Suzan laughed loudly and gave her grandmother a strong bear hug.
This woman had always been fierce and stern but she always showed all of them love.
They loosed each other and Patricia gave Suzan a long look, her eyes falling on the amulet.
Her eyes twinkled as she looked at it.
"Come, come let's get to the house. An ancient vampire in the streets is pretty rare and three will cause the officials to come seek you out to pamper you and beg you to attend boring gatherings."
She looked to Dylan.
"When shall we be leaving son?"
Dylan did not skip a beat and answered the question immediately.
"As soon as you are ready. We were going to ride panars to Prislan but we can obtain more comfortable transportation for you. We can also take any of your family members who wish to relocate to my estates."
Suzan's grandmother, Patricia, looked to Dylan with a smile. "I can still handle a panar pretty well. I will not hold you up." She smiled and threw him a mischievous wink.
Just as she said this, in Suzan's eyes, a younger face, and toned body seemed to be just beneath Patricia's more "true" form. Suzan frowned and blinked her eyes twice and her grandmother's appearance returned to normal.
Patricia suddenly shook her head.
"This branch of the family has become greedy and selfish. None want to go with you."
She paused in thought.
"We did not ask the families elsewhere. They may have members who would be interested. They can follow us there on their own if they are not here in time."
Dylan thought about it for a moment then nodded in agreement.
Patricia smiled broadly.
"Let us eat and celebrate today, go to sleep early, and leave early in the morning. I have already told the family that I will be leaving for the west with you."
She looked at Sean, Suzan's youngest brother, with a smile. She ruffled his hair. Your uncle will take charge of things here in Attia and we will begin to remember who we were."
Her grandson looked at her in confusion.
"You will understand soon enough."
They all climbed into a large SUV that sat twelve people. She reached out and touched the amulet around Suzan's neck. A small blue spark arced from it to gently warm her fingers. She smiled and Suzan's vision showed the young, vital, tone illusory figure once again.
Suzan blinked a few times and her vision was returned to normal. Her grandmother's smile broadened and she winked at Suzan in amusement, as if they shared a secret.
"We have a lot to talk about."
The family's estates were on the far edge of the city and Patricia made a few stops on the way. One being to the ancient vampire royal's stables to have Dylan's panars brought to the estate.
The estates were a vast one hundred acres of land with many homes, two farms, a research facility and two manufacturing plants.
When Suzan's father left it was to build the family's fishery at Eversea. But only because he had always loved the sea and did not mind being tide to it for the rest of his life.
There was a large black gate that slowly opened for them as the SUV approached. A high electrified white fence spanned outward on either side of the gate.
The SUV drove passed several buildings before it reached a large home with a wide porch that went around the entire structure It had ornate columns holding up a balcony that also went around the entire structure. The house was a rich creamy off-white and it the entire right side was covered in dense ivy.
The SUV stopped in front of the house and everyone piled out and slowly walked to the front door, talking the entire time.
They hadn't packed much upon leaving their homes and Dylan and his guard had been traveling light so the siblings and the ancient vampires only had backpacks thrown on their backs.
Dylan had planned to buy everything the siblings needed at the final major city, Prislan, before heading to his west estate.
The dinner was all that Patricia said it would be. After the family continued to celebrate and Dylan, his guards, Suzan and the family elders left for an inner room to talk.
Patricia sat in a central chair and was surrounded by the family. The guests of honor sat on a raised area and she faced them as she spoke.
"We are a family of magic welders and we have been allowed to remain because of our ancestors. If they had not helped the ancients we would have already been either hunted into extinction or executed before the end of the Great Annihilation.
"Our daughter with the greatest potential was stolen from us by the liars long ago and her daughter was returned to us by an ancient.
"I will travel with her to the west. We will cast greater protections over our estates and we will send protections to our other family members before I leave. You have already chosen the new leader and tonight I will give the history of our family as it was passed down."
She looked to Suzan.
"Our daughter will add to the story to increase the blessing to our family and the new leader.
"The Great Annihilation pitted brother against brother and friend against friend. Magic was pervasive before and during the Great Annihilation. Our family was of a weaker line of the human magic wielders and we were of no true renown.
"Then our first true patriarch was born. He was a powerful wielder on par with the ancient vampires. He was feared, respected, and coveted. His name was Smith and he wielded all forms of elemental magics and divination. He was an anomaly straight from the distant memory of the ancients.
"He made our line strong and because of his strength he lived many centuries. The family kept his secret and helped him change his identity several times still we were not meant to know peace.
"We always stayed on the side of the ancients and gained many enemies. It was not until some of our young ones became corrupted and betrayed us to the liars that Smith was killed and our family was cursed.
"Due to the curse many decided to stop using magics, while others hid their abilities obsessively and our talent has waned.
"Now here we are. One of the great seven wielder families, still hiding in plane site and still existing in the fringes.
"We now have Smith's direct descendant, her blood mixed with the ancients. We will protect her as we protected Smith and she will protect us in return. Just as Smith protected us."
The family literally gasped when they heard that Suzan had ancient vampire blood.
Suzan stood and looked at all of them. She had understood this room almost as soon as she had entered it. She allowed her magical intent to move forward. Circles placed in the room lit up and power flowed into the protection wards for the estate and out along lines like water channels and moved to other properties and family members and families that her family protected.
When she was done she bowed to her grandmother.
"This room is now linked to me and I will make sure that it is always filled with power no mater where I am. I will protect my family and all that my family protects and holds dear."
Her grandmother smiled. The elders whispered about how her words were similar to Smith's.
Her grandmother looked at her eldest son. "Come. It is time for you to take your place."
They woke up before the sun came up. Five outer members of the family and six members of families under their protection had arrived in the night and were Also ready to leave with them.
They ate breakfast leisurely.
Suzan's siblings and the eleven others were at a loss for words when they saw Patricia.
She looked to be about twenty and Suzan realized that it must have been some sort of illusion before and she could see through it. This was her grandmother's true appearance.
Dylan's voice brushed against her mind. "I was worried that she wouldn't be able to keep up with us. Could you see through her illusion?"
"I guess I could. I didn't understand that it was an illusion but I could see this appearance superimposed over… or maybe under the illusion. I feel that she is still hiding something."
"So you saw through an illusion that I couldn't see through."
She heard him sigh in her mind.
"You are very powerful."
Suzan thought about this for a moment and quickly decided not to think about it.
Her grandmother mounted her panar a bit better than Suzan and they were off on the next leg of their journey.
They didn't really ride hard but they rode at a good pace.