CHAPTER 20
Cassia
“Where do we go from here?” Zara asked her as they lay side by side on the floor next to the fireplace.
“Well, we can go up to my bedroom or see what Gigi and Miranda are doing; unless you want me to take care of you right here.”
Cassia rolled onto her side and ran a finger up Zara’s stomach, between her breasts, and back down again.
“Every time I think I can’t go again, something happens, and I’m craving it,” Zara shared.
“Yes. And isn’t that delightful?” she asked.
“You could have been at your boring desk job right now, or at some bar, trying to get a woman to buy you a drink. Or, maybe, you’d try to buy one for her.
How horribly dull. How many nights did you actually get to take a woman home and pull every last drop of pleasure from her body how we can?
Most of the time, you lost and went home empty-handed, and, on the occasions you won, you probably had boring, human sex.
One orgasm. Maybe two. Rarely more than that.
And it was off to work you went the next morning. ”
“I can count on one hand my number of sexual partners, and I’m forty years old and have never been married.”
“Not anymore.” Cassia smirked at her. “You have had nearly a full hand’s worth of sexual partners since I turned you into a vampire. Now, tell me the truth. You love it; you love being free with me.”
“I do,” Zara said. “But I’m still worried.”
“About what, dear? When I get Iro back, you and the girls will move out. That’s the deal I made with her long ago. I have other homes around the world, though. You can have your pick. I will even buy you one somewhere if you’d like. Where have you traveled?”
“Nowhere. I’ve never left the East Coast.”
“Well, that won’t work. When Iro returns, you can take Arwen wherever you’d like.”
“Arwen won’t want to come with me. I’d need to stay here and help her get over her broken heart,” Zara replied with disdain in her tone.
Cassia chuckled and said, “At first, perhaps. But then, you can sweep her off her feet and take her wherever you’d like to go.
I have contacts everywhere. I’ve been at this for a while now.
You will have a very nice, long, immortal life with the woman you love.
I repay loyalty, Zara. Let that be known. ”
“I am loyal to you, but, Cassia, I saw them. I have seen them a few times now. It’s like they’re drawn together. It’s as if nothing will pull them apart.”
“Nonsense. Iro is just infatuated with a human. It has happened before, and it’ll happen again, but she’s not in love. She’s only ever really been in love with me. Even that Mary woman I’ve told you about was more delusion than actual love.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because it couldn’t have been love. Mary chose a husband.
Had she really loved Iro, she would’ve given up everything to be with her.
Had Iro loved her, she would’ve insisted that Mary flee with her.
She would’ve taken her, if she had to, found a place in the middle of the woods, and told Mary that that was their home now. ”
“But it was the sixteen-hundreds, right? I can imagine something like that would’ve taken a lot of courage. Maybe it wasn’t a love thing, but a fear thing.”
“You conquer fear if you’re in love, Zara; if the love is true.”
Zara nodded.
“You’re afraid that Arwen does not or will not return your affections, correct?” Cassia asked her.
“Yes.”
“But here you are, pushing that fear out of your mind, helping me achieve my goals of getting Iro back and no longer hiding in the shadows when we should be ruling the world. You’re undoubtedly even a little afraid of me, no? By now, you know I have no issue killing anyone, vampire or human.”
“Yes,” Zara confirmed.
“And you know that if you weren’t loyal, which I know you are, that I would have to do something about that.
” She poked her in the nose and smiled at her.
“But that won’t be an issue for you and me, Zara, because we’ll be honest with one another.
We both have common interests: we both want the ones we love. Nothing else matters.”
Zara nodded again.
“Now, I told you before that I wanted to tell you everything. Before I do, I need to know that I can trust you, Zara. Are you in this with me? Really in this? You’ll see it to the end with me?
I’ll have Iro. You’ll have Arwen. You can run off with her and happily never work another day in your lives; make love on the most beautiful private beaches in the world; live on a massive estate with people willing to serve you in any way that you wish. I’ll see to it.”
“I want that,” Zara replied.
“Excellent,” Cassia stated and climbed on top of Zara, straddling her hips. “Have you given any thought to how life began, darling?”
“Human life? You mean evolution?”
Cassia just laughed and squeezed Zara’s breasts. They weren’t Iro’s small and firm breasts that fit perfectly in her hands, but they would do.
“Humans and your binary views on things… Everyone seems to think that it’s either science or religion; that one has it right, and the other is wrong. That’s not true, and it’s a silly way of looking at things, Zara. It can be both. Or, it could be neither, I suppose.”
“Okay?”
“You can have humans made by an all-knowing deity and have them evolving as well.”
“I don’t–”
“Have you read your Bible, Zara?”
“Not recently?” Zara asked more than said.
“Well, I’m sure you know your Adam and Eve, at least.”
“Yes. Why?”
Cassia held out her hand and said, “Hello, dear Zara. I’m Eve.”
When Zara’s eyes went wide, Cassia laughed.
She had no idea what possessed her to tell this woman her most well-kept secret.
She’d never told Iro because it hadn’t mattered.
Cassia had lived for millennia by the time she’d met Iro, and she had changed her name and her history so many times that there didn’t seem to be a point in confessing that she was the one they talked about being tempted by a serpent and ruining her home, Eden, for everyone else.
“You’re joking.”
“No, I’m not.”
“You’re not Eve from the Bible.”
“Well, I’m Eve, even though later, a bunch of men got together and wrote the Bible. Deciding I was evil, they made up a whole story to blame me. Men…” She rolled her eyes. “Would you like the real story?”
“I…”
“Great. Now, bear with me here; I’ve never actually told anyone this.
Oh, this is exciting!” Cassia clapped a few times.
“The story is not what the Bible tells you. The first thing I remember is waking up, and it was all very confusing. I was naked, on the ground in the dirt, and there was a boy next to me. We were what we now call teenagers already – not children, but not yet adults, either. We woke up not in a garden paradise, like the story says. It was a harsh jungle where animals tried to hunt us, and we had to learn how to hunt them instead. I remember noticing right away that he looked different from me, and he seemed to enjoy how I looked. One night, he came upon me, wanting something I didn’t want to provide.
I fought him off me and ran. You have to remember, we had no voices at first; those came later.
But we were hungry, and we had to hunt and forage to survive.
When we could finally talk, he found me, and we knew we needed each other to make it out there.
We had no idea where we were, who we were, what we were supposed to be doing; nothing.
We only knew that when we didn’t eat, we got weak and sick, and when we didn’t drink, the same.
One day, years later, we ran out of food.
There were no more animals to kill, very few plants that didn’t make us sick when we tried to eat them, and the boy you know as Adam found a snake in a tree.
We had never seen a snake before, but something told me that we shouldn’t touch it.
I can’t explain it. Maybe it was your God or something, but there was a voice inside my head saying no, and I was not tempted, Zara.
” Cassia took a deep breath. “I did not touch the snake. Adam did. And when he did – when he killed it – immediately he became a snake himself. He took on the characteristics of the beast. I ran. He caught up to me, and he drank my blood. He feasted on me as any vampire would, and he made me drink his blood after, as if he knew something I didn’t know.
Maybe he did; maybe another voice told him something different than the one in my head. ”
“You’re the first vampire?”
“Technically, he was, but he didn’t last long.”
“What do you mean?” Zara asked.
“He tried time and again to get what he wanted from me, and I didn’t plan on giving it to him before or after he made me a vampire, so I killed him, and I remained alone for centuries.
I wandered far and wide until I finally saw humans for the first time.
I was surviving on animals I found until then, and eventually, I began making people in my image. ”
“So, all vampires descend from you?”
“Yes,” she replied. “Although it’s only when I make you myself that I taste so sweet.
” She smiled down at Zara. “And smell so sweet.” She rolled her hips.
“Zara, I tell you this now because I want you to understand that I wasn’t born this way.
I was a teenage girl first, lost in a jungle with a teenage boy I didn’t know.
The God humans worship either dropped us there, or he didn’t – I don’t know of my exact creator – but I was made into a vampire by someone who was truly evil.
I have killed, yes – sometimes, because I wanted to, with no thought to the person I’m killing – but if you were me…
If you’d lived this long and watched the world recreate itself time and again, would you not be frustrated? Would you not need release?”
“Release?”
“Humans are destroying this planet. Everyone knows it. You even work for an environmental attorney. Vampires don’t cause nearly as many problems as humans.”
“So, you’re suggesting ending human life?” Zara asked.
“No. I’m not stupid; I need them to survive.
We all do. All I’m saying is that I want vampires to be the ones making decisions from now on.
I am so tired of letting humans run things.
Look what they’ve done so far: war, famine, climate crisis.
And nothing ever changes. It all just repeats itself time and again.
Vampires offer perspective. We see things differently because we’ve lived longer, and we’ll continue on after the current generations of humans die out.
Besides, I’m tired of humans being Iro’s focus when she could be focused on our life together.
These deals she makes, the land she buys, the companies she invests in…
What’s even the point? She’s going to live forever.
She needs none of it. And I have what she needs.
I have more than enough money, land, property, women; anything she could possibly want.
She only needs me and our life together. That’s all.”
“I don’t want to upset you… I just want to know. What will you do if she decides to stay away? With Arwen or not.”
Cassia didn’t want to entertain this thought, so she decided not to.
“I told you, love conquers fear, Zara,” she said. “Now, you know my secret. Will you tell anyone?”
“No. And no one would believe me even if I did,” Zara replied, gripping Cassia’s hips firmly.
“You’re ready again?”
“I shouldn’t be. I should check on Amy. She’s my fault.”
Cassia smiled down at her. Her plan to make Zara feel the guilt of turning a human accidentally had paid off. All of her plans were finally starting to pay off, and she couldn’t wait to have Iro back in her bed and be back in Florence, where they could return to the life Cassia wanted for them.
“You may go speak with her. I’ll be in my room. Come in whenever you’d like.” She stood. “But, Zara?”
“Yes?”
“Gigi and Miranda have to share a bedroom. We now have more humans than I can deal with in this space. Then, there’s Sarah, Alexia, and now, Amy.
I want you to move in here until Iro moves back, but I’ll need another rental to fit everyone I want to keep close.
You know the area better than I do. Would you be able to find me one? ”
“Another place like this?”
“Yes, of course. I only want the best for my people.”
Zara sat up and said, “My apartment is tiny, and I didn’t even have to make an appointment to see it. I don’t know how to handle something like this.”
“Oh, very well.” Cassia waved her off. “I’ll have someone else do it for me.
Close by, though, so that we can easily go back and forth.
I will give it to you and Amy for the first couple of weeks, at least, so you two can bond.
Then, I will have some new people join you.
When you’re ready to leave with Arwen, you let me know, and I’ll give you a list of where you two can go. Does that sound acceptable?”
“Yes,” Zara said.
“Excellent. Now, would you like something to eat? You worked up quite a sweat.” Cassia snapped her fingers, and the human from before entered the room. “Dear, how are you feeling? Did you drink that juice after, like I told you?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“And would you like Zara to taste you again?”
“God, yes,” the woman replied.
Cassia looked her over and said, “Take off your clothes and let her make you come.”
The woman nodded.
“You don’t have to,” Zara said.
The woman pulled off her shirt and said, “I want to.”
“Are you sure? We don’t–”
“Zara, trust me.” Cassia undid the woman’s button and zipper.
“She’s sure. And there are ten more I can call for you whenever you need, who’d die to be fucked by you.
” Cassia straddled Zara once more before she leaned down, cupped her cheeks, and kissed her.
“You will be my right hand. I’ll see to it that you have everything you want. ”
“What about Gigi and–”
“They serve a different purpose, which I need to go see them about now, darling.” She kissed Zara again, leaned into her ear, and whispered, “When you’re done drinking her, if you want, you can turn her.
I’ll leave that up to you. But until Amy is ready for everything you want, she will surely be a nice bonus, won’t she? ”
Zara turned her head to look at the naked woman and said, “Yes.”
“Have fun, sweetheart.”
Cassia patted Zara’s cheek, stood up, and walked away. When her feet hit the stairs, she turned around and saw Zara on top of the human, her fangs bared, ready to dig into flesh.
“Perfect,” she mumbled to herself as she watched Zara devour the woman.