Page 93 of Shadowblood Souls: The Complete Series

“I’m the one in charge while Rollick is away,” Cinder says. “So yes, it is.”

She snaps her fingers, and sparks shoot into the air.

As if summoned by the display, Pearl and Billy burst into being on the deck next to us. Pearl’s normally coiffed locks swing in frantic disarray.

“What are you doing?” she demands, facing the other shadowkind. “You can’t just?—”

“As if you newbies get any say,” Kudzu sneers at them.

Billy squares his narrow shoulders and steps toward him. The faun is a full head shorter than the smallest of our antagonists, but he doesn’t let that stop him from glaring at them on our behalf.

“I might not have spent much time mortal-side, but I know that Rollick wouldn’t like this. If you have a problem with what he thinks is right, why don’t you?—”

Kudzu slams a fist into the smaller man’s face, hard enough to send Billy’s slender form flying across the deck. Billy crashes to the floor with a groan and smoky essence pouring from beneath the hand clamped across his nose.

“Hey!” Zian growls.

He steps between Billy and the other shadowkind while Pearl dashes to her friend. Cinder sends up another threatening spurt of sparks, and a chilling rush of air sears over us from one of the other beings.

My heart thumps so loud it reverberates through my entire body. In a detached sort of way, it occurs to me that us leaving isn’t want these shadowkind really want.

They want us dead. They want to know for sure we’ll never cause any problems for them.

But they’re still wary of us. They’re not totally sure what we’ll do if they attack us the way Kudzu just lashed out at Billy.

They’re settling for running us off to preserve themselves. If we make it a fight, I don’t know how long they’ll stick to caution.

I don’t know if any of us would survive that fight, outnumbered and against monsters who have a hell of a lot more experience wielding their powers than we do.

Dominic has rushed over to join Pearl and Billy, his tentacles shifting beneath his trench coat. “Is he okay?”

“He’ll heal,” Pearl murmurs. “But it’ll hurt.”

Billy’s gaze seeks out mine from across the deck. I can see anguish in his eyes that isn’t just because of his broken nose.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbles. “I—” He shoves himself to his feet, glowering at the other shadowkind again. “We’re not letting you do this.”

My gut wrenches. The shadowkind who’d befriended us are willing to fight too, and their companions clearly aren’t afraid to pull out all the stops to shut them down.

“No!” I call out before anyone can throw any more punches—or sparks, or whatever. “We’ll go. Just let us grab our bags, and then we’ll leave.”

The guys’ heads jerk toward me. I aim a determined look at all of them, willing them to follow my lead.

Jacob’s eyes flash, but his shoulders come down through what looks like sheer force of will.

“What she said,” he bites out, turning back to the shadowkind.

“Fine,” Kudzu snarls. “You have five minutes to get your things and get the fuck out of here. But we’ll be taking your phones first.”

So we can’t get in touch with Rollick. My stomach balls tighter.

He holds out his hand, and I can’t see any option but to pull the device out of my pocket and toss it at him.

The guys follow suit, their expressions grim.

“All right, get on with it,” Cinder says. “And that five minutes is one each. We’re not giving you a chance to conspire together.”

She motions to Zian, the closest to her. He glances at me as if for guidance.

At my sharp nod, he takes off into the ship.

Apparently he’s worried about the shadowkind changing their mind partway through, because he hurries back onto the deck carrying not one but five backpacks—all of ours. He tosses them to each of us, shooting the shadowkind a challenging glower.

“We’re going to tell Rollick what you did,” Pearl declares, her face flushed with anger.

Cinder narrows her eyes at the shorter woman. “The two of you will keep your stupid mouths shut, or we’ll smash you right out of existence. Maybe you’ve forgotten, but you can die in this realm.”

“It’s all right,” I say quickly. “We’re going.”

I catch the guys’ gazes and set off toward the boarding ramp. With obvious trepidation, they follow me one by one.

My heart feels heavier with each step over the frothing waters toward the pier. What if this gamble is the wrong one?

But the price of forcing the issue feels way too large for me to want to place my bets there.

I grip the straps of my backpack as we tramp through the harbor. At the city-side end, we merge into a bustle of other bodies, but apprehension keeps prickling through my nerves.

Most of the faces around us are tan or darker, framed by hair in shades of brown and black. Dominic and Andreas blend in just fine, and Zian might not draw attention from anyone who doesn’t look closely at the shape of his features, but Jacob’s pale coloring stands out starkly in the crowd.

And me—my moonbeam braid must shine like a beacon of abnormality.

My fingers itch to pull one of my hoodies from my pack, but sweat is beading on my skin even in just my tank top. I’ll be a liability if I get heatstroke too.

We might draw a few odd looks, but the locals will simply assume we’re tourists, right? They must be pretty used to those.

Voices flow around us, but the ones I make out are all speaking Spanish, which I know maybe three words of. I weave through the crowded streets beyond the harbor and finally find a narrow side-street to duck into that’s little more than an alley between two tall stone buildings.

It’s dim and quiet, which is what mattered the most to me.

The moment we’ve all gathered in the side-street, Jacob turns to me. “What are we doing?”

The question is brusque enough that my hackles rise. “Making sure we don’t get murdered by bigger monsters than us.”

His mouth twitches with a wince. “I wasn’t criticizing. I just wondered what your plan is now.”

Oh. I’m still not used to this new accommodating attitude he’s taken toward me, and the memories stirred up last night have brought the early days of our reunion back into uncomfortable clarity.

I exhale roughly and peer at the busier street beyond us where men and women are ambling by, caught up in animated conversation. “That shouldn’t be only up to me. But I figured we’d get our bearings and stake out the harbor someplace where we’ll spot Rollick when he gets back.”

Andreas’s downcast expression brightens a little. “We can intercept him and tell him exactly what happened.”

“Right.” I might not want to put us or Pearl and Billy in the other shadowkinds’ crosshairs, but the demon can look after himself.

Dominic’s expression has stayed pensive. “We might not see him at all. He could go to the ship through the shadows.”

“We should at least be able to tell when they’re preparing to disembark,” I point out. “They’ll have to bring in the ramp. If that happens, we can rush over and make a fuss.”

Jacob nods slowly. “Sounds like our best bet. We just have to pick a good vantage point so we can watch the yacht without those pricks noticing we’re hanging around.”

Zian cracks his knuckles, his lips drawing back from his teeth. “I wanted to pummel them into the deck. We might have been able to take them.”

A queasy chill wraps around my gut. “We don’t know that. And they’d have wanted the excuse to kill us. You heard what Rollick told us about how the shadowkind see hybrids.”

A gloomy silence descends over us all.

Dominic adjusts his pack against the bulges on his shoulders.

“Maybe we shouldn’t go back right away. It wouldn’t make sense for Rollick to dock for a five-minute errand.

We can give the other shadowkind a little time to believe that we’ve left for good and go back to whatever they’re usually doing all day. ”

Zian frowns. “What do we do until then?”

Andreas glances toward the street. “I’ve heard good things about Cuban street food. Who’s up for dinner?”

“Will they take American cash?” Jacob asks doubtfully.

A flicker of a smile crosses Andreas’s face.

“Dom and I got Spanish lessons in the facility. I guess they were counting on sending us places like this to do battle with shadowkind while blending in with the locals. I don’t have a ton of practice, but I’m sure I can manage to get some money converted. We’d just need to find a bank.”

I ease toward the wider street and peer down it at the signs on the buildings. Even my limited grasp of the language doesn’t prevent me from guessing what Banco must mean.

“I think there’s one by the corner,” I say, pulling back.

Dominic glances at the rest of us. “Maybe you three had better stay here where you won’t be too noticeable. Drey and I can handle dinner.”

My body tenses at the thought of watching them walk away, but I’ll always know exactly where they are. And Dom has a point.

“Be fast,” I say.

Dominic steps over to me and raises his hand to the side of my head to tug me close. He kisses my forehead and then manages a reassuring smile that soothes my anxious spirits just a little.

“I wouldn’t stay away from you for long, Sugar,” he murmurs. “We’ll be right back.”

The new nickname sparks a welcome warmth in my chest, followed by a flicker of heat across my cheeks when I realize where it’s come from.

Sweeter than a sugar cookie.

Dom shoots me another smile that’s somehow both shy and sly and steps away from me with obvious reluctance.

“I’ll look after her,” Jacob says in his commanding way.

I don’t bother to hold back my snort.

As Dominic and Andreas slip out into the busier street, I lean against the smooth stone wall behind me. The faint pulse of my marks traces their journey away from us.

Jacob shifts his weight on his feet. “Riva.”

He waits until I look at him. It’s the first time he’s spoken directly to me since I told him off in the party room last night.

My jaw tightens automatically. “What?”

He holds my gaze unwaveringly. “I know you hate how I treated you before. I hate that guy too. If I could kill him, wipe him right out of existence, so you never had to think about him again, I would. But if I did that, then I wouldn’t be here to stand between you and the assholes who are still around.

That’s why I’m here. It isn’t enough, but I’m giving it everything I can. ”

My throat closes up. I yank my eyes away, my hand rising to grip my pendant.

“You are that guy,” I say. “Realizing you were an asshole doesn’t turn you into a whole new person.”

Jacob scowls. “No. I guess it doesn’t. But if I can find a way to turn myself into one, I will.”

He says the words so vehemently that I can’t help believing him.

The trouble is, I don’t think that way exists.

Zian clears his throat, cutting through some of the building tension. “The guys didn’t even ask what we wanted for dinner. I hope they get something good.”

A laugh tumbles out of me despite the ache around my heart. “I’m sure they know what you like by now.”

As we wait, restless anxiety ripples through my limbs. The ache in my chest expands to encompass more than just my feelings about Jacob.

Is it my fault the shadowkind are afraid of us? I’m the one with the most brutal talent.

I’m the one who’s refused to attempt the steps Rollick’s asked me to take toward controlling it.

Why wouldn’t they see me as a threat?

When we get back on board, when Rollick can sort this out, I’ll do the practice he’s asking for. I’ll deal out a little pain to make sure I don’t slip up when it really matters.

It’s the least I can do when the shadowkind are risking so much just having us around.

The uneasiness tangled inside me doesn’t loosen until Dominic and Andreas appear at the mouth of the side-street several minutes later, carrying several items wrapped in foil paper.

Andreas starts handing his cargo around, the heat of the contents seeping through the paper into my hands. “I caught a few happy memories from people who’ve stopped by this food stall a gazillion times, so I think it was the best of the bunch around here. If you?—”

With a sharp hissing sound, a streak of silver sears through the air and plunges into his shoulder.