“Yes. Come for me,” she said and licked at the blood gathering at the base of the woman’s neck.

  The woman continued to come loudly, and Cassia covered her mouth with her free hand because she didn’t need the rest of the bar to know what they were doing in here.

  “You don’t want to get us caught, do you?” she said as she licked up the evidence and pressed her palm to the holes in the woman’s neck, letting her come down completely before she removed her hand from between her thighs. “There now. How do you feel?” she asked.

  “Holy fuck,” the woman let out, leaning back against the shelves, while Cassia reached for a bottle of tequila.

  She wasn’t much of a fan of the stuff, and this was the cheap kind, but it would do. She opened it and poured it directly on the woman’s neck. The woman hissed, and Cassia licked the spot.

  “You’re delicious, by the way. The alcohol will help stop the bleeding.”

  “God… That was the best orgasm I’ve ever had,” the woman told her.

  “I know,” Cassia replied and took a long pull directly from the bottle. “Want some?”

  The woman took it from her and took a long drink as well. Cassia watched her neck as she held the bottle back. She wanted to dig her teeth back into the flesh, grip this woman by her hip, and suck her dry, but she needed to be careful. If she intended to stay in town, tonight was not the night to start leaving bodies, and while the woman did taste good, Cassia had no plans to turn her, predicting how annoying she would be and not having the patience for it.

  “Now, cover yourself up and go straight home. You’ll want to drink some orange juice and get some rest,” she said and put her fingers into her mouth to suck. “Delicious,” she repeated on her way out of the room.

  Heading toward the front of the bar, Cassia stopped in her tracks when she saw the woman she loved sitting in one of the booths, her hand on another woman’s neck, stroking her pulse point and staring deeply into her eyes. Cassia was used to Iro having her breaks to explore the world, but she hadn’t ever needed that, perhaps because she’d done so much of her own exploring before Iro had even been born and then remade. Iro had also more than enjoyed their time together for decades before requesting that first period of time apart. It had been brief initially, and Iro had returned to her, but the requests had continued to come, and they’d been longer and longer nearly every time. Now, Cassia was watching Iro lean into this woman, who looked like any other ordinary human on the planet, as if she wanted to devour her, but not in the same way Cassia had just devoured the woman in the storage room. Knowing all Iro’s looks well, she could tell Iro wanted more than mere sex with this human. Iro was, for some reason, enamored with this average girl.

  “This just won’t do,” Cassia said to herself, shaking her head.

  She didn’t want to watch anymore. Interrupting Iro now would only upset her, and Cassia didn’t want to deal with an upset Iro. Besides, she loved when Iro returned to her after their breaks. Iro was usually ravenous for her then, taking her in every way on every surface for several weeks before finally turning into the soulful poet Cassia had fallen in love with, sharing her new poetry with Cassia while they lay naked and sated by the fire or between lovemaking sessions. She loved all sides of Iro, and she knew Iro hadn’t ever met anyone else who loved all of her.

  As she watched Iro and the woman she was with stand, her fangs reemerged on their own accord when she saw Iro take the woman’s hand and entwine their fingers as if they belonged together.

  “No, this simply will not do,” she said to herself again and left the bar.

  ◆◆◆

  “What they don’t tell you about losing a child is that even after years, you still wait for them to come home from school. You still expect them to come into the house and tell you about their day or ignore you and rush off to their rooms to do their homework or play video games,” the woman she was watching said before she broke down and cried.

  Cassia sat in a chair at the back of the room. She didn’t frequent support groups, but occasionally, she stopped by to see if there was anyone who might be interested in what she could offer. Unsurprisingly, she found people at least every two out of ten times, but where it had used to be out of boredom, now she came for an entirely different reason. It wasn’t to provide relief to suffering humans, but to grow her cause.

  When the meeting had ended, and that same woman was hugging another woman and still crying at the memory of her lost son, Cassia waited until she was alone.

  “Your story really touched me,” she stated once she and the grieving woman were outside on the sidewalk.

  “I haven’t seen you in the meeting before,” the woman replied.

  “It’s my first since I lost my Shelly,” she said, using the name she always tossed out for things like this.

  “Daughter?”

  “Yes. She was sixteen. Gone a month now.”

  “I’m so sorry,” the woman said with a sniffle.

  “How long has your son been gone?”

  “A year tonight,” the woman replied.

  “Does it get any easier?”

  “No, it doesn’t. It’s a lie when they say that it does. He is still dead because someone drank too much at a bar and drove home. I’m still all alone. His father left after he died. He couldn’t even stand to look at me. I couldn’t stand to look at him, either. It’s all horrible.” The woman sighed before adding, “I’m sorry. I’m sure that’s unhelpful, and you came here for support.”

  “I’m surprised I left my house today. Honestly, I have really been struggling, thinking there has to be a way out of this horrible pain.”

  “We’ve all been there. I took pills a month ago. My sister found me, and I’m still, unfortunately, here without my son.”

  “You wanted to end it?” Cassia asked her, finally getting somewhere.

  “Most days, I still do.”

  “What if I could help end the pain?”

  “Excuse me?” the woman asked back.

  Cassia looked around and saw that they were relatively alone.

  “That anger you feel – you can use it. You can find the person who killed your son and use it against him. No one would be able to stop you. In fact, you can aim that anger at whomever you want, and when you’re ready, if you want to end it all, I’ll show you how.”

  “I’m sorry, I should really get going,” the woman said, looking nervous now, which only pushed Cassia on.

  “You know, I was hoping I wouldn’t have to convince anyone tonight. I could’ve kept going until I got you to agree with me eventually, but I’m really tired, so I’m going to skip a few steps.” Cassia took the woman’s hand in her own and added, “I’d apologize, but I don’t want to.” She leaned in and whispered, “I don’t have to convince you at all, really. I can take whatever I want whenever I want, but it’s more fun this way after all these years.”

  She bit down into the woman’s neck then, and just as the human was about to scream out, she covered her mouth with her hand.

  “Good. Scream. I like making women scream.” She bit down again and sucked hard. “It’ll only hurt for a second.” She bit down into her wrist and shoved it into the woman’s mouth. “Yes, drink that. You’ll feel better.”

  She licked the woman’s blood off her neck and moved her tongue over the woman’s bottom lip, leaving a trail of the woman’s own blood behind before she sucked her until she could no longer stand. Then, Cassia removed her hand from the woman’s mouth, called for her driver to pick them up, tossed the woman into the back seat with her, and told the driver to take her to her rental house.

  “Now, I can finish my meal,” she said and sucked the woman dry.

  CHAPTER 7

  Arwen

  Iro No Last Name: What about seven o’clock? I’ll pick you up.

  Arwen Lam: Yes, that will be fine.

  Arwen had tried to play down her interest, managing to resist the urge to send a happy face emoji, a red heart emoji, and the face emoji with the red hearts around it, which was probably good because Iro didn’t really seem like the emoji type based on the little she knew about her. She hadn’t gotten Iro’s last name, so she’d put her into her contacts as Iro No Last Name, planning to change it later when she actually got that information.

  It had been four days since they’d met at the bar. Arwen had been having issues keeping herself focused ever since, and her job required focus. Her clients depended on it. Instead of paying attention to them, though, she’d been thinking about Iro and their upcoming date. It hadn’t helped that she had hardly been able to find anything about Iro on the internet. Arwen didn’t have a last name, so she’d only had a first name to work with, and while Iro was certainly an uncommon name, she hadn’t been able to find any social profiles or even information on a business owned by someone named Iro that fit her Iro’s description. She had given up on the third day and tried to refocus on her work.

  “I’ve got that brief you wanted,” Zara said, walking into Arwen’s office.

  “Thanks. Hey, you still look like you’re not feeling well. It’s been a few days, Zara. Maybe you should get checked out by a doctor.”

  “I will if it doesn’t go away. I think I’m just tired. No cough, sore throat, or fevers, so it’s not a cold. I’ll be okay.”

  “You said you were fine the other day,” Arwen noted. “Now, you’re tired?”

  “Well, I was fine the other day, but now I’m tired. I’ve been here until eight every night with you, trying to get our ducks in a row here for this case. I get home and eat a crappy meal for one and stay up late watching TV until my busy brain calms down, so I haven’t been sleeping well. I’m sure that’s all it is. I assume we’ll be here late again, but maybe you’ll take me to dinner and pay me back for making me stay late every night.”

  “Tonight?”

  “Yeah, tonight,” Zara said, sitting down. “Veggie burgers?”

  “I can’t tonight.”

  “Why not?”

  “Iro and I are going out.”

  “Oh,” Zara said. “She texted you?”

  “She has been,” Arwen replied with a smile. “We’ve been texting back and forth a little, not a lot. She’s busy, and I’m busy, but she texted me good morning the morning after we met and then goodnight, so we’ve been doing that. She’s very sweet.”

  “How adorable,” Zara said with little emotion.

  Arwen wanted to ask her about it, but her friend looked so tired and didn’t feel well, so now wasn’t the time. She felt bad about being so focused on Iro and the big case, along with the others she was working on. She hadn’t been paying much attention to her best friend, with the exception of worrying about how sick she looked.

  “She’s picking me up at seven. I was going to ask you to help me pick out something to wear. I have no idea where she’s taking me, but she’s obviously rich to some degree, and she might take me to the fanciest restaurant in DC or something, where I clearly don’t belong. I don’t have anything nice enough for that.”

  “You have nice clothes, Arwen.”

  “Not for a five-star restaurant. Do you need a ball gown to get into one of those? God, do you think she’ll wear a tux?”

  Her mind took her to a very happy place.

  “I doubt it, but I can tell where your brain just went,” Zara said. “I’m still a little confused, by the way.”

  “About what?”

  “You’ve never dated someone like her in all the time I’ve known you.”

  “I know. I can’t explain it. She just does something to me.”

  “You two didn’t… I mean, all you said was that she took you home.”

  “What? No. She kissed me on the cheek, and we held hands. That’s all.”

  “You held hands?” Zara asked.

  “Yes. She stood up in the bar and held her hand out to me like she was about to escort me to the dance floor. It was very dashing. Is dashing the right word to use?”

  “I don’t know. I wasn’t there, so I didn’t see it.”

  “She said she’s old-fashioned and wanted to go out first, so we’re doing that, which is great because I’m not a one-night stand kind of person. I’m honestly barely even a dater. I want someone I can meet, and we automatically agree that it’s just the two of us from the start, so we can get to the place where we stay in, watch old movies as we snuggle up on the couch, and share inside jokes that no one else knows.”

  “That does sound nice,” Zara said.

  “So, can you come over and help me find something in my closet? It won’t take long unless I freak out because I really do have nothing to wear.”

  “Why don’t you just text her and ask where she’s taking you? Then, you’d know what to choose.”

  “She said she wants to surprise me. I have never had a woman want to surprise me on a first date unless you count that one who surprised me by wearing a strap-on all night and thought she’d get to use it when we got back to my place.”

  “At least, you said no.”

  “Are you feeling too tired to help? I’d understand, Zara. I will continue to tell you to go to the doctor to get checked out, though, because it’s been four or five days, at least.”

  “Well, you’re not sick, and I spend most of my time with you, so whatever it is, it’s not contagious. You’ll be fine.”

  “I’m not worried about me,” Arwen replied, looking at her friend with a more critical eye now, after Zara’s tone had gone a tad harsh. “Zara, what’s really going on?”

  “Nothing,” Zara said as she stood. “I need to get back to work, but you’ll be fine, I’m sure. Go with a dress. Maybe that black one. It’s simple, strapless, and you look great in it. Don’t take that purse, though.” She pointed to the purse on the floor by Arwen’s desk. “Small clutch. If you don’t have one, run to any store and buy one. It just needs to be black, and you’re good. Leave that giant Mary Poppins bag at home.”

  “It helps me carry all my stuff,” Arwen protested.

  “On a date, you don’t need legal pads, your laptop, and, like, sixty-eight pens. You’ll be fine.”

  Arwen laughed and replied, “You know me well.”

  “Yeah, I do,” Zara said wistfully. “I’ll see you later.”

  Zara then left her office, and Arwen felt like she should press her because this wasn’t how her best friend usually acted. Zara had been distant all week, had wanted to talk about work only, and hadn’t asked anything about Iro and the date that Arwen was about to go on, when they’d always been able to talk to each other about the women they were seeing. On top of that, Zara had been sluggish. When Arwen had asked her questions about a case, Zara had been pretty slow to respond or hadn’t known the answer, whereas usually, Zara was even ahead of her. Arwen decided that if her friend didn’t get better soon, she might call the doctor to book her an appointment herself.

  “Arwen?”

  She looked up, seeing Zara standing there with a delivery guy, who was holding flowers in a blue vase.

  “Can I help you?” she asked him.

  “Arwen Lam?”

  “That’s me.”

  “These are for you. Can you sign, please?” he asked and walked over to her desk, where he set down a massive bouquet of flowers she didn’t recognize.

  “For me?” she asked and stood to sign for him.

  “Yeah.”

  “Who are they from?”

  “Don’t know. There’s a card there.”

  The delivery guy then held up his tablet in thanks, she guessed, and headed out the door.

  “Why did you even ask him who they were from? You know exactly who sent them,” Zara said.

  Arwen saw the card stuck in the flowers and pulled it out, ignoring Zara’s comment. When she looked up to share the contents of the card with her friend, she saw that Zara had left. Arwen looked back down at the card and pulled it out of its tiny envelope.

  Beautiful Arwen,

  I wanted to express my gratitude for allowing me to escort you out tonight and tell you that I am impatiently waiting to see you at your door. The flowers are forsythia and anemone, which both mean anticipation. I’ll see you soon, beautiful Arwen.

  Iro

  Arwen smiled at her thoughtfulness and breathed in the scent of the yellow-and-white flowers. She couldn’t believe she’d met a woman like this. No one had ever sent her flowers after a first date, let alone in anticipation of one. She hadn’t even gotten flowers on an anniversary before. She sat down and reread the card, feeling giddy and high on all sorts of love hormones she knew little about. Then, she grabbed her phone and sent a message.

  Iro No Last Name: You are most welcome. I’m glad they arrived. I hope it was appropriate to send them to your office. Please tell me if I shouldn’t have done that.

  Arwen Lam: It’s perfectly fine. I’m out at work, but even if I weren’t, I don’t think anyone would be able to tell they’re from another woman. I could always tell them they’re from a grateful client if I need to.

  Iro No Last Name: I have to head into a meeting, but I look forward to seeing you soon.

  Arwen Lam: Hey, can I ask one question before you go?

  Iro No Last Name: Of course.

  Arwen Lam: I need to pick out something to wear. Can you give me a hint here?

  Iro No Last Name: You can wear anything you want, Arwen.

  Arwen grunted in frustration and typed.

  Arwen Lam: I’m not a fancy person… You seem like a fancy person, but I don’t own any expensive clothes.

  Iro No Last Name: I’m not taking you anywhere fancy. You can dress casually, if you’d like. It’s not a fancy kind of surprise. I just like the idea of surprising you at all.

  “Yeah, I’m going to fall in love with this woman if I’m not careful,” she said to herself before she typed.

  Arwen Lam: Okay. Casual, it is. I’ll see you tonight.

  Iro No Last Name: Until then, beautiful Arwen.

  “God, she even texts like a fucking poet,” Arwen muttered to herself. “She probably doesn’t even use a word like ‘fucking.’”

  She sat down to reread the card, knowing she needed to get back to work, but the flowers on her desk continued to distract her. She’d ridden her bike in today, and now, she had to figure out how she was going to get this giant bouquet of flowers home.