Elemental Assassin 03 - Venom

Lane?” Slater barked out. “What’s the fucking point of this? You’re dead, and you know it. Why all the questions about something Mab did years ago?”
    Finn shrugged. “I’m curious. A trait my father instilled in me. Because it doesn’t say in the file exactly why Mab killed the Snow family. What she gained from it. Or why she wants Bria Coolidge dead today.”
    Slater tilted his head to one side. “You might be smart, Lane, but you really don’t have a clue, do you? Not about Mab, not about Coolidge, not about anything.”
    “Please,” Finn said in a wry tone. “Enlighten me.”
    Elliot Slater leaned forward so that his pale face was level with Finn’s bloody one. “Mab killed that family because of Bria Coolidge’s magic. Because that bitch’s Ice and Stone magic was and still is a threat to her.”
    Despite my years of training, I couldn’t help the small gasp of surprise that escaped from my lips. Mab thought Bria had Ice
and
Stone magic? Why would the Fire elemental think that? I’d been the only one of us to inherit both our mother’s Ice magic and our father’s Stone power as well—
    A horrible, horrible thought filled my mind. So horrible, so ironic, so fucking
wrong
I wanted to scream. To weep and wail and lash out and kill everything and everyone that I could get my hands on. But even as the bitterness filled my mouth at the realization, I knew that it was true—and the real reason why Mab Monroe had killed my family. The awful, horrible reason my mother and older sister were dead.
    That night, when the Fire elemental had been torturing me, she’d asked me question after question about Bria, demanding to know where my baby sister was above all else. Because Mab had thought that Bria was me—that Bria was the one with both Ice and Stone magic.
    Mab Monroe had really been there to kill me—not Bria.
    I wasn’t the only one surprised by the revelation. Finn’s mouth dropped open at Slater’s confession. Finn regarded the giant with thoughtful eyes, and I could practically see the wheels spinning in his head. He realized what the giant’s words meant as well as I did.
    “Mab Monroe thinks that Bria Coolidge has both Ice
and
Stone magic?” Finn asked. “That’s why she wants Bria dead so badly?”
    Slater frowned. “Why else would Mab care about the bitch?”
    “Surely there’s more to it than just that,” Finn scoffed. “Mab Monroe is the strongest elemental to be born in five hundred years, if you listen to the rumors. She killed a whole family because one little girl had the power to control two elements? Come on, Elliot. We both know that I’m a dead man. Indulge me. Tell me the rest of the story.”
    Slater cocked his head to one side, trying to read Finn’s expression, trying to figure out what he was up to, why he was so curious about something that had happened so long ago. Hard to get a good read on someone’s emotions when blood and bruises covered his face like an extra layer of skin. After a few seconds of study, Slater shrugged.
    “Mab wanted to kill the mother, Eira Snow, ever since they were kids. The Monroes were always part of the underworld wheeling and dealing, while the Snows were always real straight arrows. Naturally, the two families got involved in some kind of elemental feud along the way. It stretched back decades from what I understand. Hell, it goes so far back that I don’t even think Mab really knows how it started in the first place. But somebody killed someone over something, and it just kept going from there. You know how elementals are. Most of ’em can’t get along to save their lives, especially the opposing elementals, like Fire and Ice.” Disgust filled Slater’s voice. Evidently, he didn’t hold his boss in quite as high regard as he led everyone to believe. “Fucking elementals. Always fighting over something.”
    Finn nodded his head in agreement.
    “Mab and Eira Snow grew up together,” Slater continued. “Even as kids, they were enemies. Mab made sure of that. And when they got older, well, they both went afterthe same man—a Stone elemental. Supposedly, Snow actually loved him, but Mab, well, she just wanted his Stone magic, wanted to pass it on to their kids.”
    The giant stared across the living room, staring back into the distant past. He hooked his thumbs through the belt loops on his pants and rocked back on his heels. Lost in his memories.
    “But why?” Finn asked, breaking into Slater’s reverie.