Page 52 of Origins of Eternity

“You should be with someone you won’t have to share,” Cassia suggested. “Unless you want to.”

Iro seemed nervous and probably worried that Cassia was trying to trap her, so she bowed her head and left the pub. Cassia followed her at a safe distance and watched as Iro arrived home. Then, she went to check on Mary, who was in labor and would probably be giving birth soon. When Cassia arrived at the house, she encountered a man at the door.

“Who are you?” he asked, looking frantic.

“My name is Jane. I understand your wife is in labor?”

“Yes, she is. What are you doing here?”

“A friend of yours called for me. I used to be a midwife for the royal family. I’m here to help with the baby.”

“A friend?” he asked.

“Oh, I don’t have time for this.”

Cassia pushed the man inside the house and, not wanting to kill him, chose to hit him over the head with a giant cross instead. Once he was out of her way, she moved toward where she heard the screaming and found Mary on the bed, with a midwife between her legs.

“Well, I am hungry,” she said.

The midwife turned around to her, and Cassia’s fangs were the last thing she had seen. Cassia snapped her neck after taking a long drink, but she had to stop because Mary had been screaming the whole time, and she’d been the reason Cassia was there in the first place.

“Sorry, love; Iro’s meant for me,” she said after she’d made it look like Mary had died in childbirth.

Then, she carried the midwife out of the house, around the corner, and dropped her in an alleyway.

The next morning, she hid and waited for Iro to arrive. As she watched the devastation on Iro’s face, she knew it would be an uphill battle, but she thought it would be worth it, and they would have lifetimes together. Cassia smiled and walked over to her.

“I can take away the pain, if you want,” she offered.

“You again?” Iro asked.

Soon, Cassia convinced Iro to leave with her or risk being seen and caught. She took Iro to the house she’d acquired prior to that, and they drank together. Iro poured out her heart and soul to Cassia, she cried, and Cassia held her before she revealed her true self to Iro.

“Do you want it?” she asked.

“Yes,” Iro replied.

Cassia bit into her flesh and wanted to drain all of her blood entirely. The taste of her… It was exquisite. She resisted, though, until she could combine her own blood with Iro’s and make the near-unconscious woman drink it. Then, she returned to Iro’s neck, and she sipped happily until Iro’s heart ceased to pump.

Cassia hadn’t ever told her wife that she’d killed Mary. And yes, Iro was her wife. They hadn’t been married in the eyes of God, of course, and technically, not even under the law, but there had been a reason for that. The more paperwork they created about themselves, the harder they had to work to hide it when they eventually needed to move on. Iro was doing too much with her company already, and soon, she would have to give that up and create a new one under a new name.

“Zara, love, what are you doing right now?” she asked when Zara answered her call.

“I’m still at your house, like you asked.”

“Want to go out for a late dinner?” she asked.

“I don’t want to kill anyone, if that’s what you mean.”

“I don’t want you to kill anyone, sweet Zara. I want to watch you feast. Then, I want to fuck you while that human recovers. I’m going to teach you how to take just the right amount so that when they wake up, they’re groggy, thinking they just hadtoo much to drink at the local bar and only faintly remembering someone biting them.”

“That’s bad, isn’t it?” Zara asked.

“They’ll tell no one out of embarrassment. Now, come out and join me. I thought I wanted to be alone, but I have changed my mind. Can you tear yourself away from Miranda and the rest for a few hours?”

“I’m not with them. They’re all busy. I’m in your room.”

“Ah,” Cassia said. “Then, perhaps, I can bring dinner to you.” She smirked as she saw a woman, who looked to be in her thirties, walking toward her on the opposite sidewalk. “Give me thirty minutes. Go nowhere.”