Carmilla: The Ingenious Deception of a Loving Vampire

Chapter 1

As the carriage races through the forest of Styria towards the schloss of my next prey, an unnerving feeling begins to radiate throughout my lifeless body. I have been eagerly dreading this moment for the better part of twelve years. Our reunion.

Being of an age so great that its numerical value has lost all significance, to say that I have experienced almost every emotion known to man is a statement that I would have attributed to myself if it were not for the event that took place that fateful day. This feeling that I speak of is one even after all these years I am unable to label and one that has haunted me everyday since. Having lived in the same manner, playing the same role, for so many centuries I had gotten to a point where I lost all interest in my life, finding no pleasure in what I at one point in time believed to be the greatest life one could life, a life of invincibility. This life and all the feelings that accompanied it came crashing down twelve years ago, and since that day I have been going on in almost a trance like state, speaking the lines of deception that I have recited so many times before, and taking the innocent lives of people in a jaded haze. These twelve excruciatingly long years, which at one point in time I would have thought of as nothing more than a mere blip in my eternal existence has been filled with anticipation for the reunion with the girl who awoke the emotions in me which I experienced not twelve years ago in the very schloss which we are fast approaching at present.

As the tops of the towers of the Gothic schloss come into view I take a deep breath as the memories come flooding back.

Remembering the moment I first made my way up the tower, which was topped with a steep oak roof, to the large room that housed what I thought to be nothing more than my next victim. I can still recall with excruciating detail the feelings that ran through me the second I laid eyes on her, her with her porcelain skin and angelic face like I have never seen before. I stood there for what felt like hours in a trance, mesmerized by her, completely unaware as to the passing time and my mission in coming here in the first place. The piercing eyes that fluttered open and landed on my shadowed form finally broke my trance. Finally recovering my senses I was about to gather my composure and focus on my reasoning for coming here, when the most unexpected thing happened…she smiles at me. It was that smile that broke through my barriers and lured me to her side, where to my complete astonishment, she welcomes me with open arms. Upon lying in her arms I was flooded with her intoxicating aroma that sweet scent that was so familiar and yet laced with something I could not describe. My primal need took over and I leaned over her in my attempt at obtaining my first taste of her, when upon lowering my teeth to her delicate skin I was met with a piercing scream that I would have thought impossible to come our of such a small being. It was this cry that caused me to flee before I was able to get my first taste of her or even one final glance.

Remembering that night, as I have so many times before, I am once again overcome with a wave of emotions. Hatred for the torment that she has put me through for so many years, curiosity for what it is in her that has elicited these feeling from me, fear for the control that she has over me, and the most overwhelming emotion of all is that of anticipation for what there is to come with our reunion.

Chapter 2

“Are you both ready?” one of the drivers asks as we come to the opening of the forest, bringing the sight of the schloss’s drawbridge into full view.

Madame Claire turns to me with yet another look of apprehension. See, while Madame Claire appears to be my elder, and even assumed to be my mother for her close resemblance to me, she is neither of these things. Truth be told she is nothing more than my faithful servant, a victim that fell pray to my beauty and spell. This is not to say that she is of no importance to me, for Madame Claire has been a faithful servant for several hundred years, always looking out for my best interests. This concern for my well being is the reason behind the stare in which she is currently sending my way, for this next affair that I am about to partake on is against her wishes. While I usually leave it up to Madame Claire to find my next victim my impatience to meet the girl who has been plaguing my thoughts for twelve years has gone on long enough. This insistence to be taken here has not gone unnoticed by Madame Claire, but her curiosity in my command to be sent here is not the main reason behind her trepidation in this location, no that is manifested from her fear of us being discovered.

It may appear that the business of keeping my identity masked is one of ease, but I assure you it is not. Being a vampire and having the needs that I do makes it impossible to settle in one place for very long. To keep my identity concealed from those around me I am forced to live a nomadic existence, staying in one place for no more than a few months and then traveling to another far away place where the news of my carnage has gone unheard of. This code that I have lived by since the first days of my existence as a nightwalker has been the key to my survival, and is also the code that Madame Claire has been throwing in my face since my decision to come to this very place. If it were not for Mademoiselle Bertha Rheinfeldt, my last victim, and her God forsaken uncle General Spielsdorf I would have been able to come here without the trouble that I know must face.

It was not until my four night in General Spielsdorf’s residence when I discovered his connection with the girl who had been plaguing my thoughts for the last twelve years. It was just a few days before Mademoiselle Rheinfeldt began to show signs of her declining health and we were sitting around a fire in the den when the General began to talk about a visit that we were to make to a dear friend of his. He then went on to describe him and his beautiful daughter who live in a schloss in the country. While my interest was peaked to hear about this beautiful young girl, it was not until he showed me a painting of the father and daughter, which he had that I realized who she was. This was the girl that for so long had capitalized my thoughts and emotions and drained me of all the pleasure I had once gained from these frivolous games of deception and seduction, the one he calls Laura. It was in that instant that I knew I had to finish off this Mademoiselle Rheinfeldt and get to Laura as fast as possible.

General Spielsdorf’s residence being not very far from where we are now is the source behind Madame Claire’s constant reminder that this is a reckless decision, and that going forward with it would be to not only put my life in danger, but the lives of the rest of my party. But I cannot help it, I think. I am drawn to her and this separation of ours has gone on long enough.

As I am brought out of my daze, I see that Madame Claire is still waiting for a response. Giving her a sharp nod she warily turns to the driver and replies in a hushed and hesitant tone a simple yes. With that it begins and the horses are sent into a frenzy, swerving and galloping at such a speed that with a dramatic scream from Madame Claire, sent the carriage toppling over.

This is it, I think to myself as I get the first glimpse of the girl and her father.

Chapter 3

Days have passed since I first arrived and to my discontent I am becoming more and more attached to Laura. It was in my first encounter alone with her in the confines of my room that it struck me how she was even more beautiful than she was the last time that I laid eyes on her, if that were even possible.

It was only after about a week that I had taken up residence in their schloss when I finally could not control myself and had my first taste of my love Laura. To my great displeasure this task, which I have always found to be the easiest thing to do not to mention the most enjoyable, proved more difficult that I had hoped and I was subjected to pacing the floor of her room for many hours engaging in an internal battle with myself, my need versus my heart. It was not until the Sun was almost set to rise that I was finally able to make it to her bed, when upon laying next to her and being enveloped in her sweet scent my craving finally took over and I gained my first glimpse into how sweet and pure Laura truly was. I was this first taste of Laura that solidified my already overpowering connection to her, making her now and forever mine.

As days went by my infatuation with Laura seemed to only grow stronger with each taste I took of her even as she herself grew weaker. This latter part did not go unnoticed my me and even though her taste was turning into an addiction I was very careful in my actions wanting to make her taste and her very presence last for as long as possible. As weeks went by Laura continued to slowly deteriorate, but this did nothing to lessen her beauty, if anything her declining health made her even more enchanting, drawing me to her more and more.

It was not until about a month into my stay that my world, a world where only Laura and I lived, came crashing down. My fantasy was destroyed the night I was paid a visit by Madame Claire. This visit took me by great surprise for neither Madame Claire, nor anyone else from my party had ever approached me during one of my ‘dealings.’

It was not until I noticed her alarming agitation that I realized the nature of this visit. It was at this point that Madame Claire presented me with the news that General Spielsdorf, the overzealous uncle of my last victim, was in hot pursuit of us and was closing in on our location. She then went on to inform me that I had no more than a few days left before we were to leave Styria and that I should finish Laura off at once. This last part enraged me. How dare she, nothing more than my dutiful servant speak to me that way, order me around, and speak of Laura in such a manner! This rage quickly consumed me and it was not long before I had done to Madame Claire that which I was to have done to Laura, slay her. It was not until my rage slowly dissipated that I realized the repercussion of my actions. What have I done? I had killed the most vital member of my party and for what? A girl who’s life I was to take anyway. It was at that thought that I realized, I would never be able to kill Laura. I loved her too much. In that instant I was consumed with dread. What do I do now? I could not stay with Laura forever for the General was fast approaching and I could not go back to my party, not after killing one of their most vital members they would turn on me the moment they found out.

Realizing the truth behind that final statement I knew what I had to do next, I needed to dispose of the body. But where would I put it where it would never be discovered? Knowing I could never again return to Styria after my stay with Laura was over and that the General was bound to figure out my lineage I realized where I must take the body, somewhere where I would never return again…

Chapter 4

By the time I made it back to the schloss dawn was about to break and while the light slowly seeping in through the windows I had no choice but to hide in a cellar until nightfall. During the day Madame Claire’s words would not leave my head. General Spielsdorf is fast approaching. It will not be long now before he finds us and reveals out true identities. Knowing that my time here would soon be coming to an end I decided that there was no other choice, I could not lose Laura. I must turn her. With my mind made up and the Sun finally set I made my way up to my room to find that they had been searching for me all day. With a quick excuse that I must have sleep walked and locked the door everything soon returned to normal. That is until they later informed me that we would be taking a trip to Karnstein. Once I heard this I knew that I was running out of time, that if I was to make Laura mine forever, if I was to turn her that it would have to be when I meet her in Karnstein tonight.

Final Chapter

Having to wait for the Sun to finally set before I was able to make my way to Karnstein was almost unbearable. Watching the shadows slowly sweep across the floor until I was at last enclosed in darkness I was filled with an almost alarming anticipation. It took Mademoiselle De Lafontaine, the finishing governess and I a few hours to make the journey to Karnstein by carriage, but when we finally arrived what I saw brought all of my plans to a screeching halt.

Knowing Karnstein like the back of my hand on account of it was, and I suppose still is, my home it took me no time at all to my way to the main room where I could hear the voices of Laura and others. Once I had entered the room I was taken completely by surprise to find that the General was in their company. Upon seeing me walk into the room the General advanced on me without a moments hesitation carrying what appeared to be a hatchet. Fending off his blows with a death grip on his wrist I was about to let my instincts take over and slay him when from the corner of my eye I saw the horror in Laura’s face. Seeing such terror and repulsion in her eyes upon seeing me in my true nature I new it was all over. Whilst my love for her was more powerful than anything I had ever felt I new deep down that I could not subject Laura to a life as the walking dead, a life devoid of all happiness and instead filled with death. So with this final revelation I released my hold on the General and quickly made my retreat.

Epilogue

Many years have passed since that night and I still feel as broken as when I first saw that look in her eyes, the utter abhorrence at being in my presence. It was not until I had returned to Karnstein a fortnight after the ordeal that I realized the true success of my plan. The General and all that had accompanied him in my execution fell for yet another one of my charades. Having known that the General would discover my lineage which would inevitably lead him to Karnstein, I knew that their was only one way to end this game of cat and mouse. Upon slaying Madame Claire I knew that there were very few places that I could hide her body where she would not be discovered by neither my party nor humans, one of those places happening to be the very place that I knew the General would seek me out to slay me. My crypt. Knowing that she bared a resemblance to me and would decay considerable before my tomb was discovered, I knew that her corpse would easily be mistaken for mine. Madame Claire was always such a faithful servant and it seems that she remained so even in her death. While I know that my plan and deception was one for which I should be proud, knowing that I will be living an eternity without Laura by my side makes me want to curse the General and the priest, Laura, and her father for once again playing into yet another one of my deceptions.

I guess in the end all I have are my deceptions and a hope that one day I will find someone like Laura who I will want for more than the acquisition of their blood, and that with that love I will be able to make them mine forever.

Fin


Understanding ‘Carmilla: The Ingenious Deception of a Loving Vampire’ Fanfiction

When it comes to the story of Carmilla I think that everyone can agree that the more intriguing aspect of the story is the relationship between Carmilla and Laura. The relationship, which at some times appears to be nothing more than an innocent infatuation between the two characters, at other points is overshadowed by Carmilla’s open displays of affection for Laura that border on lesbianism. For my creative project I decided to create a fanfiction that centered on the relationship between the two main characters. This fanfiction however is unlike anything that you will have read in the novella in that it is not only written from a completely different point of view, showing the thoughts and motives behind Carmilla’s actions, but also by reading it through Carmilla’s point of view you will be witness to a completely different side of Carmilla than that which you had gotten glimpses of from your reading of the novella.

In writing this fanfiction there were many factors to consider before beginning the writing process, one of the main factors was based upon the novella as a whole and how much I was going to deviate from it storyline and timeline wise. This questioned proved to be difficult to answer for many reasons, one of which being that because the story was written in Laura’s point of view and only being given glimpses of Carmilla’s constantly changing personality, it was difficult to get any perspective into her character or her motives. From the little bits of insight that we are able to gather from Laura’s writing about Carmilla and her personality it appears that she is both seductive and conniving, but to what extent? The question that I was always left asking myself was what her true motives were behind such an excruciatingly slow and seductive kill. Many people believed that it was for her own pleasure or that that was how she really connected with her victims, but I was left feeling that those answers came up short. This belief in a much deeper meaning behind Carmilla’s actions led me to write the story through her perspective and to cast her in a much softer light that what most people would have placed her.

In my fanfiction you could say that I give Carmilla somewhat of a conscious and what you will see is that her motives behind her, in a sense, ‘courting’ of Laura are far more complex than for just simple pleasure. While I did decide to explore Carmilla’s infatuation for Laura and her eventual love for her, one thing that I resolved not to explore was what many readers believed to be the lesbian relationship between the characters of Carmilla and Laura, wanting to keep the story a little more ‘innocent’ if you will. By doing this you could say that I was deviating from the storyline, but given that we knew next to nothing about what was really going on in Carmilla’s head I believe that my alteration is quite plausible. So I ask, how much did I really stray from the storyline?

Along with trying to stay true to the storyline of the novella, another aspect of the story that I struggled to stay on course with was the timeline of the story. This you will find is another difficult thing to accomplish considering that fact that the timeline of the novel is quite ambiguous. How long does Carmilla actually stay with Laura and her father, was it a several days or several weeks? Since that question was without a clear-cut answer I was left to make that determination on my own. Seeing as in my fanfiction Carmilla’s infatuation with Laura leads her to draw out her death, not wanting their time together to end, I decided to make the timeline span over a course of several weeks. While deciding to give the story a longer time span, I did not decide to rewrite the entire novella from Carmilla’s point of view and going through all the repetitiveness that that would entail, finding it both unnecessary and redundant. Instead I decided to compress the story down to five chapters and an epilogue.

The first chapter of my fanfic centering on Carmilla’s thought right before Carmilla and Laura are reunited in addition to a flashback of the first night they met. This chapter served to show how deeply Carmilla felt for Laura and how that first meeting had affected her for all of these years. The second chapter then went on to have Carmilla describe the trouble she went to in coming to Styria given her code for survival. The second chapter was also important because it gave the reader insight to the character of Madame Claire, who’s name I made up on account of her name never being revealed. This chapter proved to further show how drawn to Laura she has become over the years, while also introducing the character of Madame Claire and her relationship with Carmilla. The character of Madame Claire took quite a lot of thought to expand considering the fact that we new even less about her than Carmilla, which seemed almost impossible. In developing her character I decided not to keep her as the mother of Carmilla, as is what we were led to believe from their story. Considering everything about Carmilla appeared to be a deception, I was led to believe that so was her faux mother. My reasoning for making Madame Claire nothing more than her faithful servant was to emphasis her age and power and that she was the leader of her party. By doing this I was able to give a convincing reason for Carmilla being able to decide to seek out Laura against the others wishes. Madame Claire also proved crucial to the story by showing the depths of Carmilla’s love for Laura and what she was willing to do for her. In Carmilla’s act of slaying Madame Claire, her most dependable subject, for telling her to kill Laura quickly was a key moment in showing how far Carmilla was willing to go to protect Laura. Madame Claire also proved a vital character in that she was the reasoning for not only Carmilla’s disappearance in the story during chapter seven, but also the essential factor in Carmilla making her great escape in the end.

While it was my intention to remain as close to the storyline as possible there was one instance in which I did stray. This instance in which I deviated from the novella’s storyline you could say was one of the most crucial moments in the entire story, the ending. While this is true, I would have to argue that although it does appear that I rewrote the ending, the manner in which I did alter it was in such a way that would make it possible to have happened. The facts of the story are laid out for you in the novella and being as that there is so much left to speculation it would appear that there are endless possibilities to how it all truly played out. So I ask again, how much did I really stray from the storyline? The only person who I believe is really capable of making that speculation would be Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu and as we all know he will not be making any complaints any time soon.