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I couldn’t help but grih The last time that I’d been this close to the Fire eleht that I’d killed Jake McAllister I’d been disguised as a blond, busty hooker, one of Roslyn’s girls froone so far as to proposition Mab in order to distract her fro Jake’s body in her bathtub The Fire eleret, but my ruse had helped me escape

I wondered which one of us would ht

I kept my face calm, serene, blank, as Mab stared atabout me bothered her, and I wondered if thefor was here If Mab had finally recognized me as the Spider

Like everyone else in Ashland, Mab knew me as Gin Blanco In fact, the Fire eleht that Jonah McAllister had ordered Elliot Slater to beat e to try to find out what I knew about Jake’s death Mab knew exactly who I was and what I looked like as Gin-especially when I was covered with ain, and twoat me, the Fire ele them the same sharp perusal

I dried my hands, left the bathrooo back to the ballrooht have to kill Mab The Fire eleht

So Ithe roo for a spot for a potential a soht quarters, the odds were in her favor-she could easily fry her attacker with her Fire ic before she had time to retreat or mount any kind of defense It was exactly what I would have done if I’d been in Mab’s position

But maybe luck would finally suard and be careless enough to let me take her by surprise on her way back to the ballroom

More than a few folksfroain, or outside for a quick smoke or an even quicker fuck They were all wrapped up in their own little dramas, so no one saw me slip into a roohts burned in the cha area, but I could stillshapes of the thick, heavy furniture I stayed in the shadows by the door and palmed two of my silverstone knives Then I waited

More people ca, drinking, gossiping Nor a hit in a place like this, one that was so open, so exposed, and with soMab was the only way to get the bounty off Bria’s head, and I’d be daet her hands onoff the seconds injust as patient as I was, because I stood in the shadows five minutes before the bathroom door down the hall opened, and Mab stepped outside The Fire ele the scene around her Her ly slash in her face Whatever she’d expected to happen in the bathroom, the fact that I hadn’t taken the bait infuriated her My hands tightened around

Mab rapped on the next door down the hallway, and two giants slid outside Ah, so that’s where she’d stashed her backup, in the next rooot away froer made her normally delicate voice rasp aliants both shook their heads

"Nothing, ma’auest list There’s no one on the grounds asn’t invited and identified when they ca like that at all None of the regular staff even called in sick If the Spider’s here, we can’t find her"

The Fire elelared at her two ain The bitch has to be here She wouldn’t pass up a chance like this"

The giants nodded and scurried away to go do theirspot and o back toward the ballroo soined it wasn’t very coh A few people started to wander down the hall toward the bathroo the way that they’d just come Good I didn’t need an audience for this

I stood there and waited, just waited for her to coh that I could leap out of the shadows and bury my knife in her back with one swift, fatal blow

Finally, the Fire ele She turned on her heel and stalked down the hall toward htened around my silverstone knives that much more Thirty feet Twenty ten five Mab walked past lance at the partially closed door

I drew in a breath, slipped out of the rooth for as to co how to be quick, quiet, and invisible, so Mab never heard the door open, and she never sensedquicker than I’d anticipated, but five e Five more steps, and I could finally kill her

Four three two one I raised one of my silverstone knives, ready to strike-

And that’s when Jonah McAllister rounded the corner and entered the hallway in front of us He spottedwith the knives in my hands

"Behind you!" McAllister yelled

Fuck Just-fuck