Dark Descendant

NINE

I stood with the phone against my ear, my back turned to Steph, long after Alexis hung up. I needed time to regain control of myself, to tamp down the toxic combination of rage and fear that bubbled in my gut. I wished the earth would open up and swallow every one of the Liberi. With the exception of myself, of course.

Eventually, I could stall no longer, and I turned around to face Steph.

What the hell was I going to tell her? I couldn’t possibly pretend nothing was wrong, but I couldn’t tell her the truth. And I knew there was no way in hell Steph was going to let me go without an explanation of some sort.

I returned to the table and sat down, handing Steph back her phone. She took it from me in silence, tucking it back in her bag without looking. It must have taken a lot of willpower, but she managed not to question me, instead giving me a little more time to pull myself together. She could obviously see I wasn’t ready to talk yet.

The problem was I would never be ready. I usually think pretty fast on my feet—again, an important trait for a P.I.—but I couldn’t think fast enough to keep up with this mess.

“I’m … sorry about that,” I said, figuring that was a safe place to start.

Steph raised her delicately curved brows. “Care to tell me who that was? And why he was calling me when he wanted to talk to you?”

Steph sometimes likes to play the spoiled, rich socialite, but there is a sharp mind under her fluffy exterior. I could see in her eyes that she’d made a number of assumptions—including the one that she’d just been subtly threatened. I didn’t want to scare her, but I supposed it was better that I tell her something so she’d be extra careful. Alexis obviously knew Steph and I were together right now. I was damn sure no one had followed me here, so either someone had followed Steph, or the Oracle was more reliable than Blake had led me to believe.

“It was a wannabe client,” I told her, which I supposed was something close to the truth. “I turned down his case, but he’s not taking no for an answer.”

“Have you called the police?”

I swallowed the urge to laugh. Somehow, I didn’t think the police were going to be much use against the Liberi.

“He hasn’t done anything the police would be interested in.” Which was also true, even if it wasn’t really the reason I didn’t call the cops.

Steph frowned and chewed her lip. “You could report him as a stalker, couldn’t you?”

I dismissed that with a wave. “He’s being a pain in the ass, but he’s not technically stalking me.”

She leaned forward, resting her arms on the table and dropping her voice. “I know you’re not telling me everything, Nikki. Come on. Spit it out.”

“I told you before, I can’t.”

Anger sparked in her eyes. “That man just threatened me, didn’t he? That’s why he called my phone instead of yours, right?”

I winced, which pretty much precluded the possibility of bluffing my way out of this.

“If people are threatening me, I have a right to know what’s going on, don’t I?”

I rubbed my eyes as a headache threatened to form behind them. “It’s complicated, Steph. Please trust me that I have good reasons for not telling you more.” I forced my hand back down to my side and met my sister’s angry stare. “I won’t let anything happen to you. No matter what.”

She shook her head and looked disgusted. “That’s not good enough.”

“I’m sorry, but it’s the best I can do.”

Steph glared at me, but I was unmoved. I wasn’t in a position to tell her the truth, and in all honesty, I didn’t know if the truth would have done her any good. I didn’t know a whole lot about the Liberi and what they could do yet, but if even half of what I’d been told was true, Steph was no match for them. Hell, I was no match for them, and I was supposedly one of them.

I walked Steph to her car on the pretense of being sociable when in reality I was looking for lurking Liberi. I didn’t spot anyone, nor did I see any mysterious cars following when Steph pulled out of her parking space. I returned to my hotel, still trying to figure out how I was going to keep Steph safe. Too bad I didn’t have the faintest idea how to go about it.

A good night’s sleep failed to miraculously solve my problems, although I did feel fresher and more optimistic when I woke up the next day. For all that the Liberi were dangerous, and for all that I had no idea what their range of power was, they operated in secret, doing their best to blend in with the mortal population. That had to put some limits on their actions, and it suggested I’d be relatively safe meeting with Alexis in a public place later. Not that I was looking forward to it by any stretch of the imagination, but maybe when I talked to him again and got the details about what he wanted me to do, I’d be able to form a plan.

I’d turned off my phone for the night, but when I switched it back on in the morning, I found that I’d received another couple of calls from Anderson. I briefly considered calling him back and giving him an update on my upcoming meeting with Alexis, but thought better of it almost at once. I had no more reason to trust Anderson and his people than I did to trust Alexis. Though I might at some point find it to my advantage to play one against the other, right now I wanted to face one problem at a time.

I arrived at the Sofitel an hour before the appointment with Alexis. Not because I was anxious to meet him, of course, but because I wanted to give myself every possible advantage. I’d never been inside before, but I knew it was one of the more luxurious hotels in D.C. Of course, Alexis struck me as the kind of man who insisted on the best of everything.

I’m sure Alexis picked the place specifically for its lavish décor, but if he’d been looking for a place ideally suited for surveillance, I’m not sure he could have done better if he’d tried. The lobby was large, but there were a number of secluded nooks that were almost cozy. There were also a fair number of rectangular pillars, greatly cutting down on visibility, especially for someone coming in the front doors.

I took a seat on a not particularly comfortable sofa in one of the sitting areas. My seat was in a corner, where a pillar conveniently blocked me from view. Alexis would have to walk down a long hallway past the elevators before he’d be able to see me. I then pretended to drop something—not that anyone was paying particular attention to me—and positioned a small spy camera under the legs of the chair across from me. The camera gave me a perfect view of the hall leading up to the front desk.

Sitting once again in my secluded position, I opened my laptop and pretended to work as I scrutinized the feed from the camera. I watched every person who came in the front doors, without ever having to lift my head from my computer screen. If I saw anyone who tweaked my radar, there was room for me to retreat down another hallway, and I could leave another spy camera right next to my current position so I could keep up my surveillance. But carefully though I watched, I saw no sign that anyone was getting into position for an ambush.

At noon exactly, Alexis strode through the front doors of the hotel. He was not alone, although I didn’t recognize his companion, a tall, imposing guy with olive skin and a neat black beard. I couldn’t tell much from the somewhat grainy surveillance video, but it looked like his suit was as expensive as Alexis’s, and he carried himself with the confidence of a man used to being in charge. Konstantin, I wondered?

The two of them stopped halfway down the hall, both standing there with expressions of impatience. A few more steps and they would see me, but I guess they figured it was my responsibility to come to them; they weren’t about to expend the effort to look for me.

I watched them for another five minutes. Their body language got progressively more impatient as they waited. I didn’t see anyone else come in after them—not anyone who acted like they were slipping in on the sly, that is—so I closed my laptop and shoved it back in my backpack. Then I took a deep breath and stepped into the main part of the lobby, where they could see me.

“Oh!” I said in feigned surprise when Alexis caught sight of me. “Have you been standing here the whole time? I was right over there waiting.” I jerked a thumb toward the seating area.

Alexis narrowed his eyes at me. I had to resist the urge to glance at the spy camera, which I would have to come back later to collect. It was inconspicuous enough that I doubted Alexis would notice it unless I drew attention to it.

“You must be Ms. Glass,” Alexis’s companion said, and I took a closer look at him. He wasn’t particularly good-looking in a traditional sense, but he fairly reeked of power, and I suspected women fell at his feet in droves. I saw no sign of a glyph on him, but perhaps it was hidden by his clothing, or even by his beard. His Mediterranean dark hair was just starting to gray at the temples, and there were the beginnings of crow’s-feet at the corners of his eyes. On another man, they might have looked like laugh lines, but not on him. His smile was warm as he reached out his hand for me to shake, but I couldn’t miss the hint of danger in his eyes. This was not a man to mess with, those eyes said, and I was inclined to believe them.

“I am Konstantin,” he said as I reluctantly placed my hand in his. Not surprisingly, his handshake was crushing, though I gave back as much as I could before I remembered I’d decided not to mess with him. “It is truly a pleasure to meet you.”

He released my hand, and I had to resist the urge to rub my now-sore knuckles. The predatory amusement in his eyes told me he was quite aware of his own strength; the crushing grip had been no accident. I hate bullies with a passion, and it took some serious willpower to keep myself from going on the offensive. I wasn’t in a position to fight back, not yet, so for now I was determined to keep my cool and not be any more antagonistic than necessary.

“Alexis was quite insistent I make this meeting,” I said, which was far more diplomatic than what I wanted to say.

Konstantin’s face showed regret, but I had the strong suspicion it was only skin deep. “I apologize for the Draconian tactics, but I understand Anderson has attempted to poison you against us already. I think it only fair that we be able to argue our case, which is difficult to manage if you refuse to meet with us.”

Oh, yeah, right. He’d forced me into meeting with him because it was the fair thing to do. I’d convinced myself I had to stay as civil as possible, but that didn’t mean I had to roll over and show him my belly. “You’ve done a better job of poisoning me against you than Anderson could ever have done. Hasn’t anyone ever told you that threatening someone’s family is a sure way to get a relationship off to a bad start?”

Konstantin shot a quick look in Alexis’s direction. There was no missing the reproach in that glance. Alexis looked away. “Again, I apologize. Alexis can be rather impetuous at times. He should have cleared it with me before making threats. We have had a long talk, and he’s assured me nothing like that will happen again.”

Alexis’s shoulders tightened at the rebuke, and his gaze remained pinned to the floor. All very convincing, but I had a hard time believing Konstantin really had a problem with what Alexis had done. Maybe he’d have preferred it if Alexis tried a little harder to make contact peacefully before resorting to threats, but the threats would have come eventually, one way or another. And if Konstantin were really sorry about it, he’d have said so right from the start.

“So are you retracting the threat?”

He smiled at me, the expression condescending, though his tone remained completely pleasant. “My friend threatened harm to your sister if you didn’t show up today. You’re here, so the threat is no longer valid.”

I wondered if he thought he was being subtle. Some people are such good liars that they can respond to questions with a complete non sequitur and make you believe they actually answered you. Konstantin wasn’t one of them.

“So if I walked out of here right now, we wouldn’t have a problem anymore?” I asked, pressing the issue even though I knew the answer.

“Let’s not make this meeting a waste of both my time and yours,” he said. “We can have a civilized conversation over lunch.”

He gestured in the direction I presumed was toward the restaurant, but I didn’t budge. I didn’t want to spend a moment more than necessary in the company of these men, and I sure as hell couldn’t see sitting down to lunch with them.

“I’ve got a very busy afternoon,” I told Konstantin, still trying to be at least relatively diplomatic. “I don’t have time for a fancy lunch. Why don’t we have a seat over there,” I continued, gesturing toward the nook where I’d been sitting, “and we can get right down to business.”

Konstantin was clearly taken aback by my refusal. Guess he was surprised I didn’t automatically do what he wanted. He paused for a long moment before he spoke again.

“I can see how you and Alexis would rub each other the wrong way,” he said with a wry smile that didn’t reach his eyes. He may have been genuinely trying to create some kind of rapport based on shared humor, but the attempt was too forced to be effective. Beneath his urbane veneer, an aura of cruelty clung to him.

“Yeah, I don’t think he and I will ever be on each other’s Christmas lists,” I said.

Alexis said nothing, merely stood to the side and glared at me, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Then perhaps it would be best if you and I spoke alone,” Konstantin said. Without waiting for my response, he headed toward the sofa in the corner of the seating area. I guessed I was supposed to follow.

I felt Alexis’s glare on the back of my head the moment I turned away from him. He hadn’t uttered a sound of protest, but I knew he was majorly pissed off that he was being left out of the conversation. And he hadn’t appreciated Konstantin’s public rebukes, either, no matter how insincere they might have been. Like he needed another reason to hate me.

I sat gingerly on the edge of the sofa, feeling anything but relaxed around this self-proclaimed king of the Liberi Deorum, but he sprawled in the seat at the other end as if he owned the place. For all I knew, he did. I knew nothing about this man, not even his last name. Not that I wanted to know anything about him.

“So what was it you were so desperate to talk to me about?” I asked, trying to release some of the tension in my spine. We were in a very public place. I could hardly expect Konstantin to try to attack me here. Still, I couldn’t dismiss the possibility out of hand, which was why I’d done my surveillance before the meeting. There was just too damn much I didn’t know, and the only people who could give me information were people I didn’t want to talk to. “Alexis suggested you wanted to hire me for something?”

Konstantin nodded. “Yes. As a Descendant of Artemis, your skills would be a great asset to us.”

I wondered if his “us” was a royal “we,” or if he actually meant the Olympians as a whole. “Go on,” I said. I already knew there was no way in hell I was working for him, but I figured it behooved me to hear him out for diplomacy’s sake.

“We Olympians function as something of a police force for the Liberi Deorum. As such, we often find ourselves needing to track down people who do not wish to be found. Ordinarily, we use private investigators to help us locate these fugitives, but even a skilled private investigator has limitations, especially considering the level of secrecy we require. You, however, would be perfect for the position. Not only a descendant of Artemis, but already an experienced private investigator. You would make it infinitely easier for us to track down our fugitives.”

He made it all sound terribly … benign. Of course, even if everything Anderson had told me about the Olympians was true, they were no doubt the heroes of their own stories. What I might see as a ruthless slaughter of innocents, they might consider a necessary purge to protect their own people. Even so, I didn’t think that was what Konstantin believed. He might have started his crusade against Descendants under the pretext of protecting the Liberi, but these days it was all about enjoying the power. Maybe I was reading things into his tone and body language, but his words carried no sense of self-righteousness or conviction like they should if he really believed them.

“What would happen to these ‘fugitives’ once I found them for you?” I asked.

“They would be dealt with in an appropriate manner.”

“Would dealing with them in the ‘appropriate manner’ involve killing them, by any chance?”

“It would depend on the circumstances. However, it would be your job to find them, not to carry out their sentences, whatever those sentences might be.”

Maybe that was supposed to allow me to soothe my conscience if I accepted the job. As if the fact that I wasn’t personally killing anyone would make me feel better about tracking people down so the Olympians could kill them.

“The rewards you would reap if you chose to work with us are considerable,” Konstantin said. “We are richer than many countries, and we are generous with those riches. Your pay would be in seven figures, with bonuses for success. You could live like a queen.” He sounded much more passionate about this argument than he had about the “it’s for a good cause” thing.

I shrugged. “Money doesn’t tempt me.”

He laughed, like I’d just made the funniest joke in the world. “Oh, Nikki, money tempts everyone.”

And just like that, I’d heard enough. I’d listened to what he had to say, and there was no hint of doubt in my mind that I wanted nothing to do with Konstantin or his Olympians. The time for diplomacy was over. “Let me rephrase that: I don’t want your money.”

Konstantin’s urbane veneer thinned a little more, until it was practically nonexistent. “Perhaps you don’t understand. I am the king of the Liberi Deorum. I realize you have only been recently introduced to the Liberi, but that doesn’t exempt you from our laws. You are Liberi, and therefore you answer to me.”

I snorted softly. “Most of the Liberi I’ve met don’t answer to you.”

He went completely still, shedding the last vestiges of his pseudo-friendly persona. The darkness in his eyes spoke of power and of deadly danger. “I have a treaty with Anderson and his people. That treaty does not extend to you.”

He leaned toward me on the sofa, and it was all I could do not to recoil. His anger wasn’t as ostentatious as Alexis’s, but it was all the more chilling for its calculated control.

“Make no mistake, Nikki,” he said, his calm, unruffled voice at odds with the fury that radiated from his every pore. “I have presented you with a choice, but the consequences of making the wrong one are beyond the limits of your imagination.”

I swallowed hard, hating that I couldn’t hide my fear. “I thought you weren’t into making threats.”

He shrugged and sat back, banishing all signs of anger in a fraction of a second. The veneer was back, but I’d already gotten a clear view of what lay beneath it. “I prefer to catch my flies with honey, when possible.” He gave me a charming smile that scared me almost as much as his glare. “But a good king must sometimes make compromises to ensure the well-being of his people. It is important to our people that we find these fugitives, and therefore I’m not in the position to take no for an answer.”

He reached into the inner pocket of his jacket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “On this paper are three names, those of our most wanted.” He tried to hand me the paper, but I refused to take it from him. Then he grabbed my wrist in a crushing grip and forced the paper into my fingers, smiling pleasantly all the while.

“I know they will be difficult to locate,” he continued, still holding my wrist so hard I felt like my bones were scraping together. “I’ll be generous and give you one week to find your first fugitive. It can be any of the ones on that list, although eventually you must find all three. When you have the location of the first fugitive, you will call Alexis with your information, and he will send a squad to confirm you’re telling the truth. When you find that first fugitive, I will pay you one million dollars.” He smiled again and let go of my wrist. “In case that isn’t incentive enough, I’ll have you know that Alexis has taken quite a liking to your sister.

“If you refuse, or if you fail, I will give Alexis permission to do whatever he wants with her. Let your imagination run wild. He won’t kill her, though. He’ll let her live so that you can see the wretched ruin he has made of her. If that doesn’t motivate you … then we will have to get more creative. I have walked this earth for many centuries, my dear. Let me assure you, when it comes to cruelty, I’ve seen every form imaginable in my day, and there is nothing I would not scruple to do.”

His eyes bored into me as I sat there in horrified silence, unable to force a single word from my mouth.

Konstantin reached over and patted my shoulder. I was too frozen to react. Then the lines of his face softened and he gave me what looked like a sad smile. Another veneer, no more convincing than the other.

“It doesn’t have to be like this,” he said softly. “You can join with us and work in a spirit of cooperation. No one need get hurt. You are Liberi Deorum, Nikki Glass, and you will live forever. The choice is yours whether that life will be one of pleasure and privilege, or pain and strife.”

I still couldn’t speak, didn’t know what I could say in the face of such blatant evil. Words of defiance might get Steph hurt, but it was beyond me to in any way suggest I was in agreement with him. About anything he had said.

I remained silent as Konstantin rose to his feet, headed toward the front door, and beckoned Alexis to follow.