Finn pouted and put his hand over his heart. "Oh, detective, how you-"

"Wound you." Bria finished his sentence and snorted. "If I ever did hurt you, Lane, you'd know it."

Finn raised an eyebrow and turned to look at me. "I see that your sister has the same violent streak that you do, Gin."

I gave him a toothy smile that matched Bria's. "Must run in the family."

Farther down the counter, Sophia let out a soft, raspy laugh. The Goth dwarf enjoyed Finn's discomfort just as much as I did.

Despite Bria's icy attitude, Finn didn't give up. He focused all of his attention on her, as if he were a general and she was just another battle to be won no matter what casualties he might suffer along the way-including the complete and utter loss of his self-respect, pride, and dignity. Bria coolly rebuffed all of his advances, but she wasn't completely immune to his charms. Interest sparked in her gaze whenever she looked at him out of the corner of her eye. Bria enjoyed being chased just as much as Finn liked running after her.

"So, what'll it be?" I asked.

Xavier ordered a double cheeseburger with all the fixings, along with fries and baked beans. Bria opted for the Pork Pit's most excellent grilled cheese sandwich, along with some potato salad and a piece of strawberry pie-the final slice that Finn hadn't managed to scarf down yet.

Sophia and I worked on the food, and the five of us talked back and forth across the counter. The dwarf and I slid the steaming food over to Xavier and Bria, and the two of them spent the next twenty minutes stuffing their faces, while Finn talked enough for everyone. Food, friends, and my sister, all in one place. It was about as good as things could get for me. Almost good enough to let me forget about how I'd botched my hit on Mab last night.

Almost.

Bria and Xavier polished off their food, but instead of saying their good-byes, the two of them lingered in the Pork Pit. It wasn't like either one of them to do that, not while they were on duty, no matter how good the food was. Something was going on.

Bria kept sneaking glances at first me, then Xavier. The giant nodded his shaved head at her, telling her to get on with it. Still, she hesitated. So I decided to make things easy for her, seeing as how the relationship between us hadn't exactly been smooth sailing so far.

"Something on your mind, Bria?" I asked.

Bria looked up, startled by my question. Then a rueful grin spread across her pretty face. "Is it that obvious?"

"Probably not to anyone else but me."

She nodded, accepting my explanation. "Actually, there is another reason that Xavier and I came by the Pit today, other than the food."

Bria drew in a breath and stared at me. "We need your help, Gin."

My sister asking for my help-especially considering the violent, bloody kind of help that I specialized in-was a new experience. But I wasn't about to deny her. Anything that Bria asked of me, I would happily give her-and then some. Still, if my sister, the straight arrow, the upstanding detective, had turned to me, the morally bankrupt assassin, for aid, then something really big must be up.

I raised an eyebrow. "Really? You need my help? Who exactly needs killing?"

Bria winced. "It's not-it's not like that. Not like that at all, Gin. I don't want anybody dead."

I stared at her another moment before my gaze cut to Xavier. The giant just shrugged his massive shoulders, telling me that Bria had the lead on this thing, whatever it was.

"So what's up?" I asked. "Why do two such esteemed members of the Ashland po-po need my help? Got a dirty cop you need to bust or something?"

Xavier snorted, with good reason. Besides the giant and Bria, honest cops were rarer than blizzards in the summertime in Ashland. Most members of the police force preferred to take wads of C-notes to look the other way, rather than actually try to solve the many crimes that plagued the city. It was easier, less dangerous, and far more profitable for everyone involved that way. For most folks, the only justice in Ashland was what they made for themselves-with whatever sharp, pointed weapon happened to be nearby.

Bria took a sip of her blackberry lemonade and tapped her left index finger on the counter before reaching down and twisting around the two rings that she wore there. Turn, turn, turn. Twisting the silverstone bands around and around was Bria's tell, something that she did whenever she was thinking hard about a problem. Light pooled in the snowflake and ivy symbols embedded in the metal and flashed the runes back at me.

"It's not that we need your help," she finally said. "It's just that we can't quite figure things out."

"What do you mean?"

Bria looked at me. "I'm sure you've noticed that there's been a bit more crime lately in Ashland than usual."

"Especially for the dead of winter," Xavier chimed in. "Usually, crime around here goes down the more the snow piles up, since most folks don't want to get out into the cold. Of course, we get a few bums squatting in abandoned buildings over in Southtown, some trash-can fires that get out of control, but that's about it, except for the usual stuff."

By the usual stuff, Xavier meant all the domestic disputes, robberies, rapes, gang violence, and assorted murders that took place in the city on a daily basis. From a distance, Ashland might resemble a larger version of Mayberry, but in reality, the city was about as far removed from that quaint Southern ideal as could be. The only whistling folks did in Ashland was after they'd bashed you over the head, ripped your purse off your arm, and were strolling away counting the bills inside.

"Crime around the city has skyrocketed in the past few days," Bria continued. "Bar fights, robberies, beatings, murders. It's like some kind of army has invaded Ashland and is determined to tear up as much stuff as they can."

I frowned, and my mind flashed back to last night and the dinner guests that I'd seen at Mab's mansion. They'd all had a hard edge to them, a sharpness in their faces, and a twitch in their fingers that had marked them as potential dangerous troublemakers. I glanced at Finn, who was staring back at me, the same thought shining in his eyes.

"You think the crime spree has something to do with Mab's guests?" I asked him.

Finn shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. Although the people that Mab does business with usually have a little more self-control than to go around getting into bar fights."

He had a point, so I waved at Bria, telling her to continue.

"The whole department's been trying to crack down, but no one can figure out what the hell is going on, who these people are, and why they've all suddenly come to Ashland," Bria said.

"Yeah," Xavier agreed. "Normally, we'd at least get a few whispers about what was up. But even the guys on the take don't have a clue-and you'd figure they'd hear something from their sugar daddies so they could cut off some of the problems before they got started."

"So more people are hurting and killing each other," I said. "Around these parts, that happens every time the moon's full. What exactly do you need me for?"

Bria looked at me. "I got a call this morning from one of my sources telling me that he knew what was going on and that it was something big-something that would really shake things up for everyone in the Ashland underworld. I asked him what it was, but he didn't want to talk over the phone. Said it wasn't secure enough. I'm supposed to meet with him tonight."

"I'm sensing a but in there."

A smile flitted across her face. "But he sounded strange when I talked to him. Like he was really excited about something, and this is the kind of guy who only gets excited when there's a big score to be had. I don't see what angle he's playing by telling me what's up, since I don't pay him for his info. So I told Xavier about it, and he thought that it might be a good idea to talk to you about things."

I looked at Xavier. "Suggesting me as backup? That's not like you."

The giant shrugged. "I thought that it might be prudent, what with everything that's going on with Mab. Especially since someone tried to take out the Fire elemental last night-in her own mansion, no less."

I winced. I hadn't brought up my little trip to Mab's for all sorts of reasons, but mainly because I'd missed the shot. I wasn't supposed to miss-ever. Especially not when the stakes were this high, not when my sister's life hung in the balance, swaying back and forth on the end of a spider's thin, silky thread. Mab wanted Bria dead in the worst kind of way, and I didn't want Bria to think that I couldn't protect her. I supposed that I was still playing the role of the big sister, just like I had when we were kids. Even though at twenty-five and with Ice magic that was almost as strong as my own, Bria could more than take care of herself.

I sighed. "So you guys heard about that, huh?"

"We did," Bria said.

All sorts of emotions clouded her features. Caution, respect, fear, and just a touch of concern. I wondered if that last one was for me or for herself.

Mab was under the mistaken impression that Bria was the Snow sister with both Ice and Stone magic-the girl who Mab had been told would kill the Fire elemental one day. I'd wanted to put the word out to the Ashland underworld that Mab had it all wrong, that the Spider was the one with both Ice and Stone magic. But Bria had pointed out that since the Fire elemental didn't seem to know who the Spider was or what the assassin's connection might be to Bria, it was foolish to give Mab any information that she didn't already have. From past experience, I knew that the Fire elemental wasn't that stupid, sloppy, or clueless, but I'd acceded to my sister's wishes. Bria wanted Mab focused on her and not me-no matter how dangerous it was.

I thought Bria's fatalistic attitude had something to do with the guilt my younger sister felt over how things had gone down that fateful night. Bria had seen Mab torturing me, but instead of trying to help me, she'd panicked and run away. I didn't blame Bria for that, though. She'd only been eight at the time, just a scared kid, the same as me. If she'd tried to stop Mab, she would have been dead too-burned to ash by the Fire elemental's magic. Still, all these years later, Bria felt responsible for things, like it was somehow her fault that Mab had tortured me instead of her.

I looked at Bria, and our eyes locked. So many emotions swam in the depths of our gazes, so many things that we just couldn't say to each other. But one thing was certain-my sister had asked for my help, and I was going to give it to her.

"You want me to come along for backup, I will," I said in a low voice. "Anytime, anyplace. You know that. So where is this little party going to be? Because I'll be there, but with silverstone knives strapped on, instead of bells."

Chapter 8

"What's this guy's name again?" I asked Finn.

"What?" Finn said, cupping his hand over his ear to try to hear me better over the rocking music. Something he'd done three times in as many minutes whenever I'd tried to talk to him.

I sighed. Another night, another job, another chance to hang out at Northern Aggression.

That's where Finn and I were now, just before midnight, since Bria was meeting her source here. Northern Aggression was the most decadent nightclub in Ashland, a hedonistic den of sin where you could get anything you wanted if you had enough cash, plastic, or other valuable commodity to pay for the delights that waited inside. Sex, drugs, blood, smokes, alcohol. All that and more was available on the nightclub's pleasure-filled menu.

As its name suggested, Northern Aggression was located in Northtown, cozied in among the area's cookie-cutter McMansions and sprawling estates. The city's rich, corporate yuppies had to have somewhere to go after quitting time, and the club serviced all their needs. At Northern Aggression, you could do everything from have a casual drink with the girls to get your rocks off with whichever waiter-or three-caught your eye.

In keeping with the polite veneer that Northtown was so famous for, the outside of the club was surprisingly tame, looking more like a warehouse than anything else. The only thing that suggested there might be something of interest inside was the rune that hung over the entrance-a heart with an arrow through it. Every night, the sign burned first red, then yellow, then orange, inviting folks to come inside and get their freak on.

Once you stepped through the door, the tame, featureless veneer vanished. Crushed red velvet drapes covered the nightclub's walls, while a bamboo floor cushioned the feet of the many dancers. A bar made out of a single long sheet of elemental Ice ran down one wall, the suns and stars carved into the frosty surface glittering underneath the swirling lights. The runes were the symbols for life and joy, respectively, both of which folks in here seemed to have an abundance of tonight. Even if it all was just an alcohol-, smoke-, and sex-filled high.

As if all that wasn't enough to ambush, assault, and overload the senses, the waitstaff took care of the rest. Impossibly buff, beautiful men and women roamed through the crowd, serving up drinks and themselves to interested parties. Most of them were vampires, and all of them were hookers, as denoted by the necklaces they wore, each one with the heart-and-arrow rune of the nightclub dangling off the end of it.

I'd been in the club countless times, but it never failed to dazzle me with its sheer, unapologetic opulence.

That Bria's source had chosen Northern Aggression for the location of their meeting didn't surprise me. Lots of shady deals went down inside the club's private VIP rooms or the ones upstairs that could be rented out for as quick or as long as you liked. From the way my sister had described her source and the mysterious info that he wanted to give her, I doubted that anything tonight would be on the up-and-up.