Page 566 of Shadowblood Souls
“I’m done with getting shot at.”
A few steps away from me, Zian shakes his head in hopeless confusion. “But… all those people were huntingshadowkind, not shadowbloods. And Balthazar told them to do it!”
Dominic’s mouth has flattened into a stiff line. “Who knows what he told the shadowbloods to encourage them to launch the first attacks? And technically those squadsdidwant to kill the shadowbloods—they wanted to destroy the ‘monsters’ that bashed up their cities.”
An ache has clogged my throat. My voice rasps before I can force any of it out. “If the shadowbloods had just stayed hidden for a while—if there hadn’t been any more attacks with Balthazar gone, the hostility would have died down. Everyone would have dismissed the idea of monsters again.”
Rollick is leaning against the back of the sofa in a typically disaffected pose, but his tone holds none of its usual nonchalance. “I don’t think your counterparts wanted the violence to die down. They’re reveling in the excuse to deal out punishment.”
I swallow hard, the images of the younger shadowbloods flashing through my mind. The hatred and the fury showing in every expression, every motion…
I know how much anger a person can bottle after a life full of imprisonment and torture. I remember how easy it was for me to extend that anger beyond my immediate captors toall the regular people who turned a blind eye to Balthazar’s machinations, to the spectators who came to watch me forced into cage fights.
We’ve been treated like monsters since we were born. Like slaves only worthy of fighting other monsters. We haven’t been taught to do a whole lototherthan fight.
When we were on Clancy’s island, I tried to give the kids visions of a different future to reach for. A dream of freedom and peace. But I failed to get us there, over and over.
Then Balthazar swept in and fueled their rage. Enhanced their abilities so they could fight and win against anyone. Didn’t give a shit when his gift frayed their tempers and messed with their sense of reality.
He lit a different flame of hope for them, yes—a hope that they could conquer anyone who’d ever want to hurt them. And now that fire is burning out of control.
As queasy as it makes me to see the results, I can’t claim I’d have been immune. There was a time in the villa when I felt so helpless and enraged that even my guys were scared of me.
Ididslaughter an entire audience of cage-fight fans, most of whom had never done anything at all to me other than show up to watch that night’s battle.
Billy shivers where he’s hugging himself off to the side of the crowd around the laptop. “Why did they go back to America to do all this?”
I can understand that motivation too, more than I like. “That’s where we were raised. I think where Balthazar took the criminals from too—the ones I’ve heard talk all sound American. The people back home are the ones who fucked them up or failed them the most.”
Steel spins toward Sorsha with a glint of his metallic scales. “Why didn’t you destroy them all when you had the chance, phoenix? They were right there in front of you.”
Sorsha gives him a firm look. “Between all the powers getting thrown around, I couldn’t see what I was doing. I might have burned up our friends here too.”
Fang lets out a growl, his lips drawing back from his jutting teeth—which I now know belong to his monstrous bear form. “You should have incinerated the helicopter with the maniac and the rest before it even landed.”
“Balthazar had some of the kids on there,” I protest.
Willow the nymph swivels to face me, her thin face tight. “Does it matter? It looks as if the young ones are enjoying the destruction just as much as the grown-ups.”
My stomach churns. I can’t deny that. But… “Theyarekids. They’ve been screwed over their whole lives, and Balthazar’s messed them up even more. It isn’t their fault. We’ve got to help them snap out of it.”
Steel lets out a dismissive huff. “I think it’s gone past that. Who knows what they’ll do or who they’ll target when they’re done with the hunters? Balthazar wanted to kill all ofus.”
Shanty appears from the shadows with a jerk of a nod. “Yes. These hybrids seem to be so fond of him now. They could take up his cause.”
Snap glances around at us from his position next to Sorsha, his green eyes gone wide. “And even if they’re only attacking mortals now, that isn’t okay either. The mortals are only hunting shadowkind because they’re scared—because of what Balthazar told them and did—right?”
Crag’s rocky gargoyle jaw works as if he’s chewing over his thoughts. “Whoever the shadowbloods are hurting, they’ve got to be stopped. It’s bad for everyone.”
Fang nods with a jerk. “We have to do what should have been done to begin with. Find them and blast them all away.”
“Hey!” Booker breaks in with a quaver in his voice but his expression fierce. “Mygirlfriendis one of those shadowbloodsyou’re talking about. She wouldn’t be doing any of this if Balthazar hadn’t injected her with his crazy serums. A few weeks ago, she was one of the kindest people in the world.”
Beside him, Ajax is still staring at the laptop screen, even though the current video is paused on a muddle of indistinct shapes. His dark eyes look haunted. “I never saw Devon purposefully hurt anyone the whole time I knew him.”
He yanks his gaze away so he can frown at the shadowkind. “This isn’t who they are. It’s like… like they’re sick. You have to give them a chance to get better.”
Shanty throws her hands in the air with a shake of her dark blue locks. “With what cure? We don’t know how to fix them.”
