AN: This was written as part of an exchange on AO3, with the prompt vampires! Hope you enjoy!

The text had come at 1am, and now Spencer stood, still in her pyjama bottoms, in the woods behind her family's house. She was only meant to be there for a few days, home for her mother's birthday, and hadn't expected to see any of the girls. But the text had come:

S.O.S

Then:

Meet me behind the barn

The number was unknown, but there were only four people in the world who it could be from. She didn't think Aria or Hanna or Emily were in Rosewood, so that left only Allison.

It was cold, and she wanted to go back inside and feign sleep, but she would wait all night if she had to. Her heart was still racing from the first vibration, the first reading of the words. It had been years, since they'd sent anyone an S.O.S text.

It was strange to be home — uncomfortable. Whenever she was back in Rosewood, the world felt like it had turned on an angle. She no longer fit into the skin she had left here, but she didn't know how to inhabit anything else. Not that she was particularly comfortable anywhere. But it never stung quite the same as it did in Rosewood, where ghosts hung around every corner, slept in every patch of dirt.

Here, a time when Cece had left a pig in the car for them to find. There, a place where—

Mona.

Mona was suddenly in front of Spencer. Without warning, without making a sound. Spencer jumped back, managed to hold in a shriek that would have woken her parents for sure. She stumbled, grabbed hold of a tree trunk to keep herself up right.

Mona was looking up at her, a curious expression on her face. Not malice, necessarily. But something hungrier than that.

Spencer straightened up, drew in a breath.

"Did you send that text?" she said through gritted teeth.

Mona cocked her head, like an animal watching its prey. But Spencer was determined not to give away her fear — Mona could smell that. It was confirmation enough, though.

"I'm going back inside," Spencer said. But she hesitated — turning her back on Mona was such a dangerous game to play.

Mona smiled.

"I don't think you're going to do that," Mona said. Her tone was measured, serene almost.

"What do you want, Mona?"

"What I've always wanted," Mona said. She took a step towards Spencer, who, despite her better judgement, flinched. She was so close now that Spencer could smell her — sweet, floral, with something dark underneath, something that lingered.

"What's that?" Spencer said.

"For you to join my team."

Spencer gulped. No, no, no. This couldn't be happening. She clenched her fists, fingers numb from cold. No, no, no. Not a game — not a new one, not again.

And yet, even as she thought it, she felt the adrenaline coursing through her veins, her brain firing up, ready to solve a new puzzle. That was the problem, wasn't it? As much as she wanted to hate the game, as much as she wanted to leave it all behind — life, real life, just did not have the same appeal, not when she had been under the spell of A for so long.

But join an A team? No. That, she wouldn't do. It had been ecstatic torment, but torment nonetheless. She wouldn't put another person through it.

"You know, Hanna was wrong, you really haven't changed," Spencer spat.

Mona's grin grew wider.

"Au contraire, mon cherie, I've changed more than you can ever imagine," Mona said.

"And yet, here you are, asking me to be on an A Team?" Spencer said. "Wasn't it enough for you? Wasn't all that—"

But Mona cut her off with a wave of her hands.

"I'm not asking you to join an A Team. Really, Spencer, do you think so little of me? I've moved onto something much, much greater than that."

"A B Team?"

Mona's mouth formed a flat, humourless line.

"Don't tell me you don't miss it," she said suddenly. "I can feel it, even now. Look at your eyes — I can see how alive it makes you feel, just having the possibility of a new A dangled in front of you."

Spencer didn't trust herself enough to answer.

"I'm not offering you any kind of game here," Mona said after a moment of carefully studying Spencer's face. "I'm offering you a new life, Spencer. I want you. I've always wanted you with me. And when I saw you in town this afternoon? I just knew, I knew I had to have you. You turned me down all those years ago, but I don't think you will now."

Spencer willed herself to turn and walk away. But she couldn't quite bare to. She needed to hear it out. She needed to hear the end, just like Mona had stayed behind to watch Cece's confession.

"What is it?"

Mona smiled again. "Ah, now I have your interest. I could offer you a whole new life, you know."

"What does that mean?"

Mona opened her mouth wide, so that, even in the dim moonlight, Spencer could see the two white fangs in her mouth.

Spencer scrambled back, slamming her back against the trunk of the tree, her breathing coming hard and fast. The bark was rough against her back. Her body was trembling, shaking like a leaf.

"What the hell are those?"

"You sure do ask a lot of questions, Spencer," Mona said. She flicked a tongue over the fangs. "Do you want me to show you what they do?"

Now the initial panic that had flooded her body was draining, she could think a little straighter.

"Are you serious?"

"Deadly," Mona said, and she chuckled at her own wordplay. "Give me your hand."

Spencer wanted to refuse. But perhaps later, when she thinks about holding her arm out, she could pretend she was under Mona's thrall.

Mona moved quickly, plucking up her hand and gently bringing it to her mouth — a lot more gently than Spencer expected. She bit down, and Spencer's took a sharp intake of breath. Not an unpleasant pain, but sharp nonetheless.

She closed her eyes, feeling Mona drink up her blood. Spencer shuddered but she didn't want it to stop.

Mona pulled up after less than ten seconds, and Spencer stared at her, bloody mouthed and with the look of the cat who got the cream.

"Join me, Spencer," Mona said, wiping her mouth so blood streaked across her lips. "Think of all the possibilities. Think of all the things we could do, if we had so much time, so much power."

Spencer gulped. It was absurd, to know that vampires were real, and that Mona was one of them but… So much of Spencer's life had been absurd. So much power. Mona knew how to sell to her audience, but then she thought of her family, her friends. She couldn't leave them behind, much less watch them die, one by one, as she remained the same. Mona, her only true companion.

Mona must've read the thoughts from Spencer's face, because she was frowning.

"Spencer, you know you want this," she said. "All the things you could achieve."

"What happens if I refuse?" Spencer said. "Will this be like last time, and you'll kill me if I say no?"

Mona laughed, a short bark of a thing. "No, I'm not that crude anymore. I've changed. Just — how about you tell me tomorrow, what you decide?"

"I doubt I'll change my mind, Mona." Her whole body was vibrating with want.

Mona shook her head.

"Always so stubborn, that's why I've always liked you," Mona said. "How about this? Let me drink from you tonight, and you can tell me your decision tomorrow."

She knew she should say no, say that she'd never agree, but her finger was throbbing in such a satisfying way. And the idea of giving over to Mona, just this one time… It was too much to bare.

"Fine," she said, through gritted teeth. Her mouth had gone dry in anticipation.

Mona's grin was like a wolf's. She stepped closer to Spencer, until there was almost no room between them. She reached up, taking Spencer's face in her hands — gently, so gently — and Spencer leant down to give her better access. Despite the cold, Spencer was sweating.

"I've waited for this for so long," Mona whispered into her neck, before she bit down. Spencer hissed at the pain, the feeling of the two fangs dipping into her. But then Mona was feeding, and Spencer could only crane her neck to give her better access. It was exquisite pain, sharp and sore, her heart thudding in her chest and her control given over to Mona completely, who held her. Mona could drink until Spencer died, and she knew that, and it made her less fearful than she thought it would.

Mona pulled away, and Spencer groaned at the lack of contact, at the sudden coldness of her neck. Mona licked a line over the cuts, presumably to get the stray blood.

"You taste even better than I thought you would," Mona sighed, her voice thick and her eyes glassy. And suddenly, she was grabbing the back of Spencer's head, and Spencer tensed but she was just pulling her in for a kiss. Spencer didn't pull away — didn't want to. Mona tasted of copper and lilies. Spencer had never tasted herself in such a way, to know it was her blood on Mona's lip. She kissed fiercely, unrelentingly, until her lips felt swollen and her body was shaking, though from the sudden lack of blood or the kiss, she wasn't sure.

Mona pushed her off.

"Think about it," Mona said. Her face was placid again, but her voice was too breathless to hide that the kiss had affected her. "I'll be back tomorrow night."

Spencer nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

As quickly as Mona had appeared, she vanished, moving quicker than Spencer could follow.

Spencer crossed her arms over herself to keep out the worst of the cold as she trotted slowly back to the house, her head spinning and her body aching.

She was going to have a hard time refusing Mona's offer, that she knew for sure. But she held one thought close: at the very least, she could offer Mona her neck again, tomorrow.