Rogue Descendant (Nikki Glass) - By Jenna Black Page 0,32
was Logan, but he informed me he already had plans for the evening. I was tempted to ask him what he was up to—for the most part, Anderson’s Liberi didn’t seem to have much of a social life—but it was none of my business, and he hadn’t seemed like he wanted to share.
I tried Maggie one more time, but no dice. She was off the grid, and I was on my own.
That is, I was on my own if I insisted my driver be one of the Liberi. I hesitated to ask Steph to do anything that might be even remotely dangerous, but I couldn’t see any problem with her driving me around. We’d be in a rented vehicle no one recognized, and I would not make the mistake of loitering around if the moon hid behind the clouds at inconvenient times. No one was going to notice a nondescript car that drove by without stopping or slowing.
My decision to ask Steph was reaffirmed when I got a call from the Glasses. They had decided to come home early after all, although they hadn’t been able to get a flight until Wednesday. That meant I could no longer put off trying to come up with a plausible explanation for why I was living in the mansion, and I’d need Steph’s help to corroborate it. Driving around with her tonight would give me the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.
It was getting uncomfortably late by the time I reached the decision to ask Steph to drive me, the sun already starting to set. Moonset wasn’t until almost eleven, but a quick check on the weather had shown me rain was heading our way. The skies were still clear, but who knew how long it would last? I stood by my window and watched the sky anxiously as I called Steph. There was no urgent reason why I should have to go out hunting tonight, specifically, except for my fear that Konstantin wasn’t going to wait very long before he struck again.
The phone call started off poorly, because Steph was planning to meet Blake for dinner. If the rain weren’t moving in, I’d have said we could go on our hunting expedition afterward, but it didn’t look like we were going to have a whole lot of time tonight. Steph reluctantly agreed she could reschedule her date for the next day.
The good news was that since she’d been planning to meet Blake, Steph was already on her way to the mansion when I called, and she arrived about fifteen minutes later. I waited for her on the front porch, my rental car parked along the mansion’s circular drive. Steph pulled up behind the rental, and I took a deep breath before starting down the stairs toward her. Silly of me to feel nervous about seeing my own sister, but I was still swimming in guilt about the hell I’d brought on our family, and I knew she wasn’t happy with me for interrupting her planned evening with Blake.
Our eyes met over the hood of her car as Steph got out, and maybe I was reading things into her expression that weren’t there, but I thought I detected a hint of coolness. I wondered if asking her to do the driving tonight was a bad idea, but it was too late to change my mind now. I dug the keys to the rental out of my coat pocket and took a quick glance at the darkening sky. So far, there were only wispy clouds, and the moon was easily visible. It was a good night for a hunt.
“Thanks for helping me out,” I said to Steph as I handed her the keys.
She certainly didn’t need to dress up for a date with Blake, who would find her beautiful and alluring even in ratty sweats, but either they’d been planning to go somewhere fancy, or she’d dressed up because she felt like it. Her red wool swing coat covered most of the outfit, but her black pencil skirt and stiletto-heeled pumps gave her away. Not the kind of outfit she’d have worn if she’d known how she’d be spending the next few hours.
I guess my visual assessment of her outfit wasn’t terribly subtle, because Steph looked down at herself and chuckled. “I’ll be the best-dressed assistant private eye out there.”
“I’m sorry—” I started, but Steph cut me off.
“I have even more reason than you to want Konstantin caught,” Steph said, all hints