LaFleur's magic had been a bit of a fluke, as it wasn't one of the four main areas-Air, Fire, Ice, and Stone-that most elementals were gifted in, that you had to be able to tap into to be considered a true elemental. But magic could take many forms, could manifest in all sorts of strange ways, and many folks were gifted in other areas, offshoots of the four main elements. Like water was an offshoot of Ice, and electricity was one of Air. The mechanics behind it all had never really concerned me. I was just glad I was still alive-and that LaFleur was rotting in whatever shallow, pauper's grave Mab had dumped her in.
I'd only beaten LaFleur because I was the rarest of elementals-someone who could control not only one but two elements. Ice and Stone, in my case. Connected powers, but each with their own unique quirks.
My Stone magic had always been incredibly strong and let me do anything that I wanted to with the element, like hear the whispered vibrations in the rocks around me, make bricks fly out of a solid wall, or even turn my own skin into the equivalent of human marble.
My Ice power was different, in that it actually let me create elemental Ice with my bare hands-Ice that I could turn into all sorts of shapes, like cubes, crystals, and the occasional knife. My Ice magic also let me numb my body so that I would feel no pain, something that I was doing right now just to stay upright. Hell, maybe it would slow the blood loss too. I wasn't familiar with all the ins and outs of this particular trick just yet. Maybe Jo-Jo could tell me more when I got to her.
If I got to her before I bled to death.
It was after midnight now, and the Ashland streets were deserted. Not surprising, given the icy conditions. Ashland was the southern metropolis that sprawled over the rugged corner of the world where the Appalachian Mountains cut through Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia. From a distance, Ashland looked like a jewel-toned paradise, surrounded by emerald forests and sapphire rivers with a silver diamond of a city set into the middle of all the sparkling grandeur. But anyone who'd ever spent any time in Ashland knew exactly what kind of violent, gritty place it really was. The horrible, despicable things that only happened on the darkest, dingiest streets in other cities occurred on Ashland's main thoroughfares-often in broad daylight.
The city was divided into two sections-Northtown and Southtown-held together by the rough circle of the downtown area and flanked on either side by suburbs full of soccer moms, spoiled kids, and other middle-class folks. Northtown was the rich part of Ashland, where the city's social, magical, and monetary elite lived, died, and generally tried to screw each other over every which way they could. All sorts of evil lurked inside the sultan-size mansions in Northtown, made even more sinister by the immaculate facades and perfectly groomed lawns. Mab Monroe, of course, lived in the heart of Northtown in the biggest mansion in the city, given the fact that she was the queen bee of the Ashland underworld.
The folks were poorer in Southtown-much, much poorer-but that didn't make them any less dangerous. Vampire hookers, pimps, gangbangers, elemental junkies strung out on their own magic who'd just as soon light you up with their Fire power as spit on you. Those were the people who called Southtown home. Still, I'd always had a begrudging fondness for the area. At least in South-town you knew exactly what dangers to expect, whereas in Northtown you might go over to someone's house for a friendly cookout and end up with your ribs being the ones basted in the barbecue sauce.
It had been snowing in Ashland for several days straight. The February cold had been so bitter, biting, and unrelenting that what snow fell didn't even begin to melt before the next arctic front blew in and dropped six more inches on top of it. By this point, the snowbanks on either side of the slick roads were taller than most dwarves-topping out at about five feet.
It was hard for me to drive in it, especially considering the absolute shit box of a car that I was in. Twice, the old, worn tires started sliding on the black ice, and it was only by the grace of whatever god was laughing at me that the car didn't slam into one of the trees that lined the road. It also didn't help matters that I could feel myself weakening and my attention wandering as more and more blood pumped out of my thigh. But I forced my hands to grip the steering wheel, the cracked leather digging into the spider rune scars on my palms, and drive on.
I went as fast as I dared, the car tires alternately crunching through or slipping on the snow and ice. Even though there was no one out tonight, it was still slow going, and it took me thirty long, precious minutes to make it to Jo-Jo's.
Jolene "Jo-Jo" Deveraux was a two-hundred-fifty-seven-year-old dwarf with Air elemental magic who used her power to heal people on the sly. She also happened to be my only hope of getting the wound in my thigh to quit gushing blood before I ran out of the fluid altogether.
Like others of her monetary, social, and magically elite status, Jo-Jo made her home in an upscale Northtown subdivision called Tara Heights. Most of the subdivisions in Ashland had cutesy names like that, almost all of which had a Southern connotation. Like Lee's Lament, another nearby subdivision. For some folks in Ashland, especially the vampires who'd lived through the era, the Civil War would just never, ever be over.
I steered the rattletrap car past the snowbanks that had been plowed up on either side of the subdivision's entrance and made the appropriate turn onto a street marked Magnolia Lane. I started up the hill to Jo-Jo's house, but the tires just wouldn't grip the ice that coated the cobblestone driveway. For a moment, I was afraid that I was going to have to get out and walk-something that I didn't have the strength or blood left for. But finally the squealing, smoking tires caught, probably for the last time in their miserable, rubbery lives, and the car lurched up the driveway.
I crested the hill, and Jo-Jo's house came into view. The three-story, plantation-style structure looked even more elegant in the winter white dark, the layers of snow and ice swirling around it like buttercream frosting. The columns that supported the house only added to the effect, making the whole thing resemble a tiered cake. Normally, I would have enjoyed the ghostly view, but tonight the snow was just another obstacle to plow through.
By this point, I was fading fast. It took me two concentrated tries before I remembered to put the car in park so it wouldn't roll back down the hill. Opening the door, crossing the yard, trudging up the steps that led to the porch that wrapped around the house-all of it took much more effort than it should have. By the time I raised the cloud-shaped door knocker that was Jo-Jo's rune, a symbol of her Air elemental magic, I was cold and clammy with sweat and about to pass out. I rapped on the door as hard as I could, then sagged against the house, smearing blood all over the white paint in abstract, snowflake-like patterns.