We were the first to enter the meeting room again, apart from the professor who was still there, scribbling down some notes in a leather-bound notebook.

“Almost ready, Luis?” Alessia asked.

He nodded. “I’m just noting down some further avenues of research.”

“Good, then we can start again once the rest rejoins us.”

We sat down at the table again, and I took Em’s hand in my lap, just so I could reassure her if she started panicking again. Slowly but surely the others also started filtering back into the room, although it had already been a bit longer than the fifteen minutes that had been set aside for the break.

“Vampires are not the most punctual people ever.” Alessia smiled at me, seeing how I was keeping track of time on the tall grandfather clock in the corner of the room. “Everyone starts living at their own pace after some time.”

“Ah… I guess that does make sense.”

When Epiphania walked in, she came over to us and asked: “Is it okay if I sit down next to Corelia? Viktor asked me to because he wanted to sit somewhere else.”

“Uh, if it’s fine with Ria.” I nodded.

Ria happily agreed. “Yes! Go ahead!”

“But where is Viktor going to sit?”

“He wanted to sit next to Alex.”

I looked at Alessia with a frown. “Will that be okay?”

“They actually like each other quite a lot. They just love to fight occasionally.” Alessia waved my concern aside.

“That sounds a bit like Auro and Viktor's relationship.” Em chuckled.

“From what I heard, there’s definitely some similarities.” Our hostess nodded. “But it’s still of a slightly different nature.”

“Is it fine if I sit next to you, Aurora?” Aileen asked with her distinctively Scottish accent. She’d walked around the long side of the table.

“Sure thing.” I nodded.

The badass Scottish lady sat herself down next to me and took off her aviators. I could tell from glancing to my right that Em was staring a bit too much at her.

“Em… what are you staring at?” I whispered in her ear.

“A-Ah… sorry…” She immediately got flustered when she realised she got caught. “She just looks so cool…”

“Y’know, me hearin’ is perfectly fine, right?” Aileen turned around with a smug smile on her face, which made Emma turn even redder. “But I don’t blame ya. I do look amazingly ‘groovy’ as the kids say these days.”

“I’m pretty sure they said that like... 50 years ago?”

“Wait, really?” She held her hand in front of her mouth and laughed. Making it clear, she’d been joking to make Emma feel more at ease.

“Aileen, could I ask you a question?” I asked after giving enough time for Aileen’s joke to work its magic.

“Aye, go ahead.” She nodded while she was fiddling with her sunglasses.

“In how many wars have you fought, if I could ask that?”

“Hmmm.” She put her glasses aside and rubbed her thumb over her cheek. “Which wars haven’t I fought in would’ve been an easier question.”

“In that many?” Em asked.

“Aye. It was the thing I was good at, and it made pretty decent money, which was rare for that time. My liege didn’t realise he turned me, so I had to find my own place for two centuries before I got to know of the existence of the conclave.”

“There were some rumours of an unkillable mercenary going around in Paris at that time, that’s how we tracked her down.” Alessia clarified.

“But wasn’t it hard as a woman to find your place.” That question came from Ria.

“Aye, exactly. Especially since I had to move all the time. You gain people’s respect in one place and then in some battle you take a hit a normal human would’ve never survived… people start asking questions, and then you need to disappear again to start anew somewhere else. In two-hundred years, I had been to every capital in Europe.”

“Sounds really rough.”

“It was, but I got used to it after a while.”

Alessia coughs to get the entire table’s attention. “Ahum, is everyone ready for the next part of the conclave?”

Everyone at the table nods, including Emma. I squeezed her hand to show her I’m there for her, just in case.

“Alright, Luis, do you have the results?”

The professor nods and closes his suitcase, leaving only the papers on top of the table. “I do indeed.” Then he looks at the three of us. “I will go straight to the point. Both Miss Corelia and Miss Emma cells do show cell behaviour typical to enhanced immortality.”

I squeezed Em’s hand again.

“So, me and Ri-Corelia are immortal now? Just like Aurora?” Em asked.

“Yes, that’d be my conclusion.” The room stayed silent for a minute before Luis continued. “Do you have any questions?”

Emma raised her free hand. “How exactly did she pass it on to us?”

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“Maybe by feeding?” I proposed.

“Did you feed on Ria before the attack?”

“Ah… right, I didn’t...”

“We are somewhat unsure about that.” Luis replied. “But our hypothesis is that it has something to do with the combination of vampiric cells and oxytocin.”

“Oh! The love chemical!” Ria called out, to which the professor laughed.

“Yes, exactly.”

“Maybe through a true love’s kiss.” Aileen commented.

Marko laughed. “True love’s kiss? Is our badass security officer into fairytales?”

“Shut it, builderman, let me have my sappy romance novels. I ain’t commentin’ on your weird obsession with shoes, either. Lad’s got literally two rooms full of ‘em, an’ I can’t read my romance novels in peace.” Aileen had crossed her arms and was really not amused by Marko’s comment.

Marko backed down real fast when he saw he’d hit a sensitive snare, probably for the best.

“Is it that weird to have so many shoes?” Ria pulled the attention of the entire room back to her. “I’d like to have a room for my shoes too…”

-Oh, sweet innocent Ria… Now I’d have to look for a house with an extra shoeroom for Ria as well…-

“Ahum, that aside.” Luis continued. “It is indeed likely that a kiss shared between two people who are genuinely in love could result in passing on the immortality.”

“At least that’s really romantic…” Em said under her breath while sneaking a glance at me. She blushed a little when she saw I’d clearly noticed that. She then raised her voice and asked another question. “And how does this immortality work?”

“Not unlike how immortality works for us.” Alessia took the floor. “You’ll probably stop aging around twenty-five. You will not get sick, and getting hurt will be quite a lot harder.”

“Ah, that also counts for me?” I asked.

“Yes, if you were bitten after the age of 25 you’d barely change at all. As you’d imagine, it does make it a bit hard to stick in the same place for a long time. That’s why most of us have multiple residences.”

“... and family…” Em added.

“Family and friends are by far the hardest factor in the equation, that much is true.” Alessia looked at Emma.

I squeezed Em’s hand, and she squeezed back, smiling at me, although with a sad undertone.

“We will work something out, Em.”

“Mhmm.” She nodded back.

“And I’ll be there for you too!” Ria reached her hand over the table, which Em gladly accepted.

“Thank you.”

“It is also possible for a human family to become affiliated with the conclave, as it has become somewhat difficult to do everything by ourselves. But we can talk about that when it becomes relevant.”

Alessia then got up from her seat and rested the palms of her hands on the table. “If there are no more immediate questions, I’d like to go on to the second point of this conclave before we go to dinner.” She looked at the three of us.

We all shook our heads as I couldn’t immediately think of something else to ask.

“Okay.” She addressed the entire table. “As most of you will have seen by the shoulder mantle Aurora Beaumont is wearing, I have appointed her as candidate successor for the conclave.

My brain shortcut a little after hearing that. “Excuse me, what?”

The rest of the table also started to murmur a little.

“Do you really think that’s best for the conclave, Alessia?” Nils stood up. “No offence to you, Aurora, but she’s quite literally brand new to being a vampire.”

“None taken.” I waved away his apology.

Viktor also stood up. “I also don’t think it’s that good of an idea.”

There were some affirmative noises going around from the others that agreed with the sentiment raised by Nils and Viktor. Only Aileen and Epiphania were dead quiet. Em and Ria were looking just as confused as I was.

Alessia raised her hands and motioned the table to calm down. “Everyone, I understand your restraint and critiques, but I do think this is what is best for the conclave. As you all know, historically transfers of power within the conclave have been chaotic at best and I, for one, would like to change that. It’s not that I’ll give up my position soon. With appointing Aurora as my successor, I want to groom her to become a new kind of leader for a new era. If she accepts, of course.”

“So it’s more like an apprenticeship?” Mikael asked with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Exactly. I’d like to take her under my wing for at least ten years, longer if need be.”

“In that case, I’m a lot more willing to support that.” Together with Mikael, Nils and the professor also nodded.

“But why her?” Alexandra asked.

“I'd like to know as well, to be honest.” I added. “I’m nothing special, I’m just a random girl who got turned into a vampire.” Em and Ria also looked at Alessia for a reply.

“First off, you are a child of the modern era, and you are accustomed to the rapid changes it brings along. This might not sound like much to you, but I can tell you it’s really impressive to see the youths of today go along with change so easily.” She continued. “Secondly, you are someone who attracts people around her. While your relation with Viktor was somewhat rough, that was completely warranted. In general, you try to connect with people, you listen to them and ask for their advice when you are uncertain of yourself, which is a quality sadly not a lot of people possess.”

“Apart from her being incredibly dense, I do agree with that.” Em nodded.

“Hey! I’m not that… okay, never mind…”

“Hihi.” Ria giggled.

“Thirdly, you have a staunch regard for people’s wellbeing, proven by the fact that you interrogated the staff to see if they were treated well and fairly.”

“They told you about that?” I blushed.

“Of course. Rosemary found that pretty interesting about you, so she happily told me that when she came to fetch me from my office.”

“Ah…”

“And last but not least, you are fiercely protective of the people you love, which is never a bad quality to have.”

Aileen nodded. “Epiphania showed me the footage of what happened in the park during the break. It was impressive. You put yourself in harm's way to protect your girlfriend without hesitation.”

Ria smiled at me. “She’s my knight, after all. Our knight.” Then she squeezed Em’s hand again.

Alessia softly clapped. “Those are the major reasons why I chose you as my candidate successor. If no one has any objections anymore and if you agree, of course.”

The table stayed quiet for a bit, the people who had stood up to raise arguments had sat down and didn’t say anything anymore.

“I’m not sure…” I looked at Alessia.

“Obviously it’s not completely binding yet, if, along the line of your apprenticeship, you see it’s not for you, you can always back out.”

“Hmm…” I looked at my girlfriends. They both gave me an affirmative nod.

“I think you should at least try, Auro.” Em smiled.

“Yes! I think you’ll do great!” Ria agreed.

“Okay, I'll take you up on your offer.” I looked at Alessia.

“Great.” She clapped her hands again, this time a bit louder. “And now that that’s done, we can finally start our dinner! Claudia, let the food be brought in.”

“Right away.” Claudia smiled, made a bow and walked through the door to the kitchen.

“So, if everyone would like to head over to the dining hall, we can start our dinner.” Alessia walked over to the double doors and opened them for us.

“Great, it’s been a while since I tasted some good food.” Aileen rubbed her hands and hung her sunglasses on her jacket.

“Are vampires always that enthusiastic about food?” I looked at her.

“Ah, right. Ye’r still in that phase, aren’t ya? Don’t worry, it’ll get better in time. Especially after you’ve tasted the great food they serve in this place.”

“Oh.”

Aileen stood up from her chair and walked past me, patting me on the shoulder while she did.

“Come, Auro, let’s go.” Em pulled me off my chair.

Ria was already walking together with Aileen ahead of us.

“Do you think they’ve prepared enough food for our cookie monster?”

“I think it’s going to be tight.” Em and I giggled as we walked into the dining room.