Jonah and I had been sleeping in his office and on the eve of the humans expected arrival, he took me to a building behind the lab that I had not seen before. It was hidden behind a large locked gate, the gardens flourishing over the large concrete wall. He pressed a code into the gate and it swung open, revealing a highly manicured garden. A cobblestone path leads up to a set of stairs, the garden walls beside it high, the flowers hang over the edges. At the end of the stairs is a three storey house, done in the same stone as the path.

"For us."

He tugs my hand, grinning at me, leading me through a large archway to the front doors. He opens one side of the enormous wooden double doors, the floors beyond are highly polished wood, so glossy I can see my reflection on it. The walls are a warming cream colour, dark timber trims. To the side is an enormous staircase leading up to a vast mezzanine floor.

"How did you get all this done?"

"My father hired a specialised team to come in and do this, I hope you like it."

"It's amazing."

He pulls on my hand again, leading me into a reception room, stunning antique furniture, an enormous fire place dominates the grand room. We continue through to a formal dining room, Jonah advising that many vampires will pass through, many nights of entertainment were in our future. The kitchen was huge, a sleek industrial kitchen, laundry, servant's quarters, study with a library, informal lounge. I was stunned, not at the grandeur of my future residence, because I already lived in such fine housing but the fact that I didn't know it was here. It was like it popped up overnight. The next floor was just as plush as the ground floor, a multitude of bedrooms all of them having their own wet room and enormous walk in robe. If I thought that the house was grand, I didn't know what to call the third floor. It was the master bedroom, in its entirety, the whole floor was just for us.

The stairs led to a set of double doors, the tiny entry not revealing the hidden treasure behind. The doors opened out to a vast lounge room, a fire place is the dominating feature on the far wall. Beyond the lounge area was an open deck, the roof line continued over it, a wall ran along one side for privacy from the compound. The view over the land was glorious, the arid landscape was breathtaking. We moved back into the room finding an enormous wardrobe to the left of the doors, I walked through it to find two additional rooms. One was a bathroom, white marble lined every single wall and the floor, the fixtures a sleek white, the bath looked like you could have a party in it and the shower was just as enormous. Jonah followed me around as I gaped at the room, not saying anything. I wandered out of the bathroom to the next room. It was so small in comparison to the rest of the bedroom. I opened the door and it was like opening the door to an oven. All that there was in the room was a perch. The hot room.

"How often do you need it?"

"Not very often." he shrugs flicking some buttons on the wall.

The heat dies from the room as I close the door, not realising it I find myself sniggering at the thoughts in my head.

"What?" he says with a grin.

"Oh... never mind, just a stupid thought."

I try to pass him but he grabs my arm, pulling me back and presses me against the wall.

"Tell me."

"I was thinking I might have to find some newspapers."

He frowns at me confused.

"You know, to line the bottom of your cage."

Jonah laughs, then takes my hand, leading me out of the room.

"You needn't worry about newspapers."

We continue through the bedroom, past the lounge area to the bed. The light poured in from the floor to ceiling glass windows, the bed is enormous.

"Aren't you worried about rogues?"

I look out the window, the edge of the exterior wall so very close.

"Bullet proof. Plus, we are going to extend the wall out here too, extending it as far down as the workers section."

"What for?"

"Houses." he shrugs. "Many of the workers are applying to stay here."

"Are we going to have people down there looking up at us?"

"Not near us, I was planning on opening the wall and extending our section out, leaving that area just grass, not just for privacy but for the children to run around on."

"Children?"

"Yes." he moves closer pressing me onto the glass.

His hands either side of my head he leans in close to me.

"Don't you want them?"

"Yes."

"Well then, they will need grass to run around on."

I hear a man clearing his throat.

"Forgive me your highness, but the staff have been assembled as you requested."

Jonah stands upright, leaving me a puddle of raging lust.

"Of course, thank you."

The man nods, bowing slightly and departs the room.

"Come, time to meet your staff."

The staff all line up in a row, their uniforms, their appearance so neat and perfect. Their uniform was a little different to what I was used to. My parents had been pretty relaxed with the choice of uniform, choosing simple and easy to clean clothes. Black pants and crisp white shirts for the men and only when we had formal occasions they would wear jackets. The women would wear black skirts to the knees and a similar white shirt as the men. For the formal occasions they would be in dresses. But these people in front of me were very different. They were very much like the staff that Jonah had at his house. Very formal. The men were in full suits, the women were in maid's outfits. Even the gardener down the end looked rather dressed up.

"Right, we will start with the steward, Harold, he will manage all of the staff and ensure that all matters are attended to with promptness."

He stood very straight, his shoulders back, his hands clasped behind his back, he lowers himself, bowing to me.

"Your highness."

"Harold, would you be so kind as to introduce your staff."

"Of course your highness. Firstly, we have your butler, Edward. The head chef Gaston. The housekeeper, Muriel, the head gardener Bertie."

As we move down the line all of the men bow, the ladies curtsy, not a word spoken.

"Then we have the support staff, the chef's assistants, the maid's assistants, the groundsmen."

He turns to face Jonah and I direct.

"Your highness I was hoping to discuss tonight with you."

"Of course, we can continue this in my study."

"Tonight?" I frown at Jonah.

"Did I forget to tell you?"

I squint my eyes at him, knowing he did not forget to tell me.

"The council will be joining us for dinner, they have requested to be here for the first train load of humans."

"Oh."

"You should speak with Gaston about the menu."

"Of course."

"Oh, one final thing, there is a rock face in the court yard for our use. It's only for our family, friends, council members and the household staff to use, so don't go giving the code out freely, ok?"

I nod, watching him walk towards his study. Harold dismisses the staff and follows Jonah. All of them scurry away except Gaston.

"Your highness, the menu?"

"Yes of course."

I looked out the large windows at the court yard, to one side was the rock face that Jonah mentioned. When mid jump was created, Alina ordered that every vampiric household was to have an entry point, a safe passage for every dark being was important to her. So she engaged the services of stone masons, creating panels cut from the sides of mountains, just big enough to make a doorway out of. I could hear Gaston muttering under his breath as he flicked over the pages in the recipe book. The door opened and I see my parents step through. I begin to race out the door.

"Your highness, the menu?"

"Yes, whatever is fine Gaston. I'm sure you can handle it."

"Of course."

In the blink of an eye, I am in my parent's arms, hugging them hard.

"We missed you." my mother gushes.

My mother looked like she was days away from having the baby, she was huge. Both of them looked up at the house, it was huge from this vantage point.

"You're going to stay, aren't you?"

I could hear the tremor in my mother's voice. Her baby was leaving the nest.

"I am. I know what my future is, it is here helping Jonah make a better world for us to live in. Everyone knows how important this is and I can't sit back and do nothing. Besides, we have rock faces now, phone towers are up, you know I won't be far away."

"We do know Iv; I think your mother is just worried about you being so close to humans that are going to become very angry once they realise they can't leave."

"Their life here will be far better than anything they could have found in the northern rim. Free medical, dental, food and accommodation, all they have to do is repopulate the planet whilst giving blood."

"You say that like it's simple Ivy." my mother chastises me "Trust me, I could not have handed you over when you were a baby, how can you expect someone else to do that?"

"That's the thing, they won't be expected to hand them over. They will live together, the mothers will get inseminated and they will raise their own children."

"And what if they form a relationship with one of the men?"

"The men will be kept separate to ensure healthy lines free of any cross breeding."

"The humans won't like that Ivy."

"They won't have a choice."

"You are playing with fire, darling. After a generation or two you will have created a world of humans that won't know how to interact with each other. One day these people will be allowed to roam the earth again but they won't know how to attract the opposite sex, they won't know how to even speak to them. Think very carefully before you segregate the genders Ivy."

"Fine, if it is so important to you, bring it up at the meeting."

An hour after my parents had arrived, the meeting was in full swing. Everyone had arrived, settling in for the meeting. Lucas and Scarlett were here with Elston; Ariella hadn't turned up which I thought was odd. Alina and Alex were here with Lucian which made Ariella not being here all the more perplexing. My mother talking to Scarlett distracted me from my thoughts, she was talking about segregation. Did I give my mother permission to raise the segregation at the meeting? I did and of course she avidly brought it up, some agreed with her, some didn't. By the end of it she had managed to convince Jonah to at least allow them to socialise in one area, watched by the guards to avoid any misbehaviour. Then Terrance weighed in on the debate, suggesting that with approval, a man and a woman that might want to form a relationship be allowed to do so, once their genetic diversity had been confirmed. They reviewed the maps and agreed on discussing joint living at a later date.

Everyone looked over the new maps that had been reworked to accommodate the new buildings. There was still the original section that was going to be the temporary area for the first wave of humans. This was going to be our experiment to see how well everything worked. The new staff accommodation area was moving along well and the new line of wall was being made to surround our next section. The plans had been worked to create smaller sections like the staff living area, the facilities such as the armoury, storage and garaging. In the main section was the medical buildings, the administration building and the entertainment building. Nothing had changed in regards to these buildings, they would remain the same. The temporary buildings were the humans housing, with a few more months there would be vast changes in their accommodation. At present the humans would arrive to a sectioned off rectangle area consisting of three buildings and one very large open area. The open area was going to be filled with park lands and play areas. I had already walked through the entertainment hall that had been created. It seemed a reasonable building to keep them occupied, many levels of things to do, a library, a games arcade, a hall for them to hold dance nights or movies. The last two buildings in the human area was their accommodation. And finally at the western side of the compound was the farm land. The workers had already planted some things to test the quality of the land. Things were looking good, with constant supervision and care, the land could be prosperous.

**************************************

With both of our parents under the same roof, we took the opportunity of discussing the future. Everyone else had retired to their rooms, eager for rest so that they could be refreshed for the tour of the grounds tomorrow. We were in the formal lounge, waiting for the maid to leave. She had set the tea and biscuits and scurried out of the room, closing the door behind her.

"Right, we can start with the living arrangements." Terrance begins "I think it's quite clear that your mother and I do not care." he gestured to the room around us.

I knew neither of them cared, if they did they would not have built this house for us.

"But you know there are those that do." Terrance looked directly at his son. "Your grandfather is aware of what is happening here but he does not know that Ivy is here. May I suggest that you set up a room to give the appearance that you do not sleep in the same bed. I would not put it past him to just turn up one day out of the blue to check up on you."

"He did it to us." Miranda murmured behind her tea. "We were lucky enough that I had a guest bedroom set up and I had good maids working for me. As we took one very slow walk around the yard and house, they emptied the robe of his things and put them into the guest room, ensuring it appeared that he had been sleeping in there."

"Yes, we were lucky but do not leave this to chance. Either get married or get a second room set up."

Jonah and I had never discussed marriage, sure we had talked of forever, but not this.

"We will but I am not going to be rushed into something just because one archaic old grump thinks he is right."

"He might be an archaic old grump Jonah but remember, he is your grandfather and he is your king. In ensuring his descendants behave themselves, he ensures that his people see us as well behaved citizens, like he would expect of them. He expects you to set an example to your people, after all you are forth in line to the throne." he waived his hand with a disinterested look "And don't start about Franklin having more children and bumping you and I down the line. You are both heirs to thrones and as such he expects you to behave like royalty."

Jonah turns to me trying not to frown.

"What do you want to do?"

"I'm good for whatever but I do agree with you, I don't want to be rushed into something. We have a lifetime to love each other. I don't want you feeling like it's been forced upon you, I want you to do it when you are ready."

"Good, it's agreed. When we are ready."

"Alright, just make sure you are prepared for the unexpected visitor."