Page 151 of Shadowblood Souls
I pull myself straighter with a renewed sense of purpose. “That’s right. We just have to find another one.”
The slight movement pulls at the lingering wound on my side with a jab of pain. I think I broke the scab again when I leapt to search for the vanished monster-man in the alley.
That’s fine. It’s a reminder of how dangerous any of these creatures could be, considering I got the sadistic power inside me from their kind.
“Come on,” I say to distract myself from the deepening ache. “The more ground we cover, the more likely we’ll find someone tonight.”
As we head back to the car, Jacob nudges Andreas. “Did you see anything interesting in the monster’s memories?”
Andreas grimaces. “I only dipped in briefly, just long enough to pick up a name that seemed meaningful to him. I was trying to avoid freaking him out. Looks like we did anyway.”
The guy did act particularly startled right before he vanished. What was that all about?
“He’s probably not used to people who seem human recognizing what he is,” I say.
We pile back into the car, me taking the front passenger seat again. I want a good view so I can notice anyone who gives me that weird quivery feeling right away.
Jacob takes the wheel this time, his hands squeezing tight around it. He’s pissed off that the woman barred us from the lounge.
“Maybe when we do find another one, we should try a more diplomatic approach first,” I suggest, a little tartly.
Jacob lets out a huff, but he doesn’t argue. “Let’s seewhowe find before we make any decisions.”
We cruise along the streets through the thickening night, sticking to the commercial areas with shops and restaurants. It doesn’t seem likely monsters would be hanging around in the middle of a residential street.
Do they own houses? Do they hide away in caves in ravines and forests?
We have no idea how these things even live. Engel said they were like the supernatural beasts from stories, but how much of those stories are true?
Plenty of pedestrians are still out on the streets, most of them in pairs or groups. I watch a girl who looks about my age rush up to a cluster of other women and throw her arms around each in turn.
I almost had a girl friend. Brooke, our neighbor on campus, tried to be there for me.
Maybe if we’d stayed there, eventually she and I could have become BFFs or besties or whatever the current word for it is. But because she was trying so hard to be there for me, she got caught in the crossfire when the guardians found us.
I can’t make any friends other than the uncertain ones I have right now. It’s too risky—for them far more than for me.
The thought sends a jab of loss through me that’s sharper than the ache from my injury. I swallow thickly and keep skimming my gaze over the sidewalks outside.
We’re passing the thicker shadows of a large, treed park when one of those quivers finally races through my veins again. I jerk forward in my seat, biting back a wince at the jolt of pain that sears through my side at the sudden movement.
“There,” I say, pointing toward the far end of the park. “There’s someone… Someone’s sitting there next to that bench.”
The figure is barely more than a lump of layered fabric topped by frizzy hair, but there’s no denying the increasingly familiar sensation tingling through my blood. Jacob parks by the curb, and we walk over cautiously.
It’s a middle-aged woman, hunched next to the bench with a grimy blanket pulled around her shoulders. Dirt smudges her plump face.
She looks like a homeless person. Is that a disguise she’s putting on, or can a monster actually be down and out just like a regular human being can?
Or are my senses going haywire, and sheisjust a regular human being?
Zian prowls ahead of the rest of us, his muscles taut beneath the preppy clothes he’s still wearing. He shoots us a look with a swift nod of confirmation.
He can sense it too. I’m not going crazy—well, any crazier than I might already be.
The woman stares up at him with a scowl, even less friendly than the guy we tried before. I aim a warning glance at Jacob and step past Zian to stand in front of her.
“Hey,” I say in the warmest voice I can manage, and think that I should have volunteered Andreas for this role rather than me.
