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But Sophia was quicker The dwarf punched him once in the stomach Lance went down like an anvil had been dropped on him He cruo

I turned my attention back to Jake, who’d rolled over onto his side Blood dripped down the side of his head where he’d cut hiiant sawover hi knife Idiot He didn’t even co pass with the blade, I crouched down and grabbed his wrist, bending it back so he couldn’t move it I eyed the weapon in his locked hand

"Fuck," I said "Get a real knife You couldn’t even peel potatoes with that thing"

Then I plucked the blade froers and snapped his thick wrist

Jake howled in pain, but the noise didn’t bother me

Hadn’t in years I shoved him down onto his back, then straddled hi in and putting pressure on his ribs Giants, even half giants like Jake, hated it when they had trouble breathing Most people did

I adjusted and tightened rip on the knife, ready to drive it into his heart A fli would, if you had enough strength and determination to put behind it I had plenty of both

A showls

My gray eyes flicked up The girl huddled underneath a table a few feet away, her knees pulled up to her chest, her eyes as big as quarters in her face, tears sliding down her flushed cheeks

A position I’d been in, once upon a tiirl and her tears wouldn’t have bothered me I would have killed Jake and his friend, washed the blood off et rid of the bodies before I closed up the Pork Pit for the night

That’s what assassins did

And I was the Spider, one of the very best

But I’d had an epiphany of sorts two o when my mentor had been brutally tortured and murdered inside the Pork Pit - in the very spot Jake and I were in right now The old man, Fletcher Lane, had wanted me to retire, to take a different path in life, to live in the daylight a little, as he was so fond of saying I’d followed Fletcher’s advice and quit the assassin business after I’d killed Alexis James, the Air elerunted I looked over my shoulder at the dwarf, who still had hold of the other wo to pry the dwarf ’s stubby fingers off her waist Good luck with that Sophia had a grip like death Once she had you, she didn’t let go - ever My gray eyes locked with Sophia’s black ones Regret flashed in her dark gaze, and she shook her head just the tiniest bit No, she was saying Not in front of titnesses

Sophia was right Witnesses were bad I couldn’t gut Jake with the two girls watching and get rid of the body afterward Not inbehind And I wasn’t going to do that Not for a piece of trash like the Fire elemental But that didn’twith

I waited until there was a lull in Jake’s howls, then tipped his head up with the knife point and gazed into his eyes They’d lost all hint of their red, fiery lossy with panic, fear, pain

"You ever coain, and I’ll carve you up like a Thanksgiving turkey"

I slashed doith the knife, breaking the skin on his beefy neck Jake yelped at the sting and clawed at the slight wound with his sausage-thick fingers I slapped his hand away and nicked hiain The s else that hadn’t botheredto cut you again Deeper and deeper Nod your head if you understand"

Hatred flared in his gaze, taking the edge off the pain and panic, but he nodded

"Good"

I clipped his temple with the knife hilt Jake’s head snapped to one side and fell onto the floor Unconscious

Just like his friend Lance

I stood up, wiped erprints off the knife, and dropped the weapon on the floor The half giant didn’t stir Then I got to irl, still crouched underneath the table

She shrank back against the legs of a chair at my approach, like she wanted to melt into the metal Her pulse fluttered like a mad butterfly in her te, Southern smile on my face and crouched down until I was eye-level with her

"Co outto hurt you now"

Her chocolate eyes darted to Jake lying on the floor

Her gaze flicked back to ainst her toffee skin

"I’ to hurt you either," I said in a soft voice "Come on, now I’m sure your friend wants to see how you are"

"Cassidy!" the other woo "Are you all right?"

Her friend’s voice penetrated Cassidy’s fearful daze

She sighed and nodded her head The girl reached out, and I grabbed her treile icicles against the thick scar eirl to her feet She eyed me with understandable caution, so I keptto startle her

"I’m fine, Eva," Cassidy said in a low voice "Just a little shook up is all"

Sophia let go of the other woht her friend in a tight hug

Cassidy wrapped her arms around the other women, and the two of them rocked back and forth in the middle of the restaurant

I walked over to Sophia, atching the tomen with a flat expression on her pale face

"Friendship Ain’t it a beautiful thing?" I quipped

"Hain

But the corners of the Goth dwarf ’s lips turned up into a tiny ser before Eva pulled a cell phone out of her jeans

"You call the cops," Eva told her friend "I need to let Owen know I’m okay You kno he is He’ll freak when he finds out about this"

Cassidy nodded her head in syreement and pulled her own phone out of her jeans The toIf you wanted the cops, you called them yourself You certainly didn’t depend on the kindness of strangers to do it Not in Ashland

I frowned Cops Just what I needed So an eyeful of me, the former assassin, a Goth dho liked to dispose of dead bodies in her spare tiuys we’d so easily dispatched