Chapter 26
Chapter
Twenty-Six
Simon stood across the street from the Riverside Public Library, watching the building through the late evening foot traffic. According to Reuben's intel, someone inside had been feeding the Organization false information about Charlie for weeks.
Simon crossed the street, and the automatic doors wheezed open for him.
A security guard who looked about ninety sat at a desk near the entrance, definitely asleep despite his upright position. Past him, rows of shelves stretched into fluorescent-lit gloom.
The information desk stood empty except for a "Ring Bell for Service" sign that someone had decorated with smiley face stickers.
Simon didn't ring the bell.
He moved deeper into the stacks, following the faint trail of something that didn't belong. Not vampire—he'd know that scent anywhere, pills or no pills. This was different. Cleaner, somehow.
Like ozone after lightning.
The trail led him past Self-Help, through True Crime, and into the Children's Books section.
There, someone was shelving books from a cart, their back to Simon. Average height, unremarkable clothes, the kind of person you'd pass a hundred times without noticing.
"We're closing soon." The voice was pleasant, helpful. Librarianish.
"I'm looking for someone," Simon said.
"Have you tried the reference desk?"
"I'm looking for someone who's been filing false reports about a vampire named Charlie."
The figure went still. Then, slowly, they turned.
The young man's face was as unremarkable as the clothes. Brown hair, brown eyes, features so average they seemed designed to be forgotten. But on top of that he was wearing a bow tie with dancing penguins on it, and something about his smile made Simon want to reach for his stake.
"Simon Hale." Not a question. "I've been waiting for you to drop by."
"Who are you?"
"Noah." He slid another book onto the shelf without looking. "And before you ask, yes, I'm the one who's been calling your people about Charlie. He's a terrible vampire, wouldn't you agree? I've heard something about three kills in one night and a warehouse full of victims. Very dangerous."
Simon's jaw tightened. "He's never hurt anyone."
"I know that. You know that now too, which is the whole point." Noah pushed his cart further down the aisle, forcing Simon to follow. "Took you longer to figure it out than I expected, honestly. All that enhanced perception and you couldn't see the obvious."
"You set him up. Why?"
"Set him up?" Noah laughed, quiet enough not to carry but genuine in its amusement. "I gave him the only chance he had. Do you know what happens to abandoned fledglings? They die."
"That doesn't explain why you reported him."
"Charlie was special." Noah glanced at him. "More special than you can understand, but you'll have to take my word for it."
Simon thought of Charlie huddled behind that couch as a rabbit, too gentle to be anything but prey even in animal form.
"So," Noah said, "I made him interesting to your Organization. Made him seem dangerous enough that they'd send their best." Noah's smile widened. "They sent you."
"And now here you are," Noah continued, moving methodically down the aisle. "Having done exactly what I hoped. You fed him, protected him and questioned everything Reuben taught you to believe."
"You couldn't have predicted that."
"Couldn't I?" Noah pulled a book from his cart, examined its spine. "You underestimate me."
"Who are you?" Simon asked again. His hand found his stake, fingers wrapping around the familiar grip. "What are you?"
"Just someone with a vested interest in your organization." Noah turned to him. "I've been watching them for years. Watching you specifically for the last decade."
"Watching me?"
"Since the night you were attacked. What a tragedy that was. The vampire came through the window, didn't he?"
Ice spread through Simon's chest. "How do you know that?"
"He killed your mother first and made you watch.
" Noah's voice was not unsympathetic but Simon only wished he would shut up.
He didn't though. "Then the vampire started to turn you but got interrupted.
Reuben arrived just in time." Noah tilted his head.
"Except that's not quite true, is it? Reuben arrived exactly on time. Precisely when he meant to."
Simon glared at the odd young man before him. "What are you talking about?"
"Did you never wonder why Reuben was there that night? A random apartment in a random building, and the Organization's top trainer just happened to be passing by?"
Simon's grip tightened on his stake until his knuckles went white. "He was tracking the vampire."
"He was tracking you." Noah abandoned his cart entirely, moving closer. "You were selected for Reuben's program, Simon. Your psychological profile, your physical attributes, even your family situation… Single mother, no extended family, social isolation… You were a perfect candidate."
"You're lying."
"Your mother's death was part of it. The trauma makes for better hunters."
Simon's vision narrowed.
That couldn't be true.
None of it could be true. Simon knew his own history better than this strange librarian.
"I'll kill you," he hissed.
"I'm not something you can kill," Noah said calmly. "But even if you could, my death wouldn't change the truth."
He reached into his cart, pulling out a manila folder that Simon hadn't noticed before. "Project Ascension. The Organization's initiative to create enhanced hunters from victims of vampire attacks. You weren't the first. Won't be the last."
He held out the folder. Simon didn't take it.
"Richardson. Keane. Sigal." Noah set the folder on his cart. "You were all carefully selected and attacked in a controlled environment. You were all saved at the precise moment to create maximum psychological dependence on the Organization."
Simon thought of his mother's blood on their apartment floor. The way her eyes had looked at him in those final moments—confused, terrified, trying to protect him even as she died.
"The vampire who killed her," Simon said slowly. "Where is he?"
Noah's expression shifted to something almost like pity. "I don't know. In any case, he's not who you should be focusing on."
As if it was for Noah to decide what Simon should be focusing on.
Part of him wanted to test if Noah truly couldn't be killed. He could get his stake through Noah's skull before the man could blink.
Noah shook his head as if he could read Simon's intentions.
"It's no use," he said, and his outline began to glow with a light so bright that it made Simon's enhanced vision water and his barely controlled vampire nature want to run.
"I've been been watching the Organization play god for too long," Noah said, and the light, whatever it had been, faded, leaving Noah looking human again.
"They've gotten bolder lately. They're planning a new project.
Project Expansion, targeting adults instead of kids.
Your friend Charlie was a mistake, actually.
They wanted his friend. Brent, isn't it? "
Simon's world tilted. "Brent?"
"Apparently, he's got the right physical condition." Noah pulled another book from his cart, this one with no title on its spine. "The Organization's gotten very scientific about their selection process. Brent checked all their boxes."
"But Charlie was turned instead."
"A drunk vampire stumbling through alleys behind bars wasn't part of anyone's plan." Noah opened the title-less book, pages fluttering without any wind. "Charlie was an accident. A beautiful, chaotic accident that disrupted everything."
Simon forced himself to think past the roar in his head, past the image of his mother's last moments that kept trying to claw its way forward. "How would they even arrange all this?"
"They have their methods. Tracking vampires, predicting hunting patterns, sometimes just ensuring the right victim is in the right place." Noah snapped the book shut. "But Danny turning Charlie instead of Brent? Pure chance. The best kind."
The thought of Charlie—soft, apologetic, turning into a rabbit when threatened—made something crack in Simon's chest. An accident that had upended everything the Organization planned.
"Why are you telling me this?" Simon asked.
"Because you're my best shot at stopping this situation before it escalates even further. The Organization wants an army. Enhanced humans loyal only to them, strong enough to control both mortal and paranormal populations."
"That's insane."
"That's Reuben." Noah turned, and his eyes held that strange bright light again, subtle but undeniable. "He lost someone to vampires forty years ago. It broke something in him. Now he breaks others the same way, thinking he's making the world a better place."
Simon thought of Reuben's office, all those weapons from different eras. The way he'd talked about Simon's mother being proud.
Could he be responsible for her death?
All these years… could he have been lying?
"Tell me," Noah said. "What do you think is in those pills they make you take?"
"Suppressants," Simon said. "They keep the vampire infection from spreading to keep me human."
"Is that so?" Noah moved his cart slightly, wheels squeaking on the worn carpet. "Viktor's been off his pills for three months now. Has he gone feral?"
Simon didn't bother asking how Noah knew about Viktor. "No," he said shortly.
"Has he lost control? Become a monster? Started hunting humans?"
Simon grimaced.
"He hasn't," Noah answered for him. "Interesting, isn't it?" He pulled another book from his cart. "Richardson supposedly went feral after stopping his pills. Keane killed herself rather than face withdrawal. But Viktor just... walked away. And survived."
Simon couldn't argue with that.
But maybe Viktor was a fluke. An anomaly. Or just lucky.
Before Simon could voice his thoughts, his phone buzzed. He pulled it out, expecting Reuben, but it was a text from Viktor's number.
At the retreat place viktor mentioned. Im okay. They have really good blood here that doesnt make me sick. Everyone is nice to me. It feels weird.
Then, a moment later: Miss you.
Charlie. Using Viktor's phone probably. Safe, fed, and presumably surrounded by other vampires who didn't judge him for being different.
"Stay safe." Simon texted. In his experience, vampires didn't do understanding. They did hierarchy and hunger and backstabbing.
But Simon's experience was being called severely into question.
He read Charlie's text again. The vampire was missing him already.
"Don't be needy," Simon wrote, then immediately felt a little bit bad about it.
Was there any point in pushing Charlie away when he didn't really want to?
"You should go to him," Noah said, watching Simon with those unremarkable eyes that occasionally held too much light.
"Why?"
"Because he's yours." Noah said simply. "The blood bond you share… it's already telling you something's wrong, isn't it? That hollow pull in your chest, the certainty that you need to be there."
Simon's hand moved unconsciously to his sternum, where that pull lived like a second heartbeat. Even through the dulling effect of Reuben's pills, he could feel it. Charlie's contentment mixed with an underlying uncertainty that made Simon's teeth ache.
Noah pulled a card from his pocket—a library card, worn and ordinary. "My direct number's on the back. When you’ve figured out what's true, call me."
Simon took the card. "I don't know why I would trust you or anything you say."
"That's something you'll have to decide for yourself." Noah's expression remained calm. "But I hope I could at least make you question some of what you're being told. And I know you'll take care of Charlie. That works for me."
"Why do you care so much about Charlie?"
"Like I said," Noah smiled, "he's exceptional." He turned back to his cart. "The library closes in fifteen minutes. You should probably go."
Simon stared at the strange librarian for a moment longer, pondering everything he'd been told, everything that he couldn't quite believe. "My mother. You really think she was collateral damage?"
Noah's expression softened. "She loved you. Fought for you. Died thinking she'd failed to protect you." He paused. "Reuben turned that love into your chains. Don't let him keep you bound with her memory."
Simon left without another word, moving through the stacks on autopilot. The security guard was awake now, watching something on his phone. Normal people doing normal things while Simon's world began to fall apart at the seams.
Outside, the night air felt thick with possibility and threat.
What should he do?
Part of him wanted to confront Reuben with all the information Noah had just imparted on him. He needed his mentor to tell him that it was all lies.
Or if it wasn't, he needed to put a blade through the man's heart.
But if he did that, he was just as likely to end up with a blade in his heart.
Or strapped to a chair.
It was a risk he was willing to take.
Except…
He looked at his phone.
He had someone to protect, didn't he? And he couldn't protect anyone if Reuben took him into custody.
He texted Charlie again, and then he found his bike where he'd left it.
Viktor had given him the address of the retreat earlier. The drive there would take forty minutes if he pushed it.
Simon pushed it.