Venom in the Veins_An Elemental Assassin Book

by Jennifer Estep

  So I’d decided to stake out the place, with the help of Mosley’s security system.

  Mosley had turned the system back on last night, and Silvio had downloaded the necessary software to view and record the camera feeds on his laptop, which he’d had in his van since he never went anywhere without his electronics. The two of them, along with Finn, had stayed at the estate last night to set everything up, while Bria and Owen had driven me over to Jo-Jo’s house so she could heal my wounds and make sure I wasn’t suffering any lingering effects from my polar bear swim.

  Once Jo-Jo had given me a clean bill of health, I’d gone home, showered, changed, gathered up some supplies, and come back out to the estate. Owen had helped me pitch a tent and set up my spy camp in the woods, and he’d insisted on staying out here with me, along with Silvio, but the night had passed quietly. Now here we were, at nine o’clock in the morning, waiting to see if Tucker, Mason, or some other Circle members might show up.

  “I knew I should have gotten some of those chemical hand warmers from that box Jo-Jo had in the salon and put them in my boots,” Finn muttered, stomping his feet. “I can’t even feel my toes anymore.”

  I opened my mouth to snipe back at him, but my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out, stared at the name on the screen, and straightened up in my chair. The guys leaned forward, and I turned the phone around so they could see that Bria was calling me. They too snapped to attention.

  Bria and Xavier were sitting in her sedan, which she’d parked in one of the paved lots on the front side of the estate next to the vehicles that Alanna and her men had driven last night. It had been Bria’s idea to hide her car in plain sight with all the others.

  I peeled off my glove and swiped my finger across the screen to answer her. “You got something?”

  “Three cars just parked in the estate driveway,” Bria replied. “I’m looking at them through my binoculars right now. All black SUVs. Xavier’s writing down the license plates so he can run them. Lots of giant bodyguards getting out of the vehicles. I see Tucker too.”

  My fingers tightened around the phone. “Is anyone else with them? A man who looks like he might be the leader?”

  “I can’t tell from this angle. Sorry, Gin.”

  “That’s all right. I can see them for myself on the security cameras when they step inside the mansion. So sit tight. And if anyone spots you, you guys peel out of there.”

  “Got it.”

  I hung up with Bria and looked over at Silvio. “We finally have some action.”

  He nodded and hit some more buttons on his laptop, pulling up the security feeds from inside the mansion again. Finn and Owen pulled their chairs closer to his so they could see the images. I grabbed the binoculars that were hanging around my neck and peered through them at the mansion, but I didn’t see anyone through the windows. So I lowered the binoculars, got up out of my chair, and stood behind Silvio, staring down at his laptop.

  And then we waited.

  One minute ticked by, then two, then three, and no one appeared on any of the security feeds.

  “How long does it take to get out of a car and walk inside?” Finn muttered. “You would think they would hurry up already, as cold as it is.”

  Owen, Silvio, and I all shushed him. Finn grumbled something under his breath and pulled his sleeping bag a little higher up on his chest.

  Another minute ticked by. Then two, then three.

  Finally—finally—a giant stepped inside the mansion, and he wasn’t the only one. A dozen men appeared on the security feeds, their guns out, roaming from room to room with swift, military precision, making sure that the mansion was empty. These men didn’t just glance into the rooms and move on. They did a thorough search, checking behind the desks, peering under the beds, and even moving the curtains from side to side so they could be sure that no one was hiding behind the fabric.

  Owen let out a low whistle. “That’s an awful lot of muscle to bring with you just to search an empty house.”

  The four of us kept watching the security feeds. The giants moved through the mansion for ten more minutes before they were finally satisfied that it was empty. At that point, I thought Tucker and whoever was with him might finally come inside, but the giants weren’t done searching yet.

  One of the men opened a glass door on the back of the mansion, and they all streamed out onto the terrace, checking it like they had checked everything else. I palmed a knife, moved to the edge of the trees, and crouched down, watching them. I didn’t think the giants would search the woods, but I was ready for them if they did.

  Finn and Owen got to their feet and joined me, both holding guns. Silvio stayed seated, still watching the security feeds.

  The giants spread out across the terrace. From there, they split up, with some of the men heading down the steps to the lake, while others scanned the lawn. But none of the men approached the trees where we were hidden, probably because no one in their right mind would be out in the woods on such a cold winter’s day. Then again, I was very rarely in my right mind, according to Finn.

  “Hey!” one of the giants called out. “I see a body in the lake!”

  They all rushed down the steps to the water. The giants knew better than to step out onto the Ice, and a couple of them split off from the main group and disappeared. They returned several minutes later, carrying a large canoe.

  “Where did they get that from?” Owen asked.

  “There’s a boat shed on the east side of the estate,” Silvio whispered back. “I can see it on the security feeds.”

  We kept watching them. A couple of the giants cracked through the Ice at the shoreline so they could put the canoe in the water and paddle out to where the body was. I peered at them through my binoculars. One of them reached down and grabbed something…red.

  It took me a moment to realize that it was Alanna’s red hunting jacket. Of course, her body would be the one they would find.

  I didn’t know how she was still floating in the water after so long, but the giant fished out her body and dumped it in the bottom of the canoe. Then the two giants paddled back to shore, hauled Alanna’s body up to the terrace, and set her down on the stone about a hundred feet away from where we were still hiding in the woods.

  “Gin,” Silvio whispered. “Tucker has finally stepped inside the mansion—and he’s not alone.”

  I got up and crept over to him so that I could see the security feeds on his laptop. Tucker strode through the mansion, moving from room to room, along with another man. My heart started pounding. Could this be the mysterious Mason?

  I bent forward, peering at the various feeds, trying to get a good look at his face, but the cameras looked down from their high vantage points, so all I could really tell about the mystery man was that he had dark hair.

  Tucker led the other man into the library, where the tub and the rest of the mess was still sitting, except for Alanna’s glove, which I’d taken back to my house for safekeeping. Tucker gestured at various things, as though he was explaining everything that had happened last night. There was no sound, so I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but I guessed that he was leaving out the part about him saving me from death by hypothermia. He wouldn’t want his Circle buddy to realize that he’d gone soft by not letting me die.

  The other man crossed his arms over his chest, and his head swiveled from side to side as he took in the destruction in the library.

  “Come on,” I whispered. “Forget about the library. Come outside. You know you want to. Come outside where I can see your face.”

  And for once—for once in my life—I actually got lucky.

  The two men left the library and headed in this direction. I crept back over to the edge of the woods. A minute later, Tucker opened one of the doors and stepped outside, followed by the mystery man. The two of them strode out into the middle of the terrace and stopped, looking over at the giants who were still clustered around Alanna’s body.

  My heart pounded in
my chest like a jackhammer. Hands shaking, I grabbed the binoculars from around my neck, raised them up to my eyes, and peered through them at the mystery man, getting my first good look at him.

  And finally—finally—putting a face to the mysterious Mason.

  He was a tall, handsome man with dark brown hair and light eyes. Even now, in the dead of winter, his skin had a tan, sun-kissed look, as though he spent a lot of time outdoors. I would put him somewhere in his mid-fifties, and he had the kind of high cheekbones, straight nose, and strong jaw that would let him continue to age well. A long black overcoat was draped over his broad shoulders, hiding most of his black suit underneath, and his black wing tips were polished to a high gloss.

  I didn’t know exactly what I had been expecting, but it wasn’t this anonymous person. Despite the expensive clothes, he could have been any businessman in Ashland, and I wouldn’t have given him a second look if I’d passed him on the street outside the Pork Pit.

  This was Mason? This was the evil mastermind behind the Circle and my mother’s murder? Really? This was him?

  Disgust and more than a little disappointment filled me—until I realized that I could feel his magic.

  Even though I was a hundred feet away from him, I could still tell that he was an elemental—a very, very powerful one. Even though he wasn’t actively using his power, magic continuously rippled off him in cold, hard waves, like he was a pebble that had been thrown into the center of a pond, disturbing all the water around him. He shifted on his feet, and another blast of his power hit me.

  No, not a pebble, more like a cement block.

  I’d never felt so much raw magic before, not even when I’d battled Mab. This man…he was even stronger than she had been.

  No wonder she’d been afraid of him. It felt like he had enough power to crush anyone who dared to stand against him with a mere wave of his hand.

  Including me.

  But the worst part was that his magic felt as familiar as my own power did. Unless I missed my guess, he was a Stone elemental, although I couldn’t tell if he might be gifted in another area, like Ice or metal. Didn’t much matter, given how much magic he already had. I shivered and had to fight the urge to wrap my arms around myself and turn away from him.

  Finn holstered his gun and picked up a video camera from our supplies. He zoomed in with the lens and started filming the man, along with Tucker. Meanwhile, Silvio got up from his chair, grabbed a directional microphone, and crept up to the tree line with the rest of us.

  “Do you think that’s Mason?” Owen whispered.

  “It has to be,” I whispered back.

  I kept staring at Mason through my binoculars. Dark brown hair, light eyes, handsome features, expensive clothes, tons of magic. Nothing about him had changed, but the longer I looked at him, the more familiar he seemed, like I had seen him somewhere before, sometime very recently.

  I thought back to the charity auction two nights ago. Had he been at the estate for that? Hiding in plain sight with the other rich folks? Had I seen him across the terrace or sitting with everyone else in the ballroom, waiting to bid on the items?

  No, I didn’t think so. Mason was all about maintaining his anonymity, right down to his understated suit. He wouldn’t have risked coming to an event that he knew I was likely to be attending, in case I somehow recognized him. That was why he had sent Tucker to the auction instead of attending himself.

  Still, something about him bothered me, even more than his incredibly powerful magic, and for the third time in as many days, a strong sense of déjà vu swept over me. This should have been my moment of triumph, finally putting a face to the name that had haunted me for weeks now, but instead, I felt sick to my stomach.

  “Is it just me, or does this guy look vaguely familiar?” Silvio whispered.

  “It’s not just you,” I whispered back. “I know him from somewhere. I know I do.”

  Owen gave me a sympathetic look and squeezed my shoulder. “You’ll figure it out, Gin.”

  I forced myself to smile and nod back at him. He was right. I would figure it out. But I also had the sinking feeling that it was only going to cause me more pain in the end.

  Owen and I focused on the two men again, while Finn stopped his video recording long enough to snap off a few photos of them. He gave me a thumbs-up, telling me that he had a good, clear shot of Mason’s face. Silvio turned on his directional microphone and pointed it at them, and we finally got some sound to go along with the view.

  Mason and Tucker strode forward, their wing tips tapping against the terrace like low, steady drumbeats. The giants nodded their heads respectfully and stepped back so that the two men could examine Alanna’s body.

  “Well, you were right. Alanna wasn’t up to the task after all. Disappointing but not surprising.” Mason’s voice was a rich, deep baritone with just a hint of a Southern drawl, the kind of smooth, seductive voice that you could listen to for hours on end, even if all he was doing was reading the phone book. And just like his face, the sound of it made more cold dread pool in the bottom of my stomach.

  Because I’d heard his voice before.

  I didn’t know from when or where, but I knew Mason’s voice, just like I knew his face. My heart clenched with worry, but I forced the emotion aside. All I could do right now was watch and pick up as many clues as possible.

  I thought that Tucker might pipe up and snidely say I told you so, but he didn’t respond to the obvious opening. The vampire’s face remained a blank, remote mask, but I could have sworn I saw a glimmer of satisfaction in his black eyes. Like he’d told me last night, he might not enjoy working for the Circle, but no one was going to take his place in it. Even I had to admire his twisted determination to hold on to his position and what little power and prestige he had within the group.

  “Well, at least we recovered the books,” Tucker said. “And finally determined that Mab was bluffing all along about having them.”

  Mason tilted his head to the side, studying the other man. “And you’re sure that those were the only ledgers in Mab’s possession?”

  Ledgers? He made it sound like there were more than just the two empty ones that had belonged to Mab. How many books of Circle secrets were floating around Ashland? And how could I get my hands on one of them?

  Tucker nodded. “I’m sure. Alanna gave me a list of the auction items, and I double-checked it myself. I also visually confirmed it by studying all the items during the auction itself.”

  So that was why he’d really come to the event, to make sure that Alanna was telling him the truth about there being two blue books.

  Mason kept studying him, and Tucker stared right back. Neither man showed a flicker of emotion, but I could see and feel the tension between them. All around them, the giants carefully, quietly backed up a few more steps. Couldn’t blame them for that.

  “I wouldn’t want to be in the middle of that macho sandwich,” Finn muttered.

  “You’re not the only one,” Owen whispered back.

  Finally, Mason tipped his head at Tucker, almost as if to say Good job. The vampire nodded back at him, and the tension between them lessened. More than one of the giants exhaled in relief.

  “What do you want to do about Alanna?” Tucker asked.

  Mason gave a dismissive wave of his hand. The motion caused a silver signet ring to glint on his hand, although I couldn’t make out what rune or initial might be engraved on it. “Throw her back into the lake, then call in an anonymous tip to the police. Let them come, investigate, and draw whatever conclusions they want about what happened. Most likely, they’ll declare it an accidental drowning.”

  “There was nothing accidental about it,” Tucker said. “There never is when Gin Blanco is involved.”

  Mason shrugged. “Either way, we didn’t kill her, and there’s nothing here that connects us to her.”

  Tucker nodded. “And what about Stuart Mosley? It was Alanna’s idea to kidnap him to get the books in the first
place. Do you want me to have him taken care of once and for all?”

  Finn sucked in a worried breath. Yeah, me too. I’d thought that Mosley would be safe now that Alanna was dead.

  Mason crossed his arms over his chest and tapped his right index finger against his left elbow, casually weighing the dwarf’s fate. “No. Leave him be—for now. The only reason the ledgers were exposed in the first place was Alanna’s foolish kidnapping ploy. If she had just left Mosley alone, no one would have been any the wiser about the ledgers, and you could have quietly bought them at the auction like you wanted to all along.”

  Tucker nodded again, and Finn and I both let out the collective breath we’d been holding.

  “And what about Gin Blanco?” Tucker swept his hand out toward the water. “She could be out there in the lake too. Do you want the men to start searching for her?”

  I frowned. Tucker knew good and well that I wasn’t floating in the lake, since he was the one who’d saved me. But he didn’t want Mason to realize that he’d been here last night, much less that he’d rescued me. Once again, he was playing both sides against the middle. A very dangerous game, especially with me on one side and Mason on the other. Then again, I had the feeling that Tucker wasn’t on any side other than his own.

  Mason stared out over the lake, his gaze even colder than the water. “It would be better if she were down in that lake, along with the rest of Alanna’s men, but Blanco has an uncanny habit of surviving such things.” He shrugged. “Besides, she doesn’t have any of the ledgers. She doesn’t have anything now.”

  My hands curled around my binoculars tightly enough to make the plastic creak in protest. I didn’t need anything else now that I’d seen his face. I’d get his real name soon enough, and then I’d start plotting the best way to kill him.

  Mason looked at Tucker again. “If Blanco is still alive, then I want you to keep tabs on her like you’ve been doing all along. I want to know exactly how much she knows about us and what her next move might be.”

  Tucker tipped his head, acknowledging the order. “Of course.”