Stephenson tossed back another drink. Some of the liquid courage must have finally kicked in because he glared back at the vampire. "I called Caine just like you wanted.

If your crew had done its job and held on to him until the elemental got there, we wouldn't be wondering where the detective is and what he's up to. And I wouldn't be wondering when your boss is going to kill me. She'll kill you too, you know. As soon as she thinks she doesn't need you anymore. Bitch is crazy. Does she really think nobody will notice what she's doing? All the wiseguys she's hired? The fact she's building her own crew to take on Mab Monroe's organization? And that she's using money from Mab's own company to do it?"

"Nobody did notice the embezzling or anything else, until Gordon started digging around," Carlyle replied.

My eyes narrowed. So that's what this was all about. The Air elemental had been stealing money from Halo Industries to try to wrest control of the city away from Mab Monroe. To build a crew and fund a war against the Fire elemental. Gordon Giles had known about her embezzling and was going to blow the whistle on her to the cops. That's why he'd had to die. The Air elemental couldn't afford to let Mab get wind of her plans, not before she was ready to make her move. But since killing Giles outright herself would have drawn Mab's unwanted attention to Halo Industries, the Air elemental had hired me to take the fall-to come in and be Giles's conveniently dead killer.

But Stephenson was right. Bitch really was crazy if she thought she could take control of the city away from Mab Monroe. Because before the Air elemental could even get to Mab, she'd have to take out her flunkies first. The lawyer, Jonah McAllister, might not present much of a problem, although he had his own guards. But Mab's giant enforcer, Elliot Slater, he'd be a hard weed to mow down. And then there was Mab herself, the toughest task of all. David had had a better chance against Goliath than the Air elemental did of knocking off Mab Monroe.

But the revelation also told me something else-the Air elemental almost certainly had to be Haley or Alexis James. Nobody else was high enough up in the company to manage something like this. Carlyle was going to tell me later exactly which one of the sisters it was-no matter how bloody I had to get in the process.

Instead of arguing further with the giant, Carlyle sat back in his seat. He ran his finger around the lip of his glass, then gave Stephenson a sly look. Considering something.

"Perhaps you and I could come to an agreement," Carlyle said in a smooth tone.

"Since you seem to be rather tired of working for the elemental."

Stephenson eyed him. "What kind of agreement?"

"We both agree it's only a matter of time before the elemental implodes," Carlyle said.

"Who's to say after that happens you and I can't pick up the pieces?"

"What exactly are you proposing?"

Carlyle shrugged. "Nothing right now. Except you watch out for me, and I'll watch out for you until things settle down. After that, well, we'll just see what happens."

"What about the elemental?" Fear crept back into the giant's voice. "If she even thinks we're plotting-"

"Don't worry about the elemental." A smirk filled Carlyle's blocky face. "I've got a little insurance policy in place to keep her in line."

Insurance policy? There was only one thing Carlyle could have that the elemental wanted-Gordon Giles's secret flash drive with all of her dirty deeds on it. The vampire was going to be more useful than I'd anticipated.

Stephenson didn't respond to the other man's offer. But I could see the desperate hope in his eyes. The police captain would do anything to get out from under the elemental's thumb, even fall into bed with a hood like Carlyle. He didn't realize the vampire would treat him exactly the same, in the end.

"Just think about it," Carlyle said. "But not too long."

He finished his drink and jerked his head toward the door. "Now leave. I've got other things to do tonight before

I see the elemental again."

Stephenson didn't need to be told twice. The giant mopped a final bit of sweat from his forehead, got to his feet, and walked out the door. Carlyle waited a few moments before putting the bottle of booze back in the bar and slapping his fedora on top of his head. He was leaving too.

Beside me, Donovan Caine pulled away from the peephole. I did the same and pulled the knob, covering the slit. "That bastard," Caine muttered in a low voice. "That fucking bastard set me up."

The detective started to charge past me down the hallway, but I grabbed his arm.

"No," I said. "We're not here for your boss. We see what Carlyle has to say first, then you can go after

Stephenson. That was our agreement, remember?"

Anger simmered in Caine's eyes, and the muscles in his arm bunched under my hand.

"You get Stephenson," I repeated. "You can deal with him any way you like-but not tonight. Carlyle's leaving. We need to grab him. I'm tired of running around and hiding in the shadows, detective. I want a fucking name. And Carlyle can give it to me.

Now, are you coming with me? Or do I knock you out and leave you back here for Roslyn's giant bouncer to find?"

After a moment, Caine let out a tense breath. "All right. We'll do it your way." I nodded. "Good. Let's go get the bastard before he leaves."

Chapter Twenty-One

When we stepped back out on the main floor, I pulled out my cell phone and dialed Finn. "Yeah?" he said over the din.

"Carlyle's leaving," I said.

"I know," Finn replied. "Stephenson's already out the front door. Chuckie C.'s settling up his tab for the evening with the giant next to the VIP entrance. Seems to be arguing about the price of something. While you two were eavesdropping, I took the liberty of wandering out to the parking lot to see if I could spot the vamp's car.

Carlyle's driving a sweet little red BMW that's parked on the west side of the building.

Three rows up from our car."

A hard smile curved my lips. "Perfect. Keep him in sight. The detective and I are heading for the Beamer."

We both hung up. I wove my way through the crowd, sliding from opening to opening. Donovan Caine was right on my heels. It took almost a minute for us to step outside Northern Aggression. The night air was a cool, welcome kiss on my face after the crush of bodies inside the nightclub.

"This way," I said.

The detective fell in step beside me. He'd dampened down his earlier anger at Stephenson, although his mouth was set into a hard, determined line. He reached behind him, drew his gun from the small of his back, and held the weapon down by his side. "How do you want to do this?"

"No need for a gun yet, detective. You and Finn hang back," I replied. "I'll approach Carlyle and subdue him. That way, he only sees me if something untoward should happen."

Donovan nodded. "All right."

The BMW was parked right where Finn said it would be. Hard to miss, really, since the vanity plate on the front read CHUCKEC. Donovan ducked down in the shadows behind a car a few feet over. I slid behind an SUV on the other side of the BMW and peered through the driver's side window.

Getting close to midnight now, and the air had taken on the sharp chill of fall. The music of the club pulsated outside, and I could hear the vibrations whispering in the concrete under my boots. Classic murmurs of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. A few smokers stood in a cluster two hundred feet away, puffing on who knew what. But other than that, the parking lot was deserted. Everybody was still inside, getting their groove on for the evening.

I palmed one of my knives, hilt out, and started counting off seconds in my head.

Ten ... twenty ... forty-five ... Two minutes later, Charles Carlyle strolled around the side of the building. He walked with quick, purposeful steps. The confident stride of a man who thinks he's got everything figured out. That the world was his cherry to pop. Still, he cast a cursory look around, the way anyone would when walking through a dark area at night.

But he didn't see me. They never did, until it was too late. I smiled. Poor Chuck. I almost felt sorry for him. Until I thought about Fletcher.

I looked, but I didn't see Finn trailing the vampire. Finn could blend in with the shadows too, when he put his mind to it.

Carlyle walked closer, passing the car Donovan Caine crouched behind. The vampire whistled a soft tune and jingled his car keys in his fingers. He hit a button, and the lights on the BMW flashed once, disabling the alarm and unlocking the doors. Time for me to make my move.

I tiptoed out from behind the back of the SUV and approached Carlyle. The vampire had just hooked his fingers underneath the door handle to pull it open when I called out to him.

"Excuse me, sugar," I drawled in a soft voice. "Do you have a light? I seem to have misplaced mine. Can't put a damn thing in the pockets of this miniskirt." Carlyle turned toward the sound of my voice, a smile already forming on his face. I quickened my steps, getting into position. I didn't look like he expected me to, and he frowned, suddenly suspicious.

"Who the hell are you-"

I might have been concerned, if I hadn't already used the hilt of my knife to coldcock him. The vampire blinked once before his eyes rolled up into the back of his head, and he pitched face-first onto the concrete. To my right, Donovan Caine stepped out from the shadows. Finn appeared from my left.

"Come on." I leaned down and grabbed the vampire under his arms. "Help me get this blood-sucking bastard into the trunk."

An hour later, I threw a pitcher of ice water onto Charles Carlyle's face. The cold shocked the vampire back into consciousness. So did the two hard slaps I laid across his cheeks. The stinging sensation in my palm felt good. Finally, I was doing something about Fletcher's murder, taking the initiative, instead of reacting to others.

"Wakey, wakey, Chuck," I said. "Time to rise and shine and spill your guts." The vampire's eyes blinked several times in rapid succession before focusing on me and his surroundings. After loading Chuck into the trunk of our stolen car, we'd driven to the vampire's home in one of the suburbs on the edge of Northtown, the address Finn had found while digging for info. Nice place. Split-level ranch house, big yard, pool in the back. Being an executive vice president at Halo Industries, even in name only, paid better than I'd thought. So did being the Air elemental's right-hand man.

Finn, Donovan, and I had let ourselves into the house and dragged Carlyle along with us. Now the three of us stood in what passed for a game room-plasma television bolted to one wall, pool table in the corner, stacks of porn magazines and empty beer bottles everywhere. The only nice thing about the room was the stone fireplace that took up the back wall.

Donovan Caine had used his silverstone handcuffs to bind the vampire to a chair, which I'd dragged into the middle of the room.

Carlyle's eyes went to me, then to the two men looming behind me, then to the silverstone knife in my hand. "Fuck me," he muttered.

"Quick on the draw. I like that in a man."

I felt Donovan Caine's eyes on me, but I didn't turn to look at the rugged detective.

Instead, I wandered around the room, twirling with my knife so the blade caught the light and flashed it back in Carlyle's eyes. Time to start playing the game.

"Nice place you have here, Chuck. Very nice. Did you pick it out yourself? Or did the Air elemental?"

The vampire gave me a guarded look. "What do you want?"

I smiled and held his gaze until I was sure he'd noticed just how cold and hard my gray eyes were. Carlyle might think himself to be a big man, but he knew when he was outmatched. His face had already tightened with panic, and the muscles of his arms and shoulders tensed underneath his suit as he discreetly tested the silverstone handcuffs that held him down. Bastard shouldn't have bothered. He wasn't going anywhere tonight except into the ground.

"In case you haven't figured it out, Chuck, let me tell you who I am. The Spider. The assassin you and your boss hired to kill Gordon Giles, then decided to double-cross.

I'm sure you recognize my two associates."

Finn gave him a toothy grin that was almost as scary as my smile. The vamp realized there would be no sympathy there and turned his attention to Donovan Caine, trying to see if he had any kind of friend in the room. But the detective crossed his arms over his chest and put on his flat cop face.

"You've been busy, Chuck. Working for the Air elemental, framing me, having your men abduct and beat Finn, then doing the same to the detective. And I didn't really understand why-until I overheard you and Wayne Stephenson talking tonight at Northern Aggression." I clucked my tongue. "He's right, you know. Bitch is crazy if she thinks she's going to dethrone Mab Monroe as queen bee of Ashland." Carlyle didn't say anything, but agreement flashed in his eyes.

"But you know that already, don't you, Chuck? You know this won't end well for her, and you've already taken steps to protect yourself."

The vampire's eyes narrowed. He'd overcome enough of his initial panic to realize I wasn't going to kill him immediately. "What do you want?" he asked again in a stronger voice.

I put my hands on either side of him and leaned down until my cold eyes were level with his. "The flash drive. I want the flash drive. The one Gordon Giles made that contains the information on the embezzlement from Halo Industries. The one your Air elemental boss is so eager to get her hands on. That's your insurance policy, isn't it, Chuck? The elemental gets too wacko, and all you have to do is send the information to Mab Monroe. And she'll take care of the elemental for you." Carlyle didn't respond, but the twitch in his cheek was all the confirmation I needed.