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Tears prickled in my eyes.

I could still sense Danny’s mind through the bond, but something animalistic and cold had taken it over. Disappointment flickered when he realized that the blood was nearly gone.

He’d need to find someone else… another warm body to open up and drink.

“That’s it,” the redhead crooned, watching Danny sucking the life out of the young man with a smile on her face. “Oh, that’s very good. That’s very good indeed. You might almost—”

She broke off suddenly, letting out a startled gasp. A flash of vivid light that filled the cavern in the same moment.

Her eyes went wide and she whipped her head to look at Tobias, who stood fifteen feet away, his expression darker than I had ever seen it. He lowered his hands.

She tensed her body, her hands splaying into claws, like she might rip the warlock apart.

But then her skin began to turn to stone.

Bryan watched the scene unfold with a grim expression. He exchanged a dark look with Tobias, who was still mutteringthe spell under his breath, and then he left the warlock’s side, moving to Danny.

The young man tumbled to Danny’s feet, causing Bryan to hesitate.

Danny stared down at the young man, his mind going blank with shock. With stunned horror at what he had just done. And then the moment of absolute, utter despair that ripped through him, the wordless grief that he had just snuffed out an innocent life to satisfy his own selfish hunger.

Danny, no. It wasn’t your fault.I practically screamed it, but it was like he didn’t hear me.You didn’t mean to—

I felt it in the exact moment that Danny’s mind went cold. Everything just shut off. Like flicking a light switch. The grief and agony, the awful realization that he hadlikedthe violence, deep-down, all of it just… went away.

Danny blinked a few times. And his expression went perfectly neutral as he stared down at the person he had just killed.

Or, well, the young man wasn’t dead yet, was he? But he was certainly going to die, soon enough. Though the bond, I caught Danny wondering idly if perhaps he should break the young man’s neck and speed along the process. The gasping for air was getting on his nerves.

Horror flooded through me, that he could think such a thing.

I could hear the young man’s wheezing, rasping breaths too, from where I lay on my back. And if I could have saved him, I would have. Danny would have, too. He had spent his whole life helping people. He had dedicated everything he was to protecting people from—

From—

Nausea rolled through me and hot tears burned my eyes as it struck me that I was unable to stop any of this. Not even after five years as a hunter.

Nothing had really changed, had it?

I still couldn’t save the man I loved.

I could sense that Danny still knew what I was thinking, every bit as clearly as I understood his thoughts.

He gazed down at the young man, still idly thinking about snapping his neck. But he hardly saw him, not really. He wasn’t sure what the big deal was, why I was so upset. The need, though sated for the moment, had driven everything else from his mind. The world, through his eyes, had become clinical.

Encased in ice, with no feeling left at all.

He cocked his head to the side, frowning.

He was still hungry.

His gaze landed on me, lying on my back. Still helpless as the vampire blood worked its way through me, restoring me to health. But I wouldn’t be able to fight him off if he came after me now and he knew it.

I was the perfect prey.

And I was filled with vitality, wasn’t I? Another warm body for him to enjoy.

I could make the last of his pain go away for good.