Part 18 (1/2)
I ran through the mansion as fast as I could, which wasn't very fast, given my high heels. But I had no one to blame for this situation but myself. If only I hadn't been so blind, so naive, so f.u.c.king eager to believe all the lame lines that Sebastian had fed me. Finn had said that Sebastian was trying too hard, and he'd been right.
Finn. My heart twisted at the thought of him and Fletcher too, both in danger because of me, because I'd been stupid enough to fall for Sebastian and all his smooth, pretty lies. I had to find a way to warn them, save them.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
More bullets zipped down the hallway, one shattering a mirror as I ran by it. Yes, I had to get to Finn and Fletcher-but first, I had to save myself.
I kept running until I spotted a set of stairs. I veered in that direction, raced down them to the ground floor, and shoved through the first door I came to. I ended up on the south lawn, well away from the driveway and the front gate. Frustration surged through me. Not the way that I'd wanted to come, but I had no choice now but to go forward.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Porter burst through the door. His first spray of bullets went wild, but the giant paused and took aim at me again.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
This time, the bullets kicked up tufts of gra.s.s at my feet, much closer to hitting the mark, forcing me to run again.
The tennis courts, the swimming pool, the hot tub. I pa.s.sed all those and more, keeping away from the outdoor lights as much as I could.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
More bullets, so close that I felt the heat of them zing past my legs this time. I wasn't going to be able to outrun Porter, not with the drug in my veins still slowing me down, so I started looking for a place to hide. He might have a gun, but I still had my knife. All I had to do was let him run past me, and then I could come up from behind and stab him in the back. Problem solved. Now I just needed to find a place to make it happen.
As if in answer to my need, a building loomed up out of the darkness, lights burning on the outside of the structure.
Cesar Vaughn's mausoleum.
My steps faltered, my heel caught on a rock, and I almost did a header onto the dewy gra.s.s. But there was no going back, only away from Porter, his bullets, and whatever other evil things Sebastian might have in mind for me. Torture, most likely. Charlotte had said that he enjoyed hurting people.
My heart squeezed again at the thought of her, of what she must have suffered at her brother's hands, and especially how I'd taken her father away from her.
But I could have regrets later-if I lived that long.
So I raced through the open doorway and ducked into the mausoleum, stopping inside the entrance. Then I raised the knife that I was still clutching and waited-just waited for him to come inside. No doubt, Porter thought that I would keep right on running through the building and out the opening on the back side, but that wasn't who I was. Besides, maybe if I captured him, I could force him to call off the giants he'd sicced on Finn and Fletcher-before I slit his throat.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
More bullets pinged off the doorway as Porter neared the mausoleum. The giant stopped to reload his weapon, so I risked a quick glance around.
A light burned in the center of the ceiling, casting a dim golden glow. The structure was smaller than I thought it would be and shaped like a rotunda. Crystal vases full of those dark blue roses perched on shelves that had been carved into the gray marble walls, and four stone tombs stood in the center of the area. Two of the tombs had words carved into the tops of them, including the one closest to me, which read: Cesar Vaughn, Beloved Father and Husband.
I grimaced and turned my attention back to my attacker. Porter finished reloading his weapon and started to run toward the entrance, but Sebastian had finally caught up with us. He held his hand out in front of the giant.
”Stop,” Sebastian said. ”I didn't see her run out the other side. Unless I'm mistaken, Gin is lying in wait for us in there.”
He stepped forward so that he was standing about twenty feet from the mausoleum entrance, bathed in the golden glow from the lights that blazed on the outside of the structure. If I thought that I could hit him with my knife from here, I would have thrown it at him, but my arms felt as wobbly as my legs. Besides, the blade was my only weapon, and I wasn't wasting it like that. No, the only thing I wanted to do with my knife was bury it in Sebastian's black heart.
”Gin, Gin, Gin,” Sebastian called out in a mocking voice. ”You really should have stayed in bed. You wouldn't have known what hit you. Now I'm afraid that you're going to have to suffer.”
”Really?” I called out. ”I think that I've suffered enough already, letting you put your hands on me, you sick, slimy b.a.s.t.a.r.d.”
He laughed, apparently delighted by my answer. ”From what I saw, it seems you were eavesdropping on me and Mab in the library. That seems to be a bad habit of yours. But I take it that you heard what I said to her?”
”Every last word.”
”Well, then, there's no need for us to lie to each other any longer, now, is there?” He practically purred. ”You know who I am, and I know who you are too.”
”I'm not who you think I am. You've got it all wrong. I'm not some a.s.sa.s.sin. I'm just a waitress.”
Yeah, it was a weak denial at best, but if I died here tonight, I at least wanted to give Finn and Fletcher some plausible deniability, even if Sebastian was sending his giants after them.
He laughed again, even more amused than before. ”Maybe you can sell that line to someone else but not to me. I'm a much better liar than you are, Gin. Although I can't figure out if you actually killed my father yourself or stood by and watched while your foster father or brother did it. I suppose that any one of you could be the a.s.sa.s.sin. Care to tell me who it is? Hmm? I'm just dying to know.” He laughed again at his stupid joke.
”I'm not telling you a d.a.m.n thing, you black-hearted son of a b.i.t.c.h,” I growled back.
”Come on, boss,” Porter snapped. ”Let me go in there and take care of her.”
The giant raised his gun and started forward, but once again, Sebastian held out his arm, stopping him.
”It doesn't have to be like this, Gin,” Sebastian called out. ”Come out now, and I promise you that we'll have some fun together before you die.”
”No, thanks,” I shot back. ”I'd rather die where I stand than let you put your hands on me again.”
He grinned. ”Well, that can certainly be arranged.”
I adjusted my knife in my hand, getting it into position. ”Well, come on in here, and we'll find out.”
Porter tightened his grip on his gun and looked at Sebastian, who shook his head at the giant. Sebastian made a circling motion with his hand, and Porter nodded and disappeared from my line of sight.
”Since you and your family killed my father, I'm sure you did your homework beforehand. I'm sure you know all about his Stone elemental magic, since he used it to shatter all of those stupid models in his office, I a.s.sume in a desperate attempt to save his own miserable life.”
Sebastian paused, as if he was waiting for me to confirm his suspicions, but I kept quiet.
”Well, I thought you should know that I lied to you before, Gin,” Sebastian called out. ”Because my father's not the only one in the family with that particular power.”
All around me, the marble of the mausoleum began to mutter with deep, dark intent, the same deep, dark mutters that I'd first heard at the construction compound and then again in the mansion. All this time, I'd thought that Cesar had caused the murmurs, a by-product of his abusive actions toward Charlotte. Wrong again, Gin.
”Many people sneer at it, but Stone magic is actually quite handy,” Sebastian called out. ”It has all sorts of uses.”
A thought occurred to me. ”Like crumbling restaurant terraces?”
Surprise flashed across Sebastian's face before he was able to hide it. But he grinned again. ”Just like that.”
So that's what Vaughn had had Harry Coolidge investigating, and that's what had been in the file: exactly how Sebastian had caused the terrace collapse. Coolidge had said something about getting an elemental to go over the crime scene. It must have been a Stone elemental, one who'd sensed the same disturbance in the balcony rubble that I had at the mansion. The other elemental had just been smart enough to figure out who and what had caused it. Unlike me, the colossal fool.
”Did you even care about those innocent people you hurt at that restaurant?” I called out. ”Or were you so eager to get your father out of the way that it just didn't matter to you?”
I already knew the answer, but it kept Sebastian from unleas.h.i.+ng his magic for another few precious seconds, which might give me enough time to slip out the back and get away . . .
No such luck.