Elemental Assassin 05 - Spider's Revenge

fucking whom. A swinging door led into the bathroom itself, so that’s where I headed.
    An expanse of creamy white marble flecked with gold greeted me, along with real gold faucets and all the other nonsensical features that one finds in upscale bathrooms, where people have more money than sense to spend on the finest toilets that their trust funds can buy.
    Mab was keeping up her charade rather well, standing at one of the sinks and dabbing at the bourbon stains on her crimson leather with a damp cloth. But there was a watchfulness in her black eyes, a tightness in her face, a stiffness in her whole body that told me she was ready to fry whoever came through the door after her.
    So I ignored her.
    A woman washed her hands at the sink in between me and Mab, and I didn’t have a clear shot at the Fire elemental anyway. I went into one of the stalls, closed the door, and did my lady business, keeping up my charade that I was just another bored bimbo coming in here to use the facilities and get a break from the booze and bullshit that permeated the ballroom. I flushed the toilet, left the stall, and moved over to one of the sinks to wash my hands.
    Mab stood in the same spot as before at the long counter, still dabbing at her red leather, still watching everyone who entered the bathroom. Women came and went in groups of ones and twos, a steady stream as befitting the crowd that had turned out for the ball. Mab’s black eyes finally turned in my direction, but I opened the tap and soaped up my hands like that was the only thing in the world I was here for. I made my movements small, casual, ordinary, as if I were no more a threat to Mab than a fly on the wall.
    I couldn’t help but grimace at the irony, though. The last time that I’d been this close to the Fire elemental had been in another bathroom—hers—the night that I’d killed Jake McAllister. I’d been disguised as a blond, busty hooker, one of Roslyn’s girls from Northern Aggression, and I’d gone so far as to proposition Mab in order to distract her from finding Jake’s body in her bathtub. The Fire elemental had turned me down, with obvious regret, but my ruse had helped me escape.
    I wondered which one of us would make it out of here alive tonight.
    I kept my face calm, serene, blank, as Mab stared at me. The Fire elemental frowned, as if something about me bothered her, and I wondered if the moment that I’d been waiting so long for was here. If Mab had finally recognized me as the Spider.
    Like everyone else in Ashland, Mab knew me as Gin Blanco. In fact, the Fire elemental had been there the night that Jonah McAllister had ordered Elliot Slater to beat me at Ashland Community College to try to find out what I knew about Jake’s death. Mab knew exactly who Iwas and what I looked like as Gin—especially when I was covered with my own blood.
    The door swung open again, and two more women stepped inside. After another second of staring at me, the Fire elemental turned her attention to the two women, giving them the same sharp perusal.
    I dried my hands, left the bathroom, and stepped out into the hallway. But I didn’t go back to the ballroom. If I did that, I would lose whatever chance I might have to kill Mab. The Fire elemental wouldn’t expose herself again. Not tonight.
    So I meandered down the hallway, my eyes scanning the rooms that branched off either side, looking for a spot for a potential ambush. Mab had been expecting someone to come at her in the bathroom. In those tight quarters, the odds were in her favor—she could easily fry her attacker with her Fire magic before she had time to retreat or mount any kind of defense. It was exactly what I would have done if I’d been in Mab’s position.
    But maybe luck would finally smile on me, and the Fire elemental would lower her guard and be careless enough to let me take her by surprise on her way back to the ballroom.
    More than a few folks moved back and forth in the hallways, going from the ballroom to the bathrooms and back again, or outside for a quick smoke or an even quicker fuck. They were all wrapped up in their own little dramas, so no one saw me slip into a room and close the door almost shut behind me. No lights burned in the chamber, which was a sitting area, but I could still make out the crouching shapes of the thick, heavy furniture. Istayed in the shadows by the door and palmed two of my silverstone knives. Then I waited.
    More people came and went in the hallway in