grind together—just like my teeth were doing. My gray I grimaced. Jo-Jo had been the one who’d given me eyes burned into her light ones. “You know, don’t you?
the folder about my murdered family two months ago You know why he compiled that information.”
soon after Fletcher’s funeral. The dwarf had told me to Jo-Jo tilted her head. “I have some ideas.”
come talk to her about the information when I was ready.
“Care to share?” I asked in a sarcastic tone. Something else I hadn’t done yet.
The dwarf shook her head. “It’s not my place. This is
“What’s there to talk about?” I shrugged. “For some between you and Fletcher.”
reason, Fletcher Lane knew who I really was all along,
“He’s dead.”
and he never said a word to me about it. Instead, he spent
“Doesn’t mean he still can’t speak to you,” Jo-Jo said. his free time compiling all the info he could on my dead
“All you have to do is be willing to listen.”
family, like I was another one of his targets. Some hit he I opened my mouth to tell her to cut out the cryptic was trying to figure out how to do. The old man gives the talk, that it was a little hard to have a conversation with folder to you, then gets murdered before he can tell me someone who was buried six feet under. But Finn chose about it—or what the hell he wanted me to do with the that moment to stroll into the salon. He jangled his car information. I don’t see what we have to discuss.”
keys in his hand.
Jo-Jo stared at me. “Your sister, for starters.”
“You ready?” Finn asked.
I snorted. “oh yes, my baby sister, Bria, who I find out I glanced at him. “Sophia cleaned the blood out of the is alive after thinking she was dead for seventeen years.”
back of the Aston already? How the hell did she do that?”
“I can understand why you feel hurt, why you feel like
“Soap, water, and some dwarven elbow grease,” Finn Fletcher betrayed you. But family is everything, Gin,” the replied. “That woman’s a genius. Smells and looks just dwarf said in a soft voice. “Whether it’s the one you’re born like it did the day I got it.”
into or the one you make for yourself. Bria is your blood, There were only so many things you could do with your sister, and she’s alive. You can’t just ignore that.”
soap and water. I didn’t think getting blood out of leather
“Fletcher left me a picture of her, but he didn’t tell me was one of them. I looked at Jo-Jo, who gave me a guilehow to find her. Where she’s at, what she’s even like now. less grin I didn’t buy for a minute. I loved the two dwarven Kind of sloppy of him to omit that information, don’t sister, but the longer I was around Jo-Jo and Sophia Deyou think?” I snapped. veraux, the more I realized I didn’t know anything about
“Fletcher Lane never did anything he didn’t mean to,”
them. Not really. Not anything that seemed to matter, Jo-Jo said. “He left you that picture for a reason. You’ll like the truth. Just as I hadn’t seemed to know the real understand why one day.”
Fletcher Lane, either.
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You ready?” Finn asked again.
stomach until it felt as hard as the brick of the restaurant I stared at Jo-Jo a moment longer, then turned to him. around me.
“Yeah. Let’s get out of here.”
“He’s late,” I said in a soft voice.
“Don’t be a worrywart, Gin,” a teenage voice sneered be- Finn dropped me off at Fletcher’s house, agreed to meet hind me. “He always comes back.”
me at the Pork Pit tomorrow, then headed back to his I stopped my chopping and turned to look at Finnegan apartment in the city. I checked the gravel in the driveway Lane. At fifteen, Finn was two years older than me, with a and the granite around the front door, using my Stone mop of dark brown hair and eyes that reminded me of wet magic to listen for disturbances. But all the stones gave grass. He was tall, with a solid chest that was already filling off their usual low, quiet vibrations. No visitors today. out. Nothing like my long, gangly, spider-thin arms and legs. But I always checked. Even in my retirement, I Finn perched on a stool in front of the cash register and couldn’t afford to lower my guard, especially not now sucked up the last dregs of the triple chocolate milkshake I’d with this mess with Jake McAllister going on. Because made him. Finn didn’t like me much, seeing me as competi- Jake had been royally pissed when the cops had dragged tion for his widowed father’s time, attention, and affection. him away the other night. I had no doubt he was think I’d hoped my small bribe would at least make him tolerable ing about what he could do to hurt me, to get me to drop while we waited for Fletcher. It had worked. Finn had been the charges against him. After all, he’d been ready to fry too busy gulping down the rich, sweet concoction to mock me. me with his Fire elemental magic just for what was in For a change.
the cash register. Torture and murder wasn’t a big leap to It had been three months since Fletcher Lane had taken make from there. Whether Jake actually made a run at me me in, and my life had become as normal as it was ever going or not was still up in the air. But I’d be ready either way. to get. During the day, I attended school under the name Gin It wasn’t that late, but it had been a hell of a day. So I Blanco, catching up on what I’d missed while I’d been liv- took a shower, threw on a pair of pajamas, and went to ing on the streets and hiding from the Fire elemental who’d bed. I fell asleep almost immediately, and sometime later, murdered my family. After school, I came straight to the Pork the dream began . . .
Pit to help Fletcher cook and clean and earn my keep. He I stood in the Pork Pit, chopping onions to add to tomor- might be putting a roof over my head, but I was determined row’s baked beans. Despite the harsh, stinging aroma, my to work for it as much as I could. Not a glamorous life by eyes didn’t water. I never cried. Not anymore. Not since my any means, and nothing like the soft, warm comfort I’d had family had been murdered. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t before, but it had a thin illusion of safety. Something I ap- worry. My eyes flicked up to the clock on the wall: 10:05. A preciated now more than ever.
minute later than the last time I’d looked. Fear tightened my Only one thing bothered me—Fletcher’s late-night jaunts. Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 132-133
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About once a month, he’d disappear. Sometimes for a few He was a giant, almost two feet taller than me, with a hours, other times for a few days. He never said where he wide, stout chest that reminded me of an iron park bench went or what he did, and I didn’t ask. But I knew blood when turned sideways. His black hair ringed his scalp like an up- I saw it, and Fletcher was often covered with it. Fresh, sticky, side-down bowl, while a curly goatee covered his square chin. wet blood. Spattered all over his clothes, as though he’d just
“I told you . . . Douglas,” Fletcher rasped. “I don’t . . . killed someone. Something else I knew about, even at thirteen. kill . . . kids . . . ever.”
My eyes drifted back to the clock: 10:07. Fletcher had
“You should have made an exception. Because now you’re vanished as soon as I’d come in this afternoon, saying he’d be the one who’s going to die.”
back by seven, more than three hours ago. He’d never been Douglas slammed his booted foot into Fletcher’s side. this late before. What would I do if he didn’t come back?
Fletcher groaned and coughed up more blood. I gasped. The Where would I go? Back on the streets most likely, begging giant’s hazel eyes snapped up to me, settling on my nonexis- for food, clothes, and shelter once more. My stomach twisted tent chest.
a little tighter—
“Well, well.” He smacked his lips. “Hello, pr
etty girl. We’ll The front door of the restaurant jerked open, making the have some fun when I get through over here.”
bell chime. My heart lifted. A moment later, a pair of long
“Leave her alone,” Fletcher said. “She’s just a kid.”
arms tossed Fletcher Lane inside. He flew through the air, hit Fletcher tried to get up, but Douglas leaned down and a table, flopped off it, and landed hard. Fletcher groaned and punched him in the face. I heard his jaw crack across the coughed. His blood flecked all over the clean floor I’d spent room, and he fell back to the floor with a sharp grunt of pain. the afternoon mopping.
Finn still hadn’t moved from where he’d fallen. I clamped a Another man stepped inside the Pork Pit, closed the door hand over my mouth to keep from screaming. behind him, and turned around. Even above the roaring in
“You know,” Douglas said, rolling up his shirtsleeves. “I’m my ears, I could still hear the bolt click home. Locking us in. going to enjoy beating you to death, Lane. It’s been a while
“Dad!” Finn yelled.
since I’ve gotten my hands good and bloody.”
Finn started toward his injured father, but the man My stomach lurched, and for a moment, I thought I might stepped in front of Fletcher’s prone form and backhanded vomit. My mother, my older sister, Annabella, my baby sister, Finn. The teenager flew across the room. He too hit a table, Bria. In the last few months, I’d lost everyone I’d ever cared bounced off, slid to the floor, and was still. I stood behind the about. I couldn’t lose Fletcher too. I just couldn’t. He’d been counter, eyes wide, not believing this was really happening. the only person who’d shown me any kindness, any compas- Not now. Not again. Please, please, not again. sion. He was the only one left who cared whether I lived or
“You should have taken the job, Lane,” the strange man died.
growled.
But what could I do? Douglas wouldn’t stop until Fletcher Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 134-135
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was dead—or he was. He’d said as much, and Fletcher was My aim must have been better than I’d thought, be- in no position to fight back. Not now. cause Douglas’s hazel eyes bulged in surprise and pain. But In that moment, I knew what I had to do if I wanted to he didn’t go down. He staggered back. I kept my grip on save Fletcher, if I wanted to save myself and the fragile little the knife, and it slid free from his chest. Blood coated my bubble of life, of normalcy, of security, that I’d built at the fingers like hot grease, burning my skin. I wanted to drop Pork Pit.
the weapon. Oh, how I wanted to drop it. I might have, if My gray eyes skipped down to the knife I still clutched, Douglas hadn’t started laughing.
the one I’d been chopping onions with. A strange calm settled
“Stupid bitch,” he said. “You think one little stab wound over me, and my fingers tightened around the handle until is going to stop me? I’ll enjoy making you pay for that.”
the stainless steel imprinted itself over the silverstone spider He came at me again, fist drawn back, but I didn’t hesi- rune scar on my palm.
tate. Before he could hit me, I lurched forward and stabbed
“Leave him alone,” I said and dropped the knife below him again. I felt the blade slide off something in his chest. the counter, out of the giant’s line of sight. A rib, maybe, or some other bone. The sensation made me Douglas stopped rolling up his sleeves long enough to stare want to retch.
at me. “What did you say, little girl?”
Douglas screamed again, louder this time, and his beefy I drew in a breath. “I said leave him alone, you fat, ugly, hand tangled in my brown hair, yanking my head back until cow-faced bastard.”
I thought my neck would break. Out of the corner of my eye, Douglas’s eyes narrowed. “Well, aren’t you a feisty one? A I saw the glitter of yellowish fangs in his mouth. A vampire. shame you’re going to die so young—and so painfully.”
He was a giant, and he was vampire. One who wanted to The giant stepped over Fletcher and started toward me. drink my blood to replace his own.
Fletcher reached out, trying to stop him, but he was too weak Panic filled me. Before he could sink his teeth into my and injured to hold onto the bigger, stronger man. I stayed neck, I wrested the knife out of his massive chest and plunged where I was behind the counter and moved my right arm it into his body again.
behind my leg, hiding the knife. Douglas came around the And again.
counter and reached for me.
And again.
His left hand grabbed my shoulder, yanking me toward Over and over I stabbed him, blood and tears and mucus him. Something wrenched in my arm, and pain exploded in covering me like a second skin. Someone was screaming. Me. my body. His right fist was already drawing back to hit me. Douglas let go of my hair and slid to the floor, but I didn’t Somehow, I pushed the pain away, gulped down a breath, stop my assault. He kicked out, catching my leg. My knee lunged forward, and slammed the knife into his chest as hard buckled, and I stumbled back, grabbing the edge of the cash and deep as I could.
register for support. My shoulder burned with pain, just like Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 136-137
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my palms had when the Fire elemental who’d murdered my of my eyes. My psych professor at the community college family had tortured me by making me hold onto my own would have said the dreams, the flashes of my past, were spider rune medallion. The giant vampire flopped on his my psyche’s way of dealing with the trauma. of heal stomach and crawled around the counter. Some small part of ing. Quack. To me, the dreams, the memories, were tir my mind realized that he wasn’t fighting me anymore, that ing trials, like Marley’s ghost rattling his heavy chains at he was actually trying to get away from me. Scrooge. I’d lived through the events once already. I didn’t But I still went after him.
need the Technicolor replay at night.
I threw myself onto his back and plunged the knife in And I certainly didn’t need to dwell on them now. between his shoulder blades. With my weight behind it, the So I crawled into bed, snuggled back into the warm weapon sank up to the hilt in his flesh. This time, Douglas spot underneath the flannel sheets, and forced myself to didn’t scream. Something seemed to give in his body, and he relax. To let my body sink into the mattress. To unclench stilled. I raised the knife and stabbed him again—
my jaw, uncurl my fists, and forget about the night I’d so Rough hands settled on my shoulders. I flailed against brutally killed a man inside the Pork Pit. one of many. them, but they were stronger, pinning my arms to my sides. But despite my best efforts, it was still a long, long He pulled me close to his chest, and the smell of chicory cof- time before I drifted off to sleep once more. fee washed over me, penetrating the coppery stench of fresh blood.
“It’s over, Gin,” Fletcher said in my ear. “It’s over. He’s dead. You can quit stabbing him.”
Fletcher crooned soft words into my ear, still cradling me in his arms. The knife slipped from my cramping hand and clattered onto the floor—
The sound might have only been in my dream, but its sharp echo woke me. So suddenly, that I was standing in the middle of my bedroom headed for the door before I realized it was only a dream, another one of my ugly memories manifesting itself. For a moment, I felt that hysterical rage burning through me, that gut-deep, primal need to survive no matter what the cost or consequences. The instinct that had dictated so much of my life. I sighed and rubbed the gritty crud out of the corners Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 138-139
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powerful, corrupt lawyer in his own right, but he must have had more influence than I’d realized, if he could convince people to stay away from the Pork Pit two days 13
in a row. I wondered how long the lawyer could keep up the pressure—and what
I could do about it. other than kill the bastard. Which would only cause more problems for me, in the end.
“Did you send everyone home with pay already?” I asked. “Is that why there’s nobody here but you?”
“Um-mmm.” Sophia’s grunt for yes.
The Goth dwarf started stirring the dressing into a mound of chopped green and purple cabbage and carrots, even though there wasn’t going to be anyone around to eat it. A shame, really.
“This is getting to be an annoying occurrence,” I said. Finn wasn’t due to show up for a few more minutes, so Just before noon the next day, I stood in the storefront I decided to fix myself a plate of food while I waited. Noof the Pork Pit. once more, the restaurant was as empty body else was going to be clamoring for barbecue today. as a church on Saturday night, except for Sophia DeverA barbecue beef sandwich, baked beans, iced blackberry aux, who was at the back counter mixing white vinegar, tea, some coleslaw from the dwarf’s metal vat. I took my sugar, mayonnaise, and black pepper to make the dressing food and sat at one of the tables in the middle of the resfor a batch of coleslaw. The Goth dwarf had lightened taurant, so I could watch for Finn coming down the street up her wardrobe a bit today. Instead of her usual black and still talk to Sophia.
T-shirt, she wore one that was blood red—and decorated I was halfway through my food when the bell over the with lacy cutouts of white coffins. The collar around her front door chimed. I looked up, expecting to see Finn. neck resembled a thick garnet snake, with chunky square The man wore an impeccable business suit and polished rhinestones for scales.
wingtips, but that’s where his resemblance to Finnegan My eyes flicked over the empty booths, the abandoned Lane ended.
tables, the deserted stools. Normally, Wednesday was a His gunmetal gray hair was parted on the side, with busy day, with people coming in to get their midweek a thick doo-wop that curled up, down, and around his barbecue fix. But not today. I knew Jonah McAllister was forehead like a scoop of vanilla soft serve. Given the gray Mab Monroe’s number two guru, that he was a slick, hair, I would have put his age at around sixty. But he had Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 140-141