In the end, the only thing that everyone in the room still wanted to know of me, is how Helen was doing at the moment. So I figured I might as well just call Aileen on her phone so they could ask her themselves.

The phone rang once before Aileen picked up. “Hey Aurora, how did things go back at the house?”

“Uhm, well… We ended up telling Em’s family the entire thing.” I explained. “They just asked how Helen was doing, so I was wondering if it was fine if I could put the call on speaker.”

“Ah, yeah, sure thing. Mine’s on speaker too.”

I switched my phone to speaker mode and moved closer to the family. “She should be able to hear you.” I said.

“Helen? Can you hear us?” Em’s mom asked.

“I can, milady.” Helen replied.

Ilse already let out a slight sigh of relief. “Thank the Goddess. How are you doing? Aurora told us what happened tonight. She said you were heading to a doctor?”

“My body hurts, but apart from that, I’m doing relatively okay.” She replied.

“We are about ten minutes out from the doctor’s place.” Aileen added.

“I take it you are Miss Aileen?” Ilse continued.

“I am, madam.” Aileen replied. “And you are Emma’s mother, I presume?”

“Yes.” I let Ilse take over my phone for a bit, as she seemed to want to chat the most. The others were still listening in attentively. “I must thank you for keeping my family safe.”

“It’s absolutely no problem, ma’am. But I should apologize that we had let it go this far in the first place. I can assure you this won’t be happening again.”

“From Aurora’s explanation, I really don’t think you are to blame for anything.” Ilse replied in a soft tone. “But I thank you nonetheless for your effort.”

“Well, it’s not a big secret we are all quite fond of Emma and Corelia. And by extension, we really don’t want anything to happen to their families either.”

“I’m very glad to hear that. Would it be possible to have you over for dinner in the near future? Just as a thank you and as an opportunity to get to know each other better.” There was no way that Ilse would let Aileen get away with even the smallest portion of regret or negative feelings.

“I would… definitely not mind.” Aileen paused for a couple of seconds. “But maybe it would be better to invite you all to our castle instead. You did tell them about everything, right, Aurora?”

“Yes.” I nodded, which was a bit stupid as she couldn’t see me.

“Alright. But I think, when it comes to getting to know each other, it might be best to arrange a bigger dinner at the castle so that you can meet with Alessia and Viktor at the same time too.”

“Hmmm.” Ilse didn’t appear to be very sure about that. “Yes, but that way we wouldn’t be able to thank you, would we?”

-Oh boy, it looks like they are entering a stalemate here.-

“Honey, maybe we should take her up on the offer and just give them another gift to thank them.” Luckily, Paul came in for the rescue.

I could tell by Ilse’s slight pout that she really didn’t prefer that course of action, but when a smile crept up on her face, I could tell that Paul’s comment had worked. “Okay, but afterwards we still want your party to come over to us as well.”

Helen chuckled in the background as I heard Aileen sigh. “That’s a workable solution.”

“Helen, when will you be back?” Now that that little debacle had been settled, Karin circled back to the original purpose of the call.

“I’m not that sure.” She replied. “I think it depends on what the doctor says. But I don’t think I will be out for that long. I will definitely let your mother know… Once I get a new phone…”

“Do you want us to buy a new one?” Ilse was quick to react.

“That will be a cost that we will pay, and this is non-negotiable.” Ailleen was almost just as quick to react to that. And to leave no room for complaining, Aileen just went on with the conversation. “If you want my opinion on Helen’s condition, I’m pretty sure she will be back in less than a week. But as Helen had said, we will keep you updated. Either through Aurora or through your personal contact information.”

“See, there’s nothing much to worry about, Karin. I’ll be back in no-time.”

Karin definitely looked happy with that answer. I hadn’t seen much of Karin’s interactions with Helen, as most of the time we were around her when we were out with Em alone. But it seemed as though Karin also really cared for Helen quite a bit. Not that I’m surprised, as this entire family was fluffily friendly and terribly caring.

“Hey Helen.” It was Em’s turn to say something now.

“Yes, Emma?”

“Get well soon, okay?”

“I will do my best.”

“And don’t be afraid to milk Aileen for as much good food as you want to.”

Aileen laughed in the background. “I will.” Helen herself chuckled softly as well.

When everyone had said what they had wanted to say to Helen, Ilse gave my phone back to me. “I think we should probably leave you two alone for now.”

“Yeah, I will definitely let you know something soon anyway.” Aileen replied. “Try to have a nice Christmas Eve, everyone. I know it’s a bit hard considering the situation but rest assured that everything is going to be okay.”

We all replied with a happy Christmas from us, after which I finally hung up the phone.

“At least we can go back to bed with a reassured heart now.” Ilse smiled.

“I’m sorry this all had to happen today, of all days…”

“Let’s just make the best of it.” Ilse replied to me. “At least it will be an easy day to remember the day of your confession.”

I chuckled. “That’s for sure.”

Paul helped his wife off the sofa so they could go back to bed, but before they started walking, Ilse had one last thing to ask of me. “Aurora, do you remember last time you stayed over, you had a flask with you?”

“I did…”

“I’m sorry if this is an insensitive question… but that was blood inside of it, wasn’t it?”

I nodded without really saying anything.

“Did you look inside, mom?” Em asked.

“I have to admit I did.” She nodded back. “I wasn’t sure at the time because… well… Why would my daughter's girlfriend need a flask of blood, right? …So I thought it was some kind of protein shake. That seemed more plausible at the time, as you appeared to have buffed up a bit recently.”

“Yes… I’m sorry to have brought that into your home… But be assured, I didn’t take any with me this time.” Although, to be honest, that was biting me in the ass quite a bit right about now.

“Oh no no. You need it for your body, right? You shouldn’t be sorry about that. I was just wondering.”

“Mom, it’s okay to be weirded out about it. It’s still human blood.” Em replied.

“Oh… it’s human?”

I nodded shyly. “It is… From what the others have told me, other blood really doesn’t fill…”

“Is it… uh… legally acquired?”

In some households, people get really hung up on the fact that their kids have a different romantic or sexual orientation, but somehow we had landed in a situation where a parent was more concerned about the fact that the girlfriend of their daughter brought home blood that was legally obtained or not. It had already been a rather absurd evening, so I wasn’t even that surprised anymore by the question. “Yes, as far as I know, it is legally acquired. It’s rather expensive, but we have plenty of means to buy it with.”

Ilse smiled, while Paul on the other hand seemed to be a bit more uncomfortable with the idea. “Okay, that’s good to know. But we maybe should think about buying you a minifridge so we can store it separately next time.”

“Next time?” Paul asked. “It was in our fridge?”

“I didn’t know what it was at the time.” Ilse defended herself.

“And to be fair, the moment I found it, I also took it out of the fridge.” I came to her aid too.

“...” Paul looked even more uncomfy now.

“It was in a very well-sealed container.” Ilse added.

“...”

Ilse laughed awkwardly. “Don’t worry, he’ll get over it later. He’s just a bit squeamish when it comes to blood related subjects.”

-Well… at least I didn’t really go into much detail about how I fed on his daughter… So I guess that’s a positive? Right?- When I looked over to Em, I think she immediately knew what I was thinking about, as she started blushing a little.

Ilse gently pushed her rather silent husband out of the room and wished us a good night. It was almost four in the morning, and my girlfriends and Karin were seemingly also on their last legs. They definitely deserve a good night’s rest now. More than well-earned.