"Why aren't you frying?" Greg whispered.
"They put a shielding disc under the skin at the back of my neck," I explained absently, staring at Merrill's expansive grounds.
"That still doesn't explain how she broke out of the rejuvenating sleep," Franklin muttered.
"I can hear you, Frank," I said, turning away from the light. It was still making my eyes water or I was crying, one of the two. Giff and Roff were now in the kitchen and Roff was leading me away from the window while the others followed along behind.
"Raona, you should go back to sleep," Roff reprimanded gently, his honey brown eyes displaying concern and alarm. "What are you doing out of bed?"
"I had a bad dream," I said, pulling away from him and sitting down at the kitchen island; I was beginning to feel dizzy.
"No, Raona," Roff admonished, taking my hand again. "Come to bed."
"I'll carry her up," Franklin offered.
"No, I will do this," Roff waved Franklin off. "We were made to work with the vampires and defend them if necessary. We are stronger than we seem." Roff lifted me as if I weighed nothing, and with Giff trailing him, carried me up the stairs. Once there, Giff left us and Roff climbed into bed with me, holding me against him. He laid my head on his shoulder, put his arms around me and told me to sleep. I closed my eyes and slept.
* * *
"She was up? In the middle of the day?" Gavin ran a hand through his hair in a gesture of frustration. Wlodek and Merrill were both listening to Franklin's account of Lissa's brief journey downstairs in daylight.
"She said she had a bad dream," Franklin looked at Merrill. Gavin snorted. "I'm only repeating what she said," Franklin tossed up a hand.
"I'll talk this over with Griffin; He'll be here tomorrow with Amara," Merrill sighed.
The guesthouse was up and located fifty yards from the manor. It fit with the manor's architecture and was two stories high, with the lower story set up for Roff and Giff to make wine. They'd already looked at the space and were quite happy. Griffin had two adoring comesuli, now. The Saa Thalarr, when free to use their considerable power and talent, could make amazing things happen. Only the Larentii were more powerful.
* * *
"What's going on?" Gavin turned quickly, looking a bit guilty. I was yawning as I walked into the kitchen; I still felt sleepy, which wasn't surprising since I'd been awake earlier.
"Sweetheart, Franklin says you were out of bed earlier," Merrill came to me and held my face in his hands, his bright blue eyes narrowed in concern.
"I was. I dreamed about my mother and I haven't done that in years," I yawned again. "I think it was because we were talking about my family last night."
"Do you often dream?" Wlodek was standing beside Merrill, now, examining me carefully. Gavin wanted to move Merrill aside so he could get his hands on me, but Merrill wasn't moving.
"No, this is the first time since I was turned," I told him. "Now I feel tired."
"Did you feed?" Wlodek asked.
"Yes, honey," I said without thinking. Wlodek chuckled, then turned his head and laughed.
"Where is this disc that Gavin and Franklin are telling me about," Merrill asked, smiling. Wlodek now had himself back in hand.
"Back here somewhere," I lifted what little hair I had; it covered my nape now and I was happy about that. Merrill came around to study the back of my neck.
"Lissa, is that what these four puncture marks are?" Merrill leaned around to look at me.
"No, those are Kifirin's claiming marks."
"Claiming marks?" Merrill blinked at Gavin, who was staring at Wlodek.
"It's something he and the High Demons do," I shrugged. "They put their teeth in their mate's neck. Get him to explain it next time; I don't know much about it."
"The claiming is terrible when the High Demons do it," Roff came in, carrying a large container of blackberries. "They turn to their smaller Thifilathi and sink their canine teeth into the back of their mate's neck. The female is gravely ill for days afterward. Sex with the linking follows, when the female recovers. The claiming is never a pleasant experience for her."
"Is that what he did?" Gavin demanded.
"I wasn't sick, he just put his teeth in my neck," I felt embarrassed at the admission. "My neck was a little sore after, but that's all. The, uh, other stuff came later, and well, it was okay," I amended. "Dragon said we had a M'fiyah, Kifirin and I," I went on. "That's why I didn't fend him off after a while." I shrugged and went to help Roff wash blackberries.
"Mate recognition," Merrill informed Gavin, who must have worn a puzzled frown, still. I had my back to him at the time.
"I think I had it with Gavin, too. He smelled so good when I met him and no other vampire has smelled like that to me." I turned to look at Merrill and Wlodek, who were regarding me with confusion. "Of course he ended up being a big schmuck," I said, turning back to the sink. Roff and I were dumping washed blackberries into a large, wire colander.
"Am I still a schmuck?" Gavin came over to stand behind me.
"At times. You can't help it. It's a damn good thing I love you." Roff took his blackberries and headed toward the door into the garage. "Where are you going with those?" I asked. Roff seemed to have some purpose for dragging clean blackberries out the door.
"We, ah, have a new guesthouse," Merrill explained. Gavin pulled me against him and was now nuzzling my neck.
"Merrill, how can we have a new guesthouse? We didn't have anything yesterday," I said, trying to convince Gavin to stop nipping my neck. I mean, Wlodek was right there, after all, as was Merrill.
"Come, I will show you," Gavin picked me up and hauled me out the door. One of the garage bay doors was open; we went out that way and there it was; a huge, two-story guesthouse that had magically appeared in the last few hours, emerging like a mushroom that pops up overnight.
"Did somebody pour water on that to get instant extra space?" I asked as Gavin set me down outside it. I went to touch a stone wall with my hand; it was solid, all right, and looked as it had been there for months instead of hours.
"Merrill says Griffin completed this in very little time," Gavin informed me. "I had my doubts too, but here it is. Want to go inside?"
"Of course I do," I sniffed and walked through the door that Roff left open.
Roff and Giff were inside, crushing blackberries. They had buckets, bottles, bags of sugar and yeast plus many other winemaking things handy.