Page 391 of Shadowblood Souls
“You’re right. We’ve got to get going. I’m pretty sure whoever hired Clancy would rather we cleared out before they show up. Where’s my brother?”
As we tramp across the courtyard, Jake, Zian, and I all pause briefly to confiscate a weapon. We don’t speak about it, not when our voices would be transmitted straight to the guardians, but the solemn glances we exchange say enough.
We still have another fight ahead of us.
Griffin, Sully, and Lindsay emerge from the brush along the slope to meet us as we hurry over. Griffin makes a beeline for his twin and lifts Jacob’s arm to support him.
“I can manage,” Jake mutters, but I think I see him relax a little at the same time.
Sully glances at the sheep pen with its blood-stained earth and mangled corpses. He doesn’t need to say anything.
My shoulders tense. “I did what I had to do.”
His jaw works, but he nods.
Jacob lets out a rough dismissive sound. “Better us than them.”
Lindsay is scanning the courtyard behind us, her face tight with worry. “Where’s George?”
Zian winces. “He—when the new trucks first showed up, spraying bullets everywhere—we didn’t get to shelter in time.”
I hate the shadow of anguish that crosses her face. She’s silent for a moment and then asks, “What about the hostages? Are they okay?”
My mind trips back to the scene in the building I just unleashed my powers on. A few of the bodies that remained after the hostages fled were villagers, but most of the corpses were the terrorists I destroyed.
“Almost all of them,” I say, turning that fact over in my mind. The insurgents decided not to punish too many of the villagers even though everything had gone wrong.
Griffin directs us toward the van we arrived in, concealed about a mile away. “They were greedy. I could feel it, the whole time—the bunch of them were angry when they saw what had happened, but mostly they were still hopeful, hungry… wanting whatever it was they demanded as ransom.”
“They didn’t want to lose too many of their bargaining chips,” I fill in with a shudder.
Zian lets out a rasp of a chuckle. “If they’d given up after our first round,theywould have lived too. Guess they got a little too greedy.”
“Maybe it works out better for Clancy this way. He’ll get everything he’s owed.”
I keep my tone even, but I know the guys pick up on the extra meaning in my last words. We all know what he’s earned from us.
Griffin nods. “Andreas and Dominic will be worrying about us, but they were ready for whatever might happen. When they see us and what state we’re in, they’ll jump in to help.”
They’re waiting for us to take the lead in our rebellion, he means, and then they’ll pitch in however they can. That makes sense.
We’re the ones who’ve had the chance to arm ourselves. We’ll have the most room to maneuver when we make it back to the temporary base Clancy set up to monitor the mission.
As the cluster of trees that hide our vehicle come into view up ahead, my mind starts spinning through the possibilities. But even once we’ve clambered in and buckled up, I’m still not sure.
With their injuries, Zian and Jacob won’t be able to maneuver quickly. Griffin isn’t much of a fighter, no matter how he was trained.
I’m going to be the key, again. That’s just the way it is.
Clancy and his guardian colleagues have Drey, Dom, and a few of the younger shadowbloods with them as their own kind of hostages. I don’t think they’d hesitate to go as far as killing the younger ones if they realize we’re defying them.
It’s only the six of us Firsts they really think are valuable, after all. Clancy proved that when he all but dared Dominic to kill Celine.
And they won’t be kind even to Dom and Drey if they catch wind of our rebellion too soon. Our friends won’t be able to help us if they’re drowning in agony.
I need to tackle him first. Without him giving the orders, it’ll be so much easier to deal with the others.
Where would he make a fatal misstep that could get him killed? What is he afraid to lose, enough that he might act without thinking?
