A Dowry of Blood: THE GOTHIC SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

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I gasped for air, a sob bubbling up inside me. I didn't know why I was crying, but tears bore down on me like an oncoming storm.

Vampires Are Sex Gods: Dracula is a handsome vampire, who is described in various erotic manners and is noted to be a great seducer of both genders. You tipped my face and pressed your thumb down against my tongue, peering into my mouth. An urge to bite swelled up within me, but I smothered it. Dracula's immortal harem, which consist of two women named Constanta and Magdalena and a young man named Alexei, are lovers not just with him but with each other.I heard you before I saw you, the clink of mail and crunch of debris underfoot. My grandmother always said creatures like you made no sound when they descended onto battlefields to sup on the fallen. You were supposed to be a night terror made of smoke, not a man of flesh and blood who left footsteps in the dirt.

I flinched when you knelt at my side, my body using what little strength was left to jerk away. Your face was obscured by the blinding sun, but I bared my teeth all the same. I didn't know who you were. I just knew I would claw out the eyes of the next man who touched me, if my fingers didn't seize up and betray me. I had been beaten and left for dead, and yet it was not death that had come to claim me. A lot of writers give endless thought to the logistics of vampirism: the who and where of killing, of moving around, of the laws the limit or enhance the vampiric life. Not so here. Constanta and her lovers never seem to fear discovery or vengeful mortals, or feel hemmed in by their nocturnal lifestyle. They kill with abandon, travel freely, interact easily with whatever humans they so choose. External forces rarely do more than displace them; only forces internal to their shifting relationships challenge and threaten them. A delectable jewel of a tale, shimmering with dark, beautiful prose’ Tori Bovalino, author of The Devil Makes Three This definitely seems like a book produced in 2020, not just because of descriptions of plague (they’re not overwhelming, don’t be deterred) but because of descriptions of a megalomaniacal narcissist who wants control at the cost of everyone else’s life and joy. There is a passage late in the book that really hit the nail on the head about the thousand violations of abuse, the ones that go unremarked as they grind you down or make you finally rise up. Fully-Embraced Fiend: Dracula enjoys being a vampire and killing his victims, having embraced being a beast. Notably his harem indicate he could feed off the guilty or not kill his victims, but he chooses not to and preys on innocents because he likes it.He opened his mouth to shout. I wrapped my fingers around his upper and lower sets of teeth and wrenched his jaw apart before he had the chance. The Corrupter: Dracula comes across a dying woman whose family had just been slaughtered by raiders. He sires her as his bride, rechristens her as "Constanta" and sets about molding her as his own evil image. He first has her kill her family's murderers before bringing her screaming victims to practice how to kill and feed off life. Revival" in The Fiends in the Furrows: An Anthology of Folk Horror edited by David T. Neal and Christine M. Scott (Nosetouch Press) Our Vampires Are Different: Vampires here are able to go out in sunlight normally and feed off blood, but do not need to take the lives of others. Vampires initially start off as weak but their blood grows more powerful as they mature, with vampires that reach 1000 years old able to sire and create new vampires. Crazy Jealous Guy: Dracula is very possessive of his harem despite the seemingly nice demeanor he initially gives off. This is because he views them less as people and more as possessions and has even gotten rid of any brides who he believes have outlived their usefulness. He explodes into violent tempers if he even thinks his harem have affection for anyone else.