Page 93 of Only Fangs

“Of course,” Matt says. I’m so glad everyone else gets it. He catches the confusion on my face. “They can’t enter the car without your permission.”

“Oh.” That kind of makes sense actually. “And I guess I wouldn’t have seen them in my mirrors if they stayed behind the car.”

“Exactly.”

“Jesus,” I whisper as I think of a hundred vampires following me down those narrow lanes, watching, waiting. “They were hoping I’d crash,” I realise as I say the words out loud.

“Yes,” Ivan says simply.

I lean forward. Vomit threatens to erupt from deep within me and it takes all my mental and physical capacity to keep it down. I take a few breaths, counting slowly to five before releasing for eight. Yetty taught me this once, told me it would help with my anxiety – which ironically she was the principle cause of – and it almost pains me to admit that it does actually work.

No one says a word as I compose myself. And then my brain clicks into logic mode, even if, as usual, it fixates on the wrong part of the problem. “How was my car running when I got to it?” I ask.

“Clara,” Ivan says and there’s a touch of pride there. “The moment the whole human reveal happened, she went and swiped your keys and then when the half hour warning for the hunt came, she got one of the human staff to start the car for you.”

“She saved my life.”

“She did.” Yes, it’s definitely pride in his voice. “Sometimes she can be a little weak, a bit slow to stand up for what’s right. And yes, it’s hard for her when her dad is Andrei Hele, self-proclaimed saviour of vampire-kind. But tonight she really put herself on the line. She even had a little scrap with the couple who caught up to you first.”

“It was her.” I realise now that the swirl of red silk was the dress she was wearing. “Is she alright?” I ask, remembering the scream that pierced the night as she flew at the others.

“Just a cut. It’ll heal.” Ivan flaps his hand to dismiss the notion but Matt winces. Vampire skin is different to human skin. It takes more force to cut, but the pain is infinitely worse than I would feel.

Silence falls over us and I can see Ivan shifting in his seat as if he can’t get comfortable. Or that he wants to say something but he doesn’t know how to. Eventually he clears his throat. “Ari didn’t mean those things she said,” he says softly.

“I know,” I reply.

“Andrei made her say them to buy you a head start in the hu⁠—”

“I know. It’s fine,” I interrupt him. It isn’t fine. Of course it isn’t fine. She told me that what happened between us meant nothing but I don’t think I can actually deal with all of this right now.

“There’s one more thing you should know,” Ivan says and then he looks at Matt as if to ask him to do the honours.

“Oh, right,” Matt says. “Yes.” He moves over to sit on the arm of my chair and slides his arm around me. “Umm…” he pauses for a moment. “So… Ari had kind of done a deal. A while back. A loan I suppose more than a deal. Yes, a loan is a better word, seeing as she needed to pay it back.”

“Get to the point, Matt,” I tell him. “Please,” I add softly. I don’t know how much more I can take.

“Right. Yes. So, Ari had this deal with a demon called Victor and she only had six months left to pay him back. But Andrei summoned Victor to offer to buy the debt for Ari.”

“Why would he do that?”

“He wants Ari to marry some family friend vampire called Benedict.”

“Ari hates him. I think they used to be a thing but⁠—”

Ivan interrupts me. “He’s a bastard. A narcissistic sadist.”

“Right,” I say. “So she’s hardly going to marry him, is she?” It’s a rhetorical question. But he answers anyway.

“Yes, she is.” He moves to crouch in front of me. “I know you two,” he motions to me and Matt, “don’t come from old vampire families so you might not know all the ins and outs. But vampire law has some quirks.” He shakes his head. “Actually quirks make then sound like harmless oddities like that whole ‘you can kill a Welshman with a crossbow fired from the walls of the castle after midnight on a full moon’ kind of thing you humans have. These old vampire rules aren’t quirks. They’re serious old-fashioned hangovers with significant impact.”

“Can you please get to the point?” I ask him.

“Sorry. So under vampire law both parties must agree to the union for it to be binding. You can’t be coerced into marriage.”

“Great. So Ari doesn’t have to marry him,” Matt says.

“That’s where the demon comes in. Andrei offered Victor a deal. He will buy the debt and offer Victor sanctuary from hell, in return for Ari becoming his ward.”