by Darren Cage
“Vampires,” I interrupted. “I didn’t think they existed. Minotaurs, yes, trolls, yes… Dragons are extinct, I believe, but there are still some werewolf packs roaming around. Could a werewolf pack have come here, do you think?”
“Werewolves claws and slash at bodies,” she said patiently. “The necks were ripped out, the bodies sucked dry. There were bites all over the bodies, everywhere. It was as if the vampires couldn’t get enough blood.”
I shook my head. “There are enough vampires in the world for there to be hunters?”
“Well, hunter,” she corrected herself. “I only know about one hunter in particular.”
“His name?” I asked.
“I can’t remember right now, but he’s a tall, dashing man. I saw him once. He spoke with my husband for a little while. He’ll start the hunt as soon as he’s had a chance to investigate the bodies. He’ll be able to tell how many vampires we have to worry about.” She patted my shoulder and then gave me a one-armed hug. “Don’t you worry. He’ll take care of everything, and then you can bring your beautiful wife here. Everything will work out perfectly. You’ll see.”
“Yes, yes, I’m sure,” I said blankly.
Viorica beamed at me before moving on. I didn’t even see which stall she was heading toward. How could she be willing to walk around by herself when she knew the truth, that vampires walked among us?
Yet she hadn't realized I was one myself. I rubbed my eyes and glanced over at a puddle, shocked and alarmed to realize that my eyes were not red. I had used up most of the blood supply from last night, as impossible as that might be. When had it rained and so much? There were puddles everywhere. In my haste to reach the market, I hadn't noticed them until now.
It is almost as if the skies wept for all those people I killed.
Shaking my head at my sentimentalism, I stalked off to find some not food for Andreea but drink for us all.
Yes, I knew I was a monster.
Yes, I knew that in all likelihood, there would be no way that my presence as a vampire would go unnoticed forever.
Yes, I knew the chances were high that someone would try to stop me.
But a vampire hunter? The idea was absurd. Even if there were other vampires in the world, whether children of Ambrogio and Selene or more magical beings such as myself and my future brides, how could one make a living being a vampire hunter?
Well, I supposed that the village or city would be indebted to the man who rid them of the monster, but surely there were not that many vampires around.
I would need to speak with Andreea, see if she had heard about any mysterious tall, dashing vampire hunter. Maybe she would know how we might be killed so we could be better prepared for his assault.
Because, if I were honest with myself, if a man built a castle and dressed in old-fashioned clothes, acting like a count, he would be the first I would suspect as a vampire.
That the vampire hunter would find us I had no doubt.
No matter. The vampire hunter was human. A quick bite would end the matter.
Yet, if he truly had already hunted and killed vampires, it would be foolish to underestimate him. I would have to keep an eye out, or perhaps even a bat, and ensure that my future brides and I were kept safe.
My brides.
My scowl turned into a smile, and I whistled as I strolled around the marketplace. A few of the women flirted with me, and I compelled them to follow me. One man eyed the growing group of ladies, and I had him join the throng. A feast. I wanted to provide my loves with a feast worthy of them, and so, I need more people, more blood. Anything and everything that my loves required would be theirs.
Although plenty of clothes were sold in the marketplace, I could not find the gowns I was looking for. Perhaps if the merchants had not been too frightened to sell their ware this day, but such was life. I had not been able to control myself, but for now, I was very much in control. I was living large, and I would not be toppled.
I was at the top of the food chain, and no one would bring me down.
It was time to face the truth. I had been in denial for the longest while, but after I died, Vladislav Dalca died. I was reborn as Count Dracula.
I should have realized this long ago. The desire for the castle, the change in clothes, even falling in love with three gorgeous, tempting women.
Dracula and his brides.
I needed Stela and Catina and Andreea, and I would have them. Again and again and again.
We needed to be wed at once. No vampire hunter was going to come between me and my happiness, and I needed to find suitable gowns for them.
With a group of twelve persons trailing behind me, all compelled, I abandoned the marketplace and headed to the shopping district. As with the market, many of the shops were closed, but I did manage to find a bridal shop that was open.
I demanded that the dozen wait outside for me, and I strolled into the shop.
A thin, tall woman who looked as if a strong breeze would break her back, especially because her fake breasts were nearly as large as her head smiled at me. "Can I help you, sir?" she purred, running a hand near her cleavage.
If I gave a damn, I would have rolled my eyes. Any man who would step foot in here would be engaged, so why she was flirting with me, I couldn’t say, but I did not appreciate it.
I ignored her and glanced around. Very few wedding gowns were out on display.
“Most of our selection is in the back,” she explained. “I normally would ask the bride what she would like to wear and bring her out several options.”
“In the back, you said?” I asked, heading toward the rear door.
“Yes, but, sir, you aren’t supposed to—”
Not hesitating, I opened the door and had to walk through a small room with champagne bottles and flutes to another door. There was the warehouse-look area filled to the brim with white silk, satin, beads, feathers, veils, everything and anything a bride might want.
The woman trailed nervously behind me, but I didn’t care for her attitude or the fact that she even tried to grab my hand at one point.
For Andreea, I picked a more traditional Romanian wedding gown, slightly puffed long sleeves, a brilliant white made that much brighter by the red geometric designs along the neckline, around the waist, trimmed the bottom, and the ends of the cuffs. It was perfect for my human bride.
For Catina, the interior designer who had an eye for details, I knew had to choose a dress that suited her, and I found it toward the back. The gown would fit her tight, beads all along the bodice, the dress entirely sheer with the vast majority covered in ornately designed lace. The sleeves reached only to her elbow, but it was the rear of the dress that made it perfect for Catina—cut out in a heart shape with five hearts lining the center of the large heart, beaded strands connecting the dress to the hearts, draped in a becoming fashion.
For Stela, I had a difficult time securing her a dress. The saleswoman was falling over herself, clearly thinking I wished to have the dress set aside so my bride could pick her favorite from the three. Little did she know I needed all of them because I wasn't so narrow-minded as to think love had to be restricted to a single person. If I thought that, I never would have been able to move on from Mihaela. I would have killed myself again after becoming a vampire regardless of whether or not I would have joined Mihaela in the afterlife.
But I had chosen to embrace being a vampire. Everything about being a vampire was about something more. More than food, we needed blood. More than speed, we had velocity, and more than strength, we had potency behind measure. And when a vampire loved, that love was far deeper, truer, and greater than a human could even dream about experiencing.
If there truly were other vampires, I had no doubt that they all had harems or polyamorous relationships, too.
It wasn’t the saleswoman who found the perfect dress for Stela. I did just as I was thinking about settling, my gaze fell on the gown made for her. The bodice was sleek and would hug her tightly, the neckline pl
unging. The skirt of the dress fanned out slightly, like a princess.
Or a countess.
“This one?” the saleswoman asked, hurrying over. “When will your bride be over to make her final selection from these three exquisite dresses? I don’t see how she can possibly—”
“All three of them,” I said.
“Excuse me?”
"I am buying all three." For the first time, I stared into her eyes. "And you will come with me to my castle and do whatever my brides or I tell you to do."
Her face fell blank. “Yes. Of course.”
I paid for the dresses, and I and my horde of thirteen trooped our way to my castle.
It was time for a feast.
A wedding feast.
Chapter Sixteen
After having the thirteen wait in one of my studies, I hurried to find my brides. I wasn’t sure if I was happier to see them talking and laughing still or surprised that they weren’t kissing and being sexual. It especially warmed my heart to see Stela’s hand on Catina’s shoulder. It rested there naturally, as if it belonged there.
They had worked out their differences. That much was clear to see, and I loved them all the more for it.
Ironically enough, it was the human who noticed me first. Andreea beamed at me. “You’ve returned. I’m so hungry.”
I winced. I never had secured her food.
Without a word, I crossed over to them and grabbed Stela’s and Catina’s hand in one of mine and interlocked my fingers with Andreea with my other hand.
“Come,” I urged. “We feast.”
The ladies giggled as I brought them to the study. Stela at once glanced at me, and I knew what she was thinking. She preferred to drink from criminals.
In her ear, I whispered, “They are all sinners.”
“So are we,” she returned.
“And we must drink, but they do not have to die.”
After a moment, she nodded and guided Catina over to the saleswoman.
Confident that Stela could coach Catina so she wouldn’t kill anyone, I grabbed the man and bit from his neck, careful to stop when his heartbeat began to slow.
Andreea approached as I pulled away. Her dainty fingers reached up and wiped away a drop of blood from the corner of my lips.
I went to grab her wrist so I could lick her fingers, but instead, she licked them.
My eyes widened, and she flushed.
My gaze wandered over her, and I desperately listened. To my relief, her heart beat yet. She remained human.
“Does this bother you?” I asked. “Watching us drink?”
“No. I’m a scientist, a researcher. I enjoy watching you.”
“You do realize some would think you’re disturbed.”
Andreea shrugged. “I’ve never been one to follow the crowd.”
“No,” I murmured. “I imagine you always did what you wanted.”
Her blush returned. “For the most part.”
Thankfully, some of the compelled persons had some food on them that they gave to Andreea so she could eat, too, and once we all finished—for now at least—I bid the ladies wash up and compelled the saleswoman to help them get ready.
I myself had to wash and change my own attire. My best was gold and black, my suit as black as night. My ascot had a diamond-shape ruby that sparkled in the candlelight. To finish the look was a cloak the color of fresh blood. I brushed my white hair and then washed my fangs until they were white, no bloodstains at all.
Into the ballroom I went and waited only a few minutes for Stela to enter. Right behind her were Catina and Andreea. The sight of my three brides had me bursting—bursting with hope, bursting with love, and, yes, bursting with lust.
Love and lust were not always the same for vampires, but in this case, they were one and the same.
They were all so stunningly gorgeous, but they were also so strong and different in their own rights. How could I not love them?
On the walk to the castle, I had explained to the saleswoman in detail all that I required of her. She should be returning shortly with a minister, leaving me just enough time to ensure that my brides truly wanted to be my brides.
With a sweep of my hand, my cape flourished behind me as I fell to one knee. “Stela, we have come so far, and I cannot help but wish to spend the rest of my eternal life making up for the mistakes I had made, the wrong I have committed against you.”
Stela blinked back tears. "My life hadn't been wonderful before you. I had a job I hated. Yes, I had friends, but they are all married, and most have kids. I didn't fit in, not entirely. You gave me a purpose. I had always wanted to be a police agent, but my mother trampled on that dream. I always wanted to make the world a safer place, and being a vampire… I thought that meant I truly never could."
“You found a way.”
“Yes,” she murmured, “and you found a way into my heart too.”
She crossed over, forced me to stand, and kissed me deeply, biting my lower lip and sucking before standing to my left.
“Catina, you once asked me to marry you,” I said.
She sank into a curtsy. “I did. I… might have been a little premature, though. I just… I know you talked about your connection to Stela before, but I felt that with you, too, from the first. It wasn’t ever just sex, was it?”
“No,” I murmured.
She, too, approached, kissing me, wrapping her arms around me, holding me tight to her cold body. I returned her hug and turned to Andreea.
“Your mind. You’re one of the most intelligent people I have ever known. We could talk for hours, and I want to. I want to know what you know.”
Andreea smiled. “We would never run out of things to discuss, even if you were to turn me.”
I just looked at her.
She inhaled deeply and looked to the others. Stela and Catina both nodded.
“We were talking,” Andreea said hesitantly.
“And?”
With her hands, she smoothed out her gown before looking up at me. “I think you know what I want.”
I grinned so wide my cheeks ached. “Are you sure?”
Just then, the door opened, and the minister walked in. He gaped at the sight of the groom with three brides.
I hadn’t even asked yet, and I went down on one knee again. “Stela, Catina, Andreea, will you all marry me?”
“What is this?” the minister asked.
“Have an open mind,” Catina told him.
“Well, ladies?” I asked.
“Yes,” they all said, Catina shouting, Andreea the quietest, and Stela the most even-toned. They all were smiling, radiant and happy.
It didn't take long for the minister to wed us all. Compulsion might have helped some. The compelled humans we feasted on earlier were our witnesses, and after I married my brides, we feasted some more and then feasted on each other.
I couldn’t say who started the kissing or when or even who had some of the compelled witnesses to bring in a bed, but I found myself standing at the end of it, thrusting deep into Andreea, who was bent over the bed. Her face was buried between Catina’s legs. Catina lay there, enjoying Andreea’s tongue as her own worked on Stela’s pussy, Stela sitting on Catina’s face. When Catina’s hand went from gripping Stela’s ass to fondling her own nipple, I lost it and orgasmed hard.
A snap of my fingers and one of the witnesses came over I drank just enough to get my cock hard again. Catina and Andreea both licked and kissed my cock as I finger-fucked Stela. On and on, for hours, possibly days, we feasted and made love. There was no time for words, no time to worry, no time to talk, no time fear.
There was only time to love, and that was enough.
How could I worry about some mysterious vampire hunter when I was ball’s deep in Catina? When Stela’s pussy begged for attention? When Andreea’s lips begged to be kissed?
And we were too busy swallowing juices as well as blood—each other’s and the compelled human’s—to say more than groans and moan
s. Making my brides squeal and scream out my name as they orgasmed was the sweetest sound in the world, rivaling only when they said they loved me.
And we all professed our love over and over, the only words we did manage to breathlessly say.
Sleep was a forgotten commodity. All that mattered was showing our love, proving it, learning every inch of each other’s bodies, finding their erogenous zones and exploiting them.
At one point, I whispered in Andreea's ear that I wanted her to never leave me. I felt the same about the others, but I had known her the shortest amount of time. I needed her to know that my feelings for her were just as strong as those for Stela and Catina. Andreea had only nodded and smiled in response. There were no more words from any of us for a long while after that.
It was only when the saleswoman fainted from lack of blood or purposely not enough food or the need for sleep herself that I ordered the compelled humans to tend to each other, wash up, clean themselves off, put their clothes back on, and to forget everything that transpired since they met me the moment they returned to town. Before we had feasted prior to our wedding, I had the humans remove their clothes so they would not become stained. I almost forgot to have the saleswoman put hers back on before she left to fetch the clergyman. In hindsight, the minister might have looked ready to faint because the witnesses had been naked more so than reacting to the sight of three brides.
Once the humans all left, my brides and I took turns washing each other. Catina had been a resourceful woman. She had long intended to ask to be turned into a vampire, so she had already purchased and hidden away a coffin, hoping I would convert her and still one day marry her despite my earlier rebuttal.
I realized Andreea, however, did not yet have a coffin as I brought Catina's coffin into my room. Stela had already returned hers in its original spot.
“You can sleep in my coffin with me, Andreea,” I told her.
The newest vampire smiled, flashing her fangs. “What if I get hungry during the day?” she asked.
I laughed, not surprised she had kept track of the time to recognize we were to sleep during the sun-kissed hours.
“You can nibble on me,” I offered.