Page 86 of The Donor’s Dilemma

More people he’d failed.

“Make it supervised,” Verity said, waving a fork in the air. “You could consider making it younger, but under twenty-ones have to be supervised in a public place. I’m sure they can find somewhere at the uni for it.”

She watched him consider it, waiting for a verdict.

“That would help,” he said. “Actually, what if they don’t have set clients?”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Well, we’re talking about students so full-time donation is out of the question, especially at their age. They stick to the part-time system, donating every two weeks but we treat it like a donor pool. One for each blood type, vampires don’t book a specific donor, just someone from the pool.”

It would make donations less personal. Stop inappropriate relationships forming.

Inappropriate relationships. He was a fine one to talk.

“That would work?” she asked.

“We could make it work.”

They finished breakfast in a comfortable silence, both mulling over the start of a plan. Theo found that he quite liked avocado, the creaminess paired with velvet yolks and crisp toast was surprisingly enjoyable.

He cleared the plates, washing up as Verity started examining the documents from Harris. The idea of collaborating with the other vampire filled him with dread, but being the Vital Exchange Director Theo had no choice but to discuss the university idea with him.

“Did he say how he got all this?” she asked, pawing through the reports from Stonehaven.

“No. He refused. It’s the whole reason I haven’t looked into it sooner. He could have written them himself for all I know.”

Her brows knitted, biting her lip with a sigh.

“What is it?” he asked.

“The problem is bigger than just missing donors. Bolstering the numbers doesn’t fix anything if someone is fudging the reports. We know this goes higher, protecting vampires.” She rubbed her face. “If we had solid proof, told people the truth…”

“Verity…” he warned.

“I know. Don’t worry, I know. I lost everything once for telling everyone the truth; we need to be more careful this time.”

“You can’t just write an article and tell people, there’d be an uproar.”

“There should be an uproar,” she argued.

“I know, but it can’t be at the detriment of the Exchange.”

If everyone knew what was happening then no one would donate, then the Exchange really would collapse.

“I agree,” she said. “But if we can verify these documents, if we had solid proof that people are missing then at least, we can look for them. Investigate what happened.”

The look on Verity’s face, when she told him about her missing friend wasn’t an image he could easily forget. Looking for missing people was reasonable, necessary, but it needed to be done in such a way that it didn’t incriminate the Exchange.

“We still need proof,” he said. “If we start talking to families and someone notices…”

“I have another idea.”

Verity pulled her phone out, flicking through contacts.

“No journalists,” he said, giving her a look that he hoped belied his seriousness.

“Yes, journalists,” she countered. “But first, I know someone who works for the Stonehaven Council. If she can confirm everything... then we take just one missing person to the papers, maybe two...”