The master suite consisted of three rooms and a bathroom.  I found the mahogany, French provincial furnishings a little ostentatious for my tastes, but I could live with them.The king sized bed sported a mattress that looked and felt so new that I questioned if it had ever been slept on.   The cleaning crew  had steamed it on both sides. The bedding for it, including a cotton covered memory foam mattress pad were laid  in a neat pile at the end of the bed.I quickly set to making it.By the time I’d put my bed together, I could feel the muscles in my body begging for a reprieve.  I discovered a deep, jacuzzi tub in the bathroom that was just begging to be filled with steaming hot, lavender scented water.While I waited for the tub to fill,  I breathed in the scented steam that rose from it as I pinned my hair on top of my head.  In the corner of the spacious, marble tiled room was a free standing oval mirror

We spent the next two weeks focusing on setting up the lab and making sure that the entire house was put in order.  Like me, Megan had an aversion to clutter.  We didn’t mind if a room was either empty or sparsely furnished as long as it was clean and not riddled with dust.  So, while we shopped, lugged from the store as well as the old house, and organized, the cleaning crew was kept busy going from room to room.By the time we were finished and satisfied with the way things were looking, I felt exhausted on both a physical and emotional level.  As odd as it seemed, setting up the new lab made me think of Peter.  Perhaps it was because I was preparing to do research on the very thing that took him from me.  I wondered if he’d made any progress with his research in Africa.  It would have proven handy to be able to know his findings and share in his progress.  Instead, I was starting from scratch.Megan ma

I’d spent the two and one half hour flight with my head rested on Evan’s shoulder and my eyes closed.  Part of the reason was because I was exhausted from the trauma of the day, but it was also because I had a foreboding feeling that I wasn’t ready to talk about.  He was very astute when it came to my moods and I was afraid that he would pick up on it.He gently shook me alert so that I could enjoy the city lights as they boasted the excitement that awaited us once the plane landed.  Since I’d never flown into a city of such magnitude in the dark before, I thought the lights a sight to behold.  I kissed him on the cheek and thanked him for waking me while the flight attendant announced that we were about to land and everyone should be secured in their seats.The energy of the city consumed me as soon as we stepped out onto the sidewalk and hailed a cab.  I found it a completely different feel to that of Las Vegas. 

Megan was waiting for me at the airport when the private plane landed.  She’d brought Evan’s van to transport him in.  I found that to be a touching thought.  He’d like that rather than to be loaded into a hearse.Since he wasn’t human, we couldn’t offer him the traditional burial service, but I didn’t think he’d want that anyway.  We took his body to Megan’s land and buried him beneath the ancient oak tree that he was prone to sit under when we were staying with her and he wanted to think.  He said it gave him a peaceful feeling.  As for attendees.  It was me, Megan, and my aunt Lily. I’d asked his proprietor friend to take care of notifying whatever vampire committee needed to be notified of his death and he’d agreed. I had to trust that was enough. I didn’t know how to contact his army people and, quite frankly, after what Roman had done, I had no desire to rea