Page 124 of Solar Shadows

Fuck them.

Let them scream.

I moved again, aiming for the shelter of another vehicle. A woman’s corpse dropped in front of me, her head almost cleaved off her neck. I jumped back, her blood everywhere. Seconds later, a man landed on top of her with holes in his chest.

“The Sun!” a chorus of shade voices called.

I hit the dirt as shards flew overhead, missing me by inches. Keeping low, I hurried to take shelter behind a different car.

You’re not getting a slice of me,I thought at the hag.

More screams, more death, and my sunshine still faulty. A sensation like heartburn took up residence in my chest, a clear sign of Tony’s bullshit.

Where was he?

I took a cursory glance from outside my shelter and spotted him between two red cars close to Blood House. He’d basically moved with me, the cheeky shit.

Unfortunately, there were four shades blocking a direct route to him, looming over the bodies of dead shimmer witches. It didn’t look like they were stealing their essence, but I couldn’t be sure.

Ugh. So much for being purely focused on Tony. Other thoughts were getting in, already distractingme. Like Ollie and how I’d like to go back to him right now and get him to safety.

Until my ex blew me a kiss.

Oh, this prick was going into one of my nets.

Using the vehicles for cover, I pushed harder, taking a big run to a green car three up from his hiding spot. Timing it perfectly between shard spins.

Almost got you…I smiled, my lust for revenge focusing again.

A man joined me, cracking his elbow on the car door, making me jump.

“Fuck me hard!” I bellowed.

“Save us, Sun! Save us!” He grabbed my arms, yanking me forward.

I punched him in the face. He turned as he fell, landing face-first on the sidewalk with a yucky crunch.

Good!

“The Sun will come!” a shade roared.

The car rocked from the impact of a storm of shards.

As I went to dash for it, so close to Tony, blue magic puffed to life in my hands, a riot of itches crawling in my palms. Familiar itches, like the time I developed my regular shade-killing power.

I turned my hands over, seeing a smaller blue sun drawing itself across my skin. A flicker of a gloriously sunny day blazed in my head, and I understood I’d once again developed a new solar ability.

For a sacred witch locked out of the celestial room where the real meaty goodies waited for me, thesepower increases warmed my soul. It was a sign of the goodness having my back, throwing me and Riley a bone while we waited for Preston to join us.

“The Sun!” the shades called as one.

After the next flurry of shards, I rolled out from cover and sprang to my feet, my palms facing forward. Aching with a stinging burn, beams of blue magic burst from the new sun symbols, doing the laser thing, crisscrossing the street to take down every single shade. The creatures roared in fright, trying to escape, but each one of them exploded, falling to the ground as shimmering white dust.

I lowered my hands when the last one fell, taking several deep breaths and listened the groans of survivors around me, their pleas pathetic.

I’d done it.

I’d destroyed them.