Darkness Possessed (Order of the Blade) Read Online Free PDF Page B

everyone his wife knows. Poison Ivy interests them. A sexy woman who is armed and dangerous, willing to attack one of the wealthiest men in the entire city, who appears to have a magical connection to plants, is going to be headlining all the police scanners tonight." She rolled her eyes in apparent disgust. "Such a typical male thought process, isn't it? They see one sexy woman with the power to knock them on their butts, and they drop everything to find her, even though you didn't actually hurt anyone. Heaven forbid they go after the idiots running around with shotguns and drugs, right?"
    Rhiannon stared at her boss. "You're not mad?"
    "Mad?" Jordyn chuckled as she pulled out her hair elastic and redid her ponytail. It was a little crooked, which actually made her look even prettier and more approachable. "The only thing I might be a little mad about is that you didn't actually hurt him, but I suppose he probably begged and screamed for mercy, right?"
    Rhiannon nodded slowly, still trying to figure out exactly what Jordyn's response to this was. "He did get a little desperate," she admitted.
    "Fantastic." Jordyn grinned, looking decidedly more cheerful than when she'd first walked in. "I love making bullies scared. Nice work, Rhee." She raised her brows, a thoughtful look suddenly on her face. "By the way, you looked really good in that outfit. Why do you hide that body under those baggy jeans and sweaters?"
    That was much too long of a story, too long to tell when she needed to be out of the city within minutes, or risk being found. Rhiannon shook her head, still keeping her hand covering the amulet. "I need to leave." But where would she go? This was the first place she'd found to settle in five years.
    "No, you most certainly do not need to leave," Jordyn snapped. "What kind of remark is that?"
    Rhiannon stared at her, startled by the vehemence of her boss. "What?"
    Jordyn was studying her intensely, keen intelligence glittering in her brilliant eyes. "I hate that man," Jordyn said calmly. "He's evil. His wife has no chance to defend herself against him, even though she has money. His power is too strong, and his reach is too far. There are a lot of men like him in the city. Lots of men who need a visit from a woman who makes them understand fear for the first time in their lives."
    The unspoken message hung in the silence between them: Jordyn wanted Rhiannon to engage in a repeat of what had happened tonight.
    She realized that Jordyn wasn't asking who she was, or how she controlled the plants, or where she was from. Either she didn't care, or she knew so much more than she was letting on. Alarm trickled down Rhiannon's spine, like frigid ice water oozing into each vertebra like the fingers of death. "I can't do it."
    Jordyn gave her a grim smile. "You have to do it. Again, and again, and again. As long as it takes until I have no more clients who walk in the door. You can help, so it's your duty."
    "No." Rhiannon sat up, rebelling against the same words that her mother had tried so hard to drum into her. Words she'd lived by until they had destroyed her. Duty had almost taken her life, and her soul was nothing more than a dried-out shadow of what she had once been. She lived minute-by-minute now, always on edge, always on the run. All because she had tried to do her duty. "You don't understand. I can't do it. I can't stay now." She looked down at the computer and jammed her finger onto the delete button. A message box came up asking if she was certain she wanted to delete the personnel file. Yes. One more click, and then she was gone.
    Her throat tightened unexpectedly at the sudden surge of loss, but she resolutely pushed back from the computer. She had no time to grieve the loss of a life or an identity. It had to be this way. When she disappeared tonight, there would be no evidence that she had ever existed, or ever even set foot in this city.
    Except for the security videos. Dammit. What was she going to do about