Page 33 of My Big Fat Vampire Wedding
“Mum, I thought you would be pleased.” Pandora tried to appear wounded.
“I am stunned,” Ophelia said. “Why the dramatics over your inheritance clause if you were already dating someone seriously?”
“Because I had no idea if he was ready to propose,” Pandora said. “It wasn’t like I could tell him to hurry up so I could get my inheritance.”
Ophelia’s lips pursed at that, seeing her daughter’s logic.
“And who is this boy? Who is his family?”
This was the part where she knew her mother would go from stunned, suspicious, and maybe a little hurt, to outright scandalized.
“His name is Victor. And he’s a PhD student at UCL.”
She watched as understanding dawned on her mother.
“He’s ahuman?” Ophelia gasped, her hand flying to her throat.
“Yes, Mother, he’s human.”
Ophelia’s mouth opened and closed several times, not sure what she wanted to say.
It was then that Lucian made his way in.
“Where’s the bl—” He picked up on the tension in the room. “What’s wrong?”
“Tell your daughter she cannot marry ahumanboy,” Ophelia said.
Her father frowned. “A human?” Pandora could see the struggle on his face. On the one hand, he agreed with his wife – he didn’t believe humans and vampires should mix. To him, humans were food and nothing else. But he also loved his daughter. He didn’t want to say anything to wound her.
“Does he know?” Ophelia asked, not at a loss for words like her husband.
“No! Of course not,” Pandora said. There were rules about that sort of thing.
Sure, there were human donors to vampire blood-banks, but they were always heavily glamoured to forget all about vampires and their existence. But the pull toward the centers seemed to be something that no one could shake, so they would find themselves back, donating, getting paid, and getting glamoured over and over again.
It was an ethical grey-area for Pandora. But she supposedthat if it was given freely, and they walked away afterward, then it was far better than people getting drained in back alleys somewhere.
Pandora imagined there were humans out there who knew about vampires. Perhaps even vampire–human marriages. But it was definitely not the norm. And it was frowned upon in traditionalist families like her own.
“A human,” her father said again.
“Yes, darling, a human. How very … modern,” Ophelia said.
“Was there a clause I wasn’t aware of?” Pandora asked, starting to panic. “For my inheritance? That he can’t be human?”
Her parents looked at each other for a moment. It was her father who turned back first. “No, there is no such clause. You are free to marry who you choose.”
“Like you did with Mum?” Pandora asked, figuring that using their own unconventional marriage for comparison could only help the situation.
It hadn’t exactly been acceptable for a vampire to marry a succubus back when they’d got together. But that hadn’t mattered to them.
Lucian, taking the bait, reached for his wife, pulling her against him. “She has a point.”
In her husband’s arms, Ophelia’s coolness melted a bit and she nodded. “Love will endure.” She turned back to Pandora. “We need to meet this fiancé of yours.”
“Of course. He’s excited about that, actually,” Pandora said. Even if she thought Victor would probably rather get a thousand paper cuts from his books and have someone pour vinegar on them than meet her parents, who were going to be chilly toward him.
But they were in this for the long run.
