Elektra kept twirling the white orchid in her hand, as though the two of them were talking about something as simple and mundane as the weather. If she was afraid of Mab and what the Fire elemental could do to her, the assassin didn't show it.
"You know, you never did tell me the real reason why you want the Spider dead so badly in the first place," Elektra murmured.
"She killed Elliot Slater and has been picking off my men like they're flies," Mab snapped. "That's why I want her dead."
Elektra tilted her head to one side and studied Mab, sly intelligence glinting in her green gaze, along with the flashing sparks of her electrical magic. "If that was all there was to it, then you would have hired someone far less expensive to come in and do the job, instead of paying top dollar for me. No, I think there's something else going on between the two of you. Care to tell me what is it?"
I studied the Fire elemental. A rare bit of emotion flickered in her black eyes, but I couldn't tell if it was annoyance at LaFleur or concern about what the assassin had deduced so far. Once again, I couldn't help but wonder if Mab herself had put two and two together yet, if she even remembered Genevieve Snow, the little girl she'd tortured all those years ago, and the spider rune necklace she'd used to do it with. She probably had. No matter how much I hated Mab, she was far from stupid or oblivious. Even though I didn't have any real information to support my theory, it wasn't too much of a stretch to think that Mab knew exactly why I was after her, especially since Bria had come back to town.
I only wondered if the Fire elemental knew that I was the one that she really wanted to kill. The Snow sister that was the threat to her, the one with both Ice and Stone magic, the little girl who had grown up with desire, skills, and perhaps even the power to kill her.
Mab's lips curved up, but the result wasn't pleasant. Death probably had a more inviting smile than she did. "I pay you to kill people, Elektra, not ask questions. If you can't remember that, then I'll find someone who can. Immediately. And don't be stupid enough to think that Jonah will step in and save you. He's just f**king you so you'll kill Gin Blanco for him."
My eyes narrowed. So Mab knew about her lawyer's plan to eliminate me and that he was getting busy with her new assassin. Interesting.
"Count on Jonah to save me? Please." Elektra let out a light, mocking laugh. "I don't need anyone to save me. I'm just sleeping with him to pass the time. When he bores me, and he soon will, I'll move on to someone else. As for getting rid of that little cook ..." She shrugged. "It'll kill half an hour."
Mab took another sip of golden champagne and studied the other woman. "At least try to make it look somewhat like an accident. Blanco isn't without friends, and I have enough annoyances to deal with right now with the Spider."
Elektra tipped her head. "Of course."
Even out in the cold, I could hear the lie in her voice. There would be no elaborately staged accident. The assassin was going to electrocute me just like she did all her other victims.
Mab nodded and put her champagne glass down on the table. "Now, my sources in the police department tell me that there are no leads on the murder of my three men in the park next to Northern Aggression. Except, of course, for that damn spider rune drawn in the sandbox."
Elektra raised a black eyebrow. "Did you really think she would be careless enough to leave any evidence behind that she didn't want you to find?"
"Perhaps if you'd been there, you would have been able to take care of the problem once and for all," Mab snapped.
"You're the one who pulled me away from your men that night because you wanted an update," Elektra said. "I thought that they could handle something as simple as killing a bartender. Evidently I underestimated them. Just the way you've underestimated the Spider so far."
The two women stared at each other, magic flickering in both their gazes. The feel of their elemental power-Mab's Fire and Elektra's electricity-amped up, until the sensations crackled like invisible lightning all around me. For a moment I thought perhaps they would go at each other and use their magic to decide exactly who was the bigger bitch in the room, just like so many elementals had done before them.
But of course my luck could never, ever get that good. After a moment, Elektra dropped her green eyes to her white orchid, twirling it once more, and acquiescing to Mab-for the time being.
"I'll find the Spider. Don't you worry about that. That's what you're paying me for, and I always deliver exactly what my clients want-whether it's dead on arrival or six feet under," LaFleur said.
Mab nodded, accepting the other woman's promises-for now. "I'll have another job for you after the Spider. We talked about it before."
"The cop? The one with the elemental magic?"
Mab nodded again.
My hand tightened around the silverstone knife in my hand. Bria. They were talking about Bria. They had to be. A couple of weeks ago, Mab had sent Slater and some of his men to murder Bria. Now she was going to put LaFleur on the job. Another reason for me to kill them both as soon as possible.
"Consider it done. Now, on to more pressing matters. What do you want me to do with the girl?" Elektra said. "She's still sniveling away in the next car over and asking for her daddy."
My breath caught in my throat. Natasha. From what LaFleur had just said, the little girl was here and, even more importantly, still alive.
"Since Vinnie wasn't among the dead bodies at the park, I have to assume that the Spider got her hands on him and questioned him about the whole messy affair. If she's as ruthless as she claims to be, then she's killed him by now for trying to help you trap her," Mab said. "Which means the girl is of no use anymore."
"But what about your new club?" LaFleur asked. "I thought you were going to use the girl there. Make her the first star in your stable, so to speak. She should earn you quite the profit among the kid-loving crowd."
So Brown, the vampire at the park, had been right about Mab's nightclub-she planned to make it a place where anything went. Even serving up helpless kids to pedophiles just so she could make a few more bucks. The heartless, arrogant bitch. Anger filled me, the coldness of it pooling in my stomach, and my lips drew back in a silent snarl.
Mab shrugged. "Not enough profit to make it worth my while. She's getting too old for what some of my prospective customers want, and her coloring's all wrong. Besides, she's a loose end, and it's always better to cut those off before they unravel on you."