CHAPTER 35 #3
They both nodded in confirmation as if Arwen was their new Cassia and got back into their car without another word.
Arwen hurried into the house, pushing the thoughts of them aside, and then closed and locked the door.
She dropped the dead woman’s purse on the kitchen counter, picked up all six of the remaining containers from the fridge, and returned to the hidden room, finding Iro lying down, having finished all four of the others.
“How are you?” she asked.
“God, you’re okay,” Iro said, relieved, and took Arwen’s hand the moment Arwen set the containers on the floor and sat on the bed.
“I’m fine. I saw a purse outside, so I brought it in because there’s a dead woman in our house, and I don’t need anyone wondering why her purse was right outside. I dragged them both inside, but they can’t stay there forever.”
“They’ll start to smell.”
“Yes, but not just that. If someone saw or heard something, the police could be here soon.”
“We need to get rid of the bodies,” Iro said. “But that woman deserves better than being buried in my backyard. I don’t even know her name.”
“I’ll check her ID. Maybe we can put her somewhere where she’ll be found. I don’t know. Is that too risky?”
“Probably. I bit her, Arwen.”
“Right,” she said. “DNA. But do they even have your DNA on file? You’re over three hundred years old and probably have, like, fifty identities, right?”
“We’ll figure it out later,” Iro said. “Can I have another one, please?”
Arwen lifted another container, and Iro drank from it greedily.
“We’ll need more,” Arwen noted. “Let me go call your guy and get some delivered.”
“Tomorrow. This will be enough for today. Here.” Iro held it out to her. “I know you’re hungry and craving it right now. I have human blood on me.”
“It can wait. I’ll be right back. I need to call Zara.”
“Zara? Why?”
“To make sure she’s okay. I don’t know if Cassia went to her before she came here. You and I were pretty busy there for a while, and I don’t regret that, but at the same time, sex probably wasn’t the best idea with Cassia out there, hating us both.”
“I thought she’d forgotten,” Iro replied.
“I know. Give me a minute, okay? I’ll be right back.”
“Of course. I’ll be here,” Iro said and took another drink.
Arwen left her there once again and went into the bedroom, where she quickly called Zara.
“Hey. What’s up?”
“Cassia’s dead.”
“What?”
“She showed up here and attacked Iro.”
“Is Iro okay?” Zara asked quickly.
“She should be, but it was a close call. Zara, I almost lost her.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’ve been a lot better, but we can talk more about that later. I needed to know if you were okay. I wasn’t sure if she went after you first or maybe sent someone.”
“No, I’m fine. What happened? Cassia’s really dead?”
“I killed her. Iro had this gun, and I shot her, but it did not kill her, so I picked up a knife and stabbed her. I… killed her.”
“Jesus, Arwen. You killed Cassia?”
“I had to. She was close to killing Iro, and she’d already killed a human outside to get in here without us smelling her first. Iro is really hurt, Zara.
It was bad. Her hand went blue, but I got her to eat to start the healing, and she’s eating more now.
I think she’ll be okay, but she can’t do much right now. I need help, Zara.”
“Anything, Arwen. Anything.”
“There’s now a dead human and a dead vampire in the house,” she said. “Alexia and Sarah showed up after, and they told me they wanted to get away from Cassia. I think I believe them, but can I trust them? I don’t know them or anyone else from Cassia’s world. You do.”
“They were turned by Gigi and Miranda, but they spent a little time with Cassia, too. I don’t know. They seemed fine to me. I think they kind of like each other for real, like they might have dated as humans.”
“They do. Or so they told me. I told them to go back to Cassia’s house and that you’d find them there. They seemed lost and actually listened to me for some reason. Maybe you three can help each other out or something.”
“Help each other? How?”
“I don’t know, Zara. I told you, they seemed lost.”
“Who isn’t?” Zara joked.
“Can you maybe get them back here and get rid of the bodies? That’s what I need right now.
I don’t care what you do to Cassia’s. You can burn her, for all I care.
The human she killed, though – she doesn’t deserve to go missing, never to be found.
Her family should know that she’s dead so she can have a proper burial. ”
“What do you want me to do, then? If she’s been in that house, there’s probably, like, evidence of that, right?”
“Can you clean her? Or do anything to get rid of any of the evidence, maybe? Iro had to bite her. She needed human blood, Zara. There was no choice.”
“Oh, shit… And I don’t know how to do that, but we can do something. Maybe we cremate her, too. That’s what I’m thinking for Cassia.”
“How will her family know what happened?”
“I’ve got an idea,” Zara replied. “Cassia has killed since she moved here, Arwen. There are at least four bodies in that backyard, including Miranda’s.
I’ll get Alexia, Sarah, and even Amy, if I can find her, to help dig her up.
We’ll burn her body and Cassia’s together and make sure that there’s nothing left.
Then, we’ll cremate this woman that Cassia killed today, but we leave evidence of her being in the house somehow.
Maybe something in the backyard, too. I don’t know.
I’ll figure it out. We can frame Cassia for it all. ”
“It’s not framing if she did it,” Arwen replied.
“No, but she’s dead, so she can’t defend herself or lie about it.”
“Are you sure this will work, Zara? I can’t have any of it coming back to us.
I don’t know how vampire DNA works, or if any of Iro’s will even come back to her, given how many times she’s had to be someone else over the past three centuries, but mine is going to be on that woman’s, too, and that can come back to us. ”
“We will have someone call in from a burner phone or something, saying that something has happened in the house, and the family will think that the woman was also killed by Cassia or someone else. There are no cameras in that house. No security. She didn’t think she needed it.
There’s no real record of any of us coming in and out of that place.
I think she even signed the lease under a different name.
She weirdly trusted me, Arwen. I’m not sure what I did to earn that when she didn’t even tell Iro about her ability. ”
“She probably thought she had nothing to worry about with you. In her mind, she’d saved you, and you wanted…”
“You,” Zara completed. “I wanted you and not to be sick, and I did terrible things.”
“We’ll have to talk about that later because I can’t deal with it right now, but Zara, there could be other cameras on these houses. This isn’t exactly my neighborhood. These are rich people with things to protect.”
“I’ll check that out, but those houses are so expensive, people don’t put cameras outside to mess with the historical beauty or whatever. I think I’ve seen only one down the block, and it was aimed the other way. I’ll double-check, though. I’ll protect you, Arwen. I didn’t before, but I will now.”
“And Iro, too, Zara? It has to be both of us.”
“Yes, Iro, too. I’ll be there as soon as I can, okay?”
“Thank you,” Arwen said before she hung up.
Then, she called the butcher next and asked for a delivery later that day, to be safe, and thought of something else. Back in the kitchen, she grabbed both the woman’s phone and Cassia’s and picked Iro’s up, too, on the way back into the hidden room.
“I don’t know what to do about these. Cassia’s probably won’t matter, since we’re going to destroy her body, but the woman… Her phone will show she was here last, right? It’s turned on.”
“I have a guy who can fix it.”
“A guy?”
“A vampire,” Iro corrected. “He’s the guy you call when you accidentally kill someone, and you need technology to put them or you someplace else. Where’s my phone?”
“Oh, here,” Arwen said and handed it to her.
“DeMarco, I need a favor,” Iro said after dialing and putting the phone to her ear.
Minutes later, the phone was on the floor, and Iro was working on her sixth container of blood. Arwen’s hands were on Iro’s skin, feeling the wounds that were slowly healing.
“I should get you a shirt. You’re half-naked in here.”
“I’m fine,” Iro said. “Will you come down here, though?”
“Lie next to you?” she asked.
“Yes,” Iro replied and set the container on the floor. “Please. I need to hold you.”
“I should be holding you,” Arwen corrected, but she moved to lie in the twin bed with her, letting Iro wrap her arms around her and pull her in close.
“I love you,” Iro said. “I am so sorry you had to see me do that.”
“What? Drink from a dead woman in order to survive?”
“I haven’t had human blood in a very long time, and I’m not proud of how I acted out there. I climbed on her, Arwen.”
“You needed it faster than you could get it from her wrist.” She placed her hand over Iro’s heart. “Are you okay? Are you worried you’ll want to go back to feeding on humans now?”
“A little. I think I’ll be okay, but it might be hard for a while. I’ll probably struggle, and when I struggle, I need to work out a lot and… sex helps, like I said before, but that doesn’t matter right now. Are you okay? I know you can smell it on me.”
“I can. And I’m embarrassed to say that it smells good, much better than the other stuff you drink, but I’m trying not to think about that.”
“Let’s both not think of it, then.”
“Iro?”
“Yes?”
“Are you okay? I… I killed Cassia.”
“Of course, I am. You saved my life.”
“It’s just that you didn’t kill her the other day. I know there were other vampires there, and then I showed up, but you didn’t. You used your ability on her instead. Three hundred years, and you never tried to stop her. I guess I’m wondering if you’re–”