II. In Which a New Servant Is Hired On At Castle Blood

[From the Journals of Scarlet Letter:

Note to self - thank Fleeting Flame at some point. Perique went to visit him last night, which usually means three things. One, I am going to have a wonderful storytime with her later about everything that went between them. Two, they have the biggest crushes on each other and I get to tease her. Three, she has just seen an actual vampire for advice about vampire play.

I am completely and irrevocably doomed.]

Underneath this is scrawled, in poor mouthwriting: I do so enjoy spinning tales in person.

Scarlet Letter dug through her saddlebag again and anxiously pulled free an envelope. That she was standing in front of the closed doors of Castle Blood rifling through her things in such a manner did not at present occur to her. Nor did it faze her much, for she had much grander concerns.

The letter inside was simple enough. Deceptively simple. Months had passed since that conversation in bed one lazy Sunday afternoon, and yet even through Perique’s latest publishing and her own caseload, it had not entirely been dislodged. This letter was the follow up she had hoped for.

Dearest Little One,

With both of our schedules clear for some time, we had agreed that a vacation of sorts might be in order. I know that we were going to discuss it further, but I realized that I had a delicious opportunity on my hooves.

If you recall, we spoke at length about experimenting with certain… elements, a few months ago. I would like to revisit that, and I think I have the perfect setting. There is another letter beneath this one, and a package that will follow shortly if you agree.

You wanted a vampire. You shall have a vampire. Read both letters, and then if all is to your liking, simply send me back a note of affirmation through the sending flame. If not, or if you would like to tweak it, I’ll be closing the shop around four today.

Yours,

Perique Blend

P.S. Also, dinner at my abode tonight?

The letter Perique had left her with was even sealed with an obvious kiss. She remembered vaguely Perique saying with a crooked smile: when I realized I could be a mare I embraced every feminine cliche I could find in my excitement. Some of it even stayed.

The letter helped as she steadied herself. It was time. She’d said yes, she’d gotten ready… and she still wanted to do this.

All she had to do was walk through that door, find the changing room, and head up the great stairs. It was incredibly simple! The fact that she would have to go from the changing room to Perique’s chambers in a maid’s outfit was just an incredibly minor detail which totally didn’t make her flush a furious and eponymous scarlet. Not at all.

Nothing for it. She took a deep breath, started internalizing the role, and entered the foreboding Castle Blood.

*

The Lady Lilith of Sarnath, terror of the night, ravager of the Golden Coast--Herald of the Great Father in the Eastern Lands, Bloodmystic of the the Lost Mother’s Secrets--luxuriated in her opulent chambers.

Opulent by barbarian standards, of course. They were nothing as grand as what she would have had in the depths of Sarnath. She sneered absently. She would endure it for now. Yes, there was something here far better than riches to be had in this foreign land…

Blood. Fresh, new blood. Blood of new ponies in new places.

And speaking of, some should be on its way up.

After a moment, she heard a slight ringing outside the door and suppressed a fond smile. Testing out her bell without requiring a break in scene! Clever, but Scarlet Letter was a clever filly, wasn’t she?

“Enter,” Perique growled, and heard a little satisfying whine behind the door.

The door budged a bit, and then Perique--the Lady Lilith in full, now--unraveled her surprise.

Magic gripped the doorhandles and tore them open to reveal her sitting with a fanged grin. The amulet around her neck glowed with a baleful red light, and with a swift arcane tug, Perique had stolen her balance.

“Is that the sort of entrance you see fit for one such as I?” Perique asked.

Scarlet whimpered. “I, um--I didn’t mean to, there was a--but who?”

Perique sneered. “I was told the ponies of these lands were ignorant and did not yet know their place, but nothing could have prepared me for this. Stand up straight, filly.”

Scarlet obeyed, but slower than she could have. Perique encouraged her with an arcane pinch on her flank, right on her cutie mark, and the little yip she got in reply told her that this was going to be an excellent night.

“Hm. Turn for me.” She made an almost bored gesture.

Scarlet’s ears splayed out as she turned a full circle slowly, showing Perique her outfit.

Walking all the way here in it must have been embarrassing. She could see it in her love’s flustered appearance, in the way she less turned and more pranced as if hearing some erratic music.

“You’ll do. Maybe.” She clicked her tongue. “Tell me, slave, what your name is.”

“S-Scarlet, ma’am?”

Perique concentrated and the pendant she wore sprung to life again. She formed the lightest touch of magic into something like a hoof and cuffed Scarlet across the cheek--not to hard, but enough to elicit a very satisfying yelp of shock.

“Wrong,” she snapped. “You don’t have a name until I give you one. At least you remembered some kind of honorific. I think perhaps in the future, we’ll have to teach you the finer points of service, but for now I’ll have to focus on the mundane. The basics. If you think you can handle it, that is.”

Scarlet whined and looked uncertain. “H-how are you using magic?”

Perique didn’t strike her. Instead, she summoned up her magic and carressed her little slave’s cheek ever so softly. “Oh, sweet little lamb. You don’t even know what I am, do you?”

“W-what you are? You’re a pony,” Scarlet squeaked. “What does that mean?”

A dozen different routes laid out before her now. They hadn’t negotiated all the finer points, just the outlines. The possibilities alone were entrancing, as was knowing no matter what she did, it would all be a surprise. Well, every part but one.

“Vampires,” she said slowly as she touched her pendent, “can do many things that you’re no doubt ignorant of… and a bit of prestidigitation is the least of what I can do. Slave, we’re going to do something.”

Scarlet squeaked again. “What? I mean, yes--”

Perique moved on, half rising from her chair. “None of that, or I shall have to silence you for good. Do not test me, slave. Cast your clothes aside for now, and be quick about it or I shall graduate to something a bit harsher.”

Scarlet nodded hurriedly and started to wiggle out of her uniform, struggling with the stockings and garters. Perique let her struggle a moment more, and then whipped her around with magic. Night’s rapture, but magic was amazing, and she wasn’t sure she ever wanted to give it up.

“Present yourself,” she said flatly and rose. Couldn’t keep getting carried away in playing around with magic. She had a beautiful filly to punish.

Scarlet stood with her legs together, nervously following Perique with her eyes as the batpony trotted towards her. The potions she’d gotten from the Clocktower Society’s excellent stores had done more than she could have hoped for, far more. She was at least a few inches taller than normal, with her usually respectably unkempt coat and mane now barely-contained wildnerness. Her small--embarrassingly small, for the record--fangs were so long that she knew that everytime she spoke that they were clearly visible. And to top it off, somehow the artificers had even managed to give her the glowing crimson eyes of a proper lord of Sarnath. Had she walked those ancient streets, ponies would have bowed to her readily.

Which was to say that a a part of her was touched that Scarlet managed not to bolt as a beast in savage opulence, all glowing eyes and golden adornments and sharp slaps, descended.

She didn’t say a word, but pulled Scarlet’s legs apart with some of her magic and paused only a beat to enjoy the whine. “You’re new. But you shall learn what it means to serve your betters, filly. You’ll definitely learn. Know what comes first?”

Scarlet tried to speak, but then shook her head.

“Good, you can learn something. Perhaps there’s some worth to you yet, slave.” From out behind the chair, she summoned the cuffs of monster leather that she had laid out. They clasped on, and the hour of practice she put into learning the basics of fine control paid off. They fit exactly as they always did, and each had Perique’s little leaf cutie mark emblazoned on them.

She continued as she circled and ran a hoof along Scarlet’s flank, over her cutie mark. “First come those. So even when I don’t have you strung up for something or other, you know I can. You’ll also know that I can do this--”

The most delightful part of her preperations had been getting a unicorn to help her design the spell. She’d practiced so many times that it was firmly muscle memory, and so she hadn’t even needed to pause.

A leash blinked into existence attached to Scarlet’s Clocktower play collar, and she yipped in surprise before a hoof slapping her flank cowed her again.

“Any time I want. And if I should want to take a stroll with you like this, then you will follow me. Every…” She struck again, on the same flank. “Every single thing I say is law for you while you are in my service. You are smaller, weaker, barely able to take care of yourself in comparison to me.”

She completed her circle and pressed her cheek against Scarlet’s from behind her before nipping her ear. “My every need is your delight, do you hear me? If I ask something, then you’ll do it. Tell me that you’ll obey me.”

“I’ll--I’ll do whatever you ask?” Scarlet replied, shivering a bit. She was starting to lean in, and Perique kept moving to deny her that. Not yet. Not even close.

“Everything,” came the answer. “And if I asked you to walk down the hall and ask one of the lords housed here to rutt you? If I asked you to do embarrassing things? If I asked… perhaps painful things?” She chuckled. She couldn’t help it. “Why am I even asking? Like you would have a choice.”

She retrieved the edge of the conjured leash and wrapped it around her forehoof and gave it a testing jerk. Scarlet Letter lurched forward, unsure if she was being called. Perique cleared it up for her with another, more forceful tug.

“There’s something far more basic, but we’ll get there. As much as I would love to show you what you’re actually here for… you gave me a bit of lip earlier. Brace with my chair, slave.”

Wordlessly, Scarlet obeyed. Her ears perked, trying to catch any slightest sound hinting at what would come next. Perique silently brought the crop she’d laid out right over her head and out of the poor mare’s sight.

“How many, how many… Well. Until it stops being enjoyable, I suppose,” she said to herself, and raised the crop high before adding, “Oh, and do count. Not counting would be… well, it would certainly make things fun for me.”

“Wh--”

The crop came down hard and fast, snapping on her left flank like a lightning crack. Scarlet almost fell forward, but she held. The urge to praise her was there, but she held off for just a moment.

“O-one!”

Another. Another. She didn’t even bother listening to what Scarlet said as she whined between her counts. The crop was nice, and the sound of it slicing through the air sent electricity down her spine, but it wasn’t quite enough. She wanted to feel it herself.

She switched to the opposite flank and took a few steps around to stand right behind her slave’s spread legs. The crop came up to lightly tap her inner thighs. “And you’ve yet to lose your balance. Very nice.”

Scarlet gasped as a hoof traced around her labia idly. “Though perhaps a bit too… impetuous. It’s good flaw to have. You’ll see how useful it is in a bit, don’t you worry…”

She drew her hoof away and replaced it with another crop hit, precisely in the same place she had already struck. This time, Scarlet’s count was mangled in a pained whimper. Perique’s eyes shot up to the enchanted Clocktower bell attached to her tail, waited for some signal to come, but none did. She smiled

The crop clattered against the floor, and she let Scarlet wonder what was going on for a moment before pulling her foreleg back and slapping one hoof across Scarlet’s right flank.

She loved it. She loved the adrenaline that ran through her, spiking along the outlines of Scarlet’s surprised whining. She loved the way the shock of impact ran up her foreleg, and she needed more.

And she took it. She struck again and again, and every single cry and whine and sniffle, every whimpered count, drove her on. She could feel her own arousal, but it wasn’t the focus. The pure mechanical movement of her own hoof, the sensuous thrill of that hard slap against her soft, pretty little flanks. She imagined the pained red flesh beneath her coat and it was like someone had set her mind on fire.

Perique lost track of the count--why let even an ounce of her care when her adorable slave could do it for her? She could feel her blood pounding in her ears, her heart double-time marching to keep up with the all-encompassing tunnel vision. There wasn’t anything but her hoof, the physical sensations it brought her, and the two of them.

She paused enough to rub her hoof along Scarlet’s sex and felt how wet she was and wanted to crow in victory. So needy! She didn’t even need to ask, but not commenting on it was just too hard.

“Maybe you won’t be such a bad slave after all, hm? Look at this! Shameless, but I don’t need you to be anything else. Useful and shameless. What count is that, filly?”

“T-Twenty s—“ she hiccuped. “Twenty six, mistress…”

Still panting, Perique started to come down from the peak enough to take stock. Scarlet was starting to shiver, and shifting in a way that signalled she was reaching a limit. Psychological or physical--regardless, it meant that it was time to move into the last act.

With a somewhat more gentle smile that Scarlet couldn’t see, Perique relaxed her body. She ran a hoof along her lover’s spine, not for the first time curious what it would be like to see wings there. The little thrum of surprise she got in response was like honey on her tongue.

She leaned in, nuzzling along Scarlet’s side and cheek before nipping her ear. Scarlet yipped, startled at this change of tactics.

“Poor little waif,” she purred. “Small and helpless to resist. So many ways that you could, too. Strong legs, strong back… you could put in the effort and be free. Anytime you wanted, you could stop all of this. You could free yourself.”

Scarlet was very, very still. Only her breathing, ragged and loud, filled what little space there was between them.

“You could end this at any point,” she said, and let a few beats pass. Enough time for an answer… which did not come. “But you won’t,” she continued. “Will you?”

“N-no…”

“And why’s that?”

“I… I’m…” Scarlet sputtered. Perique supplied her words.

“Because you know you can’t win. I’ll always chase you down. Besides, you were just made for this, weren’t you?” She pushed away, chuckling. “I rather think so. You may put your hooves down, slave.”

Scarlet did so slowly, wincing all the while, and then sat at attention.

Perique bared her fangs, almost childishly pleased in having a set that was now truly imposing. Scarlet, who had gained some of her composure back, lost much of it as soon as she looked at this new threat.

“Now that we have that out of the way... “ Perique chuckled. “Your main duty I will teach you now, by way of demonstration. The finer points you can pick up later.”

It was only now that she began to recognize something sitting right between her chest and stomach like a fire working its way up her throat. Thirst, but not like any thirst she had ever known. They had warned her that she would pick up more than just the appearance of the old vampiric lords, but she hadn’t realized just how powerful the need would be when it came.

Perique advanced one ominous, fang-baring step at a time, and Scarlet retreated. It was more cautious shuffling at first--she felt small, off-guard, vulnerable--but the anticipation in her eyes was there even when she was tripping backwards.

It wasn’t just the normal sounds of hoof against smooth stone that were clearer. She could hear everything. Every pulse of that beloved, quivering little heart was like a roaring in her ears that pushed out everything else but need.

“Any ideas?” asked the vampire. Secure in the knowledge that Scarlet was ready and as excited as she was, Perique left herself behind and became the vampire that the potions and the magic had shaped her to be in full.

She fell onto the bed in a mewling heap. “W-what are you talking about?” she managed to squeak out.

Playing dumb, and playing it well, and it fed the vampire’s thirst. Scarlet crawled up the bed, and the vampire ate up the distance in the blink of an eye, her every motion now almost uncanny in its dexterity. The vampire could feel the little thrill of terror in her staggered pulse and managed only by sheer will not to whimper.

“No need to be coy. I’ll cure you of that soon enough,” said the vampire, who now was above her prey. Her leathery wings spread wide, canopying them both and blocking out even the moderate light of her opulent chamber. She breathed on the slave’s neck and cheek, letting her stew in her own anticipation and anxiety, enjoying how with only the lightest of touches she could elicit all of this. “I’ll even be kind this first time,” she continued. “Very kind to such a small, new slave as you. Such a pretty little thing, easily trapped.”

She purred and kissed right under the slave’s chin and felt her pulse beating beneath her. So close… so close. “Maybe… it was for the best you were given to me, little stray. If this is the best fight you can put up, then a gilded slave-slut’s cage is the best place for you to stay.”

The slave wriggled under her and whined, and that was when she struck.Her right hind leg shifted in between the slave’s grinding against her lips, and then without warning she bit down as hard as she could right where the neck and shoulder met before the poor thing could even groan.

It was better than she could have imagined. It was harsh, yet almost sweet. It was metallic yet light. It wasn’t any of these things. In this form it was purest honey, and she lost herself in feeding like a beast.

Scarlet writhed, and her every motion and cry just served to press her against the vampire. She wrapped her legs around her new mistress as best she could, still wanting the release even as her conscious grew fuzzy and indistinct around the edges.

Perique was herself again. She didn’t know how long she had been locked in this embrace, or how long she had fed and held Scarlet down. Her leg was wet with Scarlet’s arousal, and as she pulled her fangs out the smaller mare moaned pleadingly.

She felt bold. She leaned in and kissed those imploring lips roughly, not bothering to lick the blood from her mouth, and replaced her leg with a hoof. Now she was in more familiar territory, and Scarlet held on to her.

“Such a good girl,” Perique breathed into her ear as she stroked. “Such a brave, obedient girl! When you finish, little one, I want you to scream it for me.”

And she did--already stimulated to her limit, Scarlet wasn’t long in finishing and her voice was hoarse and thick in the way only mental fog could provide. She clung tightly, almost painfully, as her legs shook, and then went slack.

Author's Note

First scene of three!

Up next: Bondage, impact play, some name-calling, and exhibitionnnn <3