Elemental Assassin 04 - Tangled Threads

would she meet LaFleur out here in the open instead of somewhere more private? What was going on between the two of them? And how much was it going to fuck up my plans to kill the Fire elemental sooner rather than later?
    In the pocket of my jeans, my cell phone let out a low, steady buzz. Still pretending to be nothing more than a drunk smoker, I ambled away from the group of people that I’d been standing next to. My phone kept vibrating, so I dug it out and flipped it open.
    “What?” I growled.
    “We’ve got a problem,” Finn said in my ear. “Vinnie left the bar. At least, he tried to. He didn’t get five steps before three guys came out of the crowd, surrounded him, and helped him on his way.”
    So that’s why LaFleur had come back outside Northern Aggression so quickly. She’d left her men behind inside the nightclub to watch Vinnie in case he decided to bolt. Just as I would have.
    “They went out through a side door,” Finn said. “From the looks of them, I think they’re going to take Vinnie for a walk that he won’t come back from—ever.”
    As I stood there listening to Finn, I kept staring at LaFleur and Mab. Emotions surged through me, and for a moment, I considered palming my silverstone knives, sprinting toward the two women, and stabbing them to death. Mab didn’t have any of her usual giant guards with her. No backup, nothing. This was my chance to finallykill her. To do to her what she’d done to my family all those years ago.
    My whole body burned with the need to kill her—right here, right now.
Enemy, enemy, enemy
, a primal little voice muttered in the back of my head.
Here is your enemy. In the open. Exposed. Vulnerable. Kill her now, before she leaves. Before she hurts anyone else that you love
.
    But I forced the hot, aching, greedy, reckless rage aside and buried it under the cold, inescapable logic of the situation. Because the part of me that was the Spider—the cold, hard, rational, ruthless part of me that would always be the Spider—realized that attacking Mab now would be suicide.
    LaFleur would be tricky enough to take out by myself. First of all, she was an assassin, trained, skilled, and deadly, just like me. She hadn’t earned her stellar reputation by being weak or sloppy. But even more important than that was the fact that her electrical elemental magic had felt just as strong as my Ice and Stone power. Face-to-face, I didn’t know which one of us would win. Besides, even if I killed LaFleur, that would still leave Mab to deal with. I wouldn’t survive a fight with both of them—not at the same time. Together, their magic was just greater than my own.
    Even if I’d been reckless enough to attack the two women, they made my decision for me. Mab gestured to LaFleur, and the two of them walked over to the waiting limo and slid into the back. A moment later, the long car pulled out of the parking lot and disappeared into the cold night. My enemies would live to see another day. And so would I.
    Equal parts relief and frustration filled me. I sighed, and my breath frosted in the night air.
    “Gin?” Finn’s voice murmured in my ear. “Are you listening to me? LaFleur’s men have Vinnie. What do you want to do?”
    I snapped out of my reverie. “Tell me which way they went. LaFleur might be gone, but I still plan on having a little chat with Vinnie tonight.”

6
     
    I stubbed out my latest cigarette, walked into the parking lot, and left the pack and lighter on the hood of the closest car, along with my martini glass.
    “They went out the west side,” Finn said. “Through the door next to the hall that leads to the VIP rooms.”
    Following Finn’s directions, I headed through the parking lot, slipping past rows of cars, and moving at an angle past the long line of people still waiting to get into Northern Aggression. I finally rounded the side of the building and reached one of the far parking lots. Sure enough, I spotted a group of men up ahead of me.
    Vinnie Volga stood in the middle of the group, a man on either side of him, their hands on his arms, forcibly walking him somewhere. Another guy in front led the way. Every few steps, Vinnie would jerk against his captors, trying to break free, but it was no use. Both men were giants, judging by their bulky, seven-foot frames,and giants were incredibly strong, with grips like steel vises. The only way that Vinnie could wrench free from them would be to tear his own arms off in the process.
    They