Rogue Descendant (Nikki Glass) - By Jenna Black Page 0,112

smithereens. The damage would heal, but I suspected the pain would distract him for a good long while.

Unfortunately, my hopes were in vain. Konstantin bent down and grabbed Anderson’s arm, dragging him closer to the hole in the floor. The man might have looked like a fop in a fancy suit, but he was clearly carrying some muscle underneath, because dragging Anderson’s lifeless body didn’t even make him break a sweat.

My mouth went dry, and my heart rate jumped to red alert. I was aware of Konstantin watching me, savoring my reaction. I tried my best to keep my face neutral, but I don’t think I succeeded. I bit my lip when Anderson’s head slid over the edge of the hole, flopping limply into the darkness.

Konstantin kept dragging on Anderson’s arm, until Anderson’s shoulders crossed the edge and his upper body tilted precariously.

One more tug, and Konstantin let go of Anderson’s arm, tossing it into the mouth of the hole. The weight of his arm was enough to tip the scales, and Anderson started slipping into the hole, headfirst. I wanted to howl in rage, but I somehow managed to stifle the sound. Still, a little whimper worked its way out of my mouth as Anderson fell. When he hit the bottom of the hole, there was a metallic clang. I didn’t know what it meant.

“Anderson can walk through walls,” I said, my voice shaking. “He can get out of there.”

If nothing else, he’d be able to brace himself against the sides of the hole and inch his way up. But I knew there was more to Konstantin’s plan than just dumping Anderson in a hole.

Konstantin leaned over the hole and fired three quick shots. It would be nice if that were the last of his bullets, but I didn’t think he was careless enough to let that happen.

“It’s very hard to keep death-god descendants contained,” Konstantin agreed. “I found that out the hard way, as you know. I imagine it’s even harder with an actual god.” He grabbed one of the sections of girder stacked beside the hole, dropping it down. “I don’t know if he has some kind of animal he can conjure to dig him out if I bury him.” This time, he used both hands and threw two sections down at once. “But I’m not about to take chances.”

“What are you going to do?” I didn’t know how tossing pieces of steel down into the hole was going to help keep Anderson trapped, but I had a sick feeling I would soon find out.

“After my mistake with Justin, I’ve decided a little overkill is in order.” He got impatient with throwing the steel down one piece at a time, positioning himself behind a stack of pieces and giving them a mighty shove.

I winced, even knowing that Anderson was currently dead down there and couldn’t feel all those heavy pieces of metal raining down upon his vulnerable flesh.

Konstantin looked over the edge of the hole and nodded in satisfaction. “That ought to be enough,” he said, more to himself than to me.

He held out both his hands toward the hole. “I reinforced the hole with steel pipe, and put a good size layer of girders on the bottom.”

A blast of heat sucked all the moisture from my eyes and mouth. I couldn’t see very well from where I was sitting, but my skin felt seared and raw from the heat, and the edges of the hole began to glow, first red, then white.

The steel was melting.

I screamed out a protest as the sides of the hole began to melt and run, flowing downward into the hole. I thought of all those pieces of metal Konstantin had tossed down there, melting around Anderson’s body, burning the flesh from his bones.

Konstantin smiled and made a big show of dusting off his hands. “Even a god will take some time to recover from the damage all that molten metal will do. And when he does, the steel will have cooled around him. He’ll be trapped like a bug in amber.”

I was crying again, dammit. I tried to hold on to the hope that Anderson was as indestructible as he’d thought he was. “B-but, he can walk through walls. He can get out of the metal.”

Konstantin took one last, satisfied glance at the hole, then sauntered toward me. I wanted to scoot away from him, but there was nowhere I could go. The best I could do was draw my bound