Page 41 of The Good Vampire’s Guide to Blood & Boyfriends

DISTANCE

brENNAN’S PHONE

Brennan

You still have the pamphlet with how to ward your house?

Cole

yep, and nellie gave me some extra tips when we were chatting the other day!

Brennan

Awesome. Let me know when you’re home safe?

Cole

you got it

Nellie

You counted through the packs again, do you have enough?

Brennan

Yes, I swear, I’ve got everything. We’re all good.

Nellie

And you know where the nearest blood drive is? It’s an hour away from you but will work in a pinch.

Brennan

it won’t come to that. My only concern is my mom being suspicious

Nellie

Act natural! Eat human food!

You packed the portable freezer to keep everything good in your room?

Brennan

I’ve got everything. We’re good. I’ll focus on my stuff, you focus on yours.

Nellie

Don’t worry about Dom!

A monthlong break is more than enough for us to handle things!

r/sturbridgeuniversity

u/micahlandau

UPDATE Re: Hear me out: vampires at Sturbridge

The past few weeks have been really scary to those paying attention to the signs. I know this sub hasn’t been a fan of the things I’ve had to say so far, but there’s been more developments so I compiled a short list of sources that allude to a vampire conspiracy.

Link: My previous posts on dark omens and the first reported deaths

Link: Animal attacks in areas surrounding Boston have law enforcement and animal control specialists mystified, with three dead in two weeks ( The Sturbridge Journal )

Link: Record number of missing persons reported in December for Massachusetts! Here’s what we know about the six unsolved cases ( The Daily Northeast )

Link: Mass General nurse describes influx of “strange” animal bites (Twitter/X)

Link: Reddit user /throwaway217389384 reported a sexual encounter with an “unrealistically hot goth vampire” in Boston area (Okay, I know this one’s a stretch)

Edited to add: I see this sub is hostile as ever and downvoting anyone who agrees something is weird. I’ve made a new subreddit, r/occultboston, where hopefully we can talk more respectfully about the situation at hand.

u/easyalpha: why is this dude so obsessed with vampires? and why hasn’t a mod banned him yet?

u/writhinganatomy: Wow, these responses are not it. These connections are legit worrying. I’m not sold on vampires, but something’s definitely up. Something from your last thread stuck out to me—you said you’d seen this kind of thing before? What does that mean?

u/micahlandau (OP): The dead animals, the drained rats. This person who watched me when I was younger turned out to be a vampire. I know it’s hard to believe, I’ve been called crazy ever since, but I know it was real. They weren’t evil, but they told me others out there were.

u/belatedmanifesto: “My Babysitter’s a Vampire”? That’s the story you’re sticking with?

Brennan

[link]

Is Dom back in Boston? Or is it someone else?

Sunny

We’re handling things.

Brennan

Awesome!

I hope so!!

A letter, Brennan to Cole

“The Truth the Dead Know” by Anne Sexton

We can joke about crying into the pages of Sylvia Plath but sometimes I think about how unreasonable it is that all great artists seem to suffer, go mad, or kill themselves. Sometimes all three.

Okay, I’m being dramatic, maybe. But it’s hard not to think that way.

I thought too much about death as a kid, so for a while it was really important to me to leave some sort of mark or legacy behind.

To be important. I was always obsessed with the great poets, and history, all those distant figures that people know.

And then I grew up and realized how many people there were in the world, and how everything was ultimately insignificant in the grand scheme of the uni verse, so there’s no point to anything since we’ll all inevitably turn to dust, et cetera, et cetera, angst, angst, existential crisis, et cetera.

All this to say, it’s weird to think that I’m not going to grow old and die. Or, maybe, that I am dead, depending on how you look at it. And even then, maybe I do get to grow old, but slowly and miserably and utterly alone.

“It is June. I am tired of being brave.”

It is December. I miss you.

Brennan

A letter, Cole to Brennan

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

I think it’s normal to think about your legacy.

What people think about you when you’re not around.

How many versions of me are floating around in people’s heads right now?

I guess I’ve always hoped that my legacy is being kind to people.

That people remember me as a friendly face, someone who is good.

There are more ways to make a difference than making history, or writing the next Great American Novel.

Sometimes it’s enough to be a good friend.

Or to hold the door open for a stranger. To make little differences.

You’re a nerd, so I won’t bother going into the butterfly effect. It would only be redundant for you. But things you do matter. At least, that’s what I believe, and I can only hope that karma or the Lord are looking out for me, too.

I get it though. The call to more. My dad’s mad I didn’t get an internship for next semester.

He thinks he can pull some strings for me.

I wish he wouldn’t. I can’t imagine spending my days working on spreadsheets and marketing plans and trying not to gouge my eyes out.

I probably picked the wrong field, all things considered.

Business doesn’t care much about people, does it?

I wish I could bake things and read books and not worry about all this, about money, and making a difference.

But maybe us two idiots are cursed to forever worry about things we can’t change.

Cole

brENNAN’S PHONE

Brennan

What a depressing fucking book how DARE you???

Call Log 12/22

Cole Brennan 2 hr 38 min

Brennan

I don’t know how to talk to my mom now that I’m a vampire.

Cole

She still doesn’t know?

Brennan

Nope. I don’t want her to.

Cole

I get it’s a scary thing to trust someone with.

Brennan

Yeah. And she worries about me a lot, it just seems like another Thing.

Call Log 12/24

Brennan Cole 1 hr 12 min

Call Log 12/25

Cole Brennan 12 min

Nellie

MERRY CHRISTMAS! I’m glad you became part of our lovely vampire family 3

Tony

DICK my HOLES with ows of USSY !!! Happy HOLIGAYS to my favorite HO HO HOES !! Make sure you keep your HOT TIGHT chimney open WIDE for old saint DICK’s CREAMY egg nog ! Send to 5 of your NICEST or NAUGHTIEST HO HO HOES to wish them a SLUTTY DICKMAS!

Btw I got a bunch of new xbox games so I’ll be claiming the TV for at least 72 hours after we get back

Mari

Cole said to say merry christmas to you so this is me doing that.

Merry christmas

Dr. Mom

What was that?

Are you okay? Do you need water or something? I have advil in my purse

Brennan

I’m good!!! Give me 5 minutes.

Brennan

My fangs came out while talking to my mom. How do I make them go away?

Nellie

Have you been drinking enough??

Brennan

Yes!!!

We were talking about boys…

Nellie

HAHAHAHAHAHA

Try a cold shower:p

A letter, Cole to Brennan

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

You’re a modern queer man, so you’ve obviously seen Love, Simon.

But before there was Love, Simon, there was an offbeat gay rom-com book by the one and only Becky Albertalli.

I read this thing all in one go, hiding in the school library.

I was twelve years old and had barely admitted I was gay to myself, let alone anyone else, and here was this openly queer book.

I didn’t want anyone to see me reading it, but I couldn’t put it down.

And then, suddenly, it was like, I realized happy endings are possible for queer kids?

Before that, all I heard about gay people was that they were going to hell.

I told my parents I was gay when I was sixteen, and I don’t think they could have been more disappointed in me.

Then the next year, Noah died, and they didn’t talk about it. About Noah, or about me. Just about my future, what they wanted for me.

It’s so black-and-white, between here and on campus, you know? Like I flip a switch and shut myself off to make room for all the stuff they want from me.

I’m tired of them seeing me as who they want to see, instead of who I am.

Does that make sense? Like I’m their lovely hardworking business-major son, and that’s all.

Not that I’m a coffee aficionado, or a record collector, or GAY.

I’ve been trying to fit into their image, afraid to disappoint them.

But maybe they’re the ones who need to change, not me.

I’m almost halfway through college, two and a half years away from being a full adult, and I won’t be relying on them for tuition anymore. (I’m grateful for them, of course, and I know I’m privileged to have had their help this long!) I won’t have to be perfect anymore.

I’ve been trying to think more about what you said. About what I actually want to do. I guess that seems like the obvious question, but I don’t think I let myself think like that before.

A letter, Brennan to Cole

I was lucky my mom’s a New England radical liberal, but I didn’t come out until college. I was unpopular enough in high school without the bisexuality adding a fun new slur to people’s vocabularies.

The whole vampire thing feels like being in the closet all over again.

Hanging out with Tony, or even being with my mom, is so weird because they don’t know this huge thing that’s changed my life.

I don’t know how you even break that to someone.

Everyone who’s found out so far has been an accident, and that’s kind of a relief.

If you hadn’t walked out that morning I stole from the blood drive I’d have gone feral by now.