Heart of Venom

I still couldn’t tell whether the stranger was a man or woman. I was too far away, and the voice was too much of a low, smoky murmur.

I’d thought that Grimes would dress down the mystery person for his or her insolent tone and not-so-veiled threat, but the pleasant smile on his face tightened, his lips pulling back to show even more of his perfect teeth, as though he was grinding his molars together to keep the expression firmly in place. After a moment, he nodded.

“Of course.”

I frowned, wondering who this person was who could intimidate Grimes with only a few words, especially since I, with my knives and my killing spree of his men, didn’t seem to have had much of an impact. I tried to shift to one side, so I could get a better look at his mysterious guest, but a rough hand on my shoulder and a gun shoved against my spine made me stop.

Grimes’s answer must have satisfied the other person, because he or she didn’t say anything else. Grimes swept his fedora off his head and gave a low, elegant bow, but

I couldn’t see whether the other person returned the gesture with a polite nod of his or her own. Grimes turned, as if watching someone walk through the backyard. A second later, something creaked, like a fence gate being opened. Then . . . silence.

Grimes settled his hat on top of his head again, then strode inside the office and shut the double doors behind him.

Hazel looked at her brother. “Well?”

“There was a bit of . . . concern about all of the noise and commotion, and of course, we left the client waiting here in the house for far too long while we dealt with the situation,” Grimes said. “All of which I apologized profusely for, in addition to offering a discount for all of the worry, waiting, and trouble, so I think that I managed to salvage the deal.”

Hazel crossed her arms over her chest. “I told you that we should have waited until after this was done before you went after that haughty Deveraux bitch again.”

Grimes gave his sister a cold, chilling look. “And I told you that I wanted Sophia back as soon as possible—back here with me, where she belongs.”

Hazel’s nostrils flared, and her jaw tightened, but she didn’t argue with her brother any more. Still, it was obvious that she had no love for Sophia. I wondered why— well, beyond the obvious fact that she was a sadistic bitch.

Was Hazel jealous because Grimes was still so fixated on Sophia all these years later? Because he’d apparently spent months building a replica of Jo-Jo’s house for her to live in? Because he’d decided to bring her there despite the fact that it might jeopardize some big gun deal that the brother and sister had cooking? Or maybe it was a combination of all that and more. Grimes bringing Sophia in, even as his victim, would threaten the amount of time that he had for Hazel. Maybe that was why she liked torturing people so much, especially the young women Grimes kidnapped and brought here. Maybe Hazel didn’t want any competition for her brother’s attention—or anyone replacing her as queen of the mountain.

“Besides,” Grimes said, “it’s not my fault that our guest was left waiting. It’s hers.”

He pointed an accusing finger in my direction. All eyes turned to me, and I gave them all a cocky smile.

“Why, if I’d known that y’all had company, I wouldn’t have bothered killing your men up on the ridge,” I said.

“I would have come straight on over here and shown your guests exactly how hospitable I could be—along with the rest of you.”

Hazel stepped forward and backhanded me.

Pain exploded in my jaw, making every nerve ending in my face pulse with agony once more. White stars exploded in my vision again, and I rocked back on my feet, but I didn’t give her the satisfaction of stumbling. Instead,  I blinked away the spots, stared back at her, and slowly swiveled my head from side to side.

“Thanks,” I drawled. “My neck’s been killing me all day, but that cracked it just right for me.”

Hazel started forward to backhand me again, but Grimes cut in.

“Not now,” he said. “You’ll get your chance soon enough. I need some information from her first.”

“Fine,” Hazel muttered in a sullen tone. “We’ll do it like usual.”

I wondered what like usual was, but since it probably involved my screaming, bloody, torture-filled death, I didn’t dwell on it too much. I’d find out soon enough.

Grimes moved over and sat down behind his desk, leaning back in his cherry-red leather chair. Hazel went over and perched on the corner of the wood. She’d also changed her clothes sometime while I’d been unconscious and was now wearing another wrap dress in the same baby blue as Grimes’s suit and hat. She’d also stuck some different diamond pins, these shaped like small hearts, into her wavy black hair, although her lips were still the same bloody crimson as before.

In a bizarre way, the two of them seemed like two halves of a whole, yin and yang, with Grimes so strong and stocky and Hazel so tall and slender.

Hazel arranged the long skirt of her dress around her, as though she were some sweet Southern belle getting ready to host a genteel social, instead of the cruel, murderous psychopath that she was. She gave me a mocking smile. I ignored her and focused on Grimes. Despite how vicious Hazel was, he was the one in charge— even of her.

Grimes tipped his hat back from his forehead, leaned his elbows on his desk, and steepled his hands together, giving me a thoughtful look over the tops of his interlaced fingers. “Here’s how this is going to work,” he said. “You are going to answer my questions quickly and truthfully as soon as I ask them. Or there will be consequences.”

“What sort of consequences?”

He gave me a thin smile. “I’ll let Hazel use her Fire magic on you again.”

“Oh, yes,” Hazel purred in delight. “And Harley won’t make me hold back this time like he did up on the ridge.”

I threw back my head and laughed at her threat.

Smoke wisped out from between Hazel’s clenched fists, and her brown eyes darkened with the fury of her Fire magic. She didn’t like me mocking her. Too damn bad.

A minute passed, then another, and I kept right on laughing. Finally, when my ribs started to ache even more than they already had been, I let the last cold, mirthless chuckle die on my lips.

“Oh, sugar,” I drawled. “I’ve been roasted, toasted, and tortured by some of the strongest, most vicious elementals this little corner of the world has ever seen. Not to mention all of the vampires, giants, dwarves, and regular folks who’ve gotten their hands on me over the years. Hell, I faced down Mab fucking Monroe herself and lived to tell the tale. Yeah, you’re strong in your Fire magic, and so is your brother there, but you’re nothing compared with Mab, nothing. So I’d stop bragging and patting yourself on the back. You haven’t earned it. You haven’t earned a damn thing, especially not my fear.”

Red splotches of anger bloomed like roses on Hazel’s cheeks, and more smoke boiled up from her fists, even blacker than before. If she’d been a cartoon character, matching clouds of steam would have been screeching  out of her ears by this point.

“careful, careful,” I mocked. “You wouldn’t want to singe that pretty dress of yours. Oh, wait. That’s right.

You only like doing that to other women. Or do you boil the clothes off all of the young men you kidnap before you kill them too?”

Fury flashed in her eyes again, but she slowly unclenched her hands, scooted off the corner of the desk, and stood up.

“Make her start talking, Harley,” Hazel snarled. “Right now. Or I will.”

I airily waved my burned, bruised, bloody hand at her.

“Oh, there’s no need to fret, now, sugar. I don’t have any problem telling you why I’m here.”

“And why are you here, exactly?” Grimes asked.

I stared at him. “I’m here because Fletcher Lane sent me.”

Apparently, that wasn’t the answer he’d been expecting, because Grimes’s hands slid off his desk and into