Page 272 of Shadowblood Souls
The mangled bodies in the cage-fighting arena. Most of those people died without ever having actually harmed me.
The buildings toppling into a Havana street with a yank of Jacob’s power.
Billy the faun’s delicate body turned into a crumpled, disjointed heap.
Peoplehavegotten hurt who shouldn’t have.
“We were only trying to protect ourselves,” I protest. “If they’d just let us go free…”
Somehow, Griffin still sounds calm. “Maybe. But even when the guardians weren’t after you, there were others who wouldn’t leave you alone. And then you’d lash out. It would have happened over and over. What Clancy wants to do is better.”
My gaze jerks back to the older man. The military-styled dude offers me another tight smile.
My fingers curl toward my palms. “What exactly do you want?”
He’s obviously going to tell me eventually. Might as well get it over with as quickly as possible so I can figure out where we go from here.
What avenues I might have for reaching the other guys. For breaking out of our new prison.
And if Griffin thinks this man is worth listening to, is it possible he’s right?
But I don’t know how much to trust this altered version of my old love.
Clancy takes a step toward me, putting himself just inches away from my restrained feet. “I should introduce myself properly, Riva. My name is James Clancy, and I’ve been part of the Guardianship since its inception, alongside my parents. It’s only been in the past several months that I’ve had a chance to take the reins and present a better vision for our shadowbloods.”
I resist the urge to make a face. “What vision?”
His posture pulls even straighter. “Chasing after monsters that rarely leave a lasting impact on society is pointless when there are so many bigger issues that human beings face. There are much greater challenges your skills could be put toward resolving. You and your friends have the opportunity to make the entire world a better place.”
Two
Riva
To make the entire world a better place.
James Clancy says the words with total confidence, as if he’s presenting me with an award or something. As if I should be fuckinghonoredthat he’s chosen me to be trapped in a dentist’s chair and half-strangled.
I glower at him. “What are you even talking about? I thought that was already the idea: we protect the world by fighting the ‘monsters.’”
Not that the shadowkind—as I’ve learned those monsters prefer to be called—act beastlier than the guardians do, at least not the ones I met. But I don’t see the point in rubbing that fact in just yet.
Clancy shakes his head. A gleam of enthusiasm has come into his eyes.
“The three founding families believed hunting monsters should be your purpose. But I’ve seen a lot over the years. I knowyou could accomplish so much more than that. You should have the chance to become more than monsters yourselves.”
Griffin nods along, and I can’t stop a flutter of hope from passing through my chest despite my wariness.
I don’t want to like what my new captor is saying. But to be more than what the guardians made us and expected from us—that’s a dream I’ve been chasing from the moment I fled the cage-fighting arena.
On the other hand, this asshole does still have me locked in a chair.
Clancy starts to pace, but it isn’t an anxious motion. I don’t pick up the slightest hint of nervous pheromones in the air.
He strolls back and forth in front of me like he’s gathering momentum, pulling out a phone as he does. “You must have some idea of the larger problems we face from the media you were allowed to consume. There are totally human horrors that run rampant around the globe. Children dragged into slavery. Terrorists killing thousands. Cartels spreading violence and addiction. Extremists carrying out genocide.”
He halts and holds out his phone so I can see the screen. His thumb swipes through images that wrench at my gut almost as much as my blood-soaked memories do.
Wide-eyed little kids holding guns. Bombed out buildings. Fields mottled with broken bodies.
