I closed the front door behind Alessia as she walked in. “Are you sure Charles doesn’t want to come inside too?”

“He wanted to go and get a hamburger meal from WcRonald’s.” Alessia commented. “Do you want me to take my shoes off?”

“Uh, it doesn't matter. I generally do, but you are a guest, so you can choose.”

Alessia smiled and took her shoes off. I took a pair of slippers from the closet nearby and handed them to her.

“Didn’t you promise to take us to WcRonald’s too, Auro?” Em asked, she was hanging her coat on the coat hanger and was helping Ria to do the same.

“I remember that too!” Ria replied.

“Yeah, I did.” I sighed happily. “It’s just been a tiny bit busy lately.”

“Well, we will try to remind you then.” Em chuckled.

“Do you want something to drink, Alessia?” I asked while I guided her into the living room. Shima had jumped on top of her cat tower so she could look at the unknown entity that had entered her domain.

“I’ll have what you normally have.” She nodded.

I quickly went over to the fridge to pour her and myself a drink. Ria was doing the same for herself and Emma.

In the meantime, Emma got seated on the sofa and held Alessia some company.

“It’s quite a nice house you have here.” Alessia commented.

“You don’t have to lie if you think it’s small.” I laughed. “Wouldn’t be surprised, you’ve been living in that castle for a long time, haven’t you?”

“You caught me.” She chuckled.

I had filled our glasses and walked back. Ria followed close behind me.

“It’s big enough for me and my cat, but I might look for something bigger soon, just to make some more room for my girlfriends.”

“If you need any help finding a realtor, just give me the word. We’ve got a couple of agencies that we generally work with.”

“That’d be kind of you.” I handed over the glass and Alessia immediately took a sip.

“Alessia, if I might ask, why are you here? Did you have something to talk to Auro about? If so, we should probably get that out of the way first before hanging our problems around your neck.” Em immediately got to the point.

“Not at all, actually.” Alessia shook her head after she stopped sipping from her glass. “This might sound cliché, but we had some business around here and I decided I wanted to check up on my apprentice. But it sounds like I came at an opportune time?”

I nodded and put my glass down on the table. “We wanted to call you to ask you about a thing or two.”

“And I then wanted to speak to you about something else as well.” Em continued.

“Well, I’m always happy to help.” Alessia also put her glass down. “What can I help you girls with?”

Em nodded at me, signaling that I should explain the situation with Claire, and so I did. Alessia was listening carefully throughout the entire explanation.

“I see, so one of your friends is being inquisitive about it, and you want to have my advice on what to do with her?”

“Pretty much.” I nodded. “I kind of want to tell her, but… it’s just hard. It’s not the same as what happened with Em and Ria.”

“I understand.” Alessia nodded. “We could try to alter her memory, but I suppose you don’t want to do that.”

“No, no, not at all.” I immediately shook my head.

“And from the sound of it, you think lying would also not work?”

“I don’t think it will. It might work for a while, but Claire is incredibly sharp and will notice that something is wrong…”

“In that case, I think you should tell her.” Alessia took her glass back up and sipped from it.

“But that won’t endanger the Conclave?”

“No, we’ve got plenty of experience with that, there are some contingency plans we can enact too, IF it goes wrong. A lot of the others have had a fairly substantial support network that doesn’t include vampires.” Alessia looked at the three of us. “If I might ask. How many people do you think you’ll need to inform about this? Emma’s family was mentioned, if I recall correctly?”

Em nodded.

I did so as well. “I think Em is too close to her family not to do so… It would be cruel not to tell them.”

Alessia smiled. “And apart from them?”

“Pres, maybe?” Ria proposed. “So just Pres and Claire.”

“If you want to know, that’s actually less than most of us had to inform.” Alessia put us at ease. “And your number will probably grow over the years. Networks are our most important tools after all.”

“I see…” I looked down for a moment before I looked at my girlfriend. “So we all agree that we should tell Claire tomorrow?”

Em put her hands on my lap. “Yes, let’s do it.”

Ria did the same, but from the other side. “Yes!”

“Okay, then let’s hope she’ll believe us.” I smiled.

Alessia smiled at us again. “With that talked about, you wanted to discuss something else?”

Emma nodded. “Yes, it actually has to do with Ria’s family.”

“Wait, you want to tell them too?”

“No, it’s something completely different. But I wanted to ask for your help as well.”

I looked at Em, slightly puzzled about what she was getting at, but I let her continue her explanation. Ria looked on with great interest as well.

“You see, Ria’s family is incredibly elitist and they practically want to shut Auro out of her daughter’s life because she is, according to them, a nobody who doesn’t deserve any attention.”

“Mhmm.” Alessia nodded.

“This hurts Ria a lot, so I wanted to think of something, and then this idea popped into my head. Basically, I want to trick Ria’s parents into thinking Auro has become someone of great importance. This won't solve their prickish nature, but it might get them off their backs until Ria can be completely independent of them.”

“I see.” Alessia rubbed her chin. “I think I see where you are going.”

“Uh…” I raised my hand. “Could you explain for the less fortunate people in this room?”

Alessia chuckled. “I think Emma wants me to ‘adopt you’ with one of the many noble titles I’ve gathered throughout the centuries.”

Em nodded. “Something like that.”

“Wait, you can do that?”

“I don’t see why not.” Alessia shrugged. “Your parents are not around, so If you don’t mind… ah, sorry, that was a bit insensitive.”

“It’s fine.” I waved her apology aside with a smile. “If it helps Ria I’m all for it.”

“Okay, then I’ll get some paperwork in order and talk to some people as fast as possible.” Alessia took out her phone and tapped something in it. “I think everything should be in order for a confrontation by Monday.”

“Confrontation?” Ria asked, slightly taken aback.

“Well, I heard they were being mean to my daughter so I will need to step in personally, isn’t that right?” Alessia winked. “From Emma’s explanation I can tell what kind of people they are, and a direct approach by someone higher on the social ladder than them might shut them up really fast.”

“Hmmm…” Ria leant in to me.

“If you are not okay with that we can do it another way.” I squeezed her hand.

“Yes, a letter would work as well, albeit less effective.” Alessia confirmed my offer.

“No, the first plan is okay. I just don’t want to have my parents be mean to Rora, that’s all.”

“They won’t be when I’m there. I will make sure of that.” Alessia comforted my girlfriend.

Ria smiled and gave her a shy nod.

“Thank you for helping us, Alessia.” Em thanked her.

“It’s not a problem at all. That’s why our little network exists.” Alessia then finished what was left of the drink in her glass and put it down on the table. “I should probably get going now.”

“Already, don’t want to stay for dinner?” I asked.

“No, it’s fine. That way I can also start contacting my contacts already.” She stood up from the sofa. I did the same to guide her to the door. “I’ll let you know when everything’s done, but as I said, it should be done by monday… but before I leave… I know we just talked about giving you the contacts of one of some realtors. Considering what we are planning, it might be best to look for a new house for you sooner rather than later. Just so we can keep up appearances a bit better.”

“Right… yeah, that makes sense…”

“I’ll take that along with the rest of my planning so be ready to go visit some possible places of residence in the near future.”

“Will do.” I smiled and let Alessia out.

“Househunting, huh?” Em said once I came back into the living room. Ria had switched positions so she was now cuddling up to her instead.

“Apparently so. It will be my first time so that’s going to be interesting. You are coming with me, right?”

“Definitely.” Em nodded.

“Me too!” Ria added enthusiastically.

“Wouldn’t want to pick our new house without you.”

“By the Goddess, they were roommates!” Em started laughing. Ria and I laughed along as well.