Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Heart of Venom
    Heart of Venom
    Heart of Venom
    Ebook367 pages5 hours

    Heart of Venom

    By Jennifer Estep

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    The hotly anticipated ninth novel in the hugely popular Elemental Assassin series finds Gin Blanco on a dangerous mission to rescue a friend.

    When I say you’re a dead man, take that literally.

    To me, killing people is like a day at the salon: cut and dry. Well, more like rinse and repeat when you moonlight as the assassin the Spider. But my last spa day ended redder than my freshly painted nails after a twisted Fire elemental and his goons kidnapped my close friend Sophia Deveraux and nearly killed her sister Jo-Jo in the process.

    Up Ashland’s most dangerous mountains, and deep into the heart of its blackest woods—I’ll track these thugs no matter where they take Sophia. It doesn’t matter what kinds of elemental magic they try to throw at me, my Ice and Stone powers can take the heat and then some. I will get Sophia back, over their dead bodies.

    Because anybody that hurts Gin Blanco’s family becomes a body.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPocket Books
    Release dateAug 27, 2013
    ISBN9781451689044
    Heart of Venom
    Author

    Jennifer Estep

    Jennifer Estep is a New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author who prowls the streets of her imagination in search of her next fantasy idea. Jennifer is the author of the Crown of Shards, Elemental Assassin, and other fantasy series. She has written more than 35 books, along with numerous novellas and stories. In her spare time, Jennifer enjoys hanging out with friends and family, doing yoga, and reading fantasy and romance books. She also watches way too much TV and loves all things related to superheroes.

    Read more from Jennifer Estep

    Related to Heart of Venom

    Titles in the series (21)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Fantasy For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Righteous

      Jan 22, 2019

      Righteous
      8 min read

    • Article

      Waiting To Be Important

      Mar 19, 2021

      Waiting To Be Important
      3 min read

    • Article

      Waiting To Be Important

      Mar 19, 2021

      Waiting To Be Important
      3 min read

    • Article

      Men I Hate: The Stasi Men

      Mar 2, 2021

      Men I Hate: The Stasi Men
      12 min read

    • Article

      What We Loved This Week

      Jul 27, 2018

      What We Loved This Week
      5 min read

    • Article

      In The Spot Light: Your Writing Finding A Friend

      Oct 5, 2023

      Reading the WM writers’ submissions for this page is one of the best parts of this job – but every month it’s a hard call because the standard is so high. This month is no exception. You responded to the theme of ‘Finding a Friend’ with really well-c

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Duplex

      Jun 9, 2020

      I moved to Los Angeles to sing. When was this? August? June? I was twenty-nine, and those were shapeless months, when the days blended together and I refused to pull them apart. My landlord was unusually close to her adult son. His name was Jeffrey,

      21 min read

    • Article

      Justin Timberlake and the Whoever of Whatever: Fame Drags You Down.: Fame drags you down.

      Sep 19, 2013

      About six years ago, I was putting a new roof on a 200-year-old house on an island in Maine when I got a call from Justin Timberlake’s cousin and assistant, a girl named Melissa. I put down my nail gun, told my boss I was taking five, and answered.

      22 min read

    • Article

      100-WORD-STORY COMPETITION Winners

      Aug 16, 2022

      We’ve been delighted by the huge response to our 100-word-story competition. The entries have flooded in thick and fast during the past few months, but while we’ve enjoyed reading every story, only a few can come out on top! You, our readers, voted t

      5 min read

    • Article

      Ashleigh Bryant Phillips

      Jun 10, 2020

      Ashleigh Bryant Phillips
      6 min read

    • Article

      Meeting your HEROES

      May 30, 2021

      Back in 2004, mid comedy tour, we were sitting in our hotel’s bar, enjoying what was either a late lunch or an early dinner. I’ve never known what to call this meal – Linner? Dunch? – that you dive into in the hope you will be neither too full nor fa

      3 min read

    • Article

      Porochista Khakpour on Stephen Dixon: An Excerpt from McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern #63

      Aug 4, 2021

      When you really live, and when you really tackle that life in your art, the pages never quite end. The narration might drop out, but the story is still in motion. If done right, the border blurs, the boundaries of life and of art fade into each other

      8 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Kara Levy

      Dec 19, 2017

      For me, there are two types of reading urges: the impulse to read the mirror of your life, and impulse to forget your life by reading yourself out of it. This year I was lucky enough to read a book that did both. George Saunders’s Lincoln in the Bard

      2 min read

    • Article

      Christos Tsiolkas: ‘I Don’t Understand Wanting To Live A Youthful Life Forever’

      Nov 3, 2023

      “It is in capturing the quotidian nature of a city that one finds its soul,” Christos Tsiolkas once wrote, and perhaps but for Helen Garner, no other author has captured life in Melbourne as truthfully. It feels oddly thrilling to meet the 58-year-ol

      4 min read

    • Article

      What We Loved This Week

      May 4, 2018

      What We Loved This Week
      5 min read

    • Article

      Share Your News

      Jan 6, 2022

      To feature in subscribers’ news contact: tjackson@warnersgroup.co.uk ‘I’ve loved writing ever since I was a child,’ writes subscriber Glenda Young. ‘I live in the north-east and my novels are set in the coalmining village of Ryhope where I was born a

      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Heart of Venom

    4/5

    151 ratings10 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Reviewed by: Rabid ReadsThere’s only a handful of series’ where I will literally count the days between releases and Elemental Assassin is one of them. Gin kicks this installment off in true Spider style with blood on her hands and a body to dispose of. In Heart of Venom we finally see Blanco’s cool, patient demeanor slip only to be replaced by an emotional, risk-taking one which is incredibly dangerous in her line of work but also an as-of-yet unexplored side of her character. It’s personal this time around; you don’t mess with Gin Blanco’s friends and expect to live.Part of the reason why Gin’s been so successful in her career as a hired gun is in large part thanks to her ability to shelve her emotions while on a job. She does her homework, waits for the perfect shot and then makes her getaway. Granted, even the best laid plans tend to blow up in her face but regardless of the outcome, she always goes in with a cool head. Not this time. Blanco just reacts. Her friend is threatened and she goes barreling into an impossible situation guns blazing with no regard for her survival. The fact that Gin favors fire power over her trademark blades in this installment further reinforces her fragile emotional state by demonstrating her willingness to throw caution into the wind and let stealth be dammed. The Spider is s-c-a-r-y when she’s mad; I pity the fool who incurred her wrath!Sophia’s always been a bit of a mystery; she doesn’t talk much and is a pro at body disposal. The Deveraux sisters are an integral part of this series so I was thrilled at the prospect of learning more about one of my two favourite dwarves. We finally uncover the whys behind her goth wardrobe and her knack for getting rid of corpses. As anticipated, her reasons are even more disturbing than I could have possibly imagined. There’s a nice little flashback to a scene that showcases the earlier stages of Sophia’s friendship with Gin that took on a whole new meaning given the current circumstances. It was a fun extra and got me psyched for the next novel where we get to go back in time and witness the making of the assassin, The Spider. Fletcher’s also still ever present in this series and I couldn’t help but get a little teary eyed when Gin finds his file on Grimes. I’m hoping for more of him in the next installment as well.Now to the crux of the matter, the question that everyone’s been asking me since I read this book; what’s the 4-1-1 on Owen? As the blurb suggests, there is progress on that front and I was satisfied with the way Estep attempted to redeem his character. Grayson really messed up, his heartfelt apology and actions speak volumes but the road to forgiveness is long and I approve of Gin’s caution where he’s concerned. As much as I love him and want them to get their HEA, I’m happy that Blanco didn’t completely succumb to his boyish charm. Heart of Venom is definitely a turning point in their relationship and I think that readers will be appeased by this installment.Heart of Venom exposes a different side of Gin, which after 9 installments is a feat in itself. I loved watching The Spider wreak havoc on her enemies in the name of friendship and family. Seeing Sophia, an incredibly resilient character, brought to her knees by her past was as emotional as it was enlightening. I’ve spent two books waiting to witness Owen’s fight to win back the love of his life and he does not disappoint. Jennifer Estep and Gin Blanco are a winning combination that never gets old; all hail The Spider!
    • 3/5
      Heart of Venom
      3 Stars

      Not one of the better installments in the series.

      Unfortunately, the cartoonish villains, Gin's guilt complex and Estep's repetitious phrasing undermine an otherwise excellent story. Grimes and his sister are so evil and diabolical that they cannot be taken seriously, which reduces the tension and suspense. Gin blames herself for everything even events that are completely out of her control, and Estep is still repeating all the salient points from this and previous books ad nauseam.

      On the positive side, the improvements in Owen and Gin's relationship are satisfying, and it is good to see that Owen has gotten over himself and dealt with his issues. Moreover, the details concerning Sophia's past are interesting, especially in terms of her interactions with Fletcher and a young Gin.

      Overall, Gin and company are fun and the hints at things to come with Mab Monroe's heir are intriguing enough to continue with the series despite my issues with it.

    • 3/5
      Dilemma: Sophia Deveraux was kidnapped again by Harley Grimes, a man who's the caused of some traumatic experience from her past and is obsessed about her. Sophia barely made out alive from that but she managed with the help of Fletcher Lane. Harley Grimes is vicious, violent and vindictive. Will he finally finished what he started? Or will Sophia's assassin friend, Gin, save the day again?

      So there's some situations when the enemies could kill Gin already because they got her to be unconscious but they didn't. A mistake really. I mean, COME ON. Freaking unbelievable. They should have done it when they had the chance. I can't believe that they're acting like idiots when they certainly weren't.

      Gin and Owen still has a long way to go but I'm glad that they patched up some misunderstandings between them. I hope they fixed everything soon.

      Many people will find the series sort of have a repeating plot. Like somebody will try to do something bad to Gin's family or threatened anyone she cared about. Then, Gin will try to do everything in order to protect them. She will gave problems and difficulties along the way bit in the end, she always succeed. I didn't find this having a "wow" factor but it didn't bore me so I'll keep reading this series until I wasn't entertained anymore. But now, I'm surely adding the next book to my to-read list. :)
    • 4/5
      Heart of Venom is the ninth book in the Elemental Assassin series by Jennifer Estep.

      Since the first time we met Sophia Deveraux we knew something bad happened in her life, something that left her forever changed, but we didn’t know any details of her ordeal until now.
      Many years ago Sophia was kidnapped and held hostage by Harley Grimes, he tortured her and tried to break her. Luckily for her Fletcher Lane rescued her just in time and brought her back to her sister Jo-Jo. After her recovery Sophia started to work for Fletcher at the Pork Pit and as a body disposer for his multiple jobs. Now with Fletcher gone Sophia works with Gin, but she’s more than just an employee, she and Jo-Jo are part of Gin’s family.
      After many years, Grimes is back in the picture and with the help of his psychotic sister, Hazel, they kidnapped Sophia again, leaving behind Jo-Jo fighting for her life. What the Grimes brother and sister didn’t know was that attacking the Deveraux sisters was the same as signing a death warrant with their names on it, because Gin aka The Spider would never let anybody hurt the few people that she counts as family and friends.

      Heart of Venom uses the same formula as previous books, somebody attacks a member of Gin’s family or a friend, and Gin comes to the rescue. The difference in this installment is that Gin is more emotionally compromised than in previous books. This time around Gin doesn’t do the detailing planning she usually does before any of her assignments, she knows every second counts and there is not time to spare, she needs to get Sophia out now.
      Sophia barely survived her first time in Grimes’ hands and after learning more about that experience Gin knows Sophia will rather be dead than going through all that over again.

      Despite not having planned the attacked Gin shows us how smart she is when she strategized the attack, we can see what she learned under Fletcher’s tutelage and how she puts it into practice and the best part is that she’s not alone, now she has a network of friends that will always be there for her whenever she needs their help.

      One of the things I liked the most about Heart of Venom was that we learned more about the Deveraux sisters and how they came to be in Fletcher/Gin’s lives. Sophia’s past not only made me love her more but also after learning of what she has survived I can’t help it but feel a deep admiration for her for surviving, and for Jo-Jo for being there for her and understand and accept what Sophia needed when she needed it.

      As with previous books Heart of Venom is action packed with fight scenes that will make you bite your nails and tension that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

      The villains are twisted and so well written that is impossible not to hate them and wish them a very slow and painful death under Gin’s professional hands. My only problem here is that for many books it’s say that Gin is a very strong elemental, one of the stronger ever to exist, but over and over her elemental magic gets overpower by others allegedly not that strong. This is something that I don’t understand, if she the strongest or isn’t she?

      I know the question of the year about this book is Owen and Gin’s relationship. Did things get fixed between them or did they finally end it? The only thing I can say without giving spoilers away is that I don't hate Owen anymore, but still I don't love him as I did once. He hasn’t won me over, but he's on the right track.
      I really liked Gin’s reaction to Owen’s words/actions. It shows the strong and smart woman she is.

      Another thing that kind of bothered me in Heart of Venom was that Finn has come to play a second place in Gin’s life. He used to be her brother, partner and all around always in her life. Now sadly others have usurped that spot. I miss Finn and what he brought to the story; I can only hope this changes in future books.

      Since the moment M.M. Monroe was mention couple of books ago we been waiting to learn more about him/her, sadly in this installment he/she is just mention in passing. What is said is worrying but we won’t know anything else until two books from now because next book in the series, The Spider, will be a prequel story about Gin’s first years and how she came to be the famous assassin The Spider.

      I can honestly say that I liked Heart of Venom better than previous two books in the series. Heart of Venom made me remember why I loved this series that much. If you are a fan of this series this is a book you need to read. If you haven’t read this series this is not a book to start with, these books need to be read in order.
    • 5/5
      Read from September 27 to 30, 2013Listened/Read for Review (Brilliance Audio/Edelweiss)Overall Rating: 4.50Story Rating: 4.50Character Rating: 4.50Audio Rating: 5.00 (not part of the overall rating)First Thought when Finished: Heart of Venom ended with me going "Now that is what I am talking about!"Story Thoughts: Heart of Venom was really the story of Sophia which made me happy. As much as I love Gin, Owen, Bria and Finn- I have to admit I get super excited about learning the back stories of the rest of the characters that I LOVE! Sophia and Jo-Jo are staples in Gin's life and she wouldn't be the assassin she is without them. Sophia's story was heartbreaking, nerve-wracking, and brutal. The fact that she literally has to relive parts of it made me want to reach out and hug her. The action in Heart of Venom was well-paced and brilliant. Each outing has Gin testing her skills and her heart more. All around this stands out as one of my favorites in the series.Character Thoughts: I feel like a broken record but the characters in the Elemental Assassin series are some of the best in Urban Fantasy. I am still in love with Finn. Jealous of Bria and her Finn loving time. Absolutely adore Gin! Even the bad guys are engaging albeit nasty and mean. I love that we got to learn more about Sophia and Jo-Jo. I was already in love with their characters but it was nice to get to know them better. Especially Sophia who is so quiet and often over-looked. I wanted to sock the bad guy (sorry his name is escaping me) but more than that I wanted to club his sister. Though I think they were both well done bad guys and to me that is as important as the good guys. Alright, an Owen update--he can shed his Owen the Ass title once again. Though I am still working up to loving him again.Audio Thoughts: Narrated By Lauren Fortgang / Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins Hands down, I can not imagine anyone but Lauren narrating Gin and the gang. At this point, she is Gin to me. She nails the nuances, emotions, and pacing of this series perfectly. I highly recommend this series on audio if you haven't given it a whirl. I just don't think you would be disappointed. Of course, always listen to a sample as everyone's narration preferences are not the same.Final Thoughts: The next story is sort of a prequel and I am uber excited!
    • 4/5
      I love this series. I can't get enough of Gin. We get a lot of Sophia and Jo-Jo in this book. We see a lot into Sophia's past with the guy that injured her throat. We also see a lot of Owen and Cooper.
    • 5/5
      There is not much more about the Elemental Assassin series as a whole that I can say. You all know that Jennifer Estep is one of my favorite authors and this series is one of my favorite series. I have went on and on about how much I love Gin, how she never stops amazing me. How she is kick-ass and her friends and allies are just as awesome. The world building grows and grows with each book. I love that the storyline for each book is different and that it is resolved by the end yet connected to every other book. So I will leave this short and simple so that I do not bore you with my fan-girl babble.HEART OF VENOM is tough. We learn about Sophia's past, it is not pretty in the least and if you didn't love her before you will fall in love with her character now and understand her so much better. Her friendship and love for Gin has always shown through and Gin stops at nothing to show Sophia that she means just as much to her. All of our favorite characters are in HEART OF VENOM and none of them disappoint. Fletcher continues to be present through his files of information and secrets. I am always amazed when something else is revealed. Owen just might have retrieved his head from his ass. I know that is harsh but he deserves it. I don't want to spoil anything so lets just say Owen is present and accounted for and trying to redeem himself. Gin is being smart and I am proud of the way she handles everything concerning him. It seems like no matter who is involved or what the situation is that I end up in tears multiple times in each book. Estep knows how to pull you in and wring you dry where emotions are concerned. As always there is plenty of action, character growth and plot advancement to be had. I am excited to read book 10, it should be interesting to see Gin in the beginning as the spider! Wow, this ended up longer than expected. That is all. Go read.
    • 4/5
      Review courtesy of Dark Faerie TalesQuick & Dirty: Gin Blanco is an assassin named Spider when she is not running her restaurant the Pork Pit or hanging with friends. Because of this many people would like to see her dead. So when men break into her friend Jo-Jo’s salon she believes they are there for her, but she is very wrong. Instead they are after Jo-Jo’s sister Sophia. Harley Grimes, a sick and twisted man has returned for her and it is up to Gin to save her friend and kill her tormentor for good.Opening Sentence: What do you mean, I can’t come?The Review:Gin Blanco, also known as the assassin Spider, would do anything to protect the ones that she loved. That includes rescuing one of them from a psychopath gun dealer. When Gin’s friend Sophia is kidnapped by Harley Grimes, Gin swears that she will stop at nothing to get her back and to make sure the man who took her does not live to harm anyone else ever again. This is the ninth book in the Elemental Assassin series, but thankfully it gives you enough information that if you read this one first you will understand what is going on.The heroine, Gin Blanco is amazing. Her family was murdered when she was younger and for a long time she lived on the street surviving anyway she could. Then she meets Fletcher, also known as the assassin the Tin Man. Fletcher takes her in and teaches her how to defend herself and those that she loves. This is how she becomes a famous assassin called the Spider. She is feared all over because she is good at what she does. So good in fact that people try to kill her all the time to prove they are big and bad. Too bad for them they never succeed. She is also extremely loyal to those she calls friends and family. She is loyal to the point that when her friend Sophia is kidnapped by Harley Grimes who has been obsessed with Sophia for years, Gin would do anything to get her back, even if it means dying for her friend. Gin is a rare elemental. Most elemental’s can only control one element but both Gin and her only remaining sibling, Bria, can control both stone and ice.Jennifer Estep did a good job when she describes the antagonists. Harley and his sister Hazel are complete psychos. They have repeatedly kidnapped college men and women to take to their camp in the mountains. When they get them to their camp, these victims are raped and tortured before they are killed. The siblings enjoy using their fire abilities to put the fear into people. From the beginning you dislike them. They believe that they are unstoppable and can do whatever they want to do. That may all change after they kidnap Sophia and make Gin mad. The most annoying thing about them is that they fancy themselves old time gangsters, wearing fedoras and suits. Hazel even wears old fashioned wrap-around dresses. Out of the two siblings, Hazel is the more powerful and sicker of the two. She enjoys the torture more because when she can break the girls, she stays the queen of the mountain. I disliked these two so much, I couldn’t wait to see them meet the fate they deserved.I really enjoyed this book and I would recommend reading it. If you haven’t read the others, it would be worth probably reading the others, but is not absolutely necessary. Jennifer Estep is a wonderful writer who really gets you wanting to keep reading her stories to find out how it will end.Notable Scene:“Sophia?” I asked.Her black eyes met mine, and I saw something thereI’d never seen before: fear.“Run,” Sophia rasped in her low, broken voice.Then she collapsed without another word.FTC Advisory: Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster provided me with a copy of Heart of Venom. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
    • 4/5
      This is the 9th book in the Elemental Assassin series. The tenth book will be a prequel novel titled The Spider and is due to release in December 2013. This was an okay book but, like the last one, it was a pretty self-contained story and didn’t do much to advance the broader story.Sophia and Jo-Jo have some history with a brother-sister (Grime and Hazel) crime-lovin' combo team. When Grime and Hazel come to claim Sophia as their own, Gin will do everything in her power to get Sophia back.These books have become very, very formulaic. Someone Gin loves gets hurt/kidnapped by someone else very powerful, Gin goes on a rampage to save them and almost dies, Gin regroups and enlists the aid of her friends and kicks butt. The last few books in this series have been exactly like that, it makes them very, very predictable.There is excessive recapping of previous books (as there has been in every book in this series). This is something that has continually bothered me with this series. I like some recapping, but I don’t need the same things recapped over and over throughout the book. I am still enjoying the characters and the writing style is easy to read. Estep has continued the story arc involving the mystery of M M Monroe, although not much progress is made with that story in this book either.All our favorite characters are present in this story. Fletcher, Bria, Gin, Owen, Jo-Jo, and Sophia all have a part to play. Fletcher and Bria spend a lot of time in the background. The story is mostly about Sophia, so we learn a lot of background about her and Jo-Jo.Owen and Gin also feature in the story a lot. Supposedly their relationship is still on the rocks because of events that happened in the last book. Owen tries to make up for his mistakes in this book...it made him come off as kind of whiny to be honest. I am kind of sick of the on again, off again thing that has been going on with Owen and Gin. This is an issue we don’t need to revisit in these books; they need to either get over each other or stick together...I am honestly sick of hearing about it.While it was nice to hear Sophia’s backstory, this was still one of the weaker books in this series. In my opinion the more recent books in the series have been weaker. I thought this book was slightly better than the previous book but still not nearly as engaging as earlier books.Overall this book was better than the eighth book in this series but still not all that great. It was good to hear about Sophia’s backstory, but the Gin/Owen stuff is getting old. The book followed the same formula as all the previous books in the series have. There wasn't much progress made on the M M Monroe mystery that started many books ago. I am still enjoying the characters and the awesome action scenes, but thought the plot was lacking. I’ll definitely read the next book but if it doesn't improve over these last couple books I think I will be setting this series aside. I still do recommend this series to fans of urban fantasy. The first six or so books in the series were really well done.
    • 4/5
      The 9th book in the Elemental Assassin series uses the same formula as all of the other books; Gin goes to take someone out, loses the battle, regroups and comes back to win the war. This time, though, the person(s) needing help are Sophia and Jo-Jo, the dwarf sisters that accepted Gin as family when Fletcher took her in. We’d been told in prior books that Sophia had been held hostage by a fire elemental and it was during this time that her voice became raspy after being forced to inhale fire. Well this guy and his sister are back and the psycho believes Sophia is his to do whatever he wants, including torture or having her killed. The stakes are raised and the emotions run higher as this one is very personal to Gin.What makes this series work is the relationships and in this particular book certain relationships become even stronger. Gin makes a promise to Jo-Jo to save Sophia, someone who Gin really doesn’t know that well as the woman keeps to herself. We learn a lot more about that dwarf, so the emotions of the reader also run a little stronger when certain things happen. The battered relationship between Gin and Owen is also addressed. When reading the final showdown, you’ll be wondering why other obvious actions aren’t taken. But for the author to pull off the outcome she wanted, the obvious had to be ignored; although that very issue is addressed later in an explanation between characters, even though the explanation was no longer necessary to us. But I was glad it was addressed.I really wish the author would shake up her formula a little bit. For someone who boasted at the beginning of the series that no one gets the best of her, Gin has been bested in every book. I guess that makes her character seen a little more human and since she’s not making that boast to the reader anymore, perhaps a little more humble. But it would be great to be surprised with a different story layout. Read as an ARC for Edelweiss/Above the Treeline.

    Book preview

    Heart of Venom - Jennifer Estep

    1

    What do you mean, I can’t come?

    I jerked my head down at the heavy weight swinging between us. Do you really want to talk about this right now?

    "I can’t think of a better time," he replied, then dropped his half of the load onto the ground.

    I let go of my half of the weight, put my hands on my hips, and rolled my eyes at the whiny, petulant tone in my foster brother’s voice. You can’t come because it’s a girls’ day at the salon. No guys allowed. That includes you.

    Finnegan Lane sniffed, straightened up to his full six-foot-plus height, and carefully adjusted the expensive silk tie knotted around his neck. "Yes, but I am not just any guy."

    More eye-rolling on my part, but Finn ignored me. His ego was pretty much bulletproof, and my derisive looks wouldn’t so much as scratch his own highfalutin opinion of himself.

    Besides, he continued, I’d get more enjoyment out of a spa day than you would.

    True, I agreed. I don’t particularly care how shiny my nails are or how well conditioned my hair is.

    Finn held out his manicured nails, studying them with a critical eye, before reaching up and gently patting his coif of walnut-colored hair. My nails are good, but I could use a trim. Wouldn’t want to get any split ends.

    Oh, no, I muttered. "We wouldn’t want such a horror as that."

    With his artfully styled hair, designer suit, and glossy wing tips, Finn looked like he’d just stepped out of the pages of some high-end fashion magazine. Add his intense green eyes, chiseled features, and toned, muscled body to that, and he was as handsome as any movie star. The only thing that ruined his sleek, polished look was the blood spattered all over his white shirt and gray suit jacket—and the body lying at his feet.

    Come on, I said. This guy isn’t getting any lighter.

    The two of us were standing in the alley behind the Pork Pit, the barbecue restaurant that I ran in downtown Ashland. A series of old, battered metal Dumpsters crouched on either side of the restaurant’s back door, all reeking of cumin, cayenne, black pepper, and the other spices that I cooked with, along with all of the food scraps and other garbage that had spoiled out there in the July heat. A breeze whistled in between the backs of the buildings, bringing some temporary relief from the sticky humidity and making several crumpled-up white paper bags bearing the Pork Pit’s pig logo skip down the oil-slicked surface of the alley.

    I ignored the low, scraping, skittering noises of the bags and concentrated on the sound of the stones around me.

    People’s actions, thoughts, and feelings last longer and have more of an impact than most folks realize, since all of those actions and feelings resonate with emotional vibrations that especially sink into the stone around them. As a Stone elemental, I have magic that lets me hear and interpret all of the whispers of the element around me, whether it’s a jackhammer brutally punching through a concrete foundation, rain and snow slowly wearing away at a roadside marker, or the collective frets of harried commuters scurrying into an office building, hoping that their bosses won’t yell at them for being late again.

    Behind me, the brick wall of the Pork Pit let out low, sluggish, contented sighs, much the way the diners inside did after finishing a hot, greasy barbecue sandwich, baked beans, and all of the other Southern treats that I served up on a daily basis. A few sharp notes of violence trilled here and there in the brick, but they were as familiar to me as the sighs were, and I wasn’t concerned by them. This wasn’t the first person I’d had to kill inside the restaurant, and it wouldn’t be the last.

    Come on, I repeated. We’ve had our body-moving break. You grab his shoulders again, and I’ll get his feet. I want to get this guy into that Dumpster in the next alley over before someone sees us.

    "Dumpster? You mean the refrigerated cooler that Sophia hauled in just so you could keep bodies on ice close to the restaurant with at least a modicum of plausible deniability," Finn corrected me.

    I shrugged. It was her idea, not mine. But since she’s the one who gets rid of most of the bodies, it was her call.

    And why isn’t Sophia here tonight to help us with this guy?

    I shrugged again. Because there was some James Bond film festival that she wanted to go to, so she took the night off. Now, come on. Enough stalling. Let’s go.

    Why do I have to grab his shoulders? Finn whined again. That’s where all the blood is.

    I eyed his ruined jacket and shirt. At this point, I don’t think it much matters, do you?

    Finn glanced down at the smears of red on his chest. No, I suppose it doesn’t.

    He grumbled and let out a few put-upon sighs, but he eventually leaned down and took hold of the dead guy’s shoulders, while I grabbed his ankles. So far, we’d moved the guy from the storefront of the Pork Pit, through the rear of the restaurant, and outside. This time, we slowly shuffled away from the back door of the Pit and down the alley.

    Finn and I had moved bodies before, but the fact that this dead guy was a seven-foot-tall giant with a strong, muscled figure made him a little heavier than most, and we stopped at the end of the alley to take another break. I wiped the sweat off my forehead and stared down at the dead guy.

    Half an hour ago, the giant had been sitting in a booth in the restaurant, chowing down on a double bacon cheeseburger, sweet potato fries, and a big piece of apple pie and talking to the friend he’d brought along. The two giants had been my last customers, and I’d been waiting for them to leave before I closed the restaurant for the night. The first guy had paid his bill and left without incident, but the second one had swaggered over to the cash register and handed me a fistful of one-dollar bills. I’d counted the bills, and the second my eyes dropped to the cash register, he’d taken a swing at me with his massive fist.

    Please. As if no one had ever tried that trick before.

    But such were the job hazards of an assassin. Yep, me, Gin Blanco. Restaurant owner by day. Notorious assassin the Spider by night. Well, actually, it was more like I was the Spider all the time now. Ever since I’d killed Mab Monroe, the powerful Fire elemental who’d owned a good chunk of the crime in Ashland, everyone who was anyone in the underworld had been gunning for me. I was a wild card in the city’s power structure, and lots of folks thought that arranging my murder would prove their mettle to everyone else. Tonight’s giant was just the latest in a long line of folks who’d eaten in my restaurant with the intention of murdering me right after sopping up the last bit of barbecue sauce on their plates.

    Since Finn had been sitting on a stool close to the cash register, he’d pulled a gun out from underneath his suit jacket and tried to put a couple of bullets into the other man, but the giant had slapped Finn’s gun away. The two of them had been grappling when I’d come around the counter, palmed one of my silverstone knives, and repeatedly, brutally punched the blade into the giant’s back, sides, and chest until he was dead. Hence the blood that had spattered all over Finn—and me too, although my long-sleeved black T-shirt and dark jeans hid most of it.

    All right, Finn said. Let’s lug this guy the rest of the way. I need to go home and get cleaned up before my date with Bria tonight.

    I’d just started to bend down and take hold of the giant’s ankles again when a mutter of unease rippled through the stone wall beside me—a dark whisper full of malicious intent.

    I stopped and scanned the alley in front of us. Sophia’s rusty cooler stood at the far end, although several more Dumpsters and smaller trash cans crouched in between like tin soldiers lined up against the walls. It was after eight now, and what little lavender twilight remained was quickly being swallowed up by the shadows creeping up the walls. Another breeze whistled down the alley, bringing the scents of cooked cabbage, grilled chicken, and spicy peanut sauce with it from the Thai restaurant down the block.

    Finn noticed my hesitation. What’s wrong?

    I kept scanning the shadows. I think we have company.

    He adjusted his tie again, but his eyes were flicking left and right just as mine were. Any clue who it might be?

    I shrugged. Probably our dead friend’s dinner companion.

    Finn shook his head. "But he left before the giant attacked you. Even if they were partners, once he realized what happened to his buddy, the second guy would have hightailed it out of here as fast as he could if he had even the smallest shred of common sense—"

    A bit of silver stuck out from behind a Dumpster off to my right. I lunged forward and threw my body on top of Finn’s, forcing us both to the ground.

    Crack! Crack! Crack!

    The bullets sailed over our heads, but I still reached for my Stone magic and used it to harden my skin into an impenetrable shell. I also tried to cover as much of Finn’s body as I could with my own. I might be bulletproof when I used my magic, but he wasn’t.

    Footsteps scuffed in the alley behind me, indicating that our attacker felt bold and confident enough to move toward us. Then—

    Crack! Crack! Crack!

    More bullets zipped down the alley. The guy must have adjusted his aim, because I felt all three of the projectiles punch against my back before rattling away in the semidarkness. They would have blasted out through my heart, killing me and maybe Finn too, if I hadn’t been using my Stone power. My body jerked with the impact of the bullets; then I let my limbs go absolutely slack and still as I sprawled over Finn, as though I was as dead as the giant lying next to us.

    I looked at Finn, who gave me a saucy wink, telling me that he was okay. I felt his hand reach up, then drop from my waist, taking a light, thin weight with it. Finn brought his hand back up, and I wrapped my fingers around his. When he pulled his hand away, he left me holding the knife he’d grabbed from against the small of my back. I slid the weapon partially up my sleeve, hiding it from sight, then closed my eyes and waited—just waited for my enemy to come close enough.

    More footsteps scuffed in the alley, followed by the harsh, raspy sound of someone breathing in through his mouth. I cracked open my eyes. A pair of mud-covered boots were planted right next to my face. As I watched, one of the boots drew back, and I knew what was coming next.

    Sure enough, a second later, the giant’s boot slammed into my ribs.

    Despite the fact that I was holding on to my Stone magic, the blow still hurt, like getting beaned in the chest with a fastball, but I kept my body loose and floppy as though I couldn’t feel it at all.

    Still, the force of the blow knocked me partially off Finn, who grunted as my elbow dug into his shoulder.

    Silence. Then—

    Open your eyes, pretty boy, or I’ll put a bullet through your skull, the gunman threatened.

    Finn sighed, and I saw him open his eyes and slowly hold his hands up. All right, all right, you got me. I’m still alive.

    I don’t care about you, the giant snapped. Is she dead? Or is she faking?

    Of course she’s dead, Finn snapped back, holding his hands out so the giant could get a better look at the bloody smears on his clothes. Do you not see the blood all over the two of us? I’m lucky the bullets stopped inside her instead of going on through and into me. He shuddered. "And now I think I’m going to be sick. So can you please just roll her off me or something? I can’t stand the sight of blood."

    If it wouldn’t have given me away, I would have snorted. Finn didn’t have any more problem with blood than I did. He just didn’t like it being splattered all over one of his precious Fiona Fine designer suits.

    But you’re her partner, the giant said. Everyone knows that. Shouldn’t you be, you know, more upset that she’s dead?

    Actually, I’m more like her henchman, Finn corrected. "As for being upset that she’s dead, well, she’s not exactly the kind of woman you say no to, if you know what I mean. Trust me. I’m happy that she’s gone. Thrilled. Ecstatic, even."

    Silence. Then—

    The giant kicked me in the ribs again. Once more, I pretended that I couldn’t feel the sharp, brutal blow. The giant kept up with his attacks, plowing his foot into my ribs, my shin, and even my shoulder. I thought he might lean down, press his gun against the back of my skull, pull the trigger, and try to put a couple of bullets into my head just to make sure that I was dead. But for once, my luck held, and he didn’t take that final step. Maybe he was out of bullets. Or maybe he just wasn’t that smart. Either way, after about three more minutes of dithering around and petulant pleas from Finn to move my body off him, the giant seemed to buy my playing possum.

    I did it, the guy finally said. I did it! I killed the Spider! Woo-hoo!

    Okay, I thought the woo-hoo at the end was a little much, but I let the giant enjoy his moment of victory.

    It was going to be the last thing he ever enjoyed.

    All right, all right, Finn groused again. Now, can you please get her off me? Seriously, dude, I’m about three seconds away from throwing up here. I know you don’t want that all over your boots. He started making choking sounds.

    Fine, fine, the other man muttered. Just quit your damn whining, already.

    The giant reached down, grabbed my shoulder, and turned me over.

    I surged up and stabbed him in the chest for his thoughtfulness.

    The giant screamed in surprise and jerked to one side, making my knife skitter across his ribs instead of slicing into his heart. He staggered back, and my knife cut free of his chest, blood spraying everywhere. The giant brought his revolver up between us and pulled the trigger.

    Click.

    Empty. Well, too bad for him. Fatal for him, actually.

    I scrambled to my feet, raised my knife high, and threw myself forward, but the giant was anticipating the move. He caught my arm in his hand. Given his enormous strength, it was easy for him to keep me from plunging my knife into his chest a second time. So I brought my free hand up, curved my fingers, and clawed at his face. The giant let go of my arm and craned his neck back, trying to protect his eyes from my prying fingers.

    Gin! Down! I heard Finn yell behind me.

    I immediately stopped my attack on the giant and dropped to the ground.

    Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

    Bullets punched through the air where I’d been standing, and the familiar acrid burn of gunpowder mixed with the stench of garbage in the alley. A second later, the giant’s body hit the ground with a dull thud.

    Knife still in my hand, I got to my feet and hurried over to him, but there was no need. Finn had put a couple of bullets through the giant’s right eye and up into his brain. His body had already shut down; he wasn’t even twitching.

    I turned to look at Finn, who had a gun clenched in one hand. With his other hand, he was picking a piece of wilted cabbage off his jacket sleeve. He tossed the cabbage aside with a disgusted expression and moved over to me.

    You okay? I asked.

    Finn nodded. You?

    I nodded back and gingerly touched my side. I’ll have some bruises from where he played kick-the-can with my ribs, but I’ll stop by Jo-Jo’s on the way home and get her to patch me up. No worries.

    Speaking of Jo-Jo’s, I still say that I should get to come to your little soiree, Finn said. Especially after I was so helpful here tonight.

    I narrowed my eyes. You start up with that again, and I’ll be dealing with three bodies instead of just two.

    Finn gave me a wounded look, but after a moment, he sighed and holstered his gun. Well, at least this one’s already halfway to the cooler, he grumbled.

    I grinned at him. See? We’re nothing if not efficient.

    Finn muttered some choice words under his breath, but he reached down and took hold of the dead giant’s shoulders, and I grabbed his ankles. We lugged the two men over to the cooler to await Sophia and her body-disposal skills.

    Not the first body dump we’d done—and certainly not the last.

    2

    Two days later, Saturday, the dead giants were still on ice in the cooler, but I found myself in much nicer, warmer confines: a beauty salon.

    The salon took up the back half of an old plantation house, and the area had a homey and welcoming, if cluttered, feel. Tubs of nail polish and lipstick sat on a counter, along with bottles of hair dye, shampoo, and conditioner. Nestled in between the tubs and bottles were brushes, combs, curlers, rollers, scissors, and every other item you could think of that would untangle, tease, straighten, curl, kink, or cut your hair. Stacks of beauty magazines covered the small tables scattered here and there in the room, the models on the slick, glossy covers beaming as if they approved of all the beauty ministrations that could be had here.

    I was relaxing in one of the cherry-red salon chairs when something warm, wet, and slightly rough touched my foot. I leaned to one side, and Rosco, Jo-Jo’s basset hound, licked my toes again, then gave me a hopeful woof. I stretched out my foot and rubbed it against his side. Rosco let out a loud, contented sigh and collapsed in a wrinkled puddle of black and brown fur, perfectly happy to let me rub his round tummy for as long as I would.

    Hold still, darling, Jo-Jo drawled as she put another coat of paint on my fingernails. I’m almost done.

    Rosco and the salon were the pride and joy of Jolene Jo-Jo Deveraux, the dwarven Air elemental who healed me whenever I got banged up or almost shot, stabbed, beaten, or magicked to death as the Spider. Given my current notoriety in the Ashland underworld and the legion of would-be murderers targeting me, I was over here more days than not. Then again, I would have been over here anyway, since Jo-Jo was a mother figure to me and part of my extended family.

    Since we were having a girls’ day at the salon, I’d forgone my usual long sleeves, jeans, and boots in favor of a red tank top, some white cutoff shorts, and a pair of black sandals that immediately got kicked off over into the corner when I’d first arrived an hour earlier. Jo-Jo, however, enjoyed dressing up, and she had on one of her prettiest pink dresses, along with her usual strand of pearls. Her white-blond hair was curled just so, her soft, understated makeup would have put any beauty queen to shame, and her bare feet showed off the perfect raspberry pedicure that she’d just given herself.

    You know, you really don’t have to give me a manicure, I said. You should be relaxing today too.

    Jo-Jo raised her head and gave me an amused look. Laugh lines fanned out from the corners of her clear, almost colorless eyes. You did all the cooking, darling. That’s more work than this is. Besides, I like pampering you, Gin. You don’t take nearly enough time for yourself. Especially not these days.

    I know, I know, I said. But it’s a shame that you’re doing up my nails so neat and pretty when they’ll probably be chipped by this time tomorrow. Or probably before I leave here today. I never seem to be able to keep the polish on them for very long.

    I held up my hand. Jo-Jo had painted my short nails a deep, dark red that was definitely my color. If nothing else, it would help hide the blood that was sure to get on my hands the next time some idiot tried to murder me.

    Well, I have to agree with Jo-Jo, a light, lilting voice chimed in. I’d rather have your cooking than a manicure any day. This dark chocolate mousse pie is to die for, Gin.

    I looked to my right where my baby sister was eagerly digging her fork into a piece of said pie. Like me, Detective Bria Coolidge had dressed down today, in a pale blue T-shirt, gray cargo shorts, and brown sandals, although she was still beautiful, with her blond hair, rosy skin, and cornflower blue eyes. But just because Bria was off the clock didn’t mean that she wasn’t armed. I knew that her gun and her gold detective’s badge were stuffed into the oversize straw bag that she’d brought along, just like my knives were laid out on the buffet table within easy reach.

    Bria took another big bite of the pie and made the same sigh of contentment that Rosco had a minute ago. What all did you make besides the pie? she asked, her eyes going from one covered dish on the table to the next.

    Well, since it’s girls only today, I decided to go all out, I replied. There’s the dark chocolate mousse pie you are currently enjoying, along with some chocolate truffles, double-chocolate-chip cookies, and dark- and milk-chocolate-dipped strawberries, kiwis, pineapples, and mangoes.

    Bria gave me a wry grin. I’m sensing a chocolate theme.

    I returned her grin with one of my own. You might say that. But there’s some real food too, in case we get tired of dessert. Plus, Roslyn is bringing some fresh veggies from her garden.

    Jo-Jo glanced at the clock on the wall, which was shaped like a puffy cloud, her rune and the symbol for her Air magic. Where is Roslyn?

    Roslyn Phillips, another one of our friends, was also supposed to come to the salon today, along with Sophia Deveraux, Jo-Jo’s younger sister.

    Bria waved her fork in the air. She called me this morning and said that she’d be a little late, that we should go ahead and start without her.

    And you went for the food first. You’re picking up some of Finn’s bad habits, I teased. How was your date with him the other night?

    Bria’s fiery blush told me everything that I needed to know. I plead the Fifth, she murmured, and took another bite of pie.

    Well, when you’re finished with that, come over here, darling, and tell me what color you want on your nails, Jo-Jo said.

    My sister nodded, but her eyes were fixed on the glass cake stand that was filled with the chocolate-dipped fruit. Bria turned her attention back to the buffet, while Jo-Jo put the cap on the polish she’d used on my nails. She had started to lean over and put the bottle back into a tub with the others when she paused and frowned. She stared at the bottles of nail polish, but her eyes were cloudy and unfocused, as though she wasn’t really seeing what she was looking at.

    Jo-Jo? I asked. Is something wrong?

    The dwarf used her magic to heal wounds, but her power also gave her a bit of precognition, as it did with most Air elementals. While the stones whispered to me of all the things that people had done in a certain spot, the breeze whistled in Jo-Jo’s ear about all the things that folks might do in the future.

    Jo-Jo shook her head, making her soft, springy curls bounce around before they settled back into place. The cloudy, vacant look vanished from her eyes, although she put her hand up against her right temple and started massaging a small spot there, as if she suddenly had a headache.

    I can’t put my finger on it exactly, she said. I’ve just . . . I’ve had a bad feeling these past few days. Actually, it’s been more than a few days. More like ever since that mess at Briartop a couple of weeks ago.

    I grimaced. Jo-Jo was being kind. Mess didn’t adequately describe what had happened at the Briartop art museum, when a ruthless giant named Clementine Barker had decided to use her army of underlings to rob the exhibit of Mab Monroe’s loot—and try to murder me to boot.

    Of course, I’d killed good ole Clem and her gangster family, but my victories had come at a price: Jillian Delancey, the innocent woman who’d died because she’d had the bad, stupid, fatal luck to be wearing the same dress that I was wearing that night, causing one of Clementine’s men to mistake her for me and shoot her.

    Jo-Jo noticed me frowning, and she leaned over and patted my hand. Don’t worry, darling. It’s probably nothing. Sometimes I take these spells where it seems like something bad is going to happen at any second. Most of the time, it turns out to be nothing more than a little bit of heartburn. Despite her words, her clear eyes grew cloudy and troubled once again. I’ll just . . . I’ll be glad when Sophia’s here.

    Like Roslyn, Sophia was running a little late this morning, since she’d wanted to get rid of the two dead giants in the cooler. I’d given all the restaurant staff the day off with pay, so both Sophia and I could enjoy our time at the salon, and I’d told Sophia that the giants’ bodies could wait another day, or at least until after our salon time, but she had insisted that she was going to dispose of them this morning. Or maybe she was simply being practical. Odds were that someone else would jump me at the Pork Pit sometime in the next few days, and, well, that cooler could only hold so many bodies. As it was, Finn and I had had to pack the two giants in like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle just so we could close the lid.

    Sophia had disposed of dozens of bodies for me and for my mentor, Fletcher Lane, before I’d taken over the assassination business from the old man. She could handle two giants with her eyes blindfolded and one hand tied behind her back. But Jo-Jo looked so worried that I wrapped my hand around hers and gave it a gentle squeeze, careful not to smear the polish that she’d put on my nails.

    Do you want me to call Sophia and see where she’s at?

    Jo-Jo shook her head. No, that’s all right. Like I said, it’s probably just heartburn. I think I had one too many cups of Finn’s chicory coffee this morning. That stuff will knock your teeth plumb out of your mouth, it’s so strong.

    She gave me a chipper smile, grabbed the plastic tub, put it on her lap, and started sorting through the many bottles of polish. Jo-Jo held up first one pink, then another, trying to find one that she thought Bria might like, but the cheery colors did little to brighten my mood.

    Maybe it was the way Jo-Jo’s sculpted eyebrows were pinched together in worry, or maybe it was how quickly her smile slipped back into a frown when she thought that I wasn’t looking at her anymore. I couldn’t see the future like she did, but Jo-Jo had been right about too many things in the past for me to dismiss her dread as nothing more than caffeine overload. If she thought something ominous was gathering on the horizon, then no doubt, the wind was blowing storm clouds in our direction right now.

    *  *  *

    Despite my unease, the next half hour passed by in a blur of cheery conversation and good food. Jo-Jo opened one of the doors set into the back wall of the salon, and Rosco dutifully heaved himself to his feet and slowly waddled outside to do his doggy business. Bria finally finished her pie and sat down in my spot in the salon chair so Jo-Jo could do her nails while we waited for Roslyn and

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1