“Anyhow, Aileen, I think you should really tell Helen what you just told us. It might sound a bit sappy but I think it’s something she definitely needs to hear.” I said after the laughing had died down a little.

“Yeah… I will. Thanks for listening to my ramblings.”

“Matters of the heart are never unimportant.” I winked back.

We continued talking a bit more about Helen and then went on to talk about school before Viktor’s handy dandy cellphone started buzzing.

He was quick to the draw and flipped it open. From the smile on his face I could tell that it was a message from Alex.

“What did Alex want?” Aileen grinned. She had also noticed.

“Alex would like to meet up later this evening. Aurora, would you mind if we left now? I need to drop off Aileen but it’s a bit of a detour.”

“Go ahead.” I smiled.

Aileen quickly waved Viktor’s carpool issue to the side. “Don’t worry about me, Vik, go to Alex and say hi for us. I’ll take a taxi home.”

“Are you sure?”

“Very.” Aileen nodded.

Viktor smiled and stood up. “Thanks.”

“No, thank you for the nice gifts.” I stood up as well and gave Viktor a hug. He hadn’t seen that one coming as we are generally not that touchy feely with each other but he returned the hug nonetheless, just a tad clumsier than he probably had wanted.

Aileen chuckled at the interaction. “What the heck. Have a hug from me as well.” She continued to hug him too, this time Viktor was slightly better prepared though.

“I will definitely pass on the greetings.” Viktor smiled after he was released by Aileen and then walked over to Shima. “You be a good Katze, okay. And don’t forget to use your new abodes.”

Shima tilted her head at Viktor and meowed which was quickly followed by her getting patted on the head by the man himself.

“Good.” He smiled.

I then escorted Viktor back downstairs and out of the door, waving him a solid goodbye, before heading back to the living room where Aileen was messing around with her phone.

“Are you going to go over to Helen for the evening as well?” I asked as I sat back down on the sofa next to my kitty cat.

She shook her head. “No, I’ll go visit her on Sunday, I will call her tomorrow though.” Aileen then put her phone away. “Taxi ride home will take a while.”

“If you want to, you can stay over if you like. I have plenty of rooms to spare.”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t see why not.” I shrugged. “There’s no-one here besides me anyway. Plus, getting a taxi at this time is probably going to be a pain in the ass.”

Aileen smiled. “Not really, but I think I will take you up on your offer anyway. It’s not every day that you can sleep in a veritable manor like this one.”

“Really? I would presume you know more people than me who own one, don’t you?”

“You’d be surprised.” She retorted. “Most people I’m close to prefer to live rather isolated, you know?” Aileen winked.

“Fair, that makes sense.” I nodded.

“As I’m staying over for the evening, what do you want to do for food? Or were you planning not to eat this evening?”

“I do try to keep a, quote on quote, normal eating schedule so I was planning on eating something. I hadn’t yet decided on what to eat though…” I replied.

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“Hmmm.” Aileen took her phone back up again and started browsing through something. “What about Chinese food? Always good, right?”

“Fine by me.” I nodded. “What place are you looking at?” I walked over to Aileen and sat down next to her on the couch.

“The Imperial Panda China House… Sounds a bit cheesy though. Have you ordered there before? I haven’t in any case.”

“Hmm, that one is pretty good.” I replied and took my own phone. “I ordered there a couple of times before and it was never a let down.”

“Great.” Aileen smiled. “Also, the bill is on me.”

“I’m the one who suggested you stay over though… So I should be paying.”

Aileen shot me a glare. “No, you are not.”

“But you already got me…”

“Aurora.”

“Okay, sure… I’ll have the Chow Mein with chicken and the spring rolls please.”

Aileen nodded in contentment at her victory. "Alrighty. I’ll just put ‘as soon as possible’ on the time window.”

“Fine for me.” I nodded back. “Although a bit later wouldn’t hurt either.”

“Well, I just want to eat the food before I test your fencing skills a little bit.”

“Wait, what? When did we start talking about testing my fencing skills?”

“You have already practiced a couple of times with your club, haven't you?”

“I have, but that’s not the point I’m making.”

“It would be a shame to waste the opportunity of me being here for the evening, right? Don’t worry, I won’t kick you against the wall as payback for what you did to me the last time.”

“The fact that you mentioned it makes me think you do actually still hold a grudge about it.”

“Just a little.” Aileen winked. “Jokes aside, I just want to see how your technique is doing. I won’t put you through rigorous training, you don’t have to worry about that.”

“Hmmm… I’m starting to regret inviting you to stay over.”

“Nah.” Aileen ruffled her hand through my hair.

I chuckled and leant back into a nice long stretch. “That aside though, I only have my own training sword, what are you planning to test me with?”

“You have your cane, don’t you? You can use that, I’ll use your training sword. It’s not like you can seriously hurt me.” She pointed at the bottles of her own brew on the table, accentuating our vampireness.

“Okay, don’t complain if your clothes get ripped though.” I sighed. “You’re not going to wear the clothes you just gifted to me.”

“Don’t worry too much. I’ll be fine.” Aileen winked at me again as she finished the order at the Chinese restaurant. “Anyway, for now, where’s that little kitty cat of yours so I can give her some belly rubs.” Aileen turned her gaze to Shima who was still resting on the couch.

But as soon as she did so, as if sensing the gaze upon her, Shima looked back at Aileen and jumped upright and then brought herself down to the floor in a playful manner.

“I see, not going down without a fight, are you?”

Shima wiggled her but and then sprinted off into one of the side rooms.

Aileen chuckled and looked at me for permission. “Sure, let’s go play with my cat for a bit. Might as well while we are waiting.”

The Hunt for Red Shima went… different than expected. One would think that two vampires with enhanced senses, of which one is a very perceptive veteran of tens if not hundreds of wars, would have little to no issues with finding a cat who fled into a room with literally only one exit, but that’s not how it turned out at all.

“You did see your cat run in here too, didn’t you? Or are we trapped in one of Alessia’s nightmare worlds…” Aileen asked when she looked underneath the closet for the fifth time already.

“I thought so, yeah…” I looked under a different closet which I had personally checked thrice already. “Did she maybe slip past us while we weren’t looking?”

“Impossible.” Aileen shook her head as she sat upright in seiza. “How in the bloody fuck…”

“You know, I once told Ria and Em about the cat pocket dimension as a joke, but I’m starting to believe it’s a real thing after all.”

“I’m honestly perturbed by this.” Aileen replied. “If we can’t find her, that means that cat is the single biggest threat to our continued existence.”

“Aren’t you exaggerating a little bit?” I chuckled. “Shima wouldn’t hurt us.”

“Aurora, if there is something I have learned over my long years on this planet, it’s that cats are secretly our benevolent overlords. But if they ever decide to turn against us, we are doomed. Especially with ultra stealth cats like yours.”

“Hmmm.” I chuckled again. “A secret cat organization you say? Do you think Shima also has to go to a kind of conclave then?”

“Maybe she is already there, wearing her little black tailored outfit with a teeny tiny sword cane hanging from her belt.”

“Hah, now that would be something.” Just as I was about to move on to the next closet over to see if Shima had hid herself there, the doorbell rang.

“Ah, that must be our food. I’ll go get it.” Aileen hopped to her feet.

“I’ll come with you.”

We both descended to get the Chinese food from the front door as we tipped the delivery driver graciously. When we then turned back around, Shima was sitting there in the hallway, staring at the two of us while we held the box of food that had just been delivered.

“How in the actual fuck? Where did you come from?” Aileen stood there flabbergasted.

Shima just tilted her head slightly and meowed.