We ate our food in silence. The only sound being that of the silverware clattering against the plates. The quiet before the storm. Ria and I kept glancing at her parents and then at Alessia. Her parents were not looking up from their plates at all, while Alessia looked at them quite occasionally. It felt like her parents were the children who were about to be chastised by their mother. And I got the feeling that that wouldn’t be far from the truth.

Alessia was done with her food first and placed her silverware in her plate, after which she patiently waited for the two Du Bellay to be done with their food.

As Ria and I had finished our plates not soon after Alessia, she started to talk with us.

“Did you enjoy your food, Aurora?”

“It was delicious.” I gave my ‘mom’ a smiling nod.

“And what about you, Lady Corelia?”

“I liked it a lot. Thank you for asking, Lady Alessia.” Ria smiled. “Did you like your meal?”

“I did.” Alessia smiled back before turning back her attention to Ria’s parents. “I hope you are enjoying your meal as well.”

Ria’s dad looked up from his plate and coughed. “It is a marvelous plate that chef Gabriëlle has served up.” He coughed again. “Truly marvelous. Isn’t that right, dear?”

Ria’s mom nodded and patted her mouth clean with a napkin.

They both put their silverware in the ‘done’ position on their plate, to which Alessia smiled.

“Good, now that we are all done eating, we can finally come to the business at hand.” She started. “As you know, it has come to my attention that you’ve been severely mistreating my daughter and deliberately keeping her away from her friend. And, as a mother, I can not let that continue.”

“T-that’s all a big misunderstanding!” Ria’s father stammered. “We never meant for Lady Aurora to feel that way.” Ah, good old victim blaming.

“So, you are saying you didn’t shun my daughter because her social standing didn’t align with what you deemed as good and proper?” Alessia tapped her finger on the table. “Or that you didn’t forbid your daughter to hang out with one of her best friends. For no other reason than how much money and standing her family had?”

“As my husband said, it’s all a big misunderstanding, Lady Gattilusio.” Ria’s mom came in to offer some assistance to her husband.

“If we are all misunderstanding your actions, please do enlighten me. Tell me what we are supposed to understand.”

“We just thought it was terribly wrong for a young woman to live by herself. We didn’t want our Corelia to add to the burden of Lady Aurora.”

“That must be the weakest excuse I’ve heard in a long while.” Alessia interrupted Ria’s father. “First of all, while we’ve been here, the two of you have barely talked to my daughter, at all. And don’t you think I have not seen the kind of looks you’ve given her either. The only thing you two have been concerned with today, is keeping up your ‘high class appearances’ while trying to please me.” Alessia raises her index finger. “And secondly, what do you mean with a burden? Even if you were telling the truth, which, for the record, I don’t believe at all. Since when are friends ever considered to be a burden? Are you truly so out of touch with the rest of the world that you’ve completely lost any sense of reality?”

“I…”

“But we…”

“Don’t even try to make up excuses, those will probably be even worse than your last one.” Alessia stopped them. “Let’s talk to you in the language you understand. A contract.” A vampiress with a contract, Alessia? Since when have we become devils? But then again… I guess contracts would actually work for Ria’s parents.

“A contract?” Ria’s mom asked.

“Yes, a contract.” Alessia slid her hand underneath her coat and pulled out an envelope which she almost slammed on the table. She then slid it across the table towards Ria’s parents. “In it you’ll find the terms, but I’ll state them out loud so it is more than clear for you.”

“That won’t be necessary…” Ria’s father protested, but if he thought that was going to stop Alessia, he’d be wrong.

“First of all, The contract stipulates to allow your daughter, Corelia Du Bellay to interact with my daughter, Aurora Beaumont-Gattilusio, without chastising either of them for doing so. This includes just showing even the faintest amount of disapproval towards them and their relationship.”

“Who supervises this?” Ria’s mother asked.

“That’d be in point two of the contract.” Alessia continued. “Point two clearly states that but a mere verbal report from either my daughter or your daughter is enough proof to indicate a breach of contract. Resulting in the activation of point three of the contract. ‘The breach of this contract will result in the complete exclusion of Cosimo and Christine Du Belay from noble society.’”

“Preposterous! You do not have the power to do this!” Ria’s father got up from his chair and slammed the table. He’d just thrown away any last semblance of faked peace and rest. Showing his true colors.

“Would you like to wager your family name on that, Mister Du Bellay?” Alessia didn’t even blink and put her phone on the table with its screen up. “It’d only require me to make a phone call or two. You can listen in if you want? Who should I call first? I heard you got along with the Duke of Nevers, let’s see how long that lasts.” Alessia started to type in something on her telephone.

Both Ria’s mom and dad turned as pale as a corpse, which was terribly ironic. Ria’s father sat back down as fast as he could. “That won’t be necessary.”

“Good.” Alessia smiled. “Of course there is something in it for you as well. Although that comes with another additional rule.” She continued. “I am willing to share with you a list of contacts for attendants and chefs who are up for hire, perhaps even at a slightly discounted price. But, they need to be treated with the utmost respect. If I hear about any sign of disrespect, point three will also apply here.” Alessia looked at Ria’s parents one more time. “If you agree, please do sign it. I have a pen here if you need one.” She reached for her pocket but Ria’s dad stopped her.

“I have one myself.” He replied as he took a pen from his own jacket. He then proceeded to put his scribble at the bottom of the page and then handed the pen over to his wife.

“As you might have realized, this contract is not legally binding. However, I’d like to restate that if you breach it, I’ll do anything in my power to completely ruin you.”

“You have made that abundantly clear… Lady Gattilusio. We will keep us to this agreement.”

Ria’s mom nodded along with her husband as well as she signed and then handed the contract back to Alessia.

“I’ll make a copy of this and hand you one as well, as a reminder. I have also just sent you an email with the contact information for my contacts for the attendant hiring service.” I hadn’t even noticed that Alessia had taken her phone in her hand. Maybe she’d let the mail be sent automatically.

“I have received the list. You have our gratitude.” Ria’s dad took a glance at his phone.

“I’m glad we could come to an agreement.” Alessia smiled and got up from her seat. “I hope you don’t mind that we don't stay for dessert.”

“Not at all.” Ria’s mom stood up from her seat too, and so did her husband. Ria followed their example and I did the same.

“Come, dear, let’s go home.”

“Yes, mother.” I replied and followed Alessia out of the room. We were being followed to the door by the Du Bellay family.

Alessia shook the hands of the parents while I said my goodbye’s to Ria. “See you tomorrow at school?”

“Mhmm.” Ria nodded. I wondered what she thought about the absolute ass-whooping Alessia had handed to her parents because her smile didn’t betray a thing. That, or she was actually happy about it, which is a distinct possibility too.

In the end, everything had ended on a pretty good note, and it didn’t look like her parents were going to be an issue for that much longer. I turned around to follow Alessia out of the building but before I could, Ria stopped me. “Rora.” She said, making me turn around. She then planted a kiss on my lips. I was quite surprised by this, but when I looked at her parents… the look on their faces… priceless, just utterly and completely priceless. And it was even better that they couldn’t do anything about it. “I’ve been wanting to do that since you walked in…”

“Wow… That’s one way to say goodbye. And honestly, that’s what I wanted to do as well.” I broke out in a spontaneous smile and kissed her back. Kicking the sedated hornets nest a little bit more. Now that the secret was out in the open, I might as well, right? I then walked my dumb smiling ass back to the car to rejoin Alessia. I didn’t want to make her wait that long.

“Phew, that was that.” Alessia said as she turned the key for the ignition. “I really didn’t like doing that.”

“Didn’t you? You looked like you were having fun, though?” I asked.

“Well, there’s something to be said about handing out a good cup of justice. However, it is not my favorite pastime. If I weren’t a vampiress I’d be exhausted right about now.”

“Thank you for having done this for Ria and I. I really appreciate it.”

“That’s no problem at all. I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t want to do it. Plus, those parents really deserved a firm buttkicking.”

“That’s true.” I laughed.

Alessia then drove off and headed towards my house. “Hey, but I do have a question.”

“What’s that?”

“Wouldn’t you be interested in wanting to know more about your parents, your real ones? We have plenty of resources to put up an investigation if you’d want to..”

“No.” I immediately refused.

Alessia nodded. “Fair enough, just know that the possibility is there, okay?”

“Mhmm.” I nodded. -But I really don’t want to open that can of worms…-

“Aaaand by the waaay, that was one heck of a power move you and your girlfriend pulled there.” Alessia changed the subject back to something much more agreeable with a very teasing tone and nudging me with her free hand real fast.

“Haha, you saw that?”

“Yeah, I definitely did. Hard not to.” She chuckled. “I have to admit, I didn’t see that one coming.”

“Neither did I… But I decided to just roll with it.”

“Might as well. They can’t do anything about it anyway.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking.” I smiled. This day went a lot better than I had foreseen. You gotta love it when a plan comes together.