Out of the cold, we sat on the last couple of boxes with our backs against the radiators for some good old warmth while staring into the empty house. If someone would be looking at us now, they would find the sight somewhat peculiar. But as both Em and Ria were resting their heads on my shoulders, I couldn’t really give much of a damn to be honest.

“Are you excited to stay over today?” I asked. They had both offered to stay over for the night, as the first night in a new home was not the easiest on most people.

“As someone who’s tested out that new bed of yours before, definitely.” Em chuckled.

“Yeah, it’s very comfy!” Ria added.

“You two have used my bed already?”

“When you weren’t looking, Ria and I might’ve snuck off to rest a bit.”

“What, really?”

“Rora, you can’t blame us, we don’t have infinite energy like you do!”

“Hmmm…” I grumbled. “I know that, but I’d rather have been invited to laze off together.”

“Sometimes, Ria and I need some alone time too, y’know.” Em smiled and put her hand on my thigh.

“Just like you have some alone time with me or with Em!” Ria did the same, but on the other side.

“I suppose that’s fair.” I gave both of my girlfriends a kiss on their cheek. The dynamics of polyamorous relationships were curious, but also incredibly beautiful. Who am I to stand in between them when they want to deepen their relationship, right?

I stretched my arms and straightened my back, a relieved sigh leaving my lips. “As much as I enjoy doing this together with you two, I do hope the move won’t take too much longer. I don’t really get tired, but it’s still pretty stressful.”

“It’ll be over soon enough.” Em smiled and gave my thigh a little squeeze. “And after that we can have a great Christmas party.”

“I’m really looking forward to that! I can’t wait to eat all the good food!” Ria almost started drooling.

“So am I.” I replied with a nod. “It’s going to be fun.”

This talk about Christmas suddenly put a thought in my mind… what if I bought Em and Ria one of those cute little Christmas costumes…

The image that popped in front of my eyes was incredibly enticing, so much so that I felt my entire face go red, almost as red as the costumes that I’d imagined, although lacking the cute fluffy white puffs of down.

“Auro? Is something wrong?” Em asked.

“N-n-n-nothing’s wrong.” I tried to shake off the excitement.

Em looked at me with skepticism written all over her face. “Is that so? The face you were making, makes me think you were imagining something.”

“Imagining what?” Ria chimed in.

“Imagining what indeed.”

“It was nothing, I promise…”

“Hmmmm…..”

Ria now started to look at me as well, tilting her head. It definitely didn’t make my blush go away.

Luckily for me, the ringing of the bell at the front door saved me from this precarious situation. I immediately got up and opened the door. It was Alessia who’d returned to pick us up together with the last couple of boxes.

But as soon as Alessia saw me, her smile turned into a smirk. Yet she didn’t say anything apart from that she was ready to head back yet again. I knew Alessia was good at reading people, but I sure as heck hope she didn’t peak into my mind. That said… I might actually order a couple of those costumes… just in case…

With a rather suspicious Emma and Ria in tow, we put the last boxes in Alessia’s car and then prepared to get in ourselves. I locked the door of my home one last time, after which I took a couple of steps back to take in the facade of the house once more. I’d lived here for so long… Taking a different route from school would surely feel strange for a while. But as long as I didn’t accidentally end up here again and scare the bejeezus out of the future inhabitants, that was probably going to be fine.

“Getting homesick already, Aurora?” Alessia walked over to me with an envelope in her hand, it was addressed to the people who were going to rent out this house.

“Nah, just saying my goodbyes.” I deposited the key inside of it.

“Understandable.”

“When’s the last time you moved houses, Alessia?”

“Hmmm… I was already living in the castle when I got the position of maestra of the conclave. I can’t remember the exact date anymore, but it has definitely been more than a century. Before that I moved around a lot more though.”

“Huh…” It’s really hard to imagine having lived in the same place for that long. But then again, that might be my future as well.

“The funny thing is, apart from the appearance of cars and electricity, the village that’s near the castle has barely changed at all. Doesn’t make it terribly easy to track time, though. Sometimes you forget a bit about the outside world. But that can also be a boon.” She smiled and put her hand on my shoulder. “Sometimes it’s worth it to retreat from the chaos of the world.”

-With the background of the big vampire war, I can definitely understand that.-

Alessia then practically pushed me into the car as she didn’t want to waste any more fuel heating up the car while being stationary, although I’m sure Alessia was just excited to finally get the moving part of the move done and over with. The fact that we’d moved over my ‘juice bottles’ at the start probably had something to do with it too. She must be running quite thirsty from the spent effort, as I was starting to feel it too.

We parked the car in the underground parking and carried the boxes over to the house. I was carrying two of them, while Alessia carried the third. I didn’t make Ria and Em carry these last three, as they’d helped plenty enough today already.

Em opened the front door for us as we’d our hands full. We decided to put the boxes in the small downstairs kitchen. The central heating and insulation of the house was doing its work, it was exactly as warm as I’d like it to be in my home and as we didn’t really need to go outside anymore for the time being the four of us got rid out of our coats. The first time I’d actually be using my fancy new coat hanger.

-Pleasure is in the small things, isn’t it?-

“Is it okay if we go see Shima now?” Ria asked.

“Yeah, sure thing, let’s go find Viktor.” I smiled.

Alessia in the meantime was taking the occasional look at the door that lead to the cellar. “Do you mind if I go and take a drink?”

“Definitely not, go ahead. Just save some for me.”

“Alright.” Alessia smiled and gave me a polite little bow. “I’ll pour some out for you too?”

“That’d be nice.”

Ria hand’t waited on our conversation to finish and was already making her way up the stairs, with Em waiting for me to catch up.

Alessia didn’t keep me any longer and made her way downstairs.

Em and I followed our girlfriend up the stairs.

“Viktor, where are you?” We heard Ria call out from the floor above us.

“Ich bin here, Lady Ria.” Viktor replied. “On the second room to the right of the staircase.”

Em and I reached the floor just as Ria opened the door that Viktor had mentioned.

“Shima!” She called out and walked in. Em and I swiftly followed. Viktor was seated on one of the guest beds, smiling at how Ria was petting Shima. Shima had approached Ria immediately as she walked in and had presented her belly towards her.

“Make sure she doesn’t claw you.” Em chuckled.

“Shima would never.” Ria replied as she moved her hand up to below Shima’s chin to give her a couple of scratches there as well. “Right, Shima?”

Shima meowed and continued purring under Ria’s caress.

“Thanks for taking care of her, Viktor.” I turned to our German friend.

“Kein Problem.” He replied. “She’s been very interested in exploring. She’s been staring out of the window for quite a while already. Viktor nodded over to the window that looked out to the small square in front of the house.

“She’s not used to that much activity outside, I presume. Neither has she ever been this high up before, either.”

“And it’s not even the highest floor yet.” Em said while crouching down so she could pet Shima as well.

“I have the feeling she will like this house a lot.” Viktor nodded happily.

“Yeah, I think so too.” I smiled. -But finding her when she’s found a new hiding spot definitely won’t be as easy as before… well, at least we can still outsmart, or better said, out bribe her with food.-