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And I knew it was cliché, but the moment we left the airport area, I could only describe it as breathtakingly beautiful. Like screensavers brought to life. The rolling green mountain tops, the smell of the sea, the beautiful homes. It was stunning.
“It’s hideous.” Theseus frowned.
“What?” I tried not to laugh.
“They’ve destroyed so much,” he whispered and pointed over to one side. “There used to be a lake there, and on the left, there was a row of farms. You could see the children running and playing in them.”
“We are on different pages,” I said, making sure to stay as close to Ulrik as possible, but the maniac kept changing lanes every five seconds. “I was just thinking it’s beautiful. We are from two different eras; I guess that’s to be expected.”
“Hopefully, home has not changed as much. I wished to show it to you so badly,” he whispered, and his eyes drifted shut. He couldn’t fight off the sleep any longer.
“He’s asleep?” Melora’s voice reached me, as Ulrik slowed a bit.
“Yes.”
“Good, then I can take this time to warn you.”
“Warn me?”
Ulrik grinned and swerved over to the side, slowing down so they could appear right beside my window.
“Mom isn’t too pleased with you,” he said.
“What?” I almost stepped on the brakes. “Mom? As in his mom? Rhea?”
“She isn’t just his mom,” Ulrik frowned. “As the mate to our father, she’s our mother as well. She—”
“Yes,” Melora cut in. “Rhea, Theseus mortal mother, and the mother to our immortal family. Theseus, you can imagine, is her favorite, her pride and joy, and you, miss vampire-witch are refusing to mate him like there is something wrong with him.”
“Well, there is his memory,” Ulrik teased.
She ignored him, looking to me. “I’m just letting you know, in case you wonder, why she gives you less than a warm welcome. I suggest you think of something better than what you told the vampires in Montréal. Your intending excuse will not sit well her.”
“And with Father not yet back to calm her temper,” Ulrik grimaced and glanced to me. But he seemed much more amused than worried. “Good luck, little sister.”
Just like that, they zoomed in front of me, only a hair’s length away from an oncoming semi-truck on the other side of the road.
I sat there, gripping the steering wheel, too confused and baffled to respond. I didn’t know what I was expecting, but a showdown with a potential mother-in-law was not on my list, seeing as how she was the reason he had even come to me.
Every movie, book, or play that I’d ever read where the mother-in-law hated their son’s girlfriend came to mind; I needed a plan, and I needed one fast.
Chapter 22
It was becoming abundantly clear to me that vampires, especially the older ones, were incapable of adequately describing their places of residence. It was that, or I needed a new dictionary. In Montréal, the president’s mansion ended up being a skyscraper. Now in Greece, Ankeiros to vampires, Theseus’s house was actually a country palace. Not a mansion, not a castle, definitely not a skyscraper, but a cream-colored ancient Greek-Roman Beaux-Arts styled palace.
We had driven off the main highway toward what I would have thought was just dense forest had it not been for the perfect slice of road that zigzagged through it. It was wide enough for one single lane. The trees passed by in blurs of green as I sped to keep up with Ulrik, unsure of were in the world he could
have been leading me until I saw it. It appeared like magic like all the trees had parted to reveal the valley in which the palace stood over rolling green grass and hills. The asphalt road ended where the valley began, and in its place was gravel, which led us to the front entrance.
I parked and sat there and just stared…what in the hell?
The front entrance was similar to the Pantheon; no, it was closer to drawings I had seen of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. However, at the top, inside the triangle were not gods but vampires. I could clearly see Ulrik and Melora, though it wasn’t in color. Melora’s short hair, Ulrik’s longer one, but it was the fact that they were both holding swords outward at an enemy and daggers towards each other that was a clear giveaway. Because there were so many people I didn’t recognize, it took me forever, or at least what felt like an unusual length of time to find Theseus. And that’s because I was doing what I did with all art, working from the corners and moving in toward the center.
Theseus was right there, no armor, almost naked, standing in the middle of two bigger characters both on horses. In art, that meant the character was of significant importance. I couldn’t see the larger character’s face on the right due to his ancient helmet. I could only guess it was Theseus’s maker and father. On the left was his mother, her long, wavy hair draped over her arm, and on the side of her horse was a shield. Theseus was in the middle of them both, holding the reigns of their stallions.
Staring, I had so many questions. When had it been created? How did they preserve it? Could I touch it? Also, how many years would it take for me to actually see this whole house if just the entrance looked like this?
I felt like Elizabeth Bennett after seeing Pemberley.
