Page 45 of My Big Fat Vampire Wedding

“I mean, really, that was a comical amount of mascara,” Lucy said, reapplying it with a much lighter hand.

“They should have been more worried about your hair,” she added, going in her bag to produce some products meant to tame the frizz and static until, finally, Lucy had Pandora’s hair falling in long auburn waves down her back.

Her friend stood back and looked at her masterpiece.

“There. Perfect. We had to let them fuss. But I couldn’t let you walk up to the altar looking like that.

Now, I want some details about the beard burn. ”

But it was right then that Pandora’s family came bursting back into the room, successfully squashing any personal conversation as the discussion went back to outfits and hair and make-up, as the other women fussed over the bridal party with the same enthusiasm they had worked on Pandora.

With some blood in her system, the nerves of the day seemed to trip into overdrive, making her feel racy and fidgety.

There was a soft knock at the door just as the crowd started to talk about getting Pandora into her gown.

Ravenna rushed to the door in a flurry of red velvet, all her assets bouncing as happily as ever.

“Oh, aren’t you so handsome!” she said, making Pandora’s belly flip-flop. Victor was on the other side of the door. “You know you can’t see your bride before the ceremony,” she went on. “But I will tell you that she is an absolute vision.”

“She always is,” Victor said, sending butterflies fluttering through Pandora’s chest. “Just wanted to bring this for her. You can give it to her.”

“Oh, aren’t you just the most thoughtful young man?” Ravenna said, reaching out. “I will give it to her. With your love. Oh, this is such a wonderful day!”

Pandora was smiling even before Ravenna made her way back to her, holding out a large steaming mug.

“Your groom brought you a little present. It smells … Well, it smells,” Ravenna said, making Pandora burst out laughing.

“It’s chamomile tea,” she said, taking it in her hands. “My favorite.”

He’d known she would be starting to freak out. Then he’d brought her tea to try to fix it.

He really was the best man she’d ever met.

And she was about to make him hers.

Legally.

Since her heart had already been his for a long time.

“Let’s get you in that gorgeous gown of yours,” Ravenna said once Pandora had the last sip of her tea.

It really was a gorgeous dress. One Lucy had actually found, since the appointments with the judgmental Sylvia had led nowhere.

The garment bag unzipped and all of the women who hadn’t yet seen the dress gasped.

It was the perfect gown, one that was traditionally bridal but also a bit gothic as well.

The lace top and arms were black that slowly melted into the white of the rest of the dress, where it was embroidered with black and crimson flowers that got more prominent around the train.

And, best of all, the women at the shop she’d gone to for her fittings had oohed and ahhed at her instead of criticizing her.

“How perfect,” Ravenna said, pulling it out of the bag, then working the hidden zipper down the back. “OK, my dear. Time to get in. We are running out of time,” she said.

“One second,” Lucy said, producing a bag that Pandora had missed before. “I have a little something for her to put on underneath.”

With that, she shoved Pandora into the bathroom with the bag. “It’s vintage,” she said before closing the door. “Except for the knickers. Those are new, obviously.”

Alone, Pandora took the items out of the bag, finding a new pair of black lacy panties with the tags still attached, as well as a gorgeous lace bustier.

Well, at least she wouldn’t need to strip down to absolutely nothing in front of her whole family.

Shrugging out of her clothes, she pulled on the new set, then, remembering, put on the earrings that Victor had given her.

New, blue, and old.

She just needed something borrowed.

She made her way out of the room, making Ravenna smile at her.

“Victor is a lucky, lucky man, my dear,” she said, rushing Pandora over to her gown, where she and Ophelia helped her into it.

Finished, Pandora smoothed her hands down the front of the gown before turning to look in the mirror.

For a second, she almost didn’t recognize the woman looking back at her. She looked more like her lovely mother than she ever had before. Perfectly put together, her features on full display, her hair tamed.

Ophelia moved in behind her daughter, giving her a soft smile, then lifting her arms, moving them around Pandora to rest a necklace on her skin.

“Something borrowed,” she said as she clasped it. “Lucy told me she had old handled. And I know you said Victor got you new and blue. I wanted to give you your borrowed.”

“It’s perfect,” Pandora said, reaching up to touch the single teardrop ruby on a delicate black chain that made it disappear into the dress, leaving the ruby looking a bit like a blood drop on her chest. “Thanks, Mum.”

Next, Lucy, Kora, Maribelle, and Bellatrix all got themselves into their dresses.

“Have I mentioned how much I love you for picking simple black dresses?” Kora asked. “The last wedding I was at made us wear crinolines that I swore were three yards wide. It was insane.”

“The sun is about set,” Henrietta said as she tied the final bowtie on her last male dogs. The girls were wearing little pink tutus.

The other aunts had just barely been able to talk Henrietta out of making Pandora and Victor use her dogs as flower girls and ring bearers.

“So exciting! OK. We have to go and get to our places,” Ravenna said, shooing the women out of the room.

The sudden quiet made Pandora’s ears ring.

“We need more champagne,” Kora said, pouring the bridal party another round as they waited for the knock on the door.

It came twenty minutes later.

Lucy opened the door to find Elias standing there. He was acting as a stand-in for Victor’s side of the bridal party, since the only friend Victor had was Sebastian.

“Look at you,” Elias said, gaze moving over Lucy. “All polished up.”

“Wow,” Lucy said. “Careful, that almost sounded like a compliment. Are we ready?”

“We are.” He offered her his arm.

“Ugh, fine.” Lucy chugged the last of her champagne, then grabbed her flowers and allowed him to lead her from the room.

Bellatrix, largely ignored by everyone all day, save for her own mother, followed next.

Rolling the tension out of her shoulders, Pandora followed Kora and Maribelle out of her room.

The castle was a sprawling place. And with each step, Pandora felt her nerves jangling in her bones.

Suddenly, this didn’t feel right.

Not only lying to her family.

But more so, lying to Victor.

How could she make the man marry her when he didn’t even know who she really was?

She managed to keep her worries to herself as they all walked – leaves crunching under her feet and the cool wind kicking up the ends of her hair – toward the mausoleum.

Yes, mausoleum. She was getting married at a mausoleum .

It was one thing her family had refused to bend on.

They’d rambled on and on about traditions and family.

The only reason she’d given in was because the mausoleum actually kind of looked like the place in the Pride and Prejudice movie where Mr. Darcy first confessed his feelings to Lizzie.

It was a massive round stone structure with charmingly chipped pillars.

She could hear the rumbles of conversation from the crowd at the other side of the structure, but it was big enough that she couldn’t see anyone yet.

“Pandora?” Lucian called to her, waiting for his daughter as the rest of the bridal party moved toward the other side of the mausoleum.

And, suddenly, it just burst out of her.

“I can’t do this.”

“Do what? Get married?” her father asked, concern etched on his handsome face.

“Marry someone I’ve been lying to since I met him,” Pandora said, her stomach twisting into tighter knots.

“It’s not right. I can’t stand there and say vows and make promises when I’m being dishonest with him.

He doesn’t even know who I am. What I am.

” Pandora was ranting now. “How can I possibly marry someone who doesn’t even know I’m a vampire? ”

“Pandora, stop!” Lucian said, something in his tone making her blood freeze as she suddenly whipped around.

And there, a few feet away, completely within hearing distance, was Victor.