Page 123 of My Big Fat Vampire Wedding

“Yes.”

“How can you possibly explain that? You expected me to marry you with this massive lie between us?”

“How could I possibly tell you?” she said. “Vampires don’t exist, right? You would have thought I was crazy if I’d told you that from the very beginning. And don’t even try to deny that.”

“I would have probably thought you were mad, yeah,” he said. “At first. But we’ve been together for a while now. We’ve talked about our lives, our goals, our dreams. We’ve discussed sharing an entire year of our lives. And all the while, you’ve been keeping something this monumental from me?”

“If I didn’t tell you at the beginning, how could I have once time had passed? You would have felt betrayed no matter what.”

“So better for me to find out on my wedding day.”

“That’s not what I’m saying. That’s what I was talking about with my father. That this felt wrong. That I couldn’t allow you to marry me without telling you.”

“You let it get this far, though. Last night …”

“Was what made me feel like I had to tell you. It was different after that. We’re different. It wasn’t fake anymore.”

“It was never fake, Pandy,” Victor said, voice suddenly heartbreakingly sad.

“What?”

“That night when I came to tell you that I wouldn’t be coming back, that I had to drop out of uni – that was the night I was going to try to finally get up my nerve to ask you out. This was never fake for me, Pandy.”

“I had always—”

“I’ve spent the past few weeks thinking that maybe, just maybe, this marriage wouldn’t be fake after all. That you would see how good we were together.”

“I did see that,” she said.

“But you didn’t believe it enough to be honest with me.”

“It wasn’t like I was going to tell you that I’m actually naturally a blonde or something, Victor. How was I supposed to tell you that not only are vampires real, but I’m one of them?”

“Did you think I didn’t already suspect?” he asked. “I study vampires in all forms of fiction. And even nonfiction. All the signs were there. You’re always cold. You are ‘allergic’ to garlic and use umbrellas in the sun. You never seem to enjoy food. You’re faster than you should be. And that’s not even mentioning your family …”

“Ravenna and Reginald,” Pandora said, knowing they were the most outlandish.

“Your mum, actually. I almost believed the historical actor thing. But your mum looks about the same age as you. And then there’s this.” He reached into his shirt to pull out the necklace she’d given him. “You gave me a vial of blood after the strange encounter I had with Bellatrix in the pantry. I’ve read everything about glamours. I knew what she’d done. You could have told me. Instead you, what, put some kind of spell on me?”

“It’s a protection amulet,” Pandora said, feeling her eyes sting. She would have preferred if he was angry, if he was yelling at her. But he just seemed so hurt, so broken.

“Seems as if the only one I needed protection from was you,” he said, tugging hard until the chain snapped, then tossing it on the ground at her feet. “This isn’t happening. I can’t marry someone who has been lying to me. Not even to get to finish my PhD. Not for any reason.” He paused, looking over her. “You look beautiful, Pandy.”

With that, and nothing more, he walked away, leaving her there in her wedding gown, crying through her make-up.

“Pandora?” Sometime later, Pandora heard Ophelia calling and the whoosh of the air moving as her mother sped toward her, spurred by the information her husband had likely given her. “Oh, darling.”

Then she was wrapped in her mother’s arms, crying into her neck like she’d done as a young girl.

Ophelia didn’t try to tell her it would be OK. Surely, she knew how she would feel if she’d lost her own love. So she simply stroked Pandora’s hair and held her together as she fell apart.

Pandora was sure the tears would never cease.

When they finally slowed, she felt dry from the insideout. A fragile piece of paper that threatened to turn to dust with the slightest mishandling.

She wasn’t really aware of how the wedding reception dispersed. All she knew was that she found herself in the back of a darkened car with her mother on one side and Lucy on the other, while her father and Dante sat in the front.

They half carried her to her bed.