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Don pulled the trigger on his gun. Crack! Crack!
Bria threw herself to one side, and the bullets slammed into the Dumpster behind her. My sister rolled across the cracked pavement and came up o
n one knee, raising her own weapon to fire at Don. Her other hand was outstretched, and a blue light flickered there, as she formed a ball of elemental Ice to fling at him. Even across the parking lot, I could feel the cool caress of Bria's Ice magic calling out to my own.
But the bastard was quicker than she was. He rushed forward and slapped the weapon away before she could put a couple of rounds in his chest. The blow also broke Bria's concentration, and her hold on her Ice magic slipped, the blue light cascading away in a shower of icy sparks. My sister retaliated by bracing her hands on the pavement and kicking up with her foot. Her boot slammed into Don's knee, and he staggered back, hitting the hood of the SUV. But the dwarf never stopped moving, bobbing, weaving, and gathering himself for another strike at her.
Another puff-puff of air sounded, and Don grunted as two bullets slammed into his left shoulder. A rare miss for Finn, who had no doubt meant to put the bullets through his eye instead, but the dwarf was moving too quickly, too erratically for that. Two more puffs of air hissed out, but by that point, Don had tucked into a tight ball and launched himself back at Bria. The bullets punched through the hood of the SUV, hitting the radiator and making it steam.
Lincoln Jenkins cowered on the right side of the vehicle, hugging the chrome rim like it was a shield that would protect him.
That all happened in the three seconds it took before the other two guys turned and came at me.
They both raised their guns and fired, but not before I used my Stone magic to harden my skin into an impenetrable shell.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
The bullets pinged off my body and disappeared into the darkness. The dwarves exchanged a puzzled look, wondering what was going on, but I didn't give them any time to recover. I stepped forward, my knife flashing.
I used my blade to slice a path across the closest man's stomach. He screamed and tried to punch me in the face, using his gun for extra pop. I dodged his awkward blow, palmed a second knife, and buried that one in his heart, twisting and tearing through the thick, hard muscles in his chest to get to it. He screamed again, even as his limbs went limp, and I let him flop to the ground.
The second guy snarled with anger and threw his body into mine, tearing my knives out of my hands and smashing me up against the side of the SUV with his dwarven strength. He raised his gun up to put a couple of bullets into my face, but I grabbed the barrel and shoved the weapon back into his nose, breaking it. The gun slid out of his grasp and clattered to the ground. Blood spattered onto my face, just the way it had a hundred times before. A thousand times before. I grinned. Nothing gushed quite like a broken nose.
But the guy wasn't done for yet. He came at me again, this time trying to wrap his hands around my neck and choke me. I stepped up and sucker-punched him in the throat. He stumbled back, gasping for air, and a silver-stone knife from my boot ended the rest of his struggles.
With my two men eliminated, I turned my attention back to Bria and Don, who were still fighting. The two of them rolled back and forth across the pavement, punching each other, although Don didn't even grunt as Bria's blows connected with his chest. Not surprising, given his inherent dwarven toughness. Blood covered both their faces, and I couldn't tell who the majority of it belonged to. No more puffs of air sounded, and I knew that was only because Finn didn't want to risk hitting Bria with a shot meant for Don, not while they were grappling.
Good thing I had my knives for the up-close wet work.
I sprinted over to the two of them, and the second that Don got back on top of Bria, I kicked him off her. The dwarf rolled back before climbing to his feet once more, looking all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, despite his fight with Bria and the blood soaking the shoulder of his electric blue track suit.
Although I wanted nothing more than to see how badly Bria was injured, I stepped over my sister, putting myself between her and Don. Now that the other dwarves were down, I knew that Finn would come around the Dumpsters and see to her.
"Hey," I snarled. "Why don't you give me a whirl, if you really want to play?"
Don tilted his head from side to side, cracking his neck and considering me and the bloody knife in my hand. "Well, well, looks like I was right after all. The quickest way to get what I want and all the money that goes along with it is the detective here. "
And then we danced.
He came at me, and I stepped up to meet him. Don was much better than I'd realized, moving with the speed and grace of a natural-born fighter and someone who'd gotten in a lot of practice along the way. The bastard had the muscled body of a true athlete, despite the cheesy nylon suit and pricey sneakers.
All of which meant that I couldn't immediately plunge my knife into him the way I wanted to. Normally, I tried to avoid this sort of hand-to-hand fight with a dwarf, as Don could do far more damage to me with his fists than I could do to him with mine. But I was still holding on to my Stone magic, still making my skin as hard as marble. His punches would hurt, but they wouldn't completely debilitate me like they would have if I wasn't using my elemental power to shield myself.
We moved back and forth on the cracked concrete, exchanging blow after blow. I punched him in the face. He landed a solid blow to my stomach. I followed with an uppercut to his chin. He turned and snapped his elbow into my chest. We broke apart, both of us bruised and more than a little bloody.
"Not bad for a dead man," I murmured. "Care to tell me what your interest is in the detective before I finish you?"
Don smiled, showing me a mouthful of bloody teeth that looked particularly garish against his swarthy skin. "Nah. What fun would that be?"
Before I could respond, he came at me again, swinging, swinging, swinging hard. I dodged his first two blows, then let the third connect on purpose. His fist thumped into my stomach again, and I crumpled to the ground in front of him. I didn't get up.
But Don wasn't as dumb as he looked because he didn't stop, not buying my ruse. He swung his leg back to kick me in the head and splat out my brains. I didn't give him the chance. As soon as he drew back, I rolled forward and used my knife to sever his femoral artery. Don screamed, but even then he got in another solid blow to my chest before the heel of his sneaker caught in a crack in the pavement, and he fell back. He writhed back and forth on the ground, cursing me and clutching his wounded leg. I stood there and watched him bleed out. It didn't take long, not with the deep, jagged wound that I'd inflicted. When he'd weakened to the point that he was no longer a threat, I leaned over and cut his throat, just to be sure.
"Why don't you leave being tough to me, and I'll let you handle being dead?" I asked in a cold voice.
Don gurgled once, almost in agreement, before his eyes glazed over and he was still.
Chapter 11
