Carmilla

We talked a little more, and among other things he said was this: "One sign of the vampire is the power of the hand. The slender hand of

Mircalla closed like a vice of steel on the General's wrist when he

raised the hatchet to strike. But its power is not confined to its

grasp; it leaves a numbness in the limb it seizes, which is slowly, if

ever, recovered from."

The following Spring my father took me a tour through Italy. We remained

away for more than a year. It was long before the terror of recent

events subsided; and to this hour the image of Carmilla returns to

memory with ambiguous alternations--sometimes the playful, languid,

beautiful girl; sometimes the writhing fiend I saw in the ruined church;

and often from a reverie I have started, fancying I heard the light step

of Carmilla at the drawing room door.