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As one more shadowkind flickers into being in the last of the chairs, Rollick lifts his chin where he’s poised at the head of the table. “All right. Let’s get down to business.”
The blue-haired woman drums her fingers on the tabletop. Her voice comes out both melodic and low with displeasure. “There aremoreof these shadowbloods being made? It seems to me that’s the big problem.”
The demon’s gaze flicks to her. “Let’s keep a respectful tone when it comes to our guests, Shanty.”
I feel like there are a few things we current shadowbloods should make clear right away.
I draw up my slight frame as tall as I can manage. “No, we agree that it’s a problem. We already are the way we are, and we can’t do anything about that. But we wouldn’t have chosen this. Balthazar needs to be stopped as soon as possible, before he warps more people than he already has.”
Sorsha shifts her gaze to Toni. “You’re the one who worked with this man. What exactly do you know about his plans from here forward? Where is he finding people to transform? What is he going to ask them to do?”
Toni looks as if she’s suppressing a wince. “Mr. Balthazar has enough sway that he’s been able to arrange access to incarcerated criminals from various prisons. People who don’t have families checking up on them so they won’t be missed.”
Around me, my guys’ faces have darkened. “People who won’t have reservations about throwing their powers around, no matter who gets hurt?” Dominic suggests.
Toni dips her head, her expression turning even more pained. “And who would be grateful to him for giving them their freedom. He’ll ensure their obedience to him the same way he did with you, with the metal bracelets that can knock them out or kill them if need be.”
“Criminals,” the stout guy with the scaly forehead mutters. “On top of their wild powers. Just great.”
I swallow thickly and raise my voice again. “Those aren’t the only shadowbloods he has. He’s also been holding a bunch of the kids the guardians brought up—like us, but none of them are older than seventeen, and their powers are a lot weaker. We have to find and rescue them too.”
Lord only knows what the younger shadowbloods are going through now. When I remember how downcast even neon-loving Nadia became in the last few days before Balthazar wrenched them all away from us, my heart sinks.
We don’t even know for sure if all of the others are still alive. At the villa, our former captor murdered two of the kids before our eyes, just to make a point.
“I don’t know where they’re being held,” Toni says. “He split them up across several different properties and kept that information to himself. But I do know where a lot of his properties across North America and Europeare, so that could be a start in our search.”
At Sorsha’s side, Thorn lets out a deep rumble of a grunt. “It sounds as though we should end this villain’s life first and worry about rescue attempts afterward. Once he’s gone, he won’t be able to harm them further.”
As anxious as I am to get my friends and the other kids out of Balthazar’s clutches, I can’t deny that the hulking angel has a point.
Jacob thumps his fist on the table. “We destroy him and any of the criminals working with him. Sounds good to me.”
Fang turns his unnerving face toward Rollick. “How hard could it be to kill one mortal man? Heismortal, isn’t he?”
“Mr. Balthazar had no interest in becoming at all like the shadowkind himself,” Toni confirms.
Rollick grimaces. “He has proven to be particularly adept at evading our attacks, though. He doesn’t skimp on his silver and iron protections, and he leaves himself plenty of escape routes while preventing even his captives from getting within close enough range to unleash their talents on him. I don’t think we can count on the battle being easy, especially with an unknown number of shadowbloods in the mix.”
“We’ve got to find him first,” Andreas points out, and motions to Toni. “Where would he want to go next? You haven’t said what the next steps in his plans were going to be.”
She exhales raggedly. “I don’t know the specifics. I didn’t even know he and Matteo had finalized the procedure for transforming people into shadowbloods until that last night. But… the first stage he always talked about, when he had the manpower to move forward, was giving the world motivation to go on the attack against shadowkind.”
Zian frowns. “And how was he going to do that? No one believes monsters really exist.”
Toni meets his gaze, her dark eyes solemn. “He was going to prove it. By having his new shadowbloods rain down destruction with their powers, and then claimingthey’rethe monsters that need to be stamped out.”
A chill floods me from the inside out. “They’re going to go around attacking people.”
“Something like that. But I don’t know where he’ll start. Or when. I can’t imagine he’ll wait long, though. He’s been desperate to get started.”
My hands ball into fists, my claws tingling at my fingertips with the urge to strike out. But the man I want to tackle is nowhere within reach.
“We have to find him. Fast.” I look down at my arms and rub the skin of my wrist, the bruising there nearly faded already thanks to our swift shadowkind healing. “I wish we had a manacle onhimso we could track him down. He could be anywhere in the world!”
There’s a momentary silence. Then Dominic clears his throat and glances across the table. “Griffin tracked us all across the continent back when we were on the run—without needing any tracking devices.”
Every pair of eyes around the table jerks to the subdued guy who’s simply been sitting with us taking in the conversation—and the emotions we’re all giving off.
