Page 45 of The Good Vampire’s Guide to Blood & Boyfriends

THE STORM

brENNAN’S PHONE

r/occultboston

u/micahlandau

Bloody Demonstration in Boston

[Video]

I can’t believe this happened. I can’t believe I saw it! I can’t believe I got video!!!

I was downtown visiting my favorite psychic and then I was walking along the harbor and suddenly red starts flowing down along with deflating plastic pint bags. They painted the harbor red with blood. This has to be part of the story. Who else would have so much blood?

But what really scares me is—what kind of message are they trying to send?

Edited to Add: Someone from the Boston Globe contacted me to use my video on their site. This is real. [Link]

u/fittingaesthetics: This doesn’t seem like a good sign. Maybe some sort of ritual? Or a warning? Do you think they know we’re on to them?

THE BOSTON GLOBE

The Boston Blood Party

[video caption] A river of blood overtakes the Boston Harbor after an unknown group poured thousands of pints of stolen blood donations into the water on Sunday afternoon.

… Police are contacting hospitals in an attempt to identify where the supply was stolen from, but as of now their origins are unknown.

“How any one person could accumulate that much blood for a frankly petty prank is beyond me,” said one police officer.

Cole was quiet, looking out the window as the MBTA commuter rail pulled them toward campus. The gray sky finally gave in to the building pressure to rain. Something similar was building, gray and cloudy, in the pit of Brennan’s gut.

Cole hadn’t spoken since they’d transferred trains. Not that Brennan could blame him. But it was so unlike him. Even on the verge of a breakdown, Cole was an open book. And here he was, the quietest Brennan had ever seen him.

“It obviously wasn’t optimal, uh, back there,” Brennan started, voice low, tentative. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“No, thank you,” Cole said, with the mechanical ease he might tell a cashier he didn’t need his receipt.

“Okay,” Brennan said. Watched the winter grays of Massachusetts streak by through the window. “I just mean that I’m here for you, whenever you do want to—”

“I’m good,” Cole interrupted.

Brennan ignored the heat in his cheeks. Not the pleasant kind he usually had around Cole, but a hot shame.

He didn’t know what he was supposed to do.

Bringing Cole to Travis felt weird, but Cole insisted he wanted to be there.

But Brennan was powerless to take away all the pain he knew Cole must be feeling.

He itched for his journal, left behind in his apartment.

He started thinking of everything he said, didn’t say, and should have said during the whole dinner fiasco, which spiraled into everything he said, didn’t say, and should have said throughout their whole relationship and—

Cole’s hand found Brennan’s and pulled it to center between them, fingers twining with his effortlessly, stilling his movement and his thoughts. When Cole squeezed his hand, he squeezed back.

Massachusetts passed them by in a blur. Cole slowly unfurled from where he’d been facing the window.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to walk you to yours and Mari’s before I go to Travis?” Brennan asked.

“I’m sure,” Cole said. He squeezed Brennan’s hand tight like that might keep him from leaving him behind. Not that Brennan really wanted to. “We’re in this together, right?”

Brennan pulled their hands up to press a kiss to the back of Cole’s hand. “That goes both ways, you know.”

“I know.”

Brennan let himself relax. He held Cole’s hand the rest of the ride.

Travis’s dingy shack looked like even more of a mess than Brennan remembered. With the rain coming down like it was, the building swayed slightly, ready to collapse under a stray breeze.

Cole gripped Brennan’s hand and stuck close in the winter evening’s shadows, his other hand holding an umbrella over both their heads.

Cole had known it would rain, of course, and was prepared as ever.

He was taking in the building with a sort of open curiosity, like he was at a museum.

A glimpse into a different world. Brennan couldn’t help the tinge of envy.

He would never be able to walk away from all this. Cole could.

Nervous energy made Brennan feel twitchy, and he was grateful that holding on to Cole kept one hand occupied.

Nellie and Sunny’s continued absence nagged at him.

He’d never not gotten a reply from Sunny within minutes of texting; he’d rarely if ever seen her not glued to her phone. And he didn’t exactly like Travis.

The swaying structure that was Travis’s house and the junkyard of the clearing surrounding it didn’t add any confidence. Chickens clucked about in their fenced-in area by the greenhouse. The air as they approached the shack smelled like smoke and the sweet tang of blood.

Rosie was out in the yard, but she didn’t run to greet him like normal. She was pacing in front of the entrance to the greenhouse, whining persistently.

The tarp-flap of a front door burst open before Brennan could attempt to knock on the frame, right as Brennan had reached the stepping stone that acted as a porch. As if Travis had been watching them and waiting.

“Vampling!” Travis greeted, throwing his hands up in a flourishing welcome. He grinned wide and nodded to Cole. “And you brought a snack! Ha! Only joking. I know you’re the boyfriend!” He gave an exaggerated wink.

Cole laughed politely, putting his Southern charm back on like a mask for Travis.

Rosie barked twice, loud and pointed.

“Rosie, leave it,” Travis commanded.

As well trained as she typically was, she barked again in protest and sat down in front of the greenhouse door with a heavy sigh.

“Stupid dog. But hey, good to see you again,” Travis said. “Come on in, do you want tea? I was just making tea.”

They followed Travis inside, Cole ditching his umbrella at the door, and Travis immediately busied himself with the teakettle. “You have a lovely home,” Cole tried. Brennan held back a snort and Cole gave him a stern look like he could sense his rudeness and it upset his Southern heart.

“It’s not much, but it’s all I need,” said Travis.

He fluttered about the small corner of the building that might be called a kitchen, pulling random chipped mugs from various boxes and corners.

After a moment, two mugs of steaming tea came floating over to Cole and Brennan, sloshing on the box that acted as a coffee table.

Brennan didn’t love tea. He had always been more of a coffee person. But, maybe because of the long day, or the chill of the rain, the smell of it then was strong and enticing. He wrapped his hands around the mug and let it warm him.

A buzz sounded from the kitchen area but Travis made no move for whatever it was. Brennan hadn’t had the impression Travis had a phone.

“What brings you guys out here into the wilderness, then?” Travis said, finally stationary.

He stood across from them, leaning against a wooden crate that held mason jars filled with round buds of weed.

He looked at them expectantly. Brennan looked at Cole, who looked at him with a face he was sure matched his own— what now?

Brennan told Travis about everything with Dom, and the horribly named Boston Blood Party thing, and Sunny and Nellie not responding. The sound of heavy rain on the thin roofing was a constant backdrop.

Travis started rolling a joint as he listened, nodding but otherwise focusing his attention on the movements of his hands. Once Brennan finished the story, Travis didn’t respond for a long minute as he started to smoke. The buzzing sound went off again.

When Travis finally spoke, it was to extend the joint. “You want some?”

Cole considered it but shook his head, while Brennan swallowed down his annoyance and sipped his tea, letting the hot liquid scald his tongue. It was the first time he enjoyed tea, and he drained the cup in no time.

“Do you have any idea where Sunny or Nellie might be?” Brennan reiterated. “And if not, then isn’t it, like, your job to help stop Dom? Shouldn’t you be doing something?”

Travis’s expression went steely. “First of all, my job ,” he said, “is to do whatever the fuck I want. I know you’re new here, but don’t ever think you can tell me what I should be doing.”

Ice froze Brennan’s veins under Travis’s sharp gaze, and he remembered again that this was a powerful and possibly ancient creature that Brennan really knew nothing about. He’d made a mistake coming here.

But the ice thawed as quickly as it had emerged, Travis’s easy grin falling back across his face.

“I’m sure Sunny and Nellie are off making out somewhere.

Either that, or they’re having a fight. Sometimes they go AWOL like this.

Like when Sunny sold Nellie’s first-edition Game Boy to get them Taylor Swift tickets.

They were missing for weeks before they finished fighting or fucking or whatever it is they do. ”

“Then do you have any advice about Dom?” Cole asked, hands folded politely in his lap. “I don’t mean any disrespect, but she could hurt a lot of people. Or even expose vampires to everyone.”

“You guys are really killing my vibe with all this negativity,” Travis said. “Can we try to fuel this energy into something positive?”

“I’m trying to fuel this energy into making sure that murders don’t happen,” Brennan said. “Is that not positive enough for you?”

Another buzz, buzz, buzz —

Rosie barked louder.

“Look, I gotta go water the greenhouse plants and check on the little Rosebud,” Travis said. “It’ll only be a minute. Just chill, okay? Relax. I want positive energies only by the time I’m back, yeah?”

Travis slipped through the tarp door.

“He’s being cagey, right?” Brennan asked.

“I think he might just be like that,” Cole said.

Buuuuuuzz—

The sound was grating. He was starting to get a headache from all the sounds around him going sharp and loud.