Page 440 of Shadowblood Souls
I rest my hands on my lap, flex them, and clench them. Jacob watches me, his gaze penetrating enough that I can feel it even when I have my head turned toward the street.
“Our powers keep expanding,” he says. “Whatever we can do now, we have no idea what we might be capable of in another week or two.”
He’s trying to reassure me too. To stoke my hopes.
Jacob of all people is attempting to play the optimist. The knowledge gnaws at me more than Andreas’s expected tenderness did.
I give a brusque nod without looking at him. “I know. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
Like we already have been. While Dominic lies in his transparent coffin and Balthazar orchestrates who knows whatother terrors, and we just sit there helplessly, ready to jump when he calls?—
The thrum of an engine cuts through my bitter reverie. When a black limousine cruises into view, I sit up straighter in my seat.
This will be him. The man with the briefcase—I haven’t got a name.
Jacob braces himself in his seat too. We follow the limo’s course as it slows in front of the mirrored building and pulls up next to the courtyard.
My heart thumps fast but steady. Here we go.
The limo stops completely. The driver will be putting it into park.
One door opens and then another. Three broad-shouldered men in subdued suits clamber out first and form a protective ring around the fourth man who emerges from within.
A briefcase swings in the fourth’s hand, secured to his wrist by a handcuff. One he chose to wear to ensure the case never left his possession, not like our manacles.
A fresh prickle of anger jabs through the constant simmer. My lips part as the shriek reverberates up my throat.
I don’t have any trouble doing it near-silently now, like a breath expelled. The trick is moderating the impact.
I aim it at all four of the men and the driver in the car for good measure, to show I’ve been thorough. With a tremor over my tongue, my power smacks into them and locks them in place.
The itch to snap bones and tear flesh, to provoke the pain some part of me craves, digs in deep. My body tenses against it.
The men lurch and stiffen. In the next instant, a few armed guards charge out of the building toward them.
My pulse hiccups, and I almost lose my self-control. No one inside should have realized anything was wrong that quickly.
Unless they were alerted ahead of time. The faint tingle on my collarbone tells me that Andreas has ventured farther than expected, right into the building.
He’ll have turned himself invisible, as was always part of the plan, but there are plenty of ways he could sound the alarm even in that state.
As Jacob pushes forward in his seat to fulfill his role, my lips twitch into a more genuine smile. One thing has already gone wrong in an unexpected way.
Balthazar definitely can’t expect us to come out of this job victorious now.
Jacob makes a show of trying anyway. His arm shoots out, his power wrenching at the briefcase and the cuff.
A shiver of pain courses into me with his cracking of the man’s hand. I drink it in, watching the cuff yank free of the crumpled mass.
The briefcase heaves up into the air?—
And is tackled by one of the guards who hurtled over. The burly man slams the case and its contents to the ground.
Jacob bares his teeth and lets out a grunt, but we don’t want to drag the man straight to us.
Good. It’s all good.
I keep up my stream of muted sound, clutching tighter around my targets. The other guys have to try too. I can’t let go too soon… or too late.
