Free Dark Descendant by Jenna Black Page A

carefully, I waited until we were just a couple feet short of the punks.
    Then I slung my backpack off my shoulder and swung it as hard as I could at Blake’s back.

    Since I hadn’t wanted to leave my expensive laptop sitting around the hotel, there was
    plenty of oomph behind the blow. Blake grunted in surprise as he flew forward—right into the
    two punks.

    I didn’t wait to see what happened. I whirled around, shoving my arms back into the
    straps of my backpack, then ran for all I was worth. There was a lot of yelling behind me, but I
    ignored it, my arms and legs pumping for maximum speed. I probably should have dropped the
    backpack so it wouldn’t slow me down, but it had my wallet, my gun, and my laptop in it, and I
    wasn’t willing to part with it.

    I whipped around the nearest corner, sneaking a glance behind me as I turned. One of the
    punks punched Blake right on that luscious mouth of his, but it didn’t seem to bother him much.
    He shoved the guy away hard enough to send him to the pavement.

    I kept running at top speed. There was a parking garage a few yards ahead of me and
    another street a few yards past that. If Blake managed to get away from the punks—which I suspected he would soon, if he hadn’t already—he was going to catch up with me quickly. I’m a
    relatively fast runner given my size, but at five-two, my stride is pretty short.

    I ducked into the garage, hoping Blake would assume I’d run all the way to the corner
    before turning.

    My breath was coming in frantic gasps, the muscles in my legs burning like hell. There
    was a fair amount of activity on the ground level of the garage, people cruising for spaces or
    trying to remember where they’d parked. A few of them glanced at me curiously as I blew past,
    but no one seemed particularly alarmed.

    The muscles in my legs complained even more as I forced them to carry me up the ramp
    to the next level of the garage. I was still hoping Blake would run right past the place, but with
    my luck these days, I wasn’t counting on it. If he found me, he could use his special power to
    force me to go with him, right under the noses of any number of witnesses, and they would never
    know anything was wrong. I, however, would need my gun to defend myself, and that meant
    getting away from potential witnesses.

    There were fewer cars on the second level, but there was still enough activity that I didn’t
    dare draw the gun.

    My pace wasn’t much faster than a brisk walk as I forced myself onward, climbing the
    ramp to the third level. There were only a handful of cars up there, and no people.

    Finally allowing myself to slow down, I examined my options as I sucked in air. If Blake
    managed to follow me up here, I’d pretty much run myself into a corner, but that wasn’t entirely
    by accident. Best to be in a place where I could keep an eye on all the entrances.

    There was a bank of elevators to my right, and a stairwell to my left, but other than the
    ramp, those appeared to be the only two ways up to this level. If Blake was following me, he’d
    have to use the ramp, otherwise it would be too easy for him to go right past me in the enclosed
    stairwell or the elevator.

    I crossed the garage at a halfhearted trot, my legs feeling like they weighed about ten tons
    each. I can jog for miles if I have to, but the all-out sprint with the extra weight of the backpack
    had exhausted me.

    When I reached the cluster of cars near the stairwell, I ducked down between them and
    crept forward until I was crouched between one car’s bumper and the wall. I then quietly
    unzipped my pack and pulled out the gun. If Blake cornered me up here, I’d have to find the guts
    to shoot him. I didn’t want to shoot him, but I doubted I’d have a lot of options if he found me. I couldn’t risk letting him use his nasty special power on me.

    I crouched in the shadow of the car for what felt like forever, my body practically
    vibrating with tension. The day