“Sure.” Cassandra shrugged, her arms still folded as she leaned against the wall. “What do I do? How do I start? Do I just walk up to someone and-”

“Hold on.” Sylas chuckled and turned so his shoulder leaned against the wall and he could face her. “You don’t start by walking up to someone. The art of hunt, for a vampire, is an art form. You shouldn’t need to approach them, unless you really want to. The prey-” He lifted her chin and smirked around his fangs. “-should come to you. The hunt is about patiently observing what’s on offer, and choosing the right one to hunt.” He leaned closer and his red eyes seemed to catch the light in an unholy way. “It’s about luring your prey away from the herd, and seducing them to join you in the shadows.” Cassandra gulped, and he let his finger drop from her chin to trace a line down her throat. “Making it seem like it’s not only a good idea to follow you, but their idea to follow you.” 

“Is that what you did to me?” She barely spoke, but Sylas heard her. His hesitation to answer said it all, but at least he attempted to explain himself. 

“Yes.”

“How?” 

“I observed you. From afar, at first. Like you will tonight.” Sylas slid his hand between her back and the wall and he moved to stand behind her. His hands went to her shoulders and he spoke to her left ear. “You have to be sure, when you choose your prey, that you can follow through. For us, I needed to be sure you would be the right spawn for me. That I could follow through and turn you. That I would want to be responsible for you for eternity.”

“So you offered me a job so you could observe me?” Sylas started to sway behind her and his hands moved to her hips to coax her into the rhythm too. 

“Oh, no, Cassandra. I observed you before I offered you a job.”

“In the thrift shop?” 

“No.” He chuckled and one hand snaked around to hold her midriff, while the other cupped the front of her shoulder to keep her close as they danced on the sidelines. “In centuries past, I would have stalked you from the shadows. From alley ways, lurking around corners, and perhaps even found a place to go to ground near your home. Locating all the ways to sneak into your home, when the time was right and I managed to get an invitation to do so. Normally, from you.” Sylas nudged her head to tip away from him, and to expose her lovely neck. He nuzzled his lips there, and Cassandra gasped with need. Her mind was trying so hard to listen and learn as much as she could, but her body was more interested in carnal delights. Her sire’s caress, his hard body against hers, and his seductive voice drove her hunger to new heights. For blood, and for sex. Both of which, she wanted from Sylas. Focus, damn it. She gulped and fought for control of her urges, but an actual moan slipped free at the first contact of his tongue at her bite mark. “I would have seduced you into inviting me into your home, and then into your bed chamber. Closely followed by your cunt.” He hissed with a chuckle, and her inner spawn was desperate to make the same invitation he was talking about. 

“A-and then?”

“And then I would have made you scream with ecstasy.” Sylas wanted to sink his fangs into her neck and drink deeply from his spawn. Oh, the day she did would be a wonderful one. “Then, with terror, as I fed from you to the brink of death.” He moved his hand from her shoulder to her throat, making her flinch and whimper wantonly. He kissed his lips up towards her earlobe and let Cassandra feel one of his fangs. “If you were only my prey, I would have finished you and left your corpse in your bed. If I wanted you as my spawn, I would have carried you off into the night. To give you the dead blood of my heart and bury you in the same grave I used to sleep in during the day.” Sylas used his hand holding her neck to lift his thumb, and turned her chin so her lust drunk eyes could stare into his. “In essence, I did the same thing, but with a modern twist.” He spoke close to her lips, and they both seemed to be waiting for the other to instigate a kiss. Neither did, so Sylas continued. “I swapped the alleys and shadows for social media and a data dive into your history. I offered you a job, so you would invite me into your life as your boss, instead of your lover. The transformational process was the same, but I took you to my light-tight home and rested you on a soft bed in my arms, rather than 6 feet under the earth.” Sylas pushed her gently to walk forward. “Now come with me.”

“W-where are we going?” 

“To the dance floor.” He chuckled and walked around her to offer Cassandra his hand. Like he was the prince of darkness himself. 

“I-I came to hunt, not dance.” She shuddered. Her body already felt cold without her sire’s hands on her, and her libido was snarling at the loss of his touch. 

“One does not exclude the other. In fact, most successful predators can blend in with their prey. Either by camouflage, or by mimicking non-threatening behaviours. We are going to dance, so we can hunt.” He nodded to his hand once more, and this time, Cassandra took it. With a smile, he reeled her in and led the way to the dance floor. “See?” He nodded left and right to direct her attention to the rest of their nestmates. She spotted Nessa, James, Angelika, and Joshua. They were all dancing with a stranger, who seemed utterly captivated by them. It took her a moment to realise that only the spawns were on the dance floor. She turned on the spot, pretending to dance and roll her shoulders to the erotic music the Seven Sirens sang, and their base guitar especially seemed to pluck at her core to keep the beat. Davon stood by a far wall in the shadows, as did James. Angelika sat by the bar, watching the dance floor, like she was turned on by what she saw. Zaff seemed to be chatting up one of the security guards and kept tickling his neck and cheeks with his feather boa. 

Cassandra squealed and then laughed when Sylas suddenly spun her around to face him. The very next moment, his playful mood became seductive again, as he now had Cassandra right where he wanted her. Her left hand in his right, his right hand holding the small of her back, and her crotch practically pressed to his thigh. He coaxed her into swaying with him and held her full attention. He could see Cassandra’s inner spawn pressing at the membrane of her control. She wanted Sylas almost as much as he wanted her. Yet, he also saw wariness and hesitation in her eyes, so he would follow the same steps as he would for any hunt. Observe, seduce, and then claim. Every touch and every look was chosen to tempt Cassandra into letting go of her wariness, and leap into his arms once she felt it was her choice to do so. And when she takes that final leap, I’ll fuck her so completely, she’ll surrender her passions to me forever. I’ll worship her body and feed all her hunger. In the meantime, he would tempt her with words and deeds. 

“Sylas?”

“Yes?” He swayed them both, and he loved the blush on her cheeks. It meant his plan was working. Cassandra was definitely tempted by him. 

“Why are there only spawns on the dance floor? Other than you, I mean?” Sylas smirked and traced his nose across her cheek as he targeted her ear. 

“Because traditionally, the spawn lures the prey away from the herd to be feasted on with their sire. The first prey of the hunt, at least.” 

“So I’m supposed to bring you someone to feed on?” 

“Feed on with, and yes.” The thought of having a human trapped between him and Cassandra, each of them feasting on either side of their throat, spoke to his dick. Such an exchange would be followed by very hot and bloody sex. There would be a moment tonight where the rest of the nest would slip away so the spawn and their respective sires could fuck. Then they would return, blood and sex drunk, to dance and revel in their high. Once they went back to their light-tight homes, more fucking would ensue before turning in for the dawn. “But you don’t know how to hunt yet.” Sylas ghosted his lips across her cheek and nearly kissed her. “So you will watch me, Cassandra. I will hunt, you will watch, and then we shall feast in the shadows.”