As spring 1807 began to make way for the summer, the settlement that had been their home under Haven’s rule since 1690 was now nearly unrecognizable underneath what Sean had now begun transforming it into. Though Sean had never cared much for the trappings of wealth, he nonetheless took advantage of each and every trade connection Haven had made and gained control of in that 117 years since he had become Prince; all of which Sean had now inherited control of along with his throne. He spent every waking moment overseeing the rebuilding of their homes into something truly formidable.

One of his very first construction projects was a tall and thick brick wall that started about half a mile off from the harbor that was the current location of Haven’s former home. This wall was to be ten feet high and approximately five feet thick upon its completion which was expected to be days away. The wall itself actually stretched around a piece of land that included fifty acres of the five hundred and two square miles that made up Sean’s entire territory of the town that would become the future city of Los Angeles.

Sean came to the conclusion that it would be much easier to focus the heaviest patrols and security in that size of an area, especially one fenced in by a thick wall, than it would be patrol every inch of the five hundred square miles he now controlled. Though there were still to be patrols covering the rest of his territory; but within that wall would be where all of the homes of the Primogen as well as his own haven would be contained and hopefully much more rigorously protected from any and all future threats.

His next step was making sure the foundations for all seven clans’ new havens were laid and their newer, sturdier homes had all been planned to be as earthquake and enemy-proof as they could be. He had also started a secondary blood bound construction crew on his own new stronghold and a third would shift focus from one Primogen’s home to the next each day until all were completed to his and each of the Primogen’s specifications.

The first six months of Sean’s rule was a flurry of hurried activity to put it mildly. Of course this led to Claire and Sean both viewing all this rebuilding as a double-edged sword of sorts. They both found it to be rather heart wrenching that Sean was almost in a constant state of motion, planning and overseeing everything he could to get all of those involved in his governance into much safer positions than any of them had been in the past. And all involved agreed that safety and security were indeed paramount to their continued existence, no matter how many hours had to be put into such goals. Despite Sean’s continued absence for those months, Claire couldn’t help feeling the slightest bit of relief that he was still too busy to ever have even a moment to be near enough to her to peek inside her mind. She desperately wanted to be near him again, though somehow was desperately afraid of the prospect as well.

Then came the warm July evening that also happened to be Sean’s 243rd birthday, if one counted his thirty-four years as a mortal prior to his embrace. That evening Claire was summoned by one of Sean’s now quite numerous servants to oversee some final pieces of construction on the new Toreador haven he was building for their clan. She couldn’t help her reservations at hearing of her requested presence. There was the idea that she may be spending the evening near Sean again, as well as the fear that if he wanted her input on their clan’s new haven, it could imply that he may have abandoned his plan to have Eliza play host to their new clan members in her stead after all.

Claire’s footsteps faltered as she approached the nearly finished structure, which was much larger than the previous one she had lived in during the years following the quake that had taken Erica from them. Though what caused her footsteps to falter was the fact that Sean was indeed there at the site that night.

“It’s almost done” Sean greeted her with a smile, tentative though it was. Sean also had been dealing with his own worries over her now knowing about his mind reading ability, not to mention the continued bitterness Claire must also have over having been away from him for almost every moment of the last six months, aside from the council meetings.

Claire braced herself to approach him, dreading the possibility that any behavior of her own may now prompt Sean to look inside her head and find that dark secret she had kept hidden from him for so very long “should I be expecting to move in tonight?” was the only response she could manage.

“No” he smiled down at her again, though with an underlying sadness apparent when Claire had stopped a few feet from him, her beautiful green eyes glued to the workers rather than turning toward her husband.

“Tomorrow then?” she managed, trying very hard to keep her tone emotionless.

“No” Sean stated more gently, the word covering a sigh “the main portion of my new home has been finished as well. There is still more to be done, but the place is at least livable as of last night” he offered her that information without her having asked for it.

“That’s nice for you” she managed, though her demeanor remained unchanged. Upon hearing Sean respond with nothing more than another sigh, Claire forced more words “so when am I to be moving into this new home?” she asked as she nodded her head toward where the servants continued to make their final touches.

“Never” he stated simply, which did cause enough of a crack for her to look up at him.

“Excuse me?” she asked, though the shaking of her voice was much harder to hide then.

“I just said that my home is livable now” he repeated as he looked down at her with another smile.

“Well, yes but…”

“Eliza will be the one living here; she’s already inside I believe” he informed her with another smile.

Claire swallowed hard at his statement, making even more of an effort to disguise her emotions, as futile as that ever would be with him. She then finally spoke “so where will I be living then?”

Sean couldn’t help a chuckle of disbelief as he chose not to answer that with words, but instead pulled her into his arms. In the same motion he leaned down to cover her lips with his for the first time in months. Claire was more than a bit startled by the sudden show of affection, but the passion behind that kiss soon overtook her immediate tension as she could not help kissing him back.

When he finally broke off the kiss, he continued holding her in his arms while he held his smile “are you really going to make me beg you to come home with me?”

Claire closed her eyes against more joyful tears; despite all of her other worries. She then spoke just above a whisper “since when do Princes have to beg for anything?”

Sean couldn’t help a small chuckle “I should hope you’d want to join me there even without this alleged crown of mine.”

Still unable to let herself back out of his arms, Claire couldn’t bite back another small smile “I suppose it is your birthday; so if that’s your birthday wish, then who am I to…”

Sean just shook his head with another laugh at her words, amazed that he even remembered how to laugh since the tragedy that had caused their lives to spiral so fully out of control that year. Though he said nothing more, as he instead chose to lift her into his arms, causing a combination of a gasp and what almost sounded like a giggle to escape her beautiful lips. Ignoring the rather surprised looks on the faces of the bound workers, Sean moved to carry her off in the direction of his new home with him.

Upon carrying Claire over the threshold of his quite extravagant new home, Sean kicked the door shut behind him. He then set her on her feet again, her back against the wall inside that door. With no further words, he moved to claim her lips again as his hands immediately found the laces at the front of her dress.

“So is this the birthday wish then?” Claire couldn’t help asking through another smile as his mouth moved to her neck while his fingers quickly made short work of the rest of those laces.

“Every birthday wish, for 221 years now” he murmured against the pale skin of her neck as he had now finished unlacing and was now inching the dress down off of her body.

Claire couldn’t help the slight moan that passed her lips when his fangs just gently nicked her skin as the dress fell to the floor around her feet. She then barely managed more words “you do realize that we’re literally right inside the front door of a home filled with servants?”

“You do realize that I’m the same man who took you right there on that stage every night for three years?” he chided as he moved back from her only long enough to begin removing his own clothing.

“Oh was that my Prince? I thought it was my husband” she couldn’t help taunting him as he quickly ridded himself of the rest of his clothing.

“I think it’s long past time they became the same person” Sean gently growled down at her as he moved to lift her off the floor again, her legs immediately wrapping around his hips from her spot there with her now bare back still pressed against that deliciously cool wall.

It was only another moment before he was inside her once again, their hips moving against each other to finally give one another that pleasure they had both been missing for so very long now. That passion was so intense that the mortal brand of climax was beginning to overtake each of them within mere minutes. At the feel of those tremors starting in both of their bodies, and against his better judgment, Sean couldn’t resist sinking his fangs into her neck during that final moment wherein it once again produced the most intense pleasure either of them could ever hope to achieve since beginning their new lives together so many, many years ago.

“And I thought my new house was big” Eliza greeted Claire as her heels clicked across the marble floor of the foyer of Sean’s new home and into the main hall where Claire had been sorting through long forgotten dress patterns.

“Hi” Claire smiled over at the other woman as she approached.

Eliza took another moment to look around the huge home in awe after reaching the richly upholstered red velvet sofa Claire now sat on. She then remembered why she had come to her Prince’s home that night, and spoke up again “oh yes, I was told I would need to procure a new servant since Finn and Emilia will apparently be moving into this home now with you” Eliza explained, raising her voice and her brow a bit on the final two words.

“Yes, I suppose that’s true” Claire looked down to hide the slight smile.

“So, you are moving into the Prince’s home with him?” Eliza restated the words as a question.

“I suppose that’s true” Claire repeated her previous affirmation with a more sincere smile.

Eliza just shook her head with another laugh as she moved to take a seat next to Claire “and when exactly were you planning on telling me that our Prince is actually your husband?” Eliza scolded her, though wore a smile as she did.

Claire did let out a slightly guilty laugh at the question before pushing seriousness back into her tone “it was still a rather sore subject for as long as I was still living apart from him” she confessed before moving on “but I guess he just really was very busy trying to make everything much safer for all of us.”

“Well, what other reason did you think he had?” Eliza asked with concern.

“I guess I just” Claire sighed slightly “even after more than two hundred years together, I still can’t help thinking that it’s all gonna come crashing down and he’ll suddenly realize that he’s tired of me, or something” she admitted, though refused to allow herself to ever share the reasons she believed Sean could very easily have to cut her from his heart; especially in light of his ability to now pull thoughts from another’s mind.

“Are you sure you’re not a Malkavian? I’ve seen the way he looks at you” Eliza assured as she gently squeezed Claire’s knee in reassurance.

“Like I said; two hundred years. That’s a long time to acquire a lot of chances to hurt one another” she stated in a voice just above a whisper.

“I’m not that great at reading our Prince’s aura, or even yours” Eliza began gently “but from what I can see of them; there’s such intense love there, I wouldn’t be surprised if you two were still just as in love in another two hundred years” she assured the slightly older woman with another gentle smile beneath those deep brown eyes.

“Well, I guess you’ll have to come calling on us again in...what 2007?” Claire allowed an awkward laugh at the idea that any of them would still be alive to see that next millennium. Though her laugh quickly fell short as she remembered that prophecy once more, and the fact that she would most likely definitely be gone before that new millennium was even close to being upon them.

Forcing back emotion, she politely excused herself from the other girl’s presence and headed back toward the spiral staircase that lead to her new quarters upstairs. Once inside her and Sean’s new bedchambers, extravagant as they were, she couldn’t help another shaky sigh as she moved to wipe away a stubborn tear that had formed in response to the thoughts of that prophecy that could never be pushed from her mind for very long at all.

Claire had just moved to that huge empty bed and was making a futile attempt at burying herself behind all of those pillows when the door to her new chambers opened. She looked over at the door as Finn entered the room with the smile that immediately touched his lips any time he saw the woman whose blood had convinced him of his unwavering love for her.

“Quite the fancy new digs” he greeted her as he looked around the room with the same awe that Eliza had shown downstairs.

“There’s an adjoining room on the other side of the privy that you can sleep in at night” she offered, though her voice was strained and her eyes down.

“I think I may stay up past my bedtime tonight though” he teased as he moved to the bed, trying to make his own mood light in an attempt at countering Claire’s still obviously dark mood. As he took a seat, he looked at her with another silent question in his blue-gray eyes, before continuing his previous statement “after all, there are about a dozen other servants here now, so I guess I can risk of bit of grogginess tomorrow.”

Receiving no notable response from Claire other than another quiet sigh as her eyes remained on the thick mattress below them, Finn moved to take a seat against the pile of pillows next to her. He then allowed his own slight sigh as he moved to place an arm lovingly around her shoulders.

“If you don’t mind me asking” he began with a soft breath “I thought you’d possibly be happier now that you’re living with Sean again” he dared, though quietly.

Claire sighed again before replying “being away from Sean because of all of his new responsibilities was only one thing that was making me sad.”

“What else is making you sad?” Finn asked her as he took her hand with his free one, his desire for her never quite fully muted due to that bond of blood.

“Just the fact that there are other things that may force me to be away from Sean for even longer; permanently even” she added in a whisper.

“Permanently?” Finn asked with worry.

“There are things that Sean would be very unhappy to find out. So unhappy that…” she simply sniffled, not ready to make that confession yet, even to one who was bound to her. She then bravely managed to make another “and there’s a prophecy that could also lead to my permanent… departure” she settled on.

“Departure?” Finn asked, his worry over her words growing then.

“Let’s just say that eternity may be a lot shorter than I had always thought it was… at least for me.”