Camilla's failed attempt at finding information on Cassius left her with only one option. Her mind made up and courage mustered, she headed towards the red building knowing if she wanted to know more, she was going to have to ask Cassius himself.
Before she could even begin looking around for him, Camilla felt a gaze tickling her from behind. She turned to find Cassius already greeting her with his charming dark eyes.
'Were you after me?' Cassius asked, already fully well knowing the answer.
'How'd you... never mind.' Camilla realised there was no point questioning how he managed to always show up at the perfect time as it was clearly vampire related. Although this was not the vampiric topic she was interested in.
'Yes, I wanted to talk to you.' She began after clearing her throat to ease her nerves, it wasn't normal for her to start up conversations with men. In fact, the only male she felt comfortable around was Kai. Since all the others tended to be admirers that she was never fond of, her default setting towards men was not one of ease.
'I'm sure you do.' Cassius gave a friendly grin as he approached and brushed Camilla's hair back behind her ear, like it was natural between them.
'What? Why do you say that?' She smiled but Camilla didn't like his smug look despite how appealing it looked. She noticed he still had her hair in his hands.
'Well i imagine it is not an everyday occurrence for humans to date a vampire, you must want to know more.' Cassius explained assuming his reasoning was obvious as his fingers continued to play with the strands of her hair. Camilla felt the heat rise to her cheeks in embarrassment for assuming his intentions so wrongly.
No, it wasn't because she was aware of his hands caressing her hair so gently- that's what she told herself.
'Date?' She'd never used the words before relating to herself, she wanted to make sure.
'Yes, that was the term Ashin told me to use... I'd like to take you out.' Cassius said.
'Oh, erm yes that is the correct term.' Camilla was taken back by his forwardness, she was so ready to ask him everything, but she felt like she was simply being swept up in his pace.
'Excellent are you free tonight?' He asked.
'Oh, umm yeah after my lecture.' She spoke.
'Then I'll see you tonight.' Cassius said as he brought the stands in his hands towards him and bid them farewell with a kiss, leaving Camilla behind in shock.
'THE FUCK was that!' Ashin laughed his lungs out as he held on to Cassius for support. He had witnessed the entire scene from the side while he was waiting, and he had a lot to say. 'What is this? A period romance drama?' He continued to laugh between comments as he mimicked Cassius' moves.
'But I have to hand it to you, no one else could make that look so smooth.' Ashin finally recovered his composure. 'Anyway, we still meeting up next weekend for the mid-term project, don't forget!' He spoke as he was running off without waiting for Cassius' answer.
Cassius pondered at how he'd grown accustomed to this slow-paced life, surrounded by humans that he wasn't feeding on. Perhaps that was why his feelings began resurfacing now, all sort of new emotions began making their way to his heart. He decided to walk back to the manor to spend time reflecting.
Vesper was standing outside the Crimson family manor gates; he made his way down the hill towards the city for the third time this week. Walking slowly, one foot in front of the other, he continued to ponder over his task.
Vesper's birthday was coming up and as Estefan had explained this birthday was going to be special, he was going to complete the coming-of-age ritual. Finally, he was going to properly have his first blood at last and the power that came with it.
However, what was more important than all of that was the hunt. Vesper had never fed nor killed anyone before, and he was afraid to do so. During the conflict with his parents and Zeleti, he was young and sheltered from the fight.
Cassius thought he was long overdue and told him that he needed to spend the week finding his prey in preparation, but Vesper was stalling.
'I just need to feed on their blood, why do I have to kill anyone,' he complained and clicked his tongue. 'Tsk'. He began kicking rocks in frustration and pouting his lips in defiance. Vesper paused as he re-winded the thoughts in his mind.
'Why do I have to kill? … Do I have to kill?' He searched his knowledge of vampire rituals- was there anything that said you have to kill.
The hunt referred to tracking down and corner your prey before you fed on them, it never meant you had to kill them. Pleased with himself, Vesper started running towards the city eager to find his prey now that he had a plan.
In the cover of the shadows, he skilfully used the pipes to climb up the walls, jumping up on the roof, picking up speed as he traversed the tall buildings. Although his excitement was wearing off, and his pace began slowing down.
'Now what?' Vesper came to a halt, even though he had a plan he still didn't know how to pick out a prey. What did that even mean? He thought to himself as he found a seat on the edge of the building, his feet dangled in the air while his mind began to wander. From high above he could see many kinds of people going about their daily lives, was he really going to just pick someone at random.
From his right he could hear a muffled cry amidst the noise of the city, curious and with nothing else to do he decided to investigate.
'Please, please just leave me.' A girl in her school uniform, who looked to be no more than 13 was stifling her cries.
'Now if you cry like that it's going to look like I am forcing you?' A man in his 40s was cradling the girl from behind on the floor, stroking her hair, but not to calm her down. It looked like he was simply enjoying the feeling of her in his arms.
'Didn't you say you wanted me to take you away from your family.' The man spoke again his voiced hissing almost like a snake. 'I can't protect you from them unless you're with me.' He said as he caressed her shoulder, his fingers finding their way to her bare skin, his grin growing.
'I don't know, just please let me go, I promise I won't tell anyone.' The girl said trying not to move a muscle in fear of his response.
'Tell anyone?' The man's voice grew in anger. 'Am I doing anything wrong for you to tell anyone?' his hold on her tightened and his hand approached her legs.
'No, no, no, please I'm so sorry, I was wrong.' She could no longer control her tears as they fell down her face, she knew what came next.
The two in the shadows was forced frozen, they heard clanking of pipes and metal as Vesper descended on to the ground.
Vesper sighed, 'are you the scum of human society that I heard about?' He said within the darkness, his voice echoed as his aura amplified its range and tone.
The man couldn't see who or what was approaching all he could make out were a pair of red glowing eyes from the unknown. Fearful that he was caught the man threw the girl and began running into the crowded street.
Before he could make it out, Vesper moved like a panther in the shadows and caught up 'Control it.' He told himself as he sunk a right-handed hook towards his stomach, not only catapulting him into the street but also leaving some of his aura on him.
'Looks like I've found my prey.' Vesper smirked, but that quickly faded as he turned to find the girl staring at him. He ran back quickly to help her up, she was slightly taller than him and vesper found himself looking up at her emerald eyes.
'Are you okay? Can you get home?' He asked.
The girl broke down in tears and cries once more, all her emotions unravelled under the weight of Vesper's questions. The young lord wasn't sure what to do, so he let her use his shoulder as a pillow and patted her back.