Page 119 of Origins of Eternity

Cassia shrugged and said, “No matter. I cared for them both, but if they’re gone, they’re gone. Would you two like to come with me to Florence? You can have their old room.” She walked to Sarah, pressed herself against her body, and added, “We can have fun, drink fabulous wine, and get lost in one another for days; weeks, if you want. We’ll invite others to join us whenever we like, have willing humans to feed us when we’re hungry, and fuck them when we want something else. I have a whole connection of people who worship me there, but I’llhappily share.” She leaned forward and bit into Sarah’s neck. “What do you say?”

She lifted her head and stared down at the blood draining before she licked it and reached between Sarah’s legs.

“I… don’t know,” Sarah replied.

“You want me to stop?” Cassia asked, licking again.

“No,” Sarah said. “And yes.”

Cassia stopped immediately and pulled back, watching Sarah’s neck heal.

“I don’t like that you want to move on from Gigi and Miranda. It’s not right, Cassia. We should at least have a funeral or something for them. They turned us. They were important to Alexia and me.”

“You’re still so new,” Cassia said. “When you’re as old as I am, you watch many people die. It becomes a lot easier after you hit the first century or so.”

“What about Iro?”

Cassia spun on Alexia and gripped her by the neck.

“I don’t know anyone by that name, and if you ask me about it again, I’ll rescind my invitation to take you to Florence, Alexia. So, think very hard about what you say next.”

“Irabella,” Alexia sputtered. “Gigi said that was her real name. Irabella. You loved her.”

Hearing that name, Cassia felt her entire world shift on its axis. She let go of Alexia, stepped back a few times, and nearly fell over.

“Cassia?” Sarah checked.

Cassia pressed her body to the wall behind her, and as her eyes closed, she saw hundreds of years of history between them all at once.

“Iro,” she whispered.

“Cassia? Do you still want me to order your plane? I can do it for you since Gigi obviously can’t,” Alexia said.

Cassia’s gray eyes opened, and she replied, “No. Now, I want to find out why my wife of three hundred years didn’t tell me that she had a pretty big secret.”

CHAPTER 34

Iro

Iro woke up and left the room in her closet. She planned to eat something and check on Zara to see if she was still with Arwen and to make sure that they were both okay. Then, she would run over to Cassia’s house to ensure that she had left with whatever vampires she had with her. She’d buried Gigi in her backyard rather quickly, so she’d need to see to it that the woman was well hidden and wouldn’t be discovered by anyone anytime soon. It was a busy day that she had planned for herself, and that was good. She would need a lot more of them if she was going to be away from Arwen, who seemed to need time away fromher.

“Zara, is she with you?” she asked when Zara answered the phone.

“No, she’s not. She dropped me off at my car with a gas can and told me she wanted some time alone.”

“Where did she go? Home? It might not be safe. I need to make sure that Cassia left town first.”

“I don’t know. She didn’t say. But I told her to text me every hour so that I know she’s okay.”

Iro sighed and said, “Zara, if she doesn’t want to see or talk to me, that’s fine, but someone needs to keep an eye on her. She’s a new vampire.”

“So am I.”

“I know, but you’re her best friend.”

“We have a long way to go until we get back to that,” Zara replied.

Then, there was a knock at Iro’s door.