Page 25 of Soulbound Shadows: Part 2

“Like how there aren’t traffic laws in major metropolitan areas concerning horse-drawn carts,” Marcus added helpfully.

“I feel like there are definitely laws about those,” I said. “But okay.” I turned to Damien, who perked up when I gave him my attention. “Get that stone to Gabriel,” I told him. “As soon as possible, okay?” I hoped Gabriel would recognize it for what it was—a piece of me, and a promise. A reminder that he wasn’t truly alone.

Damien nodded, and I looked at him expectantly. After a moment, I cleared my throat. “Like, now,” I prompted.

He practically sprinted out of the room.

“What an odd man,” Iskra said, steepling her fingers. “I’ve never liked him very much.”

“Yeah, he’s pretty…” I made a vague gesture, which she understood, even though I wasn’t totally sure what I’d been going for. “Okay, so, we have a way in. We have a morale boost for Gabriel. Level with me, guys. Once we get him out, will it be safe to come back here? I mean, Lord De Montclair for sure knows about this place, and the wards aren’t gonna be enough to stop him.”

“It seems as though you’ve answered your own question,” Iskra said, taking a sip from her little teacup of blood.

“But it was a worthwhile one,” Marcus said. I could feel the good cop-bad cop dynamic falling into place. “We shouldn’t bring him here, no. But I have a safe house of my own that I can offer up for the cause. It’s not a mansion, but it should suit our needs.”

I nodded. “All right. So, now I just need to learn how to fucking teleport. No problem.”

9

GABRIEL

The bed beneath me was soaked with blood. Every time I shifted, the bedding moved with me, plastered to my skin and clothes. The room had the acrid tang of a slaughterhouse. I had lost count of the number of humans who had been paraded in to kill themselves for my father’s whims.

Had I really fallen so far as to dream of feeding off Evangeline? Was my psyche so ready to embrace being a parasite again that it would urge me to attack the woman I loved?

The door opened, and I braced myself for another victim, another feeding, another corpse. But the footsteps were silent. Not human. My father? No, he would announce himself. The newcomer made his way over to the bedside and stood there, looming over me.

“Damien,” I rasped.

“Gabriel,” he said.

Maybe it was my addled state, but the mundane greetings and our tone struck me as hilarious, like we’d just happened upon each other outside a meeting. If that had been the case, however, Damien wouldn’t have been looking at me like that. He looked surprised to see me, which also seemed funny to me.

“Did he send you?” I asked.

“No,” Damien said. I blew out a breath and relaxed back against the damp pillows. “You understand that I won’t be telling you anything detailed, yeah?”

I nodded, closing my eyes. “He’s entering my mind every time he comes in,” I murmured. “You shouldn’t tell me anything damning. It’s a risk for you to be here at all.”

“You can’t hide things from him?” Damien asked. He sounded taken aback.

I looked up at him, and the light stung my eyes. “You can?” I asked, shocked.

“Yeah,” Damien said slowly, like it should have been obvious.

“How on earth have you managed to keep him out of your mind?”

Damien scoffed. “Is that what you’ve been trying to do? Shit, no wonder it hasn’t worked. No, I let him in. I just make sure he sees what he expects to see.”

“How?” I probably sounded desperate, but I wasn’t exactly in a state to mind to care.

“Well, for a start, I make sure he doesn’t have any reason to scan me,” he said. “I’m good at that. I make sure he thinks I’m smart enough to be useful, but stupid enough not to be a threat. Besides, Roland isn’t the sort of guy who notices the help even when they’re working closely with him. When he does bother to take a look around in my head, I focus on strong emotion, bring something up to the forefront to distract him from the stuff I want hidden.”

“And that works?” He made it sound so simple.

“Well enough that he hasn’t killed me yet,” Damien said dryly. “As long as I piss you off enough that when he sees your memory of this, he thinks I was just here to gloat, we should be in the clear.”

“Wonderful,” I muttered.

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