I’d been so focused on my parents that I hadn’t noticed that the Fire elemental was clutching something in her hand. The object was at the very bottom left corner of the picture, almost out of sight of the lens. I frowned and squinted at the photo, trying to figure out what the flat shape was.
Was that…a book?
I reared back in surprise, then leaned forward and squinted at the photo again, but I couldn’t quite make out the shape. So I got up, went into the kitchen, and rummaged through one of the drawers until I came up with Fletcher’s old magnifying glass. Armed with the glass, I went back into the den, grabbed the photo, and stared at it through the lens.
It was a book.
I still couldn’t tell when or where the photo had been taken, or even what the occasion had been, but for some reason, Mab was holding a book down by her side, almost as if she didn’t want anyone to realize that she had it.
My gaze darted around the den, flitting from one cardboard box to the next. Books, books, books, everywhere I looked. That couldn’t be a coincidence.
So I brought the magnifying glass up and studied the photo yet again. And I realized that Mab wasn’t holding just any old book. Oh, no. She was clutching one with a royal-blue cover and pages trimmed with shiny silver foil.
The same sort of book that was sitting on the coffee table right in front of me.
I frowned, then leaned forward, grabbed the book, and compared it with the one in the photo. A slender volume with a royal-blue cover and pages trimmed with silver foil. Color, size, shape. They were exactly the same, right down to how brand-new they both looked.
I flipped through my book again, but the pages were as blank as before. This couldn’t be the same book Mab was holding. That photo of her and my parents had to have been taken more than twenty-five years ago, before my dad died. Why keep a blank book for all those years? It didn’t make any sense.
But it was the only lead I had, so I sat there, looking from the book in my hand to the photo on the table and back again. And once again, something about the book nagged at me, far more than the photo did. Or maybe it was something about the book and the photo together…
My frustration grew and grew. My fingers curled around the book, and I suddenly wanted to hurl it into the fireplace, douse it with lighter fluid, toss a match on it, and watch it burn. But that wouldn’t help anything, so I forced myself to lean back against the couch cushions, close my eyes, and take in several slow, deep breaths.
What I needed to do was clear my mind, think things through, and go back to the beginning. Back to the auction, the Eaton Estate, and the library where I’d first seen the photo of my parents, along with the bookcase.
So I thought back to last night, mentally retracing my steps through the ballroom and down the corridor to the library. What had happened after that? I’d gone into the library, noticed the books and other furnishings, and talked to Lorelei, who was staring at the photo of Lily Rose, her mother—
My eyes snapped open.
Lily Rose’s photo had been nestled in a bookcase that was identical to the one I’d bought. In fact, her picture had been sitting on the same shelf, arranged the exact same way—propped up on a book with a royal-blue cover.
Alanna didn’t want the book I’d bought—she wanted the one Lorelei had.
Another chilling thought zipped through my mind. Lorelei and Mallory had picked up the book and the rest of their things at the estate earlier today, and the two women were at their mansion right now, along with Mosley.
After the attack on the road earlier today, I had thought that Alanna would come after me again. But Tucker had said that Alanna was smart, and she must have realized how difficult it would be to break into my fortified home.
But the Parker mansion wasn’t nearly as secure.
Even if Alanna didn’t realize her mistake about the book yet, even if she didn’t know that Lorelei had the right one, she still wanted Mosley dead, and tonight would be as good a time as any to make that happen.
The book, Mosley, her revenge. Alanna could have them all at one fell swoop.
And she could be on her way to the Parker mansion right now.
I grabbed my phone off the table and called Lorelei. But it was after eleven now, and my call went straight to voice mail. I hung up and tried again, with the exact same result. She probably had turned off the sound on her phone so she could sleep, which meant that there was no way I could warn her.
I dialed Mosley next, but he didn’t answer either. Neither did Mallory. After them, I tried Finn, but he didn’t pick up, and neither did Bria. Finally, I called Silvio, but for once, even he didn’t answer me.
Every unanswered call only increased my worry and frustration. Sure, Lorelei, Mosley, and Mallory might be sleeping and have their phones turned off—or Alanna could be at the Parker mansion right now, killing them all.
Only one way to find out.
I tossed my phone down, leaped to my feet, and raced upstairs. “Owen!” I yelled. “Owen, get up! We have to go!”
I’d just made it to the top of the steps when the door to my bedroom burst open and Owen rushed out into the hallway. He was wearing a T-shirt and boxers, and his black hair was a rumpled mess, but he was holding a large blacksmith’s hammer over his shoulder, ready to bring it crashing down on whomever got in his way.
I stopped a moment to admire the tense, tight muscles in his broad shoulders. Getting out of bed and grabbing a weapon first, even before you put your clothes on. Now, that was a man after my own heart.
“Gin?” he asked, his gaze darting up and down the hallway. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Where did you get that hammer?” I asked.
“I put it under your bed a couple of weeks ago, remember?” Owen’s head swiveled from side to side as he kept searching the hallway for intruders. “What’s wrong? Is someone outside? Is Alanna here?”
I shook my head. “Not here, but I know where she’s headed.”
* * *
While we hurried to get dressed and gear up, I told Owen my suspicion that Lorelei had the blue book that Alanna really wanted and that the vampire might be on her way to the Parker mansion right now, if she wasn’t already there.
Ten minutes later, we were in Owen’s car and zooming down the driveway. While he drove, I called everyone again, but no one answered. I dialed Lorelei three times, but her phone went straight to voice mail each time.
I cursed and looked over at Owen. “Drive faster.”
He stomped his foot down on the gas.
Given the late hour and deserted roads, it didn’t take us long to reach the Parker mansion. Owen turned off his headlights and slowed down as we approached the driveway that led from the road up to the mansion. Given how late it was, the gate should have been pulled shut across the entrance for the night, but it was standing wide open. Even worse, several of the bars were broken, as though someone had used their strength to peel them back and shove the gate out of the way.
I cursed again. “Alanna’s already here.”
Owen’s hands tightened around the steering wheel. “You want me to go up the driveway?”
Despite my desperate need to make sure that Lorelei, Mallory, and Mosley were okay, I shook my head. “No. I don’t want Alanna to know that we’re here. The element of surprise is the only advantage we have. Go down about a quarter of a mile and park on the side of the road.”
Owen did as I asked, pulling off the asphalt and getting as close to the trees as he could. I grabbed a black duffel bag full of supplies out of the backseat, while he picked up his blacksmith’s hammer from the floorboard. Then the two of us left the car behind and hiked through the woods until we could see the Parker mansion.
By Northtown’s highfalutin standards, it was a modest home, three sprawling stories with around thirty rooms total. A garden, a pool, a stone patio covered with furniture. My gaze zoomed past all the familiar features. No one seemed to be lurking around outside the mansion, but it
was far from deserted.
Three black sedans sat at haphazard angles in the driveway, as though they’d zoomed up the pavement and screeched to an abrupt stop. The car doors were standing open, and I could still smell the harsh stench of rubber from the tires. Several sets of boot prints went from the cars, through the snow-dusted grass, and over to one of the doors, which had been reduced to splinters clinging to the frame from where someone, most likely a giant, had barreled through it.
Most of the mansion was dark, but lights blazed in the first-floor library. Through the lace curtains, I could see several man-sized shapes moving back and forth.
Owen pointed at that section. “That’s the library, right?”
“Yeah,” I whispered back. “Alanna must have realized that Lorelei has the right book after all. Or maybe she just wants to cover her bases and recover Lorelei’s book before she comes after mine again. Either way, it looks like she’s in there searching for it, along with Phelps and however many men they have. We need to get into the mansion before they find it—”
A figure appeared in the busted doorway, and Alanna strolled outside. She was dressed all in black, just like I was, which made it easy for me to spot the blue book in her hand. My chest tightened, and my heart sank like a lead weight. She’d already found it, which meant—which meant—
Lorelei, Mosley, and Mallory were already dead.
The horrible thought slammed into my brain like a sledgehammer, shattering everything inside me. For a moment, I couldn’t think, couldn’t blink, couldn’t even breathe. After Fletcher had been murdered in the Pork Pit, I vowed to do whatever it took to protect the people I cared about. I had never wanted to lose someone else the way I’d lost the old man. But it had happened again, and it was all my fault.
Because I hadn’t realized what Alanna was really after until it was too late. Because she hated Mosley in no small part due to my actions.
Because I was the one who’d helped turn her into a monster by murdering her mother right in front of her.
Owen spotted my guilty, miserable expression and laid a warm, comforting hand on my shoulder. I sucked in a deep, ragged breath, trying to get my emotions under control—
“What was that?” Alanna’s sharp voice cut through the cold night air.
Owen and I both froze. We looked at each other for a moment, and then my gaze darted over to Alanna, who was staring at the trees where we were hiding in the shadows. I bit back a curse. With her enhanced vampiric senses, she could hear everything around her, including my sudden intake of air.
Owen realized the same thing, and his hand tightened on my shoulder in warning. Other than that, the two of us remained absolutely still, not moving a single muscle.
Alanna kept peering in our direction, her green eyes glittering in her beautiful face. After several seconds, she turned and snapped her fingers at someone still inside the house.
“Bring them,” she commanded.
Alanna stepped away from the opening, and several giants streamed outside, gripping the arms of two other men and dragging them along the ground. The giants stopped and dropped the other men’s arms, letting them flop to the ground. I recognized the two men as bank guards. Their faces were bruised and bloody, but their chests rose and fell in a steady rhythm, telling me that they were unconscious instead of dead.
Alanna snapped her fingers again, and Terrence Phelps stepped out of the house. He gestured with his gun, and two much shorter figures appeared—Mallory and Mosley.
All the air escaped my lungs in a loud, relieved rush, but I didn’t care if Alanna heard the sound. My friends were still alive. That was all that mattered right now. And they were going to stay that way, no matter what I had to do in order to save them.
“Get them in the car,” Alanna ordered.
The giants moved forward and surrounded the two dwarves. Mallory wore a light blue robe over matching pajamas and slippers. She looked fine, except for her furious expression, and she was even wearing her usual array of diamond rings. The gems sparkled and flashed as the giants pushed her along, but she ignored her captors and focused on Mosley, who had his head bowed and was shuffling along at a much slower pace beside her.
I recognized his slow, painful walk as that of a man who’d been severely beaten. Mosley stepped into a patch of light and lifted his head. I sucked in another breath. His face was a bruised, battered mess, just as I’d expected it to be, but those injuries were nothing compared to the claw marks that raked down his cheeks in deep, jagged lines.
Blood dripped out of those wounds, rolled down his neck in a steady stream, and spattered all over the front of his navy robe and pajamas. Mosley shifted on his feet, and I realized that his face wasn’t the only thing that had been sliced up. His robe and pajamas hung in tatters on his frame, and more claw marks zipped down his arms and across his chest. Someone had used the dwarf like he was her own personal scratching post.
“That bitch is dead,” I snarled.
The words escaped before I could stop them, and Alanna’s head snapped back around in this direction. Her eyes narrowed, and I knew that she’d heard me. She held up her hand, ordering her men to stop. They did, with Mallory and Mosley still trapped in the middle.
I did a head count. Alanna had brought half a dozen giants with her, along with Phelps, who still had his gun trained on Mallory and Mosley. My mind spun around, trying to figure out a way to rescue my friends, but there wasn’t one. Phelps could easily pull his trigger and shoot the two dwarves before I even took three steps out of the woods.
Then another thought popped into my mind, and I finally realized what—or, rather, who—was missing.
Lorelei.
She wasn’t standing with Mallory and Mosley, so Alanna hadn’t taken her prisoner. My gaze flicked over the mansion, then the yard, then the woods beyond, but I didn’t see Lorelei. She had to be here somewhere, though. I was sure of it. She would never abandon her grandmother, and she wasn’t dead. Otherwise, Mallory would have been inconsolable.
A hasty plan took shape in my mind, and I crouched down, unzipped the black duffel bag at my feet, and drew out the blue book that had belonged to Mab, the one that had been included with my auction items.
I straightened up. Owen spotted the book, and his face creased with worry.
“What are you going to do with that?” he whispered.
“Make a trade.”
He frowned, but then his eyes widened in realization, and he shook his head. “No, Gin. No. She’ll kill you. You know she will.”
“I know she’ll try.” I grinned at him. “And I also know you won’t let her succeed.”
Worry, concern, love, pride. All those emotions and more flashed in Owen’s gaze, as hot and fast as violet lightning. But right now, the most important emotions were the last two that filled his features: understanding and acceptance.
Understanding that I had to do this, that this was what I did, that this was who I was. And acceptance of that, acceptance of all the worry and fear that went along with it, acceptance of me, Gin Blanco, the Spider.
Owen reached out, pulled me toward him, and crushed his lips to mine. I cradled his face in my hand and returned his kiss with equal fervor, drinking in his smell, taste, and touch. Then the moment passed, and we broke apart, our hearts full of grim determination. I nodded at him, and he nodded back at me. Together we faced our enemies again.
Alanna strode out into the middle of the driveway, her black stiletto boots clack-clack-clacking against the asphalt like she was grinding bones to dust under her towering heels. Once again, her gaze focused on the shadows where Owen and I were still hiding.
“Come out,” she ordered. “Or I’ll kill the dwarves. You have ten seconds—”
My phone rang, cutting her off.
I winced. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy, Gin!
I’d made so many calls on the drive over here that I’d forgotten to silence my phone when we crept into the woods. But of course someone would call me back now
. Still, I might as well see who it was, so I pulled the device out of my pocket and stared at the name on the screen.
Lorelei Parker.
My heart lifted, and I showed the phone to Owen. He frowned, and then his eyes widened as he realized what it meant. I made a circling motion with my finger, asking him to go around and sneak up on Alanna and her men from behind. He nodded and hefted his blacksmith hammer a little higher on his shoulder. Owen cupped my face in his hand for a moment, letting me see the love shining in his eyes, then turned and vanished deeper into the woods.
I thought about answering the call, but I didn’t want Alanna to hear Lorelei’s voice—wherever she was—and realize that the other woman was here. So I let the phone ring and ring until it went to voice mail. I didn’t need to talk to Lorelei anyway. Not really. She’d already told me everything she needed to.
I silenced my phone and started to slide it back into my pants pocket, but I thought better of it and shoved the phone inside my right boot instead. I slid the device inside my sock and pushed it all the way down past my ankle, where it would stay safe and secure and where hopefully no one would think to look for it.
“Five seconds,” Alanna called out. “This is your last warning.”
“All right!” I yelled. “All right! I’m coming out!”
Still holding the blue book, I raised my hands and walked out of the woods. I strode across the lawn at a slow, steady pace before stepping onto the driveway.
Mallory and Mosley both gasped at the sight of me. Mallory’s blue eyes darted left and right, wondering who else I might have brought with me, while Mosley’s hands curled into fists. Despite the blood, bruises, and claw marks that covered his body, he winked at me, telling me that he was still in the fight. As much as I wanted to grin back at him, I kept my face blank.
I stopped about ten feet away from Alanna and slowly lowered my hands to my sides.
Her gaze flicked over my black vest, turtleneck, cargo pants, and boots. “So this is you, Gin Blanco, the Spider, as you really are.”
I shrugged. “What you see is what you get.”
Venom in the Veins_An Elemental Assassin Book Page 21