Page 22 of The Good Vampire’s Guide to Blood & Boyfriends

They took off toward the base, a huge rocket with three levels and a lot of hiding spaces.

They weaved through an elaborate set, different rooms with big machines and flashing lights.

Brennan didn’t stop until they reached the top level, where there was one small room designed like a control center: a big control panel in front of a swiveling captain’s chair with a view of the whole arena below.

There was one entrance and one large window, so they sat on the floor back-to-back.

Brennan watched the door to the room, and Dom checked the window for any sign of movement.

“So, have you done this before?” Dom asked. She sounded like she couldn’t care less about the answer.

“Only once, in, I don’t know, sixth grade,” Brennan said. “My mom didn’t like me playing with anything resembling a gun.”

“Wow, and you did anyway?” Dom said, somewhere between dry and mocking. “What a rebel.”

“Ha, yeah. It was some kid’s birthday party and he invited the whole class. I kinda killed the vibe reciting my mom’s gun control lessons to a group of unforgiving twelve-year-old boys who just wanted to shoot lasers at each other.”

Dom laughed. The sound was light and soft, and with his back to her, he realized he hadn’t really seen her laugh. He couldn’t even imagine it.

“I’m guessing you didn’t do too well?”

“Hid in the corner the whole time. After my attempted lecture, I got chosen last for teams, and I was so afraid of messing up and being a burden, I did nothing.”

Dom was quiet. Then, a buzzer sounded.

“I guess we’re starting,” Dom whispered. “Eyes open.”

A moment of stillness and silence passed, and Brennan started to realize why Nellie and Sunny liked laser tag so much. It was different as a vampire. He could see more, hear more, move more quietly.

“This is weird, right?” Brennan asked.

“What?”

“We’re immortal, undead vampires. And we’re playing laser tag. I just… didn’t see this one coming.”

Dom snorted. “Yeah. I didn’t expect a lot of things that happened this year.”

Brennan didn’t know how to respond, knowing that Dom had killed her own sister. That Dom was happier being a vampire than Brennan was, even though she had done something so terrible and permanent.

“Your sister,” Brennan said, and Dom cut him a glare that said he was approaching dangerous territory. “Were you close?”

Dom chewed on her lip for a minute. Then, “She was my best friend.”

Pew! Pew!

In the distance, the tinny electric sound of a gun going off pierced through the background music. A small trill of victory music sounded in response, then distant laughter and yelling. One of them had hit the other.

“I have eyes on Nellie,” Dom said, shifting behind him to stand at a crouch near the window. “She’s approaching the base.”

“Do you have a clear shot?”

“No.”

“Then we wait.”

Laser tag with a group of vampires was intense.

When Nellie found them, she got a shot in on Brennan and Dom got a shot on her, and then Nellie had reared back and literally cartwheeled back from whence she came. With Sunny approaching the base, they abandoned their post to give chase.

They practically flew, with all the speed and strength of their vampiric abilities, and the thrill of a hunt sang in Brennan’s veins like the harmonies from his favorite song.

They chased Nellie right into a dead end. Brennan pointed and shot. Pew!

Nellie’s vest trilled with the confirmed shot. She had one more life left on her, which meant she had gotten a hit from Sunny earlier. The lights on her vest flashed with the cooldown period that protected her from being shot multiple times in quick succession.

“Sorry, Mom,” Dom said, and trained her gun on Nellie, waiting for the lights to stop.

Nellie kept her gun up and aimed, swinging it back and forth between Brennan and Dom.

“Don’t do this,” she said. “You need me if you want to beat Sunny.”

They might. Brennan looked to Dom for her thoughts.

In their moment of hesitation, Nellie let loose a stream of Pew pew pew pew pew s and both Brennan’s and Dom’s vests lit up. Nellie cackled, and Dom shot her right back. Nellie’s vest made a sad tinkle of notes that meant she had died.

Nellie collapsed to the ground with a dramatic flourish. “Sunny will avenge me!” she cried, coughing weakly to illustrate her death. “She’s got two lives left.”

“So do I,” said Dom, then turned away from Nellie, brushing past Brennan to march back toward the lookout.

Brennan dove for cover, narrowly avoiding landing on his face next to Dom on the second floor of their base. Somewhere across the way, Sunny lingered in the shadows with deadly aim. Dom had been hit, and now they were each hanging on by one life while Sunny still had two.

“If we survive this,” Dom said, shouldering her gun and preparing to move, “we’re getting so drunk.”

They stood together, stock-still, around a corner that led to a dead end. A few paces behind, Sunny’s footsteps tapped lightly on the ground. She knew she’d caught her prey; why not take her time?

This was it. Brennan was going to die.

“Dom,” Brennan said, “it was an honor to fight alongside you.”

“We can get out of this,” Dom said.

“No,” Brennan said. “But you can.”

He dove out from behind the corner to where Sunny stood, weapon poised.

Brennan sliced through the air, desperately taking aim, watching as Sunny did the same, firing a shot.

Everything was moving in slow motion. He narrowly dodged one of Sunny’s shots, but another one followed just as quickly. Brennan fired again—

Sunny’s vest lit up, and so did Brennan’s.

Sunny immediately leapt away, using the cooldown time to put distance between herself and Dom.

Brennan was out, but Sunny was down to one life. They had a chance.

Brennan’s vest announced his death. Dom marched up to him.

“That was pretty brave, kid,” she said.

“Kill her,” Brennan said. Dom nodded solemnly, then started running.