It was Emma who first broke the cuddle puddle and straightened her uniform again “Ahum.” She coughed to regain her composure “Shouldn’t we talk about the conclave?”

“Right… that might not be a bad idea…” I nodded, Ria was still hanging from my arm.

“Conclave?” 

“You didn’t tell her yet?” Emma was clearly surprised. 

“We had a lot to talk about…”

“I guess.” She sighed and turned herself to Ria. “Auro’s vampire friend invited us to this vampire meeting they are having, mainly because of what happened to you…” 

Ria’s hand instinctively went to her stomach. “...I do want to know what is happening with me too.” 

Emma nodded knowingly. “And what happened to you could also have happened to me… I guess that’s why I got invited as well.”

“So when is this conclave?” Ria continued.

“I think the letter said it was on Sunday. Viktor is going to come and pick us up.” I walked over to the cupboard where I stashed the letter. “Here, if you want to read it.”

“Oh! That’s the letter you got on wednesday.”

“Mhmm.” I nodded and handed it over to Ria. 

Emma joined her by her side so she could read the letter with her. “Could they not have picked a more neutral colour of ink? Goddess…” She complained. 

“Yeah…” I rubbed the back of my head.

“The handwriting is very nice though!” Ria smiled, which made Emma giggle.

“That’s true too.” Together they continued reading while I patiently waited for them to finish.

 

“So we should be here before 2 o’clock on Sunday so they can pick up.” 

“Pretty much.” I nodded. 

“But if the conclave only starts at 8 in the evening, how are we going to get home in time, sleep and go to school the day after?”

“Ah…” I was a bit dumbfounded by Emma’s point.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t think about that.”

“Uh…” 

“Auro… sometimes I do wonder why I fell in love with such a klutz.” 

“But that’s what makes Rora, Rora!”

“You’ve got a point there.” And the two of them were giggling again.

“Hey, I’m sitting right here!” I objected but at least I was happy they were both getting along really well. 

“So, what are we going to do about it?” Em handed the letter back to me. 

“Can’t we call the vampire man?” Ria proposed. 

“Viktor?” 

“Yes, maybe he knows of a way.” 

“We could try.” Emma agreed. “Because I don’t think a second sick note would work in such a short period. Especially not for Ria’s parents…” 

“Hmm. I’ll call him then. Give me a sec.” I took my phone which was on the living room table and started calling him.

 

“Hallo, Aurora?” He picked up after the phone rang a couple of times. “Is everything alright?” 

“Hey Viktor, yeah, everything is fine.”

“The men told me they finished their jobs, are you happy with it?”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s nice and all, but that’s not why I’m calling.” 

“Oh?” 

“Wait, I’ll put you on speaker. Emma is here and the three of us have some questions about the conclave.”

“Ah, ok.”

I put the call on speaker mode and held it in between the group. After which we shortly explained the little dilemma we were in.

“I see. First of all, I’m happy to hear you are doing well, Corelia.”

“Thank you, and thank you for coming to help me as well.” Ria happily replied. 

“I didn’t do much, you should thank Aurora’s luck instead.” He brushed off all responsibility but I could tell he was still a bit flattered. “As for your question, I’ll contact Alessia about it but I’m sure they had something planned. I thought it was something like, uh… außerschulische Aktivitäten?” 

“Extracurricular activities.” Emma rubbed her chin. “That might work as long as the school knows of it too.”

“Natürlich. This is not the first time Alessia’s organised a conclave. But I’ll ask her to be sure. Any more questions?”

“There are beds provided there too right?” I asked. “Since vampires don’t need to sleep and all that.” 

“You don’t?” Ria was a bit surprised.

“Uh, yeah… it’s actually really hard for me to sleep.” Although I couldn’t really tell her that the last time I did, it was because of her.

“Awh, but sleep is nice.” 

“Ahum.” Emma coughed to get us back on track. 

“Yeah, right, so are there beds?” 

“Definitely, the location is truly wunderschön. You will see when we get there.”  

“Now I’m super curious.” Ria pouted.

Emma patted Ria on her head as Viktor continued. “And before I forget, the tailor will drop off your uniforms tomorrow morning. There was a bit of a delay. My apologies for that.” 

“It’s not your fault, Vik, don’t worry about it. Thanks for all the help.”

“Kein problem. If there aren’t any more questions I’ll get back to work. I’ll let you know when I’ve contacted Alessia.” 

“I think that was all.” I looked at Em and Ria, they both nodded. “Yeah. Bye Viktor.” 

“Goodbye.” He hung up. 

 

“So I’ll have to stay over for another night?” 

“Sounds like it. Can you arrange that, Em?” 

“Shouldn’t be a problem. Ria is technically still sick at my place anyway...”

“Great.” 

“But… uhm…” Emma hesitated. 

“Hmm? What’s wrong?”

She’d lost her composure and started blushing. “Could I… Could I stay over too?”  

“I don’t see why not. You’re my girlfriend too, after all. The bed is maybe going to be a little small for the three of us b-” 

“B-b-b-bed!?” Emma stuttered, her face turned scarlet red, which made me very conscious of what I said too.

“I-I do think I have a sleeping bag or a b-bedroll somewhere…”

“Awh. But it’ll be more fun sleeping in the same bed!”

Both me and Em stared at Ria, she was going full-steam into this relationship with nothing holding her back. It left the two of us dumbfounded.

“I guess we have no other choice then, Em.” 

“Y-yeah, the bed is fine…”

“Yay!” Ria made a little hop in the air and walked to Shima so she could pet her. 

“She’s definitely cute.” Em whispered to me while we were both looking at her.

“I know right? But so are you.” I couldn’t help myself. 

She blushed and softly punched my arm. “Idiot.”

“Hehe.” A little smirk grew on my face which granted me yet another tap.

 

A couple of minutes later we were all sitting on the sofa, with Shima having taken up her spot on Ria’s lap again.

“Rora, what are we going to eat?” Ria asked.

“Getting hungry?” 

“Mhmm.” She nodded. 

“Right, you didn’t have lunch.” I looked over to the fridge. “Hmm, I will need to go to the store to get some fresh ingredients… What would you like to eat?”

“I don’t know.” Ria leant back into the sofa.

“What about chicken parmesan?” Emma proposed.

“Oh! That sounds good! Can we get that, Rora?” 

“Shouldn’t be an issue.” I smiled and got up from my seat. 

“Want me to go with you to the store?” Em got up as well. 

“If you want to.”

“Yeah. Otherwise I wouldn’t have offered it.” 

I laughed. “That’s fair. Are you going to be fine by yourself for fifteen minutes, Ria? Or do you want to come as well.”

“Nah, I think I’ll stay with Shima.” Shima had rolled over in her lap and was exposing her belly. While some cats tended to scratch when they did that. Shima never did, especially not with Ria.

“Alright, just give me a sec to find my shoes and grab my jacket, then we can leave.”

 

When I closed the door behind me, Emma was already waiting on the sidewalk. “What direction is the store in?” 

“It’s just around the corner, that way.” I nodded in the general direction while I was putting my keys away.

“Ok.” She waited for me to catch up with her so we could walk side by side. 

“Do you ever make shopping lists?” A small gust of wind made her hug her jacket tight.

“Not really, I generally know what I’m going to get and since I tend to do smaller, more frequent trips. It’s not hard to remember when you only need a couple of things.” 

“Oh, makes sense.” Another gust of wind hit making her shudder. 

“It’s not too late to turn back.”

“I’ll be fine, your house is just too warm so I need to acclimate myself to the outside again.”

“I don’t think the heating was on, maybe I’m just too hot.” 

“Wow.” She tried to stay serious but started giggling anyway and grabbed my hand. Her hand was soft and warm. “Hope you don’t mind.”

“Definitely not.” I gently squeezed her hand. 

“I’m really happy you know. All things considered. And I’m really looking forward to Sunday...”

“Is that so?” 

“Mhmm.” She smiled and nodded. “In a way it’s a bit like a date with just the three of us, isn’t it? Especially after Viktor said the location was beautiful.” 

“Hoho, so Ria wasn’t the only one being curious?”

Em blushed. “Yeah…”  

“Hehe. Well, it does sound impressive but I guess we’ll have to wait and see. That being said, afterwards I’d like to go on more dates, ideally with fewer vampires involved.” 

“That sounds good…” Emma took my arm and hugged it close.

 

-Maybe Vienna….-