Instead, I reached out, grabbed the side of the mansion, and started to climb.

I could have crept through the first floor and made my way to the upper levels of the mansion, where Sebastian was more likely to be, but there was too much risk of running into a maid and having her scream and sound the alarm that I was here and out for blood. So I decided to climb instead.

Given all the balconies, crenellation, and trellises, it was easy enough for me to scale up to the second floor, but I didn't stop there. I had a feeling that I knew exactly where Sebastian would be, the place he had coveted for so long: his father's office.

To my surprise, the library windows were wide open. I started to pull myself up a few feet higher so I could peer over one of the windowsills, but something made me hesitate. Given the sweltering heat of the day, I would have expected the windows to have been shut tight, in order to keep all of the precious air-conditioning circulating inside the mansion. Sure, someone could have opened the windows in order to let the cool air from the storm blow inside, but the rain was still at least half an hour off, maybe more. There was simply no reason the windows should have been open that wide-unless Sebastian was planning some sort of trap for me.

He'd seen me outside of Dawson's library, and with his Stone magic, he might have even sensed that I had scaled the outside of the mansion so I could look in through the library windows. Maybe he thought that I'd do the exact same thing again here. Either way, it all seemed just a little too easy.

So I climbed up past the third floor, going to the fourth. I looked left and right along the wall, but all of the windows were closed on this level, further confirming my suspicions. Sebastian might not know that I was alive, but he'd realized that someone was probably coming after him, and he'd taken the appropriate precautions.

I climbed over to the closest window, hooked my arm over one of the shutters for support, and clung there. I reached for my Ice magic and used it to create a long, thin wand, which I jammed into the top of the window, popping the lock. A few seconds later, I was inside the mansion, with the window closed and locked behind me. No lights burned on this level, and given the dark sky outside, the interior of the mansion was murky with shadows. I moved from one hallway to the next, a knife in my hand, searching for any sign of Sebastian or Porter. They were both going to die, and I wasn't too particular about whom I killed first.

I quickly searched the fourth floor, but neither man was here, and I didn't hear any movement on the levels above my head. They had to be downstairs, most likely somewhere close to the library, waiting to see if I'd be stupid enough to fall into their trap. I crept over to a set of stairs and eased down to the third floor.

Lights blazed on this level, which left me few pools of shadows to hide in. Still, I managed it, moving from one hallway and one room to the next.

I checked Sebastian's bedroom first, but he wasn't relaxing inside the opulent s.p.a.ce. I stared with disgust at the ebony bed with its white silk sheets and perfectly fluffed pillows, thinking about how easily I'd let Sebastian seduce me with his pretty words and lies. A wild urge seized me to palm another knife and use the sharp blades to slice through the sheets, the pillows, and even the mattress, until they were all as torn and tattered as my heart. But I forced myself to focus. Ripping up the bed wouldn't change what had happened between Sebastian and me, but killing him would.

So I moved on. I went from room to room, searching for him and keeping an eye out for Porter too, but the two men were nowhere to be found. Finally, I came to the last room on this floor, the library.

Just like the windows, the doors were wide open, inviting me to step right on inside and die. If Sebastian had thought to lay a trap with the windows, then he was sure to have left one by the doors too, so I slid up to the wall right beside the opening and stopped. And then I waited-just waited for my enemies to reveal themselves to me.

It didn't take long. I'd only been in position for about two minutes when a faint creak sounded in the library, like someone shifting in a chair.

"Are you sure she's here, boss?" Porter's voice rumbled through the library and out the doors to me. "Because I haven't seen any sign of her yet. Neither have any of the staff, and they've been keeping a watch for her all day long. Plus, she hasn't tripped any of the alarms on the first-floor doors or windows."

I grinned. That was another reason I'd climbed up the side of the mansion. Most folks only thought to arm the first floor or two of their homes and businesses. They figured that no one was strong or crazy enough to try to climb any higher than that. But I was both of those-in spades.

"I mean, I can't believe that she's not dead in the mausoleum," Porter continued. "You buried her in there last night. We both saw it. She went inside, and you collapsed the whole thing right on top of her head."

"True," Sebastian said. "But why didn't any of your men come back? Why haven't we heard anything about them? It's like they just vanished into thin air. Only an a.s.sa.s.sin could do something like that. Only someone like her."

"Maybe it wasn't her," Porter countered. "Maybe it was her brother or the old guy she worked for. If she's an a.s.sa.s.sin, maybe they are too."

"No," Sebastian snapped. "It was her. She killed them all."

Well, not all of them but a good portion. Enough to restore my confidence that I could do the same to him.

"I know she did it," Sebastian repeated. "Just like I know that she's here somewhere right now. The walls are practically humming with her presence."

Once again, I cursed his Stone magic and my own sloppiness. I'd been so focused on trying to figure out where Sebastian was hiding that I hadn't considered the fact that the granite and all the other stone of the mansion would soak up my own murderous intentions and whisper them back to Sebastian.

Still, I held my position by the doors. I had no doubt that I could outlast him, at least when it came to this. He might have more magic than I did, but he didn't have more patience. For the first time, I realized why Fletcher always kept saying how important that was. I was killing Sebastian, and if I had to stand here all night until he got tired of waiting inside the library, then so be it. I would consider it time well spent.

The seconds ticked by and turned into minutes. One, two, five, ten. Porter and Sebastian remained silent in the library, although the storm had gotten closer, and thunder rumbled in the distance.

Finally, Sebastian let out a long, loud, disappointed sigh, as though he was upset that I hadn't fallen into his trap so easily.

"Well, I guess we'll have to go to Plan B, then."

I frowned, wondering what he was talking about, what contingency he might have put into place that I'd missed- Crack.

The distinctive sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed out of the library, followed by a soft whimper. My heart squeezed tight in my chest, and I remembered something-or, rather, someone-I'd forgotten about.

Charlotte.

"I know you're here somewhere, Gin." Sebastian's voice rang out of the library, as smooth and seductive as ever. "You can either step on into the library, or I can keep hitting Charlotte until you do. Your choice."

31.

I stayed where I was, still and silent, and thought about my options.

I had none, really. I could let Sebastian beat his sister, or I could step into the library, take my chances with his trap, and try to worm my out of his sticky web- Crack.

Another slap, another soft whimper from Charlotte, made up my mind.

"All right," I called out. "All right. I'm coming into the library."

My knife still in my hand, I eased through the open doors, around the fireplace, and into the right half of the library. Porter stood off to the side, a gun clenched in his beefy hand. As soon as I stepped into range, he aimed the weapon at my heart, his finger curling around the trigger. I tensed, wondering if I could throw my knife at him before he got off a shot.

"Easy, Porter," Sebastian called out. "I want to have a little chat with Gin first. Besides, if you shoot her now, we won't be able to have any fun with her later."

The thought of all that fun was enough to make Porter leer at me and slowly lower his gun. I ignored the giant and focused on the real danger, the real threat, my real enemy.

Sebastian stood in front of his father's desk, one hand on Charlotte's shoulder to hold her in place in front of him. The girl's hand was pressed to her cheek and the hot, red welts there. Tears streaked down her face.

"Don't you worry, sweetheart," I said in a soft, soothing voice. "He's never going to hit you again. Not after I get done with him."

Charlotte stared back at me with big, frightened eyes. I could see the doubt in her gaze-and the faint hope too.

Sebastian let out a sinister laugh. "The only one who's dying here tonight is you, Gin."

"Please. You dropped a couple of tons of rock on me, and I still walked away from it," I said. "And that was when I was weak, drugged, and disoriented. You really think that you can go toe-to-toe with me and win? You're fooling yourself."

Sebastian's laughter died down, and he eyed me. "And you look remarkably none the worse for wear. How did you manage to survive the mausoleum collapse? And get out after the fact?"

I gave him an evil grin. "You don't really think that I'm going to tell you that, do you?"

He returned my grin with one of his own. "Why not? You told me all of your other stupid, silly, simpering secrets. Oh, Sebastian, you're so wonderful. Oh, Sebastian, you understand me so well. Oh, Sebastian, you make me feel so alive."

His mocking words cut me to the core, but I kept my face cold.

"You were so easy to play." He sneered. "So ripe for the taking. So very desperate for attention. It wasn't even a challenge. All it took was a few soft words, a few sweet looks, a few teary confessions, and you were eating right out of my hand. Some a.s.sa.s.sin you are, Gin. Tell me, do you get this emotionally involved with the families of all your victims? Or was I a special case?"

I didn't answer him, but I couldn't help but grind my teeth.

"Oh, ho!" Sebastian crowed. "Just me. Well, I suppose I should be flattered. But really, I think that it's just sad. That you're sad-sad and pathetic. Little girl lost, so desperate for someone to love her that she believes any lie she's told."

My hand tightened around my knife. "I'm sad and pathetic? Please. I'm not the one who hired an a.s.sa.s.sin to kill my own father. I'm not the one who didn't have the b.a.l.l.s to do it myself. I'd say that makes you sad and pathetic, Sebastian. No, scratch that. It just makes you weak."

His eyes glittered, and a muscle twitched in his jaw. I'd struck a nerve, so I decided to press my advantage. Besides, Sebastian had hurt me with his words, and I wanted to do the same to him.

"Totally, utterly weak." I sneered. "I'm not the one cowering behind a teenage girl instead of facing my enemy head-on."

Sebastian jerked his hand off Charlotte's shoulder, as if he'd never even thought about how that made him look, using her as a shield.

I stared at Porter. "You really should find yourself another boss. Someone who has a set. Someone who's not afraid to do his own dirty work."

Porter shifted on his feet, and the guilty look on his face told me that he'd thought the same thing more than once. Too bad he hadn't left before now-because he was going to die right alongside his boss.

Sebastian whipped around. He noticed the giant's chagrined look too, and his face tightened with rage.

"See?" I taunted. "Even your own man thinks you're weak. He has no respect for you, and neither do I. Neither will anyone else. You'll never be half the man that your father was, and we all know it. Soon so will everybody else."

Red rage mottled Sebastian's face, his hands clenched into fists, and he took a menacing step forward, as though he wanted to show me how wrong I was by throttling me himself.

That was exactly what I wanted. For him to forget the fact that I had a knife in my hand and rush at me so I could stab him to death right here, right now.

But Sebastian controlled his rage. He stopped, his lips curling with disgust.

"You didn't think I was half a man when you were screaming out my name in bed last night." His voice took on a smug, superior tone.

"You weren't the only one who's been faking things," I shot right back. "No wonder you have to drug women to get them into bed, considering what a lousy lay you are. Watching paint dry would have been more t.i.tillating-and fulfilling. It would have lasted longer too."

More and more rage flooded Sebastian's face, while his left eye twitched with fury. His lips drew back from his perfect white teeth, making him seem exactly like the sick, rabid animal he was.

"Porter," Sebastian said through his clenched teeth. "I've changed my mind. Put her out of my misery. Shoot that b.i.t.c.h where she stands."

The giant didn't hesitate. He raised his gun and pulled the trigger.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The three bullets thunked into my chest, and I collapsed in a heap on the floor. The giant's aim was true, and the bullets would have gone straight into my heart if I hadn't been wearing my silverstone vest.

Charlotte screamed and screamed. I opened my eyes a crack just in time to see Sebastian shove her away. She slammed up against one of the side bookcases, bounced off, and fell to her knees. I hated that he had hurt her again, but she was out of the line of fire now, and I wouldn't have to worry about her getting in the way of what I was going to do next.

"Stop your sniveling," Sebastian ordered her, then turned back to Porter. "Empty the rest of your clip into her, and make sure that she's dead this time. I don't want any more mistakes."

My fingers tightened around my knife, but I lay there on the rug and waited for Porter to lean down and take hold of my shoulder. But to my surprise and consternation, the giant stopped a few feet away from me, and I realized that he wasn't going to roll me over onto my back so he could pump some more lead into my chest. He was going to do the smart thing and put a couple of bullets into my head from a distance.

Still, I waited-waited until I heard Porter suck in a breath, and the shadow of his arm on the floor started to move as he raised his gun . . .

Then I lashed out, whipped my knife up and around, and drove the blade into the giant's foot. Porter screamed and tried to readjust his aim, but I ripped my knife out and swiped it at him again, making him jump back out of the way of the sharp blade.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The bullets thunked into the Persian rugs beside me, but I didn't give him a chance to fire again. I scrambled to my feet and threw myself forward. Porter managed to block my arm, keeping me from driving my knife into his chest, so I lashed out with my heavy boot and stomped it down on his instep, the one I'd skewered with my knife.

The giant howled with pain and hopped away. His foot caught on a table leg, and his head cracked into one of the bookcases, rattling the stone models on the shelves. He dropped his gun and pitched forward, his hands going to the top of the table that he'd tripped over to try to steady himself. That gave me all the time I needed to dart forward and bury my knife in the side of his neck before ripping it out just as brutally. Porter screamed again and arched back, but the wound I'd given him was a fatal one, and a few seconds later, he slumped over the table, then toppled over onto the floor, dead.

I tightened my grip on my knife and headed for Sebastian, who was still standing in front of his father's desk.

Instead of backing away, he gave an airy, almost nonchalant wave of his hand, as though he weren't concerned at all by the fact that Porter was dead. I wondered what he thought he was doing, as if I was going to stop at a simple wave of his hand when I was five seconds away from finally killing him- The bricks in the fireplace exploded in my face.

One second, I was heading toward Sebastian with every intention of driving my knife through his heart. The next, I was being slammed by bricks from all sides.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump-thump-thump.

The bricks rattled me this way and that, like I was the silver piece in a pinball machine. And it didn't stop after the bricks flew at me from the fireplace, thudded off my body, and fell to the colorful carpets.

No, Sebastian waved his hand, and more bricks erupted out of the fireplace, hitting me and making me scream. I'd always wondered what it would be liked to be Stoned to death, especially in an elemental duel, and now I was finding out. Not to mention the fact that the sharp, broken edges of the bricks sliced through my clothes and into my skin, making blood pour out of a dozen shallow cuts.

Through it all, I could hear Sebastian laughing-laughing at how he was slowly going to kill me. My hand tightened on my knife. f.u.c.k that.

The ma.s.s of swirling bricks stopped, although Sebastian waved his hand again, gearing up for another attack. Charlotte pressed herself up against one of the bookcases along the wall, sobs escaping from her lips. She knew that if she moved, Sebastian could easily turn his wrath on her.

I waited until Sebastian's attention flickered from me to the bricks that he was controlling, and then I threw my knife at him.

Being bludgeoned by bricks had wreaked havoc with my balance and equilibrium, so the blade didn't sink into his throat like I wanted it to, but the knife slammed into his shoulder, making him stagger back and hiss with pain. More important, it made him lose his grip on his magic for a few precious seconds. Sebastian stared down in disbelief at the knife sticking out of his shoulder. He hesitated, then lifted his hand and yanked the blade free. He stared at his own blood on the blade, his eyes wide, as if he'd never seen such a sight before.

"You b.i.t.c.h!" he screamed, throwing the knife in my direction. "You're going to pay for that!"

I didn't pay any attention to his tirade. I was already ducking the blade, moving forward, grabbing Charlotte's arm, and pulling her away from the bookcase and away from her murderous psychopath of a brother.

I took hold of Charlotte's hand, and together, we sprinted out of the library.

32.