Black Widow

by Jennifer Estep

  He nodded and held me close until it was time to leave.

  * * *

  We grabbed our gear, piled into our various vehicles, and drove over to the Monroe estate.

  But we didn’t stop and try to ram our vehicles through the closed gate that fronted the mansion. I didn’t want to announce our presence until the last possible second, so we cruised on by, although Sophia slowed her convertible down long enough for me to peer in through the gate and take note of the dozens of limos and expensive town cars that were parked in the long driveway that led up to the house. It looked like the party was just getting started. Good.

  Sophia drove to the next house over. The gates here opened as the dwarf steered her convertible up to them. Behind us, the others followed in their own cars. We drove up to the mansion, then parked in the driveway in front of the house. The door opened, and Charlotte Vaughn stepped outside.

  While the others pulled their gear out of the cars, I strolled over to her. Charlotte eyed my friends for several seconds before turning to me.

  “You can imagine how surprised I was to get your call,” she said. “Considering that I just went to your funeral yesterday.”

  I’d seen Charlotte there, and she’d been one of the few folks who seemed genuinely sad that I was gone. Although whatever kindness or affection she felt for me would always be mixed with anger at how I’d killed her father, and rightfully so.

  I grinned. “I do like to do the unexpected. What can I say? Coming back from the dead is a specialty of mine.”

  “What are you planning, Gin?” she asked, suspicion flaring in her brown eyes. “I heard about the party that Madeline Monroe is throwing tonight.”

  I shrugged. “I’m going to do what I do best.”

  “And why do you and your friends need access to my estate to do it?”

  “Because I don’t want Madeline to realize what’s happening until it’s too late.”

  Charlotte arched a black eyebrow. “I see. Did you know that I had a visit from Madeline a few days ago? It was right after the fire at the Pork Pit. She wanted to talk about me giving her an interest in Vaughn Construction, the one that Mab used to own.”

  “Silvio, my assistant, might have mentioned that to me. It shouldn’t be a problem, after tonight.”

  After a moment, Charlotte grinned back at me. “Still looking out for me, Gin?”

  “It’s another one of those things that I do best.”

  Charlotte let out a soft laugh. She waved her hand at everyone, then disappeared back into her mansion.

  The others were waiting on me, so I grabbed the bag of gear that Owen passed me, and we all headed for the woods on the far side of the estate. We reached the tree line. I took the lead, while the others fell in step behind me.

  “Are we there yet?” Finn groused after we’d been walking for all of three minutes.

  I rolled my eyes, even though he couldn’t see me, and we trudged on.

  It took us about forty-five minutes to reach my makeshift tree house. I climbed up into the top, drew a pair of night-vision goggles out of my bag, and focused them on the back of the estate.

  The iron lamps that lined the pool and the patio were all lit, casting a soft golden glow over the shimmering surface of the water and the gray stone that surrounded it. The area was quiet, with only three bored-looking guards making their circuits around the lawn. Exactly what I’d expected and hoped for. Now that I was dead, Madeline wasn’t worried about anyone’s slipping onto the estate or trying to assassinate her from the trees. Why have your guards stationed outside when the folks gathered inside the mansion were the real danger here tonight?

  I climbed down from my perch and rejoined the others. “Looks like it’s smooth sailing, at least until we get to the lawn. Everybody ready?”

  Everyone checked their guns a final time, while I palmed one of my knives.

  “Let’s do this.”

  * * *

  We crept through the woods, still on the lookout for any rune traps, trip-wires, or land mines that Madeline and Emery might have planted. But the area was clean, and we reached the edge of the lawn with no problems.

  Now it was time to contact Phillip, Roslyn, and Silvio, who were already here.

  Madeline had actually invited the three of them to her party. Phillip was a major power player, given the gambling operations on his Delta Queen riverboat, and Roslyn had various dealings with the underworld figures, thanks to all the not-so-legal activities that went on at Northern Aggression. But Silvio’s receiving an invite had surprised everyone. Then again, he’d been Beauregard Benson’s right-hand man for years. Perhaps Madeline would be in the market for a new assistant, after she finally got rid of Jonah. Or maybe she just wanted to rub Silvio’s nose in the fact that I was dead. Either way, he’d merited an invitation as well. So the three of them strolled right in through the front doors with all the other guests, giving me some eyes and ears on the inside.

  I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and texted my friends. We’re here.

  My phone vibrated a second later with a message from Silvio. Party proceeding as scheduled. Guards sticking to the expected rotations. Go.

  I grinned and sent him back one more message. Knock, knock.

  “Finn,” I whispered, sliding the phone back into my pocket. “You’re up.”

  “With pleasure,” he murmured.

  Finn drew his sniper rifle and scope out of his duffel bag, attached a silencer to the end of the barrel, and raised the weapon to his shoulder. Then he waited.

  Pfft. Pfft. Pfft.

  He dropped the three giants patrolling the lawn in quick succession, putting bullets through their skulls with precise, practiced ease. The giants grunted as they went down, but those were the only sounds that broke the hush of the night. In the distance, classical music trilled through the air, but it was soft and muted, almost like the echoes of a dream rather than something that was actually taking place.

  I held up my fist, telling my friends to hold their positions. I waited one minute, then two, then three, the others shifting uneasily behind me all the while, but no one came to check on the dead guards. The rest of the giants were too concerned with what was going on inside the mansion to worry about what might be coming at them from the outside. Perfect.

  So we left the trees behind, darted across the lawn, and headed up to the stone patio. We hunkered down behind the furniture, weapons up, still looking and listening, but everything was quiet, and no one was up to no good here but us.

  Finn, Xavier, and I split off from the others, darted forward, and rounded the corner of the house. Two more giants stood at the bottom of some steps, and Finn shot both of them before they even realized what was happening. We moved to their position, and I kept watch while Xavier dragged the bodies over behind some bushes that ran along this part of the mansion. The three of us repeated the process over and over, until we had killed the dozen giants who served as the perimeter guards, done a full circuit around the entire mansion, and were back at the patio where we’d started.

  I nodded at Bria, who nodded back. She reached into a pocket on the front of her black coveralls and drew out a small glass cutter. Bria eased over to one of the patio doors, crouched down, and cut a hole in the glass big enough for her to slide her hand through. A second after that, the door was unlocked.

  She looked at me, and I nodded again. Bria tensed, then cracked the door open. We all waited, holding our proverbial breaths, but no alarms sounded. According to what Silvio had uncovered, the security system had been shut off during the remodeling to keep the alarms from blaring every time a worker opened or closed a door or window. Since the construction had just ended, and folks would be moving through the mansion tonight during the party, I’d been willing to bet that no one had gotten around to turning the system back on. And who would be stupid enough to try to rob Madeline now when she was about to seize control of the underworld? Even if someone did have such a foolish notion, Madeline proba
bly thought that Emery and her giant guards were enough to keep any intruders out.

  Well, they were enough to keep most folks out—just not me and my friends.

  Bria opened the door wide enough for us to slip inside single file. Once we were all in, she shut the door and drew the white lace curtain to hide the hole in the glass.

  “Now what?” she whispered.

  “Now we take out all the interior guards,” I whispered back. “Just like we planned. Let’s move.”

  According to the information that Silvio had gathered, more guards were roaming through the hallways on the ground floor. Of course they were. Madeline didn’t think that anyone could get past them and get inside the house, much less sneak up to the upper levels. Even if they did, they’d eventually have to deal with the acid elemental herself. And like her mother before her, Madeline was supremely confident in her skills, magic, and reputation to keep people away.

  But I was crazier than most folks were—or maybe I just had more of a death wish.

  We moved through the first floor of the mansion, hugging the walls, keeping to the shadows, and staying quiet, although the music and laughter grew louder and louder the deeper in we went. We rounded a corner and came across a giant guard who was leaning against the wall, sipping a glass of champagne he’d swiped from somewhere. He glanced in our direction, then his head snapped back as he did a double take.

  Pfft.

  Finn put a bullet through his skull just like he had all the others. While the rest of us kept watch, Xavier grabbed the giant’s body, picked it up, and stuffed it into a nearby closet. Meanwhile, Sophia dropped to her knees, reached out with her hand, and used her Air elemental magic to quickly disintegrate the blood and other nasty things that had spewed out of the giant’s head wound. In less than a minute, the body was disposed of, and the scene was clean again.

  Quick, quiet, effective—just like I’d planned.

  We repeated the process, taking out a dozen more guards. The rest of the giants would be serving as waiters in the grand ballroom, where the party was taking place.

  When I was certain that we’d eliminated as many of the guards as we could, we all snuck into a large bathroom. Gun in hand, Owen stood by the exit, peering out through the cracked door, while Jo-Jo unzipped the duffel bags we’d brought along for this particular purpose.

  I sent another text to Phillip, Roslyn, and Silvio: Guards down. Changing now.

  Another text back from Silvio: Everything on schedule here. Go.

  I gave everyone a thumbs-up, then we all stripped.

  Zippers were lowered, shoes were toed off, and socks were peeled away as we all quickly shucked our heavy boots and thick coveralls, revealing the elegant evening wear underneath. Owen, Finn, and Xavier all wore classic tuxedos, while Jo-Jo, Bria, and Sophia were dressed in sparkling tops with flowing silk pants. I wore a sleek black satin pantsuit, not unlike the white ones that Madeline always favored, and I also pulled on a pair of black satin gloves that crawled up to my elbows.

  We all switched shoes, exchanging our boots for wing tips and heels. We also all donned the items that Roslyn had supplied us with—wigs and glasses. Things that would alter our appearance just enough to keep anyone from immediately recognizing us. I needed to check on one more thing before proceeding with the final part of my plan, and I still wanted to give us all a chance to slip out of the mansion to safety, if things didn’t go the way I expected them to.

  Finn peered through the silver glasses on his face, looked in the mirror, and fluffed up his wig. “I always thought I’d look good as a blond.”

  I rolled my eyes and pulled on my own dark red wig, along with a pair of black glasses.

  While Jo-Jo fluttered about, fixing my and Bria’s makeup and making sure that everyone’s wig was on right, the guys stuffed everyone’s coveralls and boots into the duffel bags, then stowed the bags in the bottom of the sunken tub that took up one side of the room.

  Five minutes later, we were all ready to move on to the next phase of my plan.

  I looked from one face to another. “You all know what to do and where to be. So let’s go end this once and for all.”

  Finn held up his hand, and I slapped him a high five, as though we were football players about to storm the field for a big game, instead of trying to take down one of the most dangerous elementals that had ever haunted Ashland. Finn high-fived the others in turn, lightening the tension that had fallen over us.

  One by one, my friends slipped out of the bathroom to take their positions among the party crowd. I was betting that everyone would be so focused on Madeline and whatever speechifying she might do that they wouldn’t notice Finn, Owen, and the others, or even me—until it was too late.

  Finally, only Bria was left in the bathroom. After me, she was the most visible and well-known among us, and her risk was almost as great as mine, as a cop strolling into a ballroom full of criminals. Her curly black wig and black glasses wouldn’t fool people forever, no more than my disguise would. But Bria was more than happy to face the danger with me, and my heart swelled with love for her.

  “Well,” she said, “this is it. Are you sure you want to do this, Gin? There’s no going back, after tonight.”

  I nodded. “I’m sure. I think we both know that things have been building toward this for a long time now. Besides, Madeline tried to fuck us all over every which way she could. I want to return the favor tonight—in spades.”

  Bria grinned. “Well, then,” she drawled, “far be it for me to keep you from your grand entrance.”

  I grinned back. “What can I say? Finn has taught me well.”

  She laughed and slipped out of the room. I gave her three minutes to get into position, then left the bathroom behind myself.

  As I moved through the halls, I couldn’t help but think of the last time I’d been inside the mansion—the night I’d killed Jake McAllister, Jonah’s son. I hadn’t said anything to the others, but I’d dumped his body into the sunken tub in the same bathroom that we’d all just changed in. Oh, the irony.

  The corridors were quiet, making the trill of music and murmur of conversation coming from the ballroom seem all the louder. All around me, the stone of the mansion whispered of money and power, things that Madeline had in abundance, just like Mab before her. But even more prominent were the sharp, almost gleeful cackles of death, doom, and destruction, all the things that Madeline delighted in causing, even more so than her mother before her.

  Even though we’d taken care of most of the guards, I still kept an eye out, in case one was roaming around that we’d missed. But I made it to one of the corridors that led into the ballroom without any problems.

  Still hidden in the shadows, I paused, thinking about what lay ahead of me. Not only a confrontation with Madeline, but the things that would happen afterward, should I survive the acid elemental’s magic and wrath.

  Maybe my words to Bria were truer than I’d realized. Maybe this day had been coming ever since I’d killed Mab back in the winter. Maybe it had even started all those years ago the night she’d murdered my mom and Annabella. Maybe it had been inevitable, even back then, from the very beginning.

  Either way, here I was, and now it was time to take the final step, in more ways than one. So I raised my chin, squared my shoulders, and marched into the ballroom—to either my doom or my destiny.

  24

  In some ways, the grand ballroom was exactly the same as the last time I’d been here. Since it served as the junction for the three wings of the mansion, the ballroom covered an enormous space and featured a wide staircase that led to the upper floors. An orchestra played off to one side, next to a series of French doors that led out to a terrace, while people danced, drank, and drifted from one clique to another on the marble floor.

  But in other ways, things were completely different. Back when Mab was still alive, shades of red had dominated the ballroom, with rubies and garnets burning in the chandeliers overhead and a scarlet carpet
stretching up the staircase. But now everything was a cool white or an even colder crystal, from the white marble floor to the diamond-crusted chandeliers to the ivory carpet that covered the stairs. White orchids perched in cut-crystal vases, while others twined up through the columns in the staircase, along with white lights. It all made for a beautiful, elegant display.

  The only real splashes of color in the ballroom were the people who’d answered Madeline’s summons. The crowd was exactly what I expected it to be. Men and women dressed in their absolute best, the impressive jewels adorning their fingers, wrists, and throats glittering even more than their sequin-studded clothes did. The remainder of Madeline’s giant guards circulated through the ballroom, all dressed as waiters and handing out flutes of champagne, along with various bite-size delicacies arranged on silver platters.

  The guests all talked and laughed and smiled at each other, but the soft lights couldn’t quite smooth out the worry lines in their faces, and the orchestra music couldn’t quite drown out the false notes in their forced chuckles. A thick blanket of tension hung in the air, one that all the champagne in the world couldn’t dissipate. They’d been summoned here at the queen’s request, and they were all anxious to hear what she had to say—and to see if they were going to keep their heads attached to their necks.

  I stood in the shadowy corridor, scanning the crowd for my friends, and making sure that everyone was in position before I stepped out into the ballroom. They’d all slipped inside with no problems. Even I might have overlooked them if I hadn’t seen their disguises earlier.

  Xavier was off to one side of the elemental Ice bar, talking to Silvio. Owen was in the next corner over, along with Phillip, in front of the terrace doors. Bria and Jo-Jo were across the ballroom from them, with the dwarf pretending to sip a glass of champagne, while Bria clutched in her hand her purse and the gun hidden inside. Sophia was lurking in one of the hallways that ran underneath the staircase, steps away from the dance floor. And Finn and Roslyn were among the folks standing next to the railing on the second floor, where they had a view of the entire ballroom, and Finn could pull out his own gun and take care of any problems that might arise when I made my presence known.