“El-ec-tra.” Sylas smiled whilst Electra gripped her pale hand around his neck. Her skin was alabaster white, and her eyes were crimson red to match her lips. Her long platinum blonde hair was near white, perfectly styled with a curling iron. Her heels were high and sleek. Her pinstriped trousers were fitted to compliment her long legs, and her black blouse had frills around her neck. It was elasticated around her waist and wrists, and it fit the goth-glam persona she always adored.

“Sylas. You’re tardy. I detest tardiness.” 

“So sorry.” He croaked and darted his eyes from hers to Cassandra. He hoped his awkward smile reassured her that everything was fine. “But we’re here now…?” 

“Yes, funnily enough, I can see that.” Electra’s fangs were bared, but her red lips were coy around them. She wasn’t truly angry. She was just reaffirming the pecking order and her displeasure at Sylas’s tardiness. 

Only, Cassandra didn’t know that. 

One moment, she was holding Sylas’s hand as he walked her into a vampire nest, assuring her she was safe. The next moment, her sire was being pinned to the wall by his throat and a terrifying woman in Gucci was snarling in his face. Her sire was being attacked! Instinct within her blood roared through her veins and her body answered the call. Cassandra leapt across the room in a single bound. She hissed, her fangs extended, and her mind blurred into something dark and violent. She would have landed on Electra’s back and sank her fangs into her, but something collided with her side and tackled her to the ground instead. 

“Naughty fang-baby!” Someone giggled by Cassandra’s ear. It took her a moment to realise she’d been tackled to the ground and someone straddled her back to keep her there. 

“My my my? I forgot how protective the newly spawned are.” Electra chuckled and tipped her head to watch as her own spawn kept Cassandra pinned. 

“Get the fuck off me.” Cassie sneered and tried to buck her attacker off her, but the woman was too strong for her. 

“Say please, fang-baby.” The woman giggled, and licked at the shell of her ear to tease her. 

“Cassie is MINE!” Sylas finally showed his fangs and resisted Electra’s grip on his neck. 

“He’s right, Angelika. No taking liberties with another vampire’s spawn. Bad girl.” 

“No one bares their fangs at my sire.” Angelika purred up at Electra, and Cassandra thought she might be distracted enough to make a bid for freedom. Alas, no. She was further restrained with a fist in the back of her hair. It stung, and Cassie hissed in pain, which called out to Sylas. “Say you’re sorry, fang-baby, and I’ll let you up.” Cassandra didn’t like how easily this woman was overpowering her, or how Sylas wasn’t doing anything to get her free. She felt helpless, and fear was setting in thickly. This bitch is holding me down and could rip out my throat as easily as she licked my ear. Oh God. Sylas said I was safe. I’m not fucking safe. 

“Electra?” Sylas ground through his teeth to get the vampire lord’s attention. “She’s frightened.” He could feel it through their bond. Up until this moment, he’d been obedient and still throughout her manhandling of his body. At the first throb of Cassandra’s fear, there was murder glinting in his red eyes. “This is not how I wanted my spawn to meet her nest.” Cassie chewed her lips in an attempt to smother any sound from escaping. Unfortunately, everyone in the room was a vampire, so everyone heard her soft, choppy breathing as she wept. It pulled at Sylas’s heart the most, and he pushed against Electra’s hand. 

“Perhaps you shouldn’t have been tardy then, dear boy?” Electra rolled her eyes at the predatorial look on his face. It was cute, really. Every new spire and spawn behave like they are attached at the hip, and murderous if they are too far apart for too long. Ah, I remember those days well. “Angelika, dearest?”

“Yes, my lady?”

“I’m going to release this over-protective new sire- ” Sylas dialled down his bloodlust at the knowledge he was about to be released. “-and I suggest you get off his spawn before he does something to you to truly piss me off.” 

“Ready when you are, my lady.” 

Electra released Sylas to place her hands on her hips. Her skin darkened to a regular nude peach colour, and her eyes became blue. She chuckled in her throat and watched as Sylas marched past her. He hissed at the curly blonde woman sitting on Cassandra’s back. Her angel curls matched her name, and her baby blues were currently red. Her lacy black V neck shirt and black skinny jeans complimented her black eyeliner and lipstick. 

“Angelika?” His tone was furious, but oddly, it had a comforting effect on Cassandra. He sounded like he was going to rip Angelika to pieces. Even seeing his boots in her eyeline took the edge off her fear. “Angelika?” 

“Sylas?” She sang back up at him. 

“Get off my spawn before I-” 

“Contain that threat.” Electra’s smirk was hard to make out from her tone. She was either amused, or furious, but Sylas couldn’t give a damn. “Before I have to punish you for it, dear boy.” Electra nodded over Sylas’s shoulder for Angelika to move. She did so, slowly, and once her weight left Cassandra, she scrambled up to her knees. Her hands were taken and Sylas pulled her into his arms. He held her tightly and hid her face into the crook of his neck. The gesture was not lost on the rest of the room, or the look of betrayal on his face. “Oh come now, Sylas? Don’t pout.” Electra sauntered over and posed with her chin on the back of her fingers. “Your precious spawn needs to learn vampire nuances and the difference between a tease, and a real threat. She was never in any real danger, dear boy.” Electra sauntered around Sylas to try and peer at Cassandra, but she was firmly tucked away from view.