Page 87 of Only Fangs

“Right. Yes, of course,” Andrei says. “So, Victor. I want to make you an offer. I would like to buy Arianna’s debt.” He offers up his lupine smile and then flashes me a look. One that says check mate.

“For what terms?” Victor asks.

“Sanctuary.”

Oh fuck. There is no way Victor will turn down the opportunity to avoid the rest of his eternity in the depths of hell, even if he would be trading that for a thousand lifetimes with a prick like Andrei.

“Deal.”

They shake hands and then Victor vanishes into thin air.

“Right then,” Andrei says and claps his hands together. “Now that’s all sort⁠—”

But he’s interrupted by a loud banging on the door to the office. “We found him,” bellows a voice from the hallway. “Little human shit thought he could hide in the walls like a rat.”

“Let him go and I’ll marry Benedict.” I say it quickly, the words spilling out before I can really think of the magnitude of what I’m offering. I may as well be trading my life for Brody’s. It might be the only right thing I’ve done in ages.

Andrei stares at me, his mouth hanging open a little. “Well, well, well. So you do have feelings for the human after all. Now I really am glad your grandmother isn’t here to bear witness. Her granddaughter and a lowly human.”

“It’s what you want though, isn’t it? Me and Benedict? A perfect vampire marriage and some perfect vampire babies? I’ll do it. But only if you let him go without hurting him.”

“You know bribery is no basis for a vampire match. You cannot be coerced into a marriage contract.”

“You’ve coerced Clara.” I counter. But I know it’s a fallacious argument. I won’t bore you with the ins and outs of vampire law, but the only legal marriages are by mutual consent. It’s just a shame that a guardian can provide that consent.

“I am her father.” He says it as a statement of fact and I’m once again reminded that misogyny is very much alive and well amongst the undead.

“So you would use the demon deal to make me your…” I grope for the right word.

“Ward.” He enunciates the word carefully. “Your deal with Victor was for your freedom. Same same.”

“And then…” but I trail off.

“Then I can give your consent for the marriage. Now, Benedict. What are we thinking, a spring wedding?”

“As soon as possible,” he replies but his eyes are on me.

“Excellent. No time like the present. Eternity waits for no vampire and all that.” Both of them laugh as if this is one of the funniest jokes anyone has ever said. My insides curdle.

There’s another banging on the door and a head pops round. “Sir, what shall we do with the human? The guests in the hall are getting restless.”

Andrei strides over to him. “Tell them they will get their hunt. But they must wait just a tiny bit longer. Make sure the staff serve a round of Sanguis, the really good one from the cellar to whet everyone’s appetite.”

“No!” I scream.

Andrei crosses the distance to my side in a split second and slaps me hard across the face. “Will you be quiet, woman.”

I stagger backwards, falling onto the sofa next to Benedict, my hand cradling my cheek and my eyes smarting. “What the⁠—”

“You really are going to have your work cut out for you, Benedict,” Andrei says with an air of sympathy. “Your future wife is practically feral.”

“I can tame her,” Benedict says.

“Indeed. Now then, Arianna. I know you think you love this foolish human boy. And I think perhaps it would be too cruel of me to stack the deck too far in the favour of my guests. So, as a courtesy to you, or perhaps we should call it a wedding gift,” he waggles his eyebrows, “I will offer you a trade. A chance to give him a head start.” He looks at his watch. “What do you think? Five minutes?” He shakes his head. “No, that’s not enough. Let’s give him ten.”

I do the maths. A ten minute head start might just be enough. If he can get to the car. “But I have nothing to trade,” I say and my heart breaks in two. I’ve never seen a vampire tear a human apart, but I’ve read enough to know the true horror of what my kind is capable of.

“Of course you do.” Andrei rubs his hands together in glee. “You see, Arianna, this is all just a game. And games are meant to be fun. So I will give him ten minutes.” There’s that lupine smile again. “But only if you agree to hurt him first.”