Elemental Assassin 05 - Spider's Revenge

Now that the other dwarves were down, I knew that Finn would come around the Dumpsters and see to her.
    “Hey,” I snarled. “Why don’t you give me a whirl, if you really want to play?”
    Don tilted his head from side to side, cracking his neck and considering me and the bloody knife in my hand. “Well, well, looks like I was right after all. The quickest way to get what I want and all the money that goes along with it is the detective here.”
    And then we danced.
    He came at me, and I stepped up to meet him. Don was much better than I’d realized, moving with the speed and grace of a natural-born fighter and someone who’d gotten in a lot of practice along the way. The bastard had the muscled body of a true athlete, despite the cheesy nylon suit and pricey sneakers.
    All of which meant that I couldn’t immediately plunge my knife into him the way I wanted to. Normally, I tried to avoid this sort of hand-to-hand fight with a dwarf, as Don could do far more damage to me with his fists than I could do to him with mine. But I was still holding on tomy Stone magic, still making my skin as hard as marble. His punches would hurt, but they wouldn’t completely debilitate me like they would have if I wasn’t using my elemental power to shield myself.
    We moved back and forth on the cracked concrete, exchanging blow after blow. I punched him in the face. He landed a solid blow to my stomach. I followed with an uppercut to his chin. He turned and snapped his elbow into my chest. We broke apart, both of us bruised and more than a little bloody.
    “Not bad for a dead man,” I murmured. “Care to tell me what your interest is in the detective before I finish you?”
    Don smiled, showing me a mouthful of bloody teeth that looked particularly garish against his swarthy skin. “Nah. What fun would that be?”
    Before I could respond, he came at me again, swinging, swinging, swinging hard. I dodged his first two blows, then let the third connect on purpose. His fist thumped into my stomach again, and I crumpled to the ground in front of him. I didn’t get up.
    But Don wasn’t as dumb as he looked because he didn’t stop, not buying my ruse. He swung his leg back to kick me in the head and splat out my brains. I didn’t give him the chance. As soon as he drew back, I rolled forward and used my knife to sever his femoral artery. Don screamed, but even then he got in another solid blow to my chest before the heel of his sneaker caught in a crack in the pavement, and he fell back. He writhed back and forth on the ground, cursing me and clutching his wounded leg. I stood there and watched him bleed out. It didn’t takelong, not with the deep, jagged wound that I’d inflicted. When he’d weakened to the point that he was no longer a threat, I leaned over and cut his throat, just to be sure.
    “Why don’t you leave being tough to me, and I’ll let you handle being dead?” I asked in a cold voice.
    Don gurgled once, almost in agreement, before his eyes glazed over and he was still.

Bloody knife still in my hand, I glanced over my shoulder.
    Finn had pulled off his ski mask, come around the Dumpsters, and was helping Bria sit up. He gave me a thumbs-up, telling me that Bria would be okay until we could get her to Jo-Jo to be healed. Satisfied, I turned my attention to the last man cowering—Lincoln Jenkins.
    It had taken awhile, but the wannabe gangster had finally realized that the tide had turned. He’d come out from his hiding place beside the SUV and stood in front of the vehicle, eyes wide, staring down at the blood, bodies, and carnage that painted the pavement. But before I could slither over there and finish him off, the thin bastard turned and ran. I let out a curse.
    “Stay here with Bria!” I shouted to Finn. “I’ll get him!”
    I had to get him. Jenkins had seen what had gone down here, and he almost certainly had to know that the Spider was responsible. There weren’t any other womenrunning around Ashland who were as handy with knives as I was. At least, not to my knowledge. If Jenkins didn’t realize this yet, surely he would when he got somewhere safe and calmed down. Now it was my mission to make sure that he never got to that happy place.
    Jenkins was quicker than he looked—much, much quicker. Must be from all that time he spent skulking around and transferring ownership of certain items. He took off like a jackrabbit across the snow, and I had to hustle to keep up with him. Despite the