Black Widow (37 page)

My friends watched too, torn between cheering me on and worrying about whether I was going to survive. But they didn't interfere. I'd asked them not to, explained all
the many reasons why I needed to face Madeline myself, and they'd reluctantly agreed. Besides, they couldn't have gotten between me and the acid elemental now, not without dying in the cross fire.

But they weren't the only ones who were worried—so was I.

We'd only been fighting a few minutes, but I'd already used up most of my magic, more than I'd wanted to. Plan A had been to kill Madeline outright with my own power, but that wasn't going to work. Time to change tactics.

So when Madeline raised her hands again, I charged at her. She flung a ball of acid at me, but I managed to sidestep it and get in close enough to slam my fist into her jaw. That made the crowd roar.

Me too, since my hand exploded in agony the second that my skin touched hers.

It wasn't any real pain from the punch. I'd thrown more than enough of those in my time to be accustomed to that sharp, smacking sting. No, this was much, much worse. Too late, I realized that not only could Madeline create acid, but that, in a way, her skin was
coated
with the caustic power that she could control. So much for my Plan B of beating and strangling her to death with my bare hands.

I screamed and lurched back, clutching my hand to my chest. That only made the crowd cheer louder.

Madeline's eyes glittered with sly satisfaction. “What's the matter, Gin? Can't use your usual tricks on me? I bet you really wish that you had one of your little knives right now, seeing as how you can't so much as touch me without your flesh melting off your bones.”

I shook my hand, as if that would get rid of the burning sensation and the angry red blisters that had formed across my knuckles. “I don't need a knife to kill you—”

She jerked her hand, flinging acid at me in a quick sneak attack, aiming at my eyes and trying to blind me. I whipped my head to the side and reached for my Stone magic, wondering if that would work any better than my Ice power had. The hard shell of my skin kept the acid from destroying my vision, and it even kept the green drops from blistering my skin.

But it didn't keep it from hurting like hell.

The drops were small, little more than a faint spatter of rain against my left cheek, but Madeline's magic slammed into my own like a red-hot sledgehammer, scorching through all the many layers of Stone power that I'd brought to bear. My skin might be hard as a rock, but even acid could corrode a stone, and that's what Madeline's power was doing to my skin. So I sent out a quick blast of Ice magic, freezing the drops and then cracking them off my face. That got rid of the acid, but the caustic feel lingered, the scorching pain so intense that black and white spots winked on and off in my field of vision, even though none of the acid had actually gotten into my eyes.

Madeline surged forward and punched me in the jaw, putting some of her giant strength into the blow. That was bad enough, but the worst part was that her skin touched mine, and her acid magic washed over me again.

Once again, I screamed and staggered away from her—and right into Emery's waiting arms.

Even though she wasn't supposed to interfere, the
giant's arms clamped around me like a vise, squeezing, squeezing tight. Emery knew that a cracked rib could puncture my lung and kill me as easily as Madeline's magic could.

I threw my head back in a desperate, half-assed head-butt, and it surprised Emery enough to get her to loosen her grip. But before I could slither away, the giant twisted my left arm, and I yelped in pain as she dislocated my shoulder with that one great, heaving wrench. More delighted jeers rang out from the crowd. They'd be perfectly happy if Emery tore me to pieces.

Suddenly, Sophia was there, shoving Emery away and making the giant land on her ass on the floor. Sophia grabbed me, holding me up while I tried to focus through the pain.

“Okay?” she rasped. “Your shoulder?”

“Put it back into place,” I snarled. “Do it. Now.”

Sophia nodded, her black eyes locked with my gray ones. She reached out and wrenched on my shoulder. I yelped, but at least I could feel my arm again. I opened and closed my fingers, making as tight a fist as I could before releasing it, trying to shake off the lingering shock and discomfort of the dislocated joint.

By this point, Emery had gotten back up onto her feet. The giant glared at Sophia, but the dwarf simply stepped in front of me, crossed her arms over her chest, and gave her a flat stare.

“Don't worry,” Sophia rasped, still glaring at Emery. “She won't interfere again.”

I nodded, staggered back out into the middle of the dance floor, and faced Madeline again.

“What's the matter, Gin?” she crowed. “Feeling a little . . . out of joint?”

She snickered, and several folks in the crowd howled with laughter.

“Kind of sad, Maddie. You always getting other people to do your dirty work. I'm beginning to think that you just can't kill me yourself.”

“You want to see what I'm truly capable of, Gin?” Madeline said, her voice chillingly soft. “Let me show you.”

She reared back and tossed a ball of acid at me, larger than any of the ones before. I could feel the corrosive power emanating from the pulsing green mass, so I did the smart thing and ducked out of the way instead of trying to block it with my own magic. The ball of acid sailed through the air over my head and slammed into the middle of the staircase. The ivory carpet disintegrated, and the stone shrieked with agony as the acid spattered all over its slick, glossy surface and began to eat right through the marble.

And the same thing was going to happen to me unless I found a way to stop it.

Madeline threw another ball of acid at me. Then another, then another, as though we were playing a game of dodgeball. Acid splattered everywhere. On the dance floor, on the stairs, even on some unlucky folks in the crowd. More than one person ripped off their tuxedo jacket or tore at the skirt of their dress, shucking out of their clothes before the acid started eating into their skin.

I ducked Madeline's attacks again and again, my mind whirring, trying to figure out how I could best block her
magic without completely depleting my own power. My thoughts turned back to the one other time I'd been exposed to Madeline's magic—when Beauregard Benson had made me swallow one of the Burn pills that contained her power. Madeline's acid magic had been the secret ingredient in the addictive drug, and it had almost cost me my life, since my inherent power had reacted so badly, so violently, to hers. I'd only survived the drug by using my Ice magic to numb my body from the inside out and block its effects. I could try to do that again now, but I didn't know if it would work. Because the Burn pill—the entire batch of pills—had only contained a few drops of Madeline's blood, and right now, she was unloading on me with everything she had.

I didn't know if I was strong enough to end her outright, but I had to try.

So I reached for my Ice magic, directing it outward, until I could feel the cold crystals of my power coating my skin like a web of snow. I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the terrace doors, and it occurred to me that I looked like the proverbial ice queen come to life. My skin shimmered with an almost silver-blue glow from where my own magic was shielding me. I just hoped that it was enough.

I dodged Madeline's latest blast of acid and stepped forward, determined to tackle her and beat her head against the marble floor until her skull cracked open and she bled out. But she was quicker than I was, and she snapped up her hands again before I could launch myself at her. But she didn't create another ball of acid or fling more drops in my direction.

No, this time her hands erupted into
flames
.

A shocked gasp escaped my lips, and I froze in my tracks, my eyes widening at the flickering green flames dancing across her fingertips. But more disturbing than that, I realized that she'd been sandbagging me this whole time, using just enough of her power to fool me into thinking that we were evenly matched and that I could actually defeat her with my own raw strength. Now she was finally letting me feel the full extent of her magic, and I realized just how much of it she truly had.

Madeline hadn't been lying.

The bitch was even stronger than Mab had been.

More important, she was stronger than
me
.

Once again, I'd underestimated her. Even as I'd sprung my trap by challenging her to a duel, Madeline had already started to outmaneuver me again. She'd only been playing with me before, testing the limits of my power and my response to her acid magic, but now—now she was going in for the kill.

27

I wasn't the only one who could feel Madeline's power. Everyone could see the acidic green flames burning, burning bright on her hands, and all the other elementals in the room—including Bria, Sophia, Jo-Jo, and Owen—could sense her strength as well. I didn't have to look at my friends' faces to know that they were as shocked as I was.

Madeline let out a delighted peal of laughter at the horrified expression on my face. “What's the matter, Gin? Not quite what you were expecting?”

“You are strong,” I admitted. “Probably the strongest elemental I've ever faced. Certainly stronger than Mab was. Why, I imagine that you could burn this entire mansion to the ground with your acid flames, if you wanted to.”

Madeline gave a modest shrug, causing the flames to cast an eerie green glow onto her face. “Well, that would have been one way to get the remodeling done a bit
quicker, wouldn't it? Maybe I'll take your advice and do that. Just destroy the whole damn thing and start fresh—after I'm finished with you.”

She drew her hands back, then shoved the acid flames at me. Once again, she was quicker than I was, and all I could do was stand there and take the full, brute force of her magic.

The flames washed over me, searing through all the Ice crystals that I'd coated my skin with, and forcing me to reach for my Stone power to harden my skin just to keep Madeline from incinerating me on the spot. Even then, the pain was intense, but I gritted my teeth and endured it. I even tried pushing back with my own magic, throwing my Ice power at her time and time again, but the acid flames gobbled it up before the cold could so much as nip at her fingers.

I was losing—badly.

Good thing it was all part of Plan C.

Madeline kept throwing and throwing her magic at me, in wave after hot, caustic wave, and it was all I could do to stay upright. But I held my ground. I might be losing now, but I was going to kill her in the end.

All because of Madeline's vanity.

I looked past the roaring green fire of her magic at her crown-and-flame necklace. The emerald seemed to almost be glowing with the same power that was coating her fingers, and the gold chain glimmered like a strand of sunshine around her throat.

I focused on that shiny band, reminding myself that I'd already won. Because her necklace was made out of
gold
—not silverstone.

Pretty is as pretty does, and as expensive as that necklace was, it might as well have been tinfoil wrapped around her throat for all the good it truly did her, along with her matching ring. Because they were both gold, which meant that they couldn't hold any of Madeline's power, and she wasn't wearing any other jewelry.

But I was—and mine was all
silverstone
.

My spider rune ring rested on my right index finger, while my spider rune necklace was nestled in the hollow of my throat—and both of them were filled to the brim with my Ice and Stone magic.

Madeline didn't have any extra reserves of magic like I did. All the power she had, all the acid she was using, was what was naturally in her body. To be sure, it was impressive, certainly more raw magic than I had, but it wasn't going to be
enough
.