Page 97 of Soulbound Shadows: Part 1

I glared at him. “Really.”

“We can’t be hasty,” Gabriel said. “Everyone knows my father wasn’t exactly the brains of his marriage, but that doesn’t mean we should underestimate him. The Tranquility Pavilion is heavily warded, and relatively easy to defend. Don’t you think it’s awfully convenient that one of his people should just so happen to tell us exactly where to find him?”

I scoffed. “So, what do you think we should do?” When he hesitated, I barreled on. “Let me guess. You think we should wait. Do some recon. Maybe come up with some plans, scrap them, wait a couple decades, then try again. That’s your usual M.O. for dealing with your issues, isn’t it?”

Gabriel looked like I’d just slapped him across the face. He sagged against the mantlepiece.

“Evangeline…” Lissa said softly, like she was trying to calm down a kid throwing a tantrum.

“Don’t,” I snapped, pointing at her. “Don’t try to manage me, and don’t try to protect him. He’s not actually your little brother. He’s a fucking ancient vampire, and he’s capable of making his own goddamn decisions, even if he doesn’t act like it.”

Isabella was watching me with wide eyes, her hands pressed over her mouth. Next to her, Theo was blotchy red and practically bouncing with rage.

“Even if it is a trap, and we don’t know that it is, I’m way more powerful than they’re prepared to deal with. I proved that this morning, and I can prove it again. The longer we wait, the more time they’ll have to figure out my new strengths.” The strength that was rushing through me that very moment, filling every inch of my body. They wouldn’t be able to stop me. I was wild now, full of power. They might as well try to stop a tsunami.

“I think you should sit down,” Isabella said. Her voice was shaking just a little.

“I don’t need to sit down,” I spat. Was Isabella afraid for me? Afraid of me? No, that wasn’t it. She was afraid that after years of being the friend I turned to for help, I didn’t need her anymore. I was stronger than her now, and she hated that. It was obvious. She didn’t want anyone else to see what I was capable of—really capable of.

“Evie,” she whispered. “Your chest…”

I glanced down. The center of my borrowed T-shirt was stained with black ooze. I touched it. The wound in my chest didn’t hurt, just pulsed and prickled warmly. My fingers came away slick with the black liquid. Ignore her, I thought. The magic was moving through me with white-water ferocity, and I was a leaf being swept along by the currents. She’s jealous and petty, and small.

But… that didn’t sound like something I would think about my friend. My chest burned, and black ooze spattered onto the spotless floor.

For a brief moment, I thought of the knife Gabriel’s father had thrown into my chest. The runes etched into it, the shape of it… I should have known better. I should have known a cursed blade from across the room, let alone when it hit me.

The magic surged. The fire blazed higher, and the lights in the room flickered. I could feel my hair moving around me sluggishly, brushing my shoulders. The little leaf that had been bobbing on that current went under, and I was lost.

Everything went dreamlike, distant, yet oversized at the same time.

“It’s fine,” I heard myself saying. “Why won’t any of you believe that I’m all right? I’m a really fucking capable person, and you all keep babying me!”

“I think Isabella is simply suggesting that we should take a look at your injuries,” a calm voice said. I spun on my heel to face Marcus.

“Why?” I asked. “So you can keep even more information from me? So you can say some cryptic bullshit I’ll have to pretend is sage advice? So you can go ‘hmm,’ and stare into the distance, then disappear for six fucking weeks? No. No, Marcus. I’m done. If you want to convince yourself that you’re helping, you’re going to have to do it somewhere else.”

“Please, Evangeline,” he said gently. “You have to let us?—”

“Have to?” I shouted. “Have to! I don’t have to let you do anything!” Behind Marcus, Vic moved slowly to put himself between Lissa and me.

Gabriel was stepping forward slowly, carefully, his hands raised like he was showing me that he didn’t have a weapon. “I think we should all just take a deep breath,” he said cautiously. The rage that spiked through me at that was only half because of the curse—nothing pissed me off like people telling me to calm down.

I looked down at Gabriel. The part of my brain that was still mine to control realized I was usually shorter than him. I was floating half a foot above the floor, a growing pool of black ichor pooling below me.

“No,” I said. “I’m sick of it, Gabriel. I’m sick of your patronizing bullshit, of you telling me that I’m not as much of a fuckup as you expected, of you chasing after me like you think I’m fucking incapable of cleaning up my own goddamn messes. I. Don’t. Need. You.”

Gabriel looked up at me with a sad little smile. He was bathed in golden light, and I could see the burning shape of myself reflected in his eyes.

“I know you don’t,” he said. “You’re brilliant and capable. You’ve never needed me. If anything, I needed you. I needed someone to shake me out of the rut I’d let myself fall into. I know you don’t need me, Evangeline, but it’s been an honor to be by your side.”

The prickling monstrosity in me howled. No, that wasn’t right. He should lash out. He should fight back. He should give us more fuel, more to burn, more to break. He should?—

Three things happened in very quick succession. One, Gabriel’s eyes flicked to a spot just behind me. Two, I felt the familiar cool sensation of Marcus’s magic against the skin of my wrist. Three, the thing puppeteering my body spun me around.

While Gabriel had distracted me, Theo and Marcus had crept up behind me. Marcus had a spell curled between his hands, and Theo was braced to grab me. The spell was pathetic compared to what was already in my system. It was a quick, simple sleep spell, meant to knock the target out for a few minutes without them noticing they’d been out. The creature that had once been me shot out a hand and closed it tightly around one of Marcus’s, trapping his fingers in a vise grip. It squeezed. It was the thing that was doing it, but I was the one who would have to live with the memory of Marcus’s bones breaking beneath my fingers. He screamed through his teeth and dropped to his knees. Theo bellowed and charged at me, but it was useless. I scooped up the spare magic of Marcus’s sleep spell, amplified it as easily as breathing, and threw it at Theo. They were flung backwards by the impact, and there was a crash as the back of their skull hit the corner of the fireplace.

It all happened so quickly. Everyone was frozen for a moment. Marcus, slumped on the floor, whimpered, and clutched his mangled hand. Theo lay completely still. Isabella was on her feet, unsteady and horrified. Vic was trying to shield Lissa from me, and I could see her face streaked with furious tears behind him. Gwendoline looked completely blank, like she was too shocked to even keep her impassive mask up.

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