Chapter Twenty-Five

When Hephaestus bought his Chicago house, he'd simply picked a spot on the map, bought the largest house that could comfortably fit four large adults, and moved in. Back before things got complicated, the whole process took less than a week, especially as he was paying cash.

Finding the right place with Landyn was a lot more difficult, especially when Hephaestus realized they were both scared of committing to somewhere, or showing how enthusiastic they might be about one home over another, worrying that the other person might not like it.

"I have a suggestion," Hephaestus said one morning a couple of weeks later. They'd already been to see three places so far that weren't suitable, and Landyn's nerves understandably still hadn't settled. "How about we make a list of the things our new place has to have, along with a list of definite must-not-have items, and then give it all to Paulie and see if they can come up with somewhere. What do you think?"

"Paulie can do that?" Landyn looked up from his breakfast plate. "That has to work better than what we've been doing so far." He chuckled and popped another piece of bacon in his mouth.

"I'm sure it will." Pushing his plate aside, Hephaestus pulled out his phone, and tapped on the note taking app. "All right, how big do we want this place to be?"

"A minimum of four bedrooms," Landyn said. "A big room for us, so you can have your huge bed, another one next to it for any baby or babies, a room for guests, and another big room for the automatons."

Hephaestus raised his eyebrow. "Sweetling, the automatons don't sleep. They are either powered on or powered off. You can just put them in a corner somewhere when you're not using them."

"They don't have to have beds in their room," Landyn protested. "But they should have a chance to sit down sometimes. Maybe a table so they can play cards or read. We could get them a television to keep them amused, seeing as they don't sleep. Honestly, if you keep them standing all the time, their joints might rust into place and then where would you be?"

Making new automatons. Hephaestus laughed as he shook his head. "My automatons don't rust, but fine, sweetling. Four bedrooms minimum."

"And we will need two living areas, one with a television and one without. Also a small room for your library, and you'll also need an office."

Hephaestus tapped them into his app. "What about a room for you, sweetling? You might want to take up art, a hobby, craft, or something similar. We want this to be a forever home if possible."

"That would be nice, but then that means any kiddies will need their own playroom, too. Wow, this house is just getting bigger and bigger."

More tapping, and then Hephaestus asked, "Do you like the idea of eating in the kitchen like this place, or do you want a separate dining room."

"No dining room. We want an open plan kitchen. Maybe Thor and Orin might come over again and have dinner sometimes and we're bound to make friends in the area." Landyn nodded, and Hephaestus could see he was getting excited about the idea.

"I've added that in. Now what about land size? How much land did you used to dream of?"

"I haven't got a clue about land sizes. But I'd love some forest area with trees and trails so we can ride the horses, and we need room for maybe four horses, and four cows, and a couple of goats maybe, and…" Landyn threw out his arms. "That much land."

"Then there's a stable, a barn for when the animals get cold, and room for a house garden, because nothing screams permanence to me like a garden, and oh, your workshop, which will need to be huge as well so you can make your lovely art. What other things do you want to add to the list?"

"A swimming pool and a hot tub," Hephaestus looked over the table at his mate. "I might not be keen on boats, but I like to swim, it helps my leg."

"Good idea, so long as it's fenced for little ones." Landyn nodded.

"I was also thinking about a game room, maybe? Darts, a pool table, with a bar, which could be fun if we have an evening at home."

"I'm good at pool." Landyn clapped his hands in excitement. "That sounds like fun. Anything else? Oh, a garage for the car – maybe two or three cars, in case I ever get to learn how to drive? I wouldn't reach the pedals of your big machine."

"That's a good point." With everything that happened Hephaestus had forgotten he'd promised to teach Landyn to drive, and his mate was right about the size of his truck. "We've got a good list. Now where do you want to live? Do you like seasonal weather, do you prefer warm places? Do you like the snow or hate it? We need privacy for when you shift, or if I'm pregnant, but do you like being around people sometimes? Do you want to shop locally?"

"I'm not a fan of being out in the snow." Landyn huffed. "There's a lot that goes into making the right decision, isn't there? I didn't like the cold when I was rough sleeping, but if I'm curled up with you inside on a cold day, with a fire roaring in the grate and we're reading or watching a movie, that sounds really romantic. We'd better get heating in the barn for the animals though, if we live somewhere that it snows."

Hephaestus added that to the list, but then moved on quickly. Landyn would be suggesting the automatons needed their own heaters as well if he had the chance.

"Local shops would be lovely, if we could be on the fringes of a small town, or something like that, but it's not necessary. You zap me all over the place, so that's not a big deal, is it? But having people call us by name in the shops would be nice."

"For a while," Hephaestus agreed, "but remember we don't age, so we would have to move if people got too used to seeing us around."

"True. I hadn't thought about that. We don't want to be moving all the time, especially if we find our dream place." Landyn frowned, and then brightened. "Are you a beach or a mountain sort of person?"

"More mountain I think. I don't think you'd get many decent small farms too close to the salt air." Hephaestus added that to the list as well. "Can you think of anything else?"

"Preferably not near a vampire coven or a wolf pack. Is that okay?" Landyn was looking at him sideways. "I know not all vampires are bad. I mean we haven't seen a hint of one in the past month, and we have been out a fair bit. But I want to feel safe. The same with wolves. I don't have a problem with other shifters, but at the end of the day, I'm a prey animal, and wolves are very territorial, especially when it comes to land."

"Safety is the first thing on the list," Hephaestus promised, adding in those "not" items. "All right, we have our dream list. Now, we'll just submit it to Paulie." He tapped to open the app. "Good morning, Paulie."

"Good morning, Hephaestus. I hope you and your mate are well."

"We are, thank you. We have a list of requirements for a new house. We are hoping to start a family sometime soon, and my mate needs to feel safe in our new environment. If I send you the list, can you search and see if anything is suitable on the market to buy at the moment?"

"I have accessed your list from your note taking app, Hephaestus. I will pass on these requirements to Zeus's computer team. They will handle any purchasing and legal requirements to prevent any delays caused by lack of paperwork or credit inquiries. Money laundering is an issue many realtors concern themselves with in recent times and as gods tend to pay in cash, that can become an issue."

"I wasn't aware of that, Paulie, so thank you, and please pass on my thanks to Zeus's team."

"I will send suitable properties to your phone within twenty-four hours. Have a nice day. All hail the Almighty Zeus and his beloved mate, Paulie."

Hephaestus put his phone on the table. Landyn had pushed his empty plate to the side and was resting his head on the table, laughing like crazy.

"Two weeks," he said, sitting up, still laughing. "Two weeks we've been looking almost constantly and finding nothing that suited both of us. I know that's not long compared to what some people go through, but for us, it's been all-consuming."

"I need for you to feel safe in your home." Hephaestus had even suggested booking them into a hotel until they found a new place to live. But Landyn had vetoed that idea, saying that would be even more stressful, and he doubted a hotel would have a bed big enough for Hephaestus to be comfortable.

"I know, I know, and I love you for that. But see, we were doing it wrong. With a few taps on the screen, Paulie says they will send us suitable properties in twenty-four hours. Twenty-four hours! If everyone knew what that Paulie app could do, they'd all want one."

"I'm sure technology will catch up with Zeus's network sooner or later." Hephaestus wiggled his eyebrows at his mate's flushed face. "So what do you feel like doing now? Seeing as we don't have to spend the day house hunting."

"How about we start with our breakfast kiss and go from there." Landyn had scampered around the table in the time it took Hephaestus to push back his chair. Definitely the perfect way to start a morning.