“Sure,” I said. “I had plans to meet Owen there after . . . this.”
“Then allow me to be your chariot,” Finn said. “And chauffeur service.”
He threw the car into gear and zoomed away from the curb.
I took one last look through the gate toward the Vaughn estate, my gaze settling on the lights that burned in the library. Despite everything, Charlotte had survived—and so had I.
Because that’s what the Spider did.
Turn the page for a sneak peek at the next book in the Elemental Assassin series
POISON PROMISE
by Jennifer Estep
Coming soon from Pocket Books
Even from across the parking lot, I could see the two vampires creep a little closer to Catalina, smiling wide and showing off their fangs. Troy’s meaning was clear—get with the pill-pushing program or get drained.
Catalina lifted her chin and glared at Troy. She wasn’t backing down, no matter what. I admired her for it, really, I did, but it was also stupid of her. She just should have accepted the pills and flushed them later. Oh, I knew Catalina since she worked as a waitress at the Pork Pit, and she seemed like a good kid. She didn’t want to get sucked in with Troy and his thugs, but it was too late for that. This was about to get very ugly for someone.
Good thing that ugly was what I specialized in.
I could hear Owen talking through my cell phone. “Gin?”
Realizing that he had asked me a question, probably more than once, I focused on the sound of his voice again. “Sorry, babe. I’ve gotta go.”
“Is something wrong?”
“Nah. I just see a bit of trash that needs picking up. I’ll be there soon.”
Owen and I hung up, and I slid my phone into my jeans pocket before opening the car door and throwing my bag into the passenger’s seat. Then I slammed the door shut.
The sharp crack reverberated through the parking lot, and the three guys turned to stare at me. Catalina tried to edge away, but the two vamps spotted her furtive movements and flanked her, keeping her pinned against the fence. I pushed away from my car, stuck my hands into my jeans pockets, and ambled in their direction.
Of course, Catalina recognized me, her boss, at once. She let out a small gasp, her face paled, and she started shaking her head no-no-no, although I couldn’t tell if she was trying to warn me off or was worried about what I was going to do to the three guys hassling her.
But Troy didn’t see her reaction. Instead, his gaze slid past me to my car. When he realized I was driving an Aston Martin, a greedy smirk slashed across his face.
“Hey, hey, foxy lady,” he called out. “You lookin’ for some action? You lookin’ to score a little sumthin’ sumthin’?”
I smiled back at him, baring almost as many teeth as the two vampires behind him. “Sumthin’ like that, sugar.”
Behind Troy, Catalina kept shaking her head no-no-no. She opened her lips, but one of the vamps rattled the fence behind her, a clear sign for her to keep her mouth shut. But there was no need for her to waste any more of her breath on these fools, especially not to try to tell them who they were messing with now. Besides, Troy wouldn’t have heeded a warning anyway. He was completely focused on me, a potential customer, and I could almost see the dollar signs churning in his head as he calculated how much he could take me for.
His smirk widened. “Well, you are in the right spot, baby. Because I have got just the thing for you.”
He held out one of the bags he’d been shoving at Catalina, and I took it from him. A single pill lay inside the plastic, its deep, dark red color making it look like a drop of congealed blood. I flipped the bag over and realized that a rune had been etched into the surface of the drug, but I didn’t take the time to squint and make out the details of the symbol.
Still, despite its bloody color and rune, the pill looked more like a kids’ vitamin than a dangerous drug, but I knew all too well how deceiving looks could be. Most people didn’t think that I seemed anything like a dangerous assassin—until my knife was cutting into their guts.
“What’s this?” I asked.
Troy smirked even more. “It’s the latest, greatest thing on the market, baby. It will rock your world. Nah, scratch that—it’ll burn it down.”
The two vamps snickered at his cheesy lines. Catalina rolled her eyes. Yeah, that’s what I wanted to do too, but I decided to let things play out.
I tucked the plastic bag with its pill into my jeans pocket. Not because I had any intention of taking the pill, but because my sister Bria would no doubt be interested in it. Detective Bria Coolidge, one of Ashland’s few good cops, actually cared about things like trying to keep drugs off the streets. I tried to help her out whenever I could, despite my own life of killing and crime.
“Now that you’ve seen the goods, let’s talk about payment, baby,” Troy crooned. “Normally, a hit like that is three hundred a pop.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Three hundred for one pill? That must be a hell of a joyride.”
“Oh, it is,” Troy said. “Believe me, it is. But if you don’t have that much cash on you, don’t sweat it. I’m sure we can work out some other form of payment.”
His brown eyes tracked up and down my body, taking in my black boots, dark blue jeans, and the tight black tank top that peeked out under my black leather jacket. Behind him, the two vampires did the same thing, licking their lips like I was a bottle of booze they were going to pass around.
Oh, everybody was going to get a taste of Gin Blanco, all right. Just not the kind they expected.
PHOTO © ANDRE TEAGUE
JENNIFER ESTEP is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author prowling the streets of her imagination in search of her next fantasy idea. Spider’s Bite, Web of Lies, Venom, Tangled Threads, Spider’s Revenge, By a Thread, Widow’s Web, Deadly Sting, and Heart of Venom, along with the novellas Thread of Death, Parlor Tricks, and Kiss of Venom, are the other works in her red-hot Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series for Pocket Books. Jennifer also writes the Mythos Academy young adult urban fantasy series and is the author of the Bigtime paranormal romance series. For more on Jennifer and her books, visit her at www.JenniferEstep.com and @Jennifer_Estep.
FOR MORE ON THIS AUTHOR: authors.simonandschuster.com/Jennifer-Estep
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BOOKS IN THE ELEMENTAL ASSASSIN SERIES BY JENNIFER ESTEP
Spider’s Bite
Web of Lies
Venom
Tangled Threads
Spider’s Revenge
By a Thread
Widow’s Web
Deadly Sting
Heart of Venom
The Spider
NOVELLAS
Thread of Death
Parlor Tricks (in the Carniepunk anthology)
Kiss of Venom
We hope you enjoyed reading this Pocket Books eBook.
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 by Jennifer Estep
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First Pocket Books paperback edition January 2014
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Cover illlustration and design by Tony Mauro
ISBN 978-1-4516-8901-3
ISBN 978-1-4516-8906-8 (ebook)
Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Poison Promise Excerpt
About Jennifer Estep