Page 113 of Only Fangs

“Um… Luca was here.” I say, my voice rising at the end of the sentence as if it’s almost a question. “With a sign. He says you should try on a white dress? What does that mean?”

She smiles this little private grin I’ve never seen her do before. “We went out for dinner the other night and I mentioned we were coming shopping.”

“Which doesn’t answer the question in the slightest,” Ivan tells her.

“Well, vampire dresses are always black.” She looks down as she says it, the disappointment clear in her voice. “But I always imagined myself getting married in white. But it’s silly. Just a dumb childish idea.”

“Do you want a white dress?” I ask gently.

She nods and bites her lip.

“And you told Luca this? And so now he’s here with a sign to say you should do it?”

She bites her lip harder.

“Oh. My. God!” Ivan trills, standing up in his excitement. “You like him. You actually fucking like him.”

“He’s…” Clara starts. “Well, he’s… He asks me things and listens to my answers and he’s kind of sweet.”

“Well, then,” I say. “We’d better try on some of those white dresses. You can’t go disappointing your husband-to-be.”

Ten minutes later she’s standing in front of us in a brilliant white gown with a sweeping skirt, a low cut back finished with a row of covered buttons, and a pearl beaded bodice. A sparkling tiara and cathedral length veil completes the ensemble.

She looks radiant.

“This one,” she says as she looks at herself in the mirror.

Laura hands a box of tissues to Ivan and he gratefully accepts one to blot his tears.

“You look stunning,” he whispers.

Clara is eventually persuaded to change out of the dress and back into her jeans. As we wait for her, I can’t stop myself from glancing at a dress on a mannequin in the corner, my eyes sliding towards the full skirt and sequin embroidery over the tulle. The overskirt is classic black, but the layers underneath are a dark grey and the effect is stunning. Coupled with a pleated corset style top and thin straps, it is the most beautiful dress in the whole world.

“That’s yours,” Ivan says and nudges me with his hip. “Brody will love it.”

I smile, but inside I’m thinking about the five months left on the clock for Brody to repay the debt to Victor. Will we get our own wedding one day or will it all end with Brody being dragged to hell for trying to help me?

Chapter 60

Brody

Only Fangs goes live at 9 a.m. on the 25th of June. It’s a Thursday. We’re hoping people will be bored at work and looking for a way to liven up the coming weekend.

Three thousand people registered in advance and so their profiles are available immediately for new members to search. By lunchtime another thousand have signed up and I can see evidence that messages are being exchanged, although obviously I can’t actually read what’s being said.

Ari hovers around me, a concerned look on her face.

“Sit down,” I tell her. “It’s all looking OK.” And it is. It really is.

“Who are they all?” she asks, chewing her lip.

I run some analytics on the results we’re getting from the initial questionnaire. “Well over seventy percent of users are human.”

“Seventy percent? That feels high. If there’s more humans than vampires then not everyone will match.”

“No. But some of these will be lookie-loos.”

“Lookie-loos?” she asks with a raised eyebrow.