Footsteps padded in the hallway behind me, and Jo-Jo came to stand beside me in the doorway, her perfume filling my nose with its soft scent.

Salina might pretend to be a genteel Southern lady, but Jolene "Jo-Jo" Deveraux was the real deal. She wore one of her many pink flowered dresses topped off by her usual string of pearls. Everything about her whispered of feminine poise, from the white-blond hair that was artfully curled over her forehead to the perfect makeup that softened the lines of her face to the effortless way she seemed to glide as she walked. Jo-Jo might have recently turned two hundred fifty-seven, but she was aging gracefully.

"How long have they been like this?" I asked her.

Jo-Jo glanced at a clock that was shaped like her puffy cloud rune, mounted on the back wall. "Ten minutes now. Apparently, Finn wants to kill Salina as soon as he can find her, while Owen at least wants to see if she'll surrender peaceably."

I was of the same mind Finn was, but I could understand where Owen was coming from. He'd once loved Salina, had wanted to marry her. It was hard to let go of those feelings, even now, when he knew exactly what she'd become - or maybe what she'd always been.

I might understand, yes, but that didn't mean that I wasn't seriously pissed about it. The bitch had tried to kill me - Cooper too - and yet here Owen was, still trying to protect her. What was wrong with him? Anger surged through me, along with doubt, worry, and fear. Not so much that Salina might kill me, but that she was going to be the death of me and Owen - of us. Try as I might, I just couldn't shake the feeling that Owen and I were headed for disaster, courtesy of Salina - and what I was planning to do to her.

At the sound of Jo-Jo's footsteps, Rosco peered in our direction, hoping she had a treat for him. The basset hound gave a happy woof at the sight of me, and his tail thumped against the side of his basket. Then he turned in Finn and Owen's direction and let out a low whine. Their argument had interrupted Rosco's nap, and it was obvious he wanted them to shut up so he could get back to it, pronto. Couldn't blame him for that. I'd only been in the room a minute, and their sharp voices had already given me a headache.

"Enough," I said.

Finn and Owen kept arguing, with Eva occasionally putting in her two cents for good measure. Cooper sat silent. I looked at him, and he shrugged his shoulders.

"Enough!" I repeated, raising my voice.

Finn and Owen were too intent on yelling at each other to hear me, so I did something Sophia had taught me - I put my fingers between my lips and let out a loud, earsplitting whistle. That got them to shut up and look at me in surprise.

"Morning, boys," I drawled.

For a moment, the two of them just stared at me. Finn recovered first. He usually did.

"I'm not sure how much of that you heard, but he" - Finn stabbed his finger at Owen - "actually wants to give that water elemental bitch a chance to explain herself. Apparently, he wants to know exactly why she tried to kill you, other than the fact that she's just mean as a snake and bat-shit crazy to boot."

Owen bristled. "That wasn't my point at all, and you know it."

Finn glared at my lover, but Owen ignored him and looked at me.

"My point was that Salina needs help," he said in a quiet voice. "She wasn't always the way . . . she is now. I want to at least give her a chance to do the right thing."

I thought the right thing for Salina involved stabbing her repeatedly with one of my knives and then slitting her throat for good measure, but I wasn't going to tell Owen that.

"Why don't you all leave us alone for a few minutes?" I said. "Owen and I have some things we need to discuss."

Finn shot Owen another hot glare, but he stormed out of the salon. Eva got to her feet and followed him, with Kincaid trailing along behind her. Cooper stood as well, walked across the room, and held his arm out to Jo-Jo, who blushed a little.

"My, what a gentleman you are," Jo-Jo said in a soft voice.

"I do try," Cooper said. "Especially with a pretty lady who saved my life."

Jo-Jo blushed a little more at that. So she had healed Cooper with her Air magic too. Good. I was glad that Owen's mentor was okay, although I didn't know quite what to make of his shameless flirting with her.

Jo-Jo saw me looking at them and grinned. She let out a low whistle, and Rosco lurched up out of his basket and trotted after her, in hopes of getting a treat after all. Cooper leaned down to pet the dog, then the three of them set off down the hallway.

Bria stood up and came over to me. My sister gave me a critical once-over, then leaned forward and hugged me.

"I'm glad you're okay," she whispered.

I tightened my arms and returned her hug. "Me too."

She drew back. "What do you want to do about Salina? Cooper said he'd press charges against her, so I can arrest her for what she did to him."

I didn't want Bria anywhere near Salina and her magic, but I knew my sister was just trying to do her job. "I appreciate that, and I'm sure Cooper does too, but let me talk to Owen first, okay?"

She nodded, hugged me again, and left the salon.

Once she was gone, I shut the door for privacy. Then I turned to face my lover.

"So," I said. "Salina."

"Yeah, Salina."

Owen ran a hand through his hair and started pacing back and forth. I walked over, sat down in one of the padded chairs, and watched him. Waiting, just waiting, for him to let me in, to tell me exactly what was going on inside his head and his heart too - and wondering whether or not I'd like what he had to say.

I wondered if this was how Owen had felt when I'd seen Donovan again. If he'd felt the same ugly pressure in his chest, the same paralyzing fear, the same sharp, niggling worry that the harder I tried to hold on to him, the faster I was losing him to Salina.

Not only was she stunningly beautiful and strong in her magic, but she was sly. To Owen, Salina had always presented a sweet, innocent, beguiling face, at least until today, but to everyone else, she had eventually showed her true, deadly nature. It was a sticky web she'd caught Owen in, pitting his feelings for her against how she'd hurt the people he cared about most. I wasn't sure if my lover could ever fully untangle himself from her and what she'd once meant to him - or if he even really wanted to deep down inside.

The idea of losing Owen scared the hell out of me, but I forced myself to stay calm and listen to what he had to say.

He finally stopped pacing and looked at me. "What Salina did to you and Cooper was terrible. And what she did to Eva and Phillip all those years ago is simply inexcusable. I know how you want to handle it now, and I can't say I blame you. If Donovan had done to me what Salina did to you, I'd take my blacksmith's hammer to the bastard's knees before I used it to cave in his skull."

I didn't respond.

"But she needs help, Gin. I wish you could have known her before Mab murdered her father. She was different then."

I wanted to point out that Mab had murdered my family too and that I hadn't let it turn me into a monster - at least not as much of one as Salina. I might have been an assassin, but I could keep my rage in check, whereas the water elemental couldn't, and I didn't blame people for things that weren't their fault. Most importantly, I didn't go around hurting innocent people.

But I kept those thoughts to myself. Instead, I just looked at my lover, that calm expression still fixed on my face. "What exactly are you proposing?"

"I want to go talk to Salina and get her to check herself into a facility."

As the Spider I'd once done a hit inside the confines of Ashland Asylum, and I'd have been quite happy knowing Salina was locked up there. In fact, there was no place I'd rather have seen Salina - except in the ground. But Owen was asking me for a chance. I owed him that.

"And if she doesn't agree?" I asked. "What happens if Salina doesn't want to get help?"

Owen's body swelled with tension, and a bit of fire flashed in his violet eyes. "Then I'll kill her myself for what she's done to you, Eva, Cooper, and Phillip. She either gets help, or she gets dead. Is that something you can live with?"

I would have skipped the getting help part and gone straight to getting dead, but I couldn't deny Owen what he was asking. I didn't want him anywhere near Salina, but I couldn't stop him from going, not without being a total hypocrite. Not after everything he'd seen and watched me do these past few months. Owen hadn't batted an eye at my killings. The least I could do was give him one more chance to get Salina under control before I plunged my knife into her heart.

I sighed. "I don't like it, but I understand why you have to do it. But I have one condition - we go talk to her together."

Owen opened his mouth to protest, but I cut him off.

"No, I don't trust her, especially not with you. You saw her when she was attacking Cooper. How happy it made her to hurt him. You don't know that Salina won't turn on you too, especially given what you're asking her to do."

He shook his head. "She won't hurt me. Trust me. I know Salina better than anyone."

I wanted to point out how wrong he was. How he hadn't known what Salina was capable of when they were younger and that she'd likely only gotten crueler and more vicious over the years. But once again I held my tongue. Owen had stood by me plenty of times when I'd gone into dangerous situations, and he'd always let me do what I thought needed to be done. I had to do the same for him now. Besides, this way, I'd be there to protect him - and stop her for good.

"Okay," he finally said. "We'll go see her together."

Owen got down on his knees in front of my chair. He reached over and grabbed my hands, his fingers warm and rough against my own. Then he turned my palms up and slowly, gently, traced over my spider rune scars with his thumbs. He kissed first one palm and then the other, and I shivered at the feel of his lips on my skin.

"Thank you for understanding," he said. "For giving me this chance. It means more to me than you know."

Emotion clogged my throat, and I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around Owen, burying my face in his neck and breathing in his rich scent. I knew I had to let my lover speak his piece to Salina, but I also knew how things would play out - with me and Salina fighting to the death.

I only hoped I'd be the one standing in the end, and that Owen could forgive me for killing his first love.

Chapter 26

Eventually, Owen and I broke apart. I opened the door, and we went out into the kitchen.

A butcher-block table with several stools stood in the middle of the room, while appliances done in soft pastel shades ringed the walls. Fat, puffy clouds - Jo-Jo's rune and the symbol for her Air magic - covered almost everything in the kitchen, from the oven mitts piled next to the stove to a set of plates stacked in the sink to the fresco that stretched across the ceiling. Jo-Jo and Eva sat at the table drinking pineapple juice, while Finn was over at the counter, brewing himself a fresh pot of chicory coffee.

"Where are the others?" I asked.

"Bria had to get to the police station," Jo-Jo replied. "She said she'd call and check in with you later. Phillip left too. Said he had some things to do on that riverboat of his. Cooper went with him to keep him company - although he's going to call me later on today."

I arched an eyebrow. "Do I sense a little romance in the air?"

"I just want to make sure that he's all healed up properly," Jo-Jo said, blushing again. "Besides, he's a true Southern gentleman. It's hard to find one of those these days."

I knew that Jo-Jo wouldn't have let Cooper leave if she hadn't completely healed him already, but I didn't tease her anymore. Instead, I nodded and headed over to the cabinets. My fight with Salina and worry over Owen had taken a lot out of me, and I was in the mood for some comfort food. So I grabbed all the fixings for a classic Southern breakfast - biscuits and gravy.

Flour, fresh buttermilk, and just a pinch of sugar and salt went into my biscuit dough, while I put a cast-iron pan into the oven to heat the shortening I'd coated it with. Once the shortening was melted, I cut the biscuit dough into rounds, coated both sides with the liquefied shortening, arranged them in the pan, and then slid the whole thing into the oven to bake. I also fried up some salty country ham, using the grease and drippings that were left in the pan, along with some evaporated milk and a generous dash of black pepper, to make my gravy.

Thirty minutes later, I slid the hot biscuits onto a plate and ladled the gravy into one of Jo-Jo's cloud-shaped serving bowls. We all gathered around the table and dug into my greasy feast. Yeah, it wasn't exactly health food, but the biscuits were light and fluffy and made a perfect base for the flavorful gravy.

"So," Finn drawled when everyone had finished eating, "what did the two of you decide to do about sweet, sweet Salina?"

Owen looked at me, then at everyone else in turn. "Gin and I are going to talk to her and try to convince her to get some help."

Eva's fork slipped from her fingers and clattered onto her plate. Her eyes snapped up to mine, and she gave me a sharp, angry look. I could see the accusation in her pretty face. She thought I'd betrayed her, that I was going back on my promise to kill Salina. She just didn't realize that I was only delaying the water elemental's death, nothing more.

My promise to Eva. Trying to understand Owen's feelings. Salina and her deadly magic. In a way, I had just as much of a noose around my neck as Kincaid had that night on the Delta Queen. A noose that was slowly tightening as a final battle with Salina became more and more inevitable - and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. If I didn't kill Salina, it was only a matter of time before she hurt someone else. And if I did take her out, it would impact my relationship with Owen - maybe even end it.