Venom (Page 21)

"And he realized that you were with Slater against your will."

Roslyn nodded. Weariness made her features sag. "And so here we are."

"Here we are," I murmured.

Silence.

I stared at Roslyn, who kept her gaze on the tabletop. The vamp had spilled her guts to me, held nothing back, but there was still one more thing I wanted to know.

"That first time when Elliot Slater came to question you about the party invitation, why didn’t you tell him that it was me?" I asked. "Why didn’t you give me up? Why did you really keep quiet?"

Roslyn lifted her eyes up to stare at me. "I didn’t tell Elliot it was you because I made a promise to you, Gin. I opened my mouth about what you do once before, and Fletcher Lane died as a result of it. Finn told me how Alexis James tortured Fletcher before he died. Finn was sick over it. So were you. I know that’s why you threatened me the way you did at Fletcher’s funeral. He was a good man, and once I’d realized what I’d done, how I’d helped cause his death, I was sick over it too."

"Still," I persisted, not quite ready to let the matter lie. "If you’d told Slater, they would have come after me. They might have even gotten to me before I figured out what was going on. Then at least our arrangement would have been at an end."

Roslyn shrugged. "Finn and I have had some nice times together, and I know how important you are to him. How much like a sister you are to him. Call me sentimental, but I didn’t want to hurt Finn again."

Finn and Roslyn were what I referred to as good-time buddies. They often got together for a little evening delight when they were between relationships-or when their current paramour was off doing something else. But more than that, Finn and Roslyn had a real friendship besides the sex. They genuinely cared about each other, much to my amazement.

"So I’ve answered your questions." Roslyn hesitated. "I know-I know I don’t have the right to ask it, not after what happened to Fletcher. But I don’t have anyone else to turn to, Gin. I thought maybe if I just put up with Slater for a little while, that he’d get bored with me and move on. But he hasn’t. And he won’t. Not until he kills me."

Tears gathered in Roslyn’s eyes again, but she blinked them back. "I don’t care so much about myself and what Slater will do to me. But I’m worried about Catherine and Lisa, what will happen to them if I’m not around to protect them. Lisa looks a lot like me, and Slater, he… he might…"

Roslyn’s voice faded away as she thought about what the giant might do to her younger sister, Lisa, and Lisa’s daughter, Catherine. The vamp clasped her hands together, trying to contain her emotions, trying to stop the tremors that shook her body and present her usual calm facade.

I didn’t ask Roslyn if she’d gone to the cops about what Elliot Slater was doing to her. She knew as well as I did that the large majority of the Ashland po-po could be bought for a song. Since Slater worked for Mab Monroe, his pockets were a lot deeper than Roslyn’s to start with. Not to mention the fact that the giant could just use the Fire elemental’s influence and connections to get everyone to look the other way. Unless someone decided to stand up to him. Unless someone decided to stop him.

Unless I stopped him.

This was it. The moment of truth. Up until now, all my talk about getting even with Mab Monroe for murdering my family had been just that-talk. I hadn’t taken any concrete action against the Fire elemental. Hell, I still didn’t even really know why Mab had murdered my mother and older sister in the first place-other than the fact that she enjoyed that sort of thing.

But if I went after Elliot Slater, if I killed the giant for what he was doing to Roslyn, there would be no going back. Offing Slater would be the same as declaring war on Mab and her organization. And then it would be me against the most powerful woman in Ashland. There was only one way that was going to end-with one of us dead. Mab Monroe was rumored to have more magic, more raw Fire power, than any elemental born in the last five hundred years. So I wasn’t too optimistic about living through any confrontation with her.

But really, there was only one thing I could do now. Sometimes I wondered if it had all been set the night Mab had murdered my family. If I was like one of the heroes in mythology books I constantly read. Like Oedipus, destined and inevitably drawing closer to doing the thing I was trying so very hard to avoid in the first place.

"The first thing you need to do is send your sister and niece out of town," I said to Roslyn. "Treat them to a trip to Myrtle Beach or something. Make them pack enough clothes and cash for at least two weeks. And tell them to keep quiet about where they’re going."

Roslyn stared at me. For the first time, an emotion crept back into her dull gaze. Hope. The one damn thing that made sticking my knives out for others worthwhile. She slowly nodded.

"And you need to pack your bags and go with them."

Instead of nodding her agreement once more, Roslyn shook her head. "No."

I looked at her. "No?"

"No," she said, bitterness coloring her tone. "I know how these things work, Gin. Slater’s men know what he’s been doing to me. If I leave town, and he’s suddenly murdered, how’s it going to look? The police will come knocking on my door first thing, if Mab Monroe doesn’t beat them to me. No, I have to stay here in Ashland. I have to keep playing along with him."

Roslyn was right, of course. That was exactly what would happen, but I was more concerned about getting her away from Slater right now. Yet I could tell by the hard slant of her mouth and the determination flaring in her eyes that Roslyn wasn’t going to leave town.

"You sure you want to do that?" I asked in a soft voice, giving her one more chance to back out. "Are you sure you can handle that?"

Roslyn shuddered, but she nodded her head again. "I can do it. I can… stand it a few more days. Besides, I want to be here. I need to be here."

In other words, the vamp wanted to be around when I killed the giant so she could make sure he was good and dead. That he would never hurt her again. Couldn’t blame her for that.

"All right," I said. "You can stay. But you’re going to have to do exactly what I say when I say it. Xavier too. No matter how strange or hard it seems. With no questions and no hesitation. Can you do that? And get him to do the same?"

"I can do it." Her voice was a little stronger now.

"Good," I replied. "We’ll start working on it today. Stick to your normal routine, but keep your cell phone with you at all times. You might not see much of Finn and me, but we’ll be watching you and Slater."