I walked through the snow with heavy legs, trying to come up with the best way to formulate what had just happened to my girlfriends, but my mind kept drawing blanks. At least the one thing I could put them at ease with, is that all in all, Helen was doing fine. But it would still be quite a shock. But on the other hand… if Karin was still in the bedroom, that would complicate things even more.

I stood in the snow right before the mansion’s entrance and stared up at the sky. Letting the snow fall on my face.

-Shit, and I’m starting to feel really thirsty as well… And this time I didn’t bring my bottle, my precautions have well and truly bit me in the ass… I guess I’ll just have to power through it.- I sighed and with another deep breath I took the last step forward and went to look for the spare key that Em’s mom had told me about. It was exactly where it was, hidden behind the right lantern next to the door.

Slowly I put the key in the keyhole and turned it. Trying to make as little noise as possible. When the door was open, I could see that they had also left a little lamp burning on top of one of the cabinets. That was a nice thought of them. I made sure my shoes were free of snow before I stepped into the hallway, taking off my shoes almost immediately once I was inside so as not to click-clack with my heels too much. While I somewhat doubted my girlfriends were asleep, I didn’t want to wake up Em’s parents.

With my shoes put in their spot, I shut off the little lamp in the entrance hall and made my way up the stairs. As I had expected, there was still light burning on the other side of the door.

I very silently knocked on the door before I slowly opened it. What I found inside broke my heart. Em was sitting there, staring at the door, hugging a pillow while sitting on the bed, Ria sitting next to her rubbing her back while Karin was sitting on her other side doing much the same. All three of them looked like they had been crying. The pang in my heart made it pretty darn difficult not to tear up, either.

“H-hey.” I just barely managed to get out. “C-can I come in?”

“Auro!” Em cried and ran towards me, embracing me instantly. The tears started to roll off her cheeks even more as she tightened her hug around me. I couldn't do anything but embrace her back.

Ria walked over, a bit slower than Em, but she came to embrace me too.

“Em… i-it’s fine… you don’t need to cry. You knew I would be fine, right?”

“They got worried when you didn’t reply to their texts.” Karin curtly said from the bed. Wiping her eyes with a tissue. After which, she seemingly bit down hard on her lip.

“We were worried sick.” Em replied, keeping my hugged tight against her. “What if someone did find a way to hurt you? What then?”

“Yeah.” Ria added with a sniff.

I looked back at Karin, who had now stood up from the bed. “They told me about your… condition. It made no sense for them to worry so much about a ‘friend’ who was in need of support.” Her body language was brisk, it’s like she didn’t know what to do with her arms. The more I looked, the more she seemed angry.... Maybe that’s why she was being so verbose?

“Ah.” But my attention quickly turned back to Em.

“I’m sorry.” Em replied.

“No need to.” I hugged both of my girlfriends a bit tighter myself. “I understand, and it was in your fullest right to your sister. She’s your family after all”

“So, what were you up to?” Karin walked closer. She had balled her fists. Her facial expression had changed for the worse. She was definitely seething with rage, practically gritting her teeth. “What, in the name of everything that’s good and holy, would make you desert my sister and my best friend on Christmas Eve? What would be so important that you wouldn’t even deign to send a message back? Even if you are a so-called vampire. I will not forgive anyone for hurting my sister and my best friend like that.” Karin’s fury made me take a step back. While she couldn’t really do anything to me… the look on her face and the intensity of her words was, in fact, scaring me quite a bit.

“Karin.” Em gently broke off the embrace and turned around to face her sister. “Please… calm down a little.” She stepped towards Karin and embraced her as well. The animosity from Karin almost dropped instantly as she hugged her sister back. “Ria and I were upset. That’s true… But at least we can hear Aurora out. She wouldn’t do anything to deliberately hurt Ria and I. Never. I promise you that. You should know that too, right?”

“But she’s a vampire.” She glared at me before her expression turned back to concern for her sister in her arms.

“She’s still Rora inside. She’s still the same person.” This time it was Ria who replied. They probably hadn’t managed to convey the entire story to Karin. A lot of information might have gotten lost in translation…

“I can definitely explain.” I let go of Ria. “But… it might be best for everyone to take a seat first because this isn’t really… It’s not good…”

Em looked at me and gave me a slow nod a couple of seconds later. Karin squinted her eyes, but ultimately followed her sister’s lead. And as for Ria, she looked concerned, but in the end also sat down back on the bed.

I was the only one left standing in the room.

“Are you going to start explaining soon?” Karin was still really short with me.

“Yeah… sorry… but there’s no real easy way to explain this…” I scratched my arm. “But Helen… She got hurt…”

Em gulped. “Hurt… how? Is she… alive?”

“All in all, she’s fine… She’s with Aileen now, heading towards a doctor.”

Both Em and Ria let out a somewhat relieved sigh.

“But let me tell you the rest of what happened first… that way you get the entire context.” I started to tell them what happened from the moment I got the call from Aileen to us returning back to the mansion. During my recounting of the events, I felt a couple of moments where Karin’s anger at me flared up again, but Em and Ria were there to keep her calm enough for me to finish my explanation.

“Is our family safe now?” Em asked in the end.

“Aileen had promised me they were.” I nodded. “We got caught off-guard. I don’t think Aileen will let that happen again.”

“I’m a bit pissed that you didn’t tell us this earlier over text… but I do understand why you didn’t.” Em replied.

“I was very torn up about it but I needed to keep my head straight to get Helen out safely.”

Both Em and Ria nodded at my explanation.

“So this all started because someone wanted to abduct Ria?” Karin asked, she’d finally seemed to have turned around her anger.

“I don’t know how far Ria and Em have explained the situation to you.”

“We didn’t manage to tell her much.” Em shook her head. “We were not really… in the right mindset to portray a very clear picture.”

I nodded and looked at Karin. “Have they told you about… their own situation?”

Karin shook her head and opened her mouth but before she could speak, a knock on the door made us all look back in surprise. A second later the door opened, with Em’s mom standing in the opening, her dad behind her.

“Uhm, sorry, but we overheard most of what you were talking about.” Ilse apologized. “Could you tell us all, together?”

“M-mom?!” Em quickly stood up from the bed.

“Sorry sweetie. We heard Karin raising her voice all the way from our bedroom. So we came to see what was going on, that’s when we heard Aurora’s explanation...” She then looked at me and smiled with the most sweet and gentle smile. “Aurora, would you mind telling us what is going on too? If it concerns our daughter…”

I didn’t really know what to reply so I looked back at Em who was similarly grasping for words. This had become a lot messier than even I had anticipated. Ria took Em’s hand and gave it a squeeze, giving her an affirmative nod. This appeared to ground her at least a little, after which she composed herself and looked at me. “We might as well tell them, right?”

It’s true that we had to tell them one of these days, but I would have really preferred it to be in a way that was way less hectic than this. But then again… beggars can’t be choosers I suppose… I nodded and turned back to Em’s parents. “Alright. I will try to do my best to explain.”

Ilse smiled. “Does anyone want a cup of tea? I think I’m quite in the mood for one now.”