Carmilla

"The ecclesiastic was absent, and I read the letter by myself. At

another time, or in another case, it might have excited my ridicule. But

into what quackeries will not people rush for a last chance, where all

accustomed means have failed, and the life of a beloved object is

at stake?

"Nothing, you will say, could be more absurd than the learned man's

letter.

"It was monstrous enough to have consigned him to a madhouse. He said

that the patient was suffering from the visits of a vampire! The

punctures which she described as having occurred near the throat, were,

he insisted, the insertion of those two long, thin, and sharp teeth

which, it is well known, are peculiar to vampires; and there could be no

doubt, he added, as to the well-defined presence of the small livid mark

which all concurred in describing as that induced by the demon's lips,

and every symptom described by the sufferer was in exact conformity with

those recorded in every case of a similar visitation.

"Being myself wholly skeptical as to the existence of any such portent

as the vampire, the supernatural theory of the good doctor furnished, in

my opinion, but another instance of learning and intelligence oddly

associated with some one hallucination. I was so miserable, however,

that, rather than try nothing, I acted upon the instructions of

the letter.

"I concealed myself in the dark dressing room, that opened upon the poor

patient's room, in which a candle was burning, and watched there till

she was fast asleep. I stood at the door, peeping through the small

crevice, my sword laid on the table beside me, as my directions

prescribed, until, a little after one, I saw a large black object, very

ill-defined, crawl, as it seemed to me, over the foot of the bed, and

swiftly spread itself up to the poor girl's throat, where it swelled, in

a moment, into a great, palpitating mass.

"For a few moments I had stood petrified. I now sprang forward, with my

sword in my hand. The black creature suddenly contracted towards the

foot of the bed, glided over it, and, standing on the floor about a yard

below the foot of the bed, with a glare of skulking ferocity and horror

fixed on me, I saw Millarca. Speculating I know not what, I struck at

her instantly with my sword; but I saw her standing near the door,

unscathed. Horrified, I pursued, and struck again. She was gone; and my

sword flew to shivers against the door.

"I can't describe to you all that passed on that horrible night. The

whole house was up and stirring. The specter Millarca was gone. But her

victim was sinking fast, and before the morning dawned, she died."

The old General was agitated. We did not speak to him. My father walked

to some little distance, and began reading the inscriptions on the

tombstones; and thus occupied, he strolled into the door of a side

chapel to prosecute his researches. The General leaned against the wall,

dried his eyes, and sighed heavily. I was relieved on hearing the voices

of Carmilla and Madame, who were at that moment approaching. The voices

died away.