The Tomb (F/F story)

Rose went through the contents of her backpack one last time, just to make sure that everything was there. She'd already looked through it several times before, but carelessness was not her thing. Besides, it gave her something to do, which calmed her nerves, while she waited for the sun to go down. She didn't want to be spotted entering the tomb. That would only lead to questions.

 

In fairness, she really shouldn't be this nervous. She already considered herself an experienced treasure hunter, and this was not her first tomb. She was quick, thorough, and never left a trace that she had been there. But there was something about her current target that made her uneasy. She shook her head, ignoring that little voice at the back of her head. At the moment, that voice was a distraction.

 

Sometimes, she liked to think about the great books that would be written about her in the future, when she was too old to go treasure hunting, and wanted to sell her story. Classics would be written about the young, petite hunter with the fiery red hair, who braved the darkest dungeons. She looked down on her tank-top, and the tight shorts that had once been a tight pair of jeans. In the stories, she would be wearing something a little more glamorous.

 

Her flashlight seemed only to enhance the darkness surrounding her, rather than dispel it. She studied the floor, to see if there were any footprints. If there were, she couldn't find any. That seemed promising. It was unusual to find a non-plundered tomb this close to civilization, and she didn't want to enter the treasury to find it empty. That would be anti-climactic.

 

The hallway was long, but there were few branching ways, so she soon found the burial chamber. That was where the owner of the tomb would be located, along with the best of the loot. She found the coffin, and tried to open the lid; often, the body would carry rings and bracelets that would fetch a pretty good price on the market. No luck. The lid was solid stone, and wouldn't budge. She would need hours to pry it open, and she had no idea if the work was worth it. She decided to leave the coffin until next time and headed further into the tomb.

 

Ten minutes later, she emerged from the inner tomb, struggling under the new weight of her backpack. She'd found a lot more than she could carry, but there was no reason she couldn't come back tomorrow, was there? She sent the coffin a nod, as if to thank the owner of the tomb for her generosity, when she spotted something that froze the blood in her veins.

 

The lid of the coffin was lying on the ground, and the coffin was empty.

 

For a few seconds, she could do nothing but stand there and stare. Slowly, her mental capacities returned to her. She hadn't been mistaken; the lid had been moved. This either meant that someone else had entered the tomb, removed the lid and the corpse in a very short amount of time... or that the owner of the tomb was up and walking again. Either way, she wasn't alone anymore.

 

The darkness of the tomb seemed a lot more intimidating now than it had been on the way in.

 

"Looking for something, child?"

 

Rose spun around, suddenly face to face with a tall, pale woman with a strange smile that made her feel very, very nervous. She was dressed in a long, white robe, with a simple tiara on her head. Her face looked to be about thirty or thereabouts, but the eyes seemed much, much older.

 

Rose noted the fangs, and realized that a real, actual vampire was eyeing her. And she didn't seem like the sparkling, fun kind of vampire, either.

 

"I asked if you were looking for something," the vampire said, taking a step towards her. Rose stepped back as quickly as she could, hoping to keep as much distance between herself and the creature as possible.

 

The vampire laughed. "You don't talk much, do you? What is your name, child?"

 

"I'm not a child," Rose said, more out of reflex than anything else. She was in her early twenties, but painfully aware that she often looked younger.

 

"Is that so?" the creature replied with a grin that made Rose's skin crawl. "There are only two kinds of people that enter my tomb, child. Curious children that want to see if the stories are true, or thieves that come to steal my property. The children are punished, then sent back. The thieves are killed." She placed her hand on Rose's neck, caressing her slightly. "Tell me, are you a curious child? Or a thief?"

 

Rose felt the cold fingers against her skin, and realized that if the vampire was strong enough to lift the stone lid without making a sound, she was more than strong enough to snap her neck with one hand. And she had a feeling that if she didn't do as the vampire wanted, that was exactly what she would do. "I'm a child," she told her, "A child!"

 

"Is that so?" the vampire said, looking down at Rose's backpack, which had fallen to the floor.  She grinned even wider, baring her fangs at her trembling captive. "That does not look like souvenirs taken by a child on adventure. So, tell me. Are you really a child that needs to be punished?"

 

The hungry eyes came closer, and Rose grasped for the only straw she had. "Yes! Yes, I'm a child! A child that should be punished!" she said, backing into the wall. There was nowhere to run, and even if there was, the vampire was faster.

 

The vampire took a step back. "Good. Come here," she said as she stepped towards the coffin. Rose followed her; if she disobeyed the vampire, she was dead, no question about it. If she did as instructed, she might have a small chance.

 

The vampire sat down on an old stone bench, beckoning Rose towards her. "Well, child, I think a good spanking will teach you not to disrupt my sleep again."

 

"A what?" Rose said, astonished.

 

"A spanking," the vampire said calmly. "I'm going to strike your bare bottom with my palm until it's red, warm and stinging. That's still a thing in this century, I trust?"

 

Rose nodded. Ordinarily, she would protest at the prospect of being treated like a child, but this was not an ordinary situation. At the moment, she would have cut off her own legs if she thought it might help her live to see sunlight.

 

Cold fingers reached forward, unbuttoning and unzipping Rose's shorts. The vampire sniffed into the air, tutting as she looked up at Rose. "The child is not even potty-trained." Rose paled as she realized that she had wet herself in fear.

 

"I'm sorry," she said, trembling a bit. If she managed to offend the vampire, she knew it would be the last thing she did.

 

"That's okay," the vampire told her as she pulled her shorts and panties down to the ground, before lifting Rose out of them and placing her over her lap. She started to rub her pale, trembling bottom. "What is your name, child?"

 

"It's Rose, ma'am. Rose Fairwater."

 

"Rose. What a lovely name," she said in an almost friendly tone. "I am Lady Honoria." She stopped rubbing. "I'm afraid that this is going to hurt very much, Rose."

 

Rose cried out as the first smacks landed on her unprotected buttocks, every fibre of her being telling her to move away, but her brain telling her to move as little as possible. She held her head down and cried as the slim, but strong vampire raised her hand again and again, covering her entire bottom with crisp, stinging swats.

 

"Are you learning your lesson, Rose? I'd hate for my efforts to be in vain."

 

"Ow! Yes, Lady – Ow! – Honoria,  I'm – ouch! – sorry for trespassing."

"Good," the vampire said, smiling brightly.

 

Rose was sobbing loudly, completely unaware of the passage of time, or what was happening around her, apart from that everlasting, all-encompassing pain. All her consciousness was focused on those two cheeks, turning redder and redder under that pale, untiring arm.

 

She slowly realized that she was back on her feet, in the vampire's embrace. Lady Honoria was rubbing her back with one hand and her sore cheeks with another, as she whispered calming words into her ear.

 

"Hush, little child. Your punishment is over, you've been forgiven your transgressions." She smiled down at her. "You can go now." The vampire pointed at her backpack. "You can take those things that you brought into my tomb. But a quick warning. If a single item of mine leaves this tomb... I'll know about it." She looked coldly at Rose. "Do you understand?"

 

Rose nodded, too scared to talk.

 

The vampire sniffed in the air. "Take your clothes with you, as well."

 

A few minutes later, Rose exited the tomb, backpack no heavier than when she entered, apart from her shorts and panties, which she'd placed in a side pocket. Partly because she didn't want to put on urine-stained clothes, and partly because she didn't want to put any pressure on her poor bottom just yet.

 

She made her way back to her car, gingerly lowering herself into the seat, grimacing at the pain. Driving back was going to be interesting.

 

She wondered what she was going to do with her time from now on, since treasure hunting was completely out of the question.