“Are therevampiresdown here?” she asked.
“No need to whisper. It’s not a bad word,” Selene assured her.
“Do we have to … worry at all?”
From what Iris understood from her studies, history with more predatory paranormals like vampires had been vast and confusing. There’d been uprisings, assassinations, and many attacks and killings.
“Not anymore,” Selene assured her.
“They have to carry bite consent cards now. It’s all very gauche,” Arden supplied.
“I’ve seen those in a bunch of stores,” Iris said. “How do they work?”
“Vampires and donors alike have to carry cards. If the two parties agree to a feeding, each has to sign the other’s card to show they consented to it,” Arden explained.
“But … can’t vampirescompela human to sign even if they didn’t consent?” Iris asked.
“It’s not a perfect system,” Selene agreed. “But it was a major piece of legislation to make sure there were no more instances of anyone being drained. This way, the government can enforce punishments if a vampire does something bad.”
“They had to build specific prisons for vampires,” Arden went on as they walked into the mezzanine. “No windows. Blood banks. They’re very sleek.”
“Anyway, if they drain a human now, they get a‘remainder of life’ sentence. So if they drained a twenty-year-old human who should have lived to eighty, they get the remaining sixty years in jail.”
“Actually, isn’t that the law that went into place after Finn’s father was killed?”
“Yeah, I think that was what got it pushed through, but it was working its way through the courts for a while before then,” Selene said. “You go with Arden through the turnstiles,” she said. “I have to use the booth.” She gestured toward where a person was sitting inside a booth.
“Why?”
“So I don’t use spells to avoid paying. Meet you on the other side.”
With that, they made their way onto the subway platform, where Iris tried not to gawk at a crew of vampires—dressed in stereotypical all-black—as they made their way off of a subway car and into the dark tunnels in the walls that allowed them to move through the city without exposure to the deadly sunlight.
Iris comforted herself with the fact that even many of the other humans and paranormals watched the group disappear.
They clambered onto the train, and Iris checked out the enchanted graffiti that shimmered and shifted as the subway whooshed forward, making her stomach feel like it was taking off ahead of her body.
“Yeah, I think I’d rather walk,” she declared as they made their way up the steps at their stop. She still felt like she was moving, even when she stood still.
“You get used to it,” Selene assured her. “Now, let’s go eat a whole red velvet cake before we decide it’s the wrong choice for your wedding that isn’t going to happen.”
And that was exactly what they did.
Even though they were all operating under the assumption that the wedding would not take place, they’d all agreed to a white cake with vanilla bean frosting.
“Seashells and stars instead of flowers, obviously,” Arden had told the baker.
Iris felt a little churning in her stomach at the idea of never getting to see that cake.
But she went ahead and blamed the tummy ache on too many sweets.
15
Iris
“Just remember to smile for the cameras. Don’t ever let your face fall. If you look miserable for even a second,” Henry warned, “they will catch it and publish it. Along with some story about how you hate fae.”
“I don’t hate fae!” Iris insisted.
