Deadly Descendant by Jenna Black Read Free Book Online Page B

sure there were no witnesses, then walked through the fence like it was no more substantial than smoke. I touched the chain links, but for me, they were solid metal.
    “How did you do that?” I asked, amazed. I was pretty sure I’d seen Jamaal walk through a locked door before, but we hadn’t been on speaking terms at the time, so I hadn’t ever asked him about it.
    “It’s a common ability among descendants of death gods. There’s no way to keep Death out.”
    “Right,” I said, nodding. “And Anubis is a death god.”
    As soon as the words left my mouth, I whirledaround, turning my back to the fence and facing the street.
    “Wait a second. He’s a descendant of Anubis … a death god … and there’s a cemetery right on the other side of that street.” Something went click in my head. “And didn’t we pass a cemetery right before we got to the last crime scene?”
    Jamaal nodded. “Mount Olivet, yeah.”
    There were a lot of cemeteries in the area, so it could have been a total coincidence. But then again, maybe not. I frowned as I thought about the scene in Anacostia.
    “There weren’t any cemeteries that I saw around the first crime scene,” I said.
    “The Congressional Cemetery is right across the river,” Jamaal said.
    “You sure know your cemeteries.”
    “Descendant of a death goddess, remember?”
    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a police car cruising down the street. It slowed as it went past us, and I figured we looked kind of suspicious loitering by the fence.
    “Let’s head back,” I said to Jamaal, starting toward the car. “I think I’ve learned all I’m going to for now.”
    The police cruiser picked up its pace as soon as Jamaal and I crossed the street.
    When we arrived back at the mansion after our excursion, we saw a white Mazda parked in the circular drive.
    “That’s your sister’s car, isn’t it?” Jamaal asked as he pulled into the garage.
    “Yep.”
    Things were a little bit … strange between Steph and me these days. We’d always been close, ever since her parents had taken me in as a rebellious eleven-year-old troublemaker, but our relationship seemed to be undergoing an adjustment period since I’d become a Liberi . I’d always loved Steph, but it was becoming abundantly clear that I’d never had a whole lot of respect for her. She was the rich and beautiful socialite who lived the easy life, and I was the street-smart ugly duckling who understood how the world “really” worked. At least, that’s how I used to see us.
    Steph had gotten hurt—badly—because of me, and I was finally beginning to see just how strong a person she really was. But I’d been treating her like a child in need of protection for a long time, and I was having a hard time backing off and treating her like the responsible adult she was. Which meant I couldn’t hide my disapproval of her relationship—whatever the hell it was—with Blake. That disapproval rubbed her the wrong way, big-time.
    Jamaal stayed outside to smoke another cigarette, and I cautiously entered the house, hoping not to run into Steph and Blake. It was amazing how hard a time I had not editorializing whenever I saw them together.
    Seriously, though, who could blame me? Blake was a descendant of Eros, and he had the power to arouse an overwhelming and unnatural lust in anyone, male or female, whenever he felt like it. I knew he wasn’t doing that to Steph, but it made me uneasy thathe could . And then there was that other major downside to their relationship: according to Blake, he was such a supernaturally good lover that if he slept with a woman more than once, she’d never be satisfied with another man for the rest of her life. On the surface, it sounded like a ridiculous boast, and yet I knew he was dead serious.
    Blake had enough of a conscience to keep out of Steph’s bed—so far—but he was a guy, and I had a hard time believing he would go very long without sex. Which meant that someday, he was