For a heartbeat, nothing happened. Then Charlie's small body began to shudder. The air around him shimmered like heat waves rising from asphalt. Fur receded, limbs stretched, and in a matter of seconds, Charlie was human again.
Naked. On Viktor's floor. Curled on his side with his knees drawn up, one arm wrapped around his middle.
Simon's gaze caught on the vulnerable curve of Charlie's spine, the way his shoulder blades jutted out like bird wings. His skin was pale except where the healing burns had left faint pink marks. He looked soft. Breakable. Nothing like the monsters Simon hunted.
Nothing like a monster at all.
Simon grabbed the throw blanket from the couch and tossed it over Charlie, covering him completely. Too roughly, maybe, but he needed Charlie covered.
Needed to stop seeing all that soft skin.
"Thanks," Charlie mumbled from under the blanket, pulling it tighter around himself. His voice came out small. "I'm sorry. I tried to change back but I couldn't remember how to be human."
"How do you not remember how to be human?" The words came out harsher than Simon intended.
Charlie's head emerged from the blanket, hair sticking up wildly. "I don't know. It's like... once I was a rabbit, I could only think rabbit thoughts? And rabbits don't really think about being human."
Viktor returned with sweatpants and a t-shirt, which he handed to Charlie. "At least you didn't get stuck as something worse."
"What's worse than being a prey animal?" Simon asked.
Charlie pulled the shirt on under the blanket, obviously trying to maintain some dignity despite everything. "A goldfish?"
Viktor snorted. "Fair point."
Simon watched Charlie struggle into the sweatpants while still wrapped in the blanket, managing to nearly fall over twice in the process.
This was the vampire his boss wanted dead in—Simon checked his phone—ten hours and forty-three minutes. This ridiculous creature who got stuck as a rabbit and wondered if goldfish might be worse.
"Stand up," Simon ordered.
Charlie scrambled to his feet, the blanket falling away. Viktor's clothes hung loose on his frame. The t-shirt collar gaped, showing prominent collarbones.
"Did I do something wrong?" Charlie asked, that familiar anxiety creeping into his voice. "Besides the rabbit thing."
"You exist wrong." The words escaped before Simon could stop them.
Charlie flinched like Simon had hit him.
"Simon." Viktor's voice carried a warning.
But Simon couldn't stop now. The pills had dulled his senses but sharpened something else—a desperate need to do his job, and a desperate need for the world to make sense again. For vampires to be monsters and hunters to be heroes and the line between them to be clear.
"You're supposed to be dangerous." Simon stepped closer. Charlie stepped back. "You're supposed to be a threat."
"I'm sorry?" Charlie's back hit the wall. The same wall he'd been pressed against as a rabbit.
"Stop apologizing."
"I—" Charlie's mouth snapped shut, eyes going wide. A muscle in his jaw twitched like he was fighting to speak.
Interesting. So even on the pills, Simon could compel the fledgling he'd never wanted to claim.
"You can talk," Simon said, testing.
"What's happening?" Charlie's voice came out thin. "Why couldn't I—when you said?—"
"Simon." Viktor moved closer, understanding dawning on his face. "Don't do this."
