Page 19 of Seph

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 didnot.

“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 itwouldhurt.

“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.

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