Read Online Dark Descendant by Jenna Black - Free Book Online

on Alexis’s face. He waited until she’d walked away to answer me.

    “You’re new in town,” he said, and it wasn’t a question.

    I raised my eyebrows as I took a sip of coffee. “I am?”

    He frowned at me, dark eyebrows forming a severe V. “You have to be. You’re not one
    of ours, and you’re not one of Anderson’s.” He said Anderson’s name with another one of those
    little sneers of his.

    I sipped my coffee, wishing I’d been able to believe Maggie last night so I could have
    asked her a lot more questions. There was a hell of a lot I didn’t know about being a Liberi . For instance, I had no idea what Alexis was talking about when he referred to “one of ours.” Nor did
    I have any idea what—if anything—I should tell him about myself.

    “Let’s say for the sake of argument that I am new in town. What’s it to you?”

    He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table and pushing his untouched coffee out
    of the way. “You’d best have a care how you talk to me,” he said in a menacing whisper that
    carried just fine even in the noisy diner. “Descendants of Artemis are rare, and therefore valuable
    to us, but that will protect you only so far.”

    Ah, we’d reached the threat-making stage of the conversation. I’d had a feeling this was
    coming. Maybe if I hadn’t just had the scariest night of my life, I’d have been more intimidated.
    Maybe it would have been smart to be more intimidated.

    I let my hand slide under the table and smiled broadly—not the reaction Alexis was
    hoping for, if his scowl was anything to go by. “You know what I was doing before you
    ambushed me?” I asked, keeping my body language completely relaxed as I unzipped the front
    compartment of my backpack. I rested my hand lightly on the .38 Special. “I was at a gun range,
    polishing my skills. Turns out I’m a very good shot. Feel like giving me some more target
    practice?”

    I had no intention of actually shooting the guy, or even taking the gun out. I wasn’t even
    sure I’d be able to shoot a person in the heat of battle, much less in cold blood, and I sure as hell
    wasn’t waving a gun around in a crowded D.C. diner. Felony charges and a prison stay would
    not improve my situation. But part of being a good P.I. is being a good actress.

    I was a good P.I.

    “You wouldn’t dare,” he growled at me.

    I blinked at him innocently. “I wouldn’t? How the hell would you know that? You don’t
    even know my name, do you?” I’d seen no reason to introduce myself, and if he’d already
    known my name, I suspected he’d have flaunted the knowledge by now. “I could be sweet as
    sunshine or a total psycho bitch for all you know.”

    I leaned forward till I was almost nose-to-nose with him, meeting his glare with a good
    bit of steel. “Back the hell off, or you’re going to find out the hard way,” I said as I cocked the
    gun, making as much noise about it as possible. The diner was kind of noisy, but not so much
    that Alexis couldn’t hear and recognize the sound.

    I got the feeling Alexis desperately wanted to come across the table at me, but he just sat
    there glaring instead. Then his gaze flicked to something over my shoulder, and his eyes
    widened.

    It was a classic distraction technique, but I couldn’t help taking a peek over my shoulder
    anyway.

    Alexis hadn’t been trying to trick me. Standing in the doorway, giving me a decidedly
    neutral look, was Blake.

    The hostess—who had to be pushing fifty—was giving him goo-goo eyes, and practically
    every adult female in the place, not to mention a few men, were surreptitiously looking him over.
    There’s nothing like a well-built pretty-boy to get the hormones working overtime.

    Blake ignored all of them—even the hostess, who was trying to direct him to an open seat
    at the counter—and started toward our table. I uncocked the gun, then scooted over in my seat so
    I could have the wall at my back while keeping an