Page 31 of My Big Fat Vampire Wedding

“It is not,” the proprietor said, brows furrowing, as if trying to figure out why Lucy was being dishonest with her.

“Well, I mean, for us it is,” Lucy said, waving toward Pandora.

“We’re best friends. Supernatural creatures have more in common than they don’t, I think.

Even her crazy family seems to be OK with me.

Well, more OK than they are with humans, I guess.

Why am I babbling?” she asked, looking to Pandora with panicky eyes.

“I think she’s making you,” Pandora said, watching the shopkeeper closely, feeling it herself.

It wasn’t a glamour, per se. She didn’t feel drunk the way Victor or other humans sounded when a vampire put the whammy on them.

This was more like being drawn forward, like there was a warm hug enveloping her, making her feel comfortable enough to open up, to spill all of her secrets.

“Very good,” the woman said, nodding. And just like that, Pandora felt released. “What would bring a vampire and a werewolf here together?”

“Well, that’s about my friend here,” Lucy said. “She’s engaged.”

“Congratulations.” The woman’s gaze slid to the ring. “The former keeper of that ring had a long, happy marriage,” she said, making Pandora’s brows lift.

“Yes, well, her fiancé is of the warm-blooded variety. And, well, he can’t know they’re vampires. And her family can’t know … some secrets they’re keeping,” Lucy said, waving toward Pandora again.

“And?”

“And she’s got this nightmare of a cousin who is trying to glamour the truth out of her fiancé. So, we decided to come here to see if maybe there’s a way to prevent him from being glamoured.”

“There is nothing to prevent some glamour but allow for other glamour,” the woman said, eyeing Pandora.

“Oh, no. No, I don’t glamour him. That’s just … wrong. I just want to protect him from it in the future. It’s really gross that it can happen to him in general. But especially from my family.”

To that, the proprietor nodded.

She turned in a swoosh of coloured velvet then quickly disappeared in the maze of bookshelves, leaving Lucy and Pandora to rush to catch up, lest they lose track of her completely.

They found her standing in an L-shaped formation of glass cabinets, the contents looking slightly less ominous than the ones in the back that were glowing and pulsing and shrieking.

As Pandora drew closer, in fact, she discovered that within these glass cases there were only types of jewelry.

“He can just wear a nice little accessory and it’s all good?” Lucy asked, looking down at the jewelry but not getting too close. Because of that pesky werewolf/silver thing.

“It’s a bit more complicated than that,” the shopkeeper said as she unlocked one of the glass cases. “Here we go.” She produced a gold chain with a pendant hanging from it. The pendant was also gold, and bullet-shaped, with a small window in the front revealing the glass vial hidden within.

“Let me guess,” Lucy said, eyeing it. “Blood goes in there.”

“Indeed, it does.”

“Whose blood?” Pandora asked, knowing there was no way she could get any of Victor’s without him knowing. And with his studies in vampires, she really didn’t think she could risk being any more suspicious than she already was.

“Yours,” the woman said. “Given willingly. While saying a specific enchantment.”

“That’s it?” Lucy asked, almost sounding disappointed. While Pandora was thankful. Though a bit worried about how much that kind of jewelry might cost. Because she was relatively sure it wasn’t just a normal glass-vial pendant. There had to be some sort of magic forged in it.

“Most of the work is already done,” the woman said, flexing her fingers as if she was the one to imbue it with magic. She probably had been.

“Will it work immediately?” Pandora asked. “Or is it something that has to be done on a full moon or otherwise primed?”

“The original spell was cast correctly,” the woman said. “You are simply activating it with your blood and words.”

Pandora nodded at that. “What reason could I possibly give Victor for why I’m giving him a vial of my blood?” she asked, looking at Lucy.

“Hmm,” Lucy said, squinting at the pendant. “I think if you fill it enough, you might not even be able to tell it’s blood. Will he be able to open it?” she asked the shopkeeper.

“Once it is sealed, it is sealed forever.”

“If he asks, you can just say it’s a family heirloom. I mean, the contents in it have certainly been … handed down.”

More lies.

The guilt had started to become a gnawing sensation in Pandora’s stomach that no amount of blood could satiate.

But this was for his own good.

To protect them both.

“OK,” Pandora said. “Yeah, I’ll take it.”

After shelling out a painful amount of sterling for the pendant, the shopkeeper jotted down the spell and told Pandora she should go outside under the moonlight and, with her bare feet in the earth, fill the vial and say the incantation.

“How will we know it worked?” Lucy asked.

“You will know,” the woman said.

Then, just as quickly as she’d appeared, she was gone.

Pandora and Lucy made their way back outside, walking until they found a semi-private patch of grass.

Pandora slipped out of her shoes and gave the piece of paper to Lucy to hold out for her to read.

“Oh, shoot. We don’t have a knife …” Lucy said, looking around like she might find one lying around.

“It’s fine,” Pandora said, uncapping the vial, then lifting her wrist and using one of her fangs to break her skin.

“Oh, gross. I mean … handy,” Lucy said, wincing as the blood flowed. “All right, as you drip, say the words.”

“ Through my veins, a shield is cast.

“ Your mind’s your own, your will holdfast.

“ No glamour shall cloud, no spell ensnare

“ My blood’s protection is yours to wear. ”

“So mote it be,” Lucy said as the last drop filled the vial.

“OK.” Pandora reached for the cap. “But she said we would know it worked. Nothing … Oh.” She gasped as the cap clicked on, then the entire pendant heated to the point of burning as a light seemed to explode from it.

Then, nothing.

The light was gone, the pendant cool to the touch.

“Well, then,” Lucy said, nodding. “Insane amount of money well spent.”

Pandora was apt to agree.

“Now you just need to text Victor and ask if you can pop over and give it to him,” Lucy said as she fished in her bag for a spare tissue to clean up the outside of the pendant with.

Pandora reached for her mobile to shoot him a text while her mind raced.

She was going to give a spelled pendant full of her own blood to someone who knew more about supernatural things than the average human.

What could possibly go wrong?