Sierra’s Reviews > A Dowry of Blood > Status Update

A stranger finds her on the brink of death, saves her by turning her into a vampire.
He doesn’t ask her name but gives her a new one- Constanta.
After she’s turned, she kills her attackers. Then the stranger brings her to his home.

He lives in a huge, beautiful old house outside Constanta’s village.

Constanta is his wife now, she devotes herself to him, does everything he says, never questions his authority. He keeps her isolated, doesn’t let her leave the house, feeds her from his blood at first before he starts bringing in humans to teach her how to kill.
She looses the concept of time, decades pass w her absorbed in her lust, isolated from everyone but him.

One day a plague doctor from the village comes to their house, seeking Dracula’s help. He tells him that an airborne disease is spreading throughout the surrounding villages, asks him if he can use his wealth & power to spread word, help find a cure.
Dracula thinks it’s pointless, kills him when the doctor admits no one knows he’s there- says that when the villagers find out the doctor came seeking help & they denied him that they’ll turn on them once things get bad enough, they’ll raid his place & kill them.
Says that he’s seen plagues before & they don’t wanna be there when this civilization falls.
They pack up & leave on horseback, fleeing Romania traveling from town to town, outrunning the disease. Around 1452 the plague dies out, they set out to start a new life in Vienna.

In Vienna Constanta falls in love w life again, she hadn’t realized how absorbed in him she became until she started taking interest in humans again.
Dracula is v possessive, feels betrayed when Constanta makes a friend. He leaves for 2 days, making her feel abandoned. She cuts off her friend, never seeing her again & pathetically waits for him to return.

War comes to Vienna in 1500. Constanta mainly kills people who deserves it, considers herself a vigilante of sorts. Dracula goes for young, beautiful people. They thrive in the war, w so much chaos going on it’s easy for them to hunt, no ones rlly concerned w people who go missing. They don’t have to cover their tracks as much or be as careful, can blame most things on the war.
Eventually the war gets unbearable, Dracula pays highwaymen to get them to Spain, they escape in the night while Vienna is being bombed, Constanta sad to see the city she loved so dearly burn.

On the long journey to Spain, Dracula keeps rereading letters from someone. Constanta doesn’t ask who it is, assumes it a colleague w similar interests- doesn’t expect it to be a woman…

Magdalena, ruler of Spain (I think), has been writing letters to Dracula, he claims it’s just abt her ruling & they’re just friends. When they arrive & Constanta sees it’s a woman he’s been talking to, she’s rightfully jealous. He says it’s a gift for her, that it’s innocent & not to worry, she should embrace her as a friend or sister lol- gaslights her ass.
Constanta can tell he just wants to collect lovers.

There are festivities & a feast. Magdalena shares that her dad was a tyrant when he was ruling. To take power from him so spread lies & bad truths abt him, turning his people against him, he somehow got gout? Then she said he fucked off once he was sick & hated enough, left to spend out the rest of his days at a hunting lodge.

Magdalena won’t take a husband, she has lovers but never takes any of them too serious, won’t share her throne w anyone.
She seduces Constanta the whole night, getting realll close to her, flirting heavy, very touchy & kissy.
That night Dracula takes Magdelena back to his room!! Magdalena asks Constanta if she wants to come lol Constanta is jealous, pissed, feels manipulated into this throuple but knows that she doesn’t have much choice
She joins them later & they all hook up- officially a throuple lol sister wives !
They turn Magdalena into a vampire during a threesome!!

Years pass, the 3 of them travel all across Europe, leaving Magdalena’s manor w her servants. Constanta & Magdalena fall deeply in love w each other & form a very close friendship. Eventually Constanta gets curious abt what Magdalena’s letters w Dracula said- if he had been romantically involved w her longer than he said.
She finds a lot of love letters from a bunch of different lovers throughout the centuries, finds out she wasn’t the first person he’s turned. She feels betrayed not to be his first after he told her so many times she was. In the letters she reads him grooming his victims, convincing them to let him turn them, promises of a life of freedom & adventure. She’s pissed but never says anything.

They’re all happy for a long time, Magdalena & Dracula in a honeymoon phase, Constanta going back & forth between loving the relationship & hating it.
Magdalena likes writing letters to Kings & philosophers- it gives her a sense of purpose.
Dracula is v jealous & controlling, never lets her meet any of them. Eventually his jealous makes her not even want to write to them anymore.
She started out full of life but over the centuries she loses her spark. She starts getting rlly depressed cause she realizes she’s not truly free, she hates watching the world from afar, doesn’t feel like she’s apart of it anymore, feels shackled in her life.
She has days where she’s happy but her depression always sucks her back in, she won’t eat, lays in bed all day, loses interest in things she loved before.
Dracula moves them to Berlin for awhile cause he thinks traveling around so often is making her sad. It helps for awhile, she occupies herself w the city life but it doesn’t work forever.
During one of her episodes she sleeps for 3 days straight, refusing to even drink water. Constanta tries telling Dracula that she needs more freedom, more time to herself without the restraints of him, a friend that isn’t the 2 of them. He only gets jealous, says that she should be grateful for the life she has.

Constanta finally calls him out abt his past lovers, asks what happened to them. He said they either ran away or he killed them but that it was for their own good, said he “put them down”. Pretty much tells her that when things got toxic & they wanted out he would just kill his lovers. If they ran he would track them down. Now she feels even more trapped & scarred for Magdalena’s safety.
After Berlin he takes them to Russia.

It’s early 1900s by now, Russia is in the midst of a civil war, Dracula likes living in war zones cause he thrives in the environment, can easily hunt & can study the humans, learn more abt their nature.

A 4th is added to the throuple lol Dracula brings his wives to a painters studio, telling Magdalena she can pick whatever she wants to take home. When they arrive the painter has a model there- Alexi.
It’s so obvious Dracula wants Alexi, Constanta calls him out but he convinces her that they’ll all be happier w him joining them, that they’re doing him a favor cause he has no one in life. He’s abt 19, Constanta feels bad but she notices how happy Magdalena looks talking to Alexi & gives in.

Constanta is attracted to Alexi, like the rest of them, but also feels a strong protectiveness for him. In the midst of war he is very clearly starving, doesn’t have any family, probably makes very little working as a model for paintings.
He’s very easily agrees to come w them.

The 3 of them turn Alexi in their carriage, almost kill him. After he’s turned Dracula asks where he wants to go for honeymoon & he chooses Paris.

Things went well at first, Alexi & Dracula bonding gave the girls more alone time. Magdalena was entertained & had her spark back, Alexi loved the theater & would sneak her into plays. Constanta felt a motherly love for him, nothing romantic between them for now. They lived in a 3 story townhouse in the middle of the city, Dracula taking the basement & everyone else getting their own floor. They were happy.
Unlike the women, Alexi challenged Dracula, wanted a say in things, didn’t submit to his rules as easily. Dracula thought eventually he would settle in to this new life overtime but he just grew more rebellious, more restless- still having all the energy & maturity of a 19 year old, frozen like that, undying.