Cassandra blinked, her mind not catching up with why she was laid on a bed that didn’t belong to her, and why she was facing her boss. Why was his mouth smeared red? How did she get here? Why was she here? Why did her body feel so heavy? Like her mind was waking up an arm of questions buzzed inside her skull, and they all flew out of her ears as pain took her full attention. She tensed like her bones snapped ramrod straight, locking like a vice. Her stomach was filled with razor wire and twisted like a serpent that was trying to shred her from the inside out. She screamed up at the concrete ceiling above her and her gums were on fire. “I’m here, Cassandra.” Sylas leaned into her vision and his eyes were red. Another wave of agony raged through her. Her eyes felt so hot, she worried they would melt in her skull. Cassie’s wail turned into a hiss, and then a wet cough as something heavy landed on her tongue. “Oh, hang on.” Sylas reached into her mouth with his thumb and two fingers and fished something out before she could chock on it. “You might want these. Oh, and there’s the second one.” He chuckled and lifted his hand up to show her two of her teeth. “As soon as your fangs come down you can feed and this will go a lot easier for you.” His tone was meant to be reassuring, but Cassandra wanted to claw his face off. Among the torture of her bones grinding together, her muscles tearing and reforming beneath her cool skin, and her eyes burning in her head, she remembered what happened to her. She remembered Sylas restraining her as monsters chased and captured the guests at the VIP party. She recalled the sadistic way Sylas smirked at her as he pretended to comfort her, only to bite her neck and murder her. 

“Blood of my undead heart.” 

Her mind flashed to a vial being shoved in her rasping mouth and black sludge worming itself down her throat. 

“The blood of my undead heart will stop yours and forever bind me to you as your creator.”

Cassie’s burning eyes bore holes into Sylas’s smiling face. You did this to me. 

“I have chosen you as my bride, Cassie.”

Chosen. That implied intention. Planning. Sylas stroked some of her frizzy hair out of her face and pushed her upper lip up to inspect her gums. He was waiting for her fangs to ‘come down’. That clearly meant one thing. He hadn’t bitten her to feed on her. He turned her into a vampire to become his ‘bride’. Even so? Sylas killed her. Even now, through all the pain clawing through her body, she instinctively knew her heart wasn’t beating. 

“You.” She aimed that one word at Sylas with as much venom as she could manage, but he simply smiled at her brighter and stroked her face. 

“I am right here, Cassandra. The worst of the pain will be over once your fangs come down and you can feed. Blood heals you, and will complete your transformation.” She whined, her vision blurred red and her mouth hurt like a horse had stomped on her skull. The pain was building, and she felt a finality in the way it consumed her. She arched off the bed, the silk sheet slipping down to pool at her waist, but she was beyond caring about being exposed. She howled, bowed in pain, and her fangs pierced through the void her old canines used to occupy. “Oh, Cassandra? Your pearly fangs are so pretty.” Sylas praised her and fussed with something to his side. She saw a plump plastic pouch of blood, complete with all the hospital bar codes and a large O+ symbol on the front. “I can’t wait to feel them. Come to me, my bride.” His skin seemed to turn even paler, his red eyes glowed, and his fangs extended hungrily. Sylas bit the cap off the blood pouch, rolled his neck to make his hair slip away from his jugular in offering for her. “Feed on me, Cassandra.” 

“N-no.” She whimpered, but the razer wire serpent in her gut seemed to threaten her with more torture if she didn’t. She’d never been so hungry in her life. Even when she skipped meals to avoid her stepfamily, she was never this hungry. 

“Don’t suffer.” Sylas frowned, knowing first hand the agony she was going through. “I give you my blood, freely. Take your fill. Take as much as you need. You’ll feel so much better once you’ve fed. You can keep feeding from me over the next few days to make your change easier to bear.”

“No.” She spasmed in pain, her hunger punishing her defiance. “M-make it stop.” Cassie sobbed, blood and tears smearing down her cheeks. 

“Gladly.” He threw his left arm around her stiff body and cupped the back of her head. “Feed from me, and the pain will stop.” 

“I-I-I don’t want to.” I don’t want to be a monster. Sylas narrowed his red eyes on her new ruby orbs, and his eyes lit up with magic. 

“I hate to do this, Cassandra, but I will not let you suffer. If you don’t feed now, your agony will grow tenfold.” She couldn’t imagine bearing any more pain. “As your sire, I command you to feed from me until you can bear the pain.” Cassandra felt something inside her snarling behind her eyes. Something wicked and unholy. It clawed it’s way to the surface and seemed to settle into her bones. Wh-what’s happening?! Her body moved against her will, like she was a puppet, and she shifted over onto her left side. The movement caused her tremendous pain, but it was nothing compared to the need to obey Sylas’s command. She continued to cry and tremble in anguish as she lowered her new and aching fangs to his neck. “That’s it. I’m right here. You’re going to be okay. I’m going to take care of you. My precious bride.” Fuck you. She screamed in her head, but it was no use. The thing operating her body made her bite Sylas so deeply her front teeth pressed to his throat. Her fangs pierced into his dead artery, and his cold blood seeped free around her fangs. She sealed her lips around the wound and swallowed the coppery poison from his veins.