Page 119 of The Good Vampire's Guide to Blood & Boyfriends
“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.
Brennan peeked through the window over the kitchen sink to see Travis’s back retreating toward the greenhouse. Then he started digging through drawers.
“What are you doing?”
“That buzzing. I didn’t think he had a phone.” Brennan’s words scratched against his throat.
There weren’t many drawers to try. He found the phone in the far one, wrapped up in a hand towel. It was the latest model of iPhone, sleek, with a pink case and—
The lock screen lit up with a preview of 99+ notifications, including some from Brennan.
“It’s Sunny’s phone,” Brennan said. His stomach dropped. Sunny didn’t seem like the type to part with her phone voluntarily.
Brennan froze with an idea that seemed impossible but also, entirely too possible.
A slew of thoughts lined up in Brennan’s brain all at once.
Travis and Dom had been friends.
Travis had killed people.
Travis had told them himself he’d helped his girlfriend with a vampire uprising in the 1920s.
Travis was tremendously powerful and more ancient than Brennan could comprehend.
Brennan had possibly fucked up.
“We need to leave, I think.”
“What about the blood supply? And Dom?”
“I’ll explain later, but for now let’s get out of here.” Brennan peered out the window and didn’t see Travis. He hoped he was still in the greenhouse. He went to Cole, still on the couch, and caught his eye. “I need you to trust me on this.”
Cole’s frown didn’t waver, but he nodded.
They moved to gather their things, Brennan tucking Sunny’s phone into his jacket pocket. He was starting to feel dizzy by the time they went through the tarp and into the rainy night.
Except, at the same time, across the field, Travis emerged from the greenhouse. There was a reddish glow from the building, some sort of special lighting that cloaked Travis like a bloody halo.
“Leaving already?” he called.
“I forgot I have an essay due at midnight,” Brennan lied. It was the flimsiest of excuses. He and Cole kept moving toward the exit of the clearing, and Travis kept crossing the field toward them.
“Aw, are you sure?” Travis said. “We didn’t even get to the good part.”
And that was enough to get him to snap. “What does that mean? What do you know?”
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.
