Recap: Leila writes until eleven PM and Dracula comes in. He confronts her again, she fights back and bites him. Jean comes for her dishes and Dracula tells him to get Van Helsing into a chamber and that Leila is going to die. Not ringing bells? Go back and read.

(Van Helsing's POV)

I was removed from my usual cell by Jean, Igor's descendant and Dracula's current helper from that family. He was kind to me, so I usually complied with what he needed to do to keep Dracula from killing one or both of us. I followed him to the main chamber of the dungeons. The room mostly filled with torture devices and metal tables for experimentation (It was much like the place where Dr. Frankenstein created his "monster").

Jean wouldn't tell me exactly what was going to happen, only that it wouldn't end well. He also mentioned that Dracula wasn't very "cheery" at that point. I knew that even though he put it as he did, Dracula was probably raging and going to severely injure me. I was going to have so much fun...

(Leila's POV)

At around midnight, the man who brought me food, Jean, came in to my room. He told me that I needed to come with him. He continually apologized for bothering me so late and he lead me farther down in the castle than I had been.

As I had feared, he lead me to the dungeons.

"Why are we here?" I asked, slightly panicked.

"I can't tell you." He replied. "But please don't make me drag you the rest of the way. The less you fight, the better for all of us."

I shivered, but continued. I knew something was really wrong. Jean was, as far as I knew, generally kind and cheerful, but he had had a grim look on his face. Gruesome possibilities ran through my head. I had no idea what was possible for Dracula to do to me, but I didn't think I'd have a good time tonight.

When I walked into the main chamber, I started to really panic. History lessons and research about medieval torture devices and the Inquisition hit me. Just about every horror I had written about rushed at me and twisted my insides, wrenched my mind to the brink of insanity. I started to hyperventilate.

"Please calm down, Miss. You'll scare the wolves."

"W-wolves?"

"The master's pets."

As if on cue, a racket came from a cage nearby, but not from wolves. A frail man who looked about thirty banged the bars and rattled the chains that shackled him. I went over to him without thought. Jean tried to pull me away, but I managed to resist him.

"Are you Dracula's guest?" The man asked harshly. "Are you his descendant?!"

"I don't know." I replied uncertainly.

"If you are, listen to me. He means to turn you. I don't know when, but he will. You must leave before-"

He was interrupted when Jean started wailing. The shriek seemed to go on forever before he stopped.

"You cannot know this, Miss. We'll all get killed!" He said as harshly as the chained man.

"Please, Jean, what does he mean to do to me?"

"What you'd expect, if you'd listened to Gabriel." A voice replied.

(Dracula's POV)

I walked in as Leila asked Jean about my intentions. I replied as I walked down to meet the three figures. Jean was gripping Leila's arm as if trying to pull her away from Gabriel. I had forgotten that she was a dancer and, therefore, had strong legs should she decide to run, but it hardly mattered if they spoke or not. The deed would be done.

"What exactly are you going to do to me, Dracula!?" Leila demanded, ripping her arm away from Jean as she called me by my last name. I chuckled.

"As I said-"

"No. I know what that means, but why?"

"What difference does it make to you? You will be turned, that's all."

"You aren't answering."

She was persistent and stubborn, another trait she had gotten from my blood. I smiled at her, baring my fangs in amusement.

"Because you already have my blood. You are valuable to the continuation of my kind, you are already strong and you can stand the change."

I approached her slowly as I spoke. She was obviously scared of me. She stepped back as I did the opposite, backing herself up against Gabriel's cell. I trapped her between my body and the bars.

"And if I have to chain you down to get what I want, I'll do it."

We were forehead to forehead, staring at each other. I let my aura put her in a trance and I lead her to one of the experiment tables. Once I bit her, she would snap back to reality and fight. It would just be easier this way.

(Jean's POV)

I had seen my master do this many times with other potential brides of his, all of whom had died, but I can't say I ever got used to it. He bit her and she started to fight against the bindings, screaming, and then Van Helsing started yelling, then the wolves howled and barked at the sudden commotion. The noise ran through my head and I looked away until my master told me to get a knife. He didn't like to bite himself when he turned anyone, so he insisted upon a ritual ivory handled knife.

He slit his wrist and held it to Miss Leila's mouth. She turned away, but my master brought his wrist to her again. The battle went on for what seemed like forever until my master decided she had had enough blood as she passed out. He told me to watch her until she woke and to shut the wolves up. I did the latter by throwing them more meat, then went back over to Miss Leila. Only about fifteen minutes passed before she stirred.

(Van Helsing's POV)

I was surprised at how quickly the girl recovered. Only a few minutes after she had been screaming in pain, she woke up, seemingly unharmed. She looked at Jean groggily.

"Is it over...?" She asked quietly, resigned to her fate.

"Yes, Miss Leila. It's over." Jean replied.

Leila... so that was her name. She closed her eyes and sighed.

"Are you alright?" Jean asked.

"Yes. Just tired."

Jean left for a moment and returned with a blanket. He slipped it under the metal bars that kept Leila down on the table. She smiled sweetly and fell asleep again.

Then Dracula walked in.

"Has she woken?" He asked. "I heard her speak."

"She has. She's strong, she was able to speak with me."

Dracula smiled.

(Dracula's POV)

I was glad to hear how quickly she rebounded. She had fought hard against me and used a lot of energy, so I had expected it to be longer before she woke. The others I had turned usually didn't come to until the next sunset and when they did, they were moody and displeased. From the voice I had heard, Leila had been normal, just tired. I expected that once she saw me, her personality would change some, but I would have to deal with that as it came.

I came and checked every so often before sunrise. Jean told me that she woke up every hour or so, spoke with him a bit sometimes, and went back to sleep. I decided to do the same and see how she was by nightfall.