self-centeredness.
Our mortal and her hope springing eternal.
I just had to keep a careful eye on all the other emotions her presence tended to stir in me. There was no room for distractions. We had a conspiracy of humans to destroy—and I intended to see them fall before the night was done.
30
Sorsha
In taking on the Company of Light, we’d faced old office buildings, modern lab facilities, and now what might as well have been a castle, set well back on its sprawling lawn. I wouldn’t be surprised if the man who owned the old mansion figured he really was some kind of king. Victor Bane—that was a super-villain name if I’d ever heard one. If that even was his real name and not yet another layer of subterfuge.
Thanks to Birch’s healing efforts just before we’d headed out, my no-longer-wounded stomach could rest against my thighs in my crouched position without pain prickling through it. I scanned the yard from my perch on the branch of an oak tree in Bane’s neighbor’s backyard. Thorn’s initial scouting through the shadows had shown him about twenty armed guards on the premises outside the building, and I could make out several of them stalking along in their patrols.
No big deal. We were more than ready for them. Bane or whoever couldn’t know that we’d more than doubled our numbers since the Company’s last assault on us, or I suspected he’d have called in every man he could.
Of course, maybe he already had. Thorn, Omen, and the others had torn through quite a few last night.
We had to crash their party before they got the chance to find out about our latest plans. The Company had eyes and ears in too many places—nothing we did seemed to stay secret for long. The only times we’d really turned the tables on them was when we’d acted on our information right away.
I just wished this plan didn’t depend so much on my powers kicking in when they should. Or on keeping those powers secret even from our new allies.
Omen had pulled me aside after we’d finished settling our strategy, in which he’d claimed responsibility for setting a few things alight once we were at the Bane property.
“You know which parts you were meant to handle,” he’d said in a dark undertone. “Stick to the original plan on that count—I’ll be with Thorn focusing on cutting down as many of the guards as we can. But don’t let Rex or his lackeys see you at it if you can help it. Easier for us to keep you as our ace up our sleeve if word doesn’t get out too widely.”
I already didn’t love the way Rex tended to eye me as if speculating how he’d carve me up into steaks given the opportunity. Keeping any additional attention off me sounded just dandy.
I would hold my own tonight—I’d be more an asset than a liability, even if some of the help I offered went under most of our allies’ radar. If we lost anyone else tonight because of my actions or my mortal limitations…
My jaw tightened. No, I wasn’t even going to think that far. It wouldn’t happen. I wouldn’t let it.
To begin with, our main trick would be creating small enough diversions that the shadowkind could pick off one or two guards at a time without them realizing they were under attack. We’d rather no one clued in that an assault was underway until we’d reduced their numbers already. If we could make it all the way to wherever the Company was keeping its imprisoned shadowkind, even better—but I didn’t expect our luck would stretch that far.
The shadowkind could pull off a hell of a lot of their own, but they were going to need me to open those silver-and-iron cages, and I couldn’t waltz in through the shadows unseen. Without Snap to taste the locks, I wasn’t even sure how long it’d take me to break into whatever cages the captives were currently being held in. We might have to rely on Ruse charming an employee who happened to know the entry codes or Rex’s techie guy to find the details in the computer system.
So, yeah, the more of our opposition we picked off ahead of time, the better for all of us. Particularly, for me making it out of this alive and without taking anyone else down with me.
A light flickered on and off around the back of the Bane property. I tensed on my perch. That