Page 161 of Shadowblood Souls
A shiver runs down my back. “We have no idea how far they might be willing to go. But I hope so.”
“Be ready,” Jacob says. “They might simply try to tranq us like before, or they might have decided it’s better to just take us out, no matter what Engel said. I’ll use my powers to keep them as far away as possible.”
Zian glances at me. “Riva and I can smash anyone who gets close.”
“I’ll muddle anyone I can see with projected memories,” Andreas says. “It’s worked before. We’re not trapped this time. We can make it.”
“As long as it’s just them.” My throat constricts. “Do you think the shadowkind monster last night tipped them off somehow? What if more ofthemare out there too?”
We all pause for a moment in uneasy consideration. Then Jacob shakes his head.
“The guardians won’t negotiate with us, and theyknowus. I can’t see them collaborating with the things they wanted us to kill.”
“That doesn’t mean it wasn’t the shadowkind who gave us away somehow,” Dominic says quietly. “Maybe we didn’t get out of the city fast enough to make him happy.”
Zian grimaces. “It doesn’t matter. Let’s just get going now, and then we’ll all be happy.”
He has a point. I roll my shoulders to loosen them and move with the others toward the door.
The house we’re staying in has an outer staircase built against the side of the building to allow outside access to the second floor. Our car is parked by the garage around back.
So close and yet so far.
Jacob goes first, easing the door open and peeking outside. I’m immediately grateful for the solid concrete wall that runs along the landing and the stairs to waist height, even though it looked dreary to me when we first showed up.
“No sign of them yet,” Jacob mutters. “Stay low, but move fast. Maybe we can get out of here before they’re even fully in position.”
He launches himself toward the stairs, his knees bent and shoulders hunched to keep him mostly below the level of the wall. It’s more a scuttle than a run.
Zian motions for the rest of us to go ahead of him. He’s planning on bringing up the rear, which isn’t a bad strategy.
Once we get to the bottom of the stairs, we may need someone big and strong to cover the rest of us in our sprint to the car.
I slink forward behind Jacob, extending my claws from my fingertips. The tension of our escape brings the caustic vibration into my chest, but I suppress it with gritted teeth.
I can’t let out a shriek like that without knowing where my targets are. I’m not sure I could even hone the power enough to make sure it only captured our enemies and not random bystanders as well.
The busy activity of the city makes it an ideal spot for us to hide away … but also difficult to avoid collateral damage.
Jacob has almost reached the middle landing when his feet appear to slip from under him. He stumbles and sprawls forward on his hands and knees.
“What the—?” He scrambles up, his head jerking around as if he’s looking to see what he tripped over.
Before I can say anything, it hits me too: an invisible surface smacking against my ankles. I teeter and snatch at the railing for balance.
Not a surface, I register through the sudden thudding of my heart. An invisibleforce, like Jacob’s telekinetic talent?—
Footsteps thunder across the pavement below us. Jacob snarls and slashes out his hand.
The rest of us barrel down to catch up with him, to help him.
Something clatters on the ground; projectiles rattle against the side of the stairwell. A dart whizzes past my ear.
They’re still not trying to kill us. But what the hell was that energy that tripped us?
I catch the flashes of sunlight glancing off helmets below—a fuckload more than just two of them. The guardians sway this way and that as Jacob shoves them back.
He dashes farther down the stairs with the rest of us at his heels. Andreas’s eyes flash red, and a couple of shouts ring out with a familiar tremor of confusion.
