Chapter 22

We rejoined Owen in the hallway. While we'd been rescuing Callie, he'd grabbed the guard's cell phone and was listening to the crackles of conversation on the other end.

"Any sign of more guards?" I asked. "What are they saying?"

Owen shook his head. "Nothing much. I heard some footsteps and some shouts, but none of them seem to be headed in this direction. From the chatter on the phone, most of the guards are on the other side of the house, trying to figure out what's going on, who's in the mansion, and how they can stop them. I think that's where Dekes is too, although I can't be sure. They haven't said anything about Vanessa or Victoria."

"That's because the two women are probably somewhere secure already. I bet that Dekes keeps them under lock and key the whole time, except for when he needs Vanessa to make an appearance for his friends. After all, it just wouldn't do for Dekes to lose his elemental meal tickets," I said.

I pulled my own cell phone out of my vest. "Callie's secure," I said. "Repeat, Callie is secure."

"Roger that," Finn responded a second later. "Still searching the first floor. No sign of the other two women yet."

"Keep searching. We'll do the same up here."

I put the phone back in its slot on my vest, and we moved away from the door and the dead giant. We eased through the halls, looking and listening, but we didn't encounter any more guards. Finn and the others had killed four already, and I'd put another one down. That made five. I didn't know how many men Dekes had on his staff and how many might actually be in the mansion at the moment, but I was willing to bet that we'd put a good dent in their numbers.

We made it back to the crossway and started down the only other hall I hadn't explored yet. I led the way, followed by Donovan, then Callie, with Owen serving as the rear guard. We didn't pass any more of Dekes's men, but we started to hear faint shouts, screams, and scuffles. The hoarse sounds grew louder the farther we walked down the hall, peppered here and there with the sharp sting of gunfire.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Looked like Finn, Bria, and Sophia had run into some more giants. The gunshots didn't bother me, though, because they told me that the three of them were still alive and fighting. I would have been more worried if I hadn't heard any noise at all. Besides, every once in a while, Finn's triumphant shouts drifted out of the cell phone in the pocket of my vest, telling me that they were okay.

Eventually we reached another hallway that led to a dead end. I peered around the corner again, and just like before, I spotted a giant standing guard outside a door. Only this time he had two buddies with him. Jackpot.

I drew back before they saw me and looked at Owen. "Three of them, two of us. Care for a little tag-team action?"

Owen grinned and twirled his staff in his hands. "With you? Always."

I looked over at Donovan. "You stay here with Callie and watch our backs. We shouldn't be long."

The detective nodded and made Callie stand against the wall beside him.

I palmed a second knife and turned my attention back to Owen. "Same rush job as before, with me in the lead, drawing their gunfire. On three. One . . . two . . . three!"

We both sprinted out from around the corner and ran down the hall toward the giants. They were taken off guard just like their buddy had been before, but they recovered much quicker. One of them managed to get his gun out from under his suit jacket, raise it, and fire. I was in front of Owen, making me the target instead of him, just like I'd planned.

Crack! Crack!

Two bullets thunked into my chest, momentarily knocking me back, but the silverstone in my vest easily caught the bullets. The giant pulled the trigger again, but his buddy was also reaching for his gun at the same time and spoiled his aim. The third bullet plowed harmlessly into one of the walls.

Then Owen and I were on them, and it was far too late for guns.

Owen took the guy on the far right, bringing his staff down in a vicious arc on top of the giant's head. It wasn't enough to crack open his skull outright, but the snap of the metal was more than enough to daze him, and the giant's eyes rolled up into the back of his head. Owen brought the staff up, then swung it around, this time slamming the end of it into the guy's temple. That blow opened up a gushing wound, and the guy staggered back into the wall. Owen brought the staff around a third time, driving the end into the giant's throat. The giant immediately collapsed, choking and clawing at his crushed windpipe. Owen swung the staff a final time, snapping the giant's head to one side. The giant didn't move after that.

Meanwhile, I concentrated on the giant in the middle, the one with the gun, chopping at his hand with my knife. The blade sliced into his wrist, and he howled with pain. The gun clattered to the floor, and I used my foot to kick it behind me. The guy on the far left reached for me, but this time, his buddy stumbled into him, driving them both back against the opposite wall. After that, it was just a matter of keeping them penned in together while I went to work with my knives.

Slice-slice-slice-slice.

The blood spattered onto the wall, and they soon joined their dead friend on the floor. Once again, I leaned over and cut all their throats, just to be sure.

Never leave any enemies alive behind you. I could almost hear Fletcher whispering the words in my ear, and I was determined to follow the old man's edict tonight, when so many other lives besides mine depended on it.

Owen tried the door, but of course it was locked. I slid one of my knives up my sleeve, then dug through the giants' pockets with my free hand, but none of them had a key for the door. Not surprising. If I were Dekes and Vanessa was locked inside this room, I wouldn't be stupid enough to give the giants the key either. Because if they had a key, for whatever reason, sooner or later, one of them would be dumb enough to open the door at the wrong moment, and that's when Vanessa would strike. A couple of blasts of her Fire magic to the chest would be enough to put down a giant, and I was betting that the elemental had tried more than once to escape.

The door was made out of sturdy wood too heavy and solid to cut my way through with one of my knives, and it was reinforced with silverstone bars. Since the giants didn't have the key, that left only one way to open the door and see who was waiting on the other side.

So I tucked my other knife back up my sleeve and reached for my Ice magic - and was surprised once again at just how little there was of it. Once more, only a few silvery sparks flickered in the palm of my hand.

"Dekes," I cursed under my breath. "Randall fucking Dekes."

I'd hoped my magic might have replenished itself a bit while we'd been planning the attack on the mansion, but it didn't seem there was any more in my body than when I'd reached for it at the beach house this morning. I'd wanted at least a bit more power when I faced Dekes, but that wasn't going to happen. Since there was nothing I could do about it, I reached for the scraps of Ice magic I had left.

This wasn't the first time that my power had been crippled. For years, I'd had problems using my Ice magic because of the silverstone that had been melted into my palms. The magic-hungry metal had simply absorbed my power instead of letting me easily release it through my hands the way other Ice elementals did theirs. I'd finally overcome the block when I fought Tobias Dawson, forcing my magic past the silverstone, and I'd been able to use it however I wanted to ever since. But thanks to Dekes sucking down my blood, I had only a small trickle of power right now, which made using it as hard as it had ever been - maybe even harder, since I was used to my magic being so much stronger.

I'd told Jo-Jo more than once that I didn't want to rely too much on my magic to get me out of trouble, but that's exactly what had happened since I killed Mab. I'd thought, with the Fire elemental dead and gone, things would be easier for me, that I'd never run into someone with that much raw elemental power ever again. As a result, I hadn't given much thought as to what I would do if my magic ever let me down or was somehow taken away from me. But I should have known by now that easy just wasn't meant to be - not for me.

For the first time in a long time, I had to struggle to bring enough magic to bear to do what I wanted. It took me a few concentrated tries, but finally I was able to form the simple shapes that I had in mind - two long, slender Ice picks.

"Are you okay?" Owen asked in a concerned voice, noticing the faint, weak sparks of my magic. "Normally, it takes you no time at all to make Ice picks."

"I'm fine," I said, not looking at him. "Just a little hiccup with my magic. Nothing to worry about."

I slid the picks into the lock and started jiggling them around. I wasn't quite as masterful at this as Finn was, but a minute later, the tumblers slid into place, and the lock popped open. I threw the picks down on the floor to melt and got to my feet.

"Careful, now," I warned Owen as I twisted the knob. "Vanessa's probably expecting Dekes or his men."

He nodded and backed up against the wall so he wasn't directly in front of the opening. I threw open the door and did the same thing, leaping back against the opposite side of the hallway.

Good thing, since a ball of elemental Fire blasted out of the open doorway a second later.

I could feel the intense heat of the Fire as it streaked past my position, slicing down the hallway right between me and Owen. If we had been standing directly in its path, we would have been badly burned at the very least. Dekes must not have fed off Vanessa in the last few days - or maybe he just hadn't taken as much of her magic as he had mine, because it looked like she had plenty of elemental juice right now.

The ball of Fire kept going and going, seeming to grow larger and brighter as it sucked more and more oxygen into itself before finally slamming into a wooden door at the far end of the hallway. It exploded on impact, spewing red-hot flames everywhere. I heard Callie scream with fear and surprise, but since she and Donovan were around the corner, the elemental Fire had passed them by without touching or hurting them. The same couldn't be said for the other end of the hall, though. The flames quickly consumed the door and started spreading out along the walls, licking at the paintings, drapes, and furniture.

Yep, Vanessa was definitely in the room. The trick now was getting her to realize that we were friends, not foes.

I waited a few seconds, then leaned forward so that she could see my face.

Another ball of Fire immediately blasted out of the room.

I cursed and jerked back, barely managing to keep my eyebrows from being singed off. I hated having singed eyebrows. The flames once again slammed into the opposite end of the hall, adding more fuel and power to the ones already burning there. I'd wondered before if Vanessa would have enough elemental power to help us, but it looked like her magic had fully replenished itself. It made me feel a little better about my own power eventually coming back.

"Vanessa Suarez!" I called out. "We came here to rescue you, not be burned to a crisp! If you want to get you and your sister out of here, stop using your magic! Right now!"

No response.

I waited a few more seconds, then eased my head forward once again.

This time, nothing happened. I put my hands up in a placating gesture and tiptoed forward so that she could see me and I could see her.

Vanessa stood in the middle of a large bedroom, wearing a sleek black pantsuit and matching heels, along with her diamond-and-pearl choker and cuffs. Another ball of elemental Fire crackled in her hands. Even though I was twenty feet away from her, I could still feel the pulsing power of her magic. The feel of it lashed against my skin like a red-hot whip, making me grind my teeth in discomfort, and the spider rune scars embedded in my palms began to itch and burn, the way that they always did when I was exposed to Fire magic.

Two elements always complemented each other, like Air and Fire, and two elements always opposed each other, like Fire and Stone. Vanessa's magic was the antithesis of my own cool Ice and Stone power, hence my discomfort. But she wasn't my enemy, not like Mab had been, and I wanted to help her, not hurt her. Now the only question was whether I could convince her of that.

Vanessa's eyes narrowed at the sight of me. Surprise and wariness flashed across her face, while black fire burned in the depths of her gaze as she decided whether to go ahead and toss the ball of Fire at me and toast me where I stood. After a second, she frowned with recognition.

"You!"

"Me," I agreed. "Back from the dead again."

"You're the woman from the library last night. The one that Dekes said had Ice and Stone magic. How did you - " Her eyes narrowed a little more. "Wait a second. Cold skin, blue lips, Ice magic. You used your Ice power to make me think you were dead. Clever. Very clever."

"I do try."

"What the hell are you doing here?" she hissed.

I grinned at her. "Why, I'm here to kill your dear husband, of course."

Vanessa shook her head. "Wasn't one round with Randall enough for you?"

My grin widened. "What can I say? I'm a slow learner and a sucker for punishment. But before I track down your husband and ram my knife through his heart, I thought I'd swing by and see if you wanted some help getting out of here. Think of it as my good deed for the day. So are you coming or what?"

Vanessa didn't have to think twice about my offer. "Not without my sister. I'm not going anywhere without Victoria."

"Good answer," I said. "Because that's exactly what I would say."

I eased into the room, and Owen came with me. Vanessa eyed us and curled her fingers around the elemental Fire still burning in her hand, ready to unleash her deadly power if we made one wrong move.