Page 19 of My Big Fat Vampire Wedding

“F igured you might want a break from Elias,” Pandora said as she handed Victor the umbrella to open.

The rain had slowed to a slight drizzle, the kind that shimmered under the glow of the street lamps and left a light sheen on the pavement under their feet.

The air was cool, carrying with it the scent of damp earth and wet leaves, mingling with the distant aroma of woodsmoke.

London felt hushed, the rain and cold sending people indoors.

Pandora watched a couple at a window seat in a restaur-ant, sitting close and looking into each other’s eyes lovingly.

She felt a stab of longing in her chest as she glanced up at Victor, wishing he could look at her like that. Just once.

Sensing her inspection, he glanced down.

“What were you and Elias discussing?” Pandora asked.

“He was mostly talking business and your family.”

“Did he say how he knew my family? He’s kind of skirting around every question I ask.”

“He wasn’t specific. He just said he’s known your mother for a long time.”

“Maybe he sold her something once,” Pandora said.

It just didn’t make any sense. Her mother had been trying to hook her up with eligible – yet completely un-desirable – vampires for ages. Why, if she had someone that was as handsome, charming, and successful as Elias in her back pocket, would she wait so long to introduce them?

It didn’t make sense.

She was still trying to mull that over when she saw a flash out of her peripheral vision, making her stiffen and stare off into the distance.

Was it Elias?

No human could move that quickly.

“What is it?” Victor asked, following her gaze.

“I thought I saw someone.”

“Really?” he asked. “I was looking that way and didn’t see anyone.”

What was she supposed to say to that? You just don’t have super speed, so you wouldn’t have noticed.

“Hm. Weird,” she said, but she went ahead and peered down the spaces between buildings as they passed.

“So, how long is Elias going to be staying with your family?” Victor asked.

“My best guess? Until the wedding is complete,” Pandora told him, not wanting to lie.

“Is he going to be coming with you to work every day?”

“For Lucy’s sake, I hope not,” Pandora said, grimacing. “I’m sure he’ll get bored of following me around. No matter what kind of arrangement he and my mother have.”

Just then, she jolted, seeing the flash again. But as soon as she saw it, it was gone.

“See something again?” Victor asked, this time straightening, tensing, becoming more aware of their surroundings.

“Yeah,” she said, wishing the street lights would cast a wider glow, hating all the dark shadows that anyone could hide in.

“Want to go back?” he asked.

“It’s probably not …” She stopped when she saw it again.

But this time, it was closer.

Pandora stiffened when she saw a flash of moonlight--blonde hair.

Not Elias.

Bellatrix?

Why would Bellatrix be following them around?

“It’s my cousin,” Pandora said in a hushed whisper.

“Jasper?” Victor asked, looking around.

She’d caught the two of them seeming to have a relatively casual conversation at the engagement party.

Pandora didn’t know Jasper well, only that he was a bit of a moody guy, prone to broody stares and sour moods. And endlessly embarrassed by their family’s antics.

As he was one of the younger vampires, she also figured he was the least likely to mess up and say something about the Spanish Flu or claim to have been close family friends with one of King Henry’s many wives.

“I wish,” Pandora said. “It has to be Bellatrix.”

“Why would she be following us?”

That was the question, wasn’t it?

But since Bellatrix and Pandora barely tolerated each other, she could only come to one conclusion.

“I’m worried she might think there’s something … up with us.” Pandora kept her voice low, knowing that vampires have acute hearing.

“Up?” Victor looked down at her with those gorgeous green eyes, his dark brows scrunched.

“Yeah, like, I don’t know … maybe we weren’t convincing enough?”

“It was a family gathering,” he said. “What were we supposed to do, have our hands all over each other?”

Pandora’s skin tingled at the very idea of Victor’s hands all over it, especially in that thin, barely-there dress from the party. She could have felt his warm skin through the material, shivered at the way the fabric would have slid across her overly sensitive skin.

“Pandora?” Victor snatched her out of a lovely little fantasy that left her feeling heated and achy.

“I don’t know. Some of my family members can be really …

perceptive. She could have just picked up on there not being, you know …

” She trailed off, not sure what to say.

Heat? Because she sure as hell felt a lot of that toward him, if not the other way around.

“I guess just … physical contact,” she said, shrugging it off.

To that, Victor nodded, looking off in the distance as they started walking again.

“Do you still see her?” he asked, voice low.

“Yeah,” Pandora said, but she tried not to be obvious about it. She didn’t want Bellatrix knowing she’d seen her. At least not until she knew how to handle the whole situation.

“Good,” he said.

Then he was turning toward her, the umbrella tipping to the side, the fine mist of rain cool on her cheeks, contrasting the warmth suddenly crackling in the air between them.

His free hand slid to the small of her back, steadying her as he leaned down. “Just go with it, OK?” he asked, voice low enough for only her to hear, his breath warm on her skin.

“OK,” she agreed, happy to have more of … whatever this was.

Then his head ducked and his lips claimed hers.

It was firm at first. Deliberate. Part of an act he wanted to sell to an audience.

But the moment their lips met, everyone and everything else fell away.

Suddenly his touch wasn’t calculated, but electric – a surge that melted her immediately.

Her hand instinctively slid up to rest on his chest, feeling the steady thrum of his heartbeat beneath the damp fabric of his coat. And suddenly, for her, there was nothing about that moment that was for show.

His grip on her tightened, pulling her closer instead of steadying her, like he couldn’t let her move away. Not just yet.

Her own response betrayed her, lips parting under his.

If it was fake, it wasn’t supposed to feel like this. Her chest felt tight, her knees weak, as his lips slanted over hers again and again, dragging a soft sigh out of her.

Her hand moved around to the back of his neck as she leaned in, their bodies pressing close so she could feel the beat of his heart reverberate into her own chest.

Victor’s teeth nipped her lower lip, making her head fall back, inviting more. Needing more.

Desire was burning through her veins, a wildfire whose flames threatened to consume her completely.

Another whimper escaped her then and the sound seemed to sober Victor.

He pulled back, his hand falling away. She felt embarrassingly unstable without his touch, even as she forced her own hand to fall.

When her lashes finally fluttered open, he was already gazing down at her. His expression was unreadable but changed.

“There,” he said, a faint rasp in his voice. “That ought to do it.”

As they walked on, they both refused to look at each other.

Pandora couldn’t help but wonder what was going through his mind. If that kiss had been as real for him as it had felt for her. If he was feeling as conflicted as she was.

She was so distracted by her own response to the kiss, and her desire for more, that she was only half paying attention to Victor as he started to talk about different printing places in London where they could get their invitations drawn up and made for them.

Sensing her lack of response, he let the conversation fall away before they even made it back to Luna Bean.

“Where’d he go?” Pandora asked when they walked into an empty café. Save for Lucy behind the counter, looking rather pleased with herself.

“Off to torture someone else with his awful personality, no doubt,” Lucy said, shrugging.

“I’m going to head out,” Victor said as Lucy handed him his backpack.

“Oh. Ah, OK,” Pandora said, feeling a little rejected, even if she knew that wasn’t logical.

“Text me if something comes up. Otherwise, I’ll be here tomorrow night.”

With that, and not even another glance at Pandora, he left.

“What was that about?” Lucy asked, watching Victor out the window as he walked down the street.

Pandora rushed closer, leaning over the counter. When she spoke, her voice was airy, her words practically tripping over each other. “He kissed me!”

“What?” Lucy asked, mouth falling open. “You can’t drop news like that and not give me a byline, at least.”

“Well, it starts with us being followed.” Pandora moved behind the counter to wipe down the already spotless surface.

She’d always been a stress cleaner.

By the end of this marriage, she was pretty sure she would rub the sheen off the counters and floors at this rate.

“That weaselly, conniving, arrogant—”

“I would love to hear how that ends,” Pandora said. “But it wasn’t Elias.”

“Are you sure? He headed out not long after you two.”

“He probably went to feed,” Pandora said.

“No, it was Bellatrix. She was moving too fast at first to make out.” She left out that Bellatrix had also likely just fed, which had made her so much quicker even than Pandora’s own vision.

“But then I saw her hair. No one else has hair like her and can move that fast. Except maybe my aunt. But she’s probably too busy sitting around my house telling our family how perfect her daughter is. ”

“Why would she be following you? What a creep.”

“I’m worried she picked up on things not being … real between Victor and me.”

“You said you thought the party went well. Aside from Mr. Tall, Dark and Annoying showing up.”

“I thought it had. I mean, my mum was suspicious, but I think that had more to do with Victor being human. Everyone else seemed to, you know, buy it.”

“Did she see the kiss?”