The Spider(Elemental Assassin series)

26





Finn opened the door and let me inside. I left my bloody knife and the giant’s gun on a table just inside the door, then followed him through the hallway and into the living room in the back of the apartment. Too bad I’d forgotten that he wasn’t alone.

Roslyn Phillips, the vampire he had been ogling at the party earlier, sat on the overstuffed white couch. Up close, she was even more beautiful, and I could see why Finn had been so keen on getting her attention. A couple of glasses of red wine perched on the table in front of her, while jazz music oozed out of the sound system in the corner. But it seemed as though I’d interrupted them before anything had happened, since she still had on her dress and Finn had only shrugged out of his tuxedo jacket.

The vampire’s toffee-colored eyes widened as she took in my ruined dress, bare feet, and the blood spattered all over me. Her crimson lips pursed together in thought, but she didn’t say anything, and she didn’t ask any of the obvious questions. Finn stepped forward and plastered a smooth smile on his face, as if a blood-covered woman showing up at his apartment in the middle of the night was a common occurrence.

“Roslyn Phillips, this is my foster sister, Gin,” Finn said. “Gin, Roslyn.”

“Pleasure.”

“Me too,” she murmured.

“Gin’s been in a bit of an . . . accident,” he said, trying to explain.

Finn hurried over to a phone on one of the tables and picked it up. I knew that he was trying to reach Fletcher, so I decided to distract Roslyn from what he was doing.

“A car accident,” I said in a sweet voice. “Just down the street. That’s why I came here.”

Concern darkened Roslyn’s eyes, and she kept staring at all of the blood on me. “Are you all right?”

“Sure,” I deadpanned. “You should see the other guys.”

Finn winced, but he didn’t say anything. A minute later, he shook his head and hung up the phone. Seemed like there was no answer at Fletcher’s.

“You need to take me home. I was headed over there to check on the old man when I had my . . . accident.”

Finn gave the vampire his most winning smile. “Roslyn, I’m afraid that I’m going to have to cut our evening short. Family comes first. You understand, don’t you?”

“Of course,” she murmured, getting to her feet. “Just let me get my purse.”

I looked at Finn. “But the elevator’s broken right now.”

He blinked, remembering the dead giants and their blood splashed all over the elevator walls.

“Ah, Roslyn, why don’t you make yourself comfortable in here?” Finn said. “Gin and I have something to take care of, but I should be back in an hour—”

I rammed my elbow into his side.

“Or two.”

He gave her another bright smile. “Regardless, there’s no reason for you to leave.”

Roslyn looked at him, then at me, her gaze lingering on the blood that covered me like confetti from a party. But she sat back down on the couch. I couldn’t tell if she really wanted to stay until Finn got back or if she just didn’t want to get involved in whatever problem I was dragging him into. Smart woman.

“Anyway, Roslyn, help yourself to a drink, watch TV, flip through a magazine, raid the fridge, whatever,” Finn said, grabbing his tuxedo jacket and car keys.

He disappeared into the bedroom, then reappeared two minutes later carrying a black duffel bag that I knew contained at least a couple of guns, along with other pertinent items. I had a similar bag hidden behind one of the freezers at the Pork Pit.

I jerked my head toward the kitchen. Finn frowned, but then he realized what I wanted, and he headed in there. I stepped in front of Roslyn, so she wouldn’t see him grabbing rags and a bottle of bleach from under the sink and stuffing those into his duffel bag.

An amused smile flitted across Roslyn’s face, as if she knew exactly what I was up to, but I didn’t care at this point.

Finally, Finn stepped back into the living room. “All set.”

I nodded my head politely at Roslyn. “Ms. Phillips, so nice to meet you.”

She tipped her head back at me. “And you too, Gin. I’m sure we’ll meet again.”

Probably, if Finn was as determined to seduce her as he seemed to be, but I decided not to be rude and mention that. Instead, I gave her one final smile before turning and following Finn out of the apartment.

I grabbed my knife and the giant’s gun from the table in the foyer and stepped outside.

Finn shut the door behind us, then gave me a sour look. “You do realize that Roslyn will probably never speak to me again?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” I drawled. “She didn’t bat an eye at all of the blood on me. I think she’s made of tougher stuff than you think. Then again, she is a vampire. She’s used to seeing blood.”

Finn sniffed, still in a bit of a snit—

Ding!

The elevator chimed out its tune. Good thing no one else lived on this floor, or a pissed-off neighbor might have stuck his head out of his apartment, wondering why it wouldn’t shut up.

“All right,” Finn said. “Tell me what the hell is going on.”

I quickly filled him in on everything that had happened tonight, including Sebastian’s betrayal of me.

“I knew I didn’t like that smarmy bastard,” Finn said.

He poured some bleach onto one of the rags and used it to wipe the giants’ blood off the elevator walls. I was already doing the same thing on the other side of the car.

“You were certainly right about him.” I couldn’t keep the hurt out of my voice.

Finn gave me a sympathetic look. “It’s not your fault,” he said. “Sebastian played you, but he played me and Dad too. I never suspected that he was the one who hired us, who hired you to kill his own father. I thought it was all about the restaurant incident, just like you did.”

Instead of responding, I bent down and started going through the dead giants’ pants pockets, pulling out their wallets and IDs and tossing them into Finn’s duffel bag, along with the gun I’d used. Finn stopped his cleaning long enough to touch my shoulder, then started wiping down the walls again.

When that was done, we shoved the giants all the way into the elevator and rode it down to the first floor. The doors opened, but no one was waiting for a ride. If someone had been, well, I don’t know what we would have done.

We’d cleaned up as much of the blood as we could, and all that was left to do was dispose of the giants’ bodies. I hated waiting even a second to go after Fletcher, but we couldn’t exactly leave the dead guys in the elevator for some tenant to find when they went out for an early-morning jog.

“Where are we going to put these guys?” I asked.

Finn grinned. “I know just the spot.”

? ? ?

Fifteen minutes later, we were carrying the last giant’s body out of the elevator, through the lobby, and to the Dumpsters behind the building.

“Remind me never to kill anyone in an apartment building, hotel, or some other place where I have to lug the bodies around myself,” I said, huffing and puffing. “Or at least not to kill giants in such places.”

Finn was too busy gasping for breath to answer me. After a moment, he managed to suck down enough wind to speak. “Dad totally needs to pay Sophia more.”

“Agreed.”

We heaved the last giant up and into the Dumpster and closed the lid on him. It was a risk, leaving the giants’ bodies here, so close to Finn’s apartment, but we didn’t have a lot of other options right now.

We hurried away from the Dumpsters and headed to the parking garage attached to the back of the building. We didn’t pass anyone, but the stone muttered with sharp notes of worry and the soft, continuous rumble of cars and other vehicles. Garages were a good place for paranoia, especially in Ashland, so I clutched my knife and peered into the shadows, making sure that some thug wasn’t lurking behind a concrete pillar, waiting to jump us. But Finn and I were the only ones up to no good here tonight.

Finn whipped out his phone and dialed Fletcher’s house. After several seconds, he shook his head. “Busy. He must be talking to someone. I tried him when I went into my bedroom, but it was busy then too, just like it was the first time that I called.”

I chewed my lower lip in worry. Sebastian knew where Fletcher’s house was, since he’d sent a car there to pick me up for the party, but it wasn’t the easiest place to find, especially this late at night. I had to hope that the giants didn’t make it there ahead of us or that Fletcher at least saw them coming.

“Where’s your car?” I asked, looking around for the old brown van that Fletcher had given him a few years ago.

Finn pointed to a slick silver sports car that was parked all by itself, five spots away from the nearest vehicle.

“An Aston Martin? Really? I thought you were over your James Bond fetish.”

“Having impeccable style and taste is not a fetish.” Finn sniffed.

I rolled my eyes. “Where did you even get the money for this?”

Finn gave me a smug look. “You didn’t think I took that internship at the bank to actually work, did you? I took it so I could learn how to grow our money. And some of my investments have already paid off.”

My eyes narrowed. “What do you mean, our money?”

Finn grinned. “Who do you think helps Dad set up your jobs? Especially when it comes to the e-mail and the bank transfers? I might not have your killer instinct with a knife, but I’m invaluable to the old man as a cutout and money man. You might be content to let your stash molder in tin cans buried in the backyard, but I intend to do things with my money.”

“Yeah,” I sniped. “Like feed your own ego.”

Finn opened his mouth, but I held up my hand, cutting him off.

“Well, I hope that thing is as fast as it looks, because we need to get to Fletcher—now.”

Finn’s face grew somber, and he nodded.

We settled ourselves in the car, and less than a minute later, we were peeling out of the parking garage, racing toward Fletcher’s house. I just hoped we made it to him in time. My thumb rubbed against the edge of the bloody knife in my hand. Because if we didn’t, Sebastian would pay.

Actually, he was going to pay either way, even if he didn’t realize it yet.