Valerie

After everything that had happened, I was still a tiny bit disappointed that I hadn’t gotten to be part of Mistress’ birthday cake drawing. I missed Her fangs so much, more every night.

But I was taking solace in the fact that Gail had won the drawing, and especially that Mistress had told me that She was going to let me have a bite of Her cake.

Mistress’ thralls, Gail included, had been spending all day on the 25th of May getting things set up in the Seagate Hotel’s single medium-sized event room located on the bottom floor, dimly-lit for Mistress’ and my sake. In all of the time I’d known Mistress, I’d never seen that event room get used. This was a beach hotel on the outskirts of a suburban town, not the right kind of place to hold a trade show — companies would go closer to Boston if they wanted that. But the building had been sold by a big hotel chain years before Mistress moved in, so the event room came standard with the place. It was a good thing, too, because it was the perfect place for events like this.

Mistress celebrated Her birthday on the night of the 25th. I had expected it to start in the early hours of the morning of the 25th until the night before, but She clarified that that was simply a lot less practical, as well as more attention-grabbing for the hotel’s guests. She liked to think of the night of the 25th as all being part of Her birthday, even when the calendar had technically run over to the 26th. That was a human convention, She liked to say, not one that made a lot of sense for Her undeath.

And it was nine PM now, when Her birthday party was supposed to begin, and a couple dozen women were flooding into the event room, almost all of whom I recognized from at least one occasion. All of Mistress’ thralls were invited, even those whom She didn’t have close relationships with, and my Cassie as well.

For the first time in a century, Mistress had also invited one non-thrall to Her birthday party. Well, technically, anyway. They weren’t Hers tonight only because She hadn’t had the opportunity to activate their thrall trigger yet. As soon as they arrived, She was planning on making that change. That was the agreement that they had made.

Everyone was eating and drinking and mingling and singing Mistress’ praises and smelling delicious. Sandra had baked a big bowl of shrimp stir fry, Zoey had brought a huge dish of lasagna, Mistress’ personal tailor Nadine had baked a cherry pie, and a few other girls had brought smaller dishes. None of those things interested me at all any more, I didn’t even find their smells appetizing, and it was the same for Mistress, but the humans needed something to eat, after all. They had to stay healthy for us, especially for Her.

Lauren was eating a slice of lasagna, too, and sitting in my lap right around the corner from Mistress. And though she was still Mistress’ thrall, as ever, tonight, she wasn’t my thrall. But Cassie was, and she kept eyeing me lovingly from the seat next to mine as she munched on her shrimp. And Gail, while still mine, was sitting a ways down the table, getting ready to be Mistress’ birthday cake. Tonight, I didn’t need two or three people fawning over me. One, plus my loving girlfriend, was enough.

Celia walked in last, fifteen minutes after everyone else, Mistress waiting impatiently at the head of the big table that had been set up, long enough to comfortably seat all thirty or so of us. Unlike all of the thralls packed into this room, they weren’t compelled to obey and arrive on time, and Mistress wasn’t used to that. Fashionable lateness was just another human convention that She had no use for.

Everything got a little quiet as the unenthralled girl walked in. Celia was gritting their teeth and looking a little awkward as they realized that they were the final guest to arrive, closing the big event room door carefully behind them, carrying a small wrapped gift in their free hand. I wouldn’t say that Mistress didn’t look annoyed, but She was nothing if not a kind and understanding Mistress. It’s just that everyone else was already eating, and the birthday girl was looking forward to Her own dinner.

“Happy birthday, Naomi…” they said, looking around the room and stopping on Mistress and I. We were hard to look away from. “Sorry I’m late!”

“That’s alright, dear,” She sighed, patting the empty chair across from me, motioning for the purple-haired girl to sit. Hannah was already sitting in the next chair over, smiling at them. She had reassured Mistress that Celia would definitely be here in the next few minutes several times.

“O-oh! You want me to sit right next to you?” they said, clearly a little apprehensive.

“You are going to be Mine tonight, dear,” Mistress nodded. “I want you close by.”

“Sure thing,” they said. All of us were silent as they set their present on a table with the others by the door and walked over to the chair, having a seat with the rest of us. Hannah wrapped her arm around their back, leaning in close.

“S-so, it’s your… 247th?” they asked. “Birth night?”

Mistress nodded. “You can just say birthday, dear. I was born around noon, I believe.” There were giggles all around the table, Lauren and I included. It was hard to imagine Mistress ever being awake or safe when the sun was at its peak. By now, that just sounded… hot. Not sexy-hot. Burning-to-death hot.

“Right. So this is for your actual birthday, not when you were turned?”

“Yes,” She said. “I’ve been split at times on which to celebrate. Both have their pitfalls. Complications. But it’s not as if I became Myself at the moment I was turned. That took several decades longer.” She held Her own tits through Her floral dress, bouncing them a bit. “And besides, My thralls always requested to celebrate My birthday in particular.”

Celia nodded awkwardly, and just said, “cool.”

“But yes, darling, when I say 9 o’clock, I mean it. Don’t be late for Me the next time, alright?” She placed Her hand over the non-binary girl’s, giving it a little squeeze with a fraction of Her strength and a stern look on Her face. Celia seemed sobered by that, and they gave another tiny nod.

“And Celia, activate thrall mode.”

I saw their pupils dilate slightly, heard their heart rate increase, and watched as a little smile spread across their face.

“Mistress,” they murmured, looking down into their lap for a second, then at Hannah, then at Mistress, then they began laughing and smiling, overwhelmed with the joy of belonging to our Goddess. “Mistress! Happy birthday, Mistress! I love you!”

“That’s better, isn’t it?” Mistress asked, standing, taking Celia’s hand, and pulling them to their feet. Celia had dressed up for the occasion, and they looked beautiful in their flowing black dress as Mistress spun them around in a little dance.

Mistress commanded Brenda, sitting near the end of the table next to Gail, to turn on the music, and she obeyed, activating the room’s sound system. A song from one of Celia’s favorite metal albums came on, maybe a little bit unfitting for the kind of dance Mistress was doing, but She didn’t care. She wanted to understand all of Her thralls’ interests.

There was no point in doing anything but enjoying the moment and leaning into it. I took Lauren by the hand and started leading her in a slow dance while the voice of some trans woman shouted into the mic about kissing girls and killing fascists. I wouldn’t have wanted anything less.

Cassie stayed seated, looking up at us from her chair. I’d give her her chance to, but I wanted to spend this moment with my Laurie.

“It’s hard to believe it’s only been seven months, Val,” Lauren said, leaning in close to speak into my ear after a little kiss on the cheek. It was hard to hear her over the music even with my sharp hearing. I just hoped she’d hear me back.

“We’ve known each other for almost a decade!” I shouted back, realizing that my voice would probably have an effect on her given how loud I was speaking. That wasn’t altogether bad, though.

“But so much has changed in just the last seven months,” Lauren replied. “I never would’ve expected we’d be here, belonging to a hot vampire lady, any time before. Maybe I should’ve expected it when you went after that guy next door to us… I dreaded it, I guess. But I didn’t really think it’d be real.”

“It was destiny!” I said. “Our destiny to be Hers.”

“Of course,” she said, stepping back in time with me. I’d taught her to slow dance at request right around the time she came out. She’d never gone to dances in high school, before she was comfortable with her body, and had avoided learning before that. I’d been able to help her recontextualize it as something more feminine.

“I feel so much camaraderie with everyone in this room, honey,” she continued. “Community, like I’ve never had before. All united under Her. And you’re like Her now… and we can still have this. We still have us. It feels like I can finally move on, I guess, from that stupid part of my life where I was too scared to ask you out for eight years. Thinking you were too good for me. And now you’re basically a Goddess, and I’m still dating you… two Goddesses want me. And I’m just some girl. I… I wasted so much time not being Hers. Not dating you.”

Lauren fell out of position and straight onto my chest, squishing my soft tummy with her left hand.

“I’ve felt similarly, you know,” I said, hand around the back of her neck, stroking her hair. “Like, what makes me so special that Mistress would pick me to be Her one and only fledgling? She’s let so many people go… I didn’t deserve Her special treatment. But I had to accept it, because it’s what She wanted.

“And it’s not like I asked you out during all that time. The years blended together after the pandemic… and with me helping you feel safe transitioning, I guess I gave up the idea that it’d be like, ethical to ask you out up until Mistress was bold enough to point out that we were obviously into each other. I was scared of admitting that to myself. And I had barely realized how much time had passed. It felt like nothing could change till Mistress made the change.”

I craned my neck behind myself to look at Mistress. She was hugging Celia and Hannah now, swaying slowly. Almost everyone in the room had their eyes on Her, hanging on Her every word as Celia’s favorite songs played. Lauren was no exception, though I was proving to be a bit of a distraction as well.

“Sometimes I do wonder how long we would’ve been stuck in stagnancy without Her snapping us out of it,” Lauren said. “Breaking the spell of depression and aimlessness to put us under Her spell instead.

“You always say it was a bad thing that you hunted vampires, Valerie, but when you think about it, it’s the only way we ended up belonging to Her.”

I sighed, looking down at Lauren’s feet. “It’s true, but I killed some people too. I mean, they were hurting people, hurting them bad. I’m glad I could save Emily. But what if Kathy could’ve been better? More like Mistress, maybe. I mean, I think she was just a fledgling, a lot like me… only she didn’t have a begetter to keep her from her worst impulses. I’m glad I stopped for that reason alone. It’s just denying people the opportunity to be better…”

I thought back to Olivia, who had been like a second begetter to Mistress. If I saw Kathy teasing Emily in that movie theater tonight, I wouldn’t be inspired to kill her. I could speak with her instead, let her know that things would be OK, introduce her to my Mistress. I’d make sure she didn’t end up accidentally hurting anyone, I’d help her manage her bloodlust. Or at least I’d ask for Mistress’ help with those things. Kathy was inexperienced and drunk on power, but that didn’t make her irredeemable. Part of becoming a vampire was learning to be a person all over again.

“Well… her bloodlust stopped her from seeing Emily as anything but her thrall, right?” Lauren said. “She said she met her at a bar. Maybe… they could’ve just been girlfriends, if they were lucky. Or part-time thrall and Goddess, like you and I.”

“I guess I almost missed that chance with Emily, too,” I said, holding Lauren close, a lot like Mistress was with Celia. “When I caught her gaze the other night. A different version of myself would’ve made her mine forever. I still wonder a little bit why I didn’t take the opportunity. It’s something even Mistress never got.”

Lauren sighed sadly. “Until you showed her how, I guess Mistress never had the opportunity to have relationships with people other than being their Mistress. And, I mean, She loves it, and I love that for Her, but She should have options too, right? She should be able to do anything She wants.”

My eyes lit up. “She should!”

“And it’s so important that you were able to give Her this,” Lauren continued. “I sometimes think, you know, about how even if Mistress hadn’t come along, you and I totally still would’ve started dating. She just gave us the push we needed to admit our feelings to each other. It’s like… Mistress was just a catalyst. But She’s been a catalyst of so much good in my life. I’ve been having much better creative output, more time with you since you’re not at the card store any more… and, I mean, She’s such a wonderful partner and Mistress. I’m just happy we can give something back… or at least you can, Val. I’m just her silly thrall.”

“Well, you give Her lots and lots of blood, don’t you?” I asked, just as the current song ended, giving us a break from the loud music to sit with each other.

She nodded.

“And you do whatever She says?”

She nodded again, and said, “But that stuff barely counts. That’s just the bare minimum for a thrall.”

The music came back on, and I leaned in very close with my girlfriend again.

“Laurie, let me tell you from experience,” I said, looking over at Cassie and blowing her a kiss. She was chatting it up with Sandra next to her, but perked up as I gave her that small bit of attention. “Blood and obedience are all a vampire can really ask for. I can’t speak for Mistress, of course, but… heh, I can speak to my own experience as your Goddess. Just yesterday, when I was having you clean the kitchen… Lilith, we’d been putting that off for so long that I’d stopped needing to eat food in the meantime. But watching you do that, knowing I made you do it, knowing that when you were done I was going to lie you down on the squeaky-clean floor and drink to my heart’s content… I… I don’t know what more I could want.

“Like seriously,” I reiterated, giving Cassie another smile, knowing I’d be drinking from her later tonight once the party was over, “I feel like blood and obedience could sustain me forever. Hundreds of years. I mean… maybe that’s a little ridiculous. I’ve only been at this for a few weeks, all things considered. But I just… don’t have the same kind of needs I did as a human. At least it feels that way sometimes… like I’m just an animal with simple needs to be sated. I’ll always want new experiences, I think, but I don’t know how I could ever be disappointed with a thrall serving all of my needs.

“Mistress might be our Goddess, but I have to imagine it’s similar for Her.”

“Huh, yeah…” Lauren murmured. “I guess that makes sense. I just… I always feel like my submission could be deeper, you know?”

“Oh, I know,” I said. “Mistress might give me a lot of grace as Her fledgling, but I’m more Hers than I’ve ever been. When She commands me… before, I would do Her will because She made me love Her. You know how that is, feeling like you can’t disobey out of a desire to please Her. But now, it goes beyond that. There’s no choice involved, even if I still love Her. When She commands me, I just have to do it, before I even get a chance to consider what I’m being told to do. She says it’s Lilith’s way of making sure that begetters like Her can stop their fledglings from getting out of control. But it makes me feel… lesser than ever, in some ways, and I really, really like it.”

“I’ve heard,” Lauren teased. I’d been over it a little bit with her already, but it was fun to reiterate. “It sounds like a lot, Val. Really good…

“Personally, I’m just glad I get to have this with you. I guess being your thrall on Mistress’ birthday would just feel a little distracting. And I’m glad I get to have intimate moments like this with you… when I’m not busy scrubbing the floors of our apartment for you, my Goddess.”

She poked my cheek teasingly and it almost made me want to growl, but I couldn’t deny that this was what I wanted too. I gave Cassie another look, knowing she’d be mine in perpetuity, and had to wonder what that would mean for me.

The music shut off in the middle of a guitar solo, and Mistress took the mic at a podium in the back of the room. Celia wandered back to their seat next to Hannah’s in a bit of a daze.

“Good evening, My darlings,” Mistress said. “Lilith, I can’t think of the last time a single year was so eventful. The winds of change can blow against Me even 247 years in, it seems. I suppose I considered Myself too resilient for that breeze… It was only ever able to push Me from one place to another. But… I’m still here. I haven’t even had to uproot Myself. You all have done an excellent job of protecting Me.

“I only wish I could say the same for all of you… for My Valerie. Come up here, sweetie.” She looked directly at me, and I let go of Lauren to walk up to the podium, blowing my girlfriend a kiss on the way up.

“It’s a failure I’ll learn from,” Mistress said, taking my hand. “And… well, you’ve all heard this already. I’ve learned to accept this change. I’m proud of the fledgling that I brought back into this world. She’s…”

Mistress suddenly sniffed, caught off-guard by something, and I followed a split-second later. Oh… that was a wonderful smell, coming from Lucia the housekeeper, a tall, light-skinned girl with long black hair seated at the end of the table near Gail.

“Valerie—” Mistress started, but in the midst of all this, I couldn’t control myself. I did a good job holding this feeling in most of the time — Mistress had guessed that keeping me in this hotel, in relatively close quarters with dozens of humans at any given moment, had probably helped me build up a tolerance for the smell of blood after I’d been turned. But now, Lucia had cut herself — or, or something — and with all of these delicious humans around, I was in no state to stop myself. I needed one of them, any of them, badly, and how was I supposed to stop myself when a smell so delicious was right there!

I rushed away from the podium directly toward Lucia before Mistress seemed to fully realize what was happening, and by the time She did, I was already sucking on the thrall’s finger, tackled down to the carpet, getting just a few sips of her yummy, yummy blood. The crowd was thinning around me, everyone steering clear as they surely realized I was dangerous, I had gone feral… after all this I still couldn’t hold myself back and now I was drinking from Mistress’ thrall without Her permission… How could I! I felt so fucking ashamed…

Not a second later, Mistress pulled me away, both of Her hands on my torso.

“Stop, Valerie,” She growled. “Leave My Lucia be.”

I was still riding the high, newly nourished by the girl’s blood. But… but She was commanding me, I had to come to my senses. Like I had told Lauren, I had no choice.

“Get Lucia up into a chair,” Mistress commanded the nearby crowd, and a few of them set to work immediately, while She remained squatted down next to me on the event room’s rough, patterned carpet.

“Perhaps I shouldn’t have pulled you away from Laurie, My fledgling,” She said, pulling me up by my chin to face Her. “I could see she was helping calm you, distract you.”

“A little bit, yeah,” I said, still a bit woozy. “I’m so sorry, Mistress…”

“You’re forgiven, dear. It’s still only been a month. I can’t expect you to be perfect like Me.” She held up a greeting card which read “Happy 110th” with pastel orbs of color backing it. “Do you see this, darling?”

“It’s a, uh, birthday card,” I said. “The number seems a bit low for You…”

“Lucia got the highest age she could find at the store,” Lucia’s partner Brenda cut in, helping set their girlfriend’s catatonic body comfortably on the chair. “Couldn’t even get half of Mistress’ age. Can only hope for so much, I guess.”

Mistress blew them a kiss. “You all can always just get Me a 26, you know.”

“She thought You’d find it funny, my Goddess!” Brenda clarified. “And she figured You’d seen a lot of 26th birthday cards already.”

“Well, she succeeded,” Mistress said with a little giggle. “But that’s beside the point. Valerie, Lucia cut herself on this. It was just a silly little paper cut. Humans experience that all the time. And we’ll get you to the point where you don’t lose your composure over it.” I felt a little ridiculous suddenly, going completely crazy over something so mundane. It was like my job at the greeting card store had come back around for one last fuck you, seven months late.

And I couldn’t do anything but laugh, Mistress along with me too.

“Dear, Lucia will be just fine,” She said after a moment. “But she’ll remain solely Mine, you understand? I’m pleased you got to have a taste, but this is My birthday, after all. You’ll have your drink from Gail right after Me, dear. Just try and hold yourself together for Me until then, won’t you?”

I nodded, said, “yes, Mistress”, nuzzling against Her pale cheek. I looked forward to getting intimate with Cassie later in the night, too.

“Good girl. Then let’s wait till My Lucia recovers, and we can get this show on the road.”

Ten minutes or so passed while everyone calmed down and got the room back in order. Mistress took me for a little walk outside to get away from the smell of blood for a few minutes, and we were back in time for Mistress to be by Lucia’s side when she came to.

I kept my distance as the thrall’s eyes fluttered open, staying in my seat next to Lauren at the far end of the table from her.

“Ohhh… hehehe… Goddess Valerie,” Lucia said, looking down the table at me. I gave her a small wave, needing to actively stop myself from leaning into this. She wasn’t meant to be mine, I had to remind myself. She belongs to Mistress. And that faint scent she carried, one shared by Gail and Lauren and practically everyone in this room besides me, Mistress, and Cassie, helped keep me at bay. It was a smell associated with Mistress’ ownership, a faint thing left on everyone she drank from that warned other vampires to stay away from Her things or suffer the consequences.

“Lucia, darling, focus on Me,” Mistress commanded, squatting down to her eye level. “And look into My eyes.”

“Yes, Mistress,” Lucia acknowledged, staring back blankly. She was well-trained.

“So relaxed, sweetie. You belong to Me, dear, first and foremost. You know that,” Mistress said. “And Valerie belongs to Me as well. I want you to focus on that and realize that the fact of your belonging to Valerie is just an extension of your belonging to Me. And I want you to let go of that aspect of belonging to Valerie completely. She is not your Goddess, My darling. I’m the only Goddess you have need of, you understand?”

“Yes, Mistress.”

“Good girl. Then wake up, recognizing only Me as your rightful Mistress.”

Lucia awakened, and Mistress smiled back at me. Thank Lilith that this hadn’t gotten blown out of proportion.

“Now then, with that out of the way,” Mistress started, clearing Her throat and clambering back to Her seat at the head of the table next to me. “I simply wanted to say before that Valerie, My Valerie here,” She wrapped Her pale arm behind my back, “is the best fledgling I could ask for. But, she’s still learning to control herself.”

There were giggles around the table as Mistress kissed me on the cheek.

“There was more I wanted to say when I was up at the podium, I think,” She said. “But there’s always more to say. I won’t be able to fit it all in, no matter what.

“And besides, I’m hungry. Gail, get yourself undressed for Me, won’t you? I want My birthday cake.” She looked over at Her thrall — my thrall — with a great deal of expectation, as Hannah, Celia, Cassie, and I cleared the table in front of Mistress, as we knew would be necessary since before tonight’s party.

Gail was already dressed light in a white tank top and short black skirt, and it felt like the blood I’d just taken from Lucia was the only thing holding me back from lunging at her as she rose from the chair in a practiced way, reciting one of her favorite phrases:

“Yes, Mistress. I obey.”

Without even looking down, Gail pulled her clothes off. It turned out that she wasn’t wearing a bra or panties, probably prepared just for this moment, and a big “247” was drawn onto her stomach in permanent marker — a little bit like birthday candles. And Goddess, I was shaking looking at her body, gripping the table, barely able to sit still…

Ah, shit. The wood beneath the tablecloth wasn’t standing up to my grip, and there was an audible crunch.

“Soon, darling,” Mistress whispered, leaning over to me while keeping Her eyes on Gail. “The table’s replaceable. But try and control yourself for Me, won’t you? You’ll get your turn.”

I nodded, and said, “Yes, Mistress.” This felt like something that would be hard to get over, but now Mistress had ordered me, so like I had told Lauren, I had to obey. No two ways about it.

“Good girl,” Mistress said, before turning Her attention all the way back to Gail. “Then come up here, Gail, My dear. Lie down on the table in front of Me. You’ve seen how it’s done.”

I hadn’t been there for it, but in the nights leading up to this, Mistress and Gail had told me snippets about how this had gone down with Rachel last year. I was looking forward to seeing it myself.

Gail walked over to the head of the table in a daze, everyone in the room admiring her short, slim, freckled figure as she passed by. Most of all, I expected that everyone was excited to see what our Mistress was going to do to her.

And Gail was so well-conditioned. I could tell from the blank, happy smile on her face that she barely knew what she was doing, other than obeying Mistress.

Hannah and Celia parted to let her climb up onto the table, lying face-up with her head pointed toward Mistress’ seat at the head of the table. She was only a few inches from me now, smelling absolutely amazing, the warmth of her skin palpable all the way from here, her heartbeat singing to me, her pulse reverberating in my pussy. I needed her so badly.

But it wasn’t my time just yet. Everyone had to sing Mistress Happy Birthday first.

“Happy birthday to You! Happy birthday to You! Happy birthday, dear Mistress, happy birthday to You!” everyone sung, Gail included, and as we did, Mistress stood and felt up Gail’s body, leaning down to kiss her thrall all over her body, across her tits and torso and crotch and girlcock and legs, then moving back up her body, kissing her neck…

I wondered if Mistress was going to sink Her fangs right into her, but then She moved up to Gail’s face, kissing it all over too, her nose and cheek and lips, climbing onto the table Herself. Her red-and-black floral sundress, the same one She had worn on the morning She took me and again on the night I woke up as Her fledgling, failed to fully cover Her ass as she climbed up, but She didn’t mind at all, happy for Her girls to see any part of Her as She’d told me many times before.

“Thank you, everyone, thank you,” She said, leaning up to look around at all of us seated around Her. “This is probably the second or third biggest crowd I’ve gotten in all my long decades. I’m lucky to have all of you.

“And Gail, My dear, you know what that means, don’t you?”

“What does it mean, Mistress?” she said in a perfectly even tone.

“It means you’re especially lucky to be here on this table,” She said. “Thirty-one girls in this room… what is that, a 3.5% chance or so?”

“3.226%, Mistress,” Hannah said a moment later, looking at the calculator app on her phone.

“Thank you, sweetie,” Mistress said, ruffling Hannah’s long brown hair. “But put that thing away, won’t you? This is a social event.”

“Yes, Mistress,” Hannah giggled, maybe a little bit reluctant in spite of the compulsion to obey. I’d been where she was before. Shit was hard to let go of if you felt nervous enough, and a lot of tension had built up.

But it was pretty important that she didn’t miss the big moment.

“Alright, Gail, lie still for Me, won’t you?” Mistress said, hands firmly on the shoulders of her thrall, pinning the small blonde girl down.

Everyone was perfectly quiet as Gail whispered back, “I obey.”

And there were no ceremonies of note left, so Mistress cupped Her hand around the back of Gail’s neck and dove in, sinking Her fangs into the soft flesh of Gail’s neck, a texture I knew all too well. There were oohs and aahs from the crowd, everyone excited to see Mistress getting Her fill, to see Gail put on display as she screamed and moaned. A drop of blood trickled down Gail’s neck, missed by Mistress’ tongue, sweet and red and fragrant, and I could barely stop myself from lunging all the way toward her myself, so I kept myself calm by pulling Lauren and Cassie in close, taking solace in the fact that they were mine, and any other vampire would be a fool to try and take them from me.

“Happy… birthday… Mistress,” Gail said weakly as Mistress pulled away, licking a few stray drops of blood off of Her lips.

“Such a yummy girl,” Mistress said. Then, looking around, “All of you are. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of this.

“But it’s been so long since I’ve had someone to join in the fun,” She continued, looking at me. “Would you like a drink from her as well, dear?”

Mistress had told me that She hadn’t spent Her birthday with another of our kind since Olivia, and Olivia was the only one who had ever had a bite of Her cake besides Her. In response to that, I had told Her about wanting my whole birthday cake to myself when I was a little kid, and needing to be told that “sharing was caring” in response to that. Mistress had been upset about what I was insinuating, but ultimately admitted that for our kind, sharing still was caring… it was just that you had to have a great deal of trust and care in someone to consider sharing something so precious and valuable as a thrall.

So when Mistress motioned at me to have at Gail myself, I felt as trusted and cared for as I did ravenously hungry.

I leaped at my thrall and sunk my fangs into her left tit, savoring her increased heart rate before her blood even reached my tongue. Like Mistress had ordered her to, Gail did a remarkable job of staying still while I drank from her, conditioned so thoroughly to be obedient. When I had been a thrall, I had rubbed myself off sometimes thinking about being like her. It took even Mistress a good amount of time to get someone quite so broken down. But now I was getting off on how easy Gail was to please for my own purposes — because Mistress’ effort made her easier for me to control, too, and I’d never get over that.

I loved her sweet blood, and I loved her slow, panting moans that gradually adjusted to match the rhythm of my drinking. I lived and died for the way that the crowd all around me smiled and cheered as I drained the blood from this woman’s veins, so deeply under Mistress’ control themselves that they all wished it was them on the table instead of Gail, enjoying the feeling of my fangs and Mistress’ in their soft flesh. I drank my final drops for the night remembering that I was brainwashed too, that I had been made to love this on both sides of it just the same as any of them.

“Very good job showing restraint, My fledgling,” Mistress said, seated on the table next to me as I pulled away. “Gail has a small body. She’ll need rest after both of us took so much.”

“B-but she won’t end up in the hospital, You don’t think?” I asked, eyeing Cassie for a moment.

“I don’t believe so. She’s been well-nourished and well-hydrated in advance of this. Part of what makes the drawing more appealing than older decades, when I would simply choose, night of. Plus it adds an element of surprise, which I can stand to have in My undeath once in a while.”

“I’m excited it was Gail, Mistress,” I said. “She’s sooo yummy. And she’s mine.” I clutched the blonde thrall’s body tightly, kissing the bite mark I had just left on her breast.

“She’s Mine first,” Mistress reminded me, growling softly. “You only have her with My permission.”

“Of course, Mistress,” I said. I really shouldn’t have been challenging the birthday girl, even if She wasn’t my Mistress.

Mistress smiled at me, Her eyebrows a little bit furrowed, and She slid Her feet down onto the floor, straightening Her dress out, then She helped me to my feet as well. It was hard to pull me away from my Gail, but I managed in service of Her. Gail herself remained lying on the table, a little faint and giggly after everything, naked for everyone to look at and be reminded of the power Mistress held.

“I’d like to open My presents now,” Mistress said, walking toward the table by the entrance to the room where Celia had left their gift along with everyone else’s. She didn’t demand or expect extravagant gifts from us, just something small, and usually handmade, things that would remind Her of us, She liked to say.

So she opened a box containing a bat plushie stitched by Sandra, who loved to tease Mistress about the idea of vampires turning into bats, and a fantasy short story by my Lauren based on one of her tabletop campaigns, a soft, thin blanket with a lesbian flag pattern stitched by Gail, matching the trans and rainbow ones she had knitted the previous two years, a wax candle made by Celia, and tons of other gifts from every other thrall Mistress had.

And when it came time for Mistress to open my gift, all I had to show for it was a red and blue bead bracelet that I had strung together in the last few days, using Mistress’ favorite colors.

Unfortunately, I hadn’t been able to find the right words for my love poem, so that was left in limbo. I guessed there was too much other stuff on my mind, being a vampire and all. Even sitting in the lobby got me a little distracted by the smell of blood, so I’d had to come up with the bracelet as a backup gift. Mistress liked it, but I was really just tiding Her over for next year. Maybe I’d be able to make the poem more meaningful by then, for Her 248th… a whole ‘nother year down the road, just the first of Lilith knew how many in my unbounded undeath…

Naomi

Another year had passed, and like most years, it felt like it had hardly been a fortnight.

When I was a fledgling, I had thought it was a bit silly that I still measured my age based on the number of times I’d been around the accursed sun. I’d told that to Olivia, and she recontextualized it as a recognition of the time for which I’d managed to survive in spite of its deadly light. Reaching my next birthday, then, was a symbol of resilience, just like Lilith herself.

So the practice of celebrating my birthday with all of my loved ones present made a great deal of sense when the idea was first presented to me by my thrall Annie in 1873. And I had passed Olivia’s wisdom on to my Valerie when she celebrated her 29th birthday this February.

And by my own 248th birthday, it had been over a year since Valerie had been turned. She had a great deal to show for it. Better self-control — she still needed a bit of practice, but I could trust her to do no more than drool uncontrollably if Lucia or someone else were to cut herself again this year. We’d gotten the backlight removed from her cell phone only a few days after my last birthday. She’d broken Cassie down over the course of the year, and she had a great deal to show for it — she was nearly as conditioned as Gail or Sandra or Rachel now.

Valerie had also done some things that I found more difficult to understand. Since she’d taken Lauren, my fledgling had gone all in on the half-time thrall nonsense, taking four more people with those conditions agreed upon. It was dangerous, I’d told her, she couldn’t expect to trust someone who wasn’t hers at all times, let alone four people.

I supposed that I hadn’t found the technique useless myself. I was happy that Valerie had introduced it to me. But for me, it was simply a means to an end — a way of coercing a girl into loyalty with concessions that could be taken away later on. My Lucia had gotten a new partner, a lovely art history professor with yummy A positive blood named Emma, and I’d been convinced by Lucia to use Valerie’s technique to ease Emma’s enthrallment, much as I had with Celia.

Emma had wanted assurance that I would follow through, that it wasn’t simply a trick. I could offer no such assurances in the long term, of course — my thralls would be mine whenever I so chose. But I did possess the apparent proof she desired in the form of Celia. The half-time arrangement had indeed continued with them… I simply hadn’t gotten around to making them mine all the time yet. A year was perhaps a long time to wait, but it really didn’t feel so long to me.

Besides, Celia had come in handy in their current state… I thought I might find such a tactic useful again sometime. It’d been eight months since I’d taken Emma, and she was still half-enthralled too. I told myself every night that I needed to get around to consolidating my ownership of both of them, but I just hadn’t found the right time yet.

I was aggravated by those thoughts, off and on, but I was mainly concerned with having a pleasant birthday celebration tonight. I’d decided to change things up this year by bringing everyone to Ellen’s Steakhouse, where I had met Celia just over a year ago. My thralls were still welcome to bring their own foods if they wanted, but they’d have a reliable source of nourishment as well. I liked to give them what they needed.

Celia arrived on time this year, despite not being mine tonight. Perhaps that was the real trick of Valerie’s technique… even when they weren’t enthralled, Celia was still learning to please me every day we spent together, especially since they knew they’d be mine again tomorrow. That was quite brilliant.

Jade was once again not with Celia, given that I had not yet taken her in any way, shape, or form. That would have to come along with Celia becoming mine more permanently and I just hadn’t gotten around to any of it yet. Sometimes, I felt like I was completely losing control of my undeath. Other times, like tonight, I simply found it relieving that Celia was right, and I could apparently trust Jade after all, since a hunter hadn’t tried to break down my door at any time in the last year.

The two of us had met a few times, and I had forced myself to hold back from breaking her will. There was a tension in the room every moment that we spoke to one another, but it hadn’t erupted into anything. Celia and Jade had reminded me of the challenges I’d face in subjugating their polycule, and I knew they were right, and I backed away. It was a cowardly move, but the right one in the moment. 

I was seated at the head of a long table covered by a white tablecloth, dimly lit by numerous candles placed along its length and taking up most of the main room of the restaurant. Valerie was seated next to me, as she likely would be for Lilith knew how many decades, and Lauren was sitting across from her.

Valerie grabbed her thrall and girlfriend’s hands and lurched toward her. Lauren was hers on my birthday this year, and she had been rather enthusiastic about that fact for the last week or so.

“Laurie… Laurie!” she growled. “Kiss me!”

“Yes, Goddess,” Lauren replied, setting her hamburger down and leaning across the table for a kiss. Valerie hadn’t broken her down like she had Cassie, who was sitting next to her Goddess, halfway in trance just by mere proximity, the way that my fledgling liked her to be.

Oh, and besides leaning over the table, Valerie and Lauren were leaning over Hannah’s face. She was lying on the table naked, having had the luck of being my birthday cake this year. I’d aided her in getting laser hair removal on all the parts of her body that she desired — her face, her torso, her legs — and she’d ended up smooth and lovely as a result. I’d always thought women were more attractive when they had confidence in their own bodies. I found light and heat much too unpleasant to consider getting that sort of treatment myself, but thankfully, I already experienced similar results without medical intervention, my hair growing in much slower thanks to my deathless nature.

Valerie and I had already had a drink from Hannah together, leaving the adorable girl in a bit of a daze, drool dripping out of her mouth onto the table, reaching her hand out lazily for Celia, who was seated just one chair down from Lauren. Celia was more used to my way of undeath by now, and didn’t bat an eye at Hannah being a little entranced and lightheaded in the moment, having seen it dozens of times, having been drunken from alongside their partner many times too, knowing their relationship now existed on my terms. Half the time, at least, which really meant all the time — I reminded myself of that fact any time it gave me trouble sleeping.

“You two are adorable!” Celia said, looking at my fledgling and her thrall. “You’re doing OK, Lauren?”

It had turned out in the course of the year that Lauren and Celia shared an interest in fiction writing, not to mention the fact that they were both half-time thralls, so they had hit it off and become quite good friends. The two of them were enthralled on opposite days, which granted them a bit of a unique relationship. They were perhaps the only people in their situation in the world — or at least, the only two half-enthralled using Valerie’s method.

I’d become aware of similar practices seeing use in a certain unsavory segment of the academic community. A couple of my kind with a perverse interest in revealing our secrets to the world had become entwined with a prominent university on the west coast. Oh well — my meeting with that foolish vampire had not been particularly productive, but Valerie had learned of her to begin with from Caroline, who had had an interest in the vampires she knew providing knowledge to that foolish professor.

Through that, I’d learned that Caroline and Emily had begun dating each other after bonding over their shared experiences with the undead. Hearing of that increased my interest in both of their blood quite substantially, but unfortunately, accessing them would be no easier than it had been with either of them individually. At least they didn’t seem to be interested in harming me, other than by providing details of my abilities and shortcomings to that traitor of a professor.

I had to stop letting those people remain in my thoughts. Valerie reminded me of that quite regularly. Focusing on the joys of the night was much more important.

“I’m doing so well,” Lauren had responded to Celia, just as I was getting lost in my own thoughts, now catching up. It was a common refrain between the two of them, ensuring each other’s physical and psychological well-being. Why they couldn’t trust their Goddesses to take care of the two of them, I didn’t quite understand, but I had no great need to get in the way of it.

“Laurie, you’d never not be fine when you’re with me, would you?” Valerie asked. “Especially not when I told you to enter cuddle mode.”

Lauren’s lovely brown eyes went wide as she responded to the trigger, diving under the table rather than over Hannah and tackling Valerie in her chair, nearly knocking it over in the process. Soon, her glasses were crooked as she pulled up my fledgling’s blue tank top and began kissing her belly and chest, squeezing and cuddling her tight. This was a trigger that Valerie had come up with herself over the course of the year, and I’d come to find it quite adorable. I often used it on Lauren myself.

“I would never not be fine when I’m with You, my Goddess,” Lauren affirmed, nuzzling against her Goddess’ tits with reckless abandon.

Oh, and I’d certainly thought to implement it on a few of my own girls.

“Hannah, why not you too?” I asked, cupping her cheek right in front of me. “Enter cuddle mode.” It was always modes and computers with Valerie, and while it wasn’t what I was most drawn to, it made a certain kind of sense.

Hannah tackled me while everyone watched, Celia of course included, and I was quite a bit lighter than Valerie, and Hannah was heavier than Lauren, so we ended up toppling backward onto the floor together, the chair unable to withstand Hannah and my weight combined. I was careful to insulate Hannah from any harm from the fall, but Celia was right after us looking after her anyway.

“Don’t worry about me, Cece!” Hannah said, squeezing into my side on authority of the hypnotic trigger. “Mistress kept me from taking a bad fall.”

“So you don’t want me to come down there and cuddle you with Naomi?” Celia teased. I wanted to raise an objection every time they refused to address me properly, but I couldn’t bring myself to. Being called by name felt nice anyway.

Hannah snuggled against me in response to Celia, and said, “When you put it that way…”

“You’re fucking adorable, my love,” Celia said, squatting down on the floor to join us. The tile floor of the restaurant wasn’t really ideal for cuddling, but it hardly mattered. We had each other to make ourselves comfortable, and this would just be a brief thing anyway.

We soon formed a cuddle pile, Hannah in the middle of it all, and Valerie and Lauren joined us shortly afterward, making it larger and larger, my own body squished between my Lauren and my Hannah. That was more or less an ideal situation to hope for, although I hadn’t orchestrated it myself.

More and more of my thralls joined in, and I was eager to explore all of their bodies, loving each and every one of them as they so richly deserved for serving me long and loyally. But eventually a time came when Ms. Annie Putri, the head waitress of Ellen’s Steakhouse, came by to ask if anyone wanted dessert, and I realized that I probably ought to get around to opening presents.

I didn’t intend to keep that poor woman hypnotized for too much longer than the restaurant’s normal closing time on account of my birthday… no more than an hour or two, at least. I had to show some restraint. It probably strained her weak little mind to comprehend why we were all in a cuddle pile on the floor rather than sitting at our seats and waiting to be served, but I had been careful to ensure she was oblivious enough that there wouldn’t be a scene.

So I stood up, helped Hannah and several others to their feet, got Hannah dressed back up in her nicest blouse, cardigan, and skirt, zipped my own frilly white dress back up, and walked over to the present table while everyone else got settled back in their seats.

“Well, well, this is a very large box, Gail,” I said, sizing up the largest one on the table, with a small “from Gail 💚” sticker attached. “I saw you carrying it in on a dolly earlier. What could it be?”

“Please be careful with that one, Mistress,” Gail said, one foot stuck out like she was about to stand up. “It’s a little fragile, and it should stay right-side up.”

“Oh, wow, how appropriate,” I said, giving my thrall a sly smile. “Almost as fragile as you, I’m sure.”

Gail giggled as I set the package down flat, facing it upward in the direction it’d been placed in, and began unwrapping it.

Inside were a few layers of bubble wrap that I knew Hannah and I would have a lovely time popping together. It had only arrived in the second half of the 20th century, and I’d come to find it an uncommon source of relief if something had me down. Hannah, having grown up with it, felt much the same.

But more importantly, there was a facsimile of my home contained under the bubble wrap, a detailed scale model of the Seagate Hotel about 1 foot tall and a bit wider around. The whole thing was built out of ILGO blocks, that plastic hobbyist building technology that a number of my girls over the years had enjoyed building things out of. Apparently they were actually considered to be primarily a children’s toy, but I would never have guessed it until I was informed thanks to my thralls’ skill with and interest in the product. It was impressive that Gail had been able to transport this thing at all, frankly — a few blocks had fallen off, but it’d remained mostly intact, and I knew Gail regarded that as an easy fix.

“This is lovely, my dear,” I said, giving her a big fanged smile.

“Thank You, Mistress,” Gail said, tapping her feet excitedly. “That one took me… three months, I think? Just finished it last Friday. Used 5,000 pieces or so? Oh, and Mistress, I’d love for You to check under the roof on the right side of it there, if You’re willing…” She pointed her finger at a part of the model which would be detachable as a single piece.

I gingerly pulled it up. Inside was a full model of my suite, very simplified, mind, but right where it belonged in the building, and standing in the living room were two character figures, one very sun-bleached with wavy red hair, wearing a black dress, and the other with curly strawberry blonde hair and glasses, dressed in a green top and brown skirt. It was so cute that she’d gotten all of the details just right, even modeling both of us together, that I couldn’t help but do a little excited jump.

“This is so perfect. You’ve served me better than I could possibly ask for. I think I’ll put this on the corner table in the living room, right under that painting of you.” I’d painted Gail, along with several of my other thralls, on their birthdays over the last year, my creative spark having reignited. Unlike some others, Gail insisted on me keeping hers.

“I’m glad You like it, Mistress. I live to serve You, You know,” she said, standing just so she could curtsy for me.

“Good girl,” I said idly, moving on to the next gift, a small rectangular one from Celia.

“Ah, Celia,” I said, picking up the gift. “If this is a copy of Dracula, dear… do you know how many of those I’ve received in the last century?” Humans were absolutely obsessed with that book. The title character was rather unpleasant, much more like my begetter than myself, and I didn’t much appreciate the comparison. Needless to say, I’d already read it, and I’d learned little. The inaccuracies presented about my kind were humorous most of all.

Celia laughed, but shook their head. “Don’t worry, Naomi. You and I have spent, uh, a lot of time together in the past year. I’m willing to get a little more personal than that.”

I unwrapped the gift, and inside was a stack of papers, card stock, perfect for drawing, all ripped out of a notebook. There must have been 50 pages or so, and on each of them was some kind of illustration… most depictingof me, some of Celia themself, others of Hannah and a few of my other thralls, often multiple of us, depicted together, usually naked though not always, some realistic, some very abstract, some very, very sexual, my fangs depicted exquisitely in a few. Many were marked up with words, symbols… the style differed a bit between each, but all were so, so evocative, evocative of love and devotion and sometimes frustration, all clearly relating to experiences Celia had had in the past year, many of which I’d been party to.

I was transfixed by all the art, loving every page of it. It was doodles, really, often very lacking in detail, but that worked as a stylistic choice. I laughed at one that showed Celia, drawn swirly-eyed with a smile on their face, gripping Hannah’s naked body while I sunk my fangs into the brown-haired girl’s neck, with the caption “GAY-ASS LOSERS” written in red text above it all. 

In another, I was depicted in a somewhat distorted style, downing a pitcher of blood into my cartoonishly large open mouth with the text “Can’t Get Enough” and an arrow pointing to me accompanying the illustration, while Celia’s hyper-simplified form laid on the ground with X’s instead of eyes and visible bite marks on their neck, blood still trailing from the wound.

There was definitely a sense of resentment there, and I wasn’t sure what I’d need the pitcher for. Even so, I couldn’t help but smile, chuckling as I remembered that moment a little under eleven months ago when Celia had gotten rather light-headed and nearly collapsed after I drank an unusually large amount from them, still learning their limits.

In a third drawing, Celia was comforting a crying Jade and kissing her on the cheek in a representation of the two’s apartment. There was text reading “sad Willow broke up with her” connected to Jade by an arrow. It took me a moment to notice, but I was depicted as pressing my face against the girlfriends’ house window, wearing a black T-shirt with the word “sickos” printed on it, a grotesque fanged smile on my face as I chanted, “yes… hahaha… yes!” And there was a caption at the bottom of the panel that read, “What She’s Thinking”.

I couldn’t understand that one at all, frankly. It seemed to resemble some kind of bizarre political cartoon? I would never dress like that or behave quite like that.

And yet I couldn’t help but feel that Celia understood me well even when not enthralled. I always needed more mementos, after all, and there was an underlying sense of camaraderie, solidarity across them all. Their proclamation that girls like us needed to stand up for each other still rang through my mind almost nightly.

“I might need to find some room for these on my walls, Celia,” I said. “You’ve done well documenting all of these moments. Good girl.”

Celia’s face was as red as it was in some of their drawings, but they just said, “t-thanks,” and squirmed back against their chair. “F-for the last year, Naomi, I’ve been, uh… doing drawings on the days I have my, uh, free will.,” the purple-haired girl explained. “ Reflecting on the days where I do belong to you. It… really leaves me with a lot to think about and I think this is the best way I have to get it all out. I’m not really an experienced artist, but actually… I think I’ve gotten a lot better just after doing this. This is only like a third of the drawings I’ve got at home, by the way. The best-of, in my opinion. Of all the ways I feel about you. And that I’ve… felt about you. I think more than anything else, you’ve made me feel a lot of things…”

They were blushing and looking off to the side, toward Hannah mostly, a bit sheepishly.

I blew both girls a kiss. “You’ve done an excellent job, my darling. It… surprises me, what’s able to come out of our arrangement.” I wondered if they’d still provide drawings like this once I made them mine forever. It would surely change the drawings’ character at least a bit… and for a moment, I wondered if that was worth it.

Next I moved onto Valerie’s gift, placed on top of the whole pile. It seemed lightweight, just a single folded piece of paper, I suspected, sealed in wrapping paper with a little bow. I knew that my fledgling was very excited about the gift she had been preparing, and I wondered what was so special about it. The bracelet I’d received last year was lovely, and also came in a small package. I didn’t doubt that this would be a thoughtful present.

“I know it looks small, Mistress,” Valerie spoke up, “but I’ve been working on this since May of last year. Needed to get all of the words right. It’s… I couldn’t rush something like this. You deserve the world. And… I’ve learned so much about being a vampire from You. There’s just a long way to go, I guess. Part of me wanted to wait a decade, but I think You deserve this now.

“Besides, a decade still sounds like a long-ass time to me.”

“I see,” I said, unwrapping the loosely-wrapped paper, unfolding it. It was indeed a single page of lined paper, the kind that belonged in a binder, and on it was Valerie’s handwriting, much less messy than normal.

As I scanned over the first couple of stanzas, I was brought to tears, the love and care pouring out from every line of the poem she’d written…

It was like being back with Olivia again. I never thought I’d regain this feeling.

And now my tears were dripping onto the page… stupid! I couldn’t ruin something beautiful like this. It needed to be preserved most of all.

Valerie was with me in a flash from her seat, just like my Olivia would have been.

“Mistress… I love You,” she said, squeezing me tightly, fingers touching the page that was still in my hands.

“I know… I know, my fledgling. I love you too. I always will.”

“Should I read this for You, Mistress?” Her platinum blonde hair brushed against my skin, and made me feel the sort of joy that only came once a century, perhaps, when one was surrounded by everyone one loved, together with someone I was sure I’d never lose.

This time, I’d make sure I would truly never lose her.

I nodded vigorously, handing off the page.

And I listened.

“This one’s called ‘Bloodless’,” Valerie said, facing the whole audience. “It’s been a real long time since I wrote a love poem. But who better to do it for than Mistress, right?”

Everyone applauded as Valerie gripped my arm, and I felt like I was truly the luckiest girl in the world.

“It goes like this.