NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 170: A Rare Condition
“I already regret having invited you into my car.” Helen sighed as she slowly pulled out of the parking strip in front of the school.
“Your two wards are also in on it, the full blame can’t be just on Ria and I.” I replied. “Also, for what it’s worth, we think the two of you would make a good couple.”
Helen stayed silent for a while while she drove the car into the next street. “Let’s just… assume… that we would like to try out a relationship… Do you think it could work out in the end?”
“Why not?” Ria asked back.
“Well… her being a vampire and all, while I’m not…. From what I heard, the condition you two have is rather rare.”
“Ah…” Ria’s enthusiasm had quickly lost its vigor as she slumped back into the back seat next to me. “I forgot about that…” She whispered.
“What would you want, Helen?” Em asked in return.
Helen stayed silent again for a couple of moments before she replied. “I think… I would like to try. But I would feel bad about Aileen.”
“Have you tried talking to her about it yet?”
“Not really.” Helen shook her head. “Right now she’s just been flirting with me and trying to spend time with me. But I’ve been holding her off for now, she is pretty persistent though.” Helen then quickly glanced up at her rearview mirror and looked straight at me. “What do you think about her, Aurora?”
“In what way?”
“Just in general.”
“Pfff.” I sighed. “In the time that I got to know her, to me she looks like a good person. She can come over rather harsh at first, but she’s also kind and funny at the same time if you get to know her a bit better. She also strikes me as a bit of a womanizer, but on the other hand it seems like she is genuinely interested in you from what you’ve told us. Then again, you won’t know for sure until you straight up ask her, I think.”
“She’s definitely experienced.” Em added. “But I think Helen knows that as well.”
Helen chuckled softly. “I do remember her being with company the first time we met. I was making up no illusions about that.” After that she fell silent for a bit more. “You are right though, I should probably ask what her intentions are. I’m not that interested in just a short-term fling, although I guess that could be somewhat exciting in its own way.” That’s when Helen’s cheeks blushed up again. “Oh, sorry, that was maybe a bit too… graphic.”
“Don’t worry, we aren’t that innocent.” I chuckled. “Well, maybe Karin is though.”
Karin shrugged. “I read books. All sorts of things happen in books.”
“Not in the books I’ve read.”
Karin now also looked up in the rear-view mirror, directly at me. The look that she was giving me I could only describe as ‘oh, you sweet summer child’. “I guess you got lucky with the handful of books you’ve read.”
Em snorted at her sister’s réplique.
“Wow.” I gasped. “How rude.”
Ria tugged my sleeve. “It’s also not true, do you remember some of those manga we read together…”
“Ah… Yeah… I wouldn’t exactly call those innocent either… That’s true.”
“Still not a book though.”
“I beg to differ. Manga are definitely book-shaped.”
And thus we started discussing what was and what isn’t a book, to the delight of Helen who probably already had enough romance talk to last the next week or so. Em on the other hand started to insist on reading those manga too so she didn’t feel left out. Luckily for her I had them in my closet at home, free for her to browse through at her leisure.
Helen dropped Ria and I off at Ria’s house after which I walked back home, bringing the first day of school of the new year to an end. The next couple of days were also uneventful at school. Just getting used to the lessons again and already getting tested for the first time of the year as well. Plain old school shenanigans. And so we fell into a new routine, with Em and Ria occasionally sleeping over at my house, until Friday the week after when both Em and Ria had other things to do with their families and I had just come home from fencing practice.
Aileen and Viktor had messaged me during the day that they would come and visit me together to wish me a happy new year in person. Em and Ria were obviously a bit sad they couldn’t make it when I told them, but when I asked if I should move their visit, they said it was fine. Best case scenario we would see them back at the chateau in two weeks anyway.
And so, freshly showered after a not very intense training, I received my guests at 19:00 on the dot.
“How are ya doing, Sprout?” Aileen smiled as I opened the door for them. She was wearing a long black coat with a white turtleneck jersey underneath on top of a classic blue jeans and black high heeled boots combination.
“Sprout?” I laughed back.
“Don’t mind her, Aurora.” Viktor rolled his eyes. Viktor was just completely dressed in black at the moment. Nothing much else to say, really, he didn’t have his jacket open yet so I couldn’t exactly completely shoot him down on his fashion sense yet. Then again, black never did go out of fashion. Besides that Viktor was carrying a couple of large boxes. “She has been trying out some new Vokabular.”
“Don’t I sound cooler?” Aileen looked back at Viktor.
Viktor quickly shook his head in response.
“I think you are already plenty cool, Aileen, no need to layer it on even more.” I replied.
“Fair enough.” She smiled again.
“Please do come inside, otherwise the heating is on for nothing.”
“Talking like a responsible homeowner already.” Aileen gladly accepted my invitation and walked past me after which Viktor did so as well.
“What’s in the boxes?” I asked after I had closed the door behind them.
“Just a couple of presents.” Aileen replied.
“Oh, really? You shouldn’t have!”
“You are our junior, we are allowed to spoil you a little.” Viktor smiled back at me. While I wasn’t sure about the title of ‘junior’ yet, it was a lot better to be called that rather than a vassal or a ward.
“Exactly.” Aileen nodded and carefully took the boxes out of VIktor’s hands and placed them on the downstairs kitchen countertop so they could take off their jackets.
After the introductions we moved upstairs into the living room together with three wine-glasses that Aileen had told me to bring along. She had said to also keep my bottles of you-know-what in the fridge so I was a bit curious as to what exactly the glasses were there for.
That mystery was quickly solved once Aileen told me to unwrap the first package. Inside of which was a rather heavy, decorated wooden box. When I opened that by unclasping the latches, I was faced with three large wine bottles. At first I thought that they were filled with blood but upon closer inspection it wasn’t as straight forward as that. The labels on the wine bottles only read one thing ‘Original MacInally Blend Series Five F AB+’. “Uh, Aileen, what are these?”
Aileen took a moment away from petting Shima, who had already come over to greet the guests as well, and gently grabbed one of the wine bottles out of their cushioned storage container. “It’s a little experiment I’ve been working on for quite a while. I think I finally got the blend just right.” Out of her pocket she fished a fancy looking corkscrew and started to uncork the bottle.
“She has been working on this for a little over a century. She’s hard to please.” Viktor replied.
Aileen popped the cork out with style and beckoned me to grab a glass. Once I did she poured a little of the liquid into it. “Before you continue to form any thoughts on it, give it a whiff first. And then tell me what you think.”
I nodded and did as Aileen asked. Taking a deep breath from the little bit of liquid inside of the glass. What first came to mind was the distinct smell of wine but there was also something else there, something a lot sweeter and that something was making my tastebuds go wild in anticipation. I had to hold myself back from drooling, the smell was that intense. “This is wine mixed with blood, isn’t it?” I asked.
“Yes and no.” Aileen replied. “Before you start worrying, this one is alcohol free. It’s made from grapes from my own vineyards in Southern France. And like you guessed, there is blood involved too, but it’s not as easy as just mixing the two together. There’s some other ingredients in it too.”
I nodded at her explanation “And now, do I just taste it now?”
“That’s why I brought it with me. Take it slow at first though, the taste might be a bit overwhelming.”
With that little bit of cautionary advice I put the glass at my lips and tilted the liquid backwards. The moment it hit my tongue, my eyes went wide. Such an intense flavor. While I wouldn’t say it was as good as drinking from my girlfriends, this was an entirely different sensation altogether. The mix of flavors really amplified one another. I immediately felt my cheeks rouge up. “Wow. Are you sure there’s no alcohol in this?” I asked, flustered.
Aileen chuckled. “100% positive.”