“She’s… I was just too late.”
“I’m sorry, Iro,” she said.
“Me too. You can leave the office after she gets there. I would play it safe tonight, at least, and I can tell you more later, but I need to sleep.”
“Iro, what happened?”
“Arwen can tell you. I wouldn’t go home tonight. Stay there, if you want, but please stay with Arwen wherever you go. You will be safer together. I need you to keep her safe,” Iro said, not sounding like herself.
“Why isn’t she staying with you?” Zara pressed.
“She should be there soon. Stay safe, Zara. Please keep her safe. I’m begging you. She’s the only thing in the world I care about.”
“I… I will,” she said.
Seconds later, the phone went dead, and Zara looked around the room Iro had let her hide in, deciding that if Iro said that she was safe, she could finally leave. She pressed the buttonand headed out into Iro’s office, but she didn’t know what to do next. Arwen was on her way to the building, but would she come upstairs or expect Zara to meet her downstairs and outside? It was getting late now, and Zara didn’t want to have to sleep in a hidden room in Iro’s office, but she didn’t want to go home, either.
She sat on the sofa in the corner and pulled out the phone Iro had given her. She had been able to grab her purse at the café, but it was in her car, which meant it was either stolen by now or far out of reach, at least. Luckily for her, she had one of her credit card numbers memorized, the one she used most often, so she found a hotel about three blocks from the office and got them a room for the night. It was under her name, yes, but if Cassia was determined to find her, she’d have to search through every hotel in the city or track down Zara’s credit card records or something, and Cassia didn’t seem the type. She had told Zara once that she still handwrote letters and sent them to whomever, and she would talk on the phone when she had to, but she preferred the old ways, as she had called them.
“Hi.”
Zara looked up just after receiving the booking confirmation and said, “Hi.”
“Iro said you might need this.”
Arwen held out a container of blood.
“I’m okay,” she lied.
“Zara, just take it. She said she would send more. It’s probably already on its way, honestly. That would be just like her.”
Zara took it from Arwen and felt embarrassed at the idea of drinking it in front of her, but shewashungry.
“How are you doing?” she asked.
“I’ve been better. I’ve been a lot better, actually.”
“I got us a hotel room. We can go whenever you want.”
“Hotel?”
“To be safe. Iro called me and told me we should stay together tonight, but not go home, so I thought a hotel for the night, at least, and we can maybe call her tomorrow to see what she thinks we should do then.”
“Fine. Let’s go,” Arwen said with no emotion.
“What about the–”
“If it’s not downstairs already, I’d be surprised,” Arwen interrupted as she walked through the open door. “You can tell her the hotel name if it’s not down there, and she’ll send it there instead.”
“Yeah. Okay,” Zara replied and stood before she followed Arwen out, trying to hold what was essentially a bucket of blood at her side so as not to have it be noticed by the two security guards in the lobby.
“Thank you,” Arwen said to the man who held out a plastic bag to her when they got outside.
“Of course, Ma’am. When you need more, just dial this number. It’ll go on Miss Black’s tab.”
“Thanks,” Arwen replied and took the card from him. “Let’s go, Zara.”
It wasn’t Arwen’s but likely Iro’s car, because Arwen’s would still be somewhere on the street outside the café, probably collecting parking tickets. Zara got in, and Arwen handed her the bag, inside which there were four more containers like the one she had at her feet now. It would get them through the night and tomorrow for sure; maybe even the next day, depending on Arwen’s hunger. Zara told her the name of the hotel and the address, and Arwen joined the traffic wordlessly. Minutes later, they arrived at the hotel’s parking garage and took a ticket from the machine like it was just a regular old night, and neither of them was a vampire.
