Page 15 of The Good Vampire’s Guide to Blood & Boyfriends
A BETTER LOVE STORY THAN TWILIGHT
brENNAN’S PHONE
r/sturbridgeuniversity
u/micahlandau
Anyone else noticing dark omens at Sturbridge University?
I apologize if this is not the right forum for this kind of thing, as I’m not typically a Reddit person, but I don’t know where else to turn.
The Sturbridge Post student group all but laughed me out of the room and the official university news won’t even meet with me.
But something is going on at Sturbridge and no one seems to notice, or care.
It started with a girl breaking a handheld mirror in my ancient history class.
Afterward I was on a walk through the forests outside Sturbridge and found a dead squirrel just off the walking path.
It was almost deflated, thin and flopping, and it had puncture marks.
Like it had been sucked dry. Then another, a few yards away.
Suddenly, I felt an intense dark aura all around me, but I couldn’t see anyone or anything that could be causing it.
When I got home, I did a tarot reading inquiring about the bad energy and got a really concerning reading that implied a powerful force is hovering over Sturbridge that threatens the existence of the world at large, a force which can only be conquered through the powers of love and enlightenment.
I’ve seen signs like this before, but I can only hope it’s not what I think it is. I’m stashing a few hidden protective and luck charms around campus, and I burned some sage in my apartment, but I’m not sure what else to do.
Has anyone else been noticing dark signs?
u/easyalpha: ah, so you’re the reason westside village stunk of sage all day yesterday
u/czarob: I literally thought I was going crazy. That’s one mystery solved, I guess.
u/clownbe: OP, are you actually being serious right now? I’m not sure if this is satire or fiction or if you’re very much on the wrong subreddit for this. Maybe r/nosleep if this is a fictional exercise, and r/witchcraft or r/occult if you’re serious.
Brennan
[link]
Have you seen this?
Sunny
Unfortunately, I see everything.
Brennan
Hey Dom, it’s Brennan, from t he brunch, and I wan ted to apologize for
I guess we’re stuck to gether since we’re c lan mates now and so
Hey, how are you? No more murders I hope?
Hey Dom. It’s Brennan, from the meetup the other day. I figure we should try to get along. Can we start over?
Dom
I would have done the same thing. It’s forgotten.
I’m guessing we’re both going through a lot of the same shit right now.
Brennan
Yeah, maybe. It’s definitely been a lot.
You were turned by the same person as me, right? Travis?
Dom
Yeah.
Brennan
How did it happen?
Dom
Probably not a good conversation to have over text. Or sober.
Brennan
Rain check, then.
Dom
Sure. We can get together and talk shit sometime.
Brennan
You seem surprisi ngly normal
Okay, that could be cool.
Slowly but surely, Brennan developed a routine.
He’d go to the library late at night with nothing else to do, and Cole—sometimes shelving books, sometimes talking a freshman down from dropping out—always made time to stop by wherever Brennan was camped for the night.
They always at least chatted for a few minutes about whatever they were working on.
Other times, when it was quiet and Cole didn’t have so much to do, he’d sit across from Brennan and they’d talk for ages without realizing.
Cole always had stories about shenanigans in the library.
Brennan allowed himself to let his guard down.
“Alright, fair’s fair,” Cole said one night.
Brennan was halfway through New Moon and debating Cole on the merits of Team Jacob, his pamphlet organizing forgotten.
They were at a table instead of the floor for once, books and papers strewn across it, Cole working on homework while Brennan flipped through pamphlets.
He was still too nervous to let Cole help him, at least until he got through reading it all himself.
He didn’t know what secrets they held that could scare Cole off.
Under the table, Cole’s ankle was nudging Brennan’s in a way that was probably accidental but definitely distracting.
Cole continued, “I’m making you read my trashy romance, you can make me read anything you want. Hit me with your angstiest poetry recs.” He made gimme motions with his hands, like, bring it on.
“I’ll have to think about it,” Brennan said. “I need to look at my bookshelf and decide whether to give you something I actually like, or subject you to something appropriately terrible as payback for Twilight. Like Rupi Kaur.”
“Oh, I actually read Rupi Kaur! Milk and Honey was great.”
“Oh god,” said Brennan. He nudged Cole’s foot with his own. “Say you’re joking.”
“I thought it was nice! I liked the illustrations.” He feigned defensiveness, but he was biting back a smile.
Brennan shook his head slowly. “Now you’re definitely getting a serious recommendation. Maybe homework, too, for that comment.”
“Sure thing, Professor,” Cole said, and winked.
brENNAN’S JOURNAL
NELLIE ADAMS
I know
She’s a vampire clan leader with Sunny. Friends (?) with Sunny. Terrible with technology.
Questions
Why is she clan leader? What does she want?
Is anybody really that nice?
Research
No social media outside of Facebook, or else they’re under a different name.
No other relevant internet record. There are too many Nellie Adamses.
Facebook is just interacting with the New England vampire group. She’s pretty popular, actually, going off the comment threads, and is constantly telling people to reference the pamphlets even though there’s fucking thousands of them
WAIT, UPDATE: Scouring the internet for an ungodly number of hours looking up every record of a Nellie Adams in Massachusetts finally paid off!
!! Found an archived article from Harvard University’s student newspaper highlighting the first few Black women to graduate from Harvard undergrad.
Guess who the fuck is there, looking exactly like she does now, in a photo taken in 1963? Totally wild.
SOON-HEE (SUNNY) KIM
I know
Also clan leader with Nellie? Possibly second-in-command, or maybe just quieter.
Good with tech and social media. Some sort of influencer, according to Nellie. Let’s see!
Questions
What exactly does she do?
How does a vampire become social media famous? Like, shouldn’t that be against the rules? Secrecy and stuff?
Research
Wow, okay. @KeepItSunny on Instagram, with 200k+ followers. Fashion, food, makeup, lifestyle, that kind of stuff. She looks very glamorous, and is living her best life. Her Instagram account is one of the ones that makes you want to kill yourself a little bit. Or is that just me?
Also active on Facebook, but where Nellie’s interacting in the comments like it’s a chat room, Sunny’s posting the bigger announcement and administrative posts.
Like, “we’re restocking the blood bank on State Street tomorrow,” or “don’t forget to fill out this form to let us know if you kill somebody” and the like.
(I’m paraphrasing, obviously, but that’s the vibe.)
WHOA—In one comment, she mentions growing up in Korea… in the 1700s. So. Around 300 years old, and better at social media than I’d ever hope to be. And way better than Nellie who said she’s over 100? I don’t get it, but there’s a lot of this that doesn’t make sense.
DOM
My age, ish? Lives in Boston, I’m guessing, because she didn’t head to the commuter rail with me after brunch. Possibly was avoiding me after I freaked?
Turned around the same time as me, by the same person.
When? Where?
Possibly, probably, might have killed someone.
TRAVIS
Turned both me and Dom.
Most powerful, oldest vampire in the New England clan.
***
brENNAN’S PHONE
Brennan
So, what’s the deal with Travis? The guy who turned me?
Nellie
Oh. He’s a bit of a loner. He lives out in the forest near your school.— N
Brennan
Can I meet him?
Nellie
Not a good move at the moment.—N
Brennan
You don’t have to keep signing your messages, Nellie, I know it’s you.
Nellie
You didn’t the first time! I have to be sure.—N
Sometimes, Brennan helped Cole shelve library books, or else Cole did it himself while Brennan sorted pamphlets.
For now, he was numbering each of them for reference, but it was becoming increasingly clear that the information needed big-picture reorganization.
He kept adding to his notebook, endless pages of discoveries and questions and notes.
One time, Brennan brought coffee from the hipster place near his and Tony’s apartment, and Cole commented it was his favorite place.
So naturally, the next time he went over to the library, he got his normal black coffee and added a vanilla latte for Cole.
It was an afterthought, really, but when he presented it to Cole, he lit up like a freaking Christmas tree.
“You better watch yourself buyin’ me coffee, I might fall in love with you,” Cole said, Southern accent extra thick, accepting the coffee and bumping their shoulders together. And Brennan realized, a bit belatedly, that he had a crush on Cole. A fucking middle school, little-girl, pathetic crush.
“We can’t have that,” Brennan said. “I’m married to my work.”
Regardless, from that point on, if the coffee shop was open when Brennan was heading over, he got coffee for both of them.
brENNAN’S JOURNAL, THE BACK PAGE
COLE
These little tidbits of knowledge about him keep leaking out everywhere when I’m trying to work on vampire stuff and I don’t know what to do with them, so they will go here.
Snobby about coffee—favorite place is Stino’s on campus.
Skateboarded in high school. For some reason, this really fits him. Him wearing a beanie and carrying a skateboard everywhere he went. God.
Snorts when he laughs, if he laughs hard enough. It’s cute.
Not good relationship with parents? Uncertain.
Knows library janitors by name. He smokes with them sometimes.