Elemental Assassin 05 - Spider's Revenge

violently as his body shut down from the massive trauma it had just received.
    “Take care of the bitch with the knife!” Don snapped. “I’ll get the cop!”
    Don pulled the trigger on his gun.
Crack! Crack!
    Bria threw herself to one side, and the bullets slammed into the Dumpster behind her. My sister rolled across the cracked pavement and came up on one knee, raising her own weapon to fire at Don. Her other hand was outstretched, and a blue light flickered there, as she formed a ball of elemental Ice to fling at him. Even across the parking lot, I could feel the cool caress of Bria’s Ice magic calling out to my own.
    But the bastard was quicker than she was. He rushed forward and slapped the weapon away before she could put a couple of rounds in his chest. The blow also brokeBria’s concentration, and her hold on her Ice magic slipped, the blue light cascading away in a shower of icy sparks. My sister retaliated by bracing her hands on the pavement and kicking up with her foot. Her boot slammed into Don’s knee, and he staggered back, hitting the hood of the SUV. But the dwarf never stopped moving, bobbing, weaving, and gathering himself for another strike at her.
    Another puff-puff of air sounded, and Don grunted as two bullets slammed into his left shoulder. A rare miss for Finn, who had no doubt meant to put the bullets through his eye instead, but the dwarf was moving too quickly, too erratically for that. Two more puffs of air hissed out, but by that point, Don had tucked into a tight ball and launched himself back at Bria. The bullets punched through the hood of the SUV, hitting the radiator and making it steam.
    Lincoln Jenkins cowered on the right side of the vehicle, hugging the chrome rim like it was a shield that would protect him.
    That all happened in the three seconds it took before the other two guys turned and came at me.
    They both raised their guns and fired, but not before I used my Stone magic to harden my skin into an impenetrable shell.
    Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
    The bullets pinged off my body and disappeared into the darkness. The dwarves exchanged a puzzled look, wondering what was going on, but I didn’t give them any time to recover. I stepped forward, my knife flashing.
    I used my blade to slice a path across the closest man’sstomach. He screamed and tried to punch me in the face, using his gun for extra pop. I dodged his awkward blow, palmed a second knife, and buried that one in his heart, twisting and tearing through the thick, hard muscles in his chest to get to it. He screamed again, even as his limbs went limp, and I let him flop to the ground.
    The second guy snarled with anger and threw his body into mine, tearing my knives out of my hands and smashing me up against the side of the SUV with his dwarven strength. He raised his gun up to put a couple of bullets into my face, but I grabbed the barrel and shoved the weapon back into his nose, breaking it. The gun slid out of his grasp and clattered to the ground. Blood spattered onto my face, just the way it had a hundred times before. A thousand times before. I grinned. Nothing gushed quite like a broken nose.
    But the guy wasn’t done for yet. He came at me again, this time trying to wrap his hands around my neck and choke me. I stepped up and sucker-punched him in the throat. He stumbled back, gasping for air, and a silver-stone knife from my boot ended the rest of his struggles.
    With my two men eliminated, I turned my attention back to Bria and Don, who were still fighting. The two of them rolled back and forth across the pavement, punching each other, although Don didn’t even grunt as Bria’s blows connected with his chest. Not surprising, given his inherent dwarven toughness. Blood covered both their faces, and I couldn’t tell who the majority of it belonged to. No more puffs of air sounded, and I knew that was only because Finn didn’t want to risk hitting Bria with a shot meant for Don, not while they were grappling.
    Good thing I had my knives for the up-close wet work.
    I sprinted over to the two of them, and the second that Don got back on top of Bria, I kicked him off her. The dwarf rolled back before climbing to his feet once more, looking all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, despite his fight with Bria and the blood soaking the shoulder of his electric blue track suit.
    Although I wanted nothing more than to see how badly Bria was injured, I stepped over my sister, putting myself between her and Don.