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“It’s not going to be forever,” Michael told me. “Help is coming.”

“You called another hunter, then?” Relief washed through me. Selfishly, I would’ve preferred it if Michael was the one to do it, but it would be better if someone else put me down, right? Better for him. And, therefore, better all around.

Belatedly, I hadn’t considered what killing me—even if he was putting me out of my misery—would do to him. Of course it was better if someone else did it for him.

Maybe Aubrey would be game. She hunted a couple states over, so it wouldn’t take her too long to get here—a day or two at most. And she’d never much liked me. Granted, she’d never much liked most people. But still, she was more prepared in every way to handle this than Michael was. In fact, she might even—

“No. No other hunters.” Michael replied, scowling at me. He shook his head. “Dying has kind of given you a death wish, hasn’t it?”

“Then who?” I demanded.

But I already knew, didn’t I? If he wasn’t going to kill me and he wasn’t going to ask some other hunter to do it, then that meant—

“Bryan and Tobias. They were handling a pretty nasty bus accident in Topeka, Kansas, that hurt a lot of people, apparently. They’re on their way, but it’ll be a day or two before they get here. They’re sending someone else in the meantime—a friend of theirs. He should be here sometime before sunrise. He’s going to help.”

“Help with what?” I demanded.

But I already knew I wasn’t going to like what he had to say one bit.

“I promised you that I wouldn’t let you turn into a monster,” he said flatly. “And that was back when we thought vampire automatically equaled cold-blooded killer. So yeah, we’d both thought it meant we were making some kind of fucked up murder pact. But now we know that isn’t true, right? You don’t have to die at all. There’s another way.”

I stared at him, feeling my jaw drop open a little with my dismay. “Michael, what the fuck are you saying to me right now?”

Michael’s face settled into a familiar stubborn expression I’d seen a million times before.

“And look, this is me keeping that promise, alright? I’m not going to let you turn into something like what we hunt. I’m going to help you through all of this,” he replied evenly, staring me down. “I swear it.”

“Call them back and tell them not to come! I don’t want this! Call Aubrey instead, if you won’t do it yourself.”

Michael shoved himself to his feet. His eyes were on fire with fury. “You’re living through this, Danny!” He snarled, glaring me down. “And you can fuck right off if you think you’re not! They’re going to help you learn how to be a vampire.”

I felt so taken aback, thrown so off-kilter by his strange conviction, that I almost did still feel human. Almost. Because Michael had spent years hating vampires—hating the supernatural in general. Why was that suddenly different now?

“Why are you doing this?”

Michael swallowed hard, his eyes going all shiny again. And it was just as terrible as before. “Look, I said it before. I’m not going to lose you again.”

“Michael—”

“Fuck you, Danny!” Michael yelled, something inside of him clearly breaking free. “I’m in love with you, too! That’s why!”

My mouth snapped shut and about a million emotions collided inside me, all at the same time. Michael’s jaw was clenched, and his eyes were hard when he glared back at me. Then, without another word, he turned and stormed out of the barn, leaving me staring after him in stupid shock.

CHAPTER EIGHT || MICHAEL

My anger carried me all the way out the barn door, past the unmarked grave I’d dug at the edge of the field, and down to the end of the gravel driveway. That was where it fizzled out, causing me to stop dead in my tracks, and afterward, I mostly just felt like shit.

Somehow, I had entertained a fantasy of telling Danny my big realization—that I loved him back—in some grand and sweeping fashion. Or maybe even in some big romantic way, involving candles and soft rock. Instead, I had blurted it out like an idiot, in the heat of my fury. Not a good look.

But it was at least as much his fault as mine, which actually did nothing to assuage my frustration at myself. But he definitely needed to stop talking about anyone ever doing a single goddamn thing to hurt him. I couldn’t even stand the thought.

Because hewasstill Danny, wasn’t he?

After my phone conversation with Bryan earlier, I had been afraid that he wouldn’t be. After I had told Bryan what had happened, he had made it sound like Danny would wake up ravenous and so hell-bent on feeding that he would hardly be a person at all, much less the same person I’d spent years trying—and failing—to avoid falling in love with. Apparently, that passed eventually, but Bryan had warned me that while Danny would still technically be in there, it might not look much like it at first.

But Bryan had been dead-ass wrong. From what I could gather, Danny hadn’t changed much at all. He clearly still had his emotions intact, even if they were pointed in absolutely the wrong direction. And he was rational enough to hold a conversation. Though, the majority of that conversation had been him trying to convince me to murder him.

Over the years, Danny and I had killed more monsters than I could count. And that included plenty of vampires. But those creatures had all been cold-blooded killers. They had killed before, and they would kill again. For years, that had been our litmus test for whether something out there was worthy of the pointy end of a wooden stake. Or the blade of a machete. Or a silver bullet. Whatever. But oddly enough, when you’re putting down a creature that snuffs out human life without remorse, it doesn’t feel like such a morally bad thing to destroy a being like that. It feels correct. You’re stopping them from doing that to any other innocent people, after all. And that’s all even more true when that bloodthirsty creature is actively trying to kill you. At that point, it’s you or them.