Elliot Slater recovered from his shock, and a cruel smile spread across his face. "You're a smart guy, Lane. Figuring all that out for yourself."
Finn shrugged again. "Not too hard. I've had the file on the Snow family for a while now. Mab's one of the few Fire elementals who had enough magic-then or now-to do what she did that night."
The giant circled around the column once more. This time, Finn's green eyes flicked to the other two men standing in front of him. They stared at him without expression, and Finn turned his attention back to Slater, who stopped in front of him once more. Finn didn't look up at me. He knew that I'd make my move when I was ready.
"What do you want, Lane?" Slater barked out. "What's the fucking point of this? You're dead, and you know it. Why all the questions about something Mab did years ago?"
Finn shrugged. "I'm curious. A trait my father instilled in me. Because it doesn't say in the file exactly why Mab killed the Snow family. What she gained from it. Or why she wants Bria Coolidge dead today."
Slater tilted his head to one side. "You might be smart, Lane, but you really don't have a clue, do you? Not about Mab, not about Coolidge, not about anything."
"Please," Finn said in a wry tone. "Enlighten me."
Elliot Slater leaned forward so that his pale face was level with Finn's bloody one. "Mab killed that family because of Bria Coolidge's magic. Because that bitch's Ice and Stone magic was and still is a threat to her."
Despite my years of training, I couldn't help the small gasp of surprise that escaped from my lips. Mab thought Bria had Ice and Stone magic? Why would the Fire elemental think that? I'd been the only one of us to inherit both our mother's Ice magic and our father's Stone power as well-
A horrible, horrible thought filled my mind. So horrible, so ironic, so fucking wrong I wanted to scream. To weep and wail and lash out and kill everything and everyone that I could get my hands on. But even as the bitterness filled my mouth at the realization, I knew that it was true-and the real reason why Mab Monroe had killed my family. The awful, horrible reason my mother and older sister were dead.
That night, when the Fire elemental had been torturing me, she'd asked me question after question about Bria, demanding to know where my baby sister was above all else. Because Mab had thought that Bria was me-that Bria was the one with both Ice and Stone magic.
Mab Monroe had really been there to kill me-not Bria.
I wasn't the only one surprised by the revelation. Finn's mouth dropped open at Slater's confession. Finn regarded the giant with thoughtful eyes, and I could practically see the wheels spinning in his head. He realized what the giant's words meant as well as I did.
"Mab Monroe thinks that Bria Coolidge has both Ice and Stone magic?" Finn asked. "That's why she wants Bria dead so badly?"
Slater frowned. "Why else would Mab care about the bitch?"
"Surely there's more to it than just that," Finn scoffed. "Mab Monroe is the strongest elemental to be born in five hundred years, if you listen to the rumors. She killed a whole family because one little girl had the power to control two elements? Come on, Elliot. We both know that I'm a dead man. Indulge me. Tell me the rest of the story."
Slater cocked his head to one side, trying to read Finn's expression, trying to figure out what he was up to, why he was so curious about something that had happened so long ago. Hard to get a good read on someone's emotions when blood and bruises covered his face like an extra layer of skin. After a few seconds of study, Slater shrugged.
"Mab wanted to kill the mother, Eira Snow, ever since they were kids. The Monroes were always part of the underworld wheeling and dealing, while the Snows were always real straight arrows. Naturally, the two families got involved in some kind of elemental feud along the way. It stretched back decades from what I understand. Hell, it goes so far back that I don't even think Mab really knows how it started in the first place. But somebody killed someone over something, and it just kept going from there. You know how elementals are. Most of 'em can't get along to save their lives, especially the opposing elementals, like Fire and Ice." Disgust filled Slater's voice. Evidently, he didn't hold his boss in quite as high regard as he led everyone to believe. "Fucking elementals. Always fighting over something."
Finn nodded his head in agreement.
"Mab and Eira Snow grew up together," Slater continued. "Even as kids, they were enemies. Mab made sure of that. And when they got older, well, they both went after the same man-a Stone elemental. Supposedly, Snow actually loved him, but Mab, well, she just wanted his Stone magic, wanted to pass it on to their kids."
The giant stared across the living room, staring back into the distant past. He hooked his thumbs through the belt loops on his pants and rocked back on his heels. Lost in his memories.
"But why?" Finn asked, breaking into Slater's reverie. "Maybe the kids would have gotten daddy's Stone magic. Maybe they wouldn't. There was no guarantee of that."
Slater chuckled. "I tried telling that to Mab myself, but she wouldn't listen to me. Magda's the only one that Mab ever took advice from."
Finn frowned. "Who the hell is Magda?"
The silent same question I was asking myself.
Slater shrugged. "Some crazy old aunt of Mab's who lived up in one of the hollows. Magda was an Air elemental. Seeing into the future was her thing. Writing down prophecies, casting stones, reading tea leaves, looking at moss on trees, drinking chicken's blood. Bitch was into some really crazy shit. She told Mab that Snow would have a kid who would be an even stronger elemental than Mab was. Someone with Ice and Stone magic. Someone who would one day kill Mab."
Kill Mab? Well, the mysterious Magda had gotten one thing right. Because that was certainly my plan now.
"After Snow popped out three brats, Mab decided to make her move," Slater finished.
Finn just stood there, digesting the information. On the balcony above, I did the same, trying to swallow the cold, cold bitterness that coated my mouth and heart.
Slater smiled. "So I got some of my boys together, and we went over to the house late one night. My boys and me took care of the servants, while Mab lit up the mother and one of the brats. It was beautiful."
Finn looked at the giant. "But things got out of hand, didn't they? Otherwise, Bria Coolidge wouldn't be alive today."
"The middle brat managed to hide Coolidge somewhere. So I found the brat and took her to Mab to get some answers. Mab tortured the brat, but she didn't squeak," Slater said. "So we left to look for Coolidge, but the little bitch used her Stone magic to weaken the foundation of her own house. Mab and I barely got out before the whole damn thing came crashing down."
"And you thought Bria buried herself in her own tomb," Finn deduced. "Until she came back to town a few weeks ago and Mab realized that she hadn't died that night all those years ago. I bet Mab fucking freaked when her sources in the police department told her about Bria, that the detective was digging up dirt on her family's murder. I bet Mab was absolutely livid when she realized who Bria really was. That's how Mab even knew it was her in the first place, right?"
"More or less." Slater shrugged again. "But it's all just a small setback, one I'm going to rectify after I'm finished having my fun with you-and sweet Roslyn."
Instead of getting angry again, Finn just stared at the giant, his green eyes gleaming with secrets that Slater couldn't even begin to guess. Finn's lips twitched, but not with pain. A small chortle sounded, then another, then another, until he was guffawing with laughter. Tears of hysterical amusement cascaded down his bruised cheeks, mixing with his scarlet blood.
Slater looked at Finn, then at his two flunkies. The other giants shrugged their shoulders. They didn't know why he was laughing either.
"What's so funny?" Slater rumbled, turning back to face Finn. "Most men don't laugh when they're about to die."
My foster brother ignored the giant and kept right on laughing. The loud, merry, confident sound grated on Slater's nerves, because he moved closer, grabbed Finn's chin with his massive hand, and shoved his mouth closed, cutting off his gleeful chuckles. It took some effort, but Finn's chest finally quit shaking with chuckles. Slater stepped back and eyed the other man, still wondering at the cheerful outburst.
"You know what, Elliot?" Finn asked. "You're a pretty smart guy yourself, to help your boss cover up such brutal murders for so long. But in the middle of telling your little bedtime story, you forgot one small thing."
"And what the fuck would that be?" Slater growled.
"You know that night that I stopped you from killing Bria Coolidge?"
The giant nodded.
Finn just smiled. "You forgot that I had a partner then-and still do now."
Chapter Twenty-Eight
That was my signal to move. So I pulled myself up onto the banister that overlooked the living room and leaped. I hung in midair for a moment before gravity took over. On my way down, I grabbed the edge of the iron chandelier. My momentum propelled me forward, like I was on a old-fashioned rope swing, and I pumped my legs to get the arc I wanted. Elliot Slater's head snapped up at the noise, but the two giants were too focused on their boss to do the same. Slater shouted a warning. Too fucking late.
I dropped right on top of the two giants. One of them stumbled to the left and slammed into a table. My silverstone knife ripped into the other one's back and sliced all the way down, like I was a sailor and his flesh was some sort of heavy canvas I was cutting into to slow my own fall.
He screamed with pain and bucked like a bronco, but I jumped up, grabbed his hair, and climbed on his back. The man tried to throw me off, but I had a death grip on his greasy locks. The giant paused a second to scream and gather his strength, and that's when I reached around and slit his throat. His scream turned into a gurgle, and I felt the fight and power drain out of his body, along with his blood. The man pitched forward, and I got off the rodeo ride.
One of my knives was still stuck in the giant's back, and the other had fallen from my grasp when he'd lurched forward. So I grabbed the two knives hidden in my boots and turned to face the other man. He'd picked himself up and was getting back into the thick of the fight. The giant roared with rage, charged, and swung at me. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. I slithered forward and popped up inside his nonexistent defense. One knife went into his heart. The other severed his jugular. I shoved him away and whirled, ready for Slater's onslaught.
But Elliot Slater stood in front of the column where Finn was chained, just staring at me. His hazel eyes regarded the dead bodies of his men, then flicked up to my face. It took him a second to recognize me through the grease and blood that coated my features like a rubber Halloween mask. But once he did, the giant's eyes narrowed, and a red flush crept up his pale, chalky neck.
"Blanco!" he hissed.
"You were expecting someone else?" I mocked. "And here I thought the idea that all giants were big and dumb was just a vicious stereotype."
My eyes flicked behind him to Finn, who was jumping up and down, trying to slip his handcuff chain off the peg that secured it to the stone column above his head.
"I'm the big dumb bastard who's going to rip you to pieces," Slater snarled, his hands curling into fists.
"Promises, promises," I mocked again.
I needed the giant to focus on me. Not do something smart and use Finn as a human shield.
Elliot Slater charged at me. I waited until the last second, then threw myself to one side and rolled up. I turned and immediately flung one of my silverstone knives at him. The weapon sank into the giant's chest. With a low snarl, he ripped it out and threw it to one side. I grabbed the knife in the small of my back and tossed that one at him too. It also landed in his chest, but I wasn't done yet. Two more knives came out of the pockets on my vest and whistled in Slater's direction as well.
Solid chest hits, all of them. If Slater had been human, he would have been dead by now. But he was a giant and a tough one at that. He merely pulled out the knives and let them drop to the floor at this feet. Once that was done, he smiled and started in my direction.
And that's when I drew the swords.
Elliot Slater had kicked my ass twice now-once at the community college when I'd let him and then again at Bria's house the night that he'd come to kill her. But I'd taken something away from both of those beatings-the fact that I couldn't let the giant put his hands on me. Not if I wanted to win. Not if I wanted to live.
Sure, I could use my elemental Stone magic to harden my skin, to make it tougher than granite. But Slater was arguably the strongest man in Ashland. He could keep punching me until my magic wore down. And when it was gone, when my strength and magic were exhausted and my concentration slipped that one precious second, my skin would revert back to normal. And then the giant could kill me with one well-placed blow. I couldn't let that happen, couldn't let him get close to me. Which is why I'd grabbed the two long swords from Owen Grayson's wall of weapons. I needed a way to cut Elliot Slater down piece by piece and keep out of reach of his long arms at the same time.
Now I was going to see if Owen was as good a craftsman as I thought he was. Going to stake my life on it, as a matter of fact.
Slater pulled up short at the sight of the silverstone swords glinting in my hands. Then a cruel smile spread across his face. "You think those little toothpicks are going to stop me?"
I twirled the swords in my hands. "Come here, you sick bastard, and we'll find out."
