by Sophie Stern
Celia was chained to her bed.
The sound she had heard a few minutes ago was the clink of the chains as she adjusted herself.
She wasn’t at home anymore.
She hadn’t been for awhile, probably not since she’d fallen asleep last night. How long had she been here, chained to this bed? Hours? Days?
Celia had been taken and everything she knew was about to change.
She opened her mouth to speak and let out a long, low cry.
Could her life really get any worse than this? She had no idea how it possibly could, but something told her this was only the beginning.
Five
“Stop,” the woman in the green dress said. “Stop that right now.” She slapped Celia’s cheek hard. The force of the slap shocked Celia into silence. She hadn’t been slapped like that in years, and never by a woman.
Who are you? Celia wanted to ask. Why am I here? Where am I? What’s going to happen to me? She wanted to ask a million questions, but she was silent. She tried to speak, but couldn’t.
She was chained to a bed and there was now a group of women gathered around her. They were all wearing the same dress the woman was. Was it some type of uniform? Was this a cult? Why were they all dressed in green?
“What…who are you?” Celia finally managed to ask.
“We’re the blood dolls,” the woman said simply. “And now you are, too.”
“I’m…I’m Celia,” she whispered. The woman shook her head.
“None of that now. None of this trying to keep your identity crap everyone pulls. You were taken. This isn’t like some movie. You aren’t being held for ransom and your parents or boyfriend won’t be looking for you. You were captured carefully and discreetly. In fact, most people will never even know you’re missing.”
“What?” She didn’t understand what the woman was saying. No one was going to look for her? But they had to! She had been taken, stolen away in the night. The weird thing was that she didn’t even know she had been taken. How had the kidnappers gotten inside of her house? How had they whisked her away without waking her? How had they known it was the right night to take her? How had any of this happened?
The woman gave Celia a brief look of sympathy before the stoic expression was back in place.
“You were taken. You are a blood doll now. Do you understand what this means?”
Celia nodded. She had heard of the dolls before, but didn’t know that much about them. No one really knew much because vampires were so private.
The shifters were the good ones and the vampires were the tricky ones.
At least, that’s what Celia had been raised to believe. There were all sorts of weird, paranormal things in the universe: shifters, dragons, aliens. There were vampires, too, but they were always off in the background, silently living, or not living, as it were.
“A blood doll is a human used to feed a vampire,” she said, her voice a whisper. She didn’t want to believe this was truly her fate, but she couldn’t fight it. She had left one nightmare only to awaken in another.
“You’ve been having dreams about this,” the woman said.
Celia nodded. She couldn’t lie. She was a bad liar and besides, this woman could be her only chance of escape. Or, you know, of not being horribly tortured to death and killed by vampires. Celia was scared, but she wasn’t stupid. If this woman could tell her anything that would help keep her alive, she would take it.
“For a few months now,” Celia whispered. “I’ve had the dreams.”
“We all did,” another woman spoke up. She had long, curly blonde hair. Celia wondered what it would be like to touch it. It looks soft: much softer than her own hair did. “I’m Tasha,” the woman said quietly. She looked like she was close to Celia’s age.
“Celia,” she whispered.
“This is Ariana,” she motioned to the first woman, the one with the brown hair. “And that’s Jade,” Tasha pointed to a girl with red hair who had big, bright eyes.
“Are you all…?” She couldn’t bring herself to say it.
“Yeah, we are,” Tasha whispered.
“And now you are, too,” Ariana said. “There’s no use fighting your fate, so you need to accept it as quickly as possible.”
“Easy for you to say,” Celia grumbled.
“Hey!” Ariana slapped her again in the face. Celia was going to have to start watching her tongue. Ariana had some upper body strength because that slap fucking hurt. “Cut the bullshit right now. I’m telling you straight so you have the best chance of survival. Do you want me to help you or not?”
“I’m sorry,” Celia said quickly, meekly. She needed to get herself under control. She took a deep breath.
“Look, Gordon is going to be coming for you soon. We need to have you bathed and ready and we don’t have much time. Can I trust that if we unchain you, you aren’t going to bolt for the door?” She motioned to the large wooden door behind her. Celia nodded. She wouldn’t try. She wouldn’t get far and besides, there could be a guard out there who was ready to kill her. She didn’t know.
All she knew was that everything that happened from here on out could be a test and she planned to be ready.
She looked around the room once more. There were maybe a dozen beds. Did that mean there were 12 girls who lived here? Were all the blood dolls women? Maybe the beds were there just in case they became needed. Maybe there weren’t that many blood dolls. There were only three girls here now, four if she counted herself.
“How many girls are there?” She asked.
“Don’t you go concerning yourself with that,” Ariana said grabbing a key for the locks that bound Celia in place. “There are usually less than a dozen, but some end up staying in their vampire’s room, if they find someone they like.”
“Do you all…do you feed different vampires?”
“We feed all of the vampires who need us, but usually just once a day.”
“Okay,” she could do this, Celia realized. Once a day wasn’t that bad. She could handle this. Deep breaths. She just had to remember to take deep breaths. She glanced at the bedroom door, but shook her head. She wouldn’t run. She could do this.
Celia had been through far worse. This was nothing compared to Raymond. A little biting and chewing? No problem. It was better than the emotional scarring that came from being attacked by her stepfather.
The large wooden door behind Ariana called to her, inviting her to step through, but she couldn’t.
Celia couldn’t allow herself to run.
She had been abused for a long time and during those years, she’d learned something that made her different from other girls. She’d learned a hard, terrible truth that would keep her alive here. You couldn’t run from your abuser. You couldn’t hide. He would hunt you down and find you and hurt you.
That was why she had kept working for Raymond even though she hated his fucking guts. That was why she hadn’t run as far away as she could get. It was better to know here he was, to be able to see him coming, than to be hiding away and feel safe. It was better to know than to be blindsided.
This was the same.
She wouldn’t run through that door. Her feet were itching for her to. They were begging silently for her to try to escape, but she couldn’t. Celia knew that if she tried, if she ran, she would die. If not by Ariana’s hand, then by Gordon’s, whoever that was.
“I won’t run,” Celia said.
Ariana unchained her.
***
The attached bathroom was the biggest one Celia had ever seen. Three huge whirlpool tubs sat side-by-side, along with several walk-in showers, a couple of toilet stalls, and several large sinks. There were mirrors along every wall and every type of beauty supply Celia could think of. Several vanities sat along one side of the wall and a door led to an attached walk-in closet.
“You guys don’t mess around,” she said in surprise. The women just laughed. It was a lovely sound, and one Celia didn’t expect to hear in a place li
ke this. She imagined the girls here would be worn out and sullen, but they weren’t. It seemed like they were friends, and that surprised her.
Celia didn’t know much about vampires, but she thought living among them would be a sad experience. She didn’t think she would ever hear laughter or joking around. She didn’t think she would ever hear giggles.
“Get in the tub,” Ariana motioned to one of the huge bathtubs. Celia turned around for a place to undress, but Ariana just laughed. “Strip down right here,” she said. “You’re going to spend more time naked around us than not, so you might as well get comfortable with your own body.”
She looked at Tasha and Jade, but they both just shrugged.
“It’s true,” Jade said. “We spend a lot of time in the nude.”
“I know it’s weird,” Tasha added softly. “It’s just one of those things you have to get used to. Might as well be now, you know?”
Celia nodded and took a deep breath. Then she quickly took her clothes off. She tried not to think about the way it made her feel. She didn’t do a sexy striptease or try to make herself look better than she did. She simply slid off her shirt and pants, then her panties. She had slept without a bra on. She was used to undressing alone. Even when she’d dated people, she had always undressed on her own. The idea of getting naked in front of other women both scared and excited her.
She shouldn’t like the idea of them looking at her, yet she kind of did. She felt like she should be embarrassed, but she also felt strangely at ease undressing in front of these other women. Once her clothes were off, being naked didn’t feel weird. It was the undressing that was weird. Besides, they were here to help her. At least, she thought they were.
Maybe they weren’t. Maybe they were going to destroy her, mock her, set her up for failure. She didn’t know. All she knew was that standing naked in front of them, she suddenly felt sexy and confident in a way she never had before.
“Now get in the tub,” Ariana repeated. Celia climbed in. She let out a moan as she sunk in. It wasn’t the claw-footed type of bathtub she expected. It was a big, oval-shaped tub that reminded her of a hot tub. It was easily big enough for three people and it was full of warm, bubbly water.
“Feels good, doesn’t it?” Jade smiled shyly.
Celia could only nod. She sunk back in the bath, suddenly forgetting her nudity. The water felt good: great, even. Her sore muscles instantly begin to relax. She closed her eyes.
“Here’s what’s going to happen,” Ariana said, grabbing a washcloth. “We’re going to wash you, shave you, dry you, clean you up, get you dressed, and fix your hair and makeup.”
“Shave me?”
“Of course that’s the one thing that stuck out to you,” Ariana grumbled, starting to wash Celia’s hair. “Out of all the things I said. You aren’t put off that a woman is going to clean your body. You just think it’s strange one will shave you.”
“Why do I have to be shaved?”
“Because the masters don’t like body hair,” Ariana said simply. Then she continued washing Celia’s body. Celia tried to relax as Ariana moved the washcloth over her skin. She had never been washed like this. No one had ever taken care of her in this way. Even when she’d dated, the men she was with had never washed her. She had always been alone.
Now she wasn’t.
And with a deep breath, she determined to enjoy this moment while it lasted. Maybe Ariana was actually trying to help her. Maybe she wasn’t. Maybe she would lead Celia to her death. She couldn’t be sure.
But she did know that in this moment, she felt peaceful and safe for the first time in a very long time.
“What’s going to happen to me?” Celia asked quietly. Ariana began washing her hair.
“You’re going to go with Gordon.”
“Who’s that?”
“He’s the one who took you last night.”
“He’s a vampire.”
“Yes.”
As much as Celia wanted to ask more, she bit her lip. Ariana began to shave her legs and her armpits and the area between her legs. Celia didn’t want to distract her and end up with a nasty cut. She was in the habit of shaving her pussy, so Ariana only had to trim things up a bit. She hadn’t shaved in a few days, so there was some stubble.
“You take good care of yourself,” Ariana murmured. “But from now on, you’ll have to shave every day.”
“Okay.”
“No exceptions,” Ariana said. “Even if you have your period or you’re tired or you didn’t get a lot of sleep, you have to shave every day. If you don’t, they’ll punish you.”
“I understand.”
And she did. Her life was not her own anymore. When she had been taken, it wasn’t just her body they had stolen away. It was everything. It was all of her.
The women gathered around and helped her climb out of the tub. Jade dried her with a towel and Tasha began to pat Celia’s dark hair dry. The women guided her to the center of the bathroom and applied lotion to her entire body. She’d never felt so soft.
Celia felt like she was in a dream. She felt numb, disillusioned at what was happening. The woman being lotioned was Celia, but she seemed to be outside of her own body. She seemed to be watching these things happening to herself from afar. She felt their hands on her, pressing against her skin, but she couldn’t bring herself to care.
She had lost everything.
Celia was guided to a chair where the girls styled her hair and applied her makeup. She noticed they all looked put-together. They really took the “blood dolls” thing seriously. They looked like porcelain. They looked perfect.
Celia wasn’t perfect.
What was going to happen when one of these vampires got her and she was supposed to feed them? They were going to see that she was slightly overweight. She was normal. She had pimples sometimes. She got dry skin. Sometimes her hair was frizzy or her eyes weren’t as bright as they should be.
They definitely weren’t as bright as Jade’s.
Celia was almost ready, yet she’d never been so scared.
“I can’t do this,” she whispered. “I can’t do this.”
Six
“It’s too late for fear,” Ariana said simply, and produced a blue gown for Celia to wear. It was held together by blue ribbons at the top, but was a sheer material. It was similar to the dresses the other women were wearing, but this one was longer. It went all the way to her ankles, while most of their dresses ended around the knees.
“I want to go home,” Celia said, choking out the words. She was starting to panic. She had talked a big game, she had told herself she could do it, but now that the moment of truth was here, she felt weak. She felt afraid.
“No. Your home is gone. This is your life now. Accept it, Celia. Accept it as quickly as you can because if you don’t, they’ll make you accept it.”
“Ariana, how long have you been here?” Celia whispered.
Ariana’s eyes darkened. A flash of pain appeared before it was quickly masked with indifference.
“It’s time,” Ariana said. “Come.”
The three women took Celia back into the bedroom. They all stood in the center of the room. A few minutes passed in silence before the large door at the end of the room opened. Celia saw a tall, strong man walk in and she gasped. There was no question about who or what he was. There was absolutely no doubt.
He was a vampire.
He was a real, honest-to-goodness vampire.
He was like the type of vampire she read about in stories: tall, dark, brooding. Big. He was big. He looked like he could hurt her if he wanted to, but Celia didn’t think he would. She thought he was mostly trying to intimidate her, trying to show her what her place was here in this mansion.
Well, it was working. She was quite scared now.
“Celia,” he said, and her mouth clamped shut. She didn’t scream. She couldn’t speak. Even if she had wanted to, Celia couldn’t say anything. Not to this man. Not to this creature. He had taken
her. He had ripped her from her home, from her family, and for what?
To be some sort of fuck-toy?
“Come with me,” the man said, but she couldn’t make her feet move. What if this really was just a nasty trick? What if everything that happened up until this moment really was just to hurt her? What if she went with him and he drank from her, but he didn’t stop? What if he killed her? What if he broke her?
She couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe. She just stood there staring at him. He was tall: at least six feet or more. Probably more. Definitely more. He was thin, too, and scary. He looked muscular, but still slender. What was his body fat percentage? She wondered. It was a strange thought to have, yet it flittered through her brain. His eyes were dark, almost black. His hair was thin and long. His black locks hung just past his shoulders and he wore a suit.
“Celia, I won’t ask you again,” he said.
Ariana or Tasha pushed Celia. She wasn’t sure who, but it got her moving. She tried to glance back at them, to whisper goodbye to them, but she kept going. She couldn’t stop now.
“Ariana,” the man said. “You do lovely work. She looks exquisite.”
“Thank you, Master Gordon.”
Gordon smiled at Ariana, then he took Celia’s hand and guided her out of the bedroom. In the hallway, he shut the door to the bedroom, then turned to her.
“Darling, has Ariana explained the situation to you?”
She nodded. Then the words finally found her mouth, and they came spewing out.
“You asshole! You kidnapped me! You took me from my house! You stole me! You won’t get away with this. My parents will-”
“Your parents are dead, Miss Winstone.”
Her mouth dropped. How did he know about her family?
“Well, only your father. Your mother is in an institution, which is just about the same, isn’t it?”
Tears formed in her eyes. He knew all about her. He had researched her. Oh, fuck. Had he stalked her? Had he watched her? For some reason, Celia thought the man had just taken her, stolen her. She hadn’t considered he had planned this for a long time, that he might know things about her.