The King’s gloved fingers caught her jaw. The leather was cool against her heated skin as he gently, almost tenderly, tilted her head to expose the curve of her throat. She could barely hold his gaze. Her eyelids fluttered, heavy and unseeing, as she drifted on the edge of consciousness.
For a heartbeat, the King closed his eyes- fluid, shimmering pools of ancient power hiding behind his lids. When they snapped open, his lips parted. The silver gleam of his fangs caught the torchlight.
He didn’t hesitate. He drove them straight into the flesh of the vampire slave’s neck.
A sharp, breathless gasp tore from her parted lips. Her spine stiffened for a fraction of a second before she went entirely limp in his arms, her head rolling back as darkness claimed her.
Below them, the crowd erupted into wild, frenzied cheers. The ceremony had officially begun, sealed in blood.
On the other hand, the darkness fractured as Cassius’s eyes snapped open. The harsh reality of his situation rushed back all at once, accompanied by the agonizing pull in his shoulders. He was suspended in midair, his arms stretched taut above him, bound to the vaulted ceiling by thick, rusted links of iron.
He didn’t freeze. Instead, every muscle in his body flexed as he violently thrashed against his restraints. The heavy chain rattled and clanged against the stone, the noise echoing like a death knell through the damp jail cell. He twisted and kicked, fighting the crushing weight of the metal digging into his wrists, but the iron held fast.
Rage boiled over. Veins popped on his neck as he threw his head back and roared into the empty shadows.
"The Bastard Vilucious!" his voice tore through the silence, raw and dripping with venom. "Leave me if you have guts! Face me yourself... I will kill you and rip your damn system apart at once!"
The echoes of his threat hadn’t even faded before heavy footsteps approached. Two guards materialized from the corridor shadows. They wore ancient, battle-worn uniforms forged from a dusky, blackened metal that looked centuries old. High-crested sallet helmets encased their heads, their cold slit visors hiding any trace of human emotion. In their hands, they gripped formidable weapons- heavy polearms tipped with wicked, triangular heads shaped like oversized arrowheads, designed to puncture armor and tear flesh with brutal efficiency.
They stopped right outside the iron bars.
"It is only by Lord Vilucious’s grace that your soul still clings to that broken body of yours," one guard spat, his voice muffled behind the iron grid of his helmet.
Cassius locked his gaze onto the guard’s hidden eyes. The fury inside him snapped. The residual irises of his eyes dissolved entirely, bleeding outward until his gaze turned again into a void of absolute, pitch-black darkness. Tangible, wispy shadows began to seep from the corners of his eyelids like smoke, twisting in the damp air. He bared his teeth, a low, monstrous groan vibrating through the stone walls as if he could shred them to pieces through sheer willpower.
"Whoa there! Calm down a bit... that is highly disrespectful."
A new voice floated through the dungeon air. It was a familiar, melodic cadence belonging to Florianthum. She stepped into view with a theatrical, chilled calmness that entirely mocked the suffocating tension of the cell.
Cassius’s pitch-black gaze locked onto her as she stepped fully into the dim light. She wore a pristine, highly polished metal uniform that practically gleamed in the gloom- the unmistakable mark of a high-ranking officer. A heavy broadsword hung elegantly at her hip, and a striking red cape billowed softly behind her, cutting through the damp shadows of the corridor like a splash of fresh blood.
Cassius sneered, his voice dropping into a dangerous, gravelly register. "I don’t care what title you hide behind... what do you want with me?"
Florianthum threw her head back, her laughter echoing sharply against the stone. Through the visor of her armet helmet, her human eyes crinkled up with genuine, malicious amusement.
"If I ever found myself needing something from you," she said, her voice dripping with casual disdain, "I’d rather kill myself first. Imagine borrowing anything from a miserable slave."
The insult hit like a physical blow. The void in Cassius’s eyes erupted, the black smoke pouring from his sockets at a frantic, blistering speed. He thrashed against the links, but the sudden movement took a brutal toll. His skin split further, weeping a brilliant, glittery purple blood from the deep lacerations all over his torso- wounds earned from being dragged mercilessly across the cobblestones of the charcoal ground on his way to this hellhole.
He opened his mouth to spit a curse at her, but Florianthum didn’t give him the chance.
She turned her back to him, gesturing toward the heavy iron gate with a lazy flick of her wrist. "Open it," she commanded the nearest guard.
Clank.
The heavy padlock gave way. With a slow, grating shriek that set the teeth on edge, the iron gate swung inward. Florianthum stepped leisurely into the cell. She stood at perfect ease, completely ignoring Cassius behind her as she faced the two guards.
"Get out," she murmured. Her tone was gentle, almost affectionate, but her human eyes gleamed with a terrifyingly happy brightness through the slit of her armet.
The two guards didn’t hesitate. They bowed low, their armored bodies bending in a synchronized jerk of panic, before turning and practically sprinting down the corridor. Within moments, the heavy clatter of their boots faded entirely into the distant shadows.
The moment they were gone, Florianthum turned back around.
Cassius was practically vibrating with unadulterated fury. Frustrated by her absolute lack of respect, he threw his entire weight forward, violently jerking his frame to rip himself free from the ceiling’s crushing grasp. The links groaned. He bared his razor-sharp fangs, letting out a low, predatory snarl that rattled the damp air of the cell.
Florianthum didn’t even flinch. She simply closed the distance between them, her footsteps measured and slow.
"Ah, ah, ah..." she chided smoothly. "Do that again, and your wrists will bleed right down to the bone. Don’t waste your energy, little slave. It’s entirely useless."
As she walked closer, her hand dropped to her hip. With an agonizingly slow, deliberate motion, she began to draw her sword. The cold steel hissed softly as it slid from its leather scabbard, the polished metal capturing what little light remained in the dungeon.
The void inside Cassius’s eyes erupted at the sight of the weapon, the black smoke swirling around his head like a localized storm. His voice dropped into a gravelly, lethal whisper, thick with his worst fury yet.
"Draw your weapon then..." he spat, his fangs flashing. "Let’s see if you actually have the guts to free me first!"
Florianthum offered no response. The chilling, happy glint in her eyes never wavered behind her visor as she closed the remaining distance. With a swift, fluid motion, she pulled her blade completely free from its sheath. The cold, polished steel caught a stray glint of torchlight, sending a sharp, blinding flash of metal cutting across Cassius’s face.
She didn’t hesitate. She brought the blade down, sliding it cleanly against the heavy links above his head.
With a deafening crack, the rusty iron gave way.
Thud.
The tension snapped, and Cassius dropped instantly to the stone floor. He landed hard, the air driven from his lungs. Even though he was down, he wasn’t entirely free; the heavy ends of the shattered chains were still wrapped tightly around his wrists, locking his hands uselessly behind his back.
He didn’t move. He didn’t scramble away. Instead, he lay on the cold stone, his pitch-black, void-filled eyes locked onto Florianthum. There wasn’t a single shred of fear in his gaze.
Florianthum lowered her sword, stepping up to his prone form. She dropped gracefully, sinking until one knee pressed against the damp dirt of the cell floor right beside him. Slow, deliberate, and entirely unbothered by his monstrous aura, she reached out.
Her gloves were unique- the leather covered only her palms, leaving her pale, bare fingers exposed. She ran those cold fingertips gently through his matted hair, a mocking caress that made his skin crawl. Then, she leaned down, her breath brushing against the walls of her armet, yet it felt warm against the shell of his ear.
"Cassius Victus..." she whispered, her voice a deadly purr. "You may be a human... but with might are a vampire."
The words struck like ice. Cassius’s breath hitched, turning instantly cold in his throat. The shadows in his eyes flared, but his voice remained, dropping into a lethal, dead-serious whisper. "Who the hell are you?"
Florianthum froze for a fraction of a second, and then she erupted.
"Ahaha! Hahaha!"
Her laughter boomed through the small cell, raw and entirely uncontrollable. She threw her head back, shaking with amusement. "Hahaha! And here you were, pretending you didn’t care about my rank! Hahaha!"
Florianthum was completely blind to her own danger, consumed by her mocking laughter. She didn’t notice that while Cassius’s hands were bound behind his back, his legs were entirely unrestricted.
Silently, using the vibrations of her hysterics to mask his movement, Cassius dragged his knees upward. In a fraction of a second, the trap snapped. He whipped his legs around her torso, locking his ankles together in a brutal, vice-like chokehold that pinned her directly to him.
The laughter died instantly in her throat.
"Death is your penalty!" Florianthum shrieked, the casual arrogance vanishing from her voice, replaced by a sudden, jagged surge of pure rage. Her eyes widened in absolute shock behind her visor as she violently thrashed, trying to break free from the crushing grip of his legs.
But Cassius was already moving. Using the momentum of his leg lock, he strained against the heavy chains behind him and violently wrenched his upper body upward. He didn’t give her time to think, to draw her blade, or to call for help.
Before she could make a single move, he lunged forward. His razor-sharp fangs flashed in the dark, driving directly into the small patch of bare skin exposed at the side of her neck.
Florianthum’s breath caught, her eyes widening to the brink of tearing as the air completely left her lungs. Cassius didn’t hesitate. He clamped his jaws tight and began to savagely drink her blood.