Page 79 of My Big Fat Vampire Wedding

“Victor, can you please bring the wine out to the table?” Pandora asked, glaring at Bellatrix.

“OK,” Victor said, looking upset.

But she couldn’t deal with him right then. There would be time to comfort him later.

Right then, she needed to deal with her cousin.

Pandora waited until she heard someone speaking to Victor in the dining room before she slammed the pantry door behind her and took a threatening step toward Bellatrix.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing? You don’t get to go around glamouring my fiancé.”

“If you weren’t both hiding something, I wouldn’t need to.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, I think I do,” Bellatrix said, flipping her pale hair over her shoulder. “He even admitted that you two have a secret.”

“We have lots of secrets,” Pandora said. “Like any couple.”

“Nope. Something is up. And I’m going to figure out what it is.”

“You know what it is, Bellatrix? You are pea-green with envy. You just can’t stand anyone getting attention other than you. It’s sad, really.”

Pandora thought she had her for a moment.

Anger and embarrassment flashed across Bellatrix’s gaze.

But it wasn’t long before it was replaced with an icy sort of reservation.

“I’m going to find out what’s going on. Then I’m going to expose you to everyone.”

With that, she moved toward the door, slamming into Pandora’s shoulder as she went.

Pandora stood there for a moment, trying to pull herself together, to stop her mind from spiraling.

It wasn’t until she stepped into the kitchen, finding Victor waiting for her, that she realized something else she’d overheard in that pantry. Before she’d even gone inside. When Victor was being glamoured, so he couldn’t have been lying.

“Why are you marrying Pandora?” Bellatrix had asked.

“I like her.”

He liked her.

21

“Well, on the plus side,” Lucy said as the two of them hauled bags of coffee beans out of boxes, restocking them under the cabinets in the front of the shop for easy access when they ran out. “Now that all the meetings are over, there’s really no reason for Bellatrix to even run into Victor.”

Lucy was a lot more optimistic than Pandora about that.

“Except she could track him down at uni. On the Tube. Leaving here at night. At his flat.” There were a thousand ways her conniving cousin could find Victor alone, glamour him, and get all the answers she was seeking. All the while, Victor had no idea what was being done to him or what he was saying.

“True,” Lucy said, sighing. “Isn’t there some ancientvampire talisman or magic or something that can prevent him from being glamoured?” she asked.

“I might know that,” Pandora said. “If I, you know, applied myself to my vampire history studies. Which, I didn’t. And neither did Dante, so I can’t ask him. Anyone else would get suspicious.”

“What about Lord Fangsworth? Wouldn’t he know?”

“Elias had a business trip to go on. Mum wasn’t happy about it. But I think now that he knows there’s no connection between us, he doesn’t see the need to be around all the time. I could wait until he gets back, but I just don’t want Bellatrix to get a chance to get to Victor.”