"Griffin provided everything we need," Giff was happy with what he was doing, mashing blackberries with his hands. "And a Larentii came to help build this," he waved a hand at our surroundings. "We knew of Larentii, but we have only seen them once before," he went on, smiling brightly before going back to crushing berries.
"Are you going to have purple hands?" I asked, watching Giff mash blackberries. And I wasn't surprised that a Larentii came to help Griffin build a guesthouse—I'd seen Pheligar's talents before. Nothing would surprise me where he was concerned, and I wondered if he were the Larentii in question.
"I do not care if this is so," Giff replied, giving me a big smile and wiggling purple fingers at me. "Oxberries stain hands, too." Gavin pulled me away from Giff and led me over to the stairs that went to the second floor. We walked up and found a beautiful space. It even had paintings on the walls, handmade rugs on wood floors, a full kitchen, an expansive living space, nice windows with views all around and a hall that led to a very large bedroom with its own bath.
"Wow, this is nicer than the one I have," I said. The bathroom was definitely larger; I knew that much.
"René has suggested that I allow you to renovate my apartment in London," Gavin's fingers stroked my neck.
"I think we have other things to do first," I said.
"And those things would be?" he was kissing my neck, now.
"I want to get Xenides out of the way. And his little hand puppet, Rahim Alif. Then we can talk about the outdated color on your walls. Gavin, that bedroom of yours is a cave; anyway, it was the time I saw it. I've only been there once, if you remember."
"Then you will have to decide how to make it not a cave," Gavin said.
"Gavin, this is somebody else's bedroom, not ours," I reminded him, as he attempted to lift my top.
"Then take us elsewhere," he mumbled. I took us into our bedroom by turning to mist and going through walls.
I got a lesson in vampire etiquette and protocol while we sat in the hot tub later, after taking a dip in the pool. I tried to put my one-piece suit on; Gavin wanted the bikini. I hadn't worn it before. He got the bikini.
"If you are meeting a vampire for the first time, the older vampire, if you know he is older, will dictate whether you touch or not," Gavin instructed. "He will turn his right hand slightly while it hangs at his side, to indicate that he is willing to shake hands with you."
"That might have come in handy in the past," I said. "Does this go for female vampires, too?"
"A few very old vampires will kiss a companion's hand if she is human," Gavin said. "Most male vampires will not allow their female vampire mates to touch another vampire. We all know not to offer."
"The only female vampires I've seen have been the two on the Council and Jovana, who turned out to be a real bitch." She had been; I could feel Saxom's taint radiating off her when I carried her as mist.
"I have seen a handful of the others, over the years," Gavin said. "They do not come out often and none attended the annual meeting last year. That is why you did not see any of them."
"Sounds like they're locked in the seraglio," I teased. The faint grimace on Gavin's face stopped me in my tracks. I would have been locked away, too, if I'd been susceptible to compulsion as they all thought. "So, there are thirteen female vampires, all of whom may be locked up and not allowed to go anywhere." I was about to climb out of the hot tub and leave Gavin sitting there. He grabbed me and settled me beside him again.
"I do not believe it is that bad," he sighed.
"They're all more than seven hundred years old, I figured that out for myself," I grumped. "So it's possible they've been locked up or placed under compulsion. For a very long time."
"Lissa, a female vampire is the rarest of jewels," Gavin said, wrapping his arms around me. "You do not leave your precious rubies and emeralds lying on the streets, you keep them safe. Otherwise, someone will come along and take them."
"We're talking females here, not chunks of rock," I muttered.
"The marriage bond must be renewed with the Council every hundred years," Gavin informed me. "If both parties do not agree to continue, the marriage is automatically dissolved."
"Do you think those guys are just going to let their jewels walk away? I've seen that hoarded stash your cousin has—he's not letting any of that go," I said. "You didn't see him when I took those tiaras; he was out for blood, Gavin, no pun intended. That's why I was so afraid of him."
"Lissa, let us talk of something else," Gavin begged.
"Fine, O vampire who wants to dance around the hot topics," I complained.
"Tell me about this dream you had," he said, wrapping his arms around me tighter and smoothly changing the subject.
"I dreamed about my mother, Gavin," I sighed, leaning my head against his shoulder. "She was telling me not to be mad at my father. She said he couldn't help it, whatever that means." I wasn't going into the adoption thing—I had no idea whether that was truth or not and had no desire to speculate. I pulled one of Gavin's hands out of the water and examined it for wrinkles—it didn't have any. "How come you're not all pruney?" I asked.
"That has never happened to me," he chuckled.
"Uh-huh. Not even when you were human? Those Romans were awfully fond of their baths, from what I hear."
"We had large pools available with heated water," he sighed, recalling it. "The marble and tile work was exquisite, you know. There were cold pools too, to refresh you after spending time in the hot baths."
"Yeah, and that was roughing it, I'm sure," I said.
"Are you teasing me?" he asked, his eyes crinkling just a little at the corners. He was amused, for some reason.
"Yeah," I replied with a shrug. Gavin leaned down to kiss me; probably just to shut me up.
Rolfe and Charles came in to join us after a while. "It's good to see you getting to relax," I told them.
"This is nice; the Honored One hasn't considered installing a hot tub," Charles sighed, sinking into the hot water. He and Rolfe wore swimsuits, but I wondered if they'd go in naked if I wasn't there. I wasn't about to ask, though. I was the only woman in the house and wasn't prepared for a bunch of men wandering around in the nude, should they be so inclined.
Within five minutes, we were joined by Franklin and Greg, then René and Tony, and then the two werewolves showed up. Deryn and Paul both grinned at me as they slipped into the hot water. Now I knew why Merrill had built the hot tub to hold fifteen people or so. Franklin and Greg seemed to like their bodyguards quite a bit; the two werewolves settled in near them. I was completely shocked, however, when Merrill and Wlodek showed up. Before then, I don’t believe I could have pictured Wlodek in a swimsuit. He was well put together, I'll give him that, but then most vampires weren't hard to look at.