Dark Descendant (22 page)

bothered by the fact.

For the record, standing in a corner by yourself in a snooty country club watching the

filthy rich strut around in their one-of-a-kind designer gowns and ostentatious jewelry is not my

idea of a good time. The wine helped a bit, taking the edge off, but after I’d finished my first

glass, I didn’t dare get another. I’m a bit of a lightweight when it comes to drinking, and I did have to drive home when the evening’s fun and games were done.

Steph and Blake, young and good-looking, were quite a striking pair in the midst of the

decidedly older crowd. Steph flitted around like an anxious hummingbird, making sure she

talked to everyone, smiling and vivacious. Blake stuck close to her and I was pleased to see that,

while he made social when necessary, he spent most of his time scanning the crowd, alert for any

threats. I’d checked the guest list against the list of known Olympians Anderson had given me,

but just because I hadn’t identified any Olympians on the list didn’t necessarily mean none

would show up. After all, Konstantin had made it abundantly clear that the Olympians had

money to burn. Someone with that kind of money could probably find a way to get themselves

on the guest list at the last minute. So, much as I didn’t like Blake, I had to reluctantly admit I

was glad he was there.

The cocktail party was only an hour long, but it felt like an eternity. My feet were killing

me, and I was bored out of my skull. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to the dinner and auction

parts of the evening, but at least then I would be able to sit down.

When eight o’clock finally rolled around, I followed the herd into the sumptuously

appointed dining room. Annoyingly, there were assigned seats, so I had to either wander around

the tables looking for the place card with my name on it, or stand in line to ask the nice man by

the doorway to check his alphabetized list. I chose to wander.

Steph knew how much I enjoyed these affairs. She also knew I didn’t like mingling with

the sort of people who attended them. I made an educated guess that she would have been her

usual considerate self and seated me at her table. I scanned the room, figuring that red dress of

hers would stand out like a beacon, but I didn’t see her.

At first, I wasn’t even remotely concerned. She was, after all, in charge of this event, not

a guest. I figured she was taking care of administrative details, or just talking to the stragglers

who hadn’t come into the dining room yet. But as the seats at the tables filled up and I still saw

no sign of her, a niggle of alarm ran through me.

I located the table that Steph and Blake were going to be sitting at—right at the front, of

course—and I found my own place card directly opposite hers. But still no Steph. No Blake,

either. Maybe that meant they’d slipped away for a quick make-out session, but I didn’t think so.

Steph wasn’t what I would call a control freak, but she did put a lot of time and energy into these

events, and she wouldn’t just wander away for a little me-time. Unless Blake used his nasty

power on her, but that was a thought I could hardly bear to contemplate.

Telling myself I was being paranoid and overprotective, I slipped out of the dining room

toward the bar and lounge. There were still a few people out there, ignoring the signals that

dinner was nigh. But no Steph. I was going to start questioning the staff to see if they could tell

me her last known location, but my cell rang, sending a shiver down my spine. True, the call

could be completely innocuous, from anyone. But in my heart, I knew it was bad news.

My instinct was confirmed when I pulled out my cell phone and saw the caller ID:

Alexis. What were the chances I would mysteriously lose sight of Steph, Alexis would call me

moments later, and the two were not related? I prayed for a miracle as I reluctantly answered.

“What do you want?” I asked, my voice harsh with a fear I couldn’t hide.

Alexis laughed. “What’s the matter, Nikki? You sound tense.”

“I’m not in the mood to banter with you. What do you want?”

“Do exactly as I tell you, and I promise no harm will come to dear Stephanie.”

I swallowed a cry of anguish as he confirmed my worst fears. “You can’t hurt Steph!” I

said. “My family and I are under Anderson’s protection.”

Alexis laughed again. “Is that how he told you it would work? Or just wishful thinking on

your part?”

“He and Konstantin have a deal!” Oh, please, God, let that be true, let me not have been a

complete dupe.

“A deal that doesn’t include Stephanie. She isn’t
really
your family, after all.”

“She’s my sister!”

“But adopted. Not related by blood. A technicality, perhaps, but one we mean to exploit.

Because you chose to seek asylum with Anderson, we cannot touch you. But Stephanie is fair

game.”

“Let her go, you bastard! She has nothing to do with this.”

“I’ll be happy to let her go. No one has to get hurt in this scenario. Come to me, renounce

Anderson’s protection, and she’ll go her own merry way, none the worse for wear.”

What were the chances I could trust Alexis’s word? Slim and none. The problem was, I

didn’t see that I had any alternative. Alexis had Steph, and that left me with precious few

options.

“How do I know you really have Steph?” I asked. I knew deep down in my gut that he

was telling the truth, at least about that. But stalling for time seemed like a better alternative than

rolling over.

There was a little scuffling noise on the other end of the line. Then I heard Alexis’s voice

in the background, saying “Let your sister know you’re all right.”

My entire body went tense as I braced myself for the impact of my sister’s terrified voice.

But Steph is made of sterner stuff than that, and she was every bit as protective of me as I was of

her.

I knew she was there, knew Alexis wasn’t lying, but she didn’t make a sound. My throat

tightened as I understood what she was doing: keeping her mouth shut in hopes that by not

giving Alexis proof that he had her, she would keep me from coming after her. My eyes teared

up.

“I’m not going to let him hurt you,” I said, the words feeling hollow. Even
I
didn’t

believe I could protect her from Alexis. Why should I expect
her
to be convinced?

Alexis didn’t like her show of defiance. I heard a harsh slap, and Steph’s involuntary

gasp of shock and pain.

“You’d best learn to do as you’re told,” Alexis growled in the background.

Steph still didn’t say anything, though her gasp had already given her away. I cursed

myself for asking Alexis for proof when I had believed him all along.

“I believe you!” I shouted into the phone, hoping my voice was loud enough for Alexis to

hear.

There was a little more shuffling around, and his voice came back on the line. “You have

thirty minutes to get to 28 Hillsboro Road in D.C. The door will be unlocked, so you just come

right in. You come in, your sister goes out. If you don’t get here in thirty minutes, the party will

start without you.”

I recognized the address from my list of Olympian properties. It was in Woodley Park

and, if memory served, it was up for sale. I mentally calculated the distance and fought another

jolt of terror. “That’s not enough time,” I told him. Maybe if I drove like a maniac and hit every

light green, but…

“You’ll have to
make
it enough.”

“Please,” I said, hating to beg, but willing to do it for Steph’s sake. “It’ll take me ten

minutes just to get my car. Give me forty minutes to get there.” I was already hurrying toward

the exit. “I’m on my way now. Please don’t hurt her.”

“All right,” he answered in an almost sensual purr, “I’m feeling generous tonight. You

have your forty minutes. I look forward to seeing you again.”

I turned my phone off before I was tempted to answer him with too much honesty.

SEVENTEEN

Forty minutes gave me
a fighting chance of making it to the rendezvous on time, but I

was still going to be cutting it damn close. Despite the wintry temperature, I slipped my heels off

as I burst through the front door and ran toward the parking lot. I’d run faster carrying them than

wearing them, even if I ended up with a collection of pebbles buried in the balls of my feet. I

stayed on the grass instead of the sidewalks whenever possible.

It was a long sprint to the parking lot, made longer, no doubt, by my fear. The cold air

burned my lungs and stung the skin of my bare arms. I hadn’t even considered stopping to pick

up my coat on the way out, and little black dresses with spaghetti straps aren’t great cold-weather

gear.

Where the hell was Blake? I wondered belatedly. He’d been sticking to Steph like glue

the whole evening. How had he let Alexis snatch her out from under his nose?

My gut cramped with fear again. Had Blake sold her out? Had he come with her tonight

so he could more easily separate her from the crowd and hand her over to Alexis?

I shoved that thought out of the way. For the moment, it didn’t matter. What mattered

was getting to that damn house before Alexis went to work on Steph, and it was going to be a

close call. Gravel tore the bottoms of my feet, and my breath formed frosty clouds in the night air

as I continued to sprint. I was so focused on my ultimate goal that I didn’t immediately notice

that all four streetlights in the lot were out, not until the waxing moon slid behind a bank of

clouds and made me suddenly aware of the darkness.

I stumbled to a halt just as my feet hit the asphalt. This was a country club, not some

neglected inner city parking lot. If even
one
streetlight had burned out, they’d have fixed it

within the hour. For all four to be burned out at the same time seemed so unlikely as to be

impossible.

The little hairs at the back of my neck prickled, but I decided I didn’t have time to be

cautious. My silver rental was parked in the rear corner of the lot, and I started forward again at a

brisk jog, too winded to manage another sprint.

I made it about halfway across the lot before I ran into something like an invisible wall. I

hit it full force, rebounding wildly. My arms flailed for balance, and the shoes I’d been carrying

in my left hand went flying. The impact had knocked what little wind I had left in my lungs out

of me, and my legs were too quivery from the long run to hold me.

I sprawled inelegantly on the asphalt, my dress making an alarming ripping sound as the

skirt hiked up my thighs. I broke the fall with my hands, scraping the skin off the heels and

grinding dirt and pebbles into the wounds.

When I looked up to see what I’d hit, Jamaal’s body seemed to coalesce out of thin air. I

belatedly recognized the uniquely yielding properties of flesh and bone that had characterized

my invisible wall.

Jamaal grinned down at me, the expression fierce as any snarl. “Going somewhere?”

I tried to draw some air into my lungs, but I hadn’t recovered from the impact yet and

could only stare up at him, imploring him with my eyes to get out of my way.

“You shouldn’t have fucked with us, Nikki,” he said, the grin/snarl growing wider.

I had no idea what he was talking about, of course. I also didn’t give a damn, not now,

not when Steph was in danger.

I finally filled my lungs enough to get some words out. “We can do this later,” I gasped.

“My sister’s in trouble.”

He snorted, the cold air making his breath a soft white cloud like the puff of smoke from

the fire-breathing dragon’s nostrils. “You don’t get to decide when we do this.”

He reached for me, and I rolled violently to my left, scraping more skin off my bare arms

as I avoided his grasp. I’d torn my dress enough when I’d fallen to give me some freedom of

movement, and I managed to lurch to my feet.

“Alexis has my sister!” I tried again, though I didn’t have high hopes of getting through

to Jamaal. Maybe he and Blake were in this thing together, Blake to hand Steph over to Alexis,

Jamaal to delay my rescue attempt and give Alexis time to …

I didn’t want to think about what he might do to Steph if I didn’t make it there in time.

“Please, Jamaal!” It came out a sob, but he didn’t strike me as the kind to be moved by feminine

tears. “Let me go!”

“You think I believe a single word that comes out of that lying mouth of yours?” he

asked. “You’d say anything to get out of taking your medicine.”

Because of my profession, I’d taken pains to learn a fair amount of self-defense.

However, I knew I couldn’t defend against Jamaal, at least not for very long. If he were an

ordinary person in an ordinary situation, maybe I’d be able to fight him off long enough to make

a run for it, but I couldn’t
afford
to run for it. I
had
to get to my car, and he was in my way.

“I don’t have time for this,” I muttered under my breath as my heart kicked frantically

behind my ribs. I had no hope that I could fight Jamaal off in hand-to-hand combat. That meant I

had to try to reason with him. But how could I reason with a half-crazed death-god descendant

who was convinced I was the enemy?

I held up my hands in a gesture that was supposed to indicate surrender, hoping Jamaal

would take a step back from the edge. “Look, I don’t know what you think I’ve done this time,