Page 587 of Shadowblood Souls
I walk to the sofa and then back again, my nerves jangling. “And the other rogues—the ones that got away? Do we know what they’re doing?”
“It seems like you shook them up some,” Rollick replies. “They bashed up a few things—and people—on their way out of the city, but they didn’t stop to revel in the destruction. They were in a hurry. I don’t think they liked how close you got to overpowering them.”
“Not close enough,” Jacob mutters.
I swallow a choked laugh. Not close enough by a long shot.
One of his colleagues appears on the other side of the room and points to the bedroom where I woke up. “The wild shadowbloods are on the TV again.”
My stomach sinking, I hurry over with the others. The TV mounted on the wall across from the bed emits a reporter’s clipped but slightly frantic-sounding tones.
“No one’s quite sure who the culprits are or what the motivation for this massacre was. Police are pursuing every possible lead. We can’t help speculating that it may be connected to the recent string of attacks attributed by some to ‘monsters.’”
The imagery on the screen shows a city park. Shrouded bodies too much like Booker’s scatter the blood-stained grass. Paramedics are loading some figures onto stretchers as quickly as they can.
My throat clogs with a lump of nausea. I want to shut my eyes against the images, but I can’t let myself.
The reporter is still giving her commentary. “The only message officials assume was left by the murderers was a few words carved into one of the paths:We won’t be tamed.What that has to do with the slaughter of more than fifty seemingly random pedestrians, it’s impossible to say at this point.”
“Fifty.” I repeat the number raggedly. “Oh, God.”
Andreas looks as sick as I feel. “‘We won’t be tamed.’ Do you figure that message is directed at us?”
Zian’s eyes widen. “They killed all those people just to get back at us for trying to stop them?”
Jacob scowls. “From what I’ve seen of them, I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“They are… very, very angry,” Griffin puts in quietly.
The newscast has switched to a different story. Dominic picks up the remote and turns off the TV. Then he glances at me. “We obviously can’t leave them out there still on their rampage. What are you thinking, Riva?”
I finally allow myself to close my eyes, ducking my head and rubbing the back of my neck. Feeling the fine chain of mynecklace shift beneath my fingers. The symbol of family and connection Griffin gave me all those years ago.
Yes, we have to do something about our fellow shadowbloods. We can’t let them keep wreaking havoc wherever they go, killing dozens upon dozens of people out of pure spite, for who knows how long.
It’s not even just the already awful threat to all those innocents. We have no idea what the Highest beings Rollick mentioned might do if they feel they need to intervene.
I’ve been the one calling the shots when it comes to the younger shadowbloods, demanding that we give them a chance to stand down. Which means if that was a mistake, I need to be the one to say so.
It all comes down to me.
A wave of loneliness sweeps over me, absurd when the five men I’m closer to than anyone in the world are standing right there.
My thoughts must be louder than I realize, because another familiar figure slips past the bedroom door and approaches. Ajax offers me a soft smile and a voice inside my head.Whatever you decide, I’ll help you do it. You’ve tried so hard. We all know that.
Suddenly, tears are pricking at my eyes again. Griffin eases his arm around my waist, and Andreas strokes my cheek with the back of his fingers.
Dominic studies my expression with his usual pensive air. “We’ll talk it through. We’ll figure it out. We still have options.”
Not many. But the sense of their solidarity pulls me out of my momentary despair.
We are blood. We are family. So are the shadowbloods carving a path of destruction across the country… but that doesn’t mean they can’t be wrong.
What does it say about the rampaging rogues that they’ve made mistake after vicious mistake, and all they want to do is keep at it?
They’re our blood, yes. That doesn’t just mean we should save them if we can, but also that we have a responsibility to stop the damage they’re doing.
We don’t owe them infinite patience when they’re leaving bodies of other people who deserved to live just as much in their wake. We’re the only ones who have a hope of ending the devastation.
