Jenna Black - Dark Descendant

And because of that hesitation, Anderson was dead, and the Olympians now had a new Liberi to add to their stable.

At least, they would have him soon, once Peter’s wound healed enough for him to revive. The rock had done an impressive job on his skull, and that kind of an injury would take time to heal. Not that that helped me a whole hell of a lot.

Alexis’s searching eyes found me, and his lips twisted into an expression somewhere between a grin and a sneer. Now would have been a good time for me to run for my life, but I stood there frozen by his gaze, horrified by my failure.

“I was just starting to have fun,” Alexis said with a mock pout. “But then you’ll be more fun to play with anyway. I’ll show you everything I did to your sister, and everything I would have done if that interfering faggot hadn’t showed up and spoiled everything.”

I’d never asked Blake how he’d managed to run Alexis off that night, but now I had a good guess. The air crackled with electricity, raising the little hairs on my arms. I could have turned tail and run, but with Alexis so close, I didn’t see how he could miss if he threw a lightning bolt at me. I was superstitiously reluctant to turn my back on him.

Dean squatted beside Peter’s limp body, frowning down at him. “Umm, Alexis?”

“What?” Alexis snapped, obviously annoyed to have his gloating interrupted.

“He doesn’t seem to be healing.”

“What?” Alexis said, and this time he sounded more surprised than angry. He turned to look at Peter’s body.

I’d have taken advantage of his distraction to run like hell, only I took one last glance at Anderson first. His eyes, instead of staring sightlessly at the sky, were focused on the two Liberi . As I watched, a smile curled his lips, the expression so sinister as to be almost evil.

Anderson reached out with one leg, hooking it around Dean’s ankle and yanking him off his feet. With a cry of surprise, Dean fell, and Anderson rolled until he was straddling him. His hands were still cuffed behind his back, but Anderson leaned back and tucked those hands just under the waistband of Dean’s pants, making contact with his bare skin.

Dean let out a shriek of pain, his back arching as he tried to buck Anderson off of him. But Anderson held on tight, bracing himself with his legs and using his grip on Dean’s waistband as an anchor.

When Anderson had used his Hand of Doom against Jamaal, Jamaal had passed out after only a few seconds, and I expected the same thing to happen now. The surprise and his friend’s screams had momentarily kept Alexis from attacking, but surely a lightning bolt would be on its way any moment.

Figuring that even in the handcuffs, Anderson had a better shot of taking out Alexis than I did, I decided to take one for the team. With an incoherent battle cry, I launched myself at Alexis. If he was busy fighting with me, he couldn’t electrocute Anderson. Surely Dean would be unconscious any second now, and then Anderson could turn his attention to the greater enemy.

Dean was still shrieking, his voice high and thin with agony. If he weren’t already starting to go hoarse, Alexis might not even have heard my own cry.

Alexis whirled toward me, and I knew the lightning bolt was coming. I’d semi-resolved myself to taking it, but at the last moment I threw myself to the side. The quick dodge kept me from taking a direct hit, but even a near miss with that kind of power was enough to stun me.

I hit the ground with a thump, too disoriented to soften my fall. My limbs felt like jelly, and my head hammered and rang with pain. I wanted to just lie there, maybe slip into soothing unconsciousness so I wouldn’t have to hear Dean’s piteous screaming anymore.

I blinked away the afterimage of the lightning, expecting another blast at any moment but unable to muster the strength or coordination to get up. I looked over my shoulder, thinking maybe Alexis was going to strike at Anderson now that he’d temporarily disabled me.

Alexis was indeed staring at Anderson, but he showed no sign of tossing a lightning bolt. Instead, he stood there in slack-jawed horror, his face a mask of fear. Muscles still weak and quivering, I forced myself to sit up and see what had put that look of terror on Alexis’s face.

Dean’s body was glowing cherry-red as Anderson continued to straddle him, teeth bared in a truly savage snarl. A thin, keening wail rose from Dean’s throat, but the sound was growing thinner by the second as the glow intensified. Anderson was glowing, too, his skin radiating a white light that made me squint.

“You’re next,” he growled at Alexis, the snarl turning into a smile that was no less savage.

Alexis looked like he was about to wet his pants. I know I would have if Anderson had looked at me like that. Of course, I’m pretty sure that in spite of my fear, if I’d been in Alexis’s shoes I’d have mustered the courage to throw one more lightning bolt in an attempt to save my friend from agony. But Alexis always chose to look out for number one, so instead of trying to help Dean, the cowardly bastard turned tail and ran.

Anderson turned to me, no longer looking anything like the unprepossessing normal man I’d first met. He seemed to have grown in size behind that white glow, muscles bulking up as he put on what I’d guess was another six inches or more in height. His blah-brown hair was now snow white and shoulder length, and his medium-brown eyes were like twin white stars in his face.

“Stop him!” he ordered me, his voice resonating differently in that suddenly deeper, broader chest.

I wasn’t in any shape to chase after bad guys, but I wasn’t crazy enough to defy an order given by a crazed immortal.

I forced myself to my feet, considering my options as Alexis fled toward the house. Fear had given his feet wings, and even at my best, I wouldn’t have been able to run him down when he had this much of a head start. If he made it through the house and to a car, there would be no stopping him.

It was only a slight detour for me to dart to the shore of the pond and grab my backpack before I sprinted after Alexis, but in that time he’d put even more distance between us. I ran as fast as I could, one hand digging blindly in the backpack until my fingers found another rock.

Puffing with exertion, I drew that rock out of my backpack. Alexis was almost to the back door. If he got inside the house I’d never get a shot at him. So even though I was still a good fifty yards away, and it was so dark I could only make out his shape because he was moving, I pitched the rock with every ounce of strength I could muster.

Alexis’s hand closed on the doorknob, and he twisted it while banging into the door with his shoulder. He took about half a step inside before the rock made solid contact with the back of his head.

I was too far away and too weak to do the same kind of damage I’d done to Peter, supernatural powers or not. But the blow was hard enough to drop Alexis to his hands and knees. He didn’t lose consciousness, but he was clearly woozy, his body swaying as he tried to regain his feet.

My own knees gave out then, and I collapsed onto the grass. As I lay there panting, I dug through my pack for another rock, pushing myself up into a sitting position. Even with the power of Artemis, I wasn’t sure I could hit Alexis again from this distance, especially not while sitting down, but I was willing to give it a try.

It turned out I didn’t have to. A glowing white pillar of fire—Anderson—ran by me at an easy lope that seemed to cover about ten yards per stride. Alexis screamed in terror when he saw what was coming for him. He lurched to his feet, still visibly unsteady, and stumbled through the doorway. He tried to slam the door behind him, but Anderson had already closed the distance.