Page 117 of Solar Shadows

And I didn’t care.

“I loved him, I wanted him, I?—”

“Freeze!” I called, clapping out the witchcop spell.

Dirk’s body went still, the gun clattering to the ground. Wide, frozen eyes stared back at me with satisfying shock, but I didn’t revel in it.

Instead, I took the car, the keys still in the ignition, and sped away. I had a feeling Dirk would become a thorn in my backside again later.

Let him try coming for me. I’d be ready with a headbutt and another spell.

I turned right at the junction at the end of the road, heading up the link road which bypassed the city center, proving a direct route to the north. The traffic was pretty light, but my anxiety was through the stratosphere.

Isaac being out in the city with that creep shredded my soul. He should be with me, nowhere near him, haunting me with more of those feelings I’d caught for him.

Sparks. Sparks. Sparks. Sparks.

I’m coming for you…

My positive thoughts didn’t satiate my frustrations. Nothing would until I sawhisface again.

I’ve wasted time trying to dislike him…

What would happen if he died tonight? What if I’d lost the chance to find someone who wanted me for me?

I almost laughed at myself. Listen to me, sounding so dramatic as if I was trapped inside some great love story. We weren’t there, we weren’t close to any of those things. We were just in a new place. It didn’t mean love, it didn’t mean anything we didn’t want it to.

But those sparks…

Crap on my overthinking! All that mattered was finding him. Everything else could be dissected later.

I passed the station and got to hunting thenetwork of residential areas nearby, starting with a narrow one-way street.

Nothing down there.

My heart boomed like a thousand drums in my chest.

“Where are you?” I muttered, turning right onto the next street, then the next, determined to end this day on a positive note.

We had to have a damn win here.

You’ll be home soon, Isaac.

I promise.

Chapter 40

ISAAC

It happened quickly, Tony as Fake Me leaping over the garden wall of Blood House, crushing and kicking over the plastic flamingos.

I prayed those vampires were using some of their emergency escape routes to get away from here. If they’d been woken up by the noise on the street, of course.

Please be awake!

The solar shadows joined their master in the garden, gathering around him.

“Incubate!” Tony said, clapping out the magic.