Having their identification cards out did, surprisingly, help. Samantha and Gleipnir pulled slowly through the gate as the golems that had stopped them turned aside to let them pass. The pair stole nervous glances at one another as they proceeded with caution.

“Huh,” was the only comment Gleipnir made until they had left the perimeter guard behind.

“That was terrifying.” Finally, Samantha let out a sigh of relief when the key code Kyle had given her allowed access to the double gated magically sealed parking facility below the employee housing complex.

“Ohhohohoho yeah!” A heartfelt chuckle came from Gleipnir and Sam gave him a wry affectionate smile. “Some kind of shit went down not too long ago.” He was keeping an alert lookout while Sam pulled into Kyle’s dimly lit, empty parking spot. It was empty because her little brother hadn’t managed to save up enough to buy any of the magic-resistant cars he wanted that were designed by the Daedalus Technology research and development company. However, after the nonsense with Anna, Kyle might have changed his mind about that.

As someone who had to have a car for commuting, Sam thought it was silly to save up for years for a special vehicle. Just get a loan and pay it off. But no, Kyle wanted to either buy his fancy car outright, or have a significant downpayment ready. Gurgling came from Sam’s stomach, and she clutched her middle with a grimace. Slamming the gear shift into park, she unstrapped and hopped out of her car into the pale blue emergency lighting of the garage.

“Okay. Let’s go raid Kyle’s fridge. Maybe he’s got some ice cream that needs to be eaten while the power’s out.” That thought cheered Sam immensely and they headed toward the door to the residential sections of the building.

“OooOOOooo, maybe Kyle has some Cheasoning Mix we can put on it.” Beside Sam, Gleipnir was easily carrying both the suitcase he’d packed for her, as well as a smaller ‘backpack’ of sorts for himself.

“That’s so gross, Gleip.” Making a fake retching sound to mock his strange food choices. “Cheasoning Mix is intended for savory foods.”

“Nuh uhh,” he countered. Though the stairs were wide enough for them to walk side by side, they chose to go single-file in case someone wanted to come down while they were climbing. “The packaging specifically states that Cheasoning can be used to add flavor to any meal, treat, or snack whether it be sweet or savory.” The words echoed in the stairwell loudly and Sam modulated her voice to be softer when she made her reply.

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“I don’t care what – what it says.” Her hissed response changed from a booming echo to a whisper mid-sentence when they exited the stairwell to the hallway of Kyle’s floor. “People who use Cheasoning on sweets are weird.” She was rummaging in her purse for her key ring only to remember that they were in her pocket when she patted herself down. “Ha, there they are.” She fished them out to open the door.

“Thank you.” Gleipnir laughed. “I thought you’d never notice that I’m – ” He stopped mid-sentence as they both froze in the open doorway to take in the scene. “Huh.”

There was a shirtless, very buff, smoking man sitting on the couch covered in a frosty blanket. No, he was not smoking recreationally. There were no cigarettes. It was a man, who was literally exuding smoke from his snow-white skin. He was sipping from a healing potion bottle – also frosted over – that was really more slush than potion at this point. There were dozens of little sparkly ice chunk-things ranging in size from the tip of a thumb to about a hamster-ish crawling over his body. Anna and the soldier who had been with Kyle were busy repositioning the creepy-crawly chunks of ice.

“Are you sure that the potion will still work if it’s this cold?” Anna was protesting hesitantly while she worked. “I don’t want to diminish its effectiveness? No. Stop that. How many times do I have to tell you guys to stay off his face.” She snagged one of the crawling ice-things which had been about to crawl from behind hot-guy’s ear onto his pale, sculpted cheek. “Sorry about that director.”

“It’s quite all right – oh, hello.” His eyes met Sam’s where she and Gleipnir were watching. Red? No. Orange? No. Brown? No. Burnt Umber! With dark, sleek, disheveled hair carelessly across his face which he immediately tried to brush into some semblance of order as he began to stand.

“Oh, hey, Sam. Gleip.” Anna tossed over her shoulder before Jones’ voice distracted her.

“Woah, director. Not so fast.”

“Where do you think you are going? My prism babies are going to fall. Sit back down.” The teen firmly instructed and Sam felt herself mouthing the words ‘prism babies’ questioningly. One look at his warlock had Gleipnir realizing that he was going to have to take the lead in introductions because Sam’s recent trauma must have done something to her brain.

“Hello,” Gleipnir started forward, tossing his and Sam’s bags in the closet along with Sam’s purse which he gently teased out of her distracted fingers. “I’m Gleipnir, and this is my warlock, Samantha.” He wrapped his ribbon around a suddenly nervous Sam and guided her toward the trio at the couch. He studiously ignored the annoyed look that Sam shot him for using her full name.

“Hello, Samantha. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” The handsome man smiled a broad smile with full lips revealing straight white teeth and two fangs. He bowed slightly from his seated position. “I’m sorry that I cannot greet you in a fashion more suited to a lady.”

“Will you quit moving already?” Anna rolled her eyes at the vampire – because Sam finally realized that’s what he was – and looked to her sister for agreement in annoyance as she made a ‘can you believe this guy’ gesture with her hands before grabbing another tumbling prism and reattaching it to the vampire at a more secure location.