Page 85 of Love Bleeds

"They have sprinklers and an escape tunnel."

"I know, but the sprinklers can probably be tampered with by someone on the inside, and I don’t care if any vampires escape as long as we get Nicolai."

Vlad blew out a breath. "You’re really serious about this, aren’t you?"

"It's important to me."

"I can see that."

"Will you help me or not?"

"I will." For some reason, the vampire sounded amused. "You can text me a list of things you need. I will let you know when I've got them."

"How long do you think you're going take?"

"Depends on what you need. I'll work as quickly as I can."

I knew that had to be good enough, but I didn't like it. Building a bomb wasn't hard. I could have gotten everything I needed for that myself. Building one with a timer, though? That was a little trickier. "The university lab should have most of what's on my list."

"That should make things easier."

I hadn'twantedto imply that he should break in there, but if it sped up the process... "I'll text you directions."

"Where will I meet you to drop off the groceries?"

I hesitated again. Strictly speaking, I wasn't supposed to go out. I could sneak past my siblings, but it would be best if I didn't stay away for too long. On the other hand, I shouldn't let Vlad know where the safe house was, so I shouldn't stay in the vicinity.

"Why don't I suggest a location?" Vlad offered when I couldn't come up with anything. "How about we meet in front of that Italian place,Luigi’s, on Second Street? It’s semi-public, if that makes you more comfortable."

"Fine," I said, suppressing the urge to chew on my lower lip. God, all of this was such a stupid idea, wasn't it?

But what other choice did I have?

I wasn't going to beat the vampires with magic, but science had yet to let me down.

"Looking forward to seeing you," Vlad said, and with that, he ended the call.

I tapped over to my messages and started typing out a long text with everything I was going to need to make fireworks go up in the vampire's headquarters.

I'd never been one to play with fire, but I was going to show those vampires exactly why you shouldn't mess with nerds.