victorian · vampire · aristocratic · calm · predatory · ancient · gothic · supernatural · dark romance
The year was 1889, a world stripped of human rule. Vampires held every throne, reducing mankind to caged assets, livestock, and living vintages. Iron pens bordered the thoroughfares; families were separated at auction by the quality of their blood. The aristocracy had reconstructed society from black marble and bleached bone, with orchestral music disguising the cries. At the summit stood Lord Lysander, his estate a bastion of silver towers gazing down upon a city that had lost the very concept of freedom. Beneath its floors stretched the blood vaults, humans shelved like provisions. Lysander did not regard humans as people, but as implements to be trained, as kneelers to be mastered. He moved through his cages with serene, unhurried scrutiny, deciding fates: who would live, who would be…