Bitter Bite (Elemental Assassin #14)(75)
He chuckled. “Not just Deirdre. Her entire group. They offered me a very nice
compensation package to help them.”
My eyes narrowed. “What group? Who else are you working for?”
He clucked his tongue at me. “Dead women shouldn’t ask so many questions. I
told you that I’d kill you when you humiliated me on the Delta Queen. You
should have believed me.”
“You haven’t managed to do it yet.” I mocked him. “Don’t get too cocky,
sugar. I’m still breathing, which means that you’re still going to wind up
dead before this is all said and done.”
He growled and whipped his hand forward, trying to smash his tire iron against
my fingers. I lurched back out of the way of his strike, but the tire iron
still slammed into the cage, hard enough to shake the door—and make the open
padlock slip out of its slot and drop to the floor.
Dimitri stared at the lock, his bushy black eyebrows drawing together in
confusion. Then his eyes widened with realization. “Get her, you fools—”
Too late.
Even as the three giants converged on the cage, I rammed the door open with my
shoulder, reached for my Ice magic, and sent a spray of daggers shooting out
of the palms of my hands. The sharp, deadly needles caught the giant closest
to me square in the throat, and he went down, choking on his own blood. I
darted forward and snatched up his tire iron.
The second giant came at me with his own tire iron, but I held my weapon out
in front of me and parried his blows.
Clack-clack-clack-clack.
Our makeshift swords banged together again and again, each of us determined to
break through the other’s defense and brain them with the metal.
“Don’t just stand there!” Dimitri barked at the third giant, who was
watching our fight with wide eyes. “Shoot her, you idiot!”
The giant fumbled for the gun under his jacket, yanked it free, and aimed it
at my head. Just as he pulled the trigger, I ducked down and plastered my body
up against my attacker’s.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The guard shot his friend in the back, making the other giant bellow with
pain. While he was distracted, I yanked his tire iron out of his hand and
cracked both pieces of metal against his head, one after the other, like I was
playing a drum set.
Crunch-crunch.
He whimpered and dropped like a stone to the floor, blood spurting out from
the cracks I’d opened in his skull.
But I was already whipping around toward the guard with the gun and using my
Stone magic to harden my skin.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Bullets pinged off my body and thunk-thunk-thunked into the surrounding
crates. The guard kept pulling the trigger, even as I charged at him. He ran
out of ammo and threw his gun at me, but the weapon clattered off my Stone-
hardened skin just like the bullets had. The guard yelped in surprise and
turned to run, but I raised my tire irons and slammed them into his skull
before he had a chance to take a step.
Crunch-crunch.
He collapsed onto the floor, his body twitching from the massive trauma.
That left Dimitri.
Instead of doing the smart thing and running away while his guards died,
Dimitri stood his ground, yanked a gun out from against the small of his back,
and started firing at me.
Crack!
Crack! Crack!
Crack!
But his bullets were as useless as all the others had been, and I was on top
of him before he’d even finished firing. This time, I went low, ducking his
awkward punch, and slammed one of the tire irons into his left knee.
Crack!
His kneecap shattered on impact, and Dimitri staggered back and flopped onto
his ass. His gun slipped from his hand and tumbled away, and he clutched his
knee and screamed curses.
“You bitch!” he yelled. “You broke my f*cking knee!”
I tossed away one of the tire irons and dropped to my own knees, straddling
Dimitri. He tried to fight back, so I grabbed his ear and slammed his skull
against the concrete floor, stunning him. His toupee slipped off his head.
But I had to give him credit. He blinked away his daze and raised his fists to
punch at me again. So I laid the tire iron across his throat, putting my
weight behind it, cutting off his air. Dimitri’s dark eyes bulged, and his
face turned beet-red, but he didn’t dare try to hit me again. He knew how
easily I could crush his windpipe.
“Start talking,” I hissed. “What is Deirdre up to with Santos? Where are
they going? How is Finnegan Lane involved?”
Dimitri glared up at me, a mulish expression on his face.
I eased the pressure on the tire iron, even as I dropped one hand down to my
side. I reached for my Ice magic, creating a dagger, then stabbed him in the
thigh with it.
Dimitri screamed, and I yanked the dagger right back out again, making him
scream even louder.
“Do you want to start talking now? Or should I make you my own personal