Category: Gothic
Word Count: 489.

Ivy's eyes darken with hunger. The blood red candles that line the room cast eerie shadows and illuminate her pale face as she glides toward me. Her graceful fingers grasp my long blond hair and pull me down onto my back. The plush red carpet envelops me as my pulse quickens.

I gaze up into those dark eyes; fearing her and longing for her at once. I shiver as her lips part to reveal her sensually sharp fangs. She pushes back a lock of her midnight hair, licking her lips as I feel her breath cool against my collar bone.

Her teeth press against my neck. I experience an intense pain as they penetrate. Unbelievable hurt tears through me and I gasp. I'm sent spinning on a wave of emotion that is somewhere between pleasure and pain. Her fangs burrow deeper and I clutch uselessly at the carpet with my fingers. Then I feel a pull. A rush as my blood spills into her mouth. I want to scream and wrench myself away even as I wish her deeper inside of me.

"We're done, love," she breathes as she kisses my neck and moves away.

I look deep into Ivy's pale face. "It's time," I say to her and, amazingly, her eyes show fear. "There is a price for blood."

I propel her across the shadowy room toward a red velvet chair. I sit and pull her to me. She takes a deep breath and then drapes herself across my lap. I fold her long black silk skirt over her back. Her pale smooth cheeks stare up at me and shimmer in the candlelight.

I reach beneath my chair for the smooth black hairbrush resting there. Then feeling empowered, I raise the brush high. I bring it down with a sharp crack.

Ivy jumps, and a small pitiful sound escapes from her. Crack! I bring the brush down again. The vampire wriggles beneath my grasp, trying to escape the impact of my blows, but her powers are weakened by the spanking.

She hates it, but Ivy needs this. It helps her to reconcile with the taking of blood. I do this because it will bring her peace.

With one final harsh crack I end the spanking!

"It's done, love," I say gently.

I rub her back soothingly as her powerless body trembles. Rising, her lips find mine and we kiss passionately. It feels as though a sacred cycle has been completed. Now that we have both given and taken, we can share in pleasure.

I guide her by the hand and together we cross the room to where a large wooden coffin stands. I gently lower her down into it. She gazes up at me, my radiant vampire lover. Her magnificent pale body contrasts beautifully with the red velvet she lies upon. Joy surges through me as I lower myself on top of her.

Our bodies unite at last.

Sexy vampires and spanking... an unexpected combination, but a tantalising read. I'd like to have seen more of Ivy's emotional struggle - being the dominant one and then surrendering the control she's just had. But perhaps that's asking a lot in 489 words. "I'm sent spinning on a wave of emotion that is somewhere between pleasure and pain." A lovely description of the submissive experience.

I know the title says F/F, yet there were no clues in the text itself that defined the narrator as female.  In fact, the part at the end where the speaker "lowers myself on top of her" implies male.  While leaving sex identity of a first person narrative can be an opportunity for the reader to insert themselves into the story, it seems if the F/F aspect is important to the author, then it should be clarified.

A stronger ending to the story is at the paragraph, "I raise the brush high.  I bring it down with a sharp crack."  The paragraph that follows, about loving it, needing it as penance, is essential, but it could be integrated into the paragraph where the narrator says, "There is a price for blood."  We're not going to get into the sensual detail of the lovemaking that follows, so it seems unneccessary baggage at the end, particularly when we're counting words.

A note on another part of the text--" . . . a wave of emotion that is somehow between pelasure and pain. . . "--does the author really mean emotion?  I think we're talking about the physical here.

I really liked the act and the detail of her penetrating her lover, there on the carpet.  I enjoyed the details of the story and its inherent sensuality.

This story reads like a dark and swirling dream, rich and in the tradition of the gothic.  Love the use of vampires, a tricky mix into spanking stories.  The story reads as genderless, I suppose the class of victim and prey being the more dominant notion and that too works.

I wanted more, but I suspect that's just greed.  A fine story.

"The Price for Blood" is rich in gothic atmosphere, with a unique mix of vampirism and spanking.  I like the first person narration, the give and take between the characters, and the way the author describes their interactions ("The vampire wriggles beneath my blows...").  The ending is nice, too.  A well rounded, well written story.