"It's a real shame," Brown continued. "We all know what's at stake for you Vinnie-namely, your continued existence. I just never thought that you'd do something like this, especially given that sweet little daughter of yours at home. What's her name again?"
Vinnie's face tightened. "Natasha."
The vampire snapped his fingers. "Natasha. I have to say, the first time I saw her, I wasn't exactly concentrating on her name, if you know what I mean. But then again, I like them young like that."
The vampire let out a low, evil chuckle that told everyone exactly what he'd been thinking about doing to Natasha. The harsh sound made even my skin crawl. I'd been around the block more than my share of times. I'd seen a lot of bad people do a lot of bad things, myself included. But men like Brown, who got their rocks off hurting and abusing kids, well, there was a special place in hell for them. My hand tightened around the hilt of my knife. Despite my being an assassin, I'd never taken any real pleasure in killing my targets. They were just jobs to me, obstacles to overcome, nothing more. But tonight, part of me was going to enjoy sending Brown on his merry way. I'd consider it a public service, like putting down a rabid animal before it could hurt anyone else.
"Please, I-" Vinnie started to plead for his life, but coughs racked his body. The Ice elemental doubled over, spewing up more blood.
The vampire's eyes tracked the blood, and he licked his lips at the sight. All vamps needed blood to live, of course. To them, it was just another form of food, nutrition, something that they craved the way that normal people did potato chips. If a vamp had a hankering for a cheeseburger, he'd get a frosty glass of O positive to wash it down with, instead of a triple chocolate milkshake like the rest of us.
And that wasn't all that drinking blood did for them; vamps could also siphon strength and magic out of it. Regular, old-fashioned human blood was enough to give any vampire a little something extra, like enhanced hearing and superlative eyesight. Those who drank giant and dwarven blood on a regular basis got the inherent strength that both of those races had. Just like vamps who sucked down elemental blood got the Air, Fire, Ice, or Stone power to go along with it, depending on whom they were drinking from. Then there were vamps who were elementals themselves, who already had the magic flowing through their veins, instead of having to steal the power from someone else's blood.
But Brown wasn't ready to sink his fangs into Vinnie just yet, because he waited until the Ice elemental quit coughing and straightened back up before he continued his speech.
"Forget it, Vinnie," the vampire said. "It's too late for all that now. Tell me, what did you think you were going to do? Go home, get Natasha, and get out of Ashland? We've had men watching your apartment all night long. And once you tried to do your disappearing act, I took the liberty of calling my men and having them scoop her up, despite her babysitter's protests. You f**ked up big-time, Vinnie, by trying to run."
The bartender didn't respond, but anguish and tears filled his pale eyes.
"We came to you with a simple plan," Brown said. "Be Mab's eyes and ears inside Northern Aggression. Watch Roslyn Phillips. See who she hangs out with. Make a list of any woman close to Roslyn who could possibly be the Spider. Pass along the information about Mab's drug shipment in order to help us trap the Spider. But you just couldn't do that, could you, Vinnie?"
My eyes narrowed. So Mab had wanted Roslyn watched. Not surprising. As the Spider, I'd publicly taken credit for killing Elliot Slater, even though Roslyn was actually the one who'd pulled the trigger, using a shotgun to finish off the giant. But Mab must have reasoned that since I'd supposedly saved Roslyn that night, I must care about the vampire. That maybe even I was her friend-or at least someone who knew her. All of which meant that the Fire elemental was getting closer to learning who I really was, if she didn't know already.
Oh, Mab didn't know that Gin Blanco was the Spider. Otherwise, she would have tried to kill me herself by now. But I often wondered if she remembered Genevieve Snow, the little girl she'd tortured seventeen years ago-and the spider rune medallion that she'd melted into my palms. The jury was still out on that one. Mab had tortured and killed a lot of people since then. Must be hard for her to remember every single one of them. Still, the Fire elemental was hunting for me now, which just gave me more reason to off Mab and her minions sooner, rather than later.
Starting with the men in front of me.
"You didn't ask. You threatened me," Vinnie said in a low voice. "Threatened to kill me if I didn't do what you wanted. Natasha too."
Brown shrugged. "Details. But you owed Mab, remember? Through our mutual Russian friends, you approached her organization for a favor, and we helped get you and your little girl into the country, green cards and all."
"But I paid her," Vinnie protested. "I paid for all that. You took everything that we had to bring us over here."
The vampire ignored his words. "And now that Mab's trying to collect on that favor you owe her, what do you do? Run away the first chance you get. Shame on you, Vinnie. Shame on you."
So Mab and her mob connections had helped Vinnie and his daughter emigrate to Ashland from Russia, and the Fire elemental had decided it was time to collect-in spades. Despite Vinnie's betrayal of Roslyn, I could understand his motives. He'd only wanted to protect his daughter, to keep both of them safe. I might have done the same thing in his situation. Because I'd do anything for the people that I loved. Protect them, kill for them.
I was even going to die for them, for Bria, when I finally went up against Mab.
"Since you've been less than cooperative, Vinnie, Mab's decided to pull the plug on this whole operation. Starting with you."
Despite the chill in the air, sweat rolled down Vinnie's forehead, mixing with the blood on his face. "What about my little girl? What about Natasha? She didn't have anything to do with this. Please. Leave her alone."
Brown let out another low, evil laugh. "Like I said before, I like them young. So I'm going to go pay sweet little Natasha a nice, long visit, once we get through with you. After that, well, Mab has plans for her. Big plans. Mab's starting up a new venture, you see, something that will make Northern Aggression look as tame as a preschool, and Natasha will fit in just fine there. Why, she might just even be the star of the whole show, if you know what I mean."
Grief and rage and helpless anguish filled Vinnie's eyes, along with a faint flicker of blue-white magic. Even though he'd been severely beaten, the bartender wasn't completely out of things yet.