The Vampire Princess

by P. Mattern

  As we all turned what felt like the hundredth blind corner the rather narrow passageway opened into a cavern. Even though it was not particularly well lit I drew in a surprised breath at the scene before me.

  It was a cavern replete with both stalactites and stalagmites in an array of breathtaking colors. Some were striped in various shades of yellow, brown and amber, others were an opalescent rose color, while still others were pure crystal. Lights had been positioned in such a way that they lit up the stalactites above us, and the crystals magnified and reflected the light.

  There were also torches along the walls in case the electricity was lost. On one side I saw an enclosed pool that seemed to come into the main chamber from a side grotto with steam rising from it.

  “What is that over there?” I asked. I was grateful for the warmth of our surroundings. There was a fireplace to one side large enough for a man to stand up in, with a fire burning merrily. There were also a number of servants that seemed to be walking around setting up temporary bedsteads for us.

  “That is the Pool of Nerthus,” he explained, ”She is the goddess of lakes, springs and sacred waters. This hot spring that rises from the belly of the mountain is considered a holy place. It will bring fortune, healthy babies and easy births for all of you to bathe in it.”

  “It is up to you individually of course, but I would like Deborah to bathe in it, and the Prince has left a strong preference that Princess Tristina bathe in it also.” He finished, looking at me pointedly.

  “I believe I would like to also, ”Theda piped up, ”I think it would be relaxing. Though for all we know a battle rages outside, we cannot hear or effect it, so we might as well try to enjoy our most pleasant surroundings—don’t you agree ladies?”

  Just then a servant appeared with a tray of sea angels, considered a delicacy in our kingdom. The equivalent of snails, they weren’t my favorites, and being pregnant I nearly gagged when I saw them.

  I looked over to see Oliver hiding a smile behind his hand as he cleared his throat.

  “I believe we have something better to offer the Vampire Princess Tristina,” he directed the servant. I could see that both Deborah and Theda had helped themselves to a few of the prepared sea creatures, but I made myself think of other things as they wolfed the disgusting glorified snails down.

  A servant hurried up with another tray. This one held olives and cheese cubes and sardines and stuffed dates and figs. It was fare more to my liking and I suppose, since I was eating for two, I found that I was ravenous.

  After we ate, we began to feel the vibration of tremors underneath our feet. All of our eyes sought Oliver’s at the time same, in search of an explanation.

  “They are bringing out the big guns,” he told us in answer to our unspoken question,” Also some of the Ice Monsters are huge, as you must know by now. When they fall the ice literally quakes.”

  We must still have been looking at him with fear in our eyes, so he continued, trying to reassure us.

  “You are completely safe here, deeply underground ,and even if the Silo itself were destroyed they are much too large to penetrate the cavers that lie in the bowels of the mountain. We could in theory hold out here forever against them. We have everything we need except sunshine and fresh air, and even that could be arranged periodically with a little advanced scouting. We have places to bathe, ice streams to fish in that flow into the belly of the mountain from the outside and even some instruments and crafts stored to occupy your leisure hours.

  The only thing we cannot do is get a wireless signal. We have computers here also that rely on the underground cables. Our survival is assured.”

  As usual I spoke out with the first thought that sprang into my mind.

  “What if they were destroyed, and the Silo also…is there a plan to keep our culture alive?”

  Oliver stepped a little more closely toward me, his eyes slightly narrowed and penetrating into mine. I wasn’t sure if he were displeased at my brazen question or not.

  “Tristina you must know that the Prince in his wisdom has prepared for every eventuality. Not only do we have Breeders, select males that live here acting as part of the Guard in case they are needed to impregnate surviving females and assure the continuation of our line, but the Prince himself has frozen his DNA here in a vault to be used to impregnate his Princess Wife should he not survive.

  I am First Counsellor, it is true, but I am also one of the Breeders. Our society will continue, both human and vampire, to assure the survival of both phylums. Vampires need blood, and servants, and Humans require provision and protection.”

  “I pray for his safe return, and all those who follow him into battle,” I answered automatically.

  After eating, the soldiers retreated some distance and I was invited along with Theda and Deborah to bathe in the warm bubbling springs. It felt luxurious to lay back in the water, with the bubbles coming up all around us. Night blooming flowers like Cereus , Orchid, Jasmine and Primrose had been planted around the edge of the spring, and their fragrance scented the moist air deliciously.

  I could have stayed there forever. The Spring relaxed me as nothing else could have, and I noticed that it had the same effect on Theda and Deborah. I was beginning to appreciate Deborah. She was shy and seemed to know her place and be very accommodating. We were polar opposites in terms of personality but that was perhaps a good thing, I decided.

  I could help but steal glances at their bodies as we relaxed together in the nude. Deborah had huge breasts that had been made even more epic by virtue of her condition. They bobbed and floated on the water like twin heliotropes. All of us had bellies, and mine was perhaps the largest, growing high and firm and round. I noticed Theda’s behind was bigger and she had a couple of dimples in it that hadn’t been there before. She had confided that she had gained more weight than she’d intended, but that her Guardsman husband was delighted with her new voluptuousness.

  When we finally abandoned our watery spa, I had grown sleepy, and we all donned robes and tumbled into our prepared beds exhausted.

  The battle, however raged on, above us and across the icy plane.

  THE CONFESSION

  I awakened hours later having lost my sense of time. Someone was kissing me, hard, and my first instinct was to fight.

  Then I realized that it was my Prince kissing me. He stopped to laugh at my first reaction and we kissed in earnest for some time after that.

  “The present danger is over,” he told me, ”We whipped them, killed their leaders, and made them retreat back to the far side of the archipelago! We will be having a feast and we can resume our life in the Silo, Tristina!”

  I was relieved to hear that and threw my arms around him. He embraced me tightly but then stood back to look at me.

  “I knew I loved you before I went into battle, but now I know the extent of my love for both you and our baby Tristina…nothing, absolutely nothing matters more to me. I pledge my troth forever to you and our family.”

  We kissed again, and I could taste his sincerity as our tongues danced. It was a defining moment for me, one in which I abandoned what was left of my reserve and moved into a new level of trust. It was a level I had kept under lock and key with no admittance to anyone in my life…

  Until then.

  He took my hand, and surrounded by his entourage we made our way upward and back to the Silo. I knew that when we arrived he would make love to me and my entire body was electric just anticipating it.

  When we were completely alone and naked at last, with the exception of the black leather mask edged with tiny rubies that he was wearing, he chuckled and said, ”Oh by the way…Dr. Renauld who accompanied us to tend to the wounded was struck by the flail of the Ice Giant Bazarrine toward the final stages of the battle. None of us could get to him in time as he screamed for help from between the creatures tusks, even after his body had been severed nearly in half!

  I know you despised him, Tristina, but he will get a hero’s buria
l. He was fulfilling his duties and deserves at least that.”

  “So be it,” I told him. Was it desperately wicked of me that a huge flood of relief washed over me at that moment? Suddenly I knew who I loved the most and at the same time the primary threat to my happiness had been taken away by the Fates themselves!

  I can’t tell you how happy I was after that night. Imagine how it would feel if all your worries and fears were lifted from you at once, if you had the support and love of a devoted and sexy AF partner, the love and companionship of the best friend you’d ever had in your life, and you had a shiny beckoning future to look forward to…

  That was my life. It was real and rich, full of pleasures and treasures. The Prince showered myself and the baby with presents and our love for each other grew daily.

  It had been a very great while since Theda or I had seen Seth. He was assigned to Abductions in order to keep up the supply of fresh blood available and our paths hadn’t crossed for a long while. As far as I knew he was still the lover of Eutropia. I assumed he was also the lover of countless other females in the Svalbard Kingdom, since I had witnessed his debauchery firsthand. I had never had any respect for Seth. In my mind he was just a Gangster—a ‘thug’ for the Royals.

  Yet there he was at the victory celebration. To be fair, I believe everyone in the entire kingdom was invited to the celebration, except for the prisoners and the Soiled Sisters and the Newly Abducted young women. I had come to understand that many of the Abductees would catch the eye of a Noble, often raising their station in our society and living a good life. But I had to admit for some of them the brutality that I had been subjected to when I first arrived would never end.

  After all I had nearly died, and Theda had lost an eye. We had both paid a price to be where we were, and it made me believe in Fate above everything else.

  Some were fated to rise, while others fell.

  We danced after several toasts, and I was appalled when Seth came right up to me as I stood with the Prince and asked for a dance.

  He didn’t look any older, but he was more filled out and muscular than the last time I had seen him. Before I could make an excuse the Prince nodded his agreement, and I had no choice but to take the dance floor with him. It was exasperated that it was a slow dance too, and so more torturous for me.

  After one minute I was about to feign illness. I was sure that if it weren’t for my baby bump and the face that the Prince was half watching us Seth would be grinding himself into me for all he was worth.

  “This is fortuitous that we should meet again Princess Tristina, because I wanted to speak with you. Did you know that the lately departed hero Dr. Renauld was a cousin of mine?”

  I accidently let out an unladylike snort.

  “Why am I not surprised ,” I answered. I wanted to say more but he interrupted me.

  “Yes he was,” Seth said soberly, ”And as I was his only living relative, the sad task of going through and clearing out his belongings fell to me. It was a cumbersome and boring task, one I wouldn’t have chosen of my own volition, until I came across something very curious…”

  I was beginning to get tired. I yawned in his face on purpose, willing the slow song to grind to a finish.

  “Well I came across one of those voice activated recorders—the kind doctors carry around to make notations in so that they can be transcribed later. I turned it on—and what do you think I heard?”

  Something in his tone made all my senses go on alert.

  “Well , Vampire Princess Tristina, can you guess what I heard?”

  “No,” I managed to get out. I had started to perspire, even before he spoke.

  “Well it was apparently a conversation between you and my cousin Dr. Renauld. In spite of not being the best quality it was definitely a conversation between the two of you. Since it was only an audio recording it was impossible to tell what went on exactly, but I found it striking anyway for two reasons…”

  He was trying to force me to look at him but I stared off into the distance, refusing to meet his dark, pitiless eyes.

  “Aren’t you curious? Apparently he was attempting to extort you based on a private conversation he had witnessed between Yourself and First Counselor Oliver Winston Barrett. Apparently the First Counselor was upset over the Prince’s announcement that you were expecting an Heir to the Royal Family….

  Apparently he was more than convinced that it was HIS baby you carry in your pretty little belly!”

  As I couldn’t stand touching him any longer I pushed away just as the last chords of the music sounded. I looked over at the Prince to see that he had his back to us, and Seth apparently did the same because before I could walk away he grabbed my wrist and twisted it viciously.

  “This will never end Tristina—your sins have found you out! You know if I play that tape for the Prince he will follow procedure—he will allow you to give birth and then immediately have you dragged from the birthing room before you can hold the baby in your arms even for a moment and execute you! It has happened before you know—his great great grandfather Franklin had the unfaithful slut Vampire Princess Eugenie beheaded immediately after she gave birth to his grandfather!”

  I managed to jerk my wrist away, but his voice followed me as I rushed back over to where the Prince was standing.

  “I will be in TOUCH Princess Tristina,” he called after me, ”Rest assured!”

  I spent the rest of that evening in a daze. I barely felt the Prince making love to me that night. My entire body was numb as was my mind. I had enjoyed not having to address any issues with Oliver, but now I was desperate to tell him that even though the Doctor was dead, a new threat had come to take his place:

  Seth.

  It didn’t take Seth long to follow up on his threat to visit me. I had spent the last few days mulling over what I could offer him for the recording. The fact that there was a recording worried me terribly…what was to prevent Seth from making duplicates if he chose to do so. I felt a sense of dread that this time I was cornered.

  I knew Theda had picked up on my suddenly anxious state, but this time I couldn’t force myself to burden her with the latest twist in my fortunes. She was as pregnant as I was and I didn’t want to spread my poison onto her. One of us was enough, especially since I blamed myself.

  I thought about telling Oliver, but kept chickening out. I finally decided to wait until I spoke with Seth. I was hoping his demands might be reasonable.

  Knowing what I did of his character, I should have known better.

  He arrived looking like the handsome blackguard he was. I dismissed the servants so that we could be alone. As soon as they had retired at some distance he stood before me, staring with an air of cool appraisal.

  “I should have taken you when I could Tristina, before Eutropia came home the day I abducted you. I have always regretted that missed opportunity. I could have changed the course of your life. If you hadn’t been a virgin you never would have been in contention for Vampire Princess. I should have fucked you when I had the chance.”

  “Oh well,” I told him with a confidence I did not feel, “He who hesitates is lost! I think the fates had other designs.”

  “Until now,” he told me. He was still devouring me with his eyes from top to bottom and back again,” I think I can keep your naughty secrets safe, for a price that we can both agree upon, if you are prepared to be reasonable.”

  That’s when it hit me. Everything I had ever asked for could be taken away on a whim—the whim of the greedy, opportunistic creature standing before me. I decided to buy time by asking him what his terms were, even though I already knew in that moment what I had to do.

  “What do you want for the tape, Seth?” I asked.

  “Oh, you know—the usual. I think you should convince your Prince to confer a title on me—Eutropia would enjoy that. We were married last fall you know. I’ve always had a thing for older women and she lets me do what I want on the side.

  I also would like
some valuable considerations. I know you have access to credit, gold and silver coins and jewelry—you can provide me with wealth in whatever form. I was thinking 100K, it’s a nice round sum and shouldn’t be difficult for you to raise, since you have access to both the Treasure vault and the Royal Burser. I really would like to have a fantastic gift to give Eutropia for our first anniversary coming up.

  Thirdly…can you guess what my third demand is Tristina? You are a clever girl, always have been. Do I need to spell it out for you?”

  My stomach turned. I knew exactly what Seth meant. He wanted to have sex with me, not out of lust or desire , but out of conquest. I was something to be attained. He wanted to have sex with me to violate me, conquer me, force himself on me and his enjoyment would come from my humiliation and revulsion .

  But I was pregnant.

  Before I could respond he seemed to know what I was thinking,

  “I know you’re pregnant,” Seth told me quietly, looking down at my belly, his eyes hooded,” DUH. I like it that you are pregnant. I don’t think you will squirm very much when I am fucking you—you won’t want to do anything to hurt the baby. It actually turns me on that I will be shoving my dick in you while you are carrying the Prince’s spawn…or Oliver’s spawn—we don’t really know, do we?”

  I had finally found my voice.

  “I will give you my decision soon,” I told him,” Give me a few days to work things out. I can meet all your demands save the last one, because I would rather kill myself and the baby before I let you touch me, Seth—hear me well! That will never happen!”

  Seth shrugged.

  “I didn’t think it would,” he said, a sly smile on his face, “But I had to try, right? The first two will have to do then.”

  He turned and walked away, turning only once to smile at me again before he walked out the door of my chamber whistling.

  The Prince was silent for a long interval after I confessed to him that Seth was attempting to extort me with a taped conversation that Dr. Renauld had made. I told the Prince only what he needed to know: that Dr. Renauld had come to me with the accusation that Oliver and I had been having an affair That we had a heated exchange, and that Dr. Renauld had taped our conversation in which he accused me of a vicious lie and demanded money from me. I told him Seth had found the tape and seized an opportunity to threaten and extort me even after Dr. Renauld’s demise.