Jenna Black - Dark Descendant

“Would you really have done it?” I found myself asking, not sure why I cared one way or another.

“Hell yes,” he answered with a sharklike grin as he poured an indecent amount of sugar into his cup. “I’ve always hated that holier-than-thou bastard. He’d have loved every minute of it, too, until his head cleared.”

I sure as hell didn’t like Alexis, but I couldn’t help thinking that what Blake had planned to do to him was downright evil. I guess that thought must have shown on my face.

“Oh, please. Don’t feel sorry for him,” Blake said. “The Olympians have embraced rape and torture as a goddamn art form, and he’s totally on board with that. As long as he’s not the victim, of course.”

“The Olympians?”

“A bunch of descendants of Greek gods. They envision themselves as some kind of master race. They also consider themselves to be the ruling body for all the Liberi .” He flashed me a sarcastic smile. “Not all of us see it that way.”

“And who’s Konstantin?”

“Their leader. He styles himself as their king, but I refused to call him that even when I was an Olympian. I’m sure as hell not going to call him that now.”

My mind boiled with an endless stream of questions. I settled for the one I decided was of most immediate importance. “How did you find me? And how did he find me?”

Blake leaned back in his seat. “I’m guessing he found you because their Oracle had a vision. And before you ask, the Oracle is a descendant of Apollo, and she sometimes sees the future. Most of her visions are so vague and confusing you can’t understand what they mean until whatever it is has already happened. But every once in a while, she sees something clearly.”

I nodded, swallowing my skepticism for the millionth time. “That doesn’t explain how you found me.”

He smiled and didn’t answer. He was definitely being less hostile now than he had been last night, but there was a hint of malice in his eyes; he wanted the mystery of how he had found me to creep me out. Unfortunately, I was giving him exactly what he wanted.

“All right,” I said, trying not to show my discomfort, “ why did you find me?”

“Anderson promised you a follow-up conversation, remember?”

I had a feeling my effort to hide the chill that ran through me was in vain.

“Jack merely delayed the inevitable when he pulled his juvenile little trick and snuck you out,” Blake continued. “I’ll give you a ride back to the house. You’ll be safer there anyway. It’s off-limits to the Olympians.”

Another conversation with Anderson was not on my to-do list, and no matter how much I’d disliked Alexis, I couldn’t imagine feeling “safer” at Anderson’s mansion. “What if I decide to decline your generous offer?”

“I know you caught the edge of my aura when I used it against Alexis,” he said, his nostrils flaring as if he scented my weakness. “The effect would be a hell of a lot more intense if I directed it at you. You’d follow me anywhere, begging me to fuck you. I wouldn’t do it, but I’d magnanimously offer to let you suck my cock during the ride to the house. You’d have a grand ol’ time.” He smiled pleasantly.

I was sick and tired of being scared. The threat made my stomach do flip-flops, but I did my best not to let my face show it. “Is threatening people with rape your answer to every problem?”

“I do find it’s remarkably effective,” he responded with a dry edge in his voice. “And it’s far less ostentatious than grabbing you and dragging you kicking and screaming out the door.”

I hated being bullied, but I didn’t have much choice but to give in—for the moment. “Fine,” I said. “Let’s go see Anderson.”

Blake fixed me with a long, penetrating stare. I had a feeling he knew I wasn’t the type to give up so easily. I gave him my best innocent look. I had no intention of setting foot within ten miles of Anderson and his Hand of Doom, but I didn’t want to give Blake an excuse to practice his unique method of coercion on me. I’d never realized sex could be so effectively weaponized.

I don’t know if my feigned innocence convinced Blake, or if he merely decided he was in too strong a position for me to give him trouble. Whatever the reason, he slipped out of the booth, and I was mildly surprised to see him throw a ten-dollar bill on the table. He hadn’t struck me as the generous type, but not only was he paying for my coffee—and Alexis’s—he was leaving the waitress a sizeable tip. He reached for my arm as I stood up, but I quickly danced out of reach.

“Keep your hands to yourself,” I warned. “I’m coming with you peacefully, but you touch me and all bets are off.”

He gave me one of his malicious grins. My threat was an empty one when he could use his creepy power to force me to come along, but I didn’t want him touching me if I could help it. Getting away from him was going to be hard enough without having to break free of his grasp.

My threat might have had no teeth, but Blake didn’t try to grab me again. He led me out of the diner and onto K Street, keeping a careful eye on me. I hoped he wasn’t parked too close, because I needed some time to come up with an escape plan. The gun was in my backpack, so even if I were willing to wave it around on a crowded street, I couldn’t. He was walking close enough that I doubted I’d have the foot-speed to just bolt and hope to outrun him. Which meant I needed a distraction of some kind. Something to keep him busy long enough to give me a sizeable head start.

I scanned the streets and sidewalks for something that could help. Finally, I caught sight of two tough-looking black guys leaning against a wall as they eyed Blake’s approach. Both were big and imposing, and at just the right age to be eager to prove their manhood. There was a predatory light in their eyes as they looked Blake up and down.

Like I said, Blake was a pretty boy, his hair moussed to look casually tousled, his clothes obviously expensive. The classic metrosexual. To a bigoted young punk looking for trouble, “metrosexual” meant “gay.” Despite the fact that he’d used his aura against Alexis, I was pretty sure Blake didn’t swing that way.

Blake didn’t seem to notice the punks, not even when one of them whistled at him and the other made kissy noises. From their body language, I doubted they were planning to do anything more than harass Blake, unless he was hot-headed enough to engage with them. But I suspected they would be just the kind of distraction I needed.

I looked straight ahead, pretending not to pay any attention to them. There was a dangerous glitter in Blake’s eyes, one that said he was seriously considering stopping to teach the punks some manners. I didn’t know if he had any powers beyond lust, but I suspected he was more than a match for these two, despite appearances. I also suspected he was going to control his aggressive urges, knowing full well that I’d make a run for it if he tried anything. So I decided to take the choice out of his hands.

Timing my move carefully, I waited until we were just a couple feet short of the punks. Then I slung my backpack off my shoulder and swung it as hard as I could at Blake’s back.

Since I hadn’t wanted to leave my expensive laptop sitting around the hotel, there was plenty of oomph behind the blow. Blake grunted in surprise as he flew forward—right into the two punks.

I didn’t wait to see what happened. I whirled around, shoving my arms back into the straps of my backpack, then ran for all I was worth. There was a lot of yelling behind me, but I ignored it, my arms and legs pumping for maximum speed. I probably should have dropped the backpack so it wouldn’t slow me down, but it had my wallet, my gun, and my laptop in it, and I wasn’t willing to part with it.