After hours of flying, they rounded a bend, and the new view took Caitlin’s breath away: there, on the horizon, sat a shimmering sea, vibrant blue, its waves smashing into an endless, pristine shoreline. As they got closer, the elevation rose, and rol ing hil s went right up to the shoreline.
Nestled in the rol ing hil s, amidst the tal grass, she saw a single building set against the horizon.
It was a glorious, medieval castle, designed of an antique limestone, covered in ornate sculptures and gargoyles. It was nestled high on a hil , overlooking the sea, and surrounded by fields of wildflowers as far as the eye could see. It was breathtakingly beautiful, and Caitlin felt as if she were in a postcard.
Caitlin’s heart beat with excitement, as she wondered, as she hoped to dream, that this could be Caleb’s place.
Somehow, she felt that it was.
“Yes,” he cal ed out, over the wind, reading her mind, as always. “This is it.”
Caitlin’s heart pounded with delight. She was so excited, and felt so strong, she was ready to fly by herself.
She suddenly jumped off of Caleb’s back, and went flying through the air. For a moment, she was terrified, wondering if her wings would sprout. A moment later, they did, supporting her in the air.
As the air ran through them, she loved the feeling. It felt great to have them again, to be independent. She rose and dove, swooping up, close to Caleb, who smiled back. They dove down together, then up, swerving in and out of each other’s flight paths, the tips of their wings sometimes touching.
As one, they dove down, closer to the castle. It looked ancient; it felt worn in, but not in a bad way. For Caitlin, it already felt like home.
As she took it al in, looked at the landscape, the rol ing hil s, the distant ocean, for the first time in as long as she could remember, she felt a sense of peace. She felt, final y, like she was home. She saw her life together with Caleb here, living together, even starting a family together again, if that was possible. She would be happy to live out her days here with him—and final y, at long last, she didn’t see anything that stood in their way.
*
Caitlin and Caleb landed together in front of his castle, and he took her hand and led her to the front door. The oak door was covered in a thick layer of dust and sea salt, and clearly hadn’t been opened in years. He tried the knob. It was locked.
“It’s been hundreds of years,” he said. “I’m pleasantly surprised to find that it’s stil here, that it hasn’t been vandalized—that it’s even stil locked. There used to be a key…”
He reached up, way above the door frame, and felt the crevice behind the stone arch. He ran his fingers up and down it, and final y stopped, extracting a long, silver skeleton key.
He slipped into the lock, and it fit perfectly. He turned it with a click.
He turned and smiled at her, stepping aside. “You do the honors,” he said.
Caitlin pushed the heavy, medieval door, and it opened slowly, creaking, encrusted salt fal ing off in clumps as it did.
They walked in together. The entry room was dim, and covered in cobwebs. The air was stil and dank, and it felt like it hadn’t been entered in centuries. She looked up at the high, arched stone wal s, the stone floors. There were layers of dust on everything, including the glass windows, which blocked a lot of the light, making it seem darker than it was.
“This way,” Caleb said.
He took her hand and led her down a narrow corridor, and it opened up into a grand hal , with high, arched windows on both sides. It was much lighter in here, even with the dust.
There was some furniture left over in here, too: a long, medieval oak table, surrounded by ornate, wooded chairs.
At its center sat a huge, marble mantel, one of the largest fireplaces Caitlin had ever seen. It was incredible. Caitlin felt as if she had walked right back into the Cloisters.
“I had it built in the 12th century,” he said, looking around himself. “Back then, this was the style.”
“You lived here?” Caitlin asked.
He nodded.
“For how long?”
He thought. “Not more than a century,” he said. “Maybe two.”
Caitlin marveled, once again, at the huge increments of time in the vampire world.
Suddenly, though, she got worried, as she thought of something else: had he lived here with another woman?
She was afraid to ask.
He suddenly turned and looked at her.
“No, I did not,” he said. “I lived here alone. I assure you.
You’re the first woman I’ve ever taken here.”
Caitlin felt relieved, though embarrassed at his reading her mind.
“Come on,” he said. “This way.”
He led her up a spiral stone staircase, and it twisted and turned, and let them out on the second floor. This floor was much brighter, with large, arched windows facing every direction, sunlight pouring in, reflecting the distant sea. The rooms were smal er here, more intimate. There were more marble fireplaces, and as Caitlin wandered from room to room, she saw a huge four-poster bed dominating one of them. Chaise lounges and overstuffed velvet chairs, were spread throughout the other rooms. There were no rugs, just a bare stone floor. It was very stark. But beautiful.
He led her across the room, to a set of huge, glass doors.
They’d been covered in so much dust, she hadn’t even known they were there. He stepped up and tugged hard at the locks and knobs, and final y, with a bang and a cloud of dust, they opened.
He stepped outside, and Caitlin fol owed.
They stepped out onto a huge, stone terrace, framed by an ornate limestone, column railing.
They walked together up to the edge, and looked out.
From here, they had a commanding view of the entire countryside, of the ocean. Caitlin could hear the crashing of the waves, and smel the sea heavy in the air on the rol ing breezes. She felt like she were in heaven.
If Caitlin had ever imagined a dream house, this would definitely be it. It was dusty, and it needed a woman’s touch, but Caitlin knew that they could fix it up, could get it to the state that it once was. She felt that this was truly a place they could cal home together.
“I was thinking about what you said,” he said, “the entire flight here. About our building a life together. I would like that very much.”
He put an arm around her.
“I would like for you to live here with me. For us to start our life over again. Right here. It’s quiet here, and safe, and protected. No one knows about this place. No one wil ever find us here. I see no reason why we can’t live out our lives safely, as regular people,” he said. “Of course, it wil need a lot of work to fix it up. But I’m game, if you are.”