Page 521 of Shadowblood Souls
Griffin has taken the seat next to me. He grasps my hand and strokes his thumb over the back of my knuckles. “We’ll do everything we can.”
Zian’s face is taut with bottled anger. “We can’t let that psycho get away with this.”
As far as I can tell, it’s just us six shadowbloods and Rollick in the chopper, although for all I know a few more shadowkind tagged along in the darkness. After the news came in, Rollickordered the rest of his people to investigate the more distant incidents that they can reach quickly via their portals to and from the shadow realm—and continue devising strategies for our theoretical counterattack.
“Here we go,” the demon murmurs. The helicopter lurches a bit on a gust of wind as it begins its descent. “Brace yourselves.”
I don’t think he’s talking only about the drop to the ground. As the vehicle rushes down toward the sprawl of the city below us, I peer through the window at the chaos of darting figures and flashing lights.
We came by chopper specifically so that we could land right at the scene. A jet might have made the trip faster, but we’d have had to trek through the city from the outskirts after we arrived.
In this aircraft, we’re able to touch down on a broad stretch of pavement next to a jumble of pale, cracked stone that has enough glass and carved edges mixed in to make it obvious it used to be a building. Never having seen London except as a backdrop to an occasional movie, I have no ideawhichbuilding until Rollick shuts off the engine and glances over the scene with a pained slant to his mouth. “So long, Westminster Abbey.”
The second we pour out of the helicopter’s door, several of the figures picking their way across the rubble and pacing around it turn our way. “Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” someone in a bright orange vest shouts.
Griffin steps to the front of our group, his fingers curling toward his palms. With our newly deepened connection, I can feel the quiver of energy that ripples off him as he extends his talent over the scattered rescue crews.
The faces that had twisted with confusion or aggression relax. Everyone goes back to the work they were already doing: hustling uncovered bodies into waiting ambulances, searching the wreckage for more.
I spot a couple of lingering news crews farther away, looking like they’re interviewing one of the rescue workers and a couple of passersby. One of the reporters glances toward us, but Griffin sends an extra waft of disinterest her way.
When he speaks, the slight edge to his voice reveals how much of a strain it’s taking to impose this calm over all those people at once. “I’ll keep my attention on keepingtheirattention off us. I’ll give you as long as I can, but I don’t know how long that’ll be.”
The rest of us don’t need any further prompting to spring into action. Leaving Rollick in the cab of the chopper, ready in case we need to beat a hasty retreat, we scramble into the ruins of the old church.
I only have a vague impression in my memory of what it might have looked like before, but I can tell it was fuckinghuge. There’s a full city block of broken stone strewn around us like low, shattered hills.
I have no idea how many bystanders might have been buried when the criminal shadowbloods attacked. I drag in a deep breath, tasting the air for panicked pheromones, but there are too many lacing the breeze from the people all around us for me to narrow down anyone injured.
Zian’s head jerks around. “I can hear a groan—faint, but it’s definitely someone down there. Come on!”
We hustle after him until he stops near one of the larger heaps of rubble. Dominic takes a quick glance around. He points to a row of shrubs that just escaped the devastation. “I’m going to grab a couple of those so I have energy for healing.”
Jacob is already motioning at the chunks of stone with his hand, his telekinetic powers heaving one and then another slab farther away. As I dive in to heft up one boulder with my supernatural strength, Andreas swallows audibly.
“I’m not sure there’s any way I can really help with rescuing people,” he says. “I—I’ll do a circuit of the scene, peek into people’s memories. Maybe I can find someone who witnessed the attack and can give me a clearer look at the new shadowbloods.”
I shoot him a quick smile. “Good idea.” Then I bend down over the next hunk of rock.
Zian lends both his strength and the cutting edge of his X-ray vision, wrenching one jagged block out of the way with his bulging arms while he cracks another into pebbles with his eyes. Between the three of us shifting debris out of the way, I’ve only just started to break a sweat when I spot the green fabric of a sleeve through a gap.
“There!” I pry up the next chunk more carefully, not wanting to send any others crashing down on the victim.
We’ve uncovered all but the woman’s lower legs when Dominic hurries back to us, dragging a bush he’s uprooted. His tentacles unwind from beneath the thin jacket he hastily threw on over his tee before we left.
When I catch his gaze, he offers a tight smile. “Anyone who notices might as well see thatsomemonsters aren’t out to hurt them.”
He kneels down by the woman, one tentacle twining with the shrub’s branches and the other looping around her arm. She gazes up at him with glazed eyes, blood dappling her cheeks and her sweater.
Dominic aims a softer smile at her, his voice equally gentle. “I’m going to patch you up. It’ll be okay.”
Before our eyes, the bruising on her forehead fades. The hitch leaves her breath.
Jacob casts his gaze around. “There are probably more buried survivors. We should keep searching.”
There isn’t anything more the three of us can do for this woman now that Zian has lifted the last rock from her feet. We prowl off over the unstable terrain, our ears pricked and eyes scanning.
Zian lets out an urgent sound and directs us to another spot where he caught a sound of distress. We dig into the rubble again without hesitation. Despite the chilly winter air, beads of perspiration roll down my back beneath my own hastily grabbed jacket.
