Page 454 of Shadowblood Souls
“Dominic,” he says briskly. “You’ve been exempt from our procedures so far by necessity. It’s time to see about bringing you up to speed.”
My body tenses automatically, my tentacles recoiling against the fabric of the T-shirt I shed my hospital gown for. Zian ripped the tee’s neckline for me so my monstrous appendages could move freely.
The others have told me about the procedures and some of how their powers have expanded. I got the sense from subtle hints of body language that there’s more they’ve discovered that our captors aren’t aware of yet, things they’d like to keep secret if they can.
We were able to hide just how far we were progressing from our old keepers in the facility, what feels like years ago. But the situation under the insane dictator they’ve described feels much more precarious.
And I’m not sure Iwantto stretch my abilities any farther. I can already heal every illness and wound I’ve been faced with. I managed to patch Riva back together from the verge of death after the train hit her.
The other side of my abilities—the giddy strength I can absorb by siphoning off life energy from other creatures beyond what I need to keep my good health—already horrifies me enough as it is.
When I hesitate, my friends push to their feet around me. As they step closer as if forming a guard around me, Matteo’s cold eyes narrow.
I stride forward before he needs to make a threat. It’s not as if we have much choice—and I don’t want the others suffering on my behalf any more than they wanted me to for them.
I think I know what to expect. I’m not surprised by the plain modern room Matteo leads me into or the steel chair or the syringe he brings out to begin his procedure.
He lets me stand, leaving my limbs unencumbered, and motions to a table set up next to the chair that holds a variety of not particularly unnerving objects—bricks and slabs of stone and woven cords. “We’re going to see how far you can take that borrowed strength of yours.”
That’s when my stomach starts sinking. It drops even farther when he slips behind the partition at one end of the room and presses a control that pushes a cage full of half a dozen white rabbits toward my feet.
Matteo’s gaze pins me in place through the tempered glass. “We’ll take it one at a time. Follow my instructions carefully. You can kill the first now.”
I want to resist. A pang of defiance stabs through me.
But my nerves have gone pliant from the chemical he injected into me, just like the others described. Even as my gut wrenches, I kneel down in front of one of the cages and snake a tentacle through the bars.
While afternoon fades into evening, I lie on my bed in the room Balthazar has assigned to me and try to judge whether Matteo’s drug has worn off. Is the heaviness in my muscles an aftereffect of his procedure or simply my horror weighing me down?
None of the rush brought on by my power remains—that’s for sure. Thinking about the life I drained from the helpless animals only makes my stomach lurch queasily.
Voices murmur in the hallway. The others are probably even more worried about me now that I’ve holed up in here, but I can’t bring myself to face them, not yet.
For the first few hours since Matteo released me from his tests, they’ve respected my closed door. As I run my hand over my face, it finally eases open.
Riva slips inside and shuts the door behind her. She stays by it as if she isn’t sure whether I’ll yell at her to leave.
“I had to check on you,” she says.
There’s so much anguish tangled in her tone and shining in her eyes that I can’t turn her away. She’s spent too long already scared for my wellbeing.
Mutely, I extend my hand to her. She darts across the tiled floor and scrambles onto the bed.
We fit together as if our bodies are meant to interlock, my chin tucking over her head, our arms looping over each other’s sides, her legs nestling against mine. I hold her close, absorbing her warmth for the more welcome strength it brings me without any supernatural powers necessary.
Riva brushes a delicate kiss to my sternum, just below the mark that connects us. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really.” There isn’t much to say. Matteo had me kill one rabbit, then two, then three at once. And in between each slaughter, he ordered me through tests of my physical might.
After the final rabbits, I snapped the thickest stone slab with my bare hands. Matteo looked pleased.
He told me he was happy we’d been able to establish a “baseline.” Just remembering that word sends a fresh wave of nausea through me.
“How often do they bring you in for the procedures?” I can’t help asking.
“I think on average it’s been once every couple of days.” Riva pauses. “But from the way Matteo was talking, he might bring you in more. Since he figures you’re behind.”
Fuck. I try to suppress my flinch, but a trace of my discomfort must show. Riva’s arms tighten around me.
