Page 213 of Shadowblood Souls: The Complete Series

She ambles closer to us, scanning us with open curiosity. “So much for hybrids being the rarest beings in existence. How many of you are there altogether? Rollick said there were younger ones too. What?—”

The demon clears his throat. “I think we should probably get these kids all the way to safety before we get into any long interrogations.”

I would bristle at being called a “kid” if Rollick hadn’t mentioned at some point that he’s thousands of years old. It’s hard to take the label as an insult in that context.

Sorsha bobs her head apologetically. “Right, right. To the Everymobile we go!”

Before I can wonder what the heck an Everymobile is, Dominic gestures to Rollick.

“I’m not sure how much farther we should go without getting rid of these.

” He taps one of his manacles. “The man who trapped us was using them to control us. It’s possible he has a way to reactivate the system somewhere else.

There’s some kind of trigger in them that’s supposed to hurt us if we try to break them?—”

Sorsha is already reaching for his wrist. “I bet I can take care of that lickety-split.”

It actually takes her a few minutes of studying the metal band before her expression firms with certainty. Then there’s a flare in her eyes and a faint hiss, and a pleased smirk crosses her lips.

She lets loose another, slightly larger surge of her phoenix fire, and the band completely disintegrates. The dust falls from Dominic’s wrist, leaving only a smudge where it used to be—and him completely unharmed.

Once Sorsha knows the part she has to destroy before removing the rest of the manacle, she makes short work of the rest of ours.

I’d gotten so used to having them clamped against my skin that I’d barely registered their slim weight unless I was thinking about it.

But rubbing my wrists after they’re gone, I feel as if someone has lifted an anvil off my heart.

With her on our side, we shouldn’t have any trouble finishing the battle we’ve started today.

Wrists freed, we tramp across the hill and find ourselves faced with a parked RV.

It isn’t like the fancy ride Rollick hooked us up with back in Miami.

The siding is dented and smudged, the fixtures look like they’re from some decade past, and weird protrusions poke from its sides and top: a crooked satellite dish, a propeller, and an assortment of streamers that flutter even while the RV is stopped.

But Sorsha pats the side of the vehicle like you might a horse and beckons us toward the doorway. “Everyone on board!”

I guess a lot of the shadowkind still lurking in the darkness will slip onto the vehicle too. Who knows how many it can hold when they aren’t taking physical form?

Rollick, Pearl, Billy, Sorsha, and us six shadowbloods clamber into the cramped retro interior. Zian immediately eyeballs the motor area, maybe using his X-ray vision to compare it to the posh luxury RV we had before.

“We’ve been getting organized in a rented villa not too far from here,” Rollick says, sprawling on the worn but comfy-looking leather seats of the C-like seating area.

The layout is pretty similar to his RV even if the styling doesn’t match.

“We can stop there briefly to get you all patched up and decide on our next steps.”

My thoughts dart off into the future. “Balthazar grabbed all the younger shadowbloods too, but he sent them someplace else. We have to get them away from him.” My stomach lurches. “Any of them that he hasn’t?—”

Sorsha interrupts with an urgent sound from the driver’s seat. “Thorn and Crag grabbed someone.”

We all rush to the front of the RV to peer through the windshield alongside her.

There’s no way I could have anticipated the sight that meets my eyes. Two huge, winged men, both even bigger and brawnier than Zian, are soaring toward us, restraining a woman between them.

The shadowkind on the left flaps broad, black-feathered wings, his silver-blond hair streaming behind him like he’s some kind of dark angel. He’s clamped one hand, the knuckles glinting like crystals, around the woman’s wrists, the other arm slung around her shoulders to hold her steady.

His companion appears to be made out of stone, all sharp-edged gray planes. His batlike wings sweep through the air as he holds the woman’s lower legs secure.

The woman herself looks absolutely terrified, skin sallow and lips pressed tight. Her black bob has been rumpled by the wind and whatever tussle led to her capture.

But I can easily recognize her all the same.

“That’s Toni,” I burst out. “She helped us escape—she was working with Balthazar, but she took our side in the end.”

Rollick hums to himself. We hustle back out of the RV to meet the arriving shadowkind.

Sorsha calls to the winged men. “You can put her down. It sounds like she’s one of the good guys.”

The man with the feathered wings gives her a sternly skeptical look but loosens his grip as he and the living gargoyle touch down. The gargoyle frowns as he lowers Toni’s legs so she can stand on her own feet.

She wobbles in her low heels, her jacket askew over her blouse and her stance tensed. Her gaze flicks between the shadowkind arrayed around her before settling on us in their midst.

She’s thought of these beings as monsters for at least as long as she’s been working for Balthazar. Getting kidnapped by two of them is not how I’d have wanted her introduction to the reality of shadowkind to go.

“I told you I wanted to talk to the shadowbloods,” she says, managing to keep her voice typically brisk if slightly shaky. “You could have asked them and they’d have confirmed.”

The stony guy grunts. “Better to be careful. We’re not going to risk getting tricked.”

The maybe-angel appears to be a little more courteous. He lowers his head in a brief bow. “I apologize for the unnecessarily unpleasant trip.”

“I’m sorry,” I say to Toni. “We only just got out—we haven’t had the chance to fill them in on all the details.”

She exhales with a sigh and gathers herself. “It’s been… a chaotic day.”

She tucks one arm under the other, and I notice the sleeve is charred. Did her arm get burned?

Dominic can heal her up if so. We owe her that much.

He steps up beside me, possibly thinking the same thing, but before either of us can suggest it, Toni draws her tall frame up even straighter with an air of determination.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do now. It’s not as if I’m equipped to be much of a fighter.

But there are things you need to know if you’re going to try to free the others like you. ”

Her gaze rests on me for a second, and something in her expression softens. “I assume that’s what you were planning on doing.”

I smile crookedly. “I guess you did pay attention to what matters to me even if it took a while for everything to sink in.”

Toni grimaces. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t say it properly before, but I am. There’s so much?—”

She stops herself with a press of her hand to her forehead. “We can get into that later. What’s important is—he made it out. Balthazar.”

We already assumed as much, but I can’t help grimacing at the confirmation. “How do you know?”

She pats her jacket pocket, which must hold her phone. “He texted me. I haven’t answered yet… Maybe it’s better if he thinks I didn’t survive. But that’s why I knew I had to talk to you.”

Dominic studies her. “About what exactly?”

Toni inhales sharply. “That monster, whatever it is you call them, who you turned to before? Rollick?”

Rollick props himself against the front of the RV with a bemused expression. “That would be me. The preferred term is ‘shadowkind,’ if it matters to you.”

“Right.” Toni’s throat bobs with a swallow. “You had a theft at your hotel after you left Miami.”

The demon’s eyes narrow. “I haven’t heard any reports of that.”

“You wouldn’t have,” she says. “The mons—the shadowkind Balthazar sent, one he can control, wasn’t caught. He didn’t take much. And he waited until Balthazar expected you’d be distracted by Riva’s message.”

My posture goes rigid. “Wait—Balthazar knew I’d contacted—then why did he?—”

Toni hugs herself. “He wanted you to. That’s part of the reason he agreed to your little trip.

He figured you’d try something like that, and it would give him an opening.

He assumed the villa had enough protections against shadowkind that there was no way they’d actually succeed in making an attack. ”

He hadn’t counted on them having a hybrid they could call on for help—or on Toni turning against him. But…

I knit my brow. “What would he need an opening for ? What did Rollick have that?—”

The answer hits me with an icy smack. Oh, shit.

My voice weakens. “Engel’s laptop. I told him that I left it with Rollick. I figured that put it out of his reach anyway, that it couldn’t hurt to say it…”

Jacob glances between us, his shoulders flexing with restrained tension. “What the fuck does it matter? What could he get out of Engel’s laptop? It didn’t do much for us.”

“It had all of her notes on it,” Dominic puts in. “There were lots we couldn’t understand because they were in code.”

Andreas makes a face. “He worked closely with her. He might have known how to break it.”

Toni nods. “He did. He has her documentation of the original processes she used to create the six of you. Which means he can replicate them.”

Zian cocks his head. “But that’s not a big problem right away, is it? I mean, any shadowbloods he creates are going to start as babies . We can stop him before he could make them hurt anyone.”

It’s a moment before Toni can seem to find the words. She inhales with a rasp.

“He already had Matteo working on other sorts of procedures. You experienced some variations on those. But he was missing the key…”

The chill that hit me before digs its claws right through my ribs. “What are you saying?”

Toni drags her gaze to meet mine again. “Balthazar has a method for turning fully-grown adults into shadowbloods. I met his first attempt last night—the first soldier in his new army.”