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Ahead, up a narrow wooden staircase, was a three level chalet style home with a high-peaked roof built into a rock face. There were satellite dishes on the slopes, solar panels galore, and there was a large deck straight across the face of the place on the top two levels. Young fruit trees and bushes brimming with peppers and tomatoes in large planters were lined up across the middle level. A good-sized glass solarium jutted off to the side and that, he could see, was filled with greenery.
“Welcome to my home and clinic,” Sasha said in greeting from the doorway of the middle level, the only level accessible from the staircase, “Please come in. I’ll just show you to your room first.”
Tristan put Kyla on her feet but held her close to his side as they entered the bright and airy home, far too large for just one person. The decor had a cabin feel to it while being bright and cheerful at the same time. He was wary but sensed nothing unusual and no other vamps in the vicinity. No vamps had been in this house for a long while and that was slightly reassuring.
They followed her up a few stairs and then down a long hallway with several doors. Sasha opened the door at the end.
“Your room.” She handed him two keys and said, “I had Sam put a lock on it just now. Make yourself comfortable, please. I don’t have servants here. I keep the refrigerator stocked with ready-to-consume things: salads, sandwich fixings, fruit, cheese, the like. Blood bags are stocked as well; help yourself.”
She gestured toward a wine fridge that was stocked with bags, “They’re all labeled. Plenty of frozen entrees in the freezer for the microwave or oven. I’m busy and I really don’t cook much but if you’ll allow me to share that you’re here and you’re here more than a day or two, you’ll meet some of the others and many of them would be happy to host dinners. One of our residents loves to cook and I visit her regularly and she’s always sending me home with casseroles for my freezer so there’s plenty of food here. If you don’t want anyone to meet you, that’s fine, too. I’m not expecting company for the next few days.
I will tell you that if you choose to meet others that there is absolutely zero elitism here. I know you’re the Kovac crown prince and all but… yeah…no airs or titles here. If you permit me to share that you’re visiting, that you’re receptive to the possibility of joining our coalition, they’ll treat you like they treat everyone else, as an equal.
If you want your visit kept quiet, fine. Nobody will bother us unless I invite them to. I have a Do Not Disturb flag out front for when I’m in the midst of research-intense projects and if it’s up, which is it right now, people stay away unless there’s an emergency. We have good privacy on this end of the island so if you want to walk the beach, go for a swim, take a canoe or pedal boat out, there’s little chance of privacy being disturbed.”
“Got it,” Tristan said. He dropped their bags on the floor. The bedroom was large and airy with a wall of windows and a view of the water. A queen bed, nightstands, and a large armoire plus a long chest of drawers furnished the space. There wasn’t an adjoining bathroom, which didn’t make him too happy as he didn’t like the idea of Kyla wandering in and out to use the washroom.
“My brother is also on this floor on the other end of the hall. My bedroom is the first down the hall from the kitchen on the middle level but I’m usually on the ground level, where my clinic is. I’ll be staying close to Kyle while you’re here in my office or my lab downstairs. Why don’t you two get settled and we can talk in the kitchen some more, get refreshments, and then we’ll head down there?”
Tristan gave her a chin jerk.
Sasha smiled and backed out of the room.
“How’re you feeling, princess?” he turned to Kyla and asked, “You okay?”
“No,” she said, belatedly.
“Do you want something?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Grape,” she added.
“I’ll get you a drink. They might not have that here. Need to use the bathroom? Tired?”
“No.”
All that had been like pulling teeth, taking three times as long as those answers should’ve taken.
He took her hand, “Come with me.” He wasn’t about to leave her alone while he toured Sasha’s clinic and lab.
In the kitchen Sam and his sister sat at a long butcher’s block-like table that’d seat a dozen. They were drinking from mugs.
“Meh,” Sam was saying as Tristan and Kyla arrived.
