We are in session two of Death House. I have a party of 3 noobs and I felt bad for them so I gave them a helpful cleric npc named Brad Bradson (shout out the adventure zone). The purpose for Brad is 1. Spare the dying. 2. Be an option to sacrifice at the altar. In fact he will willingly offer it. 3. If he lives at the end of death house, the players find his corpse in a coffin outside. They turn around and Strahd awaits them and says welcome to Barrovia.

My issue is one of my players has some experience with DnD. She has alerted the rest of the players to my ruse by calling Brad a "red shirt" and saying he will die in the next two sessions. In fact, Brad dying has become an inside joke with my group.

Do I

(A) Go on as planned, and have him die and be replaced by Strahd?

Or (B) Keep him in the game indefinitely.