hot vampire nobles and their sexy betraying servants

Hakushaku wa yoru no hanayome by Asuma Risai and illustrated by Asato Eiri is in a "xx is the bride of the night" series, this one with "Earl" as the "xx." The other two were priest and butler. There had been a group translating the priest one, I'm not sure if that's still going on. In any case, this series is pretty damn bad. I read them all because I like Asato Eiri's art and am a sucker for vampires. I have to admit, though, that I enjoyed this one the most because it was the worst. I expect logical inconsistencies in these kinds of stories because the author never seems to bother making the characters act in some semblance of consistency. They always jerk the characters from one action to another, one motivation to another, so that some moe point can be hit. This one just decided that consistency is for sillies and ran long and hard in random directions. I still don't quite understand the story because both guys in the pairing were acting out parts in three or four different conventions, but I will try to condense the story down to something approaching logical.

The Earl is a vampire. He's gorgeous. He has a butler, who is also gorgeous. The Earl has an uncle (his mother's brother) who hates his guts because a) uncle thinks Earl's father killed Earl's mother by forcing her to marry him (which he did), b) uncle hate vampires and Earl is a vampire, and c) uncle is jealous of Earl's wealth. Earl has to marry to inherit a lot of money that otherwise would go to the uncle. As he can't have that, he decides to marry his loyal and obedient butler. They have a secret rite in a secret underground chamber with the Earl's friend as witness, which apparently is enough to fulfill the requirements of the will (I don't understand how that could be legally allowable, but who am I to question such things?). Nothing much changes between the Earl and butler besides one kiss in the middle of the street to "prove" to the uncle that their marriage isn't a sham, after which the Earl slaps the butler for his insolence.

Then we have the big betrayal. The butler is working for the uncle! Butler's brother had been killed by a vampire, thus he hates vampires! He will get his revenge on Earl by helping the uncle steal the Earl's fortune! And use Earl sexually! Earl is drugged out and fucked for quite a while. He angsts, naturally, and we learn lots of contradictory "facts" from the past as well as some of his "true" feelings. This includes the fact that the Earl had been whored out by his mother as a child because she hated him so much, including to the servants. He'd never been loved by anyone! He had become attached to butler because the butler never knew about his dirty secret and didn't treat him like dirt. But he could never show his attachment a) because his mother would use it against him and b) he has no people skills. So the betrayal was that much worse for him! The butler even reveals that he knew about the Earl's prostitution! The Earl is aloooone!!

In the end, the Earl manages to lessen his drugged food and water intake enough to be able to move. He staggers around to try to find the butler and kill him (or die trying). He gets into an altercation with the uncle instead, with the uncle falling out a window or something and dying. He's saved by butler, and we learn butler's "true" feelings. He initially hated the Earl for being a vampire, but then became attached to the Earl over time. He also resented the fact that the Earl treated him like a piece of furniture. Thus he had jumped at the chance to make the Earl his. He had rejoiced at the fact that the Earl saw him clearly enough to hate his guts and want to kill him. But now they had no reason to act like jerks to each other! True love prevails!

Turns out, btw, that the Earl had awakened to his vampiric nature while entertaining a customer and had killed him. Earl's mother, frightened by him, had fallen down the stairs and had died. Earl had been traumatized, so when he was found by butler (naturally) he was made to forget it all by butler (magical repeat the "it never happened" mantra to a shocked little child and they actually do forget!).

I think I made the story sound much more logical than it actually was. I guess cutting out all the extraneous description that only serve to muddy the picture really helps. ^^;

I love butler betrayal. And kids being pimped by their parents. And "I love you so much I hate you and need to drug you and fuck you into the mattress!" done with such single-minded retardedness. There's just something so delightfully over-the-top about these kinds of situations. XD The only big disappointment was how unimportant the vampire thing was except as a reason for people to hate the Earl.

( pretty pics! )

DOG OF LUST

Yokubou no inu by Nakahara Kazuya and illustrated by Nara Chiharu is about a public prosecutor and the young man he picks up. It's a fun book. There's a lot of wild sex and a lot of "this isn't anything like I've experienced before!" by the prosecutor.

One day prosecutor is heading home in the rain after a long, hard day and happens to see a young man in casual clothes. The young man pulls the prosecutor out of the way of a speeding car. The prosecutor takes the young man home for a hot shower and food in thanks. But the young man has a fabulous body that the prosecutor, who is gay, can't help but notice. The young man notices the prosecutor's gaze and pushes for sex. They have hot wild sex on the dining room floor, which shocks the prosecutor because he's never had sex outside of a bed before, particularly such wild sex. After that the young man comes and goes and they have lots and lots of sex (including one particularly passionate bout at the prosecutor's office). The prosecutor is confused about the young man, who doesn't talk about himself very much. They have the cutest date (that results in really hot sex), and the prosecutor realizes he's falling for the young man. He gets all anxious over the reason why the young man won't tell him anything (he doesn't mean anything to the model) and they end up breaking up at one point. It doesn't help that an old lover shows up to try to get back with the prosecutor or that the prosecutor finds out that the young man is an up-and-coming model. It's one of those "we live in different worlds" concept driving a deep wedge in relationships...I suppose it's the young man's fault for not being up front with the prosecutor, but in any case, these various developments contribute to a break-up (including the model's agent demanding that the prosecutor end things with the model as not to mess up his career). The prosecutor attempts to get back with the old lover (a prosecutor who had been his mentor and a really sweet guy), but can't. He's still in love with model boy.

Everything concludes well when the prosecutor is attacked at home by a guy he'd help send to jail who had decided that his life had been ruined by the prosecutor and the prosecutor was going to PAY. The model comes by the prosecutor's apartment, but the prosecutor sends the model away as he's being threatened with a knife. His attacker, in a rage, beats the prosecutor up. Prosecutor figures he's as good as dead, but he's rescued by model who'd sneaked in through the balcony. He wakes up in the hospital where everything is revealed. Model hadn't known about the agent's actions, and had beat up the agent, gotten the private investigator's report the agent had commissioned on the prosecutor, and had quit. The report noted that the prosecutor was being followed, so when the prosecutor had sent the model away without even coming to the door the model had a hunch that something wasn't right and had snuck in. Turns out the model is totally in love with the prosecutor (duh) and had been shy about himself for a fairly good reason. He'd been investigated by the prosecutor once and had been so impressed by the prosecutor's professionalism and dedication to justice that he'd decided to become a prosecutor as well (he'd happened to be a university student majoring in law). But he was too embarrassed to tell the prosecutor, especially after learning that the prosecutor's former lover is a really talented prosecutor as well. The prosecutor also confesses that he's in love with the model and hadn't been able to get back together with his old lover because his heart was still with the model. They have hot make-up sex.

The book ends with the most adorable scene of domestic lovey-dovey sappiness in the prosecutor's apartment. They are making a meal together, and the prosecutor urges the (ex-) model to study for his bar exam. He teases his young lover, telling him that he wants to see him all dressed up in a suit. Prosecutor thinks it'd be SO HOT...He might just go really wild. The model can't help but be peeved that the prosecutor is able to dangle such a tempting carrot in front of him....

There's probably a bit too much wallowing in angst, but I could forgive the faults because the sex was hot and the way the author managed to show the prosecutor slowly falling in love was sweet. I laughed at how boring the prosecutor's sex life was--so vanilla and so boring! And there was actually a good explanation as to why the model wouldn't talk about himself. How like a man to be too embarrassed to admit that the prosecutor is his hero as well as his goddess! XDXD

( gorgeous pics )