Page 140 of The Good Vampire’s Guide to Blood & Boyfriends

“Unless we can put off the attack. Distract him,” Brennan said.

“How?” Mari and Tony said in unison, then glanced at each other and furiously looked away.

“I would love to think he’s a sad old man having a temper tantrum,” Brennan said. “And I would love to believe I could convince him not to do it. At the very least, I can try to buy us time.”

“I’ll go with you,” Cole said. “You and I can attend, keep an eye out, and you can talk to Travis. The rest of y’all can be waiting in the wings with blood if hell breaks loose.”

“Uh, hold on,” Mari said, putting a hand up. “Isn’t that basically throwing you to the wolves? Anyone in there is at risk. Including you, Brennan. What if you’re affected?”

“All the more reason I should be there to make sure he’s okay,” Cole insisted.

“Mari’s right. Any one of you guys coming in could be in danger,” Brennan said, looking apologetically at Cole.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Cole said, and everyone’s heads swiveled toward him in shock. “I’m not a damsel in distress! I don’t need anyone’s permission to go. I’m going in with Brennan, and that’s it.”

He was so defiant, chin jutted out, head raised. His eyes cut to Brennan with a second of doubt, ofis this okay?Brennan answered with the tiniest of nods, and a surge of affection. As much as he wanted to be protective, Cole was his own person. Besides, Brennan was sure he couldn’t do any of this without Cole.

“I need you to know that you’re super sexy when you take control like that,” Brennan said instead of something sappy.

Mari groaned, outraged.

“Okay, good progress,” Dom said. “What else?”

Everyone leaned forward, eagerly awaiting instruction, and Brennan was overwhelmed with gratitude. Really, he couldn’t do any of this withoutallof these people who decided, for some reason, that Brennan was their friend.

He laid out his notebook on the coffee table for the group to see.

“Well,” he said, “it looks like we have a busy week ahead of us.”

BRENNAN’S PHONE

“The New Squad” Group Chat with you and 4 others

Mari

so, we’re at 23 packs out of a goal of 180.

Tony

challenge accepted

BRENNAN’S JOURNAL

Quinn Miller

Runs the main branch of the vamps’ blood drive up in Maine.

Most active member of FB group besides Sunny and Nellie.

Seems to be friends with a few other vamp women, Crystal and Narrissa.

If we can reach Quinn, maybe they can reach others?

Once he unleashed his Southern charm, it took Cole no more than eight minutes on the phone with the hotel hosting the vampire ball to convince them to send over the event space’s floor plans and catering information.

Mari scheduled a few time slots over the next week to set up the secret blood drive, and between Mari, Cole, and Tony’s combined friend groups alone, they quickly garnered a sign-up list.

Brennan put together a list of potentially trustworthy vampires from the Facebook group based on Sunny and Nellie’s interactions with them, and with Cole and Tony’s help, started sending out feelers for someonewho might be able to help. So far, Quinn was the most promising lead, but they’d need more than just one other vampire if they wanted to free Sunny and Nellie.