Page 130 of Origins of Eternity

“Of course. I’ll be here,” Iro said and took another drink.

Arwen left her there once again and went into the bedroom, where she quickly called Zara.

“Hey. What’s up?”

“Cassia’s dead.”

“What?”

“She showed up here and attacked Iro.”

“Is Iro okay?” Zara asked quickly.

“She should be, but it was a close call. Zara, I almost lost her.”

“Areyouokay?”

“I’ve been a lot better, but we can talk more about that later. I needed to know if you were okay. I wasn’t sure if she went after you first or maybe sent someone.”

“No, I’m fine. What happened? Cassia’s really dead?”

“I killed her. Iro had this gun, and I shot her, but it did not kill her, so I picked up a knife and stabbed her. I… killed her.”

“Jesus, Arwen. You killed Cassia?”

“I had to. She was close to killing Iro, and she’d already killed a human outside to get in here without us smelling her first. Iro is really hurt, Zara. It was bad. Her hand went blue, but I got her to eat to start the healing, and she’s eating more now. I think she’ll be okay, but she can’t do much right now. I need help, Zara.”

“Anything, Arwen. Anything.”

“There’s now a dead human and a dead vampire in the house,” she said. “Alexia and Sarah showed up after, and they told me they wanted to get away from Cassia. I think I believe them, but can I trust them? I don’t know them or anyone else from Cassia’s world. You do.”

“They were turned by Gigi and Miranda, but they spent a little time with Cassia, too. I don’t know. They seemed fine to me. I think they kind of like each other for real, like they might have dated as humans.”

“They do. Or so they told me.Itoldthemto go back to Cassia’s house and that you’d find them there. They seemed lost and actually listened tomefor some reason. Maybe you three can help each other out or something.”

“Help each other? How?”

“I don’t know, Zara. I told you, they seemed lost.”

“Who isn’t?” Zara joked.

“Can you maybe get them backhereand get rid of the bodies? That’s what I need right now. I don’t care what you do to Cassia’s. You can burn her, for all I care. The human she killed, though – she doesn’t deserve to go missing, never to be found. Her family should know that she’s dead so she can have a proper burial.”

“What do you want me to do, then? If she’s been in that house, there’s probably, like, evidence of that, right?”

“Can you clean her? Or do anything to get rid of any of the evidence, maybe? Iro had to bite her. She needed human blood, Zara. There was no choice.”

“Oh, shit… And I don’t know how to do that, but we can do something. Maybe we cremate her, too. That’s what I’m thinking for Cassia.”

“How will her family know what happened?”

“I’ve got an idea,” Zara replied. “Cassia has killed since she moved here, Arwen. There are at least four bodies in that backyard, including Miranda’s. I’ll get Alexia, Sarah, and even Amy, if I can find her, to help dig her up. We’ll burn her body and Cassia’s together and make sure that there’s nothing left. Then, we’ll cremate this woman that Cassia killed today, but we leave evidence of her being in the house somehow. Maybe something in the backyard, too. I don’t know. I’ll figure it out. We can frame Cassia for it all.”

“It’s not framing if she did it,” Arwen replied.

“No, but she’s dead, so she can’t defend herself or lie about it.”

“Are you sure this will work, Zara? I can’t have any of it coming back to us. I don’t know how vampire DNA works, or if any of Iro’s will even come back to her, given how many times she’s had to be someone else over the past three centuries, butmine is going to be on that woman’s, too, and that can come back to us.”