A cold smile pulled up my lips. Well, that was one thing I’d done right these past few days. If nothing else, I’d delayed Mab’s plans for her twisted nightclub and bought Roslyn Phillips and Northern Aggression at least a few more months of business.
Then my eyes fell to all the metal rails that crisscrossed through the train yard and stretched out like greedy fingers in every direction — metal that could conduct LaFleur’s electrical magic faster than I could slit her throat with one of my silverstone knives. Even now, I remembered the pain of her electrical power slamming into me. It had hurt like nothing else I’d ever experienced. Worse than being stabbed, worse than being shot. Hell, even worse than being beaten by Elliot Slater.
The smile dropped from my face. I was really starting to hate this place.
Elektra raised an eyebrow. “I’m afraid this is the end of the line for you girls.”
“Wow,” I said. “Did you come up with that little bit of witty repartee all on your own? Or has Jonah McAllister been giving you tips in between blow jobs?”
Elektra regarded me for a moment. Then she backhanded me across the face as hard as she could. Despite her petite frame, the assassin had plenty of strength in her muscles. But worse than the sheer force of it was that she put some of her magic into the blow, and I felt the static shock of her power all the way down to my bones. Just for an instant, but the jolt was more than enough to make me stagger back and my heart race from the electrical discharge. Fuck. She was so strong. I was really going to have to figure out some way to keep her electrical elemental magic from killing me before I stabbed her to death.
Elektra eyed me. Satisfied that I was properly cowed, she jerked her head at the giants.
“Put them in the railcar while I get some things ready for our special guests,” she snapped. “And I want one of you on every side of that damn railcar. If the Spider’s lurking out there tonight, she’s not getting her hands on these two, understand?”
The giants nodded. There were four of them now, including the limo driver, who’d stepped out to join the other three. Right now, they were more afraid of LaFleur than the nebulous danger the Spider presented. I had to admit I was a little disappointed. After my performance here the other night, you’d think that the giants wouldn’t be so quick to discount the Spider and what she could do to them. But they were faced with a more immediate danger in LaFleur, so that’s what they chose to focus on. I suppose I couldn’t blame them for that.
Still, the irony of the situation wasn’t lost on me. Oh, the bloody irony. If I’d been alone, I would have laughed long, loud, and hard over the absurdity of it all.
Because what Elektra LaFleur didn’t realize was that she had already captured the Spider — and the assassin was planning to kill me and my baby sister before the night was through.
LaFleur disappeared into the shadows, probably to go get some kind of power tools or other sharp objects that she could torture Bria and me with. I’d needled her too much for her to just blast us with her electricity. No, the assassin really wanted to make it hurt for as long as possible before she finally went in for the kill shot with her elemental magic. Or maybe she was just going to get a couple of white orchids that she could leave on our bodies after the fact. Didn’t much matter either way. She’d left us alone with the giants. Mistake number two. Never take your eyes off your target.
The giants marched us deeper into the train yard, leading us over to the same car they’d been holding Natasha in when I’d rescued her. Had it just been two nights ago? Somehow, it seemed like a lifetime. Especially since tonight might be the end of mine and Bria’s.
The giants forced us up the steps and into the railcar. Someone had removed the table and cards because the inside was empty now — except for the brown bloodstains on the metal floor and the matching spatters on the silver walls. Mab’s men hadn’t gotten around to mopping those up just yet.
My eyes slid to the back window, already thinking of how Bria and I could escape. But several solid two-by-fours covered up the hole, bolted into the metal. The giants had already fixed that part of the car, making it prisoner-ready once more. We wouldn’t be getting through those boards, not without making noise that would easily give us away. I might want to kill LaFleur, but I’d rather know that Bria was safe first. Telegraphing every single step of our escape was one way to ensure that it wouldn’t happen at all.
The giants slung us down in the middle of the railcar. The metal floor was as cold as ice, even through the thick fabric of my jeans. My breath frosted in the air. The temperature had already dropped into the low teens tonight.
“Don’t move,” one of the giants growled before the four of them trooped outside.
The door slid most of the way shut, but it didn’t make that particular, heavy click that would tell me the giants had fully sealed us inside. Hmm.
Bria started to scramble to her feet, but I put my hand on her arm and held her in place on the metal floor beside me.
“Wait,” I whispered. “Just wait.”
Bria frowned at me in confusion but did as I asked. Ten … twenty … thirty … I didn’t even get to forty-five seconds before the door rolled back once more and one of the giants stuck his head inside, checking on us and making sure we were exactly where he’d left us. Just like I’d thought he would.
Satisfied that we were going to stay put, he nodded, pulled his head back outside, and slammed the metal door shut. This time, the latch did click into place. I didn’t think they’d actually locked us in, since I didn’t hear an iron bar or anything else bang down on the outside, but they’d shut the door until LaFleur returned and told them to open it. Or until I figured out a way to make them open it.
“How did you know that he would look back inside?” Bria asked in a low voice.
“Because I’ve been dealing with suspicious bastards like that since I was thirteen,” I murmured.
Bria stared at me a moment longer, then started twisting her handcuffs, trying to find some way to break the metal. I thought about telling her not to bother, since the handcuffs were made of silverstone, but decided against it. Better that she was focused on trying to escape than the horrors that waited for us with LaFleur otherwise. Still, part of me was proud of my sister because she was thinking about escape, just like I was, instead of curling into a ball, giving up, and waiting for her death.
I took a few moments to study every part of the railcar, from the floor to the ceiling to the walls to the door that I knew at least one giant was guarding. Not much to see. Bria and I were the only things inside, and the giants hadn’t been stupid enough to leave anything helpful in here, like power tools. I didn’t know how long LaFleur would mess around before she came back and started torturing us, but one thing was for sure — I needed these handcuffs off long before then.
I stared at the metal linking my hands together. They were ordinary handcuffs, except that they were made of silverstone. If I’d been by myself, I might have tried using my Ice magic to flash-freeze the cuffs, then snap them off. But Bria was here trapped with me, and using that much magic was sure to bring LaFleur running. So I’d just have to be a little more circumspect. Small and quiet was always better than big and flashy anyway. Being the Spider had shown me that.
So I drew in a breath and reached for my Ice magic. Once again, I was surprised by how easily it came to me now and how much stronger it seemed, even since my swan dive into the river the other night. My power was growing just as Jo-Jo had said it would. I hoped the dwarf was right about all the other things she’d told me about my magic — namely that I was the strongest elemental she’d ever seen.