To finally kill Mab Monroe-or die trying.
Owen seemed to sense my withdrawal because he sat up and pulled me up with him. Emotions filled his face-worry, fear, concern, but most important, acceptance. Owen knew what was coming, what I had to do now as well as I did. Even if he could have, I knew that he wouldn't try to stop me, because if our situations were reversed, and Eva was gone, he would do exactly what I was going to do now to save Bria.
I loved him for it. For letting me be the Spider, for always letting me do what needed to be done, with no judgments, no remorse, and no regrets, even when the price was going to be so very, very high this time-for all of us.
I cupped my hand to Owen's cheek, pulled him over to me, and kissed him once-hard. He returned my kiss, even though I knew that my lips felt like ice against his. We both drew back. He looked at me and nodded. I nodded back, then got up, walked over to the door, and stepped out into the main room.
Everyone snapped to attention as I entered, their eyes full of sympathy and worry for me, for Bria, for all of us. I stared at Finn, who ended his latest phone call and looked at me.
"Gentry and Sydney took Bria straight to Mab's estate," Finn said. "According to my sources, they went through the front gate with her thirty minutes ago."
I nodded. Gentry was nothing if not a professional. The first thing the old woman would do would be to hand Bria over to Mab so no one could snatch my sister out from under her and collect on the bounty. At least Gentry had nabbed Bria and not some sick, twisted bastards like the ones I'd killed at Northern Aggression. Those kinds of bounty hunters would have raped my sister-maybe worse-before turning her over to the Fire elemental. There was some small comfort in that, and right now, I'd take what I could get.
"I need your phone," I said. "And that private number you got for me. You know the one. She's sure to be waiting for me to make contact, and I think it's time to give her exactly what she wants."
Finn bit his lip, but he nodded. He punched in a number, then handed me the phone.
It rang three times before she picked it up.
"Yes?" her silky voice rasped over the line.
I drew in a breath. "Hello, Mab."
Chapter 23
Silence.
For a moment, I thought she wouldn't answer me, but then the Fire elemental let out a low, slow laugh that made my hand tighten around the phone until my knuckles cracked. I wanted to break the damn thing-I wanted to break her.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Spider calling me. Tell me, do you prefer Gin Blanco? Or Genevieve Snow?" Mab sneered. "I'd like to get it right, now that I know exactly who the hell you are."
"It's Gin," I quipped. "Like the f**king liquor. As for who I really am, it certainly took you long enough to put it together, didn't it? The clues were all there. My spider rune, my rescuing Bria over and over again, my declaring war on you. You know, you really should have listened to Jonah McAllister when he wanted to kill me that night at the community college. It would have saved you a lot of trouble."
Mab let out another laugh, a light, high, pleased, pealing sound that made the small, primal voice in the back of my head start muttering. Enemy, enemy, enemy.
The Fire elemental's laughter faded away, and her tone hardened once more. "I suggest that you watch your tone," Mab snapped. "Considering as how I've got your dear, sweet sister right here in this very room with me and several of my giants. Men with a particular kind of... appetite, if you know what I mean."
I listened as closely as I could, but I didn't hear anything through the phone. Not crying, not whimpering, nothing. Bria wouldn't give the bastards the satisfaction of any of that-not until the pain was just too much to bear. Still, the silence unnerved me. Even if Bria had screamed, at least I would have known that she was still alive. The silence told me nothing-not one damn thing.
But now was not the time to show weakness, because I was dealing with Mab, and there was only one thing that the Fire elemental respected-strength.
"You haven't got a damn thing," I said, letting a mocking tone creep into my words. "Because you haven't got me."
Something in my voice must have registered with Mab, because she paused in her gloating. "And what do you mean by that cryptic statement?"
"You know, for all these years I wondered why you came to our house that night," I said, my voice as hard, cold, and ugly as hers. "Why you murdered my mother and older sister. What the point of it all was. What had we ever done to you? But Elliot Slater was kind enough to tell me before he died. You remember Elliot, don't you, Mab? The giant was your number-one enforcer, before I blasted his brains out with a shotgun."
Across the room, Roslyn shuddered. We both knew that she'd really killed Slater, but the vampire clamped her lips together and didn't make a sound. Xavier put his arm around Roslyn, hugging her to his chest. I turned away from them, blocking them out, blocking everything out but the sound of Mab's voice and what it might reveal to me.
"And what did Elliot tell you?" the Fire elemental sneered. "What do you think you know, little Genevieve?"
"Why, Elliot told me all about your crazy aunt, what was her name? Oh, yes, Magda. Elliot was more than happy to spill his guts to me. He told me all about dear aunt Magda and how she used her Air magic to see the future. How she prophesized that a member of the Snow family would one day kill you-a girl with both Ice and Stone magic."
"So what?" Mab snapped. "Because believe me when I tell you that your precious sister is in no position to do any such thing."
"So this, bitch. Bria isn't the one that you want. She isn't the one with both Ice and Stone magic-I am."
Silence. I didn't know what effect my words had on Mab, and I didn't care. My whole world shrank to what I could hear on the other end of the line, to straining as hard as I could to just hear Bria's voice, a whimper, a murmur, something, anything that would tell me she was still alive-
"You're lying," Mab said. "Lying to keep me from killing your precious sister."
I laughed. "Please. I have no need to lie. Not about this. How the hell do you think I survived being trapped in that coal mine with Tobias Dawson after the dwarf knocked me out at your party a few months ago? I used my Ice magic to collapse his own mine right on top of his head and then my Stone power to help me find my way out after the fact. That's how. Ask Bria. She'll tell you the same thing. Or better yet, get her to use her magic. Because she only has Ice, not Ice and Stone like I do."