You tipped my face and pressed your thumb down against my tongue, peering into my mouth. An urge to bite swelled up within me, but I smothered it.

There wasn't enough air left in my body to scream. My only protestation was silent tears streaming down my cheeks, my body a rictus of rigid pain as you drank your fill of me. I will do you a twofold kindness," you said. "I will raise you out of the dirt and into queenship. And, I will give you your vengeance." 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. We are delighted to announce that we’ve acquired S. T. Gibson’s A Dowry of Blood, a deliciously dark retelling of Dracula; a story of desire, obsession and the lengths to which we’ll go to protect the ones we love. It was previously published by independent press Nyx Publishing and has already established a dedicated fan base; Orbit plans to build on the novel’s cult success and break it out to a wide commercial fiction readership.I had so many names for you in those days, my cup of devotion overflowing with titles worthy of your station. I used your name, too, the one your mother had given you, but only in our most intimate moments. When I comforted you during your rare displays of weakness or made a vow to you as a woman, as a wife. 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. 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.

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.With the lives of everyone she loves on the line, Constanta will have to choose between her own freedom and her love for her husband. But bonds forged by blood can only be broken by death. Hachette Book Group is a leading book publisher based in New York and a division of Hachette Livre, the third-largest publisher in the world. Social Media Words cannot express how much I adore Constanta, Magdalena, and Alexi, and just how each of their relationships with Dracula are layered and complex. How they learn to lean on and build true bonds with one another that would ultimately be Dracula’s undoing. The fact that this is a novella with such strong character development and relationships is a feat. Trigger Warnings: graphic depictions of blood, gore, murder, disease, domestic abuse, gaslighting, manipulation, emotional abuse