Elemental Assassin 02 - Web of Lies

coughed twice. Blood sputtered out of his lips and tended pattern.
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    294 JENNIFER ESTEP
    Web of Lies 295
    Some of Jake’s blood had also sprayed onto the marble ric was black, you couldn’t tell what the stain was, just tile in front of the tub. I grabbed a burgundy washcloth, that I’d gotten something on me. But I managed to get wet it, and used it to mop up all the stray flecks and most of the blood out.
    specks. I also cleaned off my knife and tucked it back up My eyes swept over the bathroom again, but there was the sleeve of my dress. The smell of warm copper filled no visible sign anything out of the ordinary had hapmy nose, but I blocked it out—along with the murmur pened in here tonight. I carefully folded the burgundy of the marble under my feet. Instead of the dark tone I’d washcloth and laid it back in its original spot next to the expected, the stone practically sang with giddiness—as bathtub.
    though having fresh blood spilled on it made it happy . While I waited for the damp spots on my dress to dry, The noise made my stomach twist.
    I rummaged in my purse and pulled out a pressed powder I worked quickly, quietly. It had taken me less than compact I’d brought, along with some lipstick. I’d gottwo minutes to kill Jake McAllister. Nobody should have ten sweaty during my struggle with Jake McAllister, and missed him yet, but I wasn’t taking any chances by movI touched up my makeup into its heavy mask once more. ing slowly. once I had the blood wiped up from the I’d just popped open the lipstick to finish fixing my floor in front of the tub, I drew the curtain, hiding it and face when the door to the bathroom opened—and Mab McAllister’s body from sight.
    Monroe stepped inside.
    In addition to the tub, the bathroom featured two toilets made out of what looked like real gold. They lay opposite two sinks done in a burgundy marble with streaks of white swirled through it. A gilt-edged mirror flanked the wall above the counter. I stared at myself in the glass, assessing the damage Jake McAllister had done to me with his dying struggles. The bastard’s coughing had spattered blood all over my chest. I used the wet washcloth to mop up the blood on my exposed skin, then wrung it out, wet it again, and scrubbed the remaining blood out of my wig. It was harder getting the gobs of blood out of the fake blond tresses, but I managed well enough. once that was done, I went to work on my dress. I used some liquid soap from a bottle on the counter and rubbed it into the biggest blood splotches. Since the fabEstep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 294-295
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    primal sensation surge through me again. Enemy, that little voice muttered in the back of my head. Enemy, enemy, enemy .
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    But I tuned out the voice, widened my eyes, and put on my best oh-no-I-just-totally-fucked-up face. Then I gasped. “oh, I’m so sorry, sugar. I just didn’t know. Nobody told me, you see, and this is my very first time here at one of your parties.”
    Mab stared at me, her eyes dark and thoughtful. Her gaze went to the fuchsia lipstick in my hand, then moved down my body. Her eyes lingered on the damp spots on the front of my dress. “What are you doing in here?”
    “oh, just freshening up a bit. Lot of competition out there tonight. Girl’s got to look her best at one of these For a moment, we just stared at each other, her black eyes things.”
    on my faux blue ones. My mind raced as I tried to figure The Fire elemental stepped farther into the bathroom. out what the Fire elemental could be doing here—and I gave her another smile, leaned forward, and reapplied how I could get away from her.
    my lipstick. Mab just stood there, staring at me in the But since Mab Monroe didn’t immediately scream mirror. She might be able to intimidate everyone else in for her giant guards or worse, reach for her Fire eleAshland with her hard stare, but not me. But that didn’t mental magic, I assumed she hadn’t heard me kill Jake mean I was going to do something stupid, like insult the McAllister—or clean up the mess. only one way to find Fire elemental to her face in her own bathroom—with out.
    Jake McAllister’s cooling body lying ten feet to my right. Somehow, I plastered a smile on my face. “oh, hello Antagonizing Jonah McAllister in my own restaurant there,” I said in a cheery tone. “How are you?”
    was one thing. So was killing his