The taxi ride home was quiet, but comfortable. Cassandra nestled into his side and Sylas kept his arm around her. He got out of the cab first and offered his hand to her. She smiled and rolled her eyes at the recurring theme of being a gentleman. She pretended not to, but Cassandra liked it. So much so, that after he helped her out of the taxi, she kept ahold of his hand. She waited to see if he would tug it free, but he did the opposite and threaded his fingers with hers. A quick glance confirmed a subtle smile on his thin lips. His other hand was in his jacket pocket, until it was time to unlock the front door to the house, which held the portal to his actual home inside. 

“So?” She asked him as Sylas closed and locked the portal door to his light tight home. “I’m just going to get a shower and change into pjs. Oh, and a hoodie.”

“I will also get myself comfortable.” He spoke softly, in her personal space, but not acting on a single one of the many desires staring down at her from his red eyes. “You asked for a rom-com?”

“Did I?” She chuckled at the dramatic nod of his head. 

“I believe you also requested cuddling.” His smile curled into a devilish smirk. “I can also warm up some blood for us both, if you like?”

“Well-” Her stomach made a ridiculous gurgle, and she chewed her lips in mortification. “How how how am I still hungry?”

“You’re a newly-turned spawn.” Sylas whispered and waved his hand over the space level with her stomach. “You’re appetite is voracious. But don’t worry. I am more than equipped to satisfy your needs.” He winked at her. “I’ll fill you right up.”

“Seriously?” She blinked at him slowly and put her hands on her hips. “Was that a thinly veiled sex joke?” 

“I think so.” He shoved his hands into his jacket pockets. “Thoughts?”

“It was terrible.” Cassandra snorted at him. Is this what he’s like when he’s relaxed? A joker? “On a scale of 1 to 10, it was at best a 3.”

“I think I am more of a modest 7?” Sylas pointed at his crotch, and Casandra palmed her face. 

“A romantic, cuddling teenager, and a maker of dick jokes. Ladies and gentlemen, my sire.” She swung her hand away from her face and towards Sylas, but he wasn’t there. “Erm…Sylas?” She looked around the kitchen and found it to be empty. “Where are you?” She walked a little faster into the living room, and again it was empty. Just as a little pulse of worry started to bubble inside her, she heard Sylas. 

“Close your eyes. You can find me. You can always find me.” Cassandra skidded on her feed and spun herself around to look for Sylas. He sounded like he was right behind her, but when she turned around, he was nowhere to be seen. Wait, this happened earlier at the nightclub. I heard him say ‘behind you’, and a moment later he was right there. At the time, she hadn’t thought much of it, as she was strung up with blood lust. Now though, she realised what was happening. 

“You can talk in my head?” 

“I can do more than talk to you, Cassandra.”

“What…does that mean?” She put her hands on her hips and raised a brow at her invisible sire. 

“If you permit it, I could touch you.”

“So vampires are telepathic and telekinetic too?” 

“No.” She heard him chuckle in her mind. “You are my spawn. You and I have a bond that transcends physical proximity.” 

“Oh.” She leaned her hip against the wall and stared at the empty living room. “So you can talk in my head, and psychically touch me, because I’m your spawn.”

“Yes.” 

“Can I do the same to you?” 

“…no. As your sire, I can talk to your mind and hear your thoughts. You can’t hear mine unless I allow it. You can’t touch my mind with yours.”

“That hardly seems fair.” She grumbled and pushed away from the wall. “What’s the point in this being so one way?”

“The…dynamic between us as sire and spawn is that I can always find you. Whether you like it or not. You can’t reach out to my mind like I can yours. You can only find me if I allow it.” His tone dropped. He was no longer having fun, and for some reason, that worried Cassandra. She rather liked the chuckling, lovey-dovey persona on Sylas. She wanted that Sylas back. 

“Okay. So you told me to find you. Are you playing vampire hide and seek right now?” She dramatically bent her knees, held her hands up and turned her head left and right. “You’re a fan of cuddling, bad jokes, and playing games. Do I get something if I find you? Do I win something?” She flooded with relief at the sound of his chuckle in her mind. 

“I’m not alone in enjoying games, I see?”

“I used to play games all the time as a kid.” She smiled, recalling several memories of playing hide and seek, building forts out of couch cushions and chairs, and even playing board games at her middle school. “I warn you? I like to win.” Cassandra walked around the living room and checked behind every piece of furniture she felt Sylas could be hiding behind. She even lifted her chin and checked the ceiling in case he was spider-climbing above her. He was not, and she narrowed her eyes in thought. He’s not in the kitchen or the living room. Is he in the basement? 

“Am I indeed?” She flinched and blew her cheeks out with a pout. “Sorry. If you want me to stop, I can.” There was that apprehensive tone again. 
“No, it’s fine. It’s all new, that’s all. You told me you could hear my thoughts.” Cassandra opened the trap door to the basement. Down there, she’d find the bathroom and bedroom. There was no where else for Sylas to be, so she headed down the stairs as quietly as she could. Even though he was in her head, she still hoped she could sneak up on him. “So you said I can find you? How do I do that, if I can’t touch your mind?”

“You can if I allow it. If I’m ever not with you, and I sense you are afraid or hurt, I will open my mind to you. If you concentrate, you’ll sense my presence.”

“You know?” Cassandra smirked as she reached the bottom of the stairs. “You still haven’t told me what I’ll win when I find you.” 

“What would you like to win?” Her mind immediately brought up the memory of sitting on Sylas’s lap shortly after being turned and feeding from him. Cassandra barely processed the impulsive fantasy, before Sylas’s filthy chuckling slithered through her. “Very well. Find me, and my neck is yours, my sexy bride.” She gulped and felt her fangs extend with equal parts hunger and arousal. She gasped and cupped her hands to her mouth. She briefly thought about her fangs acting like a teenage boy’s dick, springing out at the slightest horny thought. Sylas laughed in her mind again, and her cheeks burned with embarrassment. “Don’t worry. All your senses and desires are heightened right now.”

“Including my libido, apparently.” She grumbled as she pushed open the bathroom door. 

“Especially your libido.” He spoke by her ear, and she shuddered with anticipation. Wherever he’d been hiding, Sylas had snuck up on her with perfect silence. 

“Ah man.” She turned around to look up at him and did a double take. At first, it looked like he was naked, but he was wearing a towel around his waist. “I wanted to find you. I guess I lost.”

“Firstly? I told you to close your eyes and sense me. You didn’t even try to.” He chuckled and shrugged at her. “Next time try and follow my instructions.”

“Noted.” She mumbled, slightly embarrassed that she’d been so occupied with talking to Sylas in her head, she didn’t try sensing for his mind like he told her to. “So what happens now?” 

“Now? You have that shower you told me you wanted.” He backed up a step. “Get dressed into whatever you want.” He took another step back. “And I’ll be on the couch upstairs…” He brushed the back of his fingers on his left hand against his neck. “…waiting to feed you, as promised.” 

“But I lost?” She fumbled over her own lips as Sylas turned and walked away from her and towards the stairs. 

“But I won, and nothing would delight me more than delighting you, Cassandra.” He slowly turned to flash her a seductive smirk. “In every possible way.” Sylas walked up the stairs and left Cassandra to pick her jaw up from the floor. How can he be so goofy one moment, and sexy as hell the next? She heard him laugh upstairs, and she palmed her face with a deep blush on her undead cheeks. 

“GET OUT OF MY HEAD NOW PLEASE AND THANK YOU!” She shouted awkwardly towards the stairs and stormed into the bathroom to hide. Not for long, of course. After all? The sooner she had a shower and wriggled into some comfy clothes, the sooner she could crawl onto Sylas’s lap and bite him. 

Cassandra never showered so quickly in her life…