Page 105 of My Big Fat Vampire Wedding
“What’s the … Oh.”
All that fake blood seemed to turn to stone in her stomach and veins as she looked down to see what Lucy had tripped over.
No.
Not what.
Who.
“Oh, no. No, no, no.” Pandora gasped, her chest feelingtight as she looked down at the man lying on his stomach in the alley.
“Is he dead?” Lucy asked, eyes gaping as she looked down at the man in his light-blue jeans and green-and-white-checked jumper. “Oh, God. He’s not moving, is he? You don’t think …” She trailed off as her gaze slid to the bar right next door.
Pandora did think, actually.
It was their nature, after all.
And while the vampires in Nocturnum had open access to willing human donors, her male family members at the bar had no food source, only beer and spirits to drink that they couldn’t get drunk on or get sustenance from.
If one had been hungry and had perhaps seen someone going out the back for a smoke or some air, there was no reason for Pandora to assume they wouldn’t do what was in their nature to do. Bite. Feed.
Pandora didn’t see any bitemarks, but some vampires didn’t drink from the neck. She had a cousin who exclusively drank from the crook of the elbow, claiming it tasted better there. He could have a bite anywhere. And she really didn’t think they should waste time looking.
“What do we do?” Lucy asked, nudging the man’s body with the tip of her shoe, grimacing the whole time. “We can’t just leave the body here, right? What if Victor decides to come out here?”
She had a point.
If Victor decided to get some air, he would practically trip over the body like Lucy had. Then what? Call the police? And if the police came, they would question everyone in the bar. Which included her family. Her very weird,very eccentric family who didn’t necessarily see anything wrong with killing someone.
“We need to move him.”
Lucy’s gaze scanned the end of the alley, where it opened to the road to allow the refuse collectors access.
“Do you think you’re strong enough to lift him into the bin?” Lucy asked, motioning toward the waste container.
He was a pretty big guy. Even with three synthetic blood drinks in her system, Pandora wasn’t sure she was that strong.
“I don’t think so.”
“Well, maybe we could just … prop him up on the other side of the bin. Just so he’s out of sight. We can even report it after everyone goes home.”
“Yeah. Yeah, let’s do that,” Pandora said. “You take the legs. I’ll get his upper body.”
With that, they moved around the body, leaning down and grabbing hold of the man.
“Whoa, that stuff really works, huh?” Lucy asked when Pandora accidentally lifted the man upward until he was practically kneeling on the pavement. “Maybe we can—”
“Pandy?”
Pandora and Lucy looked at each other, eyes round. Panic soared through Pandora’s system as she looked over to see Victor frozen half a step out of the pub, the door resting against his shoulder. “What’s going on? Is he OK?”
“He’s, uh, passed out,” Lucy scrambled to answer. “Completely pissed,” she went on. “Kind of the definition of ‘legless’, don’t you think?”
Pandora had never been so thankful for Lucy’s quick thinking as she was right then.
“Yeah. He never could handle his drink,” Pandora added.
“Who is that?” Victor asked.
