Elemental Assassin 03 - Venom

finger—thin bands stacked on top of each other. Silverstone, from the way they caught the light.
    “Saving your ass.” I moved around the couch so that I stood directly in front of her. “Why? What does it look like we’re doing?”
    Her bruised features tightened. “I didn’t need your help.”
    I stared down at the giant in front of the couch, the one whose femoral arteries I’d severed with my silverstone knives. He’d clamped his hands over his legs to try and stem the blood flow, but it hadn’t worked. The giant’s dead, glassy eyes fixed on the ceiling fan.
    “Really?” I asked. “And here I thought you were trapped in a fireplace with three very large, very strong giants just waiting for you to run out of bullets so they could come over and beat you to death. Or am I misinterpreting the situation?”
    Bria’s mouth twisted. Whether it was from pain or annoyance, I wasn’t quite sure.
    “Tell me,” I asked, bending down to examine the giant. “What exactly did you do to piss off Mab Monroe enough for her to send Elliot Slater and his goons out here to kill you? Now, Mab isn’t lacking for flunkies, but she sent her numero uno after you tonight.”
    “That’s between me and Mab,” Bria said in a frosty voice. “I don’t see how it’s any of your business.”
    I was mildly surprised that Bria didn’t deny the fact that she’d done something to upset Mab. “In case you couldn’t tell from the bodies, I’ve decided to make it my business. So you might as well tell me.”
    Bria’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not telling you a damn thing. If I were you, I’d think about leaving—right now. I’m a homicide detective, and I’ve already called for backup. A couple of units should be here any minute.”
    I finished my examination of the dead giant, got to my feet, and turned to face my sister once more.
    “You didn’t have time to call for help, detective,” I replied. “Because you went for your gun instead of reaching for the phone. Nothing wrong with it. I prefer to take care of my own problems too.”
    “How the hell do you know that?”
    I shrugged. “Because if you’d used it to call for help, it would be lying somewhere in this mess.”
    Bria’s gaze flicked to the left. A cordless phone sat in a charger on a table that had somehow escaped the battle.
    “Not that calling 911 would have done you any good,” I continued. “Slater probably put the word outfor the po-po not to respond to any distress calls in the area tonight.”
    “Elliot Slater doesn’t run the police department,” she snapped.
    I snorted. “No, Mab Monroe does. But since Slater is her number-one enforcer, he can call in any favors he needs any time he needs them. I don’t know how long you’ve been in Ashland, but you need to realize right now that the cops are useless. Your boys in blue don’t care about you. They would have been perfectly content to come out here tomorrow, photograph your corpse, and eat some doughnuts while they were at it.”
    Bria’s mouth tightened, but she didn’t say anything. Looked like she had already figured out exactly how things worked in Ashland. Good. The knowledge, distasteful though it might be, might help keep Bria alive until I figured out exactly why Mab wanted her dead—and what I could do to keep it from happening. I might not know my sister, might not have any inkling as to the kind of woman she was now, but I’d be damned if Mab Monroe was going to murder another member of my family.
    “But my associate and I are here now, and we’ve decided to take an interest in your situation,” I said. “Now, why don’t you sit down and let me take a look at that gunshot wound before you pass out from the blood loss?”
    Bria stared at me. Emotions flashed like icy fire in her blue eyes. Suspicion, mistrust, wariness. No fear, though. Despite everything that had happened tonight, she wasn’t screaming at the top of her lungs, or worse, bawling her eyes out. Her calm demeanor, even when injured, mademe admire her a little more. I didn’t know why I felt so proud of my sister every time I saw her, every time I realized just how tough she was. It wasn’t like I’d done anything to make Bria the strong, independent woman she was today. But the feeling was there, just like my love for her was—two things I knew that I’d never be able to quash no matter what had happened between us in the violent, murky past or here in the troubled present.
    But blood had