“Eat humans. Yes, I’ve heard that before. I’d thought, in our most recent time apart, you would have returned to the proper ways of being a fucking vampire, Iro.” Cassia pushed open the shower door and, without drying off, walked into the bedroom of her villa. “Do you even remember that you’re a vampire? Or was that the first time you’d used those fangs since the last time we did that?” she yelled, being pretty far away now.
The answer to her question was yes, but Iro wasn’t going to tell her that. She turned off the water and climbed out of the shower, wrapping herself in a towel. When she ran her hands through her short hair that bordered on a pixie cut to help it dry faster, water droplets sprayed on the floor and sink, but Iro didn’t care. Cassia had cleaners whom she trusted to come in and wipe all traces of blood away, so they’d be able to take care of some water drops on the bathroom mirror.
“Cassia, I’m moving back to America.”
“You’re what?” Cassia asked.
“I’m done in Europe for a while. I’m moving back to America.”
“Where to this time? It was LA before, and New York prior to that. Is it Seattle again, because it’s dark and rainy most of the time? You were living like those horrible interpretations of vampires in that book for a while there, Iro. Will you return there and hope no one wonders why you haven’t aged a day?”
“I’m moving to the East Coast,” she said and walked out into the bedroom, letting the towel drop to the floor. “DC. I’ve got a contact there.”
“DC? Washington, DC?”
“Yes,” she replied as she located her underwear on the floor. “I’ve got some new investments to shore up, and he’s going to help.”
“What doeshedo?” Cassia asked and lit a cigarette with her perfect hands that Iro used to beg to be touched by.
“Works with people like me. Where is my shirt?” she asked, looking around.
“Oh.” Cassia laughed her uninterested laugh and said, “It’s here. But you might need a new one.”
She held up Iro’s button-down, which was now stained with blood because it had gotten caught beneath them. The red stuck out easily on the white, so Iro took the shirt from Cassia and tossed it into the trash can behind her. From her bag, she pulled out a new one and buttoned it up.
“Have I ever told you that I love how you don’t wear a bra?”
“Yes,” Iro said. “Many times.”
She knew her small breasts were visible under the shirt, but she hadn’t wanted to waste time putting on an undershirt.
“What is going on with you?” Cassia asked after taking a long hit of her cigarette. “We’ve hardly spoken since you’ve been gone.”
“We don’t usually talk while we’re on one of our breaks.”
“We talk sometimes.” Cassia spread her legs and added, “You answered when I called. You camerunning, my love.”
“I didn’t come running,” she corrected.
“Well, you’re here, and you’re staring at my pussy, Iro. You know it missed you.”
“No one took care of it for you while I was gone?” she asked, pulling her jacket off the chair by the bed and slipping it on.
“Yes, of course; you know me. But none of them know my body how you do. Howcouldthey?” Cassia began stroking herself with her free hand. “There are these two women. Well, Iturned both of them, and they travel with me now since you and I aren’t together at the moment, despite my wishes.”
“You’re turning people again?” she asked, slipping on her watch. “Cassia, we were supposed to be lying low so that no one discovers us. You can’t–”
“There is no great vampire authority that decides these things, Iro. We may do as we please. And it pleases me to fuck these women, watch them fuck each other, and I turned them because I felt like doingthat, too. Now, we may fuck each other whenever we want for all eternity. In fact, they were supposed to be here tonight, but when you answered my call, I told them another time.” Cassia slipped two fingers inside herself, and Iro couldn’t resist watching. “One of them has a tongue ring. I’ll admit, when I first saw it, I thought it a bit silly, but when it strokes my clit and my nipples, it isanythingbut silly. Do you know that when she takes it out, her tongue heals, and she re-pierces it herself when she chooses? Fascinating, isn’t it? Being a vampire.”
Iro sat down in the chair and stared at Cassia’s hand as she continued to work herself up.
“Why did you call?” she asked. “We said ten years this time. It hasn’t been ten years yet.”
“We prescribe a period of time every time we separate, but we don’t always stick to it. Loving each other for all eternity isn’t what they make it out to be in the classics, is it?” Cassia moaned then and closed her eyes. “We have lived together far longer than any of these humans you choose to associate with. I enjoy our breaks, my love, but it’s time to end this one and focus again on us.” She tapped her unfinished cigarette into an ashtray and spread her lower lips with her now-free hand, giving Iro a better view, which she took in. “Your tongue knows just the spot, baby. Please come back and lick it for me.”
Iro squinted and said, “You seemed to be doing fine on your own there.”
She crossed her legs and clenched her thighs.
