Much to Alric's surprise, Amira didn't give up on rebuilding the stable house. He had figured after a week she would have given up; he certainly would have. Though, he also never would have tried in the first-place ether. Even more to his surprise, she had fixed it up relatively fast. She had managed to get it livable half way through the summer, and she got the generator and plumbing done by the end of autumn. By the start of winter, she got a heating system rigged up.

Or at least, her heating system had been up.

The castle was extremely busy this evening, unusually so. The weather forecast showed a terrible blizzard was on its way, so everyone was preparing. Gothetta and Oskar were boarding up windows, Lenny and Leechy were covering up and fixing and holes in the ceilings, Kryptina and Stoker were covering up the pipes with blankets to keep the water system from freezing, and Clot was helping Oxblood take blankets and other such things down to the crypt. Alric was helping where needed and checking on the progress of things, making sure no holes were missed or pipes uncovered. He was currently in bat form and checking the roofs for holes or weak points.

It was as he soared through the air that he heard a rather large boom come from the direction of the woods. With a few flaps of his wings he turned to direction of the noise, there was a plume of dark smoke coming from the stable house.

"That can't be a good sign…"

He headed towards the old stable house rather quickly, passing Lenny and Leechy on a roof, who were looking out at the smoke with confusion.

He found the clearing of the stables and the cause of the smoke. A generator of some sort was creating the smoke and looking rather burnt, Amira stood a few feet away from it holding a bucket. She looked quite distressed.

Alric shifted back to his usual form and walked towards her, she noticed him and frowned.

"I guess ya saw the smoke, huh?" She looked up at him bemused.

"Yes, as well as heard the explosion…" He answered as he approached the lady and the smoking machine.

She grimaced; "Oh, I hope It didn't wake any of you up."

"No, we were already up preparing for the blizzard. Though, I think possibly disturbing your neighbors might be the least of your concerns..." He gestured to the smoke and generator.

"Yeah, it lit up for some reason and caused a bit of an explosion…I managed to get the fire out quickly enough, but the thing is fried to a crisp. I'm gonna have to replace the whole thing." She sighed with annoyance.

"…so your heating is out.." He raised a brow with concern.

"Yup." She answered with a deadpan.

"…and right before a blizzard..."

"Yup."

She looked out at the fried generator and shook her head;

"Well, if you excuse me, I gotta go pack up some things and head into town. I gotta go try and find somewhere to stay at during the blizzard." She set down the bucket and headed for her front porch.

Alric frowned; "The town is under a severe storm advisory, most, if not all, stores and business's will be closed. It's unlikely that you'll find any hotels open."

"Well, I gotta find somewhere. Can't stay here without a heater." She told him over her shoulder as she walked onto her porch.

As she opened her front door, he spoke up; "Wait…perhaps there is another option..."

He cringed internally, knowing that his next few words would cause him a lot of turmoil for the next few days. But his conscious wouldn't let him walk away;

"The castle has many spare rooms…perhaps you could stay with us until the storm passes."

She turned and looked at him confusedly; "You're being very generous to me. I'm just a stranger. You already gave me this house."

He rolled his eyes and scoffed; "I'd hardly call giving you what was essentially a pile of rocks and sticks 'generous.' And I think it simple decency to help your neighbor not freeze to death."

She looked back at the broken generator and frowned; "Well…It is a more solid plan than mine…"

Amira looked at the ground for a moment deep in thought, then looked back up at Alric, who was still standing across the yard.

"I'd hate to trouble you…"

He smiled ever so slightly; "No trouble at all, besides, you don't strike me as much of a trouble maker…"

She smiled warmly and lightly chuckled; "I think my mama would disagree."

He chuckled in response. She shook her head at the ground with a warm smile on her face, she sighed and then looked back up, her smile still warm and friendly;

"Ok, I'll accept your offer. And I thank you for it."

"You're welcome. I only ask that you don't disturb the students, it is a school after all."

"Well it's good thing I was already planning on being as quiet as I can. " She responded with a beaming smile, the smile that used to make him swoon back in 1901. It still kind of did.

"Also, you might want to pack some food to take with you. Many of our meals aren't edible to non-vampires…." He trailed off, feeling a little bad about that.

"Well, it's a good thing I bought a bunch of noodle cups and dried fruits last week!" She laughed.

He raised a brow and was about to ask her what a 'noodle cup' was when a cold wind blew by, reminding him of the incoming weather.

She pulled her scarf tighter. "I guess I should get ready, can I get to the castle by car?"

He explained how to find the road to the castle, then transformed into bat form and flew back to the castle.

As he flew back, he was greeted at the door by his coworkers and students.