CHAPTER 35
Arwen
Naked, Arwen stood in front of the fridge, pulled out some vegan cheese that Iro had obviously bought just for her, and turned to Iro, who had crackers in her hand.
“They’re vegan, too.”
“Not in bed,” Arwen said.
“We can eat out here, then,” Iro replied.
Arwen sighed.
“What?” Iro asked as she took the cheese from her and moved to the counter.
“You’re naked, and you’re beautiful, and I do not know how I can possibly still want more, but you’re right… It’s just there all the time, isn’t it? Maybe I should move in here. If I have to go ten hours a day without us touching, I’m going to want it the moment I’m out of that office.”
“Music to my ears, love,” Iro told her and pulled a plate from a cabinet.
“And you know I was serious, right? It’s not just because we could do that when you get home.
I want to make a home with you. It’s strange because, as vampires, we live forever, but in many ways, we still rush like humans.
In some ways, it’s worse, and we rush more because we know we can only stay somewhere for so long.
Ten or maybe fifteen years before we have to move on, depending on how old we are.
Zara, for instance, is forty, so she can pass for older or younger with ease.
She could probably stay here for fifteen years if she wanted to.
You could maybe get by with ten. I’m around five to seven, but I can push it to ten if I’m careful.
We have to do so much in the time we have wherever we are, so we rush, even though we’ve got all the time in the world.
I suppose that’s one of the reasons I fell for you so fast. The moment I saw you in that bar, it was like the clock on our time together started to tick away, and I didn’t want to waste a minute of it. ”
“Only five to seven years?” Arwen asked.
“I died when I was thirty-one, so I still look like I’m in my twenties. It’s a stretch to look forty, so I have to be careful,” Iro replied and plated them some cheese and crackers.
“So, my parents will start asking questions in about ten years?”
“Yes. Although, with parents, it might be even sooner. They’ve watched you grow and change your whole life,” Iro replied.
“What do I do, then?”
“It will be up to you. Your choice. You can tell them, or you can let them believe that their genes were very kind to you and wait for them to pass without knowing.”
“They’re old,” she shared. “Not ancient or anything, but my mom was thirty-eight when she had me. They’d tried to get pregnant for years and couldn’t. They’d given up finally when she found out. My dad is nine years older than her. Do I tell them or not?”
“Again, that will be up to you, but that’s not something you have to decide today, Arwen.
They won’t notice anything for a while, and there’s a benefit nowadays to not always living right down the street from your parents: they notice less.
They don’t see you as often, so when they do, and they comment about how good you look, you can tell them that it’s your amazing skin care routine, that your vegan diet keeps you healthy, or that you started working out more.
You’d be surprised how much that gets you.
People will believe the lies you tell them until you can’t really get away with it anymore. Your dad is, let’s say, eighty-two?”
“He just turned eighty-three.”
“Okay. Well, we both know that he probably has about ten years left, depending on his health. You will likely never have to worry about telling him. Your mom is younger, and women generally live longer, so that might get a little tricky, but the older she gets, the less she’ll notice.
We’ll just worry about that when the time comes, okay? ”
Arwen nodded and said, “It’s a strange thing to think about.”
“Yes, it is. I never really had to deal with that myself, but I know many vampires who have. My sisters were all gone not long after I turned. People didn’t live all that long back then, especially the poor people.
My father died, too. We ran shortly after I was turned, but I went back for a brief visit.
I was just to check in, and I found out what happened.
Cassia never knew.” Iro shook her head. “It doesn’t matter now.
In any event, none of them ever had to know about me. ”
“I haven’t thought to ask this… Did your sisters have any kids?”
Iro nodded and moved to her, pressing her gently back against the fridge.
“Yes.”
“Do you have family still alive out there?”
“Yes,” Iro answered and slipped a thigh between hers.
“Are you trying to avoid telling me more for some reason?”
“No, but you forget that I’ve got the same problem as you, sweetheart.”
“Oh, I see. Again?”
“Always,” Iro replied.
Then, the doorbell rang.
“Who is that?” Arwen asked.
“I don’t know. Let me put on a robe or something and check.” Iro moved away from her and took her hand. “You should get dressed, too. It could be Zara.”
“And you don’t want her to see me naked?” she asked through a giggle.
“No, I do not. But I don’t want anyone to see you naked. No one but me.”
While Iro quickly put on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, the bell rang again.
“I’ll be right back,” Iro added.
“I’ll go with you,” she replied, finishing slipping into a pair of borrowed sweatpants and another one of Iro’s shirts.
“No, just stay here. It might be a package. If it’s Zara, I will yell for you. I have a vested interest in keeping you in this bedroom.” She winked.
Arwen smiled and sat down on the end of the bed. She waited for a few seconds and then focused and listened to test her new ears, hearing Iro opening the door.
“What are you doing here?” Iro asked with a strained voice, and Arwen stood.
“I know I used this human to cover up my scent, but I still thought you were better than that, my love.”
Cassia. It was Cassia’s voice. Arwen didn’t know what to do. She heard something snap.
“Cassia!” Iro cried out.
“You think you can just steal my memories? My memories! I am the oldest being on this planet and the first real vampire after I killed the snake that turned me into one, and you think you can take what is rightfully mine? My memories of you? Of us? Of my plan to get what I want?”
Iro yelled out in pain.
“I know she’s here. I smelled her from down the street. I am stronger than you, Iro. I have always been stronger than you.”
“Arwen, run!” Iro yelled.
“Yes, Arwen, run! I love a good chase! I will find you!” Cassia yelled. “It won’t take long, and it’ll be easy. You’ll be drawn to me because I made you, just like I made Iro here, and I will make you mine. I’ll make you mine the way I made Iro mine all those years ago.”
Iro yelled again and said, “Cassia, listen to the sound of my–”
“Not going to work a second time,” Cassia stated.
Arwen couldn’t run. Her head was on a swivel.
There was the hidden room in the closet, and she might be able to make it in there, but Cassia could still undoubtedly find her.
Then, she saw it, so she moved as quietly as she could to the table, picked it up, and hoped she could do this.
She moved from the bedroom, down the hall, listening to Cassia yelling at Iro and Iro crying out in pain.
Arwen almost couldn’t take it, but she couldn’t lose her.
She couldn’t lose Iro now that she’d have an eternity without her.
She made it into the kitchen and used a yell from Iro to cover her step around a corner, getting to where she needed to be.
Iro was on the floor in the foyer. The front door was open.
Arwen couldn’t tell if anyone could see what was going on inside from the sidewalk, but Cassia was kneeling over Iro, stabbing her with a knife.
“I want you to suffer before I kill you for your betrayal. I’m going to take your Arwen; you should know that.
Hear that before you die, Iro. And when I tell you that I’m going to make her mine, that means I will torture her first. I’ll get her to understand how much you and I loved each other once.
I will hurt her in every imaginable way before I finally claim her.
And the best part is that by then, she’ll want me. She’ll want me to claim her.”
“I will never want you!” Arwen yelled.
She’d done it on purpose. She had needed Cassia to look up, and when she did, Arwen aimed and quickly fired.
Cassia fell back a little, and Arwen was on the move then.
She took the knife from Cassia’s now-outstretched hand and shoved it into her chest, giving Iro time to slide a bit on her back, out of Cassia’s grasp.
“Arwen, run,” she repeated softly because she was in noticeable pain.
But Arwen was still looking down at Cassia’s face, which showed shock. She probably couldn’t believe that someone like Arwen would attempt something like this against her, but Cassia hadn’t ever met someone like Arwen. She had no idea what Arwen would do for the woman she loved.
“No one has ever wanted you,” she said and pressed on the knife a little harder.
Slowly, Cassia’s body turned a pale shade of blue, and she fell back against the broken window next to the door.
“Oh, my God,” Iro said.
“What do I do?” Arwen asked, standing over a vampire, who, she was pretty sure, was dead, and her injured lover.
“There’s a human outside. Cassia killed her. Bring her inside and close the door,” Iro told her, barely able to stand. “God, she covered her scent by… killing someone.”
Quickly, Arwen dragged the woman whom Cassia had killed into the house and slammed the door shut, locking it right after.
“I should… have known,” Iro managed out.
“Iro, what do I do? How do I help you?” she asked and moved to Iro’s side, taking her hand.
“I need darkness and blood.”
“Okay. I’ll get you inside that room. God, how many times did she stab you, Iro?”