I woke up moments later, cradled in Toby’s arms.

“Don’t scare me like that,” he said, and I laughed.

“After everything we’ve been through,” he said, “I don’t think I can handle losing you.”

When I’d originally hoped to end the night in his arms, this wasn’t what I pictured. But as we drifted off, curled up on top of the bedcovers, I thought, there are a lot worse ways to end a night.

When I woke up, Toby was reading my copy of The Master and Margarita by Elle’s twinkle lights.

“Do you think Bulgakov knew any vampires?” he asked, when he noticed me watching. “It’s hard to tell if Hella is based on anyone real.”

“He must have,” I said, groggy. I dragged myself upright. At some point, Toby had tucked me under the covers. “What time is it?”

“Eight a.m.,” he said.

“Mmm… no.” We’d gone to sleep at ten a.m. at least--

“...Monday,” he said.

“Monday?!” I jumped out of bed. “I’ve been asleep for--”

“Almost 24 hours,” he said. “You were breathing, so I figured you just… needed the rest.”

“I was supposed to read that…” I stared at the book in Toby’s hand. “I have Lit at nine.”

“We have Lit at nine,” Toby corrected. He leaned forward on the bed. “Check this out.” He bared his fangs, and I watched as he retracted them back until they looked almost like normal teeth. “I can hide em--I figure if I wear sunglasses and pretend I’m hungover nobody will really notice--”

“You can’t go outside,” I said. “You’ll burn up--”

“I’ll just wear a hat,” Toby said.

“Nico said…” I glanced at the shade over the window, which was starting to glow with the impending sunrise. “You can’t be around too many people. Just for a while. A few months maybe. An adjustment period.”

Toby sat back with a frown.

“Nico said,” he mocked. “He’s been in hiding. What does he know?”

“Um--” I didn’t know how to tell him. “Have you looked in the mirror?”

Toby looked at me, mildly alarmed.

“What? Why?” He paused.

Toby put on a brave face, but I could tell he wasn’t prepared for seeing the way his body had changed.

He touched his cheeks, where his skin had pulled in around his skull. His hand traced down his neck to his ribcage. Each rib looked drawn on with a fine pencil, clearly outlined. He leaned in to examine his red eyes, then stood back to look at the full picture. His whole body had taken on an almost silver tinge, like he was slowly desaturating.

“I guess I don’t know much about turning into a vampire,” he said.

“I don’t think we learned about it in school,” I said, wishing I’d paid more attention in history.

“They don’t put this shit in the textbooks,” Toby growled, still looking in the mirror. Then he paused. “Miguel would know.”

“You guys are close, right?”

“Well…” Toby folded his arms around his skinny frame. “Yeah. Yeah, we are. Were.”

“You’ll be able to see him again,” I said, trying to encourage him. I wasn’t sure when, but it didn’t feel like the end of the world.

Toby reached out to wrap his arms around me.

“Thank you,” he said.

We stayed there a moment. I didn’t want to go back into the world.

“I’m going to be late,” I said, finally. Toby explained The Master and Margarita to me as I scrambled to look remotely presentable for class.

“Hey,” he said, as I started to leave, and pulled me in to kiss my forehead.

“Don’t leave me here alone,” he murmured, hands running through my hair.

“Stay here,” I said. I couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“Promise.”

The world outside was too bright. I was--I realized--starving. I only had time to grab a plastic-wrapped pastry from the vending machine before class.

I was shoving it into my face and thinking about Toby pulling me towards him--why was that filling my brain, instead of all of the vampire problems?--when my absentee roommate Elle sat down beside me.

“Babe!” she said. She was too loud. “How was your weekend?”

I just stared at her, mouth full of dry cinnamon roll.

How was my weekend?

Time telescoped inward. For a moment I imagined telling her the whole story--Nico, Toby, the Averus news, all of it. From the moment Toby and I walked into those woods to the moment he kissed me on the forehead that morning. Everything that we had learned. Everything that we had done.

“Mmhmm,” I said.

Bless Elle, she didn’t notice anything was wrong.

“Max and I went to that party at the football house,” Elle said, pulling notebooks and pens out of her endless Mary Poppins purse. “You’ve gotta come with us next time. They throw the best parties. We might even be able to find a hot nerd for you…”

I let her keep talking as I watched Professor Watkins set up for class.

“Hello?” she said finally, leaning into my field of vision. “Earth to Paige? Professor Watkins just said our hot TA is out sick. Wanna bail and get vanilla lattes at the diner?”

Out sick. I thought about Toby in my dorm room, flicking his fangs in and out.

“Honestly nine a.m. is just too early to think about Satanic Russians if I don’t have a hot TA to distract me,” Elle was saying.

I looked at Elle suddenly.

“Hey,” I said. “How’s it going with… Matt, anyways?”

“Max,” Elle corrected. “And it’s perfect. He’s so sweet. Super mature--”

“That’s great,” I interrupted. “So you’re still staying with him, then?”

“For now,” she whispered, shrugging a shoulder with a coy smile.

“Awesome. Hey, will you let me know if you ever need to stop into our room? Like if you need to pick something up or something?”

“What? Afraid I’ll walk in on you with a guy?” Elle teased. I felt myself start to sweat as I imagined Elle walking in on Toby feeding on me, and I pulled my long sleeves down to cover my wrists. Elle’s jaw dropped. “No way. What or who did you do this weekend?”

“Nothing,” I said quickly. “No one. I’m just. I’m like, really messy,” I lied. “Just want to make sure I have time to pick up all my… dirty… clothes. And. Stuff. It’s embarrassing.”

“Okay,” Elle sang softly, picking up her pen and settling into her seat. “Keep your secrets.” She turned her eyes towards Professor Watkins, and smirked over at me. “Can’t wait to meet this mystery man.”

“There’s no mystery,” I said, reaching for my notes.

“Okay,” she said.

At the end of class, my notebook was still empty.

I bolted out of class before Elle could press me for details.

Back in my dorm room, Toby was napping on Elle’s bed. He jumped as I slammed into the room.

“Hey,” he said. “You’re back.” He reached for me, but I was dumping my backpack and already reaching for my keys again.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“I’m late for work.” Again.

“Bail,” Toby said, catching my hand. He kissed my knuckles. “Come on. You’ve been through a lot. Play sick. You need the rest.”

“Can’t,” I said, pausing at the door. I finally looked at him, hair tousled from his nap, and smiled.

“Keep me company?” he implored.

“I have to go to work,” I said. “My coworker Lianne and I ride the campus ambulance for hours. And she’s a vampire.”

His eyes widened.

“I’m gonna get some answers for you,” I promised. “Stay. Here.”

“Til the end of the world,” Toby said.