you stupid cupid ! {dacian&tene}

He had to admit, domestic cats were good for something other than keeping mice out of hay barns. Of the last three students he'd fed from, two had been lured into the forest by their wayward pets. The arrival of this particular student was heralded my the bobbing light of a wand-tip. The rat-cat that was leading its owner closer and closer disappeared from his view, and as cats had an uncanny way of doing so, appeared at his feet.

Dacian gave a low growl, and the cat responded with a full-throated hiss. The vampire tried to shoo the cat, but typically it just leered and hissed again. The hairless feline was an ugly runt, but at least it had brought him dinner. Peering through the undergrowth, he spotted the girl searching for the cat, whispering encouragement. Dacian glanced at the cat. She should know better: cats had their own agenda, there was no loyalty between a cat and their chosen victim. You didn't own a cat, it owned you.

He shifted his feet, but the cat had decided to cause him some trouble and he had to adjust quickly not to stand on the thing. The last thing he needed was the cat to yowl and betray his position. His foot came down on a dry twig, the sound splitting the relative silence like a gunshot to his ears. He winced and stayed deathly still. The girl had some wits about her, she'd noticed the noise and was looking in his direction - fairly accurate he noted. He waited. Hopefully she would dismiss the crack and carry on her search. It wasn't as if he couldn't just waltz right up to her and take a bite, but he liked to keep in practice when it came to hunting. The less the victim saw of you, the better. The memory-altering agent in his saliva only worked so far. If the impression was too strong, the human might recall later what had happened, and then all hell broke loose. That hadn't happened in at least seventy years, it was unlikely to happen again soon but still, practice made perfect and practise maintained perfection.

That was the problem with confidant women, they tended to cause trouble. Dacian was quiet enamoured by their recent ploy for equal rights over men. It was a valiant attempt, though the fad wouldn't last long. This young lady seemed to be more trouble than she was worth, but he could never resist a tempest.

The fact he had given himself away smarted, but he could blame the damned rat-cat for that. As mortal being went, cats seemed to have the most power over supernatural creatures. It was if they had some uncanny sixth sense about these things. So standing up straight, evening out imaginary kinks in his coat, Dacian gave the girl a disparaging look down his nose. The lies began to generate in his mind; his capacity for shielding and warping the truth would be the envy of any cognitive dissonant.

"Yes, I'm here on the authority of the school, conducting risk assessment on this creature-ridden forest so close to a school." He performed it in a nasal tone, sounding far more like a risk-assessment field operative might, a boring and irritating fellow, "I have a right mind to order it turned into kindling. Its a liability. Do you have any idea what sort of ravenous creatures are out here!? I bet you didn't even give it a second thought when you came waltzing in here, ready to brag to your friends about how cool you are." He gestured toward the edge of the forest where she had entered. "Turn right around young lady, we're going to have a talk with your headmaster about this forest-rambling business."

Sometimes it was far too entertaining to dupe the lesser races. He ran a hand over his forehead, acting a fumble as he grasped from his hat which he at seemingly forgot about before his nervous gesture had pushed it from his brow. Hopefully the ruse would work; she would see him as a bumbling idiot wearing clothes that were against his nature to look mysterious and imposing, when in fact he was nothing more than a controlling imbecile with an ego bigger than he could handle. The idea was to be believable, so she would turn her back. As soon as that was done, she was his for the taking.