“So, she kidnapped me?”

  “Yes. And I will never forgive myself for not protecting you, Arwen. I thought if you were here with me, you’d be safe. I–”

  “Is that why you wanted to put in an alarm at my apartment?”

  “At first, it was just precautionary. I didn’t believe Cassia would harm you. But there was something else I didn’t know, and I have to tell you that next.”

  “What? God, I’m not sure I can take much more than you’re a vampire, Iro.”

  “Zara, Arwen.”

  “You said she was safe.”

  “She is, love. She’s safe at my office. She’s hidden there where no one will find her, but Zara met Cassia, too, Arwen.”

  “Met her how?”

  “Cassia found her, and she used her to spy on us. Zara reported back on–”

  “Zara wouldn’t ever–”

  “She turned Zara, sweetheart. Cassia made her a vampire. Zara can tell you the rest herself, but she had her reasons.”

  “For spying on me and reporting back to your ex?”

  “Yes. I am not one to defend her actions, but she does have a story to tell you herself when you’re ready.”

  “I need to talk to her now. How can she defend–”

  “Arwen, what do you remember after you were taken?”

  “Being in a house and Cassia talking to me.”

  “And?”

  “And she–” Even though it had hit her all at once a few minutes ago, she hadn’t been able to process it right away like she was processing it now. “She made me drink blood.”

  “Yes,” Iro said. “It’s how you turn a human into a vampire.”

  “I went to sleep,” Arwen said. “She put me to sleep or something.”

  “No, my love.” Iro cupped her cheek again. “She killed you.”

  Arwen swallowed as she pulled out of Iro’s embrace and dropped her hand as well.

  “I am so sorry. I tried to get to you, but I was too late.”

  “She said you wanted this,” she remembered.

  “This is the last thing I wanted, Arwen. I was going to tell you about me. Not tomorrow, but when we were ready. And, at some point, if you wanted to know what it was like, being a vampire, I would’ve told you, and you could’ve made that decision for yourself. I would’ve been by your side always if you decided to remain human until you–”

  “Died,” Arwen said.

  Iro nodded.

  “I did that already.”

  “Yes. But now, you’re immortal.”

  “I’ll always be this age?”

  “Yes. You will never get sick. You’ll never get old. You don’t usually get cold. Your eyesight, hearing, and sense of smell all improve. When you touch things, you really feel them. Good food tastes better, but bad food tastes worse. You’re stronger than humans. Not like you see in the movies, but you are stronger.”

  “That’s the good. Well, except the bad food part.”

  Iro smiled warmly at her and said, “You have to watch the people you love die over and over again. You have to leave every so often, or people will wonder why you aren’t aging. Doing that was a lot easier even last century than it is today. You’ll have to change your name and maybe your appearance now to help cover it up or disappear altogether for a while. Then, there’s the really bad part.”

  “What?”

  “Wanting to kill people.”

  “I don’t–”

  “It’s our nature, Arwen.”

  “Do you kill people?”

  “I did decades ago, yes.” Iro sighed. “I stopped a long time ago, and I’ve worked hard to train my body. I don’t drink human blood, and I tend to stick to pig and cow blood, not even blood bags from the hospital, which is what some vampires do, but it took time. I suspect, had I not been influenced by Cassia, I would have been able to do it faster, but with my help, you can. You don’t have to be how I was, Arwen.”

  “Blood,” Arwen said.

  “You feel it now, don’t you?”

  “I feel hungry, but hungry in a way I’ve never felt before.”

  “You’ll feel that most of the time now.”

  “Most of the time?”

  Iro nodded and said, “I’m sorry. A downside of being a vampire is that you never really feel sated. You’ll always crave blood. Even if you’re full, your body will want more. It will be on your mind in one way or another all the time now, but you can learn to push it to the back of it.”

  “How do you handle this?”

  “All in good time, love,” Iro replied and took Arwen’s hand back in her own.

  “There’s something else, though,” Arwen added. “I get everything you just said. I do feel like I can hear better, and my vision seems sharper, but there’s something else. I can’t describe it.”

  “It’s my touch,” Iro replied.

  “What?”

  “You want me to touch you.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Arwen, there’s another way vampires are never sated.”

  Arwen understood then.

  “Sex.”

  “Yes.”

  “I want sex right now? I just found out I’m a vampire.”

  “We always want it.”

  “Then, why did you make me wait?”

  Iro laughed, and it sounded louder, but also sweeter.

  “I wanted it to happen because we loved each other, not because I wanted sex.”

  “Was it not… good? Because I’m human?”

  “Arwen, it was perfect.” Iro let out a breath. “I never want to stop touching you. That was true when you were human, and it’s true now, but you should know that vampires also bond with the ones who made them very easily, and I didn’t turn you. Cassia did. I am certain that she did that on purpose, and it’s one more thing I’ll never forgive her for.”

  “You think I’ll fall for Cassia?”

  “Not likely, but you will be drawn to her the more time you spend together. It’s something that happens. You can’t stop it. It’s partly what happened with Zara and Gigi.”

  “Gigi, the one who kidnapped me? Wait. Iro, how did I get here?”

  “I went to the house and found you. They’ve probably figured that out by now, so we might be getting guests soon. I was about to pick you up when I noticed you were waking. I need you to hide, Arwen.”

  “They’re coming here?”

  “If they’re not yet, they will be soon. You can hide here, though. I have a couple of hidden rooms in this place.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I can get you out of DC, if you want, Arwen; put you on a plane somewhere safe. It will just take time to arrange, and I’m not sure we have that. I also think Cassia will be expecting that. She might even have people waiting at the private airfield already. I can send you on a commercial plane, but it’s hard to guard against the sun. You can’t land somewhere without any energy. It wouldn’t be safe. I don’t think that Cassia would expect me to hide you here.”

  “Where is here?”

  “There’s a bedroom upstairs that’s full of boxes because I haven’t unpacked them yet, but I added a couple of hidden rooms when I moved in because while we can be in the sun for a while at a time, it’s draining for us. We recharge in the darkness, and quiet helps, along with sleep.”

  “I hadn’t even thought about that.”

  “We’ll go over all of this later, I promise, but right now, I need to hide you.”

  “Hide us, you mean?”

  “No. I’m going to find Cassia.”

  “What? Iro, no.”

  “Arwen, I need to end this. It’s been going on for far too long. And she’s turned you. She has to pay for that.”

  “She’ll kill you.”

  “She will try. I no longer bow down to her, so I won’t be of much use anymore, but I’ll be okay. Her people might come here. I don’t know for sure. She might have them there, waiting for me, but I am trusting you, Arwen. You have to stay hidden.”

  “Just hide with me, Iro. We can talk more and come up with a plan together.”

  “I can’t, sweetheart. She’ll just keep coming. And I need this to be over so that you and I can figure this out.”

  “Iro, I–”

  “What?” Iro asked when Arwen didn’t say anything else.

  “I don’t know that I want to.”

  “Want to what?”

  “Figure this out.”

  “You mean… You and me?”

  “I don’t know how I feel right now.”

  “That’s okay. You can take your time. We’ll talk.”

  “Iro, when I woke up this morning, you were cooking us breakfast. We talked about how I like morning sex, and we made love. I had no idea vampires even existed. Now, I am one, and you’re telling me we’ll have to move all the time. I have a job, a career that’s important to me. I have an apartment, a family, friends. I can’t be a vampire.”

  “But you are a vampire, Arwen. I wish I could change that, but I can’t. I was too late. I didn’t expect her to go after you because she wanted me back, and she knew that if she did anything to you, that would never happen. I am so sorry for my part in this, but there’s nothing you or I can do about it now.”

  “Maybe not, but I don’t know that I want my life to be about being a vampire. I want to work. I want–”

  “Please let’s talk about this later. I’m begging you. Just hide for me right now, and I will come back for you. We’ll go somewhere safe. I’ll find another place in the city and lease it under a different name if I can’t take care of this tonight. Just don’t go anywhere, and we’ll talk.”

  “I’ll hide, Iro, but–”

  “Good. I’ll show you.”

  “What if you don’t come back?” Arwen asked.

  “I will. Trust me, beautiful Arwen; I will come home to you.”

  Arwen followed her up the stairs to a part of the house she hadn’t been in before. Iro showed her to a closet, and she assumed that was supposed to be the hidden room until Iro pressed a button on the back wall of it.

  “It’s small, but it’s dark, and there are sound panels in it, too, so they won’t be able to hear you as well. I’m going to make sure the button is hidden with a box so that they don’t see it, but you need to take these just in case.” Iro handed her two knives. “Silver. It’s the only thing that kills us. Silver to the heart, or beheading. That’s it, Arwen. Stabbing us anywhere else will hurt enough to knock us back a bit, but we’ll heal, just slower. So, it’s the heart you have to hit to kill us. If someone gets in here, you stab first, ask questions later.”

  “I can’t stab someone.”

  “If they’re trying to kill you, you’d be surprised what you can do. Just stay in here and be quiet. I know you’re hungry, and I promise I’ll get you blood when I come back, but I need you to hold on a little longer for me. Can you do that?”

  “Yes,” Arwen replied.

  “Okay,” Iro said and cupped both of her cheeks. “I love you. No matter what happens when I get back, I love you, my beautiful Arwen.”

  Iro kissed her on the forehead and left the room.

  CHAPTER 30

  Cassia

  “You don’t want us to go? We can get her back. Gigi isn’t answering her phone. I’m worried, Cassia,” Miranda said.

  “Gigi is dead,” she replied.

  “What?”

  “My dear Miranda, Gigi loves me. She is loyal. If I call her, she answers. She drops everything she’s doing and answers the phone. She’s been in the middle of fucking you and has answered my call, so if she’s not answering, it’s because she’s dead,” Cassia stated as she stared at worried Miranda.

  “We all love you.”

  “No, not like Gigi. She loved me in a way that makes her sacrifice honorable and makes her worthy of my grief.”

  “I love her,” Miranda said.

  “Of course, you do. This tangled web we weave… You have loved Gigi from the start. She’s loved me and saw you as someone to sleep with. Amy doesn’t know it yet, but she’ll fall for Zara. Alexia and Sarah are already enjoying our newest acquisition, and they’ll all fall for someone else one day. That’s how it works. Gigi is dead. You’ll move on. There’s a recently turned vampire upstairs with Alexia and Sarah right now. Maybe it’s her. Maybe you can love her. I keep forgetting her name, but it doesn’t matter. Now, leave us, Miranda.”

  “What? Us?” Miranda asked, looking around the salon.

  “Hello, Iro,” Cassia said and offered her love a smile. “Care to weigh in on our little problem? Gigi is dead, isn’t she?”

  “Yes, she is,” Iro said from her position behind Miranda.

  The poor girl had been so distracted by the loss of the woman she loved that she hadn’t even noticed Iro walk into the house. Then, Miranda turned to face Iro and bared her teeth, like the silly girl she was, and Iro waited because Iro was not silly. When Miranda lunged at her, she pulled a knife, and Cassia watched Miranda fall to the floor.

  “They were my favorites, you know? You didn’t have to kill them,” she said. “Three years I’ve had them, Iro. Three years of work went into making them mine.”

  “They’re people, Cassia,” Iro said as Miranda turned the softest, strangest shade of blue.

  “They’re dead people, thanks to you. Do you have any idea what it takes to gain that kind of loyalty? No, you don’t, because you’ve never tried. Now, I have to start over.” She ran her hand up and down her bare thigh and slid it under her robe a bit. “I have to assume you’re the reason why Arwen has disappeared from my bedroom?”

  “How could you, Cassia?” Iro asked, taking a few steps into the room.

  “At least, I turned her this time. I gave you something here. I thought it would help lessen the blow: she’s still alive. If you must have her, I’m willing to compromise. There’s a house I’ve acquired. She can live there until we’re ready to move again. Then, she’ll have a room at the villa. Oh, she can take Miranda and Gigi’s old room. It’s perfect, isn’t it? Space for your little toy and for us to resume our life together.”

  “What do you mean, at least you turned her this time?” Iro asked, still clutching the knife in her hand, and that hand was going white.

  “I suppose it’s about time I told you. It has been a few centuries, but you’re only going to get angrier, and I’ve been very patient with you. There are several other vampires in this house that will do anything I ask of them. Do not piss me off again, Iro.”

  “What did you do, Cassia?”

  “Mary.”

  “Mary died in childbirth.”

  “At least, cowardly Zara has kept some things to herself. Mary didn’t die in childbirth. I hit that useless husband over the head, killed the midwife that you’ll remember went missing, and killed Mary. I didn’t like that you loved her. I wanted you. You were to be mine, and I didn’t want to share you with her. See how much I’ve grown since then? I have willingly shared you over and over since.”

  “You killed her? You killed Mary?”

  “Yes,” she replied. “And I would’ve told you eventually, I’m sure. In the beginning, you were in such a state of shock. Then, we were having so much fun.”

  “Fun? Cassia, I loved her.”

  “You couldn’t have her, Iro. She was married to a man and having his child. She was never going to leave. And your father–”

  “You ruined my entire life because you wanted something you couldn’t have.”

  “I made your terrible life infinitely better. I’ve given you everything you could ever want, including me, and you fell for another. You fell for a human, Irabella. A human? How utterly average of you. How could you do that? After everything we’ve been through.”

  “Cassia, I don’t want you. I don’t love you anymore.”

  “You will in time. Now that Arwen is like us, she’ll take a moment to adjust. I’m sure she wants nothing to do with you right about now anyway. Have Zara help her adjust to things, if you like. You and I will fall back together, and if you must have her later, we’ll figure it out, Iro. I turned her. I could’ve killed her. I probably should have killed her, so you’re lucky I didn’t.” Cassia glared at Iro. “Now, I am here in my robe, and there’s a dead body on my floor. You’d do well to take care of dear Miranda and return to me. I knew you’d be here. I sent no one to your house to kill you or Arwen. Yet again, showing my growth and my trust in us. You should be thanking me by getting on your knees and making me feel good, my love.” She spread her legs, revealing herself to Iro. “You know you always feel better after. You know how much you want me. Even if you think you no longer love me, you love how I taste.”

  “I’m not fucking you, Cassia. I’ll never touch you again.”

  “I told you not to piss me off…” Cassia said through gritted teeth. “I’ve let you kill two of my closest associates, Iro. I have let Zara run off to wherever she is right now, and I haven’t even sent someone to find her. I am willing to compromise on this Arwen you want so badly that you’re willing to toss aside three hundred years together, yet I haven’t heard you compromise at all, and you haven’t even thanked me for being kind to you, when I could have asked any vampire upstairs to come down here and kill you. Where’s the gratitude?”

  “You want gratitude for killing Mary? Turning Arwen? What is wrong with you?”

  “I am a product of my environment, I suppose.”

  “Fifteenth-century Florence?”

  “No. Another secret I’ve yet to share, and I don’t know that now is the time, but if you must know, I wasn’t born in 1450, like I told you. There is no year for my birth.”

  “Cassia, if this is some kind of stall technique, it–”

  “Iro, I’d invite you to have a seat, but I know you won’t, so here it goes. I’m not stalling. I love you. I haven’t told you things about myself because they were never necessary. You have always been mine, and I’ve always been yours. We did whatever we wanted together, and I saw no point in telling you my trauma, but if you must know, my name isn’t really Cassia. My name is Eve, as in Adam and Eve, although I don’t even know where Eve came from. We had no names. Someone made them up, but you would know me as Eve from that Bible you were forced to read by that father who hated you all those years ago.”