“Although I am a little surprised,

I've never heard or read about lamia courting sleeping men."

“We are usually more direct," she replied, the spark in her eyes showing the full return of her confidence.

“I saw you first when you came to that Little town, I tasted your scent on the wind and followed the wagon you were on all the way there." As she spoke she brought a finger to her lips and licked it as she reminisced on the arousing scent that had first attracted her to him. "I wanted to seduce you next time you left but it turned out you had settled there so I had to change tactics. If I could sneak into the town at night and use my voice on you, I could get you to trust me and eventually leave the town."

Her expression turned thoughtful. "That was my original plan... but then as time went by and we got to know each other better, I started to worry more and more about how you would react to really seeing me.

Usually we move so fast to claim a man that there's no time to worry about things like that. My kin would certainly laugh at how much time I took, but you were the first man I ever found that I could be sure about being compatible with, so I didn't want anything to go wrong, sometimes being forceful can ruin things."

Van blinked. "Wait, what do you mean by ‘compatible'?"

“A Lamia can tell a lot from a man's scent," she stated silkily, her seductive mood now returning as she slowly slithered closer to him, her body gliding over the cavern floor with seemingly no effort.

“We don't just use our noses, our tongues pick up a lot more: your age, your health, your arousal... but more than that we can pick up on the makeup of your body. Every human body is different, just as every mamono is different. It's a part of most mamono's instincts to pick up on that and be attracted to a man whose own body is best suited to having children with them."

They now stood but a foot apart, the lamia breaking Van's gaze as she looked to the side, for a moment unsure of how to continue. "But that's not the only thing. I mean it's not all about the body, it's about the mind too and how the way a man thinks and feels changes the way his scent tastes. Since we often can't court men the way humans do, it's useful for figuring out how good someone could be as a potential mate.

A lot of men taste good, some better than others, and some don't taste good at all, but when a Lamia finds a man whose scent makes her heart race and her whole body feel warm, that's love at first taste, that's what a wise Lamia seeks in a mate. That's what you were for me Van."

“Love at first taste... wow," Van repeated, only for his paranoid side to kick in. "Uh, but then what happens if you find someone Later who tastes even better?"

She brought her face up to his and held his hands.

“That won't happen.

Once a lamia has bonded with a mate no man but her husband will taste so good. Our own bodies will adapt to him as his adapts to us. We give our heart and body up to our husband, it's why it is such a horrible trauma for a lamia if her mate ever willfully betrays her. For her there will never be another man, so to lose his loyalty... the feeling is as if a part of her own body were being severed. It's maddening,” she said emotionally.

Van now grasped her hands and stared into her eyes.

“Serafina I would never willfully betray you or hurt you." He added the willful part as she did, since in a world with powerful seduction magic one didn't always have a choice.

She brought his left hand up to her cheek and closed her eyes, basking in his touch. "Yes, I know that now."

Opening her eyes, she gave him a new, heated look.

“Which also means, my sweet Van, that I can finally stop holding myself back. So if you have a question you'd really like to ask then ask it fast.”