“What are you thinking about so intently?” He chuckled and carefully slid his cock from her and back into his pants. 

“…” Cassandra raised a brow and thought about how to answer that question. She had the time, as Sylas had to do his fly, buckle his belt, and spider walk them back down the wall. Sylas has told me over and over how he knows I was the right person to make his spawn. That he learned all about me, but it’s just struck me that I hardly know anything about Sylas. I know he’s a vampire, that her works seasonally for that horror house show, and helps monsters find a human to change into their lover and baby monster. I know where he works, and I believe that he believes he will take care of me and give me a shiny future as his spawn. But what do I really know about Sylas the man? How did he become a vampire? Where’s his sire? What’s his story? “Here, careful.” Sylas lowered to stand first, and then lowered Cassandra down to stand beside him. He even helped her to smooth down her dress, and pulled a pack of tissues from his jacket pocket for her. “For you to freshen up with.” 

“Thanks.” He turned his back so she could freshen up, and he only turned around at the sound of her putting the lid back on a dustbin. 

“Well?”

“Well what?” 

“What were you thinking about so intently? Immediately after our first time together?” He cupped her cheek and once again, she saw a flash of something anxious in his eyes. “You’re not…” His smile fell and he took his hand back. “…you don’t regre-”

“No.” Cassandra took his hand and held it, needing to reassure him, but unsure how to do that. So she held his hand down by her side and shrugged up at him. “No, the sex was, well, wow. Erm, yeah. I wasn’t thinking about the sex, though.” 

“You weren’t?” He chuckled and put his other hand in his jacket pocket. “Is that a good or a bad thing?” He schooled a charming smile on his face, but on the inside, he wasn’t sure how he would cope if she started to cry that she regretted being with him. That she didn’t like it. Or she only wanted him because of the blood. Cassandra shuffled a step closer to him and didn’t realise how her presence calmed him as much as it did the same for her. “You did enjoy being with me, right?” He spoke softly, and she rolled her eyes with another shrug. 

“Did I expect to feed on two people, while fantasising about you fucking me while I did it? No.” 

“Oh?” His smile curled into a frisky smirk. He rather liked the imagery that formed as well. 

“But I liked it.” She mumbled with flushed cheeks. “Did I expect you to creep me up the side of the wall like spiderman, bite me really close to my pussy, and then fuck me into oblivion? No. But, well, I liked that too.” Sylas tugged on her hand and she stumbled the rest of the distance into his arms. She tried to look coy as she avoided his hungry eyes, but her blush and the way she melted into his arms betrayed her. “Feeding is actually really nice.” 

“It feels good, doesn’t it?” He purred by her ear and she pressed her knees together. She was reminded that she was no longer wearing underwear, chewed her bottom lip bashfully. “It feeds your hunger. Blood satisfies your craving, but it fans the flames of your desire too.” 

“Understatement of the year.” She sassed him with a grin, and darted her eyes to either side of her. Damn, we’re cuddling. We’re stood in a dark alleyway and in each other’s arms. I guess a dark alley where we just fed on two people and fucked up a wall is romantic, for a vampire. “Well? I guess being a vampire isn’t as terrible as I thought it was.”

“Is that what you were thinking about?” Sylas was no fool. Something occupied her so completely that she was silent on the journey back to the ground. 

“No.” She lowered her cheek to his chest and hugged him tighter. “I was thinking about how I want to get to know more about you.” 

“Really?” He lifted her chin and it was like red moons glowed down at her through that pale, happy smile on his face. “I would love that. You and I can spend lots of quality time together as we get to know one another. You won’t regret embracing me as your sire, and I can’t wait to learn everything there is to know about you too.” He leaned down to kiss her, but some invisible force seemed to stop him an inch from her lips. “…may I?” Cassandra raised a brow, and knew that if she said no, he wouldn’t touch her. Despite having just fucked her up the side of a building, he still needed to ask if he could kiss her? I see you, Sylas. I’m going to find out what your deal is, and then I’m going to decide what to do about it. 

“Yes.” She lifted her chin and met him for a possessive kiss. His hands clapped to her ass and his tongue still tasted wonderfully of blood. He is so confusing. He needs permission to touch me, or to kiss me, but once he has it, he’s so dominating. When he caged her body to the wall, she felt him all around her. He was lean, and had far more power than you could imagine just by looking at him. He was more than strong enough to pick Cassandra up and do whatever he wanted with her, without her being able to do a thing to stop him. Sylas could command her to let him bite her whenever he wanted her to. To fuck on command. Hell, to sit silently until he said she could speak. Cassandra remembered him using his mesmerising powers on her too, and she instinctively didn’t want to displease him. He could have me at his mercy, if he wanted. 

“Cassandra.” He spoke her name like it was filled with all his praise. His thumb stroked at her lips, passion swollen, and teased at one of her fangs. “If you can put your pretty fangs away and calm your eyes, we can go back inside and have some fun.” 

“I’m not hungry anymore.” 

“No, but if you like, we could dance?” He cocked his head to one side, and his dishevelled raven curtains swayed with the movement. “We could find a romantic little corner somewhere and talk?”

“That almost sounds like a date?” She smirked and teased him. “I’d say buy me a drink first, but-”

“I already did?” He comically jerked his head towards where she fed on Will. She opened her mouth and playfully smacked his arm. 

“I was going to say that I can’t drink alcohol anymore.”

“I can discretely get you a glass of red wine if you like?” He used his fingers to make bunny ears, and it was obvious what red wine was code for. “But I really would like to dance and talk the night away with you.”

“Well, I think you could have persuaded me.” Cassandra folded her arms and nodded a few times, before shaking her head for no. “But someone ripped off my underwear so I’m commando. I don’t do public places without undies on so…no.” She shuffled awkwardly and smoothed her hands down the skirt of her dress. Sylas chuckled and waited for her to lift her gaze. Once he caught her eyeline, he suavely retrieved his cellphone from his jacket pocket and waved it at her. 

“If that’s your only objection, I can have a fresh pair of undies bought and brought here within 30 minutes. Then we can go inside and have fun. Or?” He moved to stand behind her and used his cell to point towards the main street. “I could call us a cab, and we can go home. I have plenty of red wine in the fridge, and we can talk together there? Perhaps even snuggle?” 

“Oh my God.” Cassandra turned around and pointed up at his face. “You’re a soppy romantic, aren’t you? My sire is secretly a teenage girl masquerading as a techy goth boy.” 

“Well?” He chuckled and showed her the app on his phone was open and his thumb was poised to order a cab. “I am many things, Cassandra, as are you. I would very much like to give you everything you desire. I want you to know me. All of me.” He tucked some of her unruly frizzy hair behind her ear. “And I want to know all of you too. We have all eternity, you and I. So there’s no rush. It’s your choice what we do next.” She scrunched her lips to one side and thought about what she wanted to do. Cassandra wasn’t keen on having a stranger buy her underwear, and honestly? She liked the idea of curling up with a film, a cup of blood, and firing more questions at Sylas. This time, though, the questions would be more personal, rather than just the top does-and-don’ts of being a vampire.

“Then I would very much like to choose to go home, get out of this hooker-dress, put on a hoodie, and watch something funny.” 

“That sounds perfect.” Sylas spoke softly, like he was only half talking to her, and pressed the app button to call a taxi. He also fired off a text to Electra and the nest to say he was taking his spawn back home to go to ground early. He received an obscene amount of aubergines, droplets, fangs, blood droplets, and melty faces from his Nest’s Vampire Lord, but he simply rolled his eyes with a smile.