I tossed the key of the house to Em because she was walking in front of us, she deftly caught it and walked up to the door, opening it with a slight push. As we all walked inside, I could suddenly hear Em laughing in front.
“What are you laughing at?” I asked.
“Look, look at the kitchen door.” Em lowered her voice.
I peeked past her. We left the lights on in the kitchen so we didn’t have to come home in complete darkness. This, however, created a pretty funny effect of what we saw in front of us.
Shima’s little head was poking around the corner, watching us enter. Her little head perfectly contrasted by the bright kitchen lights, furthermore casting a huge shadow.
Now both Ria and I started laughing too.
“Shima!” Ria called out. Shima immediately ran up to her and started swirling around her leg. Tail held high out of joy.
“You’re being pretty adventurous, aren’t you.” I petted my little cat. “Already snooping around the ground floor.”
Em walked back to give Shima a couple of pets too. “Must’ve gotten it from her owner.” She winked.
“Hehe.”
We got our coats off and Shima ran back into the kitchen.
“Would you mind if Ria and I go take a shower?” Em asked as we followed our cat along.
“Of course not. Go ahead. I’ll go take a shower after the two of you are done.”
Em smiled and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’ll call you when we are done.”
I nodded and off my girlfriends went, up the stairs. That’s when something suddenly came to mind. I squinted my eyes and looked at Shima, who had taken up a spot on the counter, just staring at me like cats do. “Do you think they are going to shower together, or are they just going to use both bathrooms?”
Shima just tilted her head at the strange human noises I was making and didn’t even bother to reply with a meow.
“I see…. I shouldn’t be envious either way… but still…”
Still no reply from my feline companion.
“Yeah…”
“...”
“Let me get some food for you, I think I have a can of sardines somewhere. Don’t tell Em I’m feeding you food that’s not from the feeder. But it’s almost Christmas for you, too, right.”
To this Shima did reply. “Meow!” And she jumped off the counter as I went on my search for the can of sardines.
“So that’s what gets a reply out of you, huh? Food.”
Shima meowed again, making me laugh.
“Alright, alright.”
I dug through the boxes for a couple of minutes while Shima was almost constantly headbutting them. Until finally I found the little can of sardines, which, before you ask, are cat-friendly. I had looked it up before when I was wondering about it while I was browsing the store.
With Shima’s prized possession in my hands, I quickly went to dig up a small plate I encountered before and then royally spread out some sardines on top of it.
I needed to keep Shima a bit back while I was putting her fishies on the plate, but I swiftly put the plate down before Shima might have gotten the idea to start biting my thumb or something like that, so she could get to her food faster.
“There there, Shima, have a nice meal.” I petted her as she started on her food, she was purring pretty darn loudly. “Clearly enjoying it, I see.” I looked back behind me at the opened boxes and shrugged. “I might as well start unpacking while I’m waiting for a shower.”
With the use of my smartphone and the brand-new Wi-Fi, I put on some good old classic rock while I started unpacking. I mainly focused on unpacking kitchen stuff, as I was in the kitchen anyway. It was still a bit of a puzzle as I didn’t want to pack everything in this specific kitchen alone, especially the snacks would need to get packed upstairs as that’s where the main living room was. Ria wouldn’t be too happy to constantly come running downstairs for some snacks. And sadly, this house did lack one of those cool food elevators you’d see in old houses in the movies. That’d be a pretty darn amazing place to put your snacks. Can get your snacks on any floor without having to move.
Just when I started inspecting the wall to see if I could have such an elevator installed, I could hear Em’s voice ring through the staircase. “Auro, we are done showering!”
“Alright, I’ll be right up!” I called back and ran jogged towards the box I had been busy unboxing. I closed the lid and put the box on top of another one. As I assumed we wouldn’t be coming downstairs anymore, I shut off the lights and then proceeded to go upstairs with a couple of snacks in my arms so Ria didn’t have to come down by herself anymore today if she’d develop a small hunger.
I put the snacks in the kitchen on the first floor and then proceeded to look for my girlfriends. I peeked my head inside of the main bedroom. Ria was sitting on the edge of the bed, getting her pj’s on, while Em was standing next to the closet, hanging in some of my clothes already.
Ria noticed I was peeking in. “Rora!”
Em turned her head towards the door in a reaction. “Oh, hey there. Hope you don’t mind me hanging your clothes in already.” Em’s hair was still a bit wet, definitely more than Ria’s was. She was never really a fan of using the hairdryer for too long.
“You don’t have to. We can do this tomorrow.” Said the person who’d just been unpacking herself.
“Might as well, you don’t have that many clothes.” Em shrugged and just continued. “Now, go shower before the temperature drops too much. It’s nice and warm there at the minute.”
“Mhmm.”
Shima sweeped past my leg and jumped onto the bed to go and give some hugs to Ria. She was still licking her lips.
But before I left my girlfriend and cat to their own devices, there was still one question I just couldn’t leave alone. “Did… you two shower together?”
When I asked, I could see a slight blush appear on Ria’s cheeks. Em, however, stayed pretty pokerfacey. Her smile from before even turned into a grin. “That’s for us to know and for you to guess.”
“Booo.”
Em rolled her eyes and then walked towards me, taking some underwear for me with her, and put her hand on the door. “Here you go. This is fine, right?”
“Thanks.” I gave her a quick peck on the cheek. “I’ll be right back, so don’t you two run away, okay.”
“We’d never. It would cause Shima too much stress.”
“Yes! We’ll never leave Shima alone!” Ria said from the bed while petting Shima on the head.
“I guess I’m safe for now, then.”
“Definitely.” Em booped me on the nose. And after that, I was on my way to the bathroom.
I showered pretty quickly, the room was nice and toasty, as Em had foretold. I had to fiddle a bit with the shower to figure out how exactly it worked, but in the end it’s still a shower. A hot faucet, a cold faucet, and only one place for the water to come out of.
All washed up, I went back to the bedroom to chill with my girlfriends and hopefully have a rather relaxing evening together.
But when I came back into the room, both Ria and Em had a rather suspicious smile on their faces. I looked at them with squinted eyes as I threw my clothes in the laundry basket.
“What in the Goddess’ name are the two of you smiling about?”
“We were just having a good laugh before you came in, nothing more.” Em replied.
Ria just nodded along with that statement.
Em then patted the bed. They had left a spot for me in between the two of them. Shima had taken up a spot in front of the window, staring outside.
“Suuure.” I quickly crawled on top of the bed and jumped underneath the blankets as soon as I could.
That’s when Em sprung the trap on me. “Auro, can you see what’s hanging there on the ceiling?”
Now, with my back against the mattress, it was quite obvious what they had done. The two sly vixen’s had attached a mistletoe against the light fixture above the bed. Even though that tradition wasn’t really something well-observed over here, I still quite definitely understood the implied meaning.
“Oh well, could be worse, I suppose.” I joked as both Em and Ria scooched up to me.
It was Em first who took my attention as she used her index finger on my cheek to turn my head towards her. A long and heartfelt kiss followed.
Ria couldn’t really wait and started to crawl on top of me. Almost immediately after Em was done with me, for the moment, Ria took full control and started kissing me as well.
-That’s one heck of an early Christmas present if you ask me.-
Thank you for writing this amazing story! I really enjoyed binging a nice Vampire story since it seems that there aren’t too many of them out there. That it’s GL is just another bonus and very appreciated lol.
Since we know very little about Aurora’s backstory, here is my guess for what happened:
There was a breakup between her parents, causing her mother to leave very early in her life. Why do I think that? Because of the broken family picture in that room, which was probably her parents. Shortly after her mom left, her dad also left, leaving her alone. While Auro is now parentless, Emma's parents took it upon themselves to support her along with that nice food truck lady we met in the early chapters. Since she had good grades in elementary school, she got a scholarship at the elitist school where she met Ria.
I really like the connections between your two series like the games or the outlook on vampires even if they play in different time periods of time! You also really like cats, don’t you? :P Maybe a crossover between the two in the future of Twisted Destiny? They should be alive after all!
The way you manage this “hidden society” of vampires is nice and makes sense. The businesses do business as normal but also partner with the Vampires to further their trade, which is definitely a profit for both sides. The mortals get the connections of the unaging and the Vampires have businesses they can work with without running the risk of exposing themselves.
I get the distinct feeling that the businessman they bought the house from is our friendly Vampire Architect Marco. It really sounds like something someone like him would do to pass endless time and still make money, even if not every house brings much of it. Preserving history and helping mankind in the shadows also plays a role in it.
One important question that wasn’t really answered so far: To what extent are they immortal? We know that a shot through the stomach wasn’t able to kill Em after she got her immortality, but is the same thing true for a shot through the heart or even the head? While Auro seems very resistant to damage, especially in her “fight form”, I don’t think the same is true for our other girls. While they now have crazy regeneration and are unaging, they don’t have any boost to their physical abilities.
Maybe something Auro can impart through training and evolving her Vampiric abilities? With Auro’s vampiric abilities growing through feeding as you mentioned in one of the early chapters, they should grow with her. I see the immortality and connection of Em and Ria to her as part of her power, and it would be only logical if they strengthen over time through that. It would be rather nice knowing that her girlfriends are strong enough to protect themselves. While it's not an Issue currently, large power gaps can ruin relationships. And I don’t mean the power gaps in bed ;)
Some ideas for abilities Em and Ria could gain apart from aside from the already mentioned enhanced physical strength: Less sleep needed (could also be counted to enhanced physical strength because they won’t get exhausted after a day), sensing where the others are through a sort of mental link, and last but not least using Auro's abilities themselves. That last one could be coupled with them also having the need to consume blood on top of their normal food to fuel those abilities if you want to balance it. Maybe even growing retractable fangs? I would find it very cute, all of them being more or less vampires. I won’t mention them being able to communicate mentally between them, since that doesn’t really fit the style of this novel and is a whole ability of its own. Feeling where the others are is fine, but talking to each other is maybe a bit much.
Since I mentioned “power in bed” already: Em seems to really enjoy being on top while Ria likes being toyed with while Auro likes doing both. A very interesting and harmonious constellation that leaves much room for them to play with each other xD
I’m also looking forward to the conflict with the trafficking ring you sort of mentioned / hinted at during the shopping spree and maybe while getting those fries. I really don’t think this whole thing is over with the Conclave looking into it. It might be true that they are looking into it, but there is a distinct lack of action there. I feel like Auro needs to bash in some more heads to free her girlfriend one of those days.
Once they confess to Em's parents, Auro should definitely ask Helen for some training to keep her dears safe! Not that the sword training won't help with that, but Helen definitely has seen some things and obviously has bodyguard training, which could come in handy later. If she doesn’t want to ask Helen, Aileen will probably do it along with the sword training.
Once they get settled into their new house and are a bit more active in bed, Auro should definitely ask to incorporate her feeding into their daily routine. Why buy expensive blood when you have two girlfriends that really enjoy the act of feeding? Cuts down on the cost and ups the joy of living in one go! Maybe they could also learn how to take blood from themselves for when Auro doesn’t want to or can't feed off of them directly.. If they want that of course.
I'm also looking forward to the general cuddle puddle in bed and on the couch once they get settled in. I can very much imagine them sleeping on each other either through moving during the night or just doing it from the start!
Auro also really needs to get herself a bank account or three to store her money on. While she can currently use it without a card, at the latest when he gets a job, even if it’s just a side job, she needs one. Not to mention the coming expenses of the new house. It would become suspicious if Em is covering all of it and getting the physical cash back. Sounds like money laundering to every bank there is.
Speaking of getting a job… I can imagine Auro working in a library, archive or some history related place like a museum just fine. Maybe become the “Keeper of History” in the future. She definitely has time to do so and it would also fit with being the head of the Conclave.
Smoll corection here: it wasn't Em who got shot by the mercs in the parc, but Ria. Asking Helen for tips and tricks to better protect her loved ones seems to be a good idea, couple that with her vampiric abillities and reflexes and you get a frightening bodyguard for her ladies
@Asatur Thanks for the correction! Since I know you are still up to date, this is *especially* true after *that*
@Philipp__3 Ahyupp, if she doesn't ask, how Rora changed a trained merc into modern art like Genos from OPM, she isn't doing her job right...
Im not reading all that, but holy hell