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Liliana peeked with her fourth eyes into the kitchen to see what was happening with Stella and Sergeant Giovanni.
Stella stood some feet away from the butcher-block table, wearing the apron, the cleaver in her hand, watching the soft rise and fall of Sergeant Giovanni’s chest.
The widow spider did not want to kill the sergeant. That much was clear. But Liliana had seen that she would anyway. Very soon.
She led Pete back out of the restroom and motioned him to wait behind the kitchen door, where if anyone swung the door on that side open, the door itself would hide him.
She went in. “Killing Sergeant Giovanni will gain you nothing,” Liliana said softly, so as not to startle the widow spider too much.
Stella jumped anyway and spun into a balanced fighting crouch on the balls of her feet, the cleaver held high. “Who are you?”
Opening all her eyes and exposing her fangs, Liliana popped out her arm blades. “A sister.” She did not have long to bargain, but she didn’t want to kill Stella if there was a chance they could end this confrontation peacefully.
“Seer,” Stella said. “I thought your kind were extinct.”
Liliana shrugged. “The report of my death was an exaggeration,” she quoted.
“Mark Twain.” Stella grinned at her. She shifted the cleaver to a better grip. “What the hell are you doing here, seer?”
“Protecting people who matter to me,” Liliana answered. “Sergeant Giovanni’s superiors know where she went. Kristen is dead, and the man she would have fed on is alive and free. Killing Sergeant Giovanni serves no purpose. Leave now and I give you my word, no one will pursue you or your nest sisters until tomorrow.”
The tall widow spider’s eyes narrowed. “That wolf couldn’t have killed Kristen. We trussed him like a Christmas turkey.”
“I killed Kristen. The red wolf is under my protection.”
“Is he your mate?”
Pete was not hers in that way, but their fates were entangled as closely now as if they were mates.
“We have shared venom twice,” Liliana said. It was as close to a lie as she could manage.
“We didn’t know.” Stella still wielded the cleaver, but her voice held genuine remorse. Even a widow spider would not kill another spider’s mate. She might kill her own mate, but not another woman’s. Widow spiders had their own sort of honor.
Liliana nodded. “I did not blame Kristen for doing what she must for her unborn. Her death was quick and painless. Nor do I blame you for protecting your nest sister. But I cannot allow you to kill Sergeant Giovanni. Killing her will gain you nothing in any case.”
Stella considered her words. Liliana’s third eyes showed her she was getting through, then a sudden thought hardened Stella’s dark face into anger. “Did you hurt anyone else?”
“Margaret is unharmed,” Liliana hastily reassured her.
Stella’s relief showed strongly, both in her mind and in a relaxing of her shoulders.
“I harmed no one but Kristen,” Liliana added. “And her only because I had to. Even her babies still live. You and Margaret could raise them as your own perhaps?” That would be a very good outcome. The orphaned babies would have new parents, and Liliana and Pete would have two fewer widow spiders to fight.
Liliana opened the door Pete hid behind and held it there, a clear path for Stella to leave.
If Stella left, she would never know Pete had been there. If she attacked Liliana, she would find herself fighting both a spider-kin and a Celtic wolf-kin. Surprise was an excellent strategic advantage.
“Go quickly. Leave town tonight,” Liliana instructed the widow spider. Stella was a formidable enemy. She had seen several paths where Stella killed Liliana. If the fierce widow spider left without fighting, Liliana and Pete’s chances of survival went up drastically. Also, Liliana did not wish to kill her. The widow spider had acted honorably for her species in an impossible no-win situation. She’d shown mercy and compassion.
Liliana kept her arm blades out though. She had seen before she left the basement that many paths branched from here, some of which led to Stella attacking her.
Everything was in flux now, uncertain, shifting. Liliana’s fourth eyes were largely useless now that she’d begun to act, to change what she saw before. From here forward, she could only act with honor and strategy, and hope for the best.
Stella stood undecided for a moment. She looked back at Sergeant Giovanni’s sleeping form, and Liliana tensed to leap. She felt confident she could jump onto the widow spider’s back before Stella could get to the butcher-block table, but if Stella chose to throw the meat cleaver, all bets were off.
The tall, dark-skinned widow spider looked at Liliana and nodded. “I served with people like her. I’m glad she doesn’t have to die.” She opened the other half of the double doors and walked warily past the tense spider seer, as far from her as the doorway would allow. Each was ready to fight at any moment if the other didn’t keep the uneasy truce.
As soon as she passed through the door, Stella paused just out of reach of Liliana’s blades and gave a sort of salute with the cleaver. “Thanks for giving me another option.”
