Page 94 of Only Fangs

“Ward? What century are we in?” Matt asks. But I stay silent. These past few weeks, as I’ve got to know Ari and her friends, I’ve realised just how archaic some elements of vampire culture are.

“If Andrei becomes Ari’s ward, then he can give permission for the marriage on her behalf,” I say quietly. Everything suddenly clicks into place.

“Yes,” Ivan confirms. “We need to find a way to fix this.”

“When?” I ask, trying not to think about the love of my life marrying someone else. Someone brutal and abusive.

“We have a year.”

I can’t sleep and so I find myself sitting on the balcony, cross legged on the floor staring through the railings at the street below. Suddenly Ivan is by my side as if he’s just appeared out of thin air and I jump.

“Sorry,” he whispers.

“It’s alright,” I whisper back.

“You OK?”

“No.”

“Why are we whispering?”

I shrug. “Because it’s dark out here.” I always whisper in the dark, it feels weird to talk at full volume, like you might wake the monsters hiding in the shadows. Ha. I’m literally sitting next to a vampire.

“Do you want to talk?” Ivan asks.

“I do have a question,” I reply.

“Shoot.”

“Can a human make a deal with this Victor?”

“Humans don’t make deals with demons.”

“Don’t?” I ask. “Or can’t?”

He stares at me for a few moments. He’s obviously trying to work out if he should tell me the truth.

“Just be honest,” I tell him.

Ivan closes his eyes for a few seconds and then opens them. “Fine,” he acquiesces, following it with a deep sigh. “Humans don’t make deals with demons.”

“But they can?”

“Technically.”

“Which means?”

“It means that you’d be a fucking idiot to even contemplate it, OK? And I don’t mean an idiot like it would be kind of a mistake but it could all work out in the end. I mean totally fucking stupid. Like you couldn’t come back from it kind of stupidity.”

“What are the terms?”

Ivan stands up and begins to pace the length of the balcony, running his hand periodically through his hair until it sticks up at crazy angles. eventually he stops and turns to face me. He’s no longer even trying to conceal the look of horror on his face. “What is worse than death?” he asks.

“Umm…” I need a moment to think about the answer here. It’s not a question that really means anything to a vampire, given the whole immortality thing. And I need to ensure I don’t insult him too badly, because let’s be honest, the idea of living forever is fundamentally horrifying. “Ummm…”

“I know you’re thinking it’s never dying,” he says. “And you’re right. But there’s something even worse than that.”

“I don’t know…” I trail off.