Page 231 of Shadowblood Souls: The Complete Series

Fourteen

Riva

W hen I pad back into the mansion in the early morning light, my ears catch Rollick’s voice in an unusually lilting tone. I pause, torn between discomfort over eavesdropping and my instinct to gather all the information about our situation that I can, even if he’d prefer that I didn’t.

“I know you’d rather be in San Francisco,” he’s saying from a nearby room, lightly cajoling. “But this genocidal menace is hitting a lot of major cities, and he doesn’t care who gets caught in his wake. You’re safer out of the way while we deal with it.”

There’s a pause, and I realize he must be on the phone, listening to whatever the person on the other end is saying.

Then Rollick’s voice turns wry. “I know, Quinn. I’d rather have a few decades without any more potentially world-ending troubles too. Hopefully we’ll have this problem quashed before the latest villain gets much farther. Torrent is providing satisfying company in the meantime, isn’t he?”

Quinn. I heard him talking to her before—and also heard him refer to the mortal woman he’s devoted to. I guess she’s that woman, for both him and Torrent, the kraken shifter we met when we were on the run from the guardians months ago.

The demon is worried enough about the threat Balthazar poses that he’s had his lover leave her home. That shouldn’t surprise me, but somehow the evidence that even this immensely powerful shadowkind has been shaken by recent events makes my mouth go dry.

Rollick chuckles softly at whatever Quinn says in response, and I walk on down the hall toward my guest bedroom. I spent the night in yesterday’s clothes, and I could use a change.

The demon must finish his conversation before I’ve made it far, because the floor creaks faintly behind me. “Did you enjoy your break, little banshee?”

I will down the blush that flares over my cheeks and glance over my shoulder at him. “It was good to remember how far we’ve already gotten. But now it’s time to get back to work, right?”

A bulky form materializes in the hall between us so abruptly I startle. Steel, the stout demon with the metallic scales, peers from Rollick to me with a scowl.

“What kind of work do you think that’s going to be?” he demands. “We’re hearing that you’ve been getting friendly with the mortals who made you again. The ones who wanted you to kill us.”

Oh, shit. I guess Rollick hadn’t bothered to fill all our shadowkind allies in on the new phase in our plans, only the ones he wasn’t worried about rejecting it.

I fumble for my words. “We’re not—we aren’t going to do anything for them. We’re just using them to get to Balthazar.” Or at least hoping that we can do that.

Steel’s eyes flash. “What do we need those idiots for? All of us here aren’t enough?” He spins toward Rollick. “You’re letting the hybrids get cozy with the monster-murderers?”

“We’re not getting cozy!” I protest, but Rollick is already raising his hand for both of us to shut up.

He aims a level stare at the lesser demon. “I didn’t ‘let’ them. I support and encourage this plan. Why shouldn’t we let the mortals who hate us draw out the worst of their kind rather than sticking out our own necks even farther?”

Steel growls in frustration. “You’re buying into the hybrids’ story. They shouldn’t want anything to do with those bastards, not if the ones they call ‘guardians’ really tortured them so horribly like they claim.”

My hackles rise at the implication that we’ve lied about our lifelong captivity. “That torture is why we don’t have any problem manipulating them when it benefits us.”

Steel swivels back toward me. His furor has drawn the attention of others. Several more shadowkind slip into view from the shadows. Who knows how many are watching from the patches of darkness along the edges of the hall.

And it’s not just shadowkind who’ve noticed. A voice rings out from the direction of the back door. “Hey, what’s going on over here?”

Jacob stalks over to join us, his expression fierce and his gaze scanning me for injury and then the beings around us for potential threats. The other guys hustle after him, looking equally apprehensive.

Shanty steps forward with a swish of her dark blue hair. “We think there’s something odd about you shadowbloods associating with the guardians again. They should be your enemy.”

“And they still are,” I say tersely. “Pitting two enemies against each other for our own gain isn’t that bizarre a tactic, is it?”

She cuts her gaze toward me. “How can we be sure that’s your real motivation? They created you. Maybe they’re still manipulating you to do their dirty work.”

Rollick raises his hands. “Come on now, friends. You might be wary of the shadowbloods, but you know me . I’m monitoring the entire situation. I haven’t seen the slightest sign that my guests are doing anything other than working to protect all of us.”

Steel lets out a huff. “That doesn’t guarantee anything. They’ve got powers as strong as ours that work on us—including you.”

Another shadowkind steps into the middle of our cluster, his hands on his hips and his eyebrows arched in an amused expression. It’s Ruse, the incubus who’s particularly close to Sorsha.

“And our powers work on them,” he says in a languid tone. “Would you feel better if I used mine to confirm their intentions?”

Zian lets out a snort he unsuccessfully tries to muffle. “You’re going to seduce us into giving up any secrets we’ve got?”

Ruse laughs. “No, I don’t think any of you would appreciate that sort of tactic.

One of the skills most cubi types possess is the ability to get a read on people’s internal states—not as detailed as outright reading your thoughts, but more than just your feelings.

I’ll get an impression of future hopes, past context, that sort of thing. I can do a pretty thorough dive.”

Steel shifts on his feet. “And you’ll report what you find honestly?”

Ruse’s eyebrows lift even higher. “In case you’ve forgotten, I helped Sorsha take down the jackasses who were experimenting with shadowkind since before these guardians even existed, while most of you all buried your heads in the shadows hoping the problem would go away before it ever affected you.

So yes, I’ll announce it loud and clear if I see any indication that this bunch is going to conspire with our enemies against us. ”

Shanty lifts her chin toward us. “If they’ll agree to it.”

Her voice holds an obvious challenge. My skin crawls at the idea of anyone rummaging around inside my head, digging deeper than even Griffin could, but refusing will obviously be seen as confirmation of their suspicions.

And it isn’t as if we do have anything to hide. Why not take this easy opportunity to show our true intentions?

I spread my arms and meet Ruse’s gaze. “Go right ahead. Hell, I’d want to know if the guardians’ influence is still affecting us somehow in any way that could hurt the rest of you.”

My guys all gradually nod, though Jacob is scowling and Dominic’s forehead has furrowed pensively. We don’t know Ruse very well—but Sorsha obviously trusts him a lot, and she’s always spoken up for us. I don’t think he’d try to screw us over.

“All right.” Ruse rubs his hands together, looking way too enthusiastic about this test that could decide whether the shadowkind kick us out or stand behind us.

Of course, that could just be because he’s sure we’ll pass it.

“To make sure any worrisome reactions come out, why don’t you give me a hand, Mr. Metal Man?

Give them each a threatening lunge, and we’ll see what that provokes. ”

Steel aims a glower at the incubus over the impromptu nickname but moves forward. He pauses and then leaps toward me with a guttural roar.

My nerves jump, and my body jerks into a defensive stance instinctively. But as soon as he catches himself and pulls back a step, my heartbeat thumps back into its regular rhythm.

I didn’t even pick up on Ruse’s rifling through my mind. He grins at me. “Excellent. A healthy burst of self-preservation, a dollop of frustration at having to go through this ridiculous exercise, and no sign at all that you’d want to do our companion here harm even when he’s being an ass to you.”

Steel lets out a huff, but a little of the tension seeps out of his stance. “What about the bigger picture, not just in the moment.”

The incubus shrugs. “I’d assume that if there’s any latent hostility at all, I’d catch some hint of it when you’re overtly threatening the shadowbloods, don’t you? I didn’t get any impression that she’s looking forward to seeing you wiped out of existence.”

“Fine,” Shanty breaks in. “Are you going to check the others?”

Ruse looks as if he’s held himself back from rolling his eyes. “As soon as you’re ready to let me.”

Rollick stands back through the entire demonstration, as Steel and Ruse go through the same cycle with each of my guys. When Ruse declares the last of them free of ill intent, our host draws himself up straighter with a waft of his considerable power and peers over the gathered shadowkind.

“Are you all satisfied that these particular shadowbloods are working with us rather than against us?”

A ripple of murmurs passes through the group, varying from enthusiastic to reluctant agreement.

Rollick waits a few beats to confirm there are no arguments and then motions for the crowd to clear the hallway.

“Good. Then I don’t want to hear any more about it.

We need to focus on tackling our real enemies, not sniping at each other. ”

Most of the beings simply vanish back into the shadows. Shanty pauses and dips her head to me with a slight grimace. “I apologize for hassling you.”

She slips from view before I can even answer.

The guys gather closer around me, Andreas looping his arm around my waist and Griffin taking my hand. Their presence steadies me.

“What are we going to do to tackle Balthazar now?” I ask Rollick.

“We faked an attack on the guardians, but we don’t even know if they believe he was responsible.

And we need to nudge them toward some response that’ll help us get to Balthazar as well as whatever they intend to do.

Pearl hasn’t managed to steer them in a clear direction yet, has she? ”

Rollick shakes his head. “She hasn’t reported any progress so far.”

Dominic frowns. “We could reach out to them telling them directly that we believe he’s allied with the shadowkind and is looking to take them out. But I don’t know how we’d convince them to believe us. We can’t tell them who we actually are.”

“I can.” Toni strides up to us from farther down the hall, where she must have been watching the confrontation.

“They knew me at least a little. They know how closely I worked with Balthazar, and they should have no reason to believe I’ve switched my loyalties.

A warning that he’s gone off the rails and is going against everything he used to stand for would make sense coming from me. ”

My heart leaps, but I hesitate at the same time. “Are you sure? He can’t know yet just how far you’ve turned against him. If you speak to them, he could find out…”

Toni gazes back at me steadily. “I said I’d try to make up for all the damage he’s done while I stood by, and I meant it. The risk is nothing compared to what the rest of you have been through—it’s nothing compared to what Pearl is facing right now.”

I hadn’t realized Pearl had filled Toni in on her mission. Apparently they’ve gotten even friendlier than I guessed from the snippet of a conversation I overheard.

“That sounds like a good plan to me,” Zian puts in. “You’d know how to talk to people like them better than we would anyway.”

The corner of her mouth curls upward. “I certainly hope I do. But we need to be coordinated. What exactly should I be nudging them toward doing?”

Rollick rubs his jaw thoughtfully. “Once they believe Balthazar is a threat to them and needs to be stopped… We decided that our best opportunity would be if they can manage to draw him away from his own territory, at least briefly. Somewhere he’ll have the benefit of fewer protections and preparation. ”

Andreas nods. “Since it’s the guardians, I’m sure they’ll still make sure there are wards against the shadowkind, but it’ll give us shadowbloods a better chance at getting to him.”

“The tricky part was that Balthazar won’t want to go anywhere that’s outside his plans,” I say, knitting my brow.

“But with all the information the Guardianship must have on him… We’re hoping they could convince him that he needs to speak to them face to face, or they’ll expose something to the governments he’s trying to manipulate that would undermine his true intentions. A little blackmail.”

Jacob lets out a rough guffaw. “Knowing that psycho, he’d probably show up just so he could wipe them all out and never have to worry about it again.”

A small smile crosses my lips. “That’s fine. It doesn’t even matter if he succeeds. Two birds with one stone. All we need is to get him someplace where he doesn’t control everything around us.”

Toni absorbs all that and squares her shoulders. “I’ll do whatever I can to direct them toward that outcome.” She turns to Rollick. “I assume you have some method for me to communicate with the current leaders of the guardians. We might as well get it over with.”

“Might as well,” he agrees with a chuckle. “Come on—I’ll get you set up.”

He lifts his gaze to the rest of us. “And you all should start preparing for the most crucial battle of your lives.”