Page 141 of Shadowblood Souls
Before I have to figure out what to say to my self-declared bodyguards, the waitress swoops in to take our orders.
After she leaves, Jacob turns to Dominic, taking the pressure off me. “You kept looking through Engel’s notes while we were driving. Did you find anything else that could help us ID the monsters?”
Dominic’s mouth twists. “I’m not sure. Even in the parts that aren’t using her special shorthand at all, I can tell there are a lotof gaps, things she didn’t bother explaining because she already understood.”
“There has to be something, or no one would ever realize they’re around,” Zian says.
“I mean, in the write-ups on different types, she mentioned ‘common characteristics.’ Things like a werewolf is likely to have pointed ears or fangs or claws. But obviously they don’t go walking around like that all the time.”
Andreas rubs his jaw. “Maybe they do show some outward signs, though. Otherwise, why mention it?”
Zian frowns. “None of us have anything noticeable.” He pauses, with an expression like he’s just swallowed his tongue. “I mean…”
“Other than me,” Dominic says mildly, though he’s looking at his napkin rather than at us.
“It’d be hard for anyone who did have obvious inhuman physical features to blend in,” I point out. “So maybe they’d hang out places where it’s usually darker, like nightclubs or bars or whatever.”
Jacob lets out a short laugh. “Places where everyone’s a little weird. Every city’s got venues like that.”
I try to think of any I saw, but… “It’s hard to tell which ones are weirdest from the outside.”
“Maybe we need to start popping into some places, then.”
Zian’s forehead furrows. “I don’t know. The more we stick ourselves out there, doesn’t it get more likely thatwe’llbe noticed?”
I let the guys hash out their concerns a little longer while I peer out the window to where evening is falling. The streetlamps flicker on, casting their glow over the sidewalk.
Dozens more people walk by, but none of them are flashing fangs or swishing tails.
If it was easy to tell who the monsters are, wouldn’teveryoneknow about them?
The waitress bustles over with our food fast enough that my stomach has only just started to pinch with hunger. The sight of the golden battered fish and thick but crisp fries raises my spirits.
I definitely made the right choice—both of them. Andreas’s lasagna bulges with heaps of meaty tomato sauce and creamy cheese.
I half expect him to balk, but he immediately sets about cutting off a quarter of the slab. He drops it onto his saucer and slides it over to me.
“If you like it enough that you want more, let me know.”
I glance down at my main plate and lift one of the three battered filets onto my own saucer to offer up. “It’s a trade.”
“You really don’t have to?—”
“It’s a trade,” I repeat firmly. “I do want to still be able towalkafter this dinner.”
A fleeting smile crosses Andreas’s face. “Okay, fair.”
I would grapple with the weird sense of friendship that I don’t want, except right then Jacob stabs his fork down on my plate. The metal tines clang against the china.
I arch an eyebrow at him as he lifts the fry he speared off my plate. “Defending me from my dinner now?”
He swivels the fork in his fingers to show a black blob pierced by one tine. “A fly landed on it.”
For a second, I can’t speak. He must have used his power to hold the fly in place for him to have caught it like that.
I think.
Without missing a beat, Jacob pushes out of his seat, walks to the counter, and sets the utensil down on the formica surface.
