“The dark one is the cruellest of all vampires, renowned for his evil deeds
and notorious for his depraved appetites. When a gypsy foretells his demise
at the hands of the virtuous, Faith, he plots to avoid the fate by robbing
the girl of her virtue.”
Reads the back cover of ‘Faith,’ the first in the trilogy of S/M vampire
erotica comprising of the eponymous ‘Faith,’ ‘Hope’ and ‘Charity.’
Faith is the lead choral singer in a production of Tosca touring Rome. Hope
works as a croupier in Paris, and Charity is the singer in ‘Bloodlust’ a
mock vampire rock/Goth band situated in London.
The trilogy’s anti-hero, Todd Hunter, manages and employs all three sisters
and acts as a go-between for the vampires, the Dark One and his voluptuous
sister, Lilah, and their business interests in the mortal world.
Populated with the same ensemble of lecherous, amoral vampires led by the
superbly forbidding dominatrix Lilah and her quixotic evil brother, The Dark
One, the novels share similar plot lines. Each sister has to be seduced into
losing her virtuousness by either the vampires, or the sister’s mortal
friends, and each is subjugated by corporal punishment, usually at the hands
of the irascible Todd Hunter.
But, and quite rightly, the Bloodlust plots cannot be separated from the
prevailing erotic element, which flows, pulsates and drips from almost every
page. Ashton’s erotica is effectively and sensuously detailed, from straight
sex and lesbian seductions to the more bizarre and extreme- with whip happy
vampire vixens trying to out-dominate one another. Ashton has the most fun
with her spanking scenes, the emotional turmoil that accompanies the sting
of a hand meting out punishment to a reddened behind, and she yields her pen
with a sadistic savour-faire. The sisters are often appalled, and ashamed
of their sexual yearnings. They surrender with grudging delight to their
awakened, masochistic desires. Here, for example where the heroine, Faith,
finds herself bent over the knee of the choir mistress, Mrs. Moon:
“Mortified by shame, Faith could only remain rigid as the hem was inched
higher. The woman’s cool hands brushed the backs of her knees, then grasped
the smooth flesh of her upper thighs, but Faith was struggling to ignore
every disquieting sensation. She knew her skirt was being lifted and she
didn’t doubt the exhibition of her bare legs and bottom would make for a
humiliating spectacle, but she felt helpless to resist or complain. But when
she heard the harsh growl of a seam tearing, she couldn’t stop herself from
crying out in complaint.”
The vampires too, although thoroughly amoral and unpleasant characters, are
darkly compelling as sexual beings. Partly based on medieval concepts,
sunlight kills them, crosses burn them, and they don’t like garlic. They can
take or make their victims, either by draining all their life’s blood or
drinking just a little. But Ashton wisely avoids the animated corpse route
of other vampire writers. She defines her vampires as beings in thrall to
their supernaturally insatiable libidos.
Very cleverly, with the vampires Lisette weaves an arousing erotic spell
that
equals that of her more conventional sex scenes. The vampire’s victims go
willingly to their deaths, in orgiastic bliss. The vampires feed off sexual
energy,
and excite their victims before biting them. Not unlike, to be glib, mere
mortals
popping a meal into the microwave before eating it.
“The redhead snatched her breath, her hands clawing at Helen’s back in a
way that could have been pushing her away or might have been pulling her
closer. She ground her hips more urgently in Nick’s direction, encouraging
him to bite her with the same vital passion. He hesitated, clearly torn by
other considerations, but eventually his arousal got the better of him and
he deigned to press his lips against her. The couple locked their mouths on
either side of the redhead’s throat and twin ribbons of scarlet trailed from
their kisses down to her exposed breasts. The redhead’s furious need seemed
momentarily boundless as she surrendered to them both, and Hope was stung by
another rush of envy as she watched the woman reach climax after climax.
It was while she basked at the pique of euphoria that her colour began to
fade. The excited blush that had rouged her cheekbones paled until her
complexion was ashen. She groaned, an anguished wail, and then she trembled
through the satisfaction of a final orgasm. Drained, she slumped back
against the wall, and as soon as Helen and Nick released her from their hold
she fell gracelessly to the floor.”
Heady stuff, but the Bloodlust trilogy doesn’t devote too much space to the
gorier aspect of vampirism. This is no serious attempt on the author’s part
to write a bone fide horror book. This is S/M erotica, with a vampiric
theme. Ashton’s creatures of the night seduce, ‘feeding from forbidden fruit
because it tastes better.’ These are vampires as sultry tempters as hungry
for their own pleasure as they are for blood. The horror is described in
terms of cruel kisses, dangerously cutting, promising pleasure beyond
imagination. The vampire’s feeding habits are couched in either subtly
erotic language, (penetrating kisses, crimson, hungry smiles), or with
more obvious sexual zealotry.
The tone is tongue in cheek, and there’s a wry vein running through the
novels. The vampires are hot tempered, arrogant, obnoxious rather than
suavely evil as with Stoker, or philosophical, as with Ann Rice’s vampire
legacy. Ashton’s vampire mythology has more in common with Whitley
Strieber’ s ‘The Hunger,’ than Rice or Stoker. Although mischievously,
Ashton cocks her thumb at Stoker by giving her heroines the family name
of, “Harker”.
Targeted at both men and women, with characters that dominate rather than
adorn the page, the Bloodlust trilogy makes for a stirring, hot-blooded
read. Ashton’s unerring ability to write an arousing and convincing sex
scene infuses the sensuousness of tentative sexual encounters, of the
‘smouldering light of torch beams held under bedcovers,’ to the squalid
catacombs where vampires fuck with pornographic glee, the dank squalor
hanging in the air ‘like the fetid breath of a gargoyle.’ The plots are
uncomplicated, but keep the reader guessing. The writing is evenly paced,
and balanced. Alluring and provocative- an erotic tour de force that really
is, very sexy.
Highly recommended.
A copy of this review first appeared on the Erotic Readers & Writers Association web pages. The author would like to thank Gary for his kind words and permission to reprint the review on this page.
