Page 557 of Shadowblood Souls
With another few careful jumps, I can make out the stretch of bare pavement through the interlaced branches. I can also catch the slight movements of several figures in military-style camouflage lurking on the forest floor between me and the landing spot.
Immediately, I can tell they’re with the Guardianship, not Balthazar. Their helmets and vests may be painted in greens and browns to help them blend in with the vegetation, but the style is unmistakably familiar and the texture gives away the metal underneath.
Protections against shadowkind. We did convince them that Balthazar has allied with monsters in his supposed quest to bring down humanity.
From Pearl’s questioning of one of the Guardianship board members under her seductive spell, we’ve gathered that Balthazar left evidence to suggest we shadowbloods fled to freedom after killing Clancy. The guardians have no idea that he rounded us up.
There’s no way they could imagine that he not only has their former tools at his beck and call but can also manufacture more shadowbloods to his specifications.
Apparently, the guardians are hoping to take him prisoner—or kill him if that’s their only option. I don’t think they’re remotely prepared for the fight he’ll actually give them.
But that’s okay. I can’t summon any sympathy for the organization that shaped us through clinical brutality.
All that matters is finding our opening to destroy the man in charge. If we can do that, then the other shadowbloods will be free of his genocidal ambitions.
None of us can figure out how to build real lives for ourselves until he’s gone.
I cross the short distance between two more trees even more carefully, curling my fingers around branches and easing myfeet across rather than risking a small jump. Thankfully, Wales doesn’t get huge snowfalls, so there isn’t enough of a dusting under my boots to do more than stick to the soles.
When I have a reasonably clear view of the concrete surface, with only a couple of trees hiding any movements the branch under me makes, I sink into a crouch. The whir of the helicopter blades grows ever louder.
Through the tingle of energy in the marks along my collarbone, I touch base with each of my men. Zian and Jacob have crept up to the edge of the landing spot in trees several yards on either side of me.
Dominic has settled onto a branch almost directly across from me, where he was set by Sorsha as planned. Without supernatural strength and speed or Jacob’s telekinetic ability to help him along, we figured it was safer to have her carry him into place.
Andreas has hung back about a quarter of a mile away. We decided his ability to confuse our enemies wasn’t worth the possibility of him getting caught, since agility isn’t his strongest suit either. But he’s ready to race in and help however he can if it sounds like we need it.
And he’s already given us a huge advantage with the invisibility he cast over us.
Griffin, who’s never been much of a physical fighter, stayed with Drey. He’ll be casting calming vibes over the guardians and Balthazar from a distance to help the beginning of the confrontation go smoothly.
We’re all in this together, working toward the same goal. Connected not just by blood but by love and trust as well.
Living proof that we’re so much more than the monsters Engel saw us as.
Below me, the patrolling guardians come to a halt. The helicopter glides into view, stark black against the cloud-hazed sky.
I think of Balthazar’s smug face on the villa’s TV screen. Of his demands that I take his side as his daughter against everyone I care about.
Of his casual slaughter of Lindsay and Sully—just kids, just shadowbloods like us.
My shriek burns in my throat. My muscles tense in anticipation.
It doesn’t really matter who takes him down in the end, as long as we destroy him. But I can’t deny that I’ll be happiest if it’s me.
He insisted on being a part of my existence from the moment of my conception, in ways I’d never have asked for. So now I’m going to excise him from my life with as much compassion as he deserves: none.
As the chopper descends to the ground with a slight sway in a gust of wind, three men and a woman emerge from the trees on the other side of the concrete clearing to meet Balthazar. In their midst, I recognize the dour face and slumped shoulders of the man who scolded Clancy: Richmond from the board.
I assume the others are fellow board members. How large is their organization anyway? It seems like every time we pick away at their numbers, more spring up like heads on a hydra.
Their authority and their resources have dwindled, though. They’ve lost every member of their founding families, one way or another. They’ve lost all of the shadowbloods they’ve created.
Without us, they’re nothing. They can’t even track us down without one of our own.
The helicopter settles onto the concrete surface. The blades slow and go still, leaving an eerie hush in their wake.
Any second now, he’ll step into view?—
