Page 32 (1/2)

Through it all, I held on totoher here shackled to me so that she couldn’t hurt Bria any ood

While her lightning crackled around me, Elektra also used her free hand to hit ht fist into my face, my chest, and every other part of ic, I didn’t feel any of the blows Not a one

Still, I had to do soic, and I didn’t know if it would be before or after Elektra ran out of juice herself Somehow I pushed her away as far as I could, then rolled over ontoElektra with ht my eye, and I stared down My left hand was open, and the spider rune scar on ht in the coal h the block of the silverstone oal-the silverstone knife that I’d slapped away from Elektra The only one I had left But the only proble able to feel my body was that I seemed to have zero control over it as well It was like I was floating aboveall this happen to so able to affect the outcooing to get it, nuers harder than I had ever looked at anything in aze, to curl up, to just twitch

And soh I couldn’t feel theers move, just by the sheer force ofthe rest of ertip on the weapon, then another, then another All the while, LaFleur kept hitting nored her the way a dog would a flea juht now Getting onizing seconds later, er I ined it but I could have sworn that I felt the spider rune staic that was even colder thanto fryone last ti

And then I rolled back over and shoved the knife into her side

It was an aard blow and certainly not one of ether Fletcher would have shaken his head sadly atwould, if you put enough h I couldn’t feel my arms, I knew that I’d driven the knife into her with everything I had

Just because my body was nus-like Elektra LaFleur’s howl of rage The wounds in her foot and shoulder ht not have slowed her down much, but a knife in the stoiven just how deep I’d shoved it into her For the first time, real, raw pain filled her voice

More iic The green lightning flashing around our bodies vanished in a shower of sparks, as though a firecracker had just exploded over our heads I’d hurt her bad But I didn’t stop, not even for a second Even though I still couldn’t feel ers even, somehow I pulled out the knife

And this time, I buried it in the bitch’s heart

Elektra let out a final shriek Her body convulsed once, twice, three tiic intoflashed around us once ravel Elektra’s final death blow Then her liht drained out of her body

We were still shackled together, with me now on top of her I stared down into her pale, shocked face

"You knohat, Elektra?" I rasped through my cold, numb, dead lips "You should have killed me the second you had the chance Instead, you talked yourself to death, you arrogant bitch Just like your brother Brutus did"

I don’t know if she heardfinally flashed, flickered, and faded from her eyes, and she was still

Chapter 28

When I was sure that Elektra LaFleur was dead, I let go ofthrough the cold nuht now I flopped over onto iven the handcuffs that still bound us together The ic, but the cuffs hadn’t coers, and I turned ht

Elektra LaFleur’s orchid, the one she’d planned on dropping on round next toour fight A breeze whistled through the train yard, ruffling the delicate white petals I shuddered and turned away fro the waves of pain, and watching the green-gray smoke puff up froht sky

But I couldn’t rest yet Not until I’d checked on Bria Not until I knehetherto wonder Just as I started to force ravel behind me, and a second later, Bria’s face ca with a few scrapes and bruises frogy blond hair was a static-charged mess One of her blue eyes twitched, and similar spasms zipped down her throat and into the rest of her body, htly But other than that, she was fine She’d just been jolted by Elektra’s h of relief My sister was fine for one h hile, including the pain that kept flooding ritted my teeth and pushed it away as best I could

"Are you all right?" Bria asked in a soft voice

Her gaze locked onto theup from my body I could smell it, of course But for once, the acrid stench didn’t bother er any old, unwanted memories Maybe that’s because I was still alive and LaFleur wasn’t

"I’h for now Help aveposition Despite nore the pain froet my breath back My wrist was also still cuffed to LaFleur’s, and her arht, in every sense of the word Elektra’s green eyes stared sightlessly up into the night sky Blood still oozed from the stab wounds on her chest and stomach, and the warm, coppery scent of it filled h to make another Ice pick so that I could unshackle myself from her dead body I just sat there and stared dully at the handcuffs

"Let me help you with those"

Bria , because she held out her hand and reached for her own Ice ht flickered in her palm, and the familiar caress of her ele breeze, washing away the static reic made my injuries, my pain inside and out, just a little easier to bear It felt so good, so right that it made me want to weep

A second later, Bria had two Ice picks in her hand that looked identical to the ones that I’d ht She crouched down beside me and went to work on the handcuffs It took her a couple of minutes and a few soft curses, but eventually the silverstone clinked open, and LaFleur’s dead arround to join the rest of her

Bria sat back on her heels, crouching there in the cold beside me She stared at me, then at the dead assassin besidein her eyes-or ht Maybe I was just afraid of what I would see

"What are you going to do now?" I asked