Page 49 of Only Fangs

Clara rolls her eyes. “Nepotism is a fact of life, sweetie. Come join us. It’s kind of fun.”

“And I don’t think I like trading off the whole pure blood thing.”

“You’re building a dating app for vampires called Only Fangs. That ship has sailed.”

“But…” I can’t articulate myself. I can’t figure out the right words to explain what I’m feeling. Like I’m selling out. Like I’m going against every inch of my belief system in pursuit of money. Like I’m a literal capitalist vampire, sucking the rest of the world dry for my own gain. OK, perhaps that’s a little extreme. A metaphor too far. But you know what I mean.

Chapter 26

Brody

Idon’t go to Ari’s in the morning. I feel deflated, like all the wind has been knocked from my sails and I’m just drifting. I hate feeling like this. I know the whole “golden retriever” thing sometimes gets on people’s nerves, but it’s a much nicer way to live. Today though, I can’t muster the enthusiasm and so I allow myself to wallow in self-pity and self-loathing. It’s my fault we didn’t get the loan. If only I’d filled out the forms more diligently, been more aggressive in the projections.

“It isn’t your fault,” Matt says from the doorway to my room. He’s holding tea for me, an angel of caffeinated drinks.

“It feels like it.”

“She’s a vampire. She technically fails their criteria. It’s not your fault.”

“I got our hopes up.”

“It’s not your fault,” he reiterates. “So drink this,” he places the tea on my bedside table, “and then have a shower and go to work.”

“What’s the point?”

But I do what I’m told, dragging my feet as I walk slowly from our house to Ari’s.

But she’s smiling as she opens the door and pulls me inside. “Have I missed something?” I ask, feeling like an idiot.

“We’re going to get an investor,” she tells me.

“We are?”

“Yep.”

“Who?”

“A vampire investor. Well, it’s kind of a committee. Clara’s dad leads it.”

“Oh.” That makes sense. Matt has told me before that vampires like to help their own and there’s a shadow network of “philanthropists” helping to give younger vampires a boost. “Philanthropy” being just another word for nepotism. “Clara’s dad?”

“Andrei Hele.” She whispers his name as if it something almost dirty.

And it is. “Andrei Hele? The terror⁠—”

“He’s an activist.”

Vampires say activist. Humans say terrorist – on account of the violence at some of his more recent rallies and the kind of language his most ardent supporters have started using. I raise an eyebrow at her.

“It’s not actually him who would be the investor. It’s the committee who invest in other vampire businesses. He’s just the route in.”

She makes it sound like it’s nothing. Like Andrei Hele doesn’t have a reputation that precedes him to such a degree. He’s like the vampire Donald Trump, but clever and attractive and therefore infinitely more dangerous. He’s been running a political campaign to give vampirism a protected status, which on the face of it is a good thing; it’ll mean that companies can’t refuse to hire vampires and shops have to make reasonable adjustments so vampires can use their stores. But it never seems like he’s campaigning for the young vampires who are actually affected by the discrimination. He wants his friends – his very rich and well connected friends – in positions of power. Late stage capitalism plus vampire oligarchs feels like a recipe for disaster.

“Say something,” she whispers to break the silence that had shrouded us.

“I didn’t realise he was Clara’s father.” I don’t know what else to say.

“Yeah. Let’s just say that Clara tries to spend as little time as possible at Hele House.”