Chapter Seven

New York, September, 2024

“Before you say no, hear me out.” Simeon stuck his foot through her door and the box of donuts in her face.

Emily backed up, biting her lip. “Are those the maple glazed donuts from The Pine Loft?”

“Georgie’s finest.”

Emily took the box. Six donuts. She stopped, hand on the lid. “I... I’ve gained ten pounds since I moved here,” she whispered.

Simeon looked her up and down. “Can’t tell. You walk everywhere, Huntress, how the hell d’you manage to put on weight? We train a couple nights a week. I saw you out with Mr. Minegold on the Night Watch yesterday. That’s hours of walking.”

“And we caught something.” Emily’s eyes glittered for a moment as she put the box on the small dining table. She could feel it, the satisfaction, the brief cessation of guilt. She’d killed a vampire. With the help of a vampire. Guilt nibbled.

Simeon looked at her and nodded slowly. “The ‘bad tourism’ always starts in September, or so I hear.” He strode into the apartment and opened the box. “You must be burning off loads of calories, Em. You look... You look good.” The vampire stuffed half a donut in his mouth and wouldn’t meet her eyes.

Did he want to say something else?

She didn’t like it, but her heart sped up at the thought of the handsome, charismatic vampire complimenting her.

No one ever complimented her. Her father used to compliment her skills, not her.

She had a lean middle with stubborn curves. She had a fatter bust and bottom than she should, according to her father who wanted her to be flat-chested and muscular. He said her “soft parts” were nothing more than easy targets.

No one had called her pretty since her mother had left. Then, she died within a few weeks, before she could come back for her.

“I stayed thin because we never splurged on snacks. We ate two or three meals, always the slaying diet. High protein. Or Chinese. Dad said Chinese was cheap and reliable. You could always get protein, starch, and vegetables in one box.” She didn’t tell the vampire that she was never allowed ice cream, pudding, mousse, or the like because it would add fat to her already full “fat deposits.” Most humans would have called them breasts and buttocks.

“All right, but when you’re a human hunting machine, you probably ought to put away more food for fuel, yeah?” Simeon nudged the open box toward her. “C’mon. They’re part of my bribe.”

“Bribe?”

“Go to the bonfire on Sunday night with me? Part of Applefest. There’s pie, cider, donuts, chili—”

“Apple chili?”

“No! Beef, turkey, chicken, vegetarian—probably venison and boar for all I care. It’s just part of the weekend festivities. Plus, we can patrol.”

“Patrol?” Emily picked up a donut and brought it slowly to her mouth.

“Yeah. We should be out among the locals, making sure the bad sorts don’t get in. Days get shorter, nights get longer, hungry demons come to visit—especially on the college campus.” Simeon shook his head with a low whistle. “It’s like a different world over there. Two thousand young, horny, drunken students living in dorms or those apartments across from the campus—”

“Where you live?” Emily didn’t know why his sentences upset her, but something prickled. Maybe he’s sneaking over there. Snacking on young, hot college girls.

I could be a hot college girl—if I were hot. If I went to college. Am I still young? I feel about four thousand years old...

“Yeah, right over the river! Some parts are so narrow you just take a walking bridge. Anyway, it’s stupidly easy for the bad sorts to mingle in crowds.”

“I know. London was your favorite place for over a hundred years—and we never managed to catch you,” Emily hissed, suddenly, savagely biting a donut.

“Well... Come with me to the bonfire. Patrol with me. Let me buy you chili and cider and all the things you like—and I’ll let you catch me.”

His tone was smooth, his smile sensual—yet somehow it wasn’t threatening. She knew very well that vampires were highly sexual creatures. They would use charm and seduction the same way she would use a crossbow and holy water.

“I can catch you anytime I want,” she countered, ignoring the paradox she’d just spoken. In London, they’d never caught him. In Berlin, Paris, Florence... Vampires love big cities.

A vampire who comes to a little town feels he has no need to hide. They intend to kill and leave.

The evil beings who entered Pine Ridge knew it was a paranormal-friendly place, and they expected a hidden gem where they could kill and feed without repercussion.

They were wrong.

And Simeon was wrong.

This was all wrong. She wanted to catch him, maybe kill him, just for making her confused, for opening her eyes to things she wished she could unsee.

Things that didn’t make sense and made her life a lie.

“Anytime you want?” One dark brow arched, and his hand was suddenly on her arm, pulling her to him. “I could catch you, Huntress.”

She shook him off with a cry. His grip disengaged easily, but his eyelids stayed lowered, irises turning slowly to a burning scarlet as his fangs slid into a predatory smile.

“Get out, Crow.” Her voice didn’t shake. It did not .

“Make me. Chase me.” He was in her space, chest almost touching hers. “You look down, Huntress. I bet I can make you smile.”

“You can make me smile once you’re a little pile of ashes in the wind!” She didn’t mean it.

I just... I need him to go. I can’t... Be this way with him. Where he’s my friend. Where he’s more.

I can’t look forward to seeing him. Can’t dream about holding hands with him while he buys me things at some sweet little country fair. Can’t dream of sipping hot apple cider under the Harvest Moon like a normal couple.

We are not normal. I will never, ever be normal, and he’ll always be a monster.

Simeon’s smile faded, and he stepped back, hurt on his face—for a second. “You don’t mean that. You just hate me. Not because of what I was, but because of what I’ve become—someone healthier. And you’re still healing, Emmy.”

“I’m not sick!”

“Oh, yes. You are. And I am.” He was back again, one hand going to her hip. “We can cure each other, you and I. We could stop hunting and hating and just be—ourselves. This is the place for it, Emily.”

Normal. No hunting. No hating. She could still patrol. No hunting, no hating, only helping.

God, what a fantasy. And he’s offering it to me. Why?

“Why do you care?” she whispered, not pulling from his embrace.

His other hand latched to the back of her neck. She gulped once and then relaxed, letting herself go.

If I die this way, killed by Crow, maybe that’s how it was always going to end. My father wouldn’t mind that.

Hell, he’d hate it, but he’d hate her whole life now. He’d rather she die because of a vampire’s bite than live with his friendship. Or more.

“Because I care about you, Van Helsing! I... You’re in my life now. My head. My heart. If I had a soul, you’d own that, too. I want to see you every day, not just to bring you food or train with you, but just because I bloody well want to.”

Someone wants me.

When Simeon’s lips crashed onto hers, she let them.

Her first kiss. First anything.

God, it was good. Better than hunting, better than killing. So electric and alive, an adrenaline rush that hurt no one.

Except it would hurt.

“I love you, Emily,” Simeon gasped, one hand sliding to the back of her head before plunging back down to kiss her again. “I’m in love with you.”

Evil, murdering monsters do not love. He’s not the same as the others. He doesn’t have his human soul.

This is another lie. Another trick.

It feels so good. Too good to stop.

But she stopped, a sudden hard punch to his ribs, a knee-sweeping kick that sent him wincing and crouching backward as he fought to keep upright. “Get out!” she shouted.

“Emily, I—”

“No! Whatever it is... No.” Her anger cooled at his genuinely lost, bereft expression. “It’s not love, Simeon. It’s... something else.”

“How would you know? Have you ever loved anyone?” he demanded, slowly uncurling himself and standing up straight.

She refused to answer. “It doesn’t matter. You can’t love anyone. Not now. Demons can’t love.”

“Ha! I beg to differ. There are demons in this town that—”

“I’m willing to admit that there are loopholes. Things I don’t know. But I know you.”

“Not as well as you think.” He reached for her and then stopped as she curled her fist to strike. “Th-that’s okay. I told you too soon. I’m sorry.”

“Too soon? There is no time, ever, that will be late enough. I can’t love a vampire.”

Simeon’s eyes narrowed. His face pinched. “Don’t love a vampire. Love me . I mean, at least like me a bit. Give me a—”

“We’re neighbors—sort of. We have a truce. That’s it.”

That was so far from “it,” but what else could she do or say? She had to stop him from wedging deeper into her life.

He definitely wasn’t allowed in her heart.

“You didn’t kiss me like some diplomat signing a truce, love,” Crow’s voice was tinged with anger now.

“I know. That was a mistake. A dangerous one. I won’t be making it again.”

Even if I want to. Really, really want to...

“I’m just supposed to pretend none of this ever happened?”

If there was pain in his voice, even a sparkle of wetness in his eye, Emily knew it was a trap. Vampires were excellent human mimics. She brushed away the voice that shouted, “What about Minegold? Jesse? What about the nice banshee who runs the thrift store, or the Orc that made you these donuts? They’re all monsters, some more human-looking and some less.”

“Pretend whatever you like, but I’ll stick to the facts. I’m just here in this town to keep an eye on innocents—and the things that might threaten them.” Emily made her spine straight and her voice cold.

“Things? I’m a thing , now?” Simeon’s face twisted. Anger. Grief.

She stopped looking. I’m sorry.

The words never passed her lips.

“You know, Huntress, you’re not much of a human yourself, sometimes. All business. No soul. Ah, ah,” he cut her off when she began to argue. “There are all kinds of ways to be soulless. Mine was stolen in a moment of bloodlust, by a thirst for revenge, and years of torment that I finally had power to end. And then... There are empty shells, the souls inside so withered up that no one can restore them. Empty shells—like you.”