I fell asleep incredibly easily compared to how it normally transpired after becoming a vampire. It must’ve been because of the cute sounds Ria made as she was sleeping, and because of Em’s comforting presence against my body. It was only as Em poked my cheek in the morning that I finally woke up.

“Hmmm, Em?” I rubbed my eyes. Em was already dressed in her casual attire.

“Wakey-wakey, sleepyhead.” She smiled.

I rubbed my eyes once more and sat upright in bed, I could see Ria was also already up and was putting on her clothes.

“Rosemary came to bring us some breakfast.” She nodded over to the table behind her, the fireplace was already lit. “Do you want some too?”

“Really? When did she knock? I didn’t hear a thing.”

“Just after I came back from my morning run.” Em walked over to the plate of food and took herself a croissant.

“You went running?” I put my pillow against the backboard of the bed and put myself upright even more. “How did I not notice anything?”

“I don’t know, you were completely out.”

“I guess I must’ve been completely intoxicated by my girlfriends.”

“That must be it.” Em laughed while Ria ran up to me now that she was dressed too.

“Come, Rora. They have some really good ham!” She tried to pull me out of bed, but I pulled her in instead. “Waaah!”

I gave her a kiss and a big hug. “Can’t we stay in bed a little longer?”

“But the foods, Rora! The foods!” Ria-chan booped my nose with her finger.

“Alright, alright, give me a second.” I give her another kiss and then let her go towards her little piece of paradise.

I put on my casual clothes too, can’t go wrong with a softball hoodie and some comfy pants, and then joined my girlfriends next to the fireplace. The crackling of the fire sounded like music to my ears.

“Did you start the fire, Em?”

“Nah, it was always burning since the world’s been turning.”

“...” I slowly brought my right hand to my face and pinched the bridge of my nose.

Em started laughing. “I thought you liked classical rock?”

“I do… but that joke was horrible.”

“I thought it was pretty funny.” Ria giggled.

“Ugh.”

Em started laughing even more. “But yeah, I lit the fire. It was a bit chilly here, and I thought it would be pretty romantic to have fireside breakfast.”

“At least your sense for romance is better than your sense of humour.”

Ria nommed a couple of grapes before she replied to me. “That’s because she’s clearly an uptown girl, Rora.”

Em almost choked on her chocolate milk.

“I need new girlfriends…”

“But Auro…”

“Yes…?”

“♫ If you said goodbye to me tonight, there would still be music left to write. ♫”

“Oh, Goddess, please stop.”

But it was too late, Emma and Ria had already started their impromptu karaoke session. Leaving me with no other choice than to join in with them.

A knock on the door interrupts our karaoke. I immediately headed over to see who it was.

When I opened the door, Alessia was smiling at me.

“Good morning, Aurora.”

“Good morning. I hope we didn’t wake anyone up?”

“The walls are well insulated and the rooms next to you are empty, so don’t worry about that.” She assured me. “I just heard some jolly singing when I was walking by and decided to check in.”

“Want to come inside for a bit?”

“If your girlfriends don’t mind.”

“Of course not!” Ria calls out to our hostess.

“I’ll join in for a bit then.” Alessia smiled as I invited her in.

“Did you have a good night’s sleep, Alessia?” Emma asked as she offered her a glass of the bottle of ‘wine’ that came with the breakfast.

“I actually skipped sleep all together.” She accepted the glass Emma was offering.

“Do you do that often?” I asked as I sat down next to her, taking a glass for my own as well.

“Yes, I tend to dislike sleeping. Especially since there’s so many things to do and learn.”

“Even after such a long time?”

Alessia nodded. “Yes, even after such a long time. But tell me, did you sleep well?”

“We did, we even had trouble waking up, Auro.” Em laughed.

“I’ve not slept so well since I turned.” I admitted. “I just feel so comfortable with these two cuties, it’s hard not to relax.”

“I can believe that.” Alessia laughed and sipped from her glass before she continued. “There’s actually another reason why I wanted to come over, regarding your first lesson.”

“Are we already getting started today?”

“If you want to, it’s just a bit of a self-defence and offence course. I think it would be in your and your girlfriend’s best interest.”

“Hmm, any particular reason why?”

“Well, it concerns the group that had attacked you and Corelia in the park.”

“Didn’t Auro solve that problem?” Em asked.

“She definitely ripped them off a lot of resources, that’s true.” Alessia nodded. “We are currently still investigating them, but the chances are that they belonged to a network that runs a lot deeper than it would first seem. Aileen is on the case.”

“Why didn’t you tell us at the conclave?”

“Because there wasn’t much to tell, except for that we are looking into it.” Alessia shrugged. “I want to teach you as a precaution, just in case. I also have Phania assigned to you with a higher priority, so the chances they catch us unaware are minuscule.”

“But better to be safe than sorry?”

Alessia nodded.

“Okay then, where do you want to do this training of yours?”

“It’s in the basement, we built a gym and a sparring area there.”

“Oh, that’s cool!” Em’s eyes started glowing. I smiled at her and then looked back at Alessia.

“When are we going?”

“I’ll take you there when you are done with breakfast. I’ll message Aileen when we’re almost done.”

“Aileen?”

“You didn’t think you’d be sparring with me, did you? Who else is better to train you than our best fighter.”

I gulped. It made sense, but Aileen did have hundreds and hundreds of years of combat experience, the thought of having to spar with her alone sounded incredibly intimidating.

“It’ll be fine, you can’t get hurt anyway. I will provide you with some clothes that are allowed to be destroyed.” Alessia smiled and patted my shoulder. “Ah, and don’t forget to bring the cane I gave you as well.” she nodded towards the cane that I left next to the bed.

“Uh… sure?”

We finished our breakfast. Alessia then guides us towards the basement after having messaged Aileen. The gym and sparring room are just behind a small corridor in the basement, and I was actually quite impressed when I saw the equipment they had down here. Em was all over inspecting all the gym gear too, while Ria was just standing around, not really knowing what me and Em were so enthusiastic about.

“You aren’t really into sports, Corelia?” Alessia asked.

“Hmm, not really…”

“Want me to ask Rosemary to bring us some cookies while we watch your girlfriends train and spar?”

Now that, that piqued her interest immediately. “Yes please!”

I laughed as I looked around the sparring room myself. It looked a bit like a combination of a boxing ring and a dojo, with equipment for all kinds of martial arts set out and probably even more stored away in the multitude of storage rooms attached to this one.

Alessia pointed at a neatly folded pile of clothes on one of the benches. “Those are the clothes I had brought in for you. You can get dressed in one of those rooms over there, she pointed at the wall on the left.

I nodded and quickly got changed. The new set of clothes fit me perfectly and were actually also really comfortable, although because it was all-black it was pretty monotonous to look at. When I came back, Aileen had also joined our little group and was conversing with Emma, probably about the gym equipment.

“Good mornin’ Aurora.” Aileen greeted me when she saw me.

“Good morning.” I greeted her back.

Aileen threw my cane into my hand once I approached a bit closer.

“Are we fighting with this?”

“‘xcactly.” Aileen walked to one of the storage closets and swiftly produced a cane of her own out of it.

“I mean, it’s pretty heavy, but… doesn’t that make it practically the same as a club or a baseball bat?” I practised a couple of swings with it.

“Aurora, press the eyes of the lion’s head with your index and middle finger, and then twist the head and the cane itself in opposite directions.” Alessia instructed me.

I shrugged and did as she asked. With a click the cane opened, a tug revealing the shine of a steel blade. I looked up in surprise at Aileen and Alessia, Aileen had also opened up her cane and was walking to me slowly.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait!!!” I waved my hands out in front of me. “We are supposed to fight each other with swords!?”

Aileen nodded. “Aye.”

“But you can get hurt, can’t you?”

“Don’t worry, I won’t get hit.”

I gulped again. -Oh boi, oh boi, oh boi, oh boi… this isn’t good, I’m going to get my ass whooped by the cool Scottish valkyrie...- That thought made shivers roll down my spine but weirdly enough, part of that was because of some strange arousal I felt…