"I want to believe him. I want to…" Simon stopped. Breathed. "I don't want to live for revenge anymore."
He glanced back at Charlie. The person who'd given him a different kind of purpose.
"I love him." His words were almost a whisper. "I know it's fast. I know it's probably stupid. But it's true."
Simon's chest hurt like something vital had torn loose.
"Reuben wanted me to hate all vampires. But some of them are just people who got turned against their will and are trying to survive. Like Charlie. Like that kid I staked in Detroit who'd only been turned two weeks and was crying when I found him."
The memories pressed in. Every face. Every vampire he'd killed without asking questions. Without considering that maybe, just maybe, they weren't all monsters.
"I can't take back what I did. The people I killed. But I can stop doing it Reuben's way." Simon looked up at the oak branches overhead, at the stars barely visible beyond them. "There are vampires who hurt people, and they need to be stopped. But I won't kill indiscriminately anymore."
He pulled his gaze back to the headstone.
"I'll try to be someone you can be proud of. Someone who helps people instead of just killing them."
The wind died down. Silence settled over the cemetery like a blanket.
"I wish you'd gotten to meet Charlie. You would have liked him. He's stubborn and awkward and trips over his own feet, but he's got a good heart. Better than mine."
Simon stayed there a moment longer, hand against the granite, memorizing the shape of her name one more time.
Then he stood. His knees protested, damp from the grass. He stepped back, gave the grave one last look.
"I'll come back soon."
He turned.
Charlie stood by the oak tree, one hand resting against the bark. His eyes were wet.
Simon hadn't cried. But Charlie evidently had.
Of course he had.
Simon crossed the distance between them and pulled his soft vampire into his arms. They stood there for a while. No rush. Nopressing danger. Just the two of them in a cemetery under old oaks while the city hummed in the distance.
Finally, Charlie pulled back enough to look at Simon's face.
"I know what we should do next."
Simon raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"
"Yeah." Charlie's expression shifted, determined in a way Simon rarely saw from him. "Just like you said. We try to help people."
"Help who?"
"People like me. New vampires who don't know what they're doing. Who don't want to be violent." Charlie's grip on Simon's arms tightened. "The retreat was corrupt, but why can't we start one that isn't?"
Simon studied him. "You want to start a vampire support group."
"No. Well, maybe? Kind of?" Charlie's face flushed. "I want people to know they have options."
"It'll be difficult."
"I know that." Charlie's chin lifted, displaying that stubborn streak Simon secretly adored. "But it's also right. And I'm tired of drifting and just letting life happen to me. I want to actually do something that matters. And besides, when we have a big community, we won't be easy targets whenever the organization reforms. I don't want to spend my life on the run."
That was a valid point. "Okay."
