Page 125 of Origins of Eternity

“I don’t want you to be.” She placed her hand between Arwen’s breasts. “If not, please let me pay for a better apartment for you, one with security, or give your current place an alarm and better window locks.”

“Cassia’s gone. Why do I need security?”

“There will always be someone out there who might not like us very much, Arwen. That’s one of the bad parts. When you live long enough, you make enemies, and our enemies are often immortal. It’s a precaution.”

“I’ll think about it, but we’re only supposed to do thegoodthings today.”

“Poetry by the fire?”

“Yes,” Arwen agreed with a smile. “And touching each other more. You know, I can see why wanting sex all the time can be frustrating, but right now, all I can think about is how great it is that I will never get tired of touching you or you touching me.”

“And I’ll never tire of it, either.”

“Are you sure? You got tired of–”

“Cassia isn’t you. With you, it’s real. I’ll never tire of this with you, my love.”

She kissed Arwen slowly again.

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 donotknow how I can possibly still want more, but you’re right… It’s just there all the time, isn’t it? Maybe Ishouldmove 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 rushmorebecause 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 youstarted 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?”