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“By God, it’s huge!” Balthazar crowed as he spun in a circle with Christian, gazing at the vast and ancient city of Nightvallen.Meffy, who was on his shoulder, gave out a squeak at the wild movement. He was soothed with kisses.

“You’re glad it's not quiet. It needs to be alive again,” Julian said to Daemon as they watched the other two call out the wonderful things they saw.

Or rather, Balthazar called out and Christian nodded and said, “Yes, that’s a tower. Oh, yes, that’s a dome. Oh, and that is…”

“You’re right. I want it filled with life,” Daemon said. He brought both of Julian’s hands up to his lips and kissed the backs of them repeatedly. “You know exactly what to say.”

Julian’s gaze softened. “Truthfully, it’s what I want too. When Christian and I first came here, I wondered what it would be like filled with Vampires.”

“Even with all of House Ravenscroft, Lisette’s House, and more, it will still be very empty,” Daemon said.

“Yes, but Balthazar will make up for the lack of people with the amount of noise he’s making,” Julian laughed.

They then went over to Balthazar and Christian to join in on the fun. Balthazar’s eyes were shining. His mouth was open in a wide grin as if he were going to laugh. He turned to Daemon with that wild, happy look.

“Finally, on the inside! No more an exile! I’m where I belong!” Balthazar cried then blushed. “That was quite a revealing set of statements, wasn’t it?”

Daemon clasped his left shoulder. “They were true.”

“Yes, yes, thanks to you,” Balthazar said then blushed again. “This is quite ridiculous. I’m quite ridiculous.”

“I can’t argue with that, but that’s part of your charm,” Christian said.

“As is my raging Id so I’m not sure--”

“Oh! That was… oh, I hope I’m not going to be sick,” Elizabeth said as she and Henry came through the gate next.

“Mom!”

“Elizabeth!”

Both Julian and Christian raced to her side. She waved them away as she rested her hands on her knees and breathed deeply.

“I’ll be all right just… just need a minute,” she assured the boys even as Christian rubbed her back.

“She was like this for the first 24 hours on that cruise we took,” Henry said, looking at his wife with concerned affection. But his gaze couldn’t help but swing out onto the city. His mouth dropped open. “My God, Julian,thisis what your parents discovered, isn’t it?”

Julian nodded and smiled. His right hand slid into the pocket of his pants, and Daemon knew that he was touching their soul gems. “Yeah, isn’t it incredible?”

“Incredible?” Henry let out a dry laugh. “That does not even comecloseto describing it.” His gaze slowly trailed over the massive towers, the soaring domes, the minarets, the pyramids, and more. “No wonder they believed this was going to change the world. Knowing Vampires are real is one thing. But that still puts them in the human world. Here…” Henry just shook his head, amazed at it all.

At that moment, Fiona and Arcius arrived through the gate. They were arm in arm. Fiona’s gaze swept over the city and up to the night sky that was spangled with stars. Her lips parted.

“It’s more beautiful here, isn’t it, Arcius?” she asked. Her hands traced the lines of the buildings. “It feels more alive. I don’t know.”

Arcius nodded. He hadn’t blinked once since they arrived. Daemon knew that, to Arcius, Nightvallen was close to second to him in the man’s belief system.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Arcius breathed. “And we’re going to call this placehome?”

“Can you believe it?” Balthazar chuckled and elbowed Arcius.

“I see you are not worried about your underwear being fondled?” Fiona’s lips twitched.

“I told William to make sure to grab all of it,” Balthazar told her.

She just shook her head.

Seeyr and Sophia were the next two to arrive. Seeyr’s long white gown trailed behind her as she immediately glided towards his old tomb. Sophia put the bags down and followed after her, simply adorned with the other kittens. Daemon came too as Seeyr touched the doors of the tomb.