Page 553 of Shadowblood Souls
And not just his hair. Red and silver gleam on either side of him. We emerge from the thicker patch of trees to find the demon flanked by Sorsha the phoenix and Riva.
Riva moves to join me, automatically reaching for my hand. Her bright brown gaze searches mine. “You don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with. You don’t have to use this part of your ability at all if you don’t want to.”
The fierceness of her tone makes me wonder if she’s argued with Rollick on my behalf. This is obviously about more than just offing some vegetation.
But what can I say? That one of the other guys should borrow my murderous talent so that I don’t have to carry the burden of the guilt?
We’ve all got our own shit to deal with. We all need to carry our own weight. There’ve been a lot of times in the past when I felt like I couldn’t contribute anywhere close to enough, and that was bad enough without backing away when I actually can.
I give Riva’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “It’s fine.” My gaze slides past her to Rollick. “What exactly are you going to ask me to do?”
Rollick’s slanted smile holds a trace of an apology. “I thought we’d start with plants first, to get you warmed up. We should see just how far you can extend your abilities now. Once we’re clear on that… Have you ever siphoned energy from a shadowkind or your fellow shadowbloods?”
Somehow, as obvious as the question sounds once he’s said it, I hadn’t considered it as the logical focus of this training. It’s what he wanted to know with Riva too.
My insides recoil so abruptly that my tentacles quiver in turn. I have the urge to spit out an automatic denial, but I hold myself back and think through all the times I’ve needed to use my power so I can be absolutely sure of my answer.
It remains the same. “Not that I’m sure of. I’ve mostly relied on plants. The guardians and Balthazar’s people made me experiment on animals. And a few times I’ve drained regular human beings when I had to. Once I took one of the younger shadowbloods hostage, and I think I might have absorbed a little of her energy without meaning to, but it was hard to tell at the time and I didn’t take any on purpose.”
That moment with Celine during our failed escape from Clancy’s island facility was the first time I realized that my powers might be starting to work from a distance. Back then, I got the impression from only a few feet away.
After all Matteo’s procedures at Balthazar’s command, how much farther has my ability expanded? Under Matteo’s supervision, I never revealed the new dimension I’d discovered to my talent, and he never stumbled on it.
“I can’t use my powers tohealshadowkind,” I add. “Not totally. When Billy… was hurt, I could patch him up a little, butthat’s it. It felt completely different from healing a person—or a shadowblood.”
Rollick nods. “I suspect melding someone back together properly would be significantly more complex than unraveling them. But it will be good to determine your limits regardless. For this next and hopefully final scheme against Balthazar, disabling beings of various sorts from a distance may be the key.”
I roll my shoulders, attempting to loosen both my muscles and the ball of tension in my stomach. “It makes sense. I probably should have tested myself sooner so that we’d know.”
Riva hooks her arm right around mine. “I know how much you hate this part of your powers. No one’s going to blame you for not pushing yourself to use it more.”
The smile I manage to offer her is tight. “I’d blame me. Let’s get this over with.”
Riva steps back, and my four observers drift to the side of the clearing under the shade of the trees. Rollick points to the other side, where orange ribbons catch my eyes in stark contrast with the green vegetation. “I’ve marked bushes at three-foot intervals going as far as thirty feet. If you can make it farther than that, I’ll add some more. I’d suggest starting with the closest and moving on from there.”
That sounds like a reasonable strategy. I drag in a breath and focus on the nearest marked bush, more relieved than I’m comfortable with at the temporary reprieve from using my talents on actual people.
My tentacles snake around my arms and extend toward the line of bushes. The warm breeze tingles over the suckers.
A quiver of the life energy in the nearby plants touches my awareness. I hone my attention to that—and pull.
It’s more of an effort than I’m used to, a jerk of my own energy before a flow rushes into me from the shrub. But once I’mlocked on to the target, I drink its life force in as easily as if I had my tentacles wrapped around it.
The bush sags, its leaves browning. A heady thrill courses through my veins with the extra energy, and hunger for more coils in my chest.
I yank my focus away, sweat breaking out on the back of my neck that has nothing to do with physical strain. My skin tingles where my tentacles stretch a fraction of an inch farther from my back.
It isn’t the ability itself that I really hate. It’s the temptation that always grips me when I activate this particular talent.
But I didn’t kill even the shrub. I held myself back. Whether because the distance slowed the flow enough that I couldn’t get too caught up in it or because I’m actually getting better at moderating myself is a question I can’t bring myself to look at too closely.
One by one, I work my way down the line. Each greater distance requires a bigger initial jolt to latch on to the target, but nothing I can’t handle.
It’s not until the seventh bush, a little over twenty feet away, that I fling my power forward and grasp nothing.
I steady myself, refocus, and lash out again. This time, I manage to snag hold of the bush’s energy enough to start draining it, but a prickling ache forms in the back of my skull at the same time.
After what amounts to a few sips, I let go and turn to my audience. “I almost couldn’t reach that one. I don’t think it’d be worth trying to go any farther—it’ll take more out of me than I’m getting back.”
