Page 506 of Shadowblood Souls
Fury and anguish flood me as swift and scorching as the fire that consumed the villa. In that instant, any revulsion I still held about using the most vicious part of my powers fades away.
This man reveled in how far he could stretch my talents, how much pain he could force me to deal out. He should be happy to experience firsthand what he celebrated so avidly.
The shriek peals from my mind in a torrent so scathing my nerves rattle with it. But even as my rage of retribution pours out of me, my thoughts are still down the passage with my guys, knowing I’m here for them as much as myself.
Matteo warned Balthazar that I’m going to attack—that I can. I have no idea what our captor will do with that information.
I’m going to carve every scrap of pain I can out of Matteo to bolster my strength—but I have to do it quickly.
Just this once, I’m grateful for this asshole’s “procedures,” all the exercises and tests he pushed on me. My mental shriek hits him and starts at precisely the perfect spot, shattering every bone in the hand holding his gun.
As the pistol slips from his suddenly flimsy fingers, Matteo cries out. I slam my silent scream into his throat next, smashing his vocal cords but not cutting off his breath.
I’m not letting him die just yet.
My power rips through him with brutal efficiency. Crack his kneecaps. Slice the skin between his toes and along the arch of his foot. Carve a path from his stomach up to his ribs.
Everywhere it’ll hurt the most. All that agony streaming into me, fueling the power I’m inflicting on him.
The rush of exhilaration sweeps me through a few ragged breaths. I might have kept going a little longer, taken in even more strength from his pain, but the ground beneath me trembles with a distant thunder.
Fuck. Balthazar is done waiting—he’s set off the rockslide again.
My final silent shriek blasts apart Matteo’s heart. I shove his disjointed body off me, letting it thud lifelessly to the ground.
The agony I absorbed thrums through my limbs. I spring to my feet and dash through the broken door into the entry room.
As I spin toward the door with the lock, my renewed strength propels the X-ray vision I borrowed from Zian through the thick steel. I have to find Balthazar—I have to shatter his heart too before he can do any more damage?—
I can’t see him. I make out the hazy screens and the lights blinking on the consoles, but he’s ducked out of view.
He must be somewhere near the controls. His voice resonates through the underground chamber. “Whatever you think you’re going to do, you don’t needthemanymore.”
No.
Panic spikes through my veins, and I do the only other thing I can think of that might stop him. I flick my gaze toward the ceiling over his control room instead.
The searing power of Zian’s vision slices through stone much more easily than steel. A massive chunk of rock crashes down on a few of the screens, sending sparks flying.
Then another and another, hitting the floor or the consoles in a pounding thunder.
If I can cut through enough, if I can hurl enough boulders at Balthazar, I can kill him that way, I can pulverize him right out of existence…
The other tunnel goes quiet, the rumbling sensation ebbing. An ache spreads through my skull.
I scan the room beyond the locked door as intently as I can, ignoring the strain stabbing through the middle of my brain, and catch a flash of movement deeper inside. A blur of fabric—someone stumbling away?—
And then my sight fades to a hazy gray. The headache jabs deeper, forming spots behind my eyes.
Every particle in my body is shouting at me to race after Balthazar, if that was him. To rip through these passages until his lifeless, bloody body slumps before me.
But I don’t have the strength. I’ve worn myself ragged with what I’ve already done.
And the guys—the guys still need me. I don’t know how much rubble he poured down on them.
Another hitch of fear propels me down the first tunnel. I sway and stagger, shoving myself onward, my clawed fingers scrabbling over the walls.
The faintest flickering glow comes into view up ahead. It trembles through a crack in a heap of massive stones that cuts off the passage.
