Page 32 (1/2)
"All those books in your collection - ruined What a pity I kno ue, and the vae He reared back and threw another blast of Ice ain I ducked out of the way at the last ot?" I asked
Another ball of eleain I taunted Dekes, and again and again he threw hisa few ofwith all the books I could pull off the shelves Of course, Dekes used his stolen Airmy makeshift weapons away before they so ht with his Fire power, but that was just fine with me I didn’t really expect to hit him, and I didn’t really need to anyway
From her spot on the floor, Vanessa looked atthe va exactly what I wanted hih, I ended up back in front of Vanessa This ti to her feet and standing behind me as I turned to face Dekes for the last tione off inside Long, jagged icicles stuck out of the walls, the books, and even the green leather couch in front of the fireplace The terees, and just about every surface had an inch of eleive Dekes credit He could fling , Gin?" the va out of his lips "Did you finally run out of rooaht it does," I muttered
Dekes reared back a final time, and once more, a ball of elemental Ice foric shilee and hunger, before raising his eyes and givingsmile Then he threw both hands forward and shoved the raw, pulsing ball of power at us
Vanessa gasped again Behind h it was already too late for either of us to get out of the path of thetoward us We wouldn’t escape it - not this time Dekes had meant it when he’d said that he didn’t care what kind of shape I was in as long as I was still alive, because he’d put every last bit of power he had into this final blast It wasn’t a kill shot, but it was meant to cripple in the h the library, seeain obbled up between us, just like Vanessa’s elemental Fire had earlier in the hallway At the very last second, I stopped twirling the silverstone staff that I’d been holding on to this whole time and held it out in front of ic hit the end of the staff - and stopped cold
No, stopped wasn’t the right word The staff didn’t really stop the Iceme and Vanessa - the silverstone that it was s, necklaces, watches, and ical metal to hold bits and pieces of their power, but the shapes didn’t matter at all - it was the metal itself that made the difference That’s what I’d realized when I sawup Dekes’s earlier ball of Ice ic - that the staff in er scale
All I had to do in thefield between ic -Ice blasts for the better part of three et Dekes to fritter away ic so that the staff could soak up the rest
Randall Dekes had spent three hundred and soic from elementals To him, there was an endless supply of both, and when he used up one elemental, he simply tossed her aside like trash and found another to take her place But even the strongest eleht, so that I’d learned when I’d killed Mab, sole toI’d justit
In a second, it was over Instead of skewering me and Vanessa with icicles, the silverstone staff soaked up every bit of the Iceic, back in ed
Surprise and confusion filled Dekes’s face before ain, but this time, only a few silver sparks filled his pal orb of power he expected The vamp stared down at his hand like he couldn’t believe he didn’t have any le ti "Didn’t I tell you? This staff is made out of pure silverstone You know about silverstone, don’t you, Dekes? How it stores and absorbs ic? I’m sure you have a piece or two of it in your collections soic that you just threw at us My Ice ic And unless I’m mistaken, you’re all out of juice, Randy And out of ti, but I didn’t give hi but die
"Now, Vanessa!" I screamed
She didn’t hesitate Vanessa stepped out froic that she had left at Dekes The va such a quick counterattack, and there was nothing he could have done to stop it anyway Not noith all his stolen one He raised his hands, but it was already too late Vanessa’s flames slammed into his chest, and this tiainst the fireplace and thu at his clothes and skin
I didn’t give hiet back up
I raced over to the vampire and cracked hi him to roll over onto his back Theon his body, but I didn’t care I was more than happy to finish the job they’d started myself I raised uphis ribs crack under the sharp, heavy blow Dekes groaned, but I didn’t stop I slammed my foot into the stab wound on his calf, then put my boot over his face and crunched down as hard as I could, like he was a bloodsucking tick that I was squishing into the ground In a way, I supposed he was
In another second, I was in as one crazy at the amount of raw elemental power in my blood I could have stood there and kicked and punched and beaten the vae, frustration, and fear, but I forced e and finish the job
Breathing hard, I dropped to one knee beside hirabbed another one of my silverstone knives from a pocket on my vest, and shoved it into his heart as hard as I could
Randall Dekes threw back his head and screamed - and he didn’t stop He drew in a breath, and I clamped my hand down over his mouth As much as I enjoyed the sound of his pain-filled cries, I wanted him to hear my last words to him - the last words he would ever hear The vahtenedNo h your veins, no matter how many elementals you drink from, no matter hoerful you think you are, there’s not a fucking thing you can do about a knife in your heart," I said "Especially when the Spider is the one who put it there"
I used my free hand to twist the blade in deeper