By a Thread

That last knife felt as cold as the spider rune ring on my finger, since the blade contained my Ice magic - something else that had come out of my final fight with Mab. My body had burst into icy silver flames when I'd been dueling the Fire elemental, and the silverstone knife, along with the others I'd been carrying, had absorbed quite a bit of my magic. I'd never before used the power in this particular knife, the one that I'd killed Mab with, but it comforted me to know that it was there, just in case I needed it.

As for the icy flames, it was a trick that I hadn't done since then, although I'd tried a time or two to get my fists to ignite just to see if I could. So far, I hadn't had any luck. Then again, I hadn't been as desperate as I had been fighting Mab. I imagined that had quite a bit to do with my cold spontaneous combustion that night.

"Are you sure that you want to do this, Gin? Take on Dekes?" Bria asked, staring at me. "I know that you came to Blue Marsh to get away from all the thugs in Ashland who are after you right now. And Callie's my friend, not yours. I should be the one to help her, not you."

"I know," I said. "But you're my sister."

Bria stood there, like she was expecting me to say something else. But in my mind, I'd given her reason enough for putting myself in danger again. Yeah, maybe I was a coldhearted assassin, but I'd do anything for the people that I loved. Cheat, lie, steal, even kill for them. I'd done it before when I was battling Mab, and I would gladly do it again. I might be in a different city, but the rules of the game were still the same - and it was a game that I was determined to win.

"If we're all ready," I said, "let's go pay Randall Dekes a visit that he won't soon forget."

An hour later, a taxi dropped me off at the entrance to Dekes's island estate. It was just before five now, and the press conference was ramping up, judging by the people I saw streaming into the house.

"Right here is fine," I told the driver, slipping him a nice tip and climbing out of the backseat.

The taxi drove off, but I stayed where I was, looking at everything from the spikes on the open iron gate to the thick stone wall topped with razor wire to the armed giants that I could see walking along the manicured grounds in a specific, timed pattern. Dekes might be throwing open his doors for his press conference, but he was still being careful about things.

Just not careful enough, since the Spider was here.

I walked up the smooth cobblestone driveway, moving faster than the line of limos and news vans that crept up toward the front door. I'd been in and around many mansions, but Dekes's sprawling villa was impressive, even by Ashland standards. With its white stone, wrought-iron railings, and red slate roof, the multistory building looked like a slightly smaller but more elegant version of the Blue Sands hotel. According to the information that Finn had dug up, Dekes had built his home back in 1889, ten years before he'd started construction on the hotel.

I reached the top of the driveway and paused a moment, reaching out with my magic and listening to the stone of the mansion above me. Low, pain-filled mutters drifted down to me, along with a faint ripping sensation that made it seem like something was biting into the stone again and again and slowly tearing it apart from the inside out. It was a dark, ugly sound, one filled with sly menace and deadly intent. Despite its pristine appearance, Randall Dekes had done some violent things in his mansion over the years - some very violent, very bloody things. No surprise there.

The stones' mutters grew louder as I flashed my press credentials at the giants working the front door and stepped inside the mansion, but I pushed the sound to the back of my mind. The stones' warning wasn't unexpected or unwelcome, but I'd see for myself exactly what kind of man Dekes was soon enough.

The inside of the mansion was just as perfect, polished, and lavish as the outside. Crystal chandeliers, antique furniture, expensive paintings, exquisite statues, delicate carvings. Dekes had the very best of everything, just like I'd thought he would, and he seemed to embrace the location of his island home. Many of the furnishings were suggestive of the beach or sea, from the paintings of famous shipwrecks to the gold doubloons that glimmered in glass cases on the walls.

I followed the flow of traffic deeper into the mansion, stepped through a wide archway, and found myself back outside. The south lawn was dominated by an enormous pool that had the same distinctive palm tree shape as the one at the Blue Sands hotel. According to Finn, Dekes used the palm tree as his own personal rune, since so many of his business interests were located on the coast. A variety of colorful orchids and roses floated in the pool, their sweet scents mixing with the spicy colognes and cloying perfumes of the businessmen and businesswomen in attendance, along with the sweat of the news crews hauling around their cameras and other equipment.

I could also see the Blue Sands hotel from here, glimmering like an oversize opal in the distance. The back nine of the hotel's golf course ran right up to the edge of Dekes's property, which was cordoned off by a low stone wall. With a pair of binoculars, you'd be able to clearly see the hotel pool and the beach with its sunbathing beauties beyond. I imagined Dekes was the kind of man who enjoyed looking out over his little empire.

Roughly two hundred people were gathered around the pool already, while dozens more giant waiters moved through the crowd bearing trays of food and neon-colored drinks topped with tiny umbrellas and skewers of fresh lemons, limes, oranges, and pineapples. Despite the fact that this was officially a press conference, Dekes was still offering refreshments. Why, how very considerate of him. Or perhaps boozy journalists just led to more flattering coverage.

I grabbed a glass of gin mixed with grapefruit juice from one of the waiters and strolled around the pool, looking for my friends and enemy for the afternoon.

Owen, Finn, and Bria stood in a ring of people, sipping champagne. As usual, my foster brother was in the middle of the group, regaling the onlookers with one bawdy, boisterous story after another. Bria slouched next to him, looking a little bored, while Owen stood next to her, scanning the crowd just like I was.

Our eyes met, violet on gray. Heat shimmered in Owen's gaze, along with concern. Despite my breezy assurances to Callie that I could handle Dekes, Owen and I both knew how dangerous the vampire was. You didn't amass as big a fortune and survive in the underworld as long as Dekes had without having a few aces up your sleeve. As always, my lover's worry touched me, as did his willingness to let me do what needed to be done. Donovan had never looked at me the way Owen did, and he certainly would never understand me like Owen did. After our confrontation in Callie's office, I knew that more than ever.

I winked at Owen, telling him that I was ready for whatever might come up, and moved on.

Besides the pool, the other thing that caught my eye was a scale model of what the casino would look like when it was built, complete with trees, sand, and even real water in the pseudo swimming pools and fake ocean. The far side of the miniature landscape started with the Blue Sands hotel and showed how the original structure would stretch out and eventually meld into the new casino, just about where the Sea Breeze stood. Shots of the proposed interiors stood on easels behind the model, showing just how lavish the new, improved resort would be.

Callie had been right - her restaurant was in the middle of the main gaming hall, which meant that Dekes couldn't build his casino without her land. That knowledge only made me more determined to get the vampire to back off - or else.

Finally, I spotted the man of the hour himself - Randall Dekes. The vampire was just as handsome in real life as he was in the headshot Finn had shown me. His sable brown hair and matching mustache gleamed in the sunlight, his skin just a shade lighter, while laugh lines crept out from the corners of his pale green eyes. His trim body was further set off by a smoke gray suit, and a large palm- tree-shaped diamond glimmered in the middle of his matching silk tie. He was easily one of the most striking men here. I wasn't the only one who thought so, judging from the longing looks that the other women and even a few men shot his way.

But what the photo hadn't quite captured was the constant crackle of magic that emanated off Dekes. I stood there, sipped my fruity gin, and tried to puzzle out what kind of power it was. Even when they weren't actively using their power, many elementals constantly gave off waves of magic, like heat radiating from the sun even when it was behind the clouds. Since I was an elemental too, I could sense that excess energy. Most of the sensations followed a pattern. Magic from a Fire elemental would feel hot, like sparks or fiery needles stabbing at my skin, while power from an Ice elemental would be cold, like snowflakes swirling through the sky. An Air elemental's power might feel thick and stuffy like fog creeping over the landscape, while a Stone elemental's magic could seem as hard as a concrete shell covering his or her body.

The sensation rolling off the vampire slid across my skin like water, but I couldn't quite figure out which specific elemental area Dekes was gifted in - Air, Fire, Ice, or Stone. Somehow, the magic trickling off him felt like all of those things at once. Hot and cold, soft and hard.

I frowned. Everyone knew that Dekes was a vampire, but Finn hadn't been able to determine whether he had any elemental magic as well. The vampire might have the power flowing through his veins as an elemental himself or he might simply be absorbing it from the blood of his victims. Either way, what worried me was how strong the sensation was. Unless I was seriously mistaken, Dekes had just as much elemental juice as Mab had had, which meant that I had to be even more careful with him than I'd originally planned to be.

As I watched the vampire, a tall, slender woman stepped out of the crowd and headed toward Dekes. She pressed a kiss to his cheek, then looped her arm through his. I recognized her from another photo that had been in Finn's file. Vanessa Suarez, the vampire's wife. Finn hadn't spent as much time looking into her background, but he'd learned that she came from a prominent Fire elemental family in Charleston, South Carolina. Her father had gotten involved in one of Dekes's real estate deals, and she'd married the vampire about a year ago. Finn didn't know whether the marriage was a love match, a political alliance, or something else, but it didn't much matter. If she got in my way, then I'd deal with her the same way that I would her husband - in a brutal, bloody, permanent fashion.

Vanessa was as beautiful as Dekes was handsome, with cinnamon-colored skin and ink black hair and eyes. She was a bit overdressed for a press conference, but her black evening gown hugged her body in all the right places, and a wide choker embedded with diamonds and pearls gleamed around her slender neck. For some reason, the necklace reminded me of one of the collars that Sophia wore. Matching cuffs that were just as wide adorned Vanessa's wrists.

I eyed the jewelry. Even with all the other, more subtle and understated jewels being worn by the various men and women, I could still hear the gemstones' whispers. But instead of proudly murmuring of their own beauty like the others were, Vanessa's diamonds and pearls wailed with high-pitched, angry, hurt notes - almost like they were screaming. Interesting - and more than a little disturbing.

But what really intrigued me was that I didn't feel any sort of magic emanating from Vanessa. No flickers, no flares, no fiery waves. From Finn's file, I knew she was a Fire elemental, purportedly a very strong one. Perhaps her power was self-contained, like mine. As long as I didn't actively use my Ice and Stone magic, other elementals couldn't sense my power, something that had gotten me out of more than one jam.

Vanessa whispered something in Dekes's ear. The vampire nodded, and the two of them headed over to the wooden podium and microphone that had been erected beside the casino model. Dekes stepped behind the podium, while Vanessa remained off to one side.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Dekes said into the microphone. "We're ready to get started."

It took a few moments for the crowd to quiet down. I slipped into the ranks of the other reporters and pulled out my digital recorder, pen, and notepad, pretending to be just another journalist here to cover the press conference.

"Thank you all for coming," Dekes said, giving the crowd a winning smile. "As you know, I asked you here today to formally announce construction on my new casino, the biggest project that this island has ever seen . . ."

The next hour dragged by. Eventually, after a series of speeches by Dekes, the mayor, and all the other muckety-mucks talking about how wonderful the new casino would be, the press conference wound down. Dekes stepped away from the podium, with Vanessa still by his side. He took questions from the various reporters and did a few TV interviews before shaking hands with all the businesspeople in attendance.

I kept an eye on the couple and drifted in and out of groups of people for about half an hour, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Finally, Dekes's latest round of fawning well-wishers left, and I sidled up to him before anyone else could get their hooks into him.

"Mr. Dekes," I said, giving him a dazzling smile and holding out my hand. "Carmen Cole. Congratulations on your new casino development."

"Why, thank you," Dekes said. "I'm most honored by your presence."

His voice was low and smoky, with a throaty, seductive rasp, and it matched his sleek, dark good looks perfectly. The vamp took my hand in his and lifted it to his lips for a chaste kiss. His thumb stroked the inside of my wrist, right where my pulse was, even though his wife was standing beside him. I'd thought that Dekes's green gaze might trail down to my breasts, but he kept his eyes on mine. Still, despite his polite smile, I could see the sharp, sudden hunger in his face.

Perhaps this would be easier than I'd thought. I'd be happy to offer Dekes the chance for a quick, clandestine fuck if it meant that I could get him alone. The bastard would still be trying to get his dick out of his pants while I had one of my knives pressed against his throat.