Page 125 of Solar Shadows

Now for?—

Tony plunged a blade into my stomach, twisting it. My lungs paused, the surprise turning my limbs to concrete.

He pressed his forehead to mine. “I love you so much, but you need to get out of my way.” He crushed his lips to mine, then pulled back, yanking the blade out of me.

“Isaac!” Ollie boomed.

Able to move again, I touched where he’d stabbed me. Blood flowed over my hands, turning them red in seconds, my lifeforce spilling across the asphalt. Then the pain started, hot and unbearable, yet I couldn’tmake a sound. My throat closed for business, the rest of me struggling to comprehend this.

Stabbed…

Stabbed me…

He stabbed me.

World spinning, fringes of existence blurring. Tony jumping into a white car, the darn thing speeding away, tires screeching.

Footsteps. Pounding, pounding, pounding.

I collapsed, landing in his arms.

“O-Ollie?”

Blurry face above me. Blurry guy, the guy I liked.

But I was… I was going. Hurting. Dying. Unless my body could handle it.

Could it? Messy in there. Messy and hurting and so, so bloody.

“Hold on,” Ollie said, laying me down on the chilly ground.

Chapter 42

OLLIE

Typical crappy timing.

At the moment I managed to recover my strength, Tony drove his blade into The Sun.

Man, my body temperature plunged like I’d been thrown into an ice bath. But only for a second. I got moving as Tony kissed him and fled, already aware of what I’d become.

Magic liked to tell you how it worked. When you were fixed with a bangle, the spells downloaded into your brain. This new power of mine did the same, shooting a series of details into my mind.

I caught Isaac before he hit the ground, then put him down.

He looked like he was at death’s door. Fading, the sapphire light dying in his eyes. Shivering, barely breathing. I couldn’t look at his wound, and I didn’t need to.

He’d be alright.

I got to work.

My newly acquired fangs appeared, and I dug them into his neck and drank his blood, the taste of vanilla and nutmeg on my tongue. Hot and delicious, it gushed down my throat, allowing me to borrow his power.

That’s what the magical ping in my mind told me moments ago. I wasn’t a vampire as such, but I’d been touched by enough vampiric essence to elicit a change inside me. With my bangle out of action, I had to drink the blood of a witch to cast spells now.

Strange as hell, a complete brain ache, but I’d stress about it later.

I had a Sun to save.