“Do I make you upset?” She looked at Don and wasn’t sure how to answer him. “I can go back to the house should you want me to. I can learn what I need to know from one of the others.”
“It’s not you, but all of you. I know that sounds terrible, but I’m not really used to sharing space with people. Groups of them, anyway. When I work, I have my door locked, so I can be undisturbed. There is no phone in the room, nor a radio or television. I can work for hours in the quiet.” She looked around the opulent room they were in. “This room is made for a large gathering of people, but it echoes too. I’m just not used to being here when it’s so noisy.”
“I understand that. I have been alone for a very long time myself. The only time I would enjoy company was when I came to be with Bancroft and his grandmother. Gwyneth used to welcome us all to her home with open arms. Sometimes it would be just too much for her, too, I believe. Vampires, for the most part, are solitary beings. However, we like a good party as well.” He laughed when she frowned at him. “If we can get us a house that is just far enough away from the others that they can’t just drop in, yet close enough that if we needed them, they’re there for us, would that be the way to go?”
“I don’t know anything about buying a house. I did have one when I was first out on my own. But I didn’t really spend a great deal of time there. Just to work, for the most part, and sleep. I was with Pfeiffer and her family most of the time. More so when Robert died.”
He asked her what sort of things she wanted in one, like a pool or even a large kitchen.
“I’m assuming you don’t cook.” He said he didn’t, but like Bancroft, he did have staff when he was at his other home. “You have a home then. Wherever it is that you came from.”
“Several, as a matter of fact. Property as well. I kept my eye on markets—it’s something all of us do when we’re starting out. Most vampires that are made have no money set aside. Nothing they can fall back on. But as a born vampire, I have invested well and buy up things I can foresee making a profit at some point if I wish to sell it off. It doesn’t always work out, but enough so that I have a lot of ready cash, as well as things I can sell off for more.” She nodded as she wandered around the room. Melisandre had been called away, and they were all waiting for her to return. “What’s really bothering you? By the way, Fergus told me that you glow with magic. I never noticed it before he mentioned it. I couldn’t see past your beauty.”
“Yeah, sure.” She moved to one of the walls covered in a map of the realm they were in. “I wonder what a human would think if they knew this was just a portal in the world’s distance away from them. And that some of the animals they think aren’t real are living here and having families of their own. The first time I was here, I nearly lost it when I was approached by a unicorn. He was my escort, and I spent a great deal of time looking around instead of paying attention to where he was taking me.”
“Have you been here a great deal?” CJ told him only when she was summoned. “I bet that doesn’t go over well with you. Someone having you come to them.”
“Not really. But it was nice to come here to relax. I think Melisandre can feel when I’m stressing, and she’ll call me here to do something for her and have me wait around longer than necessary. I never realized she was doing that until recently.” She turned and looked at him. “I’ve known all my life that I was different than the others. I think there were times when Pfeiffer did as well, but she never said anything to me. Her parents never knew about me not being their child. Mom, what I did call her, was pregnant when they left on their travels, but she lost the child one night in a terrible storm. Melisandre switched me with their stillborn child, and they never knew the difference.”
“I did wonder about that—how you were raised by them. It seems sort of deceitful a little. Don’t you think so?” CJ told him of the things that were done for them. Things that they never knew about. “So they were compensated for taking care of you by having their finances taken care of. That was nice.”
“It couldn’t be too much. I mean, not millions of dollars, or someone would have figured out who I was—then worse, where I was.” Don said that too was a good thing. “Yes. I suppose. As I said, it’s been something I’ve been keeping to myself since I was old enough to realize things.”
“Will you ever tell Pfeiffer?” CJ told him that was what was bothering her so much. She was afraid she’d be mad at her. “Doubtful she’d hold the circumstances of your birth against you. It’s not like you had anything to do with it.”
“Yes, but I’ve known. And I still said nothing.” She moved around the room more. Then she and Don ended up in
