“Gigi is dead,” she replied.
“What?”
“My dear Miranda, Gigi loves me. She is loyal. If I call her, she answers. She drops everything she’s doing and answers the phone. She’s been in the middle of fucking you and has answered my call, so if she’s not answering, it’s because she’s dead,” Cassia stated as she stared at worried Miranda.
“Wealllove you.”
“No, not like Gigi. She loved me in a way that makes her sacrifice honorable and makes her worthy of my grief.”
“I loveher,” Miranda said.
“Of course, you do. This tangled web we weave… You have loved Gigi from the start. She’s loved me and saw you as someone to sleep with. Amy doesn’t know it yet, but she’ll fall for Zara. Alexia and Sarah are already enjoying our newest acquisition, and they’ll all fall for someone else one day. That’s how it works. Gigi is dead. You’ll move on. There’s a recently turned vampire upstairs with Alexia and Sarah right now. Maybe it’s her. Maybe you can love her. I keep forgetting her name, but it doesn’t matter. Now, leave us, Miranda.”
“What? Us?” Miranda asked, looking around the salon.
“Hello, Iro,” Cassia said and offered her love a smile. “Care to weigh in on our little problem? Gigi is dead, isn’t she?”
“Yes, she is,” Iro said from her position behind Miranda.
The poor girl had been so distracted by the loss of the woman she loved that she hadn’t even noticed Iro walk into the house. Then, Miranda turned to face Iro and bared her teeth, like the silly girl she was, and Iro waited because Iro wasnotsilly. When Miranda lunged at her, she pulled a knife, and Cassia watched Miranda fall to the floor.
“They were my favorites, you know? You didn’t have to kill them,” she said. “Three years I’ve had them, Iro. Three years of work went into making them mine.”
“They’re people, Cassia,” Iro said as Miranda turned the softest, strangest shade of blue.
“They’redeadpeople, thanks to you. Do you have any idea what it takes to gain that kind of loyalty? No, you don’t, because you’ve never tried. Now, I have to start over.” She ran her hand up and down her bare thigh and slid it under her robe a bit. “I have to assume you’re the reason why Arwen has disappeared from my bedroom?”
“How could you, Cassia?” Iro asked, taking a few steps into the room.
“At least, I turned her this time. I gave you something here. I thought it would help lessen the blow: she’s still alive. If you must have her, I’m willing to compromise. There’s a house I’ve acquired. She can live there until we’re ready to move again. Then, she’ll have a room at the villa. Oh, she can take Miranda and Gigi’s old room. It’s perfect, isn’t it? Space for your little toy and for us to resume our life together.”
“What do you mean, at least you turned herthistime?” Iro asked, still clutching the knife in her hand, and that hand was going white.
“I suppose it’s about time I told you. It has been a few centuries, but you’re only going to get angrier, and I’ve been very patient with you. There are several other vampires in this house that will do anything I ask of them. Do not piss me off again, Iro.”
“What did you do, Cassia?”
“Mary.”
“Mary died in childbirth.”
“At least, cowardly Zara has keptsomethings to herself. Mary didn’t die in childbirth. I hit that useless husband over the head, killed the midwife that you’ll remember went missing, and killed Mary. I didn’t like that you loved her.Iwanted you. You were to be mine, and I didn’t want to share you with her. See how much I’ve grown since then? I have willingly shared you over and over since.”
“Youkilledher? You killed Mary?”
“Yes,” she replied. “And I would’ve told you eventually, I’m sure. In the beginning, you were in such a state of shock. Then, we were having so much fun.”
“Fun? Cassia, I loved her.”
“You couldn’t have her, Iro. She was married to a man and having his child. She was never going to leave. And your father–”
“You ruined my entire life becauseyouwanted something you couldn’t have.”
“I made your terrible life infinitely better. I’ve given you everything you could ever want, including me, and you fell for another. You fell for a human, Irabella. A human? How utterly average of you. How could you do that? After everything we’ve been through.”
“Cassia, I don’t want you. I don’t love you anymore.”
“You will in time. Now that Arwen is like us, she’ll take a moment to adjust. I’m sure she wants nothing to do with you right about now anyway. Have Zara help her adjust to things, ifyou like. You and I will fall back together, and if you must have her later, we’ll figure it out, Iro. I turned her. I could’ve killed her. I probablyshouldhave killed her, so you’re lucky I didn’t.” Cassia glared at Iro. “Now, I am here in my robe, and there’s a dead body on my floor. You’d do well to take care of dear Miranda and return to me. I knew you’d be here. I sent no one to your house to kill youorArwen. Yet again, showing my growth and my trust in us. You should be thanking me by getting on your knees and making me feel good, my love.” She spread her legs, revealing herself to Iro. “You know you always feel better after. You know how much you want me. Even if you think you no longer love me, you love how I taste.”
