Victoria is given by her father, the King of the Barren Lands, to the Vampire Duke Sadisman as a hostage. She is a gift from her people as a peace offering. As part of the bargain, Duke has promised, "She will not be sired, she will not be fed upo...
"Do want out ?" said Mary "Does Donald Trump wear a toupee? Did Mark Zuckerberg make facebook to get laid? Sure my best option is not to be drained and roasted. When you get into your thirties they tend to quietly get you working outside the coven house and you can practically retire."
"So you have it all planned" I said.
"It's a crazy world, you would have to be mad to think you can stay sane in it" said Mary.
"You know I'm willing to die if I don't get my clothes back" I said.
"Yeah - well if you die he will just sire you. Raise you from the dead. You can go round for the rest of eternity as an anorexic stick insect. The great Duke will think it better to give your king his daughter back sort of alive than in a box with the words 'oops my bad' on it. The wording of the peace treaty was a little vague on that matter as long as your not bones and dust everything will be ok for him. Plus you'll go all evil and most likely start a size zero royal coven in the badlands".
I don't know if we talked more. The gnawing hunger faded as I went to sleep. I woke up hours later and sat in silence. I thought about Mary who was sleeping next to me on my bed. It was neither day or night in the constant gloom of the coven's keep. I had an idea, I rolled over and called the covern girl. She was so surprised she was still putting her mask on when she arrived.
"Tell Lord Sadisman I have need to speak to him and he should bring some bread with him"
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It was a few hours later Sadisman had left our private meeting. He had been quite polite immensely pleased and had agreed to my deal. I was standing looking out of a window down through a narrow spot which had not been fully painted over with black out paint. Down below I could see the small harbour at the base of the high keep I and the coven of meridian inhabited.
Mary and Cub had pushed me into a tiny room they called a 'shower' my mother had told me about them but the indoor . The warm water was better than the local lake I normally used . They had rubbed me in soap and then put stuff they called shampoo into my hair stinging my eyes. Then I had been spared and allowed to try my self. They had left me alone for a moment and I played with the dial which turned it on and off. Water on, water off, water on, water off magical. I stopped when I realised in my village all the young girls went to the well to get water twice a day. I wondered how many it took to put all this water here, poor things.
I let Mary and the serving girl Mary called Cub wrap the corset about me. I stood as they meticulously pulled the strings tight and I felt my sides come in. It was like I was in a cobras grasp. When they were finished my chest pushed plumply out and I could hardly breathe. Soon they covered me in a number of petticoats and had pulled a long floor length victorian cream dress over me. The worked on my blonde hair wearing in their style. Finished Mary looked approvingly over me.
"Look at me you've turned me into half girl, half tank" I said looking down at the huge dress hardly able to breathe. My neck, arms and shoulders felt naked, cold and most of all vunerable.
Mary shrugged "You know the words you hear most around here?"
"Let me out? Oh I know, I'm feeling a bit anaemic today" I said
"No. You get used to it. After a couple of days we will be able to knock another inch off your waist" she said.
"I've heard of extreme dieting but this is ridiculous. If you tighten me much further I'll run the risk of being cut into. I'll vow never to complain about Lily James's acting in Cinderella again. How does Helena Bonham carter do this?"
I'll be honest with you. It wasn't all bad, the corset made me stand upright, proud important, there was something about it which made me feel more bossy. It was solid and felt more like armour. I'd always been a bit of a tomboy, surviving the the woods after an apocalypse will do that to a girl. I could normally pass for a boy if I needed to but with the corset on I looked and felt all girl. If your thinking hmm sounds cool I should try this then know that the way a cobra kills you is basically the same mechanism.
Mary pulled a picture out like it was a hinged cabinet to behind it was a mirror.
"I thought they didn't like them" I said.
"You wouldn't if you lived a thousand years. Yeah it's complicated, but they also like their familiars to look perfect, they are meticulous. There are mirrors hidden all over the place. I'll show you how to find one when you need to."
I looked at my-self, the dress was multi layered and huge I was the petty coat queen. Mary told me they didn't really heat the place in winter. The Vampires didn't feel the cold so the dresses kept you warm. Unlike Mary and Cub's black dress mine was cream like theirs. my upper arms, shoulders and neck were bare - all the easier to feed at. The dress came with a shrug to cover the bare flesh when I went outside. The vampire ladies naturally needed a way to cover up if they happened to travel outside during day light.
"When the end happened , and everyone was running around for ammunition these guys must have been running around collecting every last wedding dress in London stocking up" I said.
"They saw the end coming along go ago. Each coven secretly stockpiled a huge amount. Over a long time." said Mary. Next to her was the 'coven girl' as they were called named Cub. Her dress wasn't as massive as mine but she wore a porcelain mask and was gagged. She had the coven mark but not the familar's mark. Mary had a whip she was able to use on Cub but Cub knew her place and did what she was told.
"Wonderful I get to live with blood sucking preppers" I said.
" Put these on" said Mary presenting me with a delicate pair of pumps. I hadn't worn flimsy heely shoes like this before. Even as a 'princess' of the collective I was expected to do my share of the work. Sometimes I went hunting with my dad to keep me out of my mom's hair, so anything but scavenged boots and trainers would be unsuited to life in our post apocalyptic camps. Shoes which only looked good were outside our survival needs, even for my dad. There was no way I could bend over in the corset and put the shoes on. Cub got down and put them on. The dress height had been sized with the shoes in mind. I stumbled around trying to get used to them like Mary and cub seemed to be.
"How do you run in these?" I said trying not to wobble.
"A princess does not run. Plus they like the occasional chase of their food but don't appreciate you getting too far too fast. I don't think that will apply to you" said Mary.
When she turned around she had taken her shrug off to cool down. I saw the double puncher marks on her arm and neck where she had been suckled by her owners. As she turned I saw half healed marks on her back where she had been whipped.
"How could they do this to you? It's like the entire world has been Taken over by Ashley Madison" I said looking at her. Mary caught sight of me behind her in the mirror.
"We all get punished - in this case for failure. When they say failure is not an option you need to read the small print. Long story" said Mary. She changed the subject "I'm not sure why you gave in like you did."
I smiled. From my vantage point I had watched as below fifty of my father's soldiers were lead into a small ship to be taken down stream back home. The Duke was more desperate to appear to 'win' than I was. He and I were as trapped as much Mary was. She by her coven tattoos and I by my duty to my people. He was trapped by the need to project control and power. There would be peace of sorts and fifty men would see their families again for my small sacrifice I had really out grown breathing anyway. Sadismann had agreed but his price for my people was my obedience to the dress code and my silence. I in return bartered for an hour in the sun per week for my self.
"Long story" I said.
Cub rushed in and waved - it looked like Sadismann was coming to visit.
