CHAPTER 27
Zara
Zara rushed to Iro, knowing she couldn’t stop Cassia and all the people in that house on her own but hoping that Iro could talk some sense into her and keep Arwen safe.
She took her chance at the café, when Cassia had asked for the check, but she hadn’t paid attention to much else other than Cassia and Arwen since being turned.
As a result, when she looked down at her gas gauge, she noticed it was on empty, and her gas light was on.
“Fuck,” she said.
She thought she could still make it if she didn’t hit any traffic, but DC was full of traffic, and it didn’t take a break for the weekend.
Tourists flocked to crosswalks, not always paying attention to streetlights, and she nearly hit a woman and her two kids as they walked slowly, looking around at the buildings they were heading toward instead of for the cars on the road.
Zara yelled at them and got stuck at the next light.
She had to make a decision. There was only a mile left to Iro’s house if she walked and cut through alleyways and streets.
Her car appeared to be sputtering and running on fumes, so she found a parking garage, took a ticket, parked her old car in the first spot she saw, and ran.
She ran as fast as she could in her ballet flats until she took them off and ran barefoot the rest of the way.
When she arrived at Iro’s door, she knocked hard and yelled.
“Iro! Iro!”
Nothing. She had to be home, though. Arwen had told her that they were meeting here after Zara and she had coffee, so Iro had to be there.
If she wasn’t, Zara didn’t know what to do.
She’d spied on Iro and Arwen here, yes, but she didn’t know where Iro worked or where else she might be.
She supposed she could try the corner store, but that would be a stretch, and she didn’t have time to go anywhere else.
“Iro!” She pounded on the door. “Come on. Be here.”
The door swung open then.
“Oh, thank God,” Zara added.
“Zara?”
“I need to… come in.”
Iro moved aside, and Zara hurried in through the door without further invitation.
“What is going on? Are you okay?”
“No, I’m not okay. I… have to… talk to you.”
“Why? And how did you know where I live? Did Arwen tell you?”
“No, I’ve been… spying on you both… for Cassia.”
“What? How do you know that name?”
Still catching her breath, Zara sat on the sofa, not waiting to be offered to do so, and said, “Iro, Cassia has Arwen.”
“Arwen was just here.”
“She was?” Zara asked.
“Yes. She just ended things with me, actually, and I was drinking my sorrows away when you started beating down my door.”
“Arwen ended things? Why would she do that?”
“She… said she doesn’t want me.”
“But she’s in love with you,” Zara said.
“Apparently not.”
Iro sat down next to her and picked up a glass of what Zara guessed was bourbon.
“Arwen was just here? Like, when, exactly?”
“Right before you. She left about five minutes ago, maybe. Zara, how do you know Cassia?”
“Cassia found me one night, and we…”
“Oh.” Iro sipped her bourbon. “Of course.”
“Iro, I know.”
“Know what?” Iro asked, and Zara watched her breathe in a moment later. “When did she turn you?”
“The night you went on your first date with Arwen.”
“She killed you? God, Zara, I am so sorry. This is all my fault.”
“I asked for this,” Zara revealed.
“We all ask her for it. But it’s never really our choice, is it?”
“I have more to say, Iro.” She took a deep breath.
“I’m in love with Arwen. I have been for years.
That night you two met, I had just been diagnosed with cancer and was about to confess my feelings to her.
I knew it was selfish of me, but I was going to do it anyway.
Then, you showed up, and it was like all she could see was you. ”
“Cancer?”
“It’s gone now, obviously. It’s the reason I chose this. I told Cassia that I would keep an eye on you two because she wants you back, and she said if you went with her, I’d have a chance with Arwen. But I never really did, did I? The moment she laid eyes on you, it was all over for me.”
“Not anymore. She knows what I am.”
“What?”
“Arwen knows I’m a vampire. Cassia found her at the café after you left, I guess, and told her everything. Well, she told her lies, but Arwen didn’t believe me, so it’s over now.”
“Arwen went to the bathroom, and Cassia took her, Iro. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. If she was here, it was because Cassia forced her to–” Zara stopped herself. “I can’t believe I didn’t think about this… God, I’m so stupid… Iro, Cassia can shape-shift.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’ve seen her become a whole different person. She’s become me. I’ve watched her become Arwen, and it’s not just the body; the voice is real, too. If I hadn’t seen it for myself, I would’ve thought she were Arwen.”
“Cassia can’t shape-shift. She would have told me. Very few vampires have abilities.”
“I know. She told me that, too. But, Iro, I saw it. Hell, I… Well, I fucked her as…”
“You pretended she was Arwen?”
“Being a vampire is confusing. I was in pain and heartbroken, and she manipulated me, but, Iro, I never wanted to hurt Arwen. Cassia promised me she wouldn’t hurt her. She promised me that we could–”
“Be together? She told you that she wanted me back and that you could have Arwen? Fuck! Cassia has Arwen.” Iro gripped the glass too tightly, and it broke in her hand.
“She came here and pretended to be–” Iro stood.
“How did I not see it? I told her I loved her for the first time, and her face… I told her I didn’t love Cassia anymore.
” Iro moved around the coffee table. “Fuck! When I told her about Mary, she didn’t even say anything.
God, I should have known… That wasn’t my Arwen. ”
“You didn’t know Cassia could shift into other people.”
“No, but still. The way she walked was off, but I didn’t think anything of it. Where is she, Zara?”
“I assume Cassia has her at the house.”
“What house? I don’t know where Cassia is.”
“I’ll take you there.”
“No, you’ll stay here.” Iro pointed at her.
“I can help you. Let me help you.”
“You’re the reason Arwen is in danger right now. I can’t trust you, Zara. Did you plan this with Cassia? To get Arwen away from me so she could kidnap her? God, what were you thinking?”
“No, Iro. I had no idea this was going to happen. Cassia suggested that I talk to Arwen, yes, but only to keep a closer eye on you two. That’s what she told me. If you don’t want me to go, fine. I understand. I will give you the address. But, Iro, she’s not alone. She’s never alone.”
“Trust me, I know that. Cassia can’t be alone. It’s not in her nature.”
“She wants to turn her, Iro.”
“I’m sure she does. She thinks that she’ll have me all to herself if Arwen blames me for it and that she could give her to you like she’s some sort of toy.”
“At first, she said she wouldn’t hurt Arwen because she knew you’d be angry. I don’t know why she’d do this now.”
“Because she knows I’m not in love with her anymore, and she can’t stand that I’ve found the woman I want to be with. I have to go, Zara. I need to find Arwen now.”
Zara pulled her phone out of her pocket and said, “Give me your number. I’ll drop a pin for you. She’s probably got Miranda and Gigi there with her, at least, if not three or four more vampires. There are a few humans, too.”
“Her blood bags,” Iro muttered before she told Zara her phone number.
“There,” Zara said after sending her the location.
“Zara, do not leave this house. If you do, I’ll find you, and if Arwen doesn’t come out of this, I will–”
“I know,” she said. “I won’t go anywhere.”
“If I don’t come back from this, and Arwen… If she’s already… I need you to get her away from Cassia. Can you do that for me?”
“Yes,” Zara answered.
“You love her?”
“Yes,” she repeated.
“Then, promise me you’ll take care of her if I can’t.”
Zara swallowed and said, “I promise.”
Iro nodded and said, “Stay here. I’ll be back, or I won’t, but don’t run, Zara. If it’s not me, Cassia likes the chase when it’s something or someone she really wants, and it would be worse for you if you run.”
Zara watched Iro head to the back door after grabbing something Zara couldn’t see from a bottom drawer in a table next to it.
Then, she was gone, and Zara didn’t know what to do.
She stood. She paced. She checked her phone repeatedly for a message from Arwen or even Cassia.
She had no idea how long she should wait for Iro to return, hopefully with an unharmed and unchanged Arwen.
She sat down on the sofa again and looked around the room.
Anxious, she rose again, deciding to look around some more, and when she went to Iro’s bedroom, she smelled it.
She smelled their sex and saw the unmade bed, a bra hanging over a chair, and a shirt on a dresser.
There was a bag on the floor that she knew belonged to Arwen.
They’d made love. Arwen had told her as much when they’d met for coffee.
Zara had tried to cover her disappointment at the news, but Arwen was in love, and she was happy, so Zara had decided that she had to be good with that. Then, Cassia had appeared.
As if on cue, her phone rang, and it was Cassia.
“Shit,” she muttered, not knowing what to do.
Should she answer it? Should she leave it? She remembered what Iro had said about not running and decided to pick up the phone. She had to confront her problems head-on, right? It was about time she did, anyway.
“Hello?”
“Oh, Zara… What a mistake you’ve made, my dear.”
“You’re the one who made the mistake. You took her. Why would you do that?”
“I told you, I got impatient. Now, somehow, I made it to Iro’s house before you because she believed me. I assume you’re with her now?”
“I’m not with Iro.”
“You’re not, are you?”
“My car ran out of gas. I was going to your house to get Arwen from Gigi, but I hadn’t filled up all week. It’s in a stupid parking garage right now, and I got on the train to try to get there.”
“Interesting. You’re not there now.”
“No, I’m not because… I realized…” Zara walked into the bathroom and looked around. “I realized, while I was on the train that…” she faded out, even though she knew her lie, but she had to sell it for Cassia to believe it.
“You want me to turn her,” Cassia finished for her.
“Yes,” she lied.
“Because you finally see what I’m doing for you, Zara. I’m getting Arwen ready for you. Trust me, I’ll take care of this, sweetheart. Come home, Zara.”
“I can’t. I…”
“You’re stalling, aren’t you?”
Zara walked into the closet and saw the expensive suits. Then, she looked down at the one she was wearing and remembered that Cassia had picked it out for her. She lowered her head in shame.
“Cassia, I don’t know what to do right now. You have turned my whole life upside down, and I’m so confused.”
Zara looked up and saw something that looked strange. It was a button or something that was the same color as the wall it was on.
“Zara, I wish I could give you time, dear, but I simply cannot. I need to see you to know for sure that you’re on my side here and that you really understand your purpose in all this.”
“I will be there soon, then. I just need to get back on a train.”
“No need. I sent Gigi,” Cassia replied. “She actually got there right when you did and saw you walk inside Iro’s house.” Cassia laughed. “Lying does not suit you, dear Zara.”
Zara turned around, as if Gigi was standing right there.
“Tell Iro I’ll be seeing her very soon, Zara.”
Zara felt a glimmer of hope because, it appeared, Cassia didn’t know that Iro had left.
Iro had left out the back door, so Gigi must be out front, where Zara had entered, and she hadn’t reported to Cassia that Iro had left because she didn’t know.
Iro still had the element of surprise, then. That was all that mattered right now.
“What is Gigi going to–”
“Well, she has my permission to do whatever she has to do to get Iro to me and to take care of you. She gets to determine what that means. And, Zara, unlike you, Gigi is perfectly loyal.”
Zara heard glass break then.
“Ah, I hear her now,” Cassia added. “I’d say good luck, but I wouldn’t mean it. I do hope Gigi has fun with you. She deserves it. You, however, deserve whatever she’s about to do with you.”
Zara looked around the closet and thought about closing the door, but Gigi would only open it and find her there.
She hung up the phone to the sound of Cassia’s laughter and tried to find somewhere inside the closet to hide.
Then, on accident, more than actual plan, she hit the small circle, and it pressed inward.
“Iro, where are you? Cassia awaits you. I’m not here for you!” Gigi yelled throughout the house. “Zara, what does it feel like to no longer be special?”
A door opened, and Zara realized that there was a room there.
She turned to see that Gigi wasn’t at the closet yet, so she walked inside and did her best to use some of the hanging clothes to hide where the button would be once the door closed.
She then pressed a corresponding button on the inside, and the door closed, leaving her in the dark.
There was a bed in the room, so she moved behind it and ducked to the floor, waiting in case Gigi found the room.
Her eyes aimed at where that door would open, and she did her best to hold her breath, not knowing if Gigi would be able to hear it, her heart, or even smell her through the door in front of her.
When her eyes finally adjusted, she noticed that the wall was covered in those panels people used to help dampen the sound.
She tried to listen for Gigi and couldn’t hear her.
Then again, Gigi might be more practiced than her, so she couldn’t know for sure if she was safe.
Zara then tried to smell Gigi, knowing her scent all too well by now, but she couldn’t.
She stayed crouched behind the small bed that Iro obviously used when she needed to spend time out of the sun and was grateful that Iro had it because this room might just save her life.