“You’re not, are you?”
“My car ran out of gas. I was going to your house to get Arwen from Gigi, but I hadn’t filled up all week. It’s in a stupid parking garage right now, and I got on the train to try to get there.”
“Interesting. You’re not there now.”
“No, I’m not because… I realized…” Zara walked into the bathroom and looked around. “I realized, while I was on the train that…” she faded out, even though she knew her lie, but she had to sell it for Cassia to believe it.
“You want me to turn her,” Cassia finished for her.
“Yes,” she lied.
“Because you finally see what I’m doing for you, Zara. I’m getting Arwen ready for you. Trust me, I’ll take care of this, sweetheart. Come home, Zara.”
“I can’t. I…”
“You’re stalling, aren’t you?”
Zara walked into the closet and saw the expensive suits. Then, she looked down at the one she was wearing and remembered that Cassia had picked it out for her. She lowered her head in shame.
“Cassia, I don’t know what to do right now. You have turned my whole life upside down, and I’m so confused.”
Zara looked up and saw something that looked strange. It was a button or something that was the same color as the wall it was on.
“Zara, I wish I could give you time, dear, but I simply cannot. I need to see you to know for sure that you’re on my side here and that you really understand your purpose in all this.”
“I will be there soon, then. I just need to get back on a train.”
“No need. I sent Gigi,” Cassia replied. “She actually got there right whenyoudid and saw you walk inside Iro’s house.” Cassia laughed. “Lying does not suit you, dear Zara.”
Zara turned around, as if Gigi was standing right there.
“Tell Iro I’ll be seeing her very soon, Zara.”
Zara felt a glimmer of hope because, it appeared, Cassia didn’t know that Iro had left. Iro had left out the back door, so Gigi must be out front, where Zara had entered, and she hadn’t reported to Cassia that Iro had left because she didn’t know. Iro still had the element of surprise, then. That was all that mattered right now.
“What is Gigi going to–”
“Well, she has my permission to do whatever she has to do to get Iro to me and to take care of you. She gets to determine what that means. And, Zara, unlike you, Gigi is perfectly loyal.”
Zara heard glass break then.
“Ah, I hear her now,” Cassia added. “I’d say good luck, but I wouldn’t mean it. I do hope Gigi has fun with you. She deserves it. You, however, deserve whatever she’s about to do with you.”
Zara looked around the closet and thought about closing the door, but Gigi would only open it and find her there. She hung up the phone to the sound of Cassia’s laughter and tried to find somewhere inside the closet to hide. Then, on accident, more than actual plan, she hit the small circle, and it pressed inward.
“Iro, where are you? Cassia awaits you. I’m not here for you!” Gigi yelled throughout the house. “Zara, what does it feel like to no longer be special?”
A door opened, and Zara realized that there was a room there. She turned to see that Gigi wasn’t at the closet yet, soshe walked inside and did her best to use some of the hanging clothes to hide where the button would be once the door closed. She then pressed a corresponding button on the inside, and the door closed, leaving her in the dark. There was a bed in the room, so she moved behind it and ducked to the floor, waiting in case Gigi found the room. Her eyes aimed at where that door would open, and she did her best to hold her breath, not knowing if Gigi would be able to hear it, her heart, or even smell her through the door in front of her.
When her eyes finally adjusted, she noticed that the wall was covered in those panels people used to help dampen the sound. She tried to listen for Gigi and couldn’t hear her. Then again, Gigi might be more practiced than her, so she couldn’t know for sure if she was safe. Zara then tried to smell Gigi, knowing her scent all too well by now, but she couldn’t. She stayed crouched behind the small bed that Iro obviously used when she needed to spend time out of the sun and was grateful that Iro had it because this room might just save her life.
CHAPTER 28
Iro
Iro did not have a plan. If she just burst in, and Cassia was holding Arwen, she’d either kill or turn her, if she hadn’t already, so Iro had to operate on the idea that Arwen was all right and Cassia was making an idle threat in order to draw her back to her.
It would also not surprise her if Cassia had lied to Zara about the plan to turn Arwen. Cassia lied to everyone. Iro used to believe that it hadn’t applied to her because they’d shared everything, but if Zara was correct and Cassia had an ability that she hadn’t shared with her, it meant that Cassia had been lying to her as well. Although, in this case, Iro did find it a bit strange that Cassia hadn’t told every vampire she met about her ability because vampires with abilities were revered in the community, held up on metaphorical pedestals, and treated almost as gods, and Cassia was the type of person who would have loved to be treated as a god. A god among the humans she used as her blood bags and the ones she turned was one thing, but being a god in the vampire community would be another.
