Bitter Bite (Elemental Assassin #14)(106)

I snorted. “There is nothing motherly about you. Don’t expect me to save

your lying, deceitful, sorry ass. Not after what you did to Finn. I told you

point-blank that when you hurt him, I would kill you. You really should have

listened. Now you’re going to die here, a victim of your own lies, and

absolutely no one will mourn your passing. Especially not Finn.”

Deirdre realized that she wasn’t going to soften my heart, which was just as

cold and hard as hers was. “You stupid bitch,” she snarled. “By the time

they’re done with you, you’ll wish you were dead too.”

I shrugged. “We’ll see.”

Tucker gestured at the gun in my hand. “Go ahead. Kill her. You know you want

to.”

I kept my gaze steady on him, even as I wrapped my fingers around the cuff on

my left wrist, sending a small trickle of Ice magic into the locking

mechanism. The silverstone soaked up that first wave of magic, so I sent out

another, slightly stronger one, wanting to drop the temperature of the cuff

and weaken the metal.

“Forget it,” I said. “Do your own damn dirty work.”

“Shoot her,” Tucker snapped. “Now.”

“Why? So you can record the whole thing and blackmail me with it? I see your

man with his phone out over there.”

Tucker couldn’t help but look in that direction. The giant at the door winced

and lowered his phone.

“Seems like the invitation to join your precious Circle is more of an order,

and I don’t take orders from anyone, sugar.”

“Then you’re a fool,” Tucker snapped.

“And you’re a dead man.”

“If you won’t kill her, then I will. And then I’ll kill you too. Only I won

’t be so nice as to use a gun.” He gestured at the knife he’d cut me with,

the one the giant was still holding on to for him. “I’ll carve you up, just

like you’ve done to so many other people. But there won’t be anything quick

and painless about it. Your screams will be like a sweet serenade, and I won’

t stop cutting until you beg me for mercy.”

I snorted again. “You can make me scream, certainly, but I won’t beg. You

want Deirdre dead, then kill her your damn self. Mab might have been involved

with you, but I’m not her. I’m not one of your lackeys, and I never, ever

will be.”

The vampire glared at me, his eyes narrowed to two black slits in his face,

but I stared right back at him, even as I fed a little bit more Ice magic into

the cuff on my left wrist. The metal was so cold now that it was starting to

steam in the ambient heat of the warehouse, but no one noticed the wisps of

frost except me. Almost there.

“Fine,” he snapped. “It will be easier to kill you both now anyway.”

Tucker bent down, as though he was going to wrest the gun out of my hand, but

I dug the toes of my boots into the floor and pushed back as hard as I could.

The rollers on my chair sailed smoothly along the concrete floor, shooting me

back, well out of Tucker’s reach.

He swiped for me and ended up staggering to keep his balance. For a moment,

everyone was frozen, but I kept digging and digging my toes into the floor the

whole time, trying to roll myself toward the door at the end of the warehouse.

Even as I sailed away, I whipped up the gun, pressed it against the lock on

the handcuff on my left wrist, and pulled the trigger.

Crack!

The shot reverberated through the warehouse. The bullet, combined with my Ice

magic, was enough to shatter the lock on the silverstone handcuff. The second

the cuff fell away, I tossed the empty gun aside, lurched out of the chair,

and sprinted for the door.

Crack!

Crack! Crack!

Crack!

My shot must have also jolted Tucker’s men out of their shock. Bullets zinged

through the warehouse in my direction, but I reached for my Stone magic and

hardened my skin into an impenetrable shell. One of the bullets caught me

square in the back, throwing me forward as though someone had punched me in my

spine, but my magic saved me from being killed. The blow still hurt—the force

of the bullet was hard enough to bruise my back and ribs and make breathing

uncomfortable—but I ignored the pain and staggered forward.

Shouts rose behind me, and more bullets whizzed through the air, plowing into

the crates and boxes as I ran past them, but I kept my legs churning and my

gaze locked on the door at the end of the warehouse. I needed to get out of

here, and not just so I wouldn’t get killed. I needed to warn Finn and the

others about Deirdre, Tucker, and everything he’d said. But first, I had to

survive this.

A lone giant was standing by the door, the guy who’d been recording me. He

was still holding his phone, and he fumbled for the gun in his shoulder

holster. Something silver glinted in my field of vision, and I veered over to

a worktable, snatching up a wrench. The man yanked his gun free and raised it