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CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Vampire Compound Construction Site, Sunday, January 20, 2013, Morning
Ash visited one site after another, but none fit her needs. Kittania mentioned a property she’d purchased and begun renovating as a vacation home shortly after her marriage to Mikhail. As his madness escalated, she’d abandoned the project, but she’d kept it in the family, hoping to pass it on to one of her children.
High atop a mountain an hour’s dragon flight from the new Therian palace, a large flat-bottomed valley rested between four peaks. The site connected to an expansive cave system that offered endless options for expansion as the vampires’ housing needs grew. As she toured the site and the centuries-old ruins of Kittania’s original construction, Ash fell in love. It was the perfect place for the vampires to build a home.
Ash still had a hard time adjusting to the idea that she wasn’t a vampire anymore, though being able to eat her mother’s pizza helped immensely. She’d been through many changes in such a short time, and it sometimes felt like she was losing her inner core. It was as if the person she’d been had faded while someone new emerged, leaving pieces of her previous self behind. She couldn’t identify which pieces had been deemed unnecessary, but she felt like some were missing.
“Kittania, are you sure about this? I love the property, and it’s perfect.” Ash watched her future mother-in-law closely. “However, you’ve held onto it for so long. It must mean something to you.”
Kittania smiled warmly. “It does, and it would mean a great deal to me to be the one who gives you a secure place for the vampires to call home. Please accept it with my warmest wishes that your people will be happy here.”
Ash grinned and turned to Dani. “Are you ready to make plans?”
Dani looked up from her cell phone, grinning. “I just texted Euan. He and Victoria are mobilizing the witches and artisans who volunteered. Zia will be here with the night-bound vampires shortly after sunset. The caves are a better option than tents.”
“I’m impressed. Have you been hanging out with Niletean?” Ash asked.
Dani nodded. “He’s been helping me learn about the realities of royal life and how I can carve a place for myself at the court. Efficiency is a spectacular way to showcase my value.”
“I don’t deserve you.” Ash smiled at her sister.
Dani grinned. “Sure you do. The parental units have great ideas about some of the utility buildings we will need. Mom brought spray paint to mark them out,” Dani led the way to the others, who had drifted toward the largest cave entrance.
Maerlin conjured ghostly full-scale images of the buildings above the spray paint outlines to give everyone an idea of how the compound would look. After the volunteers arrived, Ash and the others planned the first phase. The group worked until late afternoon when their grumbling bellies demanded that they return to the palace.
“Maerlin?” Ash began hesitantly.
“Yes, dear?” the goddess asked.
“If we’re only limited by imagination, we can create a permanent portal between this site and the Therian palace, right? It would save travel time if the workers didn’t have to commute. Will you teach me?”
Ash hoped she could learn to control the wild magic surging through her veins, and who better to teach her than the source of that magic? It was also a way to bond with her metaphysical mother. She didn’t have trouble accepting that she had been born of three parents, but bonding with Maerlin wasn’t as easy as she’d hoped.
“Of course!” Maerlin smiled. “Do you have a location in mind here and in the palace?”
Ash led the goddess to the spot she’d selected for the portal and envisioned the tower room she wanted to use as the arrival point. “I do. Is this like opening a normal portal?”
Maerlin shook her head. “The magic witches use is a diluted version of the power you and I share. The genetic code that produces magic is in every living thing on this planet in vastly different concentrations. Witches have stronger magic than most humans, but it is far more difficult to work than your inherent abilities. Close your eyes, Ash.”
She did as she was told, closing her eyes and allowing her other senses to register her surroundings. Maerlin’s aura blazed a brilliant gold even with her eyes closed.
“Now, picture where you want to step through. See it in your mind. Remember the smell of the damp stone or the chill of the mountaintop tower. Use your senses to feel where you want to go,” Maerlin instructed. “Imagine a door between here and there that anyone can use to travel between the two. You can close it any time you want or leave it in use for others. Picture the portal drawing its power from the Earth, which freely provides the energy flowing through the stone to power the portal.”
The unfamiliar magic rose at her call, and Ash reveled in it. She dove in and let the power surround her until it was all she could feel. Maerlin’s voice pierced the chaotic magic like a beacon, and Ash followed the instructions, imagining an oversized circular wooden door to a hobbit house in a vivid shade of green. The door was covered in swathes of carved wisteria vines.
“Now, reach out and open the door, Ash.”
Ash extended her right hand and was surprised to feel a doorknob. Her eyes flew open, and she saw the door from her imagination.
Maerlin grinned at the wisteria vines. “Have you studied the symbolism of flowers and plants?”
Ash shrugged. “I know a little about how and why Russian people give flowers, but that’s it. These vines are pretty.”
“Wisteria has long been considered a symbol of immortality. I just wondered if it was a conscious decision. Well, don’t keep us waiting. Open the door!”
Ash opened the door and looked at the Therian palace tower room she’d imagined.
