He stood from his seat, pushing away abruptly with a loud scrape that had even Dom looking up from her fingernails.
“You realize that none of this isnormal?” Brennan demanded, his chest getting tight, like the room was getting smaller, hotter. “You’re talking about human beings! You’re talking aboutmurderinghuman beings! Like,people.”
“Brennan, let’s not get confrontational here,” Nellie was saying in a placating therapist’s voice that only annoyed him. “We want to be open and honest, even if you make mistakes.”
“Mistakes? An overdue library book is a mistake, biting and killing someone isn’t a mistake.”
He didn’t know how to convey the importance of that, the fact that they were talking casually over brunch about covering up baby vampires’ first kills. Of course, vampires were dark creatures; that was their whole schtick. Of course murder would seem like nothing, the lives of humans minuscule in the scale of their long lives. How old were Nellie and Sunny, really? How many humans had they bitten? Underneath their deceivingly human exteriors, were they monsters?
Was Brennan a monster, too?
A choked sob pulled Brennan from spiraling, and Dom started to cry, curled in on herself. Nellie and Sunny regarded both of them like fires to be put out. Brennan swallowed around a thickness in his throat, taking in the way Dom’s shoulders shook, the way she held back whimpers like she was used to crying quietly.
Maybe she was as lost and confused as Brennan, but her expression wasn’t one of horror—it was guilt.
And Brennan knew then that Dom had killed someone. Whether it was the girl missing at his school or not, he would have to find out. The thought made him sick to his stomach—both at the realization, and his own guilt as he watched her cry. Was he being an asshole, or was he the only one being rational?
Even worse were the worried gazes of Sunny and Nellie. He couldn’t stand it. He could never stand others’ concern, even when it was justified.
“Let’s take a walk, Brennan,” Nellie said, voice as cheerful as before. But she caught Brennan’s eye with the sort of intent that said he didn’t have a choice.
He didn’t, really. Either walk away and forfeit the treasure trove of knowledge he’d finally found, or pretend he was fine with murder to appease these new and fashionable vampires.
Brennan bit back a groan, proud enough to resist sounding like a kid complaining after getting in trouble with the teacher, and grumbled, “Let’s.”
5HANGRY
BRENNAN’S PHONE
Cole
Please confirm if you are dead ()
or alive and well ()
Brennan
bloodsucking memes for immortal non-teens (new england clan)
SOON-HEE KIM
Hello vamps and vamplings,
Nellie and I will be doing our normal rounds again this month.
Check out the schedule attached to see when we’ll be in different areas of New England. Set up any meetings for questions/concerns/etc for when we’re in your area. DM me, not Nel, she’s still trying to figure out the phone I got her.
As always, dates are subject to change if something urgent comes up.
Sunny, xxx
3 comments / 12
> NARRISSA: you two owe me a round of laser tag still, I need revenge on Sunny for last time
>> SOON-HEE: bet. i’ll book us the arena.
> QUINN: extra big shipment this month, the 8th for pickup works for me! See you then!
