He looked at Viktor again. "Last I heard, you were heading west."
"That’s what I wanted you to tell everyone. And I'm glad you did." Viktor parked, killed the engine. "I needed time to figure things out." He scoffed at himself. "I had no idea how to be a normal person. You know how long it's been since I had to think about groceries? Or about how the rent gets paid?"
"The Organization handled everything."
"Everything." Viktor got out, came around to open the side door. "Sixteen years, Simon. Since I was twelve. More than half my life."
Simon had known Viktor was young when recruited, but hearing the number hit different. He'd beentwelve.A child.
"Remind me how old you were," Viktor said. "When Reuben found you."
"Fifteen."
"Right." Viktor's expression softened slightly. "At least you had some normal life before. I barely remember mine."
He reached to help with Charlie, but Simon was already moving, adjusting his grip to carry the unconscious vampire.
He couldn't say why, but he didn't want Viktor to touch Charlie. Charlie might be a disaster vampire, but he wasSimon'sdisaster vampire.
Simon had gone through too much tonight to hand that responsibility over to someone else.
"I've got him."
"Sure you do." Viktor led them to an elevator. "Third floor."
The building was old but clean. Nothing like Charlie's rundown apartment complex, but nothing like Simon's sterile high-rise either. It felt lived-in. Normal.
"How long have you been here?"
"Three months." Viktor unlocked a door marked 3C. "Took a while to figure out the whole civilian thing. Credit history is a bitch when you technically haven't existed since middle school."
The apartment was small but warm. The furniture was mismatched but comfortable-looking. There were books on the shelves and a plant by the window. Probably fake, because it sat next to black out curtains that would have to keep all the light out during the day.
"You can put him on the couch," Viktor said, clearing some magazines off the cushions.
Simon set Charlie down carefully. Without thinking, he pulled a throw pillow under Charlie's head and adjusted the UV blanket to cover most of him. Charlie's hand stayed fisted in Simon's jacket until Simon gently pried his fingers loose.
"When did you get so domestic?" Simon asked Viktor, straightening.
"When I realized I could be." Viktor moved to the kitchen—which seemed well-stocked. "You want coffee? Water? Something stronger?"
"Water."
Viktor filled two glasses. "You know what's fucked up? Grocery shopping. First time I went to a supermarket after leaving, I stood in the cereal aisle for twenty minutes. Couldn't figure out how to choose. There's a whole world beyond protein shakes, did you know that?"
"The shakes are efficient."
"They're joyless, which is the point." Viktor handed him the water. "But you know that. Somewhere in that thick skull, you know that."
Simon didn't answer, watching Charlie sleep instead. The vampire's face had relaxed completely, making him look even younger. The healing burns were barely visible now, just faint pink marks that would probably fade completely by tomorrow.
Simon had succeeded in saving him.
Should that make Simon happy?
Oddly, it did.
"So," Viktor said, settling into an armchair across from the couch. "Want to tell me why the Organization's best hunter is playing nursemaid to a vampire instead of staking him?"
