Page 12 of My Big Fat Vampire Wedding

“P andora, darling,” Ophelia called out, making Pandora tilt her head back and fight the urge to run.

Those squeaky floorboards had given her away.

But she’d put off seeing her aunt, uncle, and cousin for long enough already.

“Mum,” Pandora said, plastering a smile on her face as she moved into the sitting room.

Where Lucian, Ophelia, Pandora, and Dante were all dark-haired and robust, Aunt Anastacia and Uncle Alexander, as well as their daughter, Bellatrix, were all fair-haired, wafer-thin, and pale, making them seem to Pandora like specters haunting her home whenever they were around.

She half expected to wake up to one of them standing over her in bed, speaking to her in hushed whispers.

“There you are,” Ophelia said, and Pandora could sense a hint of censure in her tone even as she held out an arm to draw her daughter further into the room.

Ophelia ran a hand over Pandora’s hair, which had gone a bit frizzy from another rainy day.

The Von Ashmore house was ancient and drafty.

The moisture had a way of sneaking in through the stone facade and around the window frames, its sole purpose seeming to be to ruin any possible good hair day she might have. “Were you on your way out again?”

She was.

But not to work or on a date with Victor.

She had a pint of fresh blood waiting for her at the butcher’s and if she didn’t get there soon, the place was going to close. Which meant she was going to go hungry. And start doing dangerous things like staring at people’s necks at work later.

She couldn’t, however, tell her mother that, so she lied.

“I was just looking for Dante. I haven’t seen him much lately. Hello, Aunt Anastacia. Uncle Alexander. Bellatrix,” she said, trying hard not to let her voice go hard on that last name.

Bellatrix had grown to be a beautiful woman, with her pin-straight hair that seemed immune to the effects of the humidity in the air, a delicate face, big stormy blue eyes, and a long and lean figure with just the barest hint of curves.

“Hello, Pandora,” her aunt greeted her, offering her cheek for kissing. Pandora broke away from her mother to do just that. First to her aunt, then to her uncle. But she couldn’t bring herself to do the same for her cousin.

“You seem well, Bellatrix,” she said instead, internally wincing at how much she sounded like her parents just then.

“You …” Bellatrix gave Pandora a slow once-over, then clearly decided she couldn’t afford Pandora the same civility, instead saying, “You haven’t changed.”

“Bellatrix was just telling us all about her travels to France and Italy,” Ophelia said as Pandora moved as far away from her extended family as possible. Which put her right next to her father.

Over the rim of his goblet full of thick, fresh blood that made Pandora’s stomach tighten at its own emptiness, Lucian widened his eyes at her as if to say he knew how she felt.

“Really? Fascinating,” Pandora said, watching her father’s lips twitch slightly at her words and tone.

“She has picked up a passion for opera,” her aunt said, sitting up straighter in her chair. If there was anything a parent loved, it was the ability to brag about their child. Even if that child was one hundred and twenty-six years old.

“I’ve heard.” Pandora nodded.

“Brilliant, isn’t she?”

“She has no equal,” Dante said, appearing in the doorway to save Pandora from choking on a lie.

Pandora pressed her lips together to keep from laughing at the hidden message behind her brother’s words.

“Dante!” Ophelia rushed over to her son to press a kiss to his cheek. “I’m so pleased you could join us,” she said, dragging him into the room. Even if Dante looked like all he wanted to do was go upstairs and find his bed.

After their parents had relented and let Pandora keep her own bed, Dante had got one for himself as well. Though that, it was clear, was their family’s dirty laundry. Not something they should ever share in mixed company.

“Aunt, Uncle, Bell,” Dante said, making Bellatrix’s eyes go a little hard, clearly not liking the nickname. “Pandy, I’m surprised you’re here,” he said, making Pandora’s brows scrunch, not sure where else he thought she was supposed to be.

“Where else would she be, dear?” Ophelia asked.

“With her boyfriend,” Dante said.

Pandora could have kissed her brother in gratitude.

She knew how hard it was going to be to sell a serious relationship if no one else had ever seen him or heard Pandora speak of him.

“Boyfriend?” Lucian grumbled, eyeing his daughter.

“Yeah, they’ve been attached at the hip lately,” Dante confirmed, eyeing the goblet in his father’s hand, his pupils blowing wide with hunger, but he didn’t go and pour himself some from the decanter.

“ You ,” Bellatrix looked Pandora up and down again with a wrinkled nose, “have a boyfriend?”

Pandora went temporarily insane at the disgust in her cousin’s voice and face. That was the only explanation for what burst from between her lips right then.

“Well, actually, I’ve been waiting to announce this, but he’s actually not my boyfriend anymore,” she said. “He’s my fiancé.”

You could have heard a pin drop.

Until Dante managed to break the silence, making his way to her and wrapping her up in a hug. “What’s his name?” he whispered in her ear.

“Victor,” she whispered back.

“Congratulations, Pandy,” Dante said, really selling it. “I don’t know if any guy deserves you, but Victor is as close as a man could get.”

“You’ve met this boy?” Ophelia asked, looking between her children, a mix of stunned and upset.

“Ran into them one night.” Dante said the lie effortlessly.

“Congratulations, Pandora,” her aunt said, but there was a chill in her tone as well.

“If you’re engaged,” Bellatrix said, “where is your ring ?”

Pandora snatched her hand up, covering her ring finger with her other hand. “Oh, it … it was too big,” she said. “It’s being resized.”

She had to add going ring-shopping to her list asap. She knew neither of them had the money for a new one, but maybe she could find something nice at an estate sale or antique store. Whatever it was, it had to be real. Her mother could sniff out costume jewelry from a mile away.

“Why didn’t you say something sooner?” Ophelia asked, more suspicious now than confused.

“About the engagement? It’s new,” Pandora said. “I haven’t had the chance to yet.”

“How long have you been seeing this … Victor?” Lucian asked, tone going dark, slipping into overprotective--father mode.

“Oh, about … six months? Maybe a little longer.” It wasn’t a lie; she’d technically been seeing Victor at Luna Bean for approximately that long. “I didn’t want to say anything until I knew it was serious.”

“Doesn’t get more serious than a proposal,” Dante said, giving her a wink when no one else could see.

“Well, this is cause for a celebration.” Her uncle stood up, blessedly oblivious to the tension in the room and the dozens of questions Ophelia was just barely holding in.

He went to the decanter of blood, poured glasses for Dante and Pandora, the only ones without a drink, then h anded them their goblets.

“To Pandora and Victor!” he said dramatically.

“May they know an eternity of love and happiness!”

They all raised their goblets, but Pandora didn’t let the blood touch her lips, no matter how tempting the pull of it.

She had no idea where the blood had been sourced. If it had been acquired ethically or not.

When she lowered her goblet, she saw that Dante didn’t have any red staining his lips or teeth either.

“Thank you, Uncle,” Pandora said, giving him a grateful smile.

“Pandora, darling.” Ophelia’s tone sounded a bit shrill. “Can you help me in the kitchen? It seems we need more blood,” she said, gesturing toward the decanter.

“Of course.” Pandora handed her goblet to Dante, who shot her a sympathetic wince. They both knew Pandora was about to be put through the wringer in private.

It was OK, she assured herself. She’d been anticipating this, no matter when she finally let the news slip.

Ophelia barely waited until Pandora took a step into the kitchen before she turned on her.

“How could you announce this news in front of company?” she said accusingly.

“Mum, I thought you would be pleased.” Pandora tried to appear wounded.

“I am stunned,” Ophelia said. “Why the dramatics over your inheritance clause if you were already dating someone seriously?”

“Because I had no idea if he was ready to propose,” Pandora said. “It wasn’t like I could tell him to hurry up so I could get my inheritance.”

Ophelia’s lips pursed at that, seeing her daughter’s logic.

“And who is this boy? Who is his family?”

This was the part where she knew her mother would go from stunned, suspicious, and maybe a little hurt, to outright scandalized.

“His name is Victor. And he’s a PhD student at UCL.”

She watched as understanding dawned on her mother.

“He’s a human ?” Ophelia gasped, her hand flying to her throat.

“Yes, Mother, he’s human.”

Ophelia’s mouth opened and closed several times, not sure what she wanted to say.

It was then that Lucian made his way in.

“Where’s the bl—” He picked up on the tension in the room. “What’s wrong?”

“Tell your daughter she cannot marry a human boy,” Ophelia said.

Her father frowned. “A human?” Pandora could see the struggle on his face. On the one hand, he agreed with his wife – he didn’t believe humans and vampires should mix. To him, humans were food and nothing else. But he also loved his daughter. He didn’t want to say anything to wound her.

“Does he know?” Ophelia asked, not at a loss for words like her husband.

“No! Of course not,” Pandora said. There were rules about that sort of thing.

Sure, there were human donors to vampire blood-banks, but they were always heavily glamoured to forget all about vampires and their existence.

But the pull toward the centers seemed to be something that no one could shake, so they would find themselves back, donating, getting paid, and getting glamoured over and over again.

It was an ethical grey-area for Pandora. But she supposed that if it was given freely, and they walked away afterward, then it was far better than people getting drained in back alleys somewhere.

Pandora imagined there were humans out there who knew about vampires. Perhaps even vampire–human marriages. But it was definitely not the norm. And it was frowned upon in traditionalist families like her own.

“A human,” her father said again.

“Yes, darling, a human. How very … modern,” Ophelia said.

“Was there a clause I wasn’t aware of?” Pandora asked, starting to panic. “For my inheritance? That he can’t be human?”

Her parents looked at each other for a moment. It was her father who turned back first. “No, there is no such clause. You are free to marry who you choose.”

“Like you did with Mum?” Pandora asked, figuring that using their own unconventional marriage for comparison could only help the situation.

It hadn’t exactly been acceptable for a vampire to marry a succubus back when they’d got together. But that hadn’t mattered to them.

Lucian, taking the bait, reached for his wife, pulling her against him. “She has a point.”

In her husband’s arms, Ophelia’s coolness melted a bit and she nodded. “Love will endure.” She turned back to Pandora. “We need to meet this fiancé of yours.”

“Of course. He’s excited about that, actually,” Pandora said. Even if she thought Victor would probably rather get a thousand paper cuts from his books and have someone pour vinegar on them than meet her parents, who were going to be chilly toward him.

But they were in this for the long run.

Besides, she’d done the hardest part.

Breaking the news to them.

While she was on the topic, though …

“Oh, one more thing,” Pandora said, watching both her parents’ faces tighten, bracing for what she might say next.

“Yes?” Ophelia prompted her.

“My chief bridesmaid? It’s Lucy. My colleague …

the werewolf. Just wanted you to know that too.

OK. I have to go and meet Victor,” she said, lying, but needing to get out of the oppressive mood in the kitchen, as her parents tried to figure out where they’d gone so wrong with their daughter to make her not only fall in love with a human … but befriend a werewolf .

There . Pandora made her way out of the house. The most stressful part was behind her.

Or so she thought.