Chapter Twenty

Cassie opened her eyes. She had never been so comfortable in her entire life. Faintly, in the back of her mind, as she lay surrounded by soft pillows and silk sheets, there was a vague memory of overwhelming fear and crippling pain. Whether a memory or a dream, it was gone now.

She let herself sink deeper into soft, fluffy pillows, and groaned at the delicious comfort she found there. She knew she should be worried about Bella and the Cullens and of vampires and potential plots to take over the world…

"And, of course," said Cassie sleepily, "of Twilight fans. You can never be too careful of those particular creatures."

But Cassie found utter contentment in ignoring it all in favour of such comfort. The world could save itself, she thought. She needed five more hours in bed.

A shift in the bed beside her alerted Cassie to a presence. Though she knew it rational to be alarmed, she could not bring herself to move. An odd sense of indifference neutralised her fear.

The person beside her sighed softly. When he spoke, he sounded amused. "I sense an awakening," he said.

Cassie felt her stomach flip and chest heave. She knew that voice, but still it disturbed her. In a not entirely negative way. She found comfort in knowing that it was only a figment of her imagination, otherwise she might have been having some conflicting feelings regarding a certain Pevensie.

"Good morning, Kylo," said Cassie.

Kylo Ren laughed dryly and poked Cassie in the arm. "You aren't surprised to see me."

"I never am," she said with a small smile. "You don't usually talk so much."

"Usually?"

Cassie cracked one eye open. She had assumed this to be a dream, but after everything that had happened over the past few weeks, how could she make such a an assumption so freely? Weren't the Pevensies fictional before all this had begun? Wasn't Harry? Hermione and Ron and Voldemort? Thor? Anything was possible now.

Even Kylo Ren.

Cassie bolted upright. She was wearing a very flimsy piece of negligee, beneath that a corset. Bella had dressed her. She found herself almost hoping that it had been Bella. There was no time to be disturbed by that. There was a matter much more pressing to be dealt with.

"This isn't a dream."

"Nope," said Kylo. He rested his head on her shoulder and Cassie experienced stirrings she considered to be wholly unacceptable unless directed towards Peter.

Cassie cleared her throat. "Um, anyway…"

"You seem nervous."

She scooted forwards on the bed until he was no longer touching her. That way, hopefully, she could focus better. She scanned the room for her escape but the sound of his voice was very distracting.

"You're pretending you don't like me."

Cassie felt her cheeks heat up but said nothing. There was a door at the opposite side of the room, twenty feet away. A window was concealed by curtains to her left, ten feet away. Both were probably locked.

"Do you remember the first time I took off my helmet?" As he spoke she felt his fingers tracing faint patterns over her back. Had she been in her right mind, she would certainly have threatened to break his every finger by now. But, since she was most certainly not in her right mind, his breath on her shoulder stopped her own, and it was all she could do to speak.

"I… what?" She stood up quickly from the bed, unsteady on wobbly legs. "What are you talking about?"

"The movie theatre. The first time you saw me. You were being watched."

"By who?!"

"Spies."

She shook her head. "Stop talking."

"You're blushing."

Her hands flew to her cheeks. "I don't blush."

"It was obvious then that you liked me."

"Stop talking."

"You don't deny it?" He quirked an eyebrow and Cassie felt her heart skip in her chest. Not a good sign.

She shrugged a shoulder, hoping to seem nonchalant. "It was a bad time for me. You caught me off guard. I was at that point in my menstrual cycle when the sight of a pepperoni pizza would have turned me on. Don't think you're so special."

This was not the best thing to say, for Kylo Ren suddenly looked delighted. "I turned you on?"

"No!"

Cassie turned away but he grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her back, pinning her down on the bed.

"Hey!" Cassie cried. She brought her leg up between Kylo's and used this distraction to push him off her. He landed in a heap on the floor beside the bed, groaning. Cassie scrambled to the other side, red-faced and furious.

"What the hell?" she hissed. "This isn't Fifty Shades of Grey, dickhead. If you want to manhandle a lady, you ask, okay?"

He steadied himself on the bed, one hand clutching himself. He held up a hand in surrender. "Okay," he said. "I'm sorry. Next time, I'll ask."

Cassie smoothed down her chemise. "Good. I'm glad we understand each other. Now, if you wouldn't mind, I have important things to do."

"Like me?" He flashed a stupid grin.

Cassie flipped him off. "Be quiet. You're distracting me."

"That's the idea."

Cassie groaned and bit back a curt reply. She wasn't sure what bothered her most: her capture, or the attraction to Kylo. She hated love triangles. They were the worst kind of triangles. And she included Bermuda's.

The door was locked, as suspected. Cassied tried pulling, pushing, and banging on it, then kicked it a few times for good measure. She looked around the room for a potential weapon before finally settling on the lamp. She yanked the plug free from the wall and used the heavy base to start banging on the door handle. All of this was watched by Kylo with great amusement.

The handle would not budge. Despite having woken up not long ago, Cassie felt weak. She was hungry, her throat as dry as a desert. She paused to take a breath, sweat prickling on her forehead, when suddenly Kylo slipped his arms around her waist.

"Is this okay?" he asked.

"Yes," said Cassie, then quickly added, "I mean, no!"

He only held her tighter.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked with a groan. "Why are you so determined to keep me here? You don't seem the kind of man who would take orders from someone as menial as Bella Cullen."

"Menial?" Kylo laughed. "How can you say that after all she has achieved?"

Cassie scoffed. "She has a bunch of high school kids wrapped around her little finger! That's hardly an achievement."

"She has an empire," said Kylo. "Can't you see that? Are you so flippant because you're afraid? Or are you really so stupid as to believe that she is not a threat?"

She turned around in Kylo's arms and stroked his cheek with her free hand. Cassie wet her lips.

"Alright," she said. "I admit it. Bella is a powerful woman. But she is no Darth Vader."

"Darth Vader?"

She nodded gently. "Darth Vader," she repeated slowly, firmly. "That man was a genius. A pioneer. A revolutionary. But his work is unfinished."

"I have to finish it." He was breathless. He watched Cassie's lips desperately as she spoke, and couldn't seem to keep himself still. She did not want to think too carefully about his movements, or of what talking about his grandfather was doing to him.

"We have to finish it."

"We?"

"You and me. Think about it. That's why you're here. You can feel it. I know you can. I feel it too."

"I can show you so much," said Kylo. "If you join us. Join me. Join Bella."

"Forget Bella! Join with me. We don't need her! You don't need anyone! But I would be your friend. Bella doesn't know what the word means. She doesn't know the meaning of love or loyalty."

"A traitor?"

"Exactly! She would turn on you the moment she got what she wanted."

Kylo nodded. He looked vacant for a second, lost in contemplation. "It's so strange," he said softly.

"What is?"

"She said the exact same thing about you. The exact same. She even mentioned my grandfather. The same speech, practically word for word."

Cassie swallowed, feeling a familiar panic start to set in. "But there's a difference," she said quickly.

"Oh?"

"She's a liar. I'm not."

Kylo chuckled softly. "She said that too. You are just like her, Cassie. Two of a kind. The only difference - the only difference - is that she has power. You? You're no-one. You're nowhere."

Cassie's eyes darkened. "I hoped you weren't going to say that. I would have enjoyed keeping your company, even if only for a little while longer."

Before Kylo could react, before he could reply, before he could let the words sink in, Cassie brought the lamp up and smashed it into the side of his head. His head bounced off and hit the wall with a dull thud. Then he crumpled to the floor.

Cassie dropped the lamp. She backed up against the wall, staring at the lifeless heap of black fabric on the floor. When she poked Kylo with her toe, he did not react. He wasn't dead. Somehow she knew that, though it didn't stop the feeling of horror.

Then something entirely peculiar happened. Far more peculiar than waking up in a cloud of pillows with Kylo Ren by one's side. Cassie turned back to the door, currently contemplating her very limited means of escape, when an unusual smell invaded her nostrils. It was neither sweet nor savoury, like nothing she had ever smelt before, and yet she considered it to be immeasurably pleasurable. Delicious.

Cassie turned. Her eyes had glassed over, like a fog had washed over the room. She could see nothing else but Kylo Ren. She now realised that she knew he was still alive by the way his heart throbbed in his chest. She could hear it vividly. And at every new throb, blood pulsed from his temple, a delicate red pool by his lifeless body, warm and inviting.

Cassie leant on the ground by Kylo. She dipped a tentative fingertip into the scarlet pool and examined the liquid. It was the source of that delicious smell. She licked the blood from her finger and felt her breath catch in her throat, a glorious ache in the front of her mouth as two razor-sharp fangs grew to their full potential.

A groan murmured through Kylo's lips as he started to stir. His eyes opened as he regained consciousness, brow creased in confusion as Cassie grabbed a fistful of his hair and made him sit upright. He registered the fangs, the wildness, the eyes as they carefully followed each dribble of blood draining down his cheek. He saw her lick her lips. He saw her swallow hard. He saw her pull back her head and bare her teeth as she prepared to sink them into his flesh.

But it was too late to stop her.