While Cash meanders towards the dining table, the others hang back, stopping eight feet or so away from me. Like the blue-haired vampire, they both look somewhere around my age—but that doesn't tell you much when it comes to their kind. 

My gaze flicks between the two as Prisha comes up beside me. 

"Erin, this is Theo, and this is Nicholai," she says, gesturing first to the taller man on the left and then to the stocky, more muscular one on the right. "Theo and Nicholai, this is Erin. The newest Blackwood." 

She turns to smile back at me as she says that last bit. 

"Lovely to meet you," says Theo, dark eyes glinting. He's dapper, perhaps the best dressed in the house, outfitted in shades of cream and ivory that compliment the cool brown of his skin. His hair is black streaked through with different shades of brown. Cut short and carefully edged, like his beard. He stands with one arm behind the other vampire's back, the muscles of his shoulders slightly tense. 

"Nice to meet you, Erin." Nicholai's gray eyes flick briefly to mine then downward again—his voice low, tone strained. 

"It's great to meet you both. I'm...I'm really, really glad to be here." My voice breaks a bit, and I look first to Theo, meeting his steady gaze with a smile before directing my words to Nicholai. "But you don't have to stay down here if this is painful for you. I really appreciate it, though." 

Nicholai smiles weakly, brushing his silvery-blond hair out of his face. "I've got to get myself acclimated to your scent eventually, if I'm going to be feeding off of you."

An odd thrill runs down my spine at the words, taking me by surprise. Am I really like that?

I never had been before. Though the thought of feeding vampires hadn't exactly frightened me, it hadn't thrilled me either. It was a matter of survival, of escape, a job I was willing to do if it meant a new life. But now, standing across from these two, there's something building within me that I never expected. 

"Nicholai is our youngest," explains Gaius. "Turned less than a year ago. Theo was reborn five years ago, and Cash eight. They all responded very well to your sample, but of course—for Nicholai, it's the most intense. A combination of compatability to his needs, and the fact that he's still so young. Until he's become used to your scent and the impact of it has lessened somewhat, he'll continue to feed on Padraig exclusively."

"Your safety is of the utmost important to us," says Prisha. 

I chew my lip, looking around at them. "Will Paidrag be alright, though? How has he been able to keep up with feeding all five of you?"

Another look passes between the Joined pair. 

"Prisha and I have a...an experimental diet. We don't need human blood." says Gaius. "The younger ones supplemented their blood intake using the same method, for a time, but they didn't respond as well to it. It seems to be a matter of maturity." 

I can tell from his tone and expression that I probably shouldn't ask any more…at least for now. It's a relief, though, to know that Padraig and I won't be accounting for all their nutritional needs by ourselves. 

Just as that thought comes up, a need of my own asserts itself.

"Sorry, but could someone direct me to a bathroom?"

"Oh!" Prisha jumps up from the seat she'd only just taken. "Why don't I show you to your suite? You have your own bathroom in there, and once you're more settled in, we can give you a proper tour." 

"Yes," I breathe in sudden relief. "Yes, that would be perfect. Thank you." 

Leaving the others behind in the kitchen, Prisha whisks me away, up the stairs and down a long hall. 

"I hope you like it," she hedges, hovering outside a door at the end and to the right. "I decorated it myself, based on the impression I got of your tastes. But if there's anything you don't like about it, please just let me know. Cash and Theo are taking you shopping for clothes and a Companion tomorrow, and if there's anything else you need you can get it then."

Either holding her breath or simply forgetting to breathe entirely, she twists the amethyst knob and pushes the door inward. 

I take the first few steps in by myself, with Prisha hanging back, brows knit together and lips pulled down into a tiny frown. But her tension eases when she sees my reaction play out across my face.

"Thank you," I gush, still staring around as I drop my backpack near the four-posted bed. "It's perfect. Really."

Face lit up now, she gives me another swift hug and leaves me to myself. 

This time, I really do pinch myself. Thankfully, it hurts. 

Cool, dark green is the dominant color. It's the hue of the wallpaper, over which a pattern of black and silver-foil leaves and branches is laid. Black velvet curtains hang at the corners of the bed, matching the comforter and the bounty of pillows. The furniture is all dark stained wood, the accents mostly silver and the bits of gemstone and bone that are apparently ubiquitous here. The far wall is almost entirely windows, save the door, and leads out onto a covered balcony drenched in flowering plants and set with a small couch, a table, and two chairs. 

Scanning around, I locate two more doors. The first turns out to be a closet, another room unto itself. The second, though, is my bathroom. 

After everything I've seen, I'm unsurprised to find a massive tub and shower inside—all of natural stone, rough on the outside but polished within. More bits of crystal glimmer from the rock, natural veins of it this time. The faucet is wrought in the shape of dragon's head, and there's even a full vanity with a cushioned seat set before it.

Once I'm refreshed, I take another few moments to look around and collect myself. Then, feeling a bit drained but otherwise eager to rejoin my new family downstairs, I make for the door to head out. 

Swinging it open, a jolt of shock freezes me to the spot. On the other side, a massive figure takes up the hall from floor to ceiling, dressed in a suit of black brocade. My blood goes cold as it slowly turns to face me, peering down from a height of some seven feet or so. Though there are no eyes in the empty sockets of its antlered, skull-like head, I could swear its staring straight into my soul. 

My lips part, and for a moment I think I might scream. But as the being tilts their skeletal face—which looks as though it came from an enormous stag—my heart rate evens out. 

Their general energy just feels...nice.

Whatever they saw in my soul, they must have approved. Thrusting something soft into my hands, they turn and pad away. When I look down, I find myself holding an intricately patterned, silky quilt in every imaginable shade of green. 

"Thank you!" I call after them, before turning back into my room to lay the quilt out over the end of my bed. 

There's a thunder-crack from the direction of my open door, and I whirl around to see Cash materializing from the dissipating shadow. They glance sideways then back at me before their eyes catch on the quilt.

"Ah, you got green, very nice. Prish sent me up to warn you about Butler, but it looks like you've already met. Says she's sorry she forgot." 

"You mean the skull monster? Yes, I did. Wha—um, who are they?"

Their eyes turn back to the hall for a moment. "You know, we're not exactly sure," they say, tone thoughtful. "But he's been with Gaius and Prish longer than any of the rest of us. Just showed up in the house one day, naked and covered in leaves and sticks. Apparently unaffected by any of their wards. But they just had a really good feeling about him, you know? So he stayed."

I stare at them. They shrug and continue.

"What? It's fine. Once Theo came along, he was able to confirm it. His gift lets him sense things about people, tell when they're genuine or not, stuff like that. Says it's from their heartbeat and the smell of their body chemistry. Anyway, Butler's harmless and he likes to sew."

"Er, ok then. Good to know."

"Well, I'll leave you to it," they say, teleporting away again before I have a chance to say anything else. 

A few minutes later, I rejoin the rest of the family in the kitchen. 

By now, they're all holding glasses and mugs of something—coffee, tea, wine, or any of the other fluids aside from blood that vampires can actually drink. There's no nutritional value in it for them, of course, but they do at least feel the affects of caffeine and alcohol. Gathered around the table, some sit. Cash and Theo lean against the wall or countertop surrounding it. Padraig's back now too, looking a bit pale and shadowed under the eyes, but otherwise alright.

Though they'd have stopped before I got close enough to hear them, I can't help but imagine they were only just talking about me. Their expressions as I approach seem to confirm it. Butler now hovers around in the kitchen, holding a banana in his curled black claws. Reaching for my abandoned tea cup, Gaius begins to stand, but I swoop down to pluck it from his hands. 

"I'll get it." 

With my cup refilled, I take the seat I'd had before—directly across from where Nicholai sits now. He shifts awkwardly, running a hand through his hair again in what I'm beginning to think is a nervous tick. Butler follows, hovering over my shoulder for a moment before setting the banana down in front of me on the table.

"Oh, thank you," I say, bemused. But a banana doesn't actually sound too bad right now, and he's watching me with expectant sockets, claws twisted fretfully together. So, I unpeel it and take a bite. Again, the experience is a sensory explosion of flavor, the most bananay banana I've ever tasted. The skull-faced specter relaxes, turning away from me to drift back into the kitchen.

"He's such a dear," says Prisha. Cash chortles, but she ignores them. "Well, I think now's a good time to go over everything, if that's alright with you, Erin?"

"Of course." 

As Prisha, Gaius, and the others fill me in on everything I need to know about life in the house, my donor schedule, and surviving in the Aetheri Realm, I find myself wishing I had a notebook. It's a lot of information and it's been a long day, but the tea and banana perk me up enough to retain the important bits. Besides, it's not like we're living in the dark ages here. They don't exactly have the internet, but they have their own ways of storing and sharing knowledge. Anything aside from my schedule and the particulars of the household are things I can look up in the Dreamscape. 

"And when do your classes start again, dear? First of the Sturgeon Moon?" Prisha prompts, after warning me for the about the sixth time never to wander outside at night alone, save for the warded grounds of Blackwood House. 

"Oh!" I startle a little bit. I'd almost forgotten about school. "Yes, that's right." 

"Wonderful. Padraig will be driving you. Except on full moons, of course" 

"Really?" I look over to the werewolf. "You don't mind?" 

He shrugs. "Nope. It's a part of my job. One of the better ones, actually." 

The Blackwoods are unlike other vampire clans in more ways than one. The first and most notable being their lack of alignment. Where all others of their kind stand with the Moon Court, they're defiantly independent. The second is that they never take in anyone they don't plan to consider one of their own. They want me to learn, succeed, and thrive…because one day, I'll be more than a donor. I'll be one of their kind. Unless things go very, very wrong of course. In the meantime, I need to find things to contribute other than blood. Things that aren't the Voice. I need to develop my own power. Hence school. University, to be precise. 

"Besides," says Prisha. "Nicholai's a student there, too. You'll be carpooling."

I turn to meet the gray eyes of the vampire in question. "Oh, you don't drive here yet, either?"

His gaze skirts sideways. 

"I do. But it's not safe for us to ride alone together."

"And it would be wasteful for you both to go in separately." Says the matriarch with an air of finality. "Padraig has work he can do for us in the city on those nights, anyway. It all works out." 

"Works for me," I say, though judging by Nicholai's expression he's not so sure. 

"You have to get used to my scent, right?" I ask him, not sure where the cheekiness in my tone is coming from. Am I trying to flirt right now?  "Sounds like the perfect opportunity." 

Nicholai snorts derisively. 

Theo laughs. Throughout all of this, I've felt his dark eyes on me often. Observing, studying. Every once in a while, he'll chime in with some quip or bit of advice. But mostly, he just watches and listens. 

As Prisha's lips part to unleash another stream of wisdom, Gaius lays a gentle hand to her shoulder, forestalling her. 

"I think this is where we may want to pause for now, my love," he says, unconvinced as I try to stifle yet another yawn. "The night may have just begun for us, but Erin could surely use some proper rest now." He looks to me for confirmation, and I can't help but nod in agreement. 

"I am pretty tired." 

I'll need to transition to a nocturnal lifestyle, and soon...but not now. Not tonight. Tonight, a four-posted bed with a quilt made by a mysterious deer monster is calling my name. 

~*~

It's hard to decide which aspect of life in the Aether Realm I'd most looked forward to—but if there were a list, my first foray into the Dreamscape would be near the top of it.

I'd been warned it would be disorienting, at first. And it is. I fall asleep not long after my head hits the pillow, and before I know it, I'm there.

Unlike when I dreamt back in the Uther Realm, here I'm completely lucid. Opening my dream eyes, I find myself at the heart of my own territory in the Dreamscape, a sort of bubble-realm manifestation of my own mind, floating in a sea of other bubbles. Some are other individuals, others are shared realms. Collective places, where knowledge pools and stories are born. 

Unsurprisingly, the place I find myself is painted all in shades of green and blue. A clouded sky overhead, a storm-tossed sea stretching to the horizon before me. Behind, a tangle of trees and wood-shingle houses and forested hills as far as the eye can see. 

I spend the rest of my sleeping hours exploring the landscape of my mind, too overwhelmed and enchanted to even consider venturing into other realms just yet. I don't expect to see anyone else, as the only people in the Dreamscape are real ones, other dreamers. And in here, in my own little bubble, the only ones who enter are those I let in. The entities and creatures I do encounter are different facets of myself, given face and form. All of them are otherworldly creatures, ever-changing and very obviously shards of my own heart. 

and so, when I open the door to a light house standing atop a tapered cliff and find a very real-looking man standing there, it nearly shocks me awake.

This is no dream-manifestation of some aspect of myself. This is a person, a separate one. One with fine, hard-edged features, pointed ears, and long auburn hair pulled back at the nape of his neck. I don't know his name, but his face is familiar somehow. His hazel eyes spark at the sight of me, and he takes a step in my direction as I stand frozen in the threshold.

"It's so wonderful to finally, truly meet you, Erin." His voice is smooth and sinuous and strangling, like a snake. Every syllable is a coil pulled tight around my heart, ensnaring me. 

Dread twists in my guts, sets my hair on-end. 

"Who the hell are you? How'd you get in here?"

He smiles.

"Don't you recognize me, Erin? I'm your husband."