Sierra’s Reviews > House of Hunger > Status Update

Bloodmaids spend their days relaxing, playing instruments & eating sweets. Blood is said to heal diseases & is rumored to bring the appearance of youth if consumed, rich people hire bloodmaids to keep on hand.
Bloodmaids are frowned upon & judged in the south, way more common & accepted in the north.

Marion lives in a shack w her brother, Raul. Both their parents died when she was 10. Raul spends most of his time high at home on maudlum- a drug that leaves you in between dreams & reality, or at the taverns drinking. He’s got an STD that leaves itchy rashes all over his body & scar, there’s no cure to it, he’s super skinny, looks like hell.
After their parents died, Raul did what he had to so he could provide for the 2 of them, Marion doesn’t mention what he did but says it took more & more of his soul each time, he began drinking. He used to be kind & beautiful but grief, stress, disease has turned him into the angry addict he is today. Marion knows she should leave him behind but he is all she has left.

The North used to rule, with 27 noble houses. When the South began to industrialize itself, the power shifted, causing majority of the northern houses to fall, leaving only 4 with power today.

When Raul is sleeping, Marion sneaks out & follows the instructions on the ad. She walks through the richest borough in Prane to get to The Embassy, the ad said to come between 10pm-12am.
A woman answers the door, takes Marion’s coat & leads her through the beautiful, huge manor to a room where she’s introduced to Thiago. He’s a lord from the North, a Taster- he goes around looking for potential Bloodmaids to bring to the northern houses, receives a finders fee for each girl he brings back.
He cuts Marion’s fingers w a needle, collects her blood in a teacup, says he’s never tasted anything so great. He offers her a ticket on the Night Train to the North, says she’s a perfect candidate for the countess of House of Hunger.
She’ll receive room & board if accepted during her stay, after she’s done she’ll get an annual pension of 6k per year till death. She’ll have to sign a contract indenturing her to the house for 7 years, she can leave whenever she wants but if she doesn’t complete her contract she won’t get the pension. She’s also free to leave & join a different house whenever she’d like.

The next day Marion quits her job by pouring her bosses bloodletting leeches on her head lol!
She goes home to find Raul pissed off, he found her ticket & is demanding she stay w him, saying they’re all they have so she can’t leave. He burns her ticket & they get into a scuffle, she pushes him hard & he splits his head open falling, she runs outta there, leaving him bleeding on the ground by himself.

Thiago finds Marion at the train station waiting for him, he helps her get a new ticket & they board the train together.

We learn that the bond between Bloodmaids & their countess is very spiritual, almost like a marriage bond. Bloodmaids have to devote mind, body & soul to their countess.

House of Hunger is the oldest & largest manor in the north. Countess Lisavet is head of that house, she’s hesitant to accept Marion at first, saying she’s in no need of new Bloodmaids, but once she tastes her, she immediately welcomes Marion to the House of Hunger.

Marion is given a very lavish room w a canopy bed, wardrobe filled with beautiful gowns, vanity filled w rouges, creams, serums, etc. She finds a molar tooth w dried blood in her room & the words “Wretched one” carved into her bed frame.
She sleeps peacefully, wakes up to 2 Bloodmaids sitting with her in bed- Evie & Irene.
They take her to the bath caves in the basement of the manor, servants bathe, pluck, wax, shave Marion, give her a black gown & ribbon for her neck to match the rest of the Bloodmaids. Evie & Irene give her a tour of the place afterward.

During the tour we meet Evie’s twin sister, Elize.
In the kitchens the chef takes blood from the maids to cook into the food for the countess, the Bloodmaids are fattened up with junk food so they don’t faint from all the blood being taken & so their blood tastes sweet.

When Bloodmaids becomes too old- 25 years old lol, they’re forced to retire- the younger the blood, the better the properties. Blood goes bad with old age.
The countess required the best Bloodmaids possible due to a hereditary disease that causes her blood to be to thin, doesn’t have the correct properties so she needs to consume the Bloodmaids blood to survive. It runs on her dad’s side of the family, every count or countess of House of Hunger suffered from it.
Lisavets mom, Vanessa, was a Bloodmaid who went mad bc of her love for the Count.

After her tour, Marion is taken to the House Mother’s quarters to be told the rules. Bloodmaids must obey everything lisavet commands, can’t leave the house without written consent from the countess, otherwise they’re immediately fired & don’t get their pension. Never visit the countess without an invitation, never let anyone beside the countess have access to her body or blood, unless ordered to do so from the countess.
The maids are ranked 1-5. The first & favorite maid is Cecelia, followed by Irene, then the twins & lastly Marion in 5th place.
There’s a 5 year old child that lives there, Mae. Lisavet took her in after finding her in a whorehouse as a baby. She’s not a Bloodmaid tho, you can’t be a Bloodmaid until you get your first period. Mae’s mom was a Bloodmaid but ended up resorting to prostitution.

Marion signs her contract. The following day she begins her history & etiquette lessons she’s required to attend to become a proper Bloodmaid.

That night Cecelia & Marion are invited to court, only 2 Bloodmaids are invited to attend. The rest of the Bloodmaids seem offended Marion was chosen on only her 2nd day w barely any training. Before she goes the House Mother warns her to steer clear of a court member named Ivor.
The court party is a big orgy w everyone drinking & doing drugs. She sees Thiago there, he tells her to be careful around here.
As the night goes on the party died down a bit, Marion meets Ivor- he convinces her to play a game of Fox&Hound w him & the remaining court memebers- they chase her around the house trying to bite her. If anyone besides the countess touches her body or tastes her blood, even if it’s against her will, she’s terminated.

While trying to find a hiding spot, Marion stumbles upon Lisavet’s quarters- her doors are giant silhouettes of a man & woman, upside down. Marion hears Cecelia, who she hasn’t saw at court the whole night, screaming inside, complaining that she’s being pushed aside now that there’s new blood..
Marion hides in the shadows & watches as Cecelia runs out of the room, throws herself on the ground, cries & then starts hysterically laughing, vomits up blood before getting up & booking it down the hall lol huh?
Cecelia’s neck ribbon falls off during her theatrics, Marion picks it up to find the words “Wretched One” stitched into it.

Marion goes into Lisavets chambers, apologizes for coming unsummoned, explains she’s running from Ivor & his friends. Lisavet isn’t upset, she welcomes her & is a lot kinder than Marion expected. She offers Lisavet to drink & she’s happy to accept, after she drinks Lisavet tells Marion she knows abt her brother, even knows his name. She explains that she can taste memories when she drinks blood, knows that Marion left him for dead, says he wasn’t worth mourning anyway & to not feel bad.

The next morning Marion goes to Cecelia’s chambers to return the ribbon, Cecelia denies that it’s hers.

Marion is invited to go fox hunting w the countess, she’s never hunted before so she’s very hesitant. Lisavet tells her to choose between Sir Ivor or a fox pup to shoot, she chooses Ivor but misses, Lisavet is pissed that she hesitated.
We learn that Sir Ivor is the 3rd son of House of Fog, his mom is the half sister of Lisavets dad, so Ivor has bloodright to the throne if she passes. His dad has been attempting to marry her since her own dad died, her still a kid & the guy in his 60s! When that failed lol he sent his son instead for her hand. Ivor has been attempting ever since to turn her house against her, so he’ll have support if he rises to the throne.

Weeks pass & Marion is summoned for bloodletting less & less, Lisavet doesn’t invite her to court or to her chambers anymore, she’s starting to feel very left out.
One night she’s in Irene’s room helping her comb her hair, she notices Irene is extremely thin & looks very sick, her hair falling out in clumps…Irene is 2nd bloodmaid so she’s bled a lot, she fears that with her health diminishing, Lisavet will no longer need her & will seek someone w healthier blood eventually.

The next week Marion is finally invited to court, Lisavet confessed to her when they’re alone that after her father died, her mom insisted on being closed in his tomb with him! Lisavet could hear her mom’s nails scratching against the stone inside when she would visit her father’s grave…
Bloodmaids & their masters sometimes have a special bond where they fall in love & the Bloodmaid is considered their equal, Lisavet tells Marion she wants to have that with her & make her 1st Bloodmaid, getting rid of Cecelia- Marion accepts.

After Marion leaves Lisavet for the night, she goes by Cecelia’s room, hears glass breaking inside, asks if she can come in. She sees blood all over Cecelia & the room when she opens the door, Cecelia has been collecting her blood in bowls to give to Lisavet, freaking out cause Lisa doesn’t want her anymore, literally ripping her teeth out so she can offer them to Lisa. She gets violent w Marion, has her cornered, Marion is abt to jump off her balcony when Lisa storms in, stopping Cecelia- they make out, getting blood all over each other, then Lisavet ends her tenure, dismissing her from the House of Hunger.

Cecelia is sent away without anyone saying goodbye, her room is cleaned out and given to Marion, tension & jealousy starts to bubble between the Bloodmaids now that Marion is getting all the praise. Inside Cecelia’s old room, Marion finds the word “wretched” carved into several items.

We learn Lisavet’s dad used to drink her blood, even tho it was wrong to drink from children he didn’t care, the mother stood by letting it happen to please him. Lisavet ended up poisoning herself & letting her dad drink her blood, killing him, almost killing herself in the process. Lisavet thinks her & Marion are the same since she killed her dad & Marion killed her brother.

As time goes on Lisavet & Marion get a lot closer, Marion is summoned to her chamber every night & things get prettyy steamy. Lisavet always sneaks off while Marion is sleeping, leaving Marion to wake up alone every morning & never telling her where she goes.
Marion is playing hide & seek w Mae when she discovers a stairwell hidden in a wardrobe, leading to a labyrinth of halls. She finds an exit that leads to her tutors office, the door hidden behind a bookshelf, while she was down there she thinks she heard someone, a person whimpering. She asks her tutor, Geoffrey, what’s the deal w that & he seems like he’s abt to tell her some important tea but is interrupted by the House Mother, she has a “word” w him after Marion leaves & Marion never sees him again…

We learn the man who started House of Hunger came from the sea, wasn’t completely human, had an incurable hunger. He discovered an island & lived alone for months hunting, trying to satiate his hunger to no avail. He discovered an injured woman on the island, nursed her back to health in a cave, when she was healthy again he asked for her blood as thanks for helping her, they fell in “love”- the cave system eventually becoming House of Hunger(cave system underneath, house built on top), the man was the first Count & the woman, Enna, the first Bloodmaid.