Bonds forged by blood can only be broken by death.
A Dowry of Blood is a 2022 erotic horror vampire novel by S. T. Gibson.The novel follows Constanta, the first of Dracula's brides, and is told in a letter format, being set before and after the original Dracula.
An Eastern European peasant named Constanta finds herself dying and is sired and turned into a bride by Count Dracula himself. Dracula later adds two others to his harem, with Constanta realising that Dracula is far more vicious and evil than she's been led to believe.
Constanta soon becomes lovers with the other members of her husband's harem and begins to truly find out the depths of evil he's capable of. As things begin to unravel, Constanta will ultimately have to choose whether she wants the love of her husband and her own liberty.
A Dowry of Blood contains examples of:
- Asshole Victim: As a vampire, Constanta only targets the most odious of victims to feed on, including general jerkasses like guys who will spit on a beggar or sexually harass a woman by grabbing her arm.
- Bait the Dog: Count Dracula seems as first to be a friendly and attentive husband to Constanta, but over the course of the novel she discovers more and more that he's truly an insidious monster that puts on airs. His seemingly kind acts simply mask a monster who's incapable of true love.
- 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.
- 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.
- Dracula: Dracula is the main antagonist of the book. He's depicted as thousands of years old and a brutal, if philosophical, monster who loves killing as well as seeking more and more knowledge. He also charms his lovers (of both genders) before he slaughters them.
- Evil Genius: Dracula is fascinated with learning more about not just his own vampirism but human intellect. He has, over his long immortal life, carefully sought to learn and improve as much as he can and now is a genuine genius. He intentionally surrounds himself with intellectual minds in a search for more and more knowledge.
- 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.
- Immortality Bisexuality:
- Dracula is an immortal vampire and isn't picky about his victims regardless of their gender. He feeds off both male and female victims who catch his eye in great abundance. His Vampire's Harem include two women and a young man as his lovers to showcase this.
- 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.
- Naïve Newcomer: Constanta is initially awestruck at Dracula and his castle and lifestyle, and upon first arriving wants nothing more than to be close to him and learn more of his habits. This is because she's at first truly blind to the darker elements that Dracula possesses, and she is later in for a rude awakening about what he really is.
- No Name Given: Played With. The cover synopsis and advertising makes it clear that Constanta's husband is Count Dracula himself, but in the book itself he's only every referred to by her as "you" since the novel is addressed to him. This is intentional as, since Dracula stripped her of her name and renamed her Constanta to make her in his own image, she wishes to destroy his name as well to make him nothing but a bad memory.
- 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.
- Really 700 Years Old: Dracula looks like a handsome, romanesque young man, but in reality he's over a thousand years old as vampires can only gain the ability to sire others into other vampires after they reach that age.
- Serial-Killer Killer: Constanta, upon becoming a vampire, decides to dedicate herself to killing and feeding off the most odious or evil of society. Her victims range from rapists, killers and war profiteers to just general Asshole Victims like people who would spit on a beggar or harass and grab a woman.
- The Sociopath: The narrator tries hard to think Dracula is a loving husband to her and the fellow members of his harem, but in reality he's a heartless monster and sociopath. He's charismatic, manipulative and only values his family as people he owns.
- Stronger with Age: Vampires become more powerful the longer they age and their blood matures, with ones that reach 1000 becoming powerful enough to sire new vampires.
- Unreliable Narrator: The book is written as a letter that Constanta is writing to her husband, Dracula. The unreliability comes from the fact that she tries to paint him as far more benevolent than he actually is, only to slowly start to discover that he's a depraved monster and sociopath underneath the kind facade he gives out.
- 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.
- Vampire's Harem: Dracula keeps three vampiric spouses that he sired personally. These are two women named Constanta and Magdalena and a young man named Alexei.
- Vampire Procreation Limit: Vampires are only able to sire new vampires if two methods are used. The vampire in question must be over a thousand years old as it's only than that their blood is mature enough to sire new vampires, and they and the one they're siring into a vampire must exchange blood.
- Whole-Plot Reference: Well the book is meant as an origin story of the brides of Dracula it also takes a lot from the story of Bluebeard with a naive wife whose murderous husband demands she not see his things in his special room, only for her to discover that he murdered his previous spouses.
