Rating:

Mature

Archive Warning:

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Category:

M/M

Fandom:

Game Changers | Heated Rivalry - All Media Types

Relationship:

Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov

Characters:

Shane Hollander, Ilya Rozanov, Hayden Pike, Jackie Pike, Cliff Marlow | Cliff Marleau

Additional Tags:

Monster Hunter Ilya Rozanov, Vampire Shane Hollander, Temporary Character Death, Because he's a vampire, Angst with a Happy Ending, Suicidal Thoughts, Inspired by Supernatural (TV 2005)

Language:

English

Collections:

Hollanov Reverse Bang 2026

Stats:

Published: 2026-08-29 Words: 6,486 Chapters: 1/1

Take Me to War (Honey I Dare You)

Summary

Shane Hollander was the best monster hunter in Canada. Past tense, as of last week. Now that he's been turned into a vampire it's Ilya Rozanov's job to hunt him down, a tricky task considering vampire Shane still possesses all the skills he had in life. And Ilya hasn't dealt with the fact that he's in love with him yet.

Hayden Pike is convinced there's a way to bring Shane back to humanity, but Ilya doesn't believe in miracle cures and happily ever afters. Why should he? He's a monster hunter. His kind of life only ends one way, and it isn’t with a kiss.

Notes

Written for Hollanov Reverse Bang based on the fantastic art prompt by Heatry24

Check out the art post here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/89505391

Ilya’s day had been going well until J.J. had found him. Ilya and Cliff had been on a ghost hunting trip out east of Toronto and were celebrating successfully clearing a Woman in White from a bridge when J.J. showed up at the bar. Ilya was hitting the edge of tipsy and had grinned when he saw him. “Got a job for us?”

J.J. had too much sense to go out into the field killing monsters, but he was a deft hand at organizing the Canadian hunters. When a job needed done, it found its way to J.J., who would send out whoever was best equipped to tackle it.

Except if he had a simple job for them he would have just called. That’s when Ilya noticed J.J.’s usual easy good humor was nowhere to be seen. Shit. This was bad.

“What’s wrong?” Cliff asked as a pit opened up in Ilya’s stomach. Ilya couldn’t have known what news J.J. was about to deliver, but somewhere inside him… he knew.

“Hayden Pike is looking for you,” J.J. said. “Wants you to meet him at his wife’s place.”

Ilya scoffed, or tried to. “I don’t answer to summons from Hayden fucking Pike. If they need our help with something in Montreal, Shane can pick up his fucking phone and call me.” Don’t say it, Ilya thought so hard he felt like he was trying to develop telepathy. My hunch is wrong. He hasn’t answered my voice mail because we’re on bad terms at the moment. Nothing else.

“Shane and Hayden were cleaning out a vamp nest last week and the whole job went tits up,” J.J. said. “Shane Hollander is dead. His corpse didn’t get the memo, though. It’s still walking around and we don’t have the people to…”

Cliff said something and J.J. said something and Ilya couldn’t hear any of it. Shane couldn’t be dead. Sure, monster hunting was a dangerous life choice, there was no denying that, but Shane was meticulous. He’d saved Ilya’s life more than once over the years with his contingency plans. Hell, just last January Ilya had been reminded again why Shane was the best monster hunter of their generation. They’d been packing for what Ilya had every reason to believe was a ghoul job when Shane had strapped a silver knife to his side and tossed Ilya one as well. “Could be wights. Signs are similar, nothing definitive enough yet to say for sure.”

“It isn’t fucking wights,” Ilya had said.

It was fucking wights.

Shane’s goddamn backup plans had backup plans and he had to be the only hunter in the world who didn’t drink when he had a job because he wanted to keep his head clear. Shane Hollander had not been caught flat fucking footed by some punk-ass vampire nest.

Ilya gritted his teeth and willed his mind back to the surface.

“Sorry,” Cliff was saying. “We can’t help. I think Rose Landry is in Montreal next week.”

“We’ll go,” Ilya said. “If Hayden Pike can’t handle his own problems, we’ll deal with it for him.”

“It’s a vampire nest and he doesn’t have a partner anymore,” J.J. said flatly.

“And whose fucking fault is that?” On some level, Ilya was really asking. He needed somewhere to put his fist.

J.J. muttered something in French that didn’t sound like a compliment, and Cliff held up a hand.

“J.J.,” Cliff said carefully. “This is not how you should have told him.”

J.J.’s gaze flickered between them. “I know there’s… entanglements. But Hayden isn’t being rational and he’s insisting on Rozanov. Shane…” Restrained emotion passed over J.J.’s face. “We can’t pretend that everything that used to make him an asset doesn’t make him a threat now. This could turn into a catastrophe if we don’t get a handle on it quickly.”

“There’s no entanglements,” Ilya said. “I can handle Hollander.”

And there were no entanglements. Shane had made that crystal clear the last time they’d seen each other. It had been at the Christmas party J.J. had thrown for the hunters. Because you’re all a bunch of homeless, orphaned freaks, J.J. had said.

Aww, you love us, Hayden had teased.

Ilya had caught Shane’s eye and they’d snuck off together halfway through the party.

The hypermasculine world of monster hunting did not lend itself well to love and tolerance. There were hunters who kept to themselves and simply didn’t interact with the larger groups, of course, but if you wanted to be included there were certain fronts that had to be put up and maintained. Ilya had been ready to push back against that, though, for Shane Hollander.

Shane had been trying to get dressed when Ilya had taken his hand and said, “What if we walked back down together?”

The look on Shane’s face had been pure, undiluted horror. Ilya could still see it on the back of his eyelids whenever he blinked. They hadn’t said another word to each other after that, not for the rest of the party and not for the next two months.

Now Shane was dead, and Ilya was going to make someone pay for it. As long as he was chasing revenge, the thing breaking to pieces inside of him wouldn’t be able to catch him.

Hayden Pike, unlike most hunters, had a home to go back to. It was the kind of vulnerability most wouldn’t have been able to afford, but Hayden had married a witch of the woods and no one reached her cottage who hadn’t been invited there.

The cottage was in a gothic horror mood today, apparently. Stone gargoyles glared at him from the turrets and lightning flashed overhead. “I liked you better when you were doing the quaint thing with the chicken legs,” Ilya grumbled. He swore one of the gargoyles narrowed its eyes at him.

Cliff cringed when Ilya knocked sharply on the door. “Jackie is terrifying, man. I always worry she’s going to cook me into a stew.”

“Then don’t piss her off.”

“I’m not the one who’s going to set her off. You’re an asshole at the best of times, and this isn’t- Listen-”

Ilya didn’t want to listen to what Cliff or anyone else had to say to him. Hayden opened the door and Ilya shoved past him into the witch’s cottage. With the modern open floor plan of the place, Ilya could see a cauldron bubbling away in the kitchen from where he stood in the cozy farmhouse entryway. Jackie had redecorated again. Her familiar, a fat calico cat named Alfred, snoozed on the boucle couch while the witch herself sat beside him pruning a ficus.

“You sent for me,” Ilya told Hayden brusquely. “I’m here. Now talk.”

Cliff tiptoed in behind Ilya like he was concerned the high pile carpet might contain hidden monsters.

“I need your help to capture Shane,” Hayden said immediately. “No one else will-”

“You want to capture a reanimated corpse.”

“I’m going to try to cure him,” Jackie said, looking up from her ficus.

Ilya did the only sane thing there was to do at that point. He laughed. “You’re going to cure a vampire? Has he eaten anyone yet?”

Hayden looked uncomfortable. “Yes. He’s fully turned. But Jackie thinks-”

“J.J. was right. You have gone insane,” Ilya said. “I’m here to clean up your mess, not help you make a worse one.”

“Shane is still-”

“No, he isn’t. You got him killed. Why the fuck are you still alive? Did you leave him there?”

Cliff touched his arm. “Ilya. Back off. You’re not thinking clearly.”

“I understand,” Jackie said. “I’d be asking the same questions if Shane came back without Hayden.”

“Shane wouldn’t have come back without Hayden.”

“There was a kid,” Hayden said softly after a long pause. “One of us needed to get the kid out. Shane insisted on being the distraction. He knew he wouldn’t survive it, but… he never thought they would turn him.”

Every hunter has a death wish, Svetlana had told him once. She’d introduced him to the life after his mother’s death, when he’d needed to get out. Out of his head, his father’s house, just out.

Svetlana’s father was a famous monster hunter who’d trained his daughter to follow in his footsteps. Svetlana had walked away from it, in the end. Her death wish had never been strong enough for this life.

Shane hadn’t been like that, though, not that Ilya had ever seen. It was the mission that drove Shane, the determination to see a worthy job done right.

Pain pounded through Ilya’s skull and rattled his chest. He needed more than anything to hurt someone with it. “You should have been good enough to save him. Make your worthless attempt at a cure. I’ll sharpen my machete. We’ll raid the nest at daybreak.”

Ilya stepped out of the cottage and walked a few feet into the forest before he lit a cigarette. He pulled the acrid smoke into his lungs and waited for the nicotine to hit his bloodstream.

Leaves crunched on the forest floor behind him. “Hayden didn’t deserve that,” Cliff said. “I don’t think he needs help feeling shitty right now.”

Ilya shrugged a shoulder and didn’t look back at him.

Cliff sighed heavily. “We shouldn’t be here. We should be holed up in a hotel somewhere with ten gallons of ice cream and a movie marathon until you’ve made it to the other side of this.”

“There is no other side of this.”

Cliff went quiet for a bit at that.

Ilya finished his cigarette and started another one. “You don’t have to come with me tomorrow,” Ilya finally said.

“What, on the job I’m rapidly realizing you’re about to treat as a suicide mission? Someone has to guard your back if you won’t.”

Ilya watched his second cigarette burn down to ashes. “I loved him.” It was a pointless secret now, a verb with no object.

“Brother, you’re not nearly as good at hiding your feelings as you seem to think you are. I know. Half the hunters in Canada know. No one would blame you for walking away from this job.”

“No.” Ilya stomped out the glowing end. “I see my work through.”

Ilya didn’t sleep well that night, but he still pulled himself out of bed when his alarm went off and set about preparing his arsenal. He couldn’t stop the memories from seeping in as he picked out his weapons, thinking of what Shane would choose if he was here.

Ilya was intimately familiar with Shane’s routine before a raid like this, because whenever their paths had crossed on a job Ilya had always made up some excuse to share a room with Shane. At first it had been for the very straightforward reason of wanting sex and knowing that Shane was always up for a quick fuck. He’d continued telling himself that was the only reason, but his brain had inevitably collected facts about Shane like a crow collecting shiny buttons, and they were all the stupidest, most useless facts imaginable. Shane’s favorite brand of shampoo, Shane’s opinions on continental breakfast, Shane’s superstitions about his socks, and the exact way Shane liked to pack his clothes into his bags (always making sure he put whatever he’d be wearing next on top when he repacked each morning because it just makes sense, Ilya).

That Ilya had been surprised the morning he’d realized he’d fallen in love had seriously challenged his own belief about his intelligence.

Hayden drove them to the vampire nest in a minivan, which was embarrassing. The vamps were holed up in a historic mansion outside of the city. It looked like a vampire lair, which was an odd choice.

“Not subtle, are they?” Ilya said.

“They lure tourists in with Groupons for historic tours,” Hayden said. “The ones they don’t eat leave surprisingly good reviews.”

“How many vamps?” Ilya asked.

Hayden hesitated. “We were just scouting it out when… A couple dozen, I think. Shane wanted to plan for thirty but he always liked to estimate high. I don’t know if, well. I don’t know if it’s changed since that last count we did.”

“And you’re sure they haven’t moved? Even though they know hunters found them?”

“They’re still there. Maybe it’s too good a location to give up.”

Ilya studied the two hundred year old crenellations of the building. There were too many unknowns. He didn’t like it. If the plan had been survival, he would have done more recon first, waited until he had some firmer numbers and a better explanation for why they were still here. If Shane were alive he would have some choice words about what a shit-stupid plan this was.

Ilya got out of the minivan and drew his machete. Cliff readied his crossbow beside him.

“We go in, grab Shane, and get out,” Hayden reminded them. “We don’t need to fight every vampire. And stick together, don’t split up.”

“This isn’t my first day on the job,” Ilya said. “Do you need to be reminded to check the ceilings?”

“That fucking bat monster that almost got us in Vancouver,” Cliff grumbled. “Ceilings are the worst.”

Hayden showed them the old servant’s door they’d gotten a key to that he and Shane had slipped in through last time.

“Using the same way in seems… bad,” Ilya said.

“Do you have a better idea?” Hayden asked.

“No,” Ilya said. The mission was already a poorly planned mess, anyway. Ilya unlocked the door and slipped into the nest.

“At least we have the element of surprise,” Cliff whispered.

Ilya liked to think that if Cliff had said that five minutes earlier Ilya might have thought through what it meant that Shane always-two-steps-ahead-of-everyone-else Hollander was working with the vampires now. Of course they didn’t have the element of surprise. Hunters striking a vampire nest at daybreak was predictable.

The door swung shut and locked behind them, plunging them into darkness. Blackout curtains, Ilya thought. Typical.

“Do you know what weapon works on humans?” Shane Hollander’s voice drifted out of the darkness, cheerier than he had ever sounded in life. “Bullets.”

“Wait,” Hayden said. His hand bumped Ilya’s shoulder as he flailed.

“Drop your weapons,” the thing that used to be Hollander said. “All of them.”

There was a clatter as Hayden presumably dropped his arsenal. “We’re working on a cure. We can save you.”

Ilya closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Better to charge at this point or go along? If the vamps weren’t planning on leaving them alive, they could have just shot them without the bother of disarmament. Also, they clearly wouldn’t have Hayden backing them up at this point, so it would just be Ilya and Cliff. If Shane wasn’t bluffing about having a gun, they wouldn’t even make it to the vampires. Ilya tossed his machete on the floor then nudged Cliff to disarm as well.

“Tie them up,” Shane ordered.

Vampires Ilya still couldn’t see seized his wrists and lashed them together. There was a click and light bloomed in the corner of the room, revealing the thing that used to be Shane Hollander sitting in an armchair beside a lamp. The stained glass of the lamp shade cast odd patterns over all their faces.

Ilya mentally noted the four other vamps in the room, not that he could do anything about them without his weapons.

“Shane,” Hayden said. “Please, you have to listen to me.”

“Make sure they’re locked up in separate rooms,” Shane said. “Wouldn’t want the prisoners collaborating.”

Ilya wound up tied to a chair in a decaying bedroom. Sunlight peeked in through moth-eaten curtains. The sight confused him for a moment. He’d forgotten it was daytime. It was enough light for him to clearly see the room and the vampires leaving him in it, but not enough to give a vamp even a mild sunburn.

The lock clicked in the door after the vampires walked out, and Ilya was alone. He looked around for a clock but couldn’t find one, so he had no idea how much time was passing as he waited for the vampire that used to be Shane Hollander to deign to talk to him. The bindings on the chair were annoyingly uncomfortable. If asked, he would’ve said he was brooding in a mysterious, heroic way, but if he was being honest with himself he was sulking because Shane apparently had better things to do than show up to taunt and murder him immediately. What, did he have something more urgent than his former lover who was currently hunting him down to attend to?

The lock clicked and Hollander walked through the door. There was no obvious physical difference marking him out as a vampire, but he was dressed in a suit nicer than anything Ilya had seen him bother with when alive, and he carried himself with a scratch more confidence than Shane had possessed.

Ilya lounged back in the chair and stretched his legs out casually. “Two star accommodations, at best.”

“Tragic,” Shane said. “I’ll inform housekeeping.”

Ilya grinned despite himself, then got his mouth back under control. “What’s the plan? Are we dinner? Hostages?”

“Neither.” Shane flipped a chair backwards and sprawled out in it across from him. “Aren’t you going to give me a speech about how you know I’m still in there somewhere?”

“No. You’re not Shane Hollander. Go to Hayden if you want the tears and friendship speeches.”

Shane tilted his head and studied him. “I am essentially still Shane Hollander.”

“Shane died saving a child. He cared about people. You’re just a monster with a pretty face.”

Shane let out a breath that was almost a laugh. “He cared about people? Do you hear yourself? Hollander was an arrogant, selfish bastard and you knew that better than anyone. He didn’t die out of altruism, he died because he hated himself for wanting you.”

Ilya’s hand clenched into a fist. “You really think you can slip a poisoned lie in a slurry of half truths and I won’t notice? Fine, Shane could be self-centered. If he was arrogant he’d earned the right to be. But you always cared.” Ilya snapped his mouth shut when he realized his mistake. That’s not Shane, he reminded himself. Those big brown eyes Ilya normally felt like he could read Shane’s soul in were flat and hard.

Shane stood up and sauntered toward Ilya.

Ilya held himself very still as Shane brushed a hand down his throat. “I thought I wasn’t dinner.”

“Maybe you’re dessert.” Shane pressed his mouth to Ilya’s neck. Fangs scraped against skin in a light tease of a bite. Ilya’s heart thudded in his chest. Ilya didn’t really believe Shane would kill him. He supposed that meant he didn’t completely think there was nothing of the love of his life in the vampire. It was a hell of a realization to have while two seconds away from being consumed.

Shane pulled back, which was both a relief and a bitter disappointment. “On second thought, there’s too much sugar in your blood for my taste.”

“If this is about my cherry cokes again-”

Shane walked out the door, but the lock didn’t click into place behind him.

Ilya assumed time passed because the weak sunbeams drifted slowly over the floor. The door finally rattled open, and Jackie Pike stood in the doorway.

“The witch is rescuing me now. Perfect.”

“Lay off,” Hayden snapped from behind Jackie. “We could just leave you here.”

“We won’t,” Jackie said. She pulled out a knife and started cutting the ropes tying Ilya to the chair.

“Vampires?” Ilya asked.

“Cleared out an hour ago,” Jackie said. “I was worried it might be a trap, but it seems like they really left.”

Ilya nodded. He trusted Jackie’s sense more than Hayden’s.

“Shane left us alive because we’re friends,” Hayden insisted as they went to free Cliff.

“At this point I think we’re safer assuming Hollander is scheming something. Did you talk to him?”

“No. Why? Did you?”

Ilya didn’t bother answering. He couldn’t figure out how these pieces fit together. What are you thinking, Shane? What is it that a vampire Shane Hollander wants?

Ilya and Cliff decided to stay with Jackie over the next few days as they unsuccessfully tried to determine where the vampires had gone. The witch’s cottage simply grew them new rooms decorated in the same farmhouse pastels as the rest of the house. Cliff hated it, but his worry that the house was going to eat him was the only thing currently bringing Ilya joy.

Then the wrong vampire showed up on their doorstep. They were sitting in the living room when they heard the polite knock. Ilya raised an eyebrow at Hayden. People did not simply knock on the front door of a witch’s cottage. Hayden shook his head and frowned.

“Might as well answer it,” Jackie said, not looking up from where she was brushing Alfred’s fur.   She had to know who it was, but she didn’t bother warning them as Hayden went to answer the door. It opened to reveal a man in a top hat and half cape, with a suit that fit so well it could only be bespoke. He looked like he might have been thirty or forty, but he had an air of the ancient about him.

“Evening,” he said with a smile full of pointed teeth. “I’m here to call on the good witch Jackie.”

Vampire. Ilya reached into his jacket for a stake.

Jackie stayed his hand. “We don’t stab guests until they do something to piss us off.” She returned the vampire’s smile. “Who are you and why are you here?”

“A little bat whispered into my ear that you’re in possession of the cure to vampirism.”

“Which bat?” Ilya demanded.

Jackie impatiently gestured Ilya back again. “Your name, vampire,” she said.

“Hmm.” The vampire tilted his head as he considered, then nodded. “Scott Hunter.”

Cliff hissed then leaned close to Ilya to whisper, “I’ve heard of him. He’s ten thousand years old. He’s been hunting humans since the beginning of civilization.”

Ilya gave Scott Hunter a once over. “Ten thousand years of fashion to choose from, and you’re wearing that?”

“I’ve found it settles people’s nerves when a vampire looks like a vampire,” Scott said blandly. “I’m a big fan of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”

“That one isn’t even about vampires!” Cliff said.

Ilya was stunned that Cliff had read a book. On second thought, maybe he’d just watched a movie adaptation.

“Now, then,” Scott Hunter said. “If you’ll invite me in, I’ll just take the cure and go.”

“I’m not inviting you in,” Jackie said. “And the cure doesn’t have a to go option on the menu. I don’t see why I should have dealings with you at all.”

“Nice cottage you’ve got here,” Scott said, “It would be a shame if-”

“Stop,” Ilya said. “I’ll talk to him. Outside. Consider your invitation pending.” He walked to the door and shook his head when Cliff tried to join him. Ilya wasn’t sure he could take a ten thousand year old vampire in a fight, but the others would be safe enough inside. Jackie could probably move the cottage if she needed to.

The forest was quieter than usual. The cottage was still in sight when Ilya turned around to talk to the vampire. “Who told you about the cure?”

“Does it matter? I put the word out that I was looking for one two years ago, and some rookie vampire showed up yesterday and told me I’d find it here.”

“What was the rookie vampire’s name?”

“Am I supposed to remember the name of every person I meet? It was Shazam or something.”

“I’m not helping you get the cure if you don’t give me a name.”

The vampire sighed, an annoying affection for a being that didn’t need to breath. “Hollander. That’s all I can tell you.”

“Did he-” Ilya managed to stop himself from asking if Shane looked well. Shane was dead. Could something that didn’t sleep even get exhausted? The more relevant information was that Shane had clearly sent Scott Hunter here on purpose. If Shane was playing a game, Ilya didn’t have the codex to decipher it yet. “Did he have anyone with him?”

“No. Can we return to the subject of my imminent humanity now?”

“Why does an old vampire want to be human? If you have a death wish, I have a stake right here that can fix it for you.”

“It isn’t a death wish. It’s…” Something changed in Scott’s face, softening the ancient lines at the edge of his mouth. “Love. I want a life by his side as equals. I want to grow old with him. Have you ever felt like that about someone?”

Ilya gritted his teeth. “It didn’t work out. Give me your word you won’t hurt anyone while you’re here and I’ll talk to Jackie.” The cure had to be bullshit, but… Maybe after Hayden watched it fail he would finally give up on his optimism and get down to the business of hunting.

“Agreed,” Scott Hunter said. He gestured toward the cottage. “After you.”

Ilya hadn’t asked for the details of the cure before because he hadn’t been interested in false hopes. He could now see why Jackie had said there wasn’t a to go option.

Scott Hunter was chained to a chair in Jackie’s charming Live Laugh Love living room. He’d glared suspiciously at them when Jackie had explained it, but ultimately relented when he’d been told it was the only was to safely deliver the cure. That he’d agreed to it at all meant he was more desperate to be human than Ilya had realized. He must really be in love to go to these sort of lengths to be with his lover.

Jackie had a set of potion bottles out on the coffee table that she was filling syringes with, one after the other. Hayden hovered nearby, poised to intervene on the off chance the vampire managed to break through the chains. Ilya was pretty sure that was impossible, but who knew what a ten thousand year old vampire was capable of. Cliff had temporarily retreated to the outdoors because he was afraid of needles, but he’d return if any of them shouted.

“And those potions would be…?” Scott asked, still looking wary.

“Human blood mixed with my own concoction,” Jackie said. “It’s a modification of a family recipe. Obviously I’ve never tried it before, but the theory is sound.”

“Do you hear that, Hunter?” Ilya leaned back against living room wall. “The theory is sound. Nothing to worry about.” Ilya wondered if the cure would kill him. Jackie was a competent witch, but even she had her limits and her optimism that she could undo Shane’s death was clearly outweighing her sense.

“Your body is going to try to reject it,” Jackie told Scott. “Focus on why you want to be human, I think. It might help.”

Scott closed his eyes, presumably to think about human things like his boyfriend and ice cream while Jackie finished prepping the needle and then injected it into his arm. Scott’s entire body bucked and his shark-like vampire teeth appeared as he snarled.

“Quit whining, that was only the first one,” Jackie said as she picked up the second syringe. Scott’s thrashing got worse with every injection, but the chains held and his body went limp after the final potion was administered.

“Is he dead?” Hayden whispered into the sudden silence.

Ilya stepped forward and poked him. Scott’s eyes fluttered open. Not any deader than he’d been before the injections, then.

Hayden hurried to them eagerly and pressed two fingers to the side of Scott’s neck. “He’s alive. He has a pulse.”

“No.” Ilya shoved Hayden out of the way and checked for himself. They’d actually done it. They’d brought a vampire back from the dead. “Cliff,” Ilya called toward the door.

Hayden snapped his fingers in front of Scott’s face until the former vampire scowled at him.

“Stop it. Unchain me. I feel…”

Jackie grabbed the key and began unfastening chains. “You’ll be woozy for a bit. No swimming or operating heavy machinery for three hours. Make sure you eat actual food and stay hydrated. Welcome back to the land of the living, Scott Hunter.”

Cliff barged in through the front door, crossbow at the ready. “What is it? What happened?”

“We’re getting Shane.”

Scott Hunter was grateful enough for the transformation that he was willing to tell them that Shane had visited him in New York City, but that lead turned up nothing. None of the other monster hunters Hayden tried calling knew anything, either. They were stuck waiting for J.J.’s alert system to flag something while Ilya grew more impatient by the day. They’d already wasted so much time. Who knew what Shane was planning? But he clearly wasn’t going to be found until he decided to be.

They finally got a hit on his location two weeks later, when Rose told J.J. a vamp she’d been hunting had blabbed about Shane being in Hamilton.

“What would he be doing there?” Hayden complained from the back seat of the car as Cliff drove them on the six hour trip southwest. Apparently Ilya couldn’t be trusted to drive his own car because he’d just get them all arrested for speeding.

“Doesn’t matter,” Ilya said. “The important thing is, he thinks he’s still two steps ahead of us.”

“Because he is two steps ahead of us,” Cliff pointed out.

“Yes, but as I said, doesn’t matter. I know his weakness.”

“Garlic?”

“No, me. He’s in love with me.” Ilya had been possessed of too much time to think during these weeks of idle panic, and he’d inevitably begun settling pieces into a pattern. Human or vampire, Shane drifted into his orbit even when it didn’t make tactical sense to do so. Even when it was a mistake. There was no grand plan behind luring Ilya to himself multiple times, he simply couldn’t resist doing so. Shane Hollander had been in love with him, and whatever pieces of his humanity were left were still in love with him. He’d let Ilya catch up with him for the same reason he’d opened the door every time Ilya had knocked, even when he’d sworn he wouldn’t because they were never doing this again.

Shane was a brilliant tactician, but he had an Achille’s heel that Ilya alone could exploit.

They tracked Shane down to a motel at the edge of town by asking after a startlingly handsome man. That no one at the motel questioned what they meant was a good sign that Shane was there. Ilya sweet talked the front desk worker into giving him Shane’s room number then sent Hayden and Cliff back to wait in the car. He’d need their help to keep Shane contained for the drive back, but they’d only be a detriment to this part of the plan.

Ilya knocked on Shane’s door, four times with a pause after the second one. All hunters needed a system to say it was really them at the door and not a shape shifter or a doppelgänger or a ghoul wearing a human’s skin. There were a few things that could possess you and keep your memory, but that was what silver and salt were for. Of course, Shane was currently a monster, so tests wouldn’t be necessary.

Shane answered the door, and Ilya slipped inside then kicked it shut. The blinds were pulled, leaving the room illuminated solely by two shitty lamps. Ilya didn’t need to see the details, though. Motel rooms like this were all basically interchangeable. Ilya had fucked Shane in enough rooms nearly identical to this one that he’d lost count.

“Found you,” Ilya said.

Shane had that same layer of coldness to him Ilya remembered from last time. “Because I allowed you to.”

“I’m aware.” Ilya shot him a grin. “Is this a trap? Are you going to murder me this time?”

“I thought you could afford to spare me some blood.”

“Hmm. No, I’m using it at the moment. I could find you a tasty deer.”

Shane scoffed. “I’m on an all-human diet.”

“Too bad. I hear the rabbits are delicious around here.”

“That’s not- I’ve lured you here to-”

“I know what you want.” Ilya was glad to know that even as a vampire, Shane could still be flustered. He closed the distance between them and took his mouth in a kiss. Ilya didn’t know what kissing a vampire would be like. Toothy, he’d assumed. But Shane’s fangs were retracted and his mouth was like Ilya remembered, albeit chillier and tasting a bit more of copper. Ilya pressed a hand to Shane’s chest in an attempt to walk him backwards towards the wall, but instead of playing along like he normally would, Shane grabbed Ilya by the shoulders and slammed him into the door. Ilya fought to hold in a hiss of pain, and then Shane’s mouth was on his again, and Shane’s hands were all over him, and Ilya’s body surged to life. His dick, it seemed, did not care about the current state of Shane’s humanity. It was only interested in drawing a straight line between kissing Shane in a motel room and what usually happened next. Ilya uselessly attempted to remind it that he needed to be the one doing the distracting right now, not getting distracted himself.

He grabbed Shane’s wrists and got a pleased hum in response until he slapped the magical cuffs on them that Jackie had cooked up. Shane frowned down at them, confused.

“It’s not foreplay,” Ilya said. “I’m still not Canadian enough to apologize for this. I want my boyfriend back.”

Shane’s gaze fixed on him. “I was never your boyfriend.”

Ilya shrugged a shoulder. “Fine, lover then. Close enough.”

“Gross. We’re coworkers.”

“Unpaid coworkers who fuck and fall in love. Okay.”

Shane looked like he still wanted to argue, but let the point go. He held up his wrists. “I’m tearing your throat out as soon as I get out of these.”

“Ah. Don’t worry. I have contingencies. I learned from the best.”

The trip back to Jackie’s cottage was long and tense, but they made it without anyone losing any limbs. They got Shane chained to the same chair where Scott Hunter had been a few weeks before. Shane didn’t scream or fight when Jackie administered the first dose. His only reaction was his jaw tightening slightly. Shane’s self control had always been intense. It didn’t surprise Ilya at all that Shane hadn’t lost his mind with bloodlust like most new vampires. He’d fought alongside Shane often enough to know the man simply didn’t flinch. It was emotions that tripped Shane up, not pain.

As the doses continued on, it rapidly became clear that the differences between this and Scott Hunter’s transformation ran deeper than a lack of squirming. Jackie’s mouth pinched further with concern as absolutely nothing continued to happen until she administered the last dose and there was no denying anymore that they’d failed. Shane started to laugh, and the sound was horrible.

“He has to want to be human, or the vampire wins,” Jackie said quietly. “It’s not going to work.”

“Of course he wants to be human,” Hayden said. “Shane, buddy, I know you’re in there somewhere.”

Shane rolled his eyes.

“Give us the room,” Ilya said, then remembered the current open floor plan. “Or the house. Just get out. I need to talk to him.”

The witch and her useless husband retreated, leaving Ilya alone with the vampire. Ilya pulled the key to the chains out of his pocket, slapped it down on the table, then sat himself on the armchair across from Shane. “You have a choice to make.”

“Why? Your cure doesn’t work on me.”

“Unless you decide to let it work. So choose. Either you return to humanity and we ride off into the sunset together-”

Shane sneered.

“-or you turn me into a vampire, I unlock those chains, and we ride off into the sunset together.”

Shane blinked. “Your friends are right outside that door. You’d risk killing them?”

“Bluff. You wouldn’t let me hurt them. And they can take care of themselves. Choose.”

“You don’t want to be a vampire.”

“No, but I’ve already made my choice. I know what I can’t live without.”

“And you could live with being a monster?”

“I’ve lived with worse. Choose.”

Shane looked away. “I don’t want to go back to being alive. It’s painful and complicated and I… didn’t handle it well.”

“I don’t think there’s such thing as handling it well.”

“We could rule every vampire nest in Canada together,” Shane said wistfully, and at those words Ilya knew Shane had made his choice. Ilya hadn’t been bluffing when he’d made his offer, but he’d known Shane wouldn’t take it. He was afraid, but not that afraid.

“If it helps,” Ilya said, “half the hunters in Canada already know we’re together.”

Shane groaned. “Don’t tell me that. It makes it worse. Bring Jackie back in. Might as well get this over with.”

“Sorry,” Ilya said, even though he wasn’t. “I’ll let you play vampire in bed any time you want. That better?”

“A little bit,” Shane grumbled.

The cure worked the second time through.

“I know why hunter funerals require fire,” J.J. said, “but do hunter weddings really require it, too?”

“I thought it would be festive,” Shane said.

The bonfires were a bit tasteless, but Ilya didn’t care. His arms were wrapped around his husband and he was having the best day of his life.

“You couldn’t have found chairs?” Svetlana complained from beside him while pulling off her heels. “My feet are killing me.”

“I brought extra flip-flops.” Rose Landry fished around in her purse. “Do you want some?”

“I love you,” Svetlana said fervantly.

Rose flushed, and Ilya could tell Svetlana noticed.

“She’s a hunter,” Ilya whispered to Svetlana. “Not a good way of staying out of the life.”

“Shh,” Svetlana waved him off. “I’m better at handling my love life than you are.”

She wasn’t wrong.

“Do we need music?” Shane asked. “Are wedding songs a thing?”

“I’ve got a bluetooth speaker,” Hayden said. He fiddled with his phone and Carry On Wayward Son blasted out of his bluetooth speaker.

“Don’t you have anything by Rhianna?” Ilya protested.

“For a wedding?”

Ilya grabbed his phone and turned on Diamonds.