By a Thread (23 page)

Fuck. Randall Dekes knew
exactly who I was—which meant that things were about to get seriously ugly. I wasn't just going to have a chat with the vampire and warn him to leave Callie alone. Not anymore. Now only one of us would be leaving this room alive, and I was determined that it was going to be me.

I thought about immediately launching into full-scale attack mode but quickly discarded that idea—at least until I was out of reach of the two giants looming behind me. It wouldn't do to let them latch onto me, not when I still didn't know what kind of elemental magic Dekes had and what he planned to do to me with it. I had no doubt that Dekes would kill his own men if it meant taking me down with them.

No, the vampire was the real threat here, and I needed to deal with him first. So instead of reaching for one of my knives and charging at my enemies, I walked over, put my purse up on the mantel
so both my hands would be free, and leaned against the fireplace, affecting a nonchalant air. The whole time, though, I was calculating speed, distances, and angles and wondering how much of his weird elemental magic Dekes might blast me with before I put him down for good.

“So you know my real name. Bravo for you. I assume that Jonah told you about my alter ego as well?”

“That you're really the assassin the Spider? Oh yes. Jonah and I had quite a fascinating conversation about you—and the fact that you killed his son, Jake. Jonah was very upset about that. Still is, as a matter of fact.”

I'd killed Jake McAllister during a party at Mab's house, leaving his body in one of the Fire elemental's bathtubs. Jake had tried to rob the Pork Pit, in addition to wanting to rape and murder me, but I showed Jake just what a fatal mistake he'd made by taking me on—just as I was going to show Dekes.

But instead of backing up or moving away from me, Dekes gave me a smug, satisfied, slightly maniacal smile the Cheshire cat would have been envious of. The vampire didn't seem concerned at all that he was in the same room with a notorious assassin. My worry cranked up another notch. Dekes didn't strike me as the kind of man to lay his cards on the table without first being absolutely sure that he had the winning hand.

“Tell me, is my good friend Jonah here at the press conference?” I asked, matching Dekes's calm with a bored, indifferent mask. “Because I'd love to personally thank him for introducing us, so to speak.”

“Sadly, no. Jonah couldn't make it,” Dekes said. “But we had an interesting conversation
on the phone this morning. It was something of a fluke, really. I was dealing with other things, namely the discovery of the bodies of several men I employ that were found floating in the pool of the Blue Sands hotel. It was doubly embarrassing for me, since not only did my men die rather brutal deaths but I'd originally planned to have my press conference there, as I own the hotel. Naturally, I had to change the location. Bodies in the pool are not good for business.”

“No,” I agreed. “They never are.”

“I've known Jonah a long time, and he's handling some of the paperwork regarding my new casino. He called me this morning, and naturally I mentioned the unfortunate incident at the hotel and how I'd sent my men out to deal with what seemed to be a very small, easily solvable problem, but that they'd ended up dead instead.”

The pleasant smile never left the vampire's face, but his green eyes were just as cold and hard as mine were now. “I lamented to Jonah that my men couldn't do something as simple as handle two female tourists, much less the restaurant owner that they were trying to help. You can imagine my surprise when he asked me what the two tourists looked like—and if my men had been stabbed to death. When I told him that, yes, my men had indeed been stabbed to death, that's when he mentioned your name. We had quite a long talk about you, Gin. Jonah was even kind enough to text me a photo of you, along with those of your friends.”

Damn and double damn. I'd thought that maybe getting out of Ashland for a few days might change my perpetual bad luck, but the bitch was out in full force tonight and ready to fuck me over once again.

Since there was no point
in hiding why I was really here any longer, I palmed one of my silverstone knives and held it up so that Dekes could see it.

“Well, since you know I'm the Spider, surely you realize why I came here this evening.”

Dekes made that arrogant, dismissive wave with his hand again. “I assume it had something to do with Callie Reyes. From what my sources have been able to dig up, she's good friends with your . . . sister, is it? Detective Coolidge? I believe I saw the detective by the pool. A beautiful woman, your sister.”

My hand tightened around the knife. If this bastard thought he was getting anywhere near Bria, then he obviously hadn't listened closely enough to McAllister. I might not like the smarmy lawyer, but I knew enough about him to realize that he'd tell Dekes every little detail he knew about me, including how I'd killed Mab. So why wasn't Dekes worried I'd do the same to him? I didn't know what game he was playing, but I had a feeling that I'd already lost. The only question now was how high the price was going to be.

“But as beautiful as your sister might be, she's just not as special as you are, now, is she, Gin?”

“Special?” I asked. “What the hell are you talking about?”

I didn't care what he thought was so damn special about me, but I asked the question because it let me slide another step in the vamp's direction. I'd been easing closer and closer to him as we'd talked, and now I was only about fifteen feet from him. As soon as I got within arm's reach, I was lunging forward and taking him out with my knives, magic, or both if necessary. The two giants stood off to my left, their
gazes fixed on me. They'd noticed the steps I'd taken, but they'd made no move to counter them, not even to unbutton their suit jackets and reach for the guns they were probably wearing. Apparently they thought their boss could handle me all by himself. A troubling thought, and I started to wonder just how badly I'd underestimated the vampire.

Dekes's eyes gleamed in his face, and I felt like a mouse staring into the face of a very large, very hungry cat. “You see, what really intrigued me about you, Gin, and the reason I let you and your friends slip into my press conference is your elemental power—and the fact that you have both Ice and Stone magic. At least, that's what Jonah claimed on the phone. I couldn't quite believe it myself. It's an exceptionally rare gift, being able to tap into two elemental areas like that. I've certainly never met anyone with a dual gift before—and I've had quite a bit of experience with elementals over the years.”

I opened my mouth to say something, anything, to keep him talking so I could creep even closer to him, but Dekes beat me to the punch.

“Bring them in!” the vampire called out in a loud voice.

Footsteps sounded in the hall, and a third giant stepped into the library, dragging Vanessa into the room. The other woman gave me a look that was a mixture of anger, disgust, and pity. A second later, two more giants entered the library—also dragging Vanessa inside.

I blinked, staring at the limp figure that hung in between the last two giants and wondering if I was seeing double. No, wait, that wasn't Vanessa. The woman, who looked to be unconscious, had the same black hair and beautiful skin that Vanessa
did, indicating that they were related, but her features were younger, softer, smoother. She also wore an elegant black evening gown, but the fabric didn't hide how painfully thin she was. I could see the bones in her chest all the way across the room. But the strange thing was that she had on the same diamond and pearl jewelry that Vanessa did—a wide choker around her neck and matching cuffs on either wrist. Two more giants stepped into the library and shut the double doors behind them.

Now there was a total of seven giants in the room, along with me, Dekes, and the two women. Not great odds, but I'd survived worse.

“I'm not sure if you realize it or not, but my lovely wife, Vanessa, has a younger sister, Victoria.”

Dekes nodded at the giants, who dragged the two women over to where we stood. The giants dumped the still-unconscious Victoria onto the green leather sofa while Vanessa broke free of the man holding her, rushed forward, and dropped to her knees beside the couch, cradling her sister's head in her hands. Anguish filled Vanessa's face as she looked at her sister, an anguish that I knew all too well. I'd felt the same thing the night Bria had been kidnapped and taken to Mab. Fear, rage, and utter, humiliating helplessness that I'd failed to protect my sister.

Earlier at the press conference, Vanessa hadn't been warning me away from her husband because she thought I might steal him from her—she'd been trying to save my life. I'd just been too smug and arrogant about my own prowess as the Spider to realize it.
Never believe your own reputation
. Fletcher had told me that more than once, but that's just what I'd done tonight, thinking that Dekes would be an easy mark for an assassin like me.

I wondered if it would be the
last mistake I ever made.

“Darling,” Dekes said in a soft voice. “Let's show Gin just how good I am to you and your dear sister.”

Vanessa's back stiffened, and her whole body trembled with fear, rage, or perhaps both. For a moment, I thought she wasn't going to do what he said, but she slowly pushed herself to her feet and turned to face me. With shaking hands, Vanessa yanked the jeweled cuffs off her arms, unsnapped the choker from around her neck, and let them all drop to the floor.

Bite marks covered her neck and wrists—deep, vicious, ugly bite marks.

The skin around Vanessa's wrists was mottled, purple, and broken from the wounds, and the same marks ringed her neck like the choker she'd just torn off. Most of the marks looked fresh, but I could see the gleam of old white scars and newer pink puckered ones here and there—so many fucking scars. I couldn't tell how many times Dekes had bitten her or for how long, but my stomach recoiled at the sight, and the spider rune scars embedded in my own palms began to itch and burn with old memories. I knew what it was like to be marked like that, to be branded, to be tortured. I'd only endured it once, but Vanessa had been subjected to it over and over and over again, ever since she'd been married to Dekes—perhaps even longer.

Now I knew why the diamonds and pearls had whispered and wailed with anger, pain, and fear instead of their own sparkling beauty. The jewels were echoing Vanessa's own feelings of being trapped
in her marriage to Dekes, of being used so cruelly by the vampire.

“I said that Vanessa has her uses, and she does. The Fire magic flowing through her veins is quite powerful and quite delicious, Her sister, though not as strong, is gifted in Air magic,” Dekes said in a calm voice, as if he were talking about a gourmet meal he'd just ordered for dinner. “Rather like red and white wine, both cleanse and refresh the palate in their own unique way.”

Vanessa shuddered and looked away from her husband, but I kept my eyes on Dekes, once again wondering what game he was playing at and how I could beat him at it—and cut his fucking throat.

“Until recently, I had a third beauty in my elemental stable, an older woman with Ice magic. But alas, she wasn't quite strong enough to handle the wear and tear of being one of my most prized possessions.” Dekes gave me a thin, disappointed smile.

“Mona killed herself,” Vanessa snapped, her voice breaking on the words. “To get away from
you
. I only wish that I was strong enough to do the same.”

“But you aren't that strong, are you, darling?” Dekes said. “You're too worried about your sister's safety to do anything that foolish. And more's the pity for Victoria. We both know that she's growing anemic. She barely wakes up long enough to eat anymore. Soon she won't be of any use to me.”

Back at the Sea Breeze this morning when Finn had been telling me about Dekes, I'd thought that the vampire was just another businessman bad guy, a bullying thug with too much money who thought he was entitled to whatever he wanted.

Now I knew what a sick, sick bastard
he really was.

“Let me guess. Vanessa and Victoria aren't the first women you've done this to, are they?” I asked. “How many women have you
collected
over the years? How many have you killed? And for what, their blood?”

“Hardly,” Dekes sniffed. “This is about so much more than mere blood, Gin. This is about power—elemental power. You asked me before what my favorite thing was to collect. Well, this is it.”

That cold finger of dread started crawling up my spine again. Dekes held up his hand, and elemental Fire sparked and crackled on his fingertips, glowing like red-hot matches. I tensed and reached for my own Stone magic, ready to use it to turn my skin into a hard, impenetrable shell. But instead of throwing the Fire at me, the vampire casually tossed the flames into the fireplace, causing the logs inside to ignite. He stared at the flames a moment before holding up his hand again. This time, a blast of Air roared through the room, swirled into the fireplace, and snuffed out the burning logs.

Now I knew why the crackle of elemental magic around Dekes felt like Air, Fire, Ice, and Stone all at the same time—because that's what it was. The blood that he'd drunk from various elementals had all mixed together in his veins, letting him tap into all four areas. He'd mentioned a woman with Ice magic, and I had no doubt that there'd been one with Stone power just like my own before her—and countless others over the years. All trapped here in Dekes's odd gilded cage and forced to feed him their blood one way or another until he sucked them dry or they killed themselves to be free of him.

“So you don't have any actual elemental
power of your own,” I said. “You just take it from the women that you force to give you their blood. You know what, Dekes? For all your money and knickknacks, you're nothing but a common thief.”