Fletcher had always told me that there was no shame in retreating, in running away, even if you missed your target. Survival was the only thing that ever really mattered in the end. As long as I was alive, I still had a chance to kill Mab-even if tonight wasn't going to be the night. The old man's wisdom had saved me more than once, and I saw no reason to doubt it now. I just hoped I hadn't waited too long to take his advice.
I snapped up my left hand and punched Mab in the face, even though the action caused me unbelievable pain as her flames licked and burned my skin. Screams, snarls, and curses spewed from my lips like venom. The sharp blow stunned the Fire elemental, and her magic flickered and dimmed just enough for me to roll away from her and get back up on my feet. On the other side of the hallway, Mab did the same, her head whipping around in my direction.
Through the smoke and flames, our eyes locked together. Gray on black. Anger, hate, and loathing burned between us, a living, palpable thing even brighter than the elemental Fire that filled the hallway. I knew the second that Mab recognized me. The Fire intensified on her fists, so hot that it seared my skin all the way across the hallway, even though I was still holding on to my Stone magic to try to protect myself from her power.
"Gin Blanco!" Mab hissed. "I should have known!"
Yeah, she should have. But I didn't have time to trade quips with her, especially since she was drawing back her fist to send a ball of fire at me-one that would end me.
I sprinted down the hallway, heading back toward the bathroom. But that wasn't my goal-the Exit sign at the end of the corridor was. Even as I ran, I could feel Mab gathering more and more of her elemental strength, holding on to more and more of her Fire power. I was moving away from her as fast as I could, but still, her magic chased after me, stabbing my skin like thousands of red-hot needles. She was going to throw everything she had at me, and if I didn't get out of the hallway before she did, I'd be dead.
Up ahead, a giant who I recognized as one of Mab's men stepped out of a room that branched off the corridor. The bodyguard ran straight at me, his long, beefy arms outstretched, like he wanted to crush me in a bear hug. And I saw a way to save myself-the only way to save myself from Mab's elemental Fire.
So I let him.
I slammed myself into the giant's body, letting him wrap his arms all the way around me, and then pivoted and spun around as hard as I could. The move surprised the giant, and his feet moved of their own accord, twirling him around and putting his broad back between me and Mab.
A second later, Mab's elemental Fire slammed into him.
The giant screamed as the flames swept over his body. He had no elemental magic, no power of any sort, so there was no way that he could protect himself. Hell, I would have been fried extra-crispy if his body hadn't shielded mine and if I hadn't grabbed hold of my Stone magic once more and used it to turn my body into an impenetrable shell. Even with those pieces of protection in place, Mab's flames still seared my skin, burning, burning, burning.
I screamed right along with the giant.
The flames seemed like they lasted forever, even though they flared out after only a few seconds. I drew in a ragged breath, gagging as the familiar, acrid stench of charred flesh filled my nose. Somehow, I shoved the giant's melted body away from me, even though it disintegrated into smoking ash at my touch. I looked down at the ruined thing that had been a man a second before. The horrible scent of seared skin filled my nose again, and tears streamed down my face from the pain pulsing through my body.
Bitter bile rose in my throat, choking me, but I forced it down and raised my eyes.
Mab was at the other end of the hallway. We just stood there, both of us breathing hard and staring at the other, not quite believing what had just happened. That neither one of us had killed the other.
