A Dowry of Blood

A Dowry of Blood is a 2021 novel by S.T. Gibson. It is Gibson’s debut novel. A Dowry of Blood is a retelling of Bram Stoker’s Dracula told from the perspective of one of Dracula’s wives, though it makes major departures from the source material. Gibson’s novel focuses on the abusive relationship between Dracula and three of his consorts over the course of several centuries. It is a Gothic romance with horror elements. Gibson has also published An Education in Malice, which is a retelling of another vampire classic, the 1872 novella Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu.

This guide refers to the 2021 Nyx Publishing e-book edition of the novel.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide contain discussions of abusive relationships.

Plot Summary

A Dowry of Blood takes the form of a long letter written by the protagonist and narrator to her lover. She seeks to explain why she murdered him. The story begins in Romania in an unspecified year, likely sometime in the 1300s. The narrator’s small village has been attacked by raiders. She is the sole survivor but is close to death herself when a vampire arrives. Impressed by her strength and beauty, he turns her into a vampire and names her Constanta; her original name is never revealed. Although the narrator never names her lover, he is clearly Dracula from Bram Stoker’s eponymous novel. Now undead and hungry for blood, Constanta brutally murders the men who killed her family. Dracula brings her to his castle, her new home. They sleep together and thereafter consider themselves to be married. Over the next few weeks, Constanta gradually grows stronger by drinking Dracula’s blood, though she never leaves the castle.

Constanta has free reign of the castle except for the banquet hall. Dracula shows it to her once; it is full of medical devices and scientific research equipment, as Dracula is invested in learning more about vampire and human physiology. He wants to discover where vampires come from, but Constanta believes that God must have created vampires just as he created humans. Dracula explains how vampires can turn humans into other vampires through an exchange of blood, though he notes that Constanta is too young to have such an ability. One day, a plague doctor arrives at the castle and begs Dracula, the area’s feudal lord, to help his people face a plague that is sweeping through the country. Dracula refuses and kills the plague doctor. Concerned that the plague will result in chaos and violence, he insists that he and Constanta leave immediately. 

Dracula and Constanta relocate to Vienna, and Constanta falls in love with the city. She only hunts and kills cruel and abusive people, to Dracula’s disdain. She has a brief dalliance with an embroiderer, but Dracula disapproves, so the friendship ends. In the early 1500s, the Ottoman army attacks Vienna, and Constanta and Dracula flee again. They head to Spain to meet one of Dracula’s correspondents, a noblewoman named Magdalena. She is beautiful, and Constanta is both jealous of her and attracted to her. Despite her misgivings, she does not protest when Dracula turns Magdalena into a vampire. Dracula now has two wives, and a romantic relationship blossoms between the two women. The three of them go on a honeymoon across Europe, stopping in Venice for the winter. There, Dracula becomes more controlling and less willing to let his brides spend time in the city without him. He gets angry with them for many minor infractions, but they always manage to placate him.

Constanta breaks into Dracula’s study and reads some of his correspondence. She learns that she is not his first bride; he has had many husbands and wives over the years, but he killed them if they defied or bored him. She is horrified, but she does not tell Magdalena what she has learned. She briefly tries to run away, but Dracula finds her when she enters a church to pray, and she returns home with him obediently. Over time, Magdalena becomes disenchanted with her life as a vampire, often going through depressive spirals. The three of them live in various European cities as the decades tick by. Once, Constanta tries to confront Dracula about his past loves, but he dismisses her concerns, assuring her that she is too young to understand the challenges of real love.

In 1919, Dracula, Constanta, and Magdalena travel to Russia. There, they meet Alexi, a 19-year-old painter’s model. All three of them find him beautiful, and after convincing Constanta to permit it, Dracula turns Alexi into a vampire. Constanta feels protective of Alexi, and their relationship initially remains platonic. Alexi helps bring Magdalena out of her depression for a while. The four of them travel to Paris, where Alexi befriends a circle of poets, artists, and actors, much to Dracula’s disapproval. Unlike Constanta and Magdalena, Alexi is tempestuous, often questioning Dracula’s motives and deliberately disobeying him. When Alexi brings his artist friends home, Dracula kills one of them and then blames Alexi for outing the four of them as vampires. He slaps Alexi, horrifying Constanta, who previously believed that Dracula would never physically harm any of them.

Dracula brings his three consorts to a dilapidated, isolated house in the French countryside, where he keeps them locked up. Everyone is unhappy. On one occasion, Constanta comforts Alexi after he has fought with Dracula, and the two of them have sex. Constanta, Magdalena, and Alexi conspire to kill Dracula. Alexi and Constanta break into his study and learn how to kill him effectively. As a mob of suspicious villagers approaches their home, the three consorts seduce Dracula, bringing him to bed. Once there, Magdalena and Alexi hold him down as Constanta stabs him through the heart. All three of them drink his blood, and then Constanta hands over his corpse to the mob that is now just outside the door. The villagers decapitate Dracula. 

Although Constanta feels guilty for killing her lover, she knows that she did the right thing. She, Magdalena, and Alexi are now free. Although the three of them love each other and know no other vampires, they choose to go their separate ways. Alexi boards a ship to America, Magdalena studies politics in Rome, and Constanta returns home to Romania.