Page 57 of Only Fangs

Clara pauses for a moment.

“I mean, I know it’s none of my business or anything—” Brody starts to stutter but Clara cuts him off.

“Marrying the man my father chose for me.”

Brody makes a face. “Like an arranged marriage?” He sounds shocked.

“Yeah.” Clara shrugs as if it’s the most normal thing in the world. It’s not rare rare in the vampire community, but it’s not something a lot of us buy in to. If you have to spend eternity with someone it’s generally better to vet them first.

“But that’s so….” He gropes for the word.

“Yeah,” Clara agrees. Because we all know what he’s thinking. Regressive. Misogynist. Archaic.

“Can’t you just say no?”

Clara laughs but it comes out more like a loud bark, reverberating around the corner of the pub. “You’ve met my father.”

“But there must be a way out.”

Clara shakes her head. “There’s a contract.” She shrugs. “It was all agreed when I was ten and my vampire credentials were finally confirmed.”

“But you were a child.” Brody isn’t trying to hide his shock now.

“So?”

“So? So? There is no way that contract is binding. You were a child.”

Clara looks at him for a few moments, at the earnest look of indignation on his face. She turns to me. “You’ve got a proper golden retriever here,” she says then moves her attention back to Brody. “One day I will marry Luca, there’s no way round it.”

“But—”

I put my hand on his arm to stop him from saying more.

“But’s that’s arcane.” Brody completes the sentence despite my warning.

“It is what it is.” Clara’s reply is nonchalant. “It fucking sucks and I’m trying to buy all the time I can, but one day my luck is going to run out.” She screws up her face. It isn’t that she’s totally against the idea of Luca in and of himself. I haven’t spent much time with him but he’s attractive and charming and apparently not awful to be around. But Clara wants to keep her freedom for as long as she can get away with it.

Brody turns to look at Ivan. “Do you have one of these arranged marriage thingies?”

Ivan shakes his head.

Brody turns to look at me.

“Oh hell no,” I tell him. “My parents were normal.”

“Your parents were most definitely not normal.” Ivan says with a grin. “Lovely. But definitely not normal.” Ivan turns to Brody. “Ari’s mum was human.” He says it like it’s a scandal.

“Oh, I didn’t realise you were⁠—”

I cut him off. My heritage is something I don’t like to elaborate on.

Another hour later and the group has splintered off. Matt and Ivan only have eyes for each other. Clara is making the most of her freedom by chatting up the vampire bartender, who keeps pouring her drinks and laughing at every single word she says.

Brody pours a little more wine into our glasses and turns to face me. We’re so close our knees are touching and the combination of the alcohol, his aftershave, and the sheer heat of him is making me feel tipsy. But the good tipsy, the nirvana of tipsy when you want to stay at the same exact level of buzzed forever.

“Here’s to us,” he says as he raises his wine.

“To us,” I reply clinking my glass against his.