Page 139 of The Good Vampire’s Guide to Blood & Boyfriends

“I can write an NDA and waiver for anyone participating,” Cole said. “Any legit blood drive would have paperwork anyway, and if anything, people would assume it’s more for the alcohol.”

“Sure, but what do we tell people it’s for?”

Everyone was silent.

Brennan offered, “Art project?”

“We can roll with that,” Tony said.

“They’re gonna think we had something to do with the harbor,” Dom said. “It’s all over the news.”

“Art project,” Tony repeated.

“Performance art?” Brennan said.

“Some sort of protest?” Mari suggested.

“I love it!” Tony said. “I’m seeing something about the Red Cross? Or AIDS?”

“If people are signing NDAs it won’t matter,” Cole said.

“Well that can be our backup-backup cover story,” said Tony.

“No, Tony, that willnotbe our—”

“Can vampires get AIDS? It’s through blood so, like—”

“We’re getting off topic, I think?” Brennan said.

“No shit,” said Dom. “Look, this is all well and good, but there’s still Travis himself to deal with. Best case, you distract him and I find a way to kill him.”

“Absolutely not,” Brennan said. “Sunny and Nellie stopped him before,withoutkilling him. In 1928, when his girlfriend first tried to pull this. Can’t you bind his powers, or put him in thrall?”

“Are you forgetting he’s massively powerful? I was barely strong enough to break his binding even with him helping from the other side, I have no chance against him alone.”

“What if you weren’t alone?” Cole said. “What kind of help would you need?”

“Other vampires. Otherstrongvampires,” Dom said.

“That was actually another thing I wanted help with,” Brennan said. “I’m trying to start reaching out to some of the vampires from the Facebook group. This person Quinn seems to do a lot with the blood drive, so they’re our best hope, but there are a few people that I know Sunny and Nellie trust. I’m basically going to make an impassioned plea for help. Tell them the truth. Hope for the best.”

“I can help with that,” Tony offered. “I’m great at sliding into strangers’ DMs.”

Mari made a scoffing noise of disgust.

“Me, too,” Cole said.

“It won’t be enough,” Dom said. “He’s exponentially stronger than anyone else.”

“Except for Sunny,” Brennan finished. “And Sunny and Nellie are in thrall god knows where.”

“They’re in Travis’s greenhouse,” Dom said. “The real problem is the thrall, which will be near impossible to break.”

“So, we can’t stop Travis without Sunny, and we can’t save Sunny without Sunny?” Mari concluded.

“Except, that’s not right.” Brennan rifled through his notebook. “God, it was in a pamphlet. What was it?” He tilted his head, spoke slowly as he recalled it. “Thralls—they take focus to maintain. If Travis is across town, wreaking havoc at the vampire ball, maybe that’s the best opportunity to free them. Maybe his hold on them would be weaker. Free Sunny and Nellie, they stop Travis.”

“But it’ll be too late, won’t it?” Cole asked.