Page 127 of Origins of Eternity

Iro yelled again and said, “Cassia, listen to the sound of my–”

“Not going to work a second time,” Cassia stated.

Arwen couldn’t run. Her head was on a swivel. There was the hidden room in the closet, and she might be able to make it in there, but Cassia could still undoubtedly find her. Then, she saw it, so she moved as quietly as she could to the table, picked it up, and hoped she could do this. She moved from the bedroom, down the hall, listening to Cassia yelling at Iro and Iro crying out in pain.

Arwen almost couldn’t take it, but she couldn’t lose her. She couldn’t lose Iro now that she’d have an eternity without her. She made it into the kitchen and used a yell from Iro to cover her step around a corner, getting to where she needed to be. Iro was on the floor in the foyer. The front door was open. Arwen couldn’t tell if anyone could see what was going on inside from the sidewalk, but Cassia was kneeling over Iro, stabbing her with a knife.

“I want you to suffer before I kill you for your betrayal. I’m going to take your Arwen; you should know that. Hear that before you die, Iro. And when I tell you that I’m going to make her mine, that means I will torture her first. I’ll get her to understand how much you and I loved each other once. I will hurt her in every imaginable way before I finally claim her. Andthe best part is that by then, she’ll want me. She’ll want me to claim her.”

“I will never want you!” Arwen yelled.

She’d done it on purpose. She had needed Cassia to look up, and when she did, Arwen aimed and quickly fired. Cassia fell back a little, and Arwen was on the move then. She took the knife from Cassia’s now-outstretched hand and shoved it into her chest, giving Iro time to slide a bit on her back, out of Cassia’s grasp.

“Arwen, run,” she repeated softly because she was in noticeable pain.

But Arwen was still looking down at Cassia’s face, which showed shock. She probably couldn’t believe that someone like Arwen would attempt something like this against her, but Cassia hadn’t ever met someone like Arwen. She had no idea what Arwen would do for the woman she loved.

“No one has ever wanted you,” she said and pressed on the knife a little harder.

Slowly, Cassia’s body turned a pale shade of blue, and she fell back against the broken window next to the door.

“Oh, my God,” Iro said.

“What do I do?” Arwen asked, standing over a vampire, who, she was pretty sure, was dead, and her injured lover.

“There’s a human outside. Cassia killed her. Bring her inside and close the door,” Iro told her, barely able to stand. “God, she covered her scent by… killing someone.”

Quickly, Arwen dragged the woman whom Cassia had killed into the house and slammed the door shut, locking it right after.

“I should… have known,” Iro managed out.

“Iro, what do I do? How do I help you?” she asked and moved to Iro’s side, taking her hand.

“I need darkness and blood.”

“Okay. I’ll get you inside that room. God, how many times did she stab you, Iro?”

She pulled the shirt off Iro’s body and saw wounds all over her chest, but none in her heart, thankfully. There were at least a dozen of them all over, though, and Arwen wanted to cry, but she held in her tears because now wasn’t the time.

“God, babe. Iro, what–”

“Get me blood. I need it now.”

Arwen looked at the dead woman lying next to them.

“Iro, you need human blood, don’t you?”

“No, Arwen. I’ll be fine. It just takes longer.”

“Longer? Iro, I saw you with one small cut, and it took you a whole day. How do you know you can recover from this? Have you ever had this many stab wounds? She used silver.”

“No,” Iro answered with a cough, and blood came out of her mouth. “Silver is toxic to us. I tend… to avoid it.”

“Iro, please…” Arwen dragged the woman closer to her. “I know she’s dead, but only just. You can still drink, right?”

“I can’t.”

“Baby, I love you. I won’t make you do it, but we don’t really know if this can kill a vampire who doesn’t feed on humans. It’s poisonous to you, and we don’t know, Iro. Please don’t make me lose you.” Tears welled in her eyes then. “Do you really think you’ll just be okay in a few days?”