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But even now, all these years later, I could still hear the stones.
They growled with dark, ugly, angry mutters, the remnants of my primal scream of elemental rage, pain, and fear. That one sc
ream, that one burst of magic, had brought down the whole house. Even now, the stones still reverberated with the sound, so much so that it almost seemed to me like they were still vibrating, still ripping themselves apart one molecule at a time.
For some reason, the mutters comforted me.
Because the stones were still angry at what had been done to them, at what had been done to me, the elemental who felt such kinship with them, who had so much power and control over them. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the stones, listening to them, embracing their rage, letting it fill me up, and making it my own once more. It took only a moment for the stones' mutters to grow sharper, blacker, harsher. Stones never forgot when something traumatic happened on top of or most especially to them. Emotions, actions, and feelings might fade over time, but they never truly vanished. The stones sensed that I was near-the woman who had lashed out at them before-and that I was back now for a specific purpose. I reveled in the memory of their anger-because it was my anger as well, at everything that Mab had done to my family. And I knew that I would need it now even more than I had that awful night so long ago.
I walked forward, my boots crunching in the snow and scraping against the cold rocks underneath. I treaded slowly, carefully, making no sudden movements, not doing anything that would jeopardize Bria in any way.
Or give the bounty hunters who were watching me an excuse to put a bullet in my head.
I could see them, crouched here and there among the rubble. Men and women with rifles, crossbows, and other weapons, every one of them trained on me, ready to pull the trigger if I did anything stupid. Fools. They were the ones who were being stupid, because they all should have unloaded on me with everything they had the second that I was in range.
But Mab wanted to kill me herself and most especially wanted to gloat in my face while she did it. Her first mistake-and the one that might just finally lead to her own death.
It took me several minutes to pick my way through the rubble to the back side of the mansion. Along the way, I spotted more than a few broken bits of my childhood hidden in the snow and rocks. A half-melted doll's head. A charred teddy bear. Shards of glass and small figurines from my mother's snow globe collection. The ruination only hardened my resolve to do what needed to be done here tonight.
Finally, though, I stepped into the courtyard itself. It looked just the way I remembered it-the terrible, terrible way that it had appeared in my nightmares for so many years now. Truth be told, there was even less to see back here than there had been in the front of the house. Certainly nothing overtly menacing. Just piles of rubble everywhere.
It took me a moment, but I managed to pick out the spot where our once-beautiful fountain had sat, until part of the house had fallen on top of it, reducing the stone to splinters. Farther back was another heap of rocks that had once formed a staircase with a secret chamber underneath it, the one where I'd hidden Bria. And over there-right over there-was the spot where I'd collapsed when I'd found blood on the stones and thought I'd killed Bria with my magic.
The memories rose up in me, the black emotions skimming the surface of my mind like shark fins. Somehow, I pushed the twisted feelings back down into the bottom of my soul where they belonged. I drew in a breath, pulled my eyes away from the rubble, and focused on the people in front of me.
Mab and Bria.
The Fire elemental stood in the middle of the courtyard in a flat, level area that was relatively free of debris-in the exact spot Finn had pointed out in the police photograph several hours ago. A bloodred evening gown hugged Mab's lush body, while a black velvet cloak trimmed with mink covered her otherwise bare shoulders. Her hair seemed to be as red as her dress tonight, the soft, curling waves of it just brushing the top of her cloak. I half-expected the expensive material to start smoldering, but of course it didn't. Mab had too much control over her magic to let that happen. Still, someone had dressed to kill tonight-literally.
As always, Mab wore her rune necklace around her throat. A sunburst. The symbol for fire. Even now, in the snow and fading twilight, the wavy golden rays flickered, and the ruby set into the center of the design seemed to glow, as though she were wearing a ring of fire around her neck.
I looked past Mab to where Bria stood. Dark circles ringed her blue eyes, and her blond hair was a mess around her face, especially since it had been singed off in several places. Bria wore the same clothes she'd had on last night during our run through the woods. Camisole, jeans, sneakers, coat. Only now they hung in tatters on her, and I could see where the fabric had been burned away completely in places-along with her skin underneath it. Puffy blisters and deep, bone-searing burns dotted what I could see of Bria's legs, chest, and arms through the flapping fabric. Mab had tortured her, burned my baby sister with her Fire magic, just as I'd feared that the cruel elemental would.
It was almost as though time had rewound itself and my worst fear had come to life once more. For a moment, I was back in the Pork Pit that long, awful night that Fletcher had been murdered, staring down at the old man's ruined flesh. Looking at the burns and blisters that dotted his body, staring at all the many places where Alexis James had used her Air elemental magic to rip his skin from his bones.
Once again, I'd failed to protect someone that I loved from being tortured. The only difference was that Bria was still breathing-for now.
I struggled to keep my emotions in check, to reveal nothing of what I was feeling, but I couldn't keep my nails from digging into the spider rune scars embedded in my palms. A small circle surrounded by eight thin rays. So similar to Mab's rune, but so very different at the same time.
Bria wasn't alone, of course. A giant stood on either side of her, their hands clamped on her arms, holding her upright and keeping her in place.
And Ruth Gentry was here, just like I'd thought she would be. The bounty hunter leaned against part of a wall about five steps behind Bria and the giants. The old woman's stance was casual, nonchalant even, but her hand hovered just above the pearl-handled revolver strapped to her waist. I didn't see Sydney, but I knew that the girl was here somewhere with her rifle, probably perched on one of the piles of rubble farther out in the courtyard.
Gentry saw me staring at her and gave me a respectful nod, almost like we were in on some kind of secret together. I didn't nod back. Still, I supposed that the bounty hunter had kept her word to me. She'd made sure that Bria was here in more or less one piece, despite the torture that my sister had endured. I would give Gentry the courtesy of killing her quickly for that.
Finally, I looked at Bria. Our eyes met and held across the snowy distance, and I could see the pain and fear and desperation flashing in her blue gaze-pain at her own injuries and fear for me and what Mab was about to do to me.
Jonah McAllister had also come to see me kick off to hell. The lawyer stood off to one side, a triumphant smile for once bringing a bit of emotion to his unnaturally smooth features. He wouldn't have missed this for the world. Oh, yes, McAllister was especially smug because he was finally getting exactly what he wanted-Gin Blanco, his son's murderer, fried extra crispy by his sadistic bitch of a boss.
As I stood there, surrounded by my enemies on all sides, a cold calm filled me. The sort of black, emotionless void that Fletcher had taught me to pour into my heart and coat every little piece of my soul with. I embraced the darkness, welcomed it, relished it even. For the very last time.
Because as soon as I'd stepped into this courtyard, I wasn't Gin Blanco anymore. I wasn't Genevieve Snow or the lost, terrified, thirteen-year-old girl I'd been the last time I was here.
No, right now I was the Spider. And I was here to finally destroy my nemesis-once and for all.
Chapter 26
Behind me, the bounty hunters closed ranks, their footsteps crunching on the snow. In less than a minute, I was surrounded on three sides by both the bounty hunters and the giants Mab had brought along with her, with the Fire elemental herself directly in front of me. At least fifteen men and women made up the loose semicircle around me, and there had to be even more, like Sydney, hidden in the rubble I couldn't see.
