Heart of Venom (Elemental Assassin 9)

"This is for you, Fletcher," I said. "I hope that I make you proud.

"

Crack!

Crack! Crack!

More bullets pinged off the rocks, although they were slowly getting closer to hitting the mark. Still, I waited.

Until finally -  crack!  - a bullet chipped into the stone at my feet.

I grinned. Now that was definitely close enough. Still, I waited until most of the men had climbed a few feet higher before I crouched down and held my hand up.

A silver light flared in my palm, centered on my spider rune scar, as I reached for the Ice magic flowing deep inside my veins. I studied the glowing circle and eight thin rays of silverstone embedded in my skin, watching the shimmer of magic grow and grow as I grabbed hold of more and more of my power. I wondered if this was the last time that I'd ever see my own rune.

Well, if it was, I was going to make it count.

I reached for the closest rock. The stone steamed and sizzled with cold, as though I were searing my spider rune into it with the icy brand of my hand. In a way, I supposed that I was. It took less than a breath before cold crystals started spreading out from my palm, encasing the rock that I was touching, then flowing on to the next craggy stone and the one after that and the one after that.

Jo-Jo had always told me that I was one of the strongest elementals she'd ever seen, and I'd proven that to myself when I'd gone toe-to-toe with Mab and her Fire and lived through the fight. So it was easy for me to coat the rocks around me with an inch of elemental Ice. What wasn't so easy was pushing my power outward over the whole ridge and then even farther out into the woods beyond the rocks.

But I had a plan for that too: the silverstone spider-rune ring on my right hand, the one that Bria had given me. I tapped into the magic that was housed in the metal there, adding it to the Ice power that was already flowing out of me. The reason silverstone was so prized was that the metal had a special property, the ability to absorb and store all forms of magic. That's why so many elementals wore rings, necklaces, and watches made out of silverstone, so they could have an extra boost of power when they needed it, say, for an elemental duel.

So many people had tried to kill me in the past few months that I'd taken to putting a bit of my Ice and Stone power into my ring every morning when I got up and again every night before I went to bed. As a result, the ring held more of my magic than it ever had before, and

I intended to tap into every single bit of it.

It was a risk, using up all of my magic this way, but I wanted to give Warren, Owen, and Sophia the best possible chance to get off the mountain and back to Roslyn's car. I figured that turning the whole damn ridge into a field of elemental Ice was the best way to do that.

I kept reaching and reaching for my magic, watching the Ice crystals leapfrog from one rock and one patch of earth to the next, pushed forward by my Stone power like soldiers marching into battle. Below me, the men started shouting as the Ice approached and then rushed on past them like a cold crystal wave. A few weren't quite quick enough to let go of their handholds on the ridge, and their hands froze to the rocks and were trapped there by the thick layer of Ice. I hoped their fingers rotted, turned black, and fell off from frostbite. It would serve these bastards right for all the horrible things they'd done.

People thought assassins were evil, but at least my violence was mostly contained to my targets and whatever bodyguards they employed. Grimes and his men hurt everyone who'd ever crossed their path, whether they'd deserved it or not, like all those poor college kids they'd kidnapped and brought up here over the years. And Hazel, well, she liked to use her Fire magic for the sadistic little thrill that it gave her. I wondered how many folks had been innocently hiking through the woods when they'd stumbled across the camp, never to leave it again.

The thought made the black rage rise in me once more, and I dug down even deeper inside myself. It only took me a moment to release another cold blast of power, this one even stronger than before. The rest of the ridge iced over, and the crystals kept right on going, spreading out into the woods beyond and the clearing below, until the rocks, trees, grass, and leaves glittered like polished glass.

Still, despite the elemental Ice, one man actually managed to climb all the way up to the top of the ridge. He stopped short of pulling himself up and over the crest.

Instead, he held on to the cold, slippery rocks with one hand, while he raised the gun in his other hand to fire at me.

Before he could pull the trigger, I rose to my feet and kicked him in the face, smashing my boot into his nose.

The sharp jab made his body arch back, and he lost his grip on the slick rocks. End over end, he plummeted to the clearing below. I'd hoped that he would plow into a few of his friends on the way down and knock them off the ridge too, but I'd kicked him too hard, and he fell clear of the rocks.

Snap.

I heard his neck break all the way up where I was. I grinned again. One down. Many more to go.

I crouched down over the ridge again, sending wave after wave of Ice magic out into the rocks and trees and grass below. cold sweat soaked my clothes, my lungs burned, and my head began to pound from the effort of concentrating so long and so hard, from the sheer will that it took to force all of my magic out in all directions at once.

Steam rose from the Ice, shrouding the ridge, the woods, and the clearing below in a cold, eerie, misty fog.

Well, that should give my friends a bit more cover as they trekked down the mountain.

Still, despite my best efforts, it wasn't enough.

If only it had been a cloudy day, my crystalline creation might have lasted a little longer, but the July sun was already beating down on the ridge and slowly baking it once more. I'd made the Ice as thick as I could, but it wouldn't be long before it melted away. But I'd done all that I could do to help Sophia, Owen, and Warren escape. The rest was up to them.

So I let go of the few remaining scraps of my Ice power.