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| Peter Davies 1929, Art: Edward Ardizzone |
Irish author J. Sheridan Le Fanu's vampiress story "Carmilla" was published 26 years before Bram Stoker created Dracula (it's largely accepted that "Carmilla" had a great influence on the more famous novel). Although preceded by the vampire novels The Vampyr (Polidori, 1819), The Black Vampyre ("Uriah Derick D'Arcy", 1819) and Varney the Vampire (James Malcolm Rymer, 1847), Le Fanu's story is notable for introducing the first lesbian vampire. Since it's appearance, "Carmilla" has been adapted for film and comics many times, and has even had unofficial sequels published by modern writers. The most notable film adaptation is probably Hammer Films' The Vampire Lovers (1970), although Carmilla-like mother-daughter revenants also appear in vampire films as recent as Neil Jordan's 2012 film, Byzantium.
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| Peter Davies 1929, Art: Edward Ardizzone |
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| Peter Davies 1929, Art: Edward Ardizzone |
In the near-book-length story "The Room In the Dragon Volant", a wealthy English nobleman becomes madly-infatuated with a French Countess and tries to romance her away from the elderly Count. During this story, an oriental "fortune-teller" at a masquerade ball provides some supernatural color. Centering on interactions with various characters he meets in Paris, Versailles and the "haunted" Dragon Volante inn, the English nobleman eventually learns that everyone he has met is not who he or she has claimed to be.
"Carmilla", the most well-known of the stories, is told from the point of view of a young woman named Laura, who lives a secluded life in an Austrian castle with her father and a few servants. One evening, Laura and her father find themselves asked to give shelter to a mysterious young lady named Carmilla. Their languorous guest soon begins showing a great deal of affection for Laura, while at the same time an unexplained "epidemic" begins striking down women in the nearby area. After several episodes involving weird dreams, impossibly-old family portraits and a couple of flashback sequences, a "vampire-expert" is called in and Carmilla's centuries-old past is revealed. More detailed synopses follow for all five stories included in In A Glass Darkly.
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| Oldstyle Press 2017, Art: M. Grant Kellermeyer |
"Green Tea"
- Prologue: Martin Hesselius, the German Physician: The author states that the following case is derived from letters sent from the German physician Martin Hesselius to his friend, the chemist Professor Van Loo of Leyden. They describe a curious case which Hesselius worked on in England.
- Dr. Hesselius Relates How He Met the Rev. Mr. Jennings: One night at a party, Hesselius meets the Reverend Jennings sometimes falls ill in the middle of a sermon, as if he had "seen something" crawling on the floor. Hesselius, being a physician interested in the spiritual and metaphysical, makes his acquaintance and offers to give him a copy of one of his books.
- The Doctor Questions Lady Mary, and She Answers: While speaking to their mutual friend Lady Mary (the host of the party), Hesselius confirms his theory that Jennings' late father used to see ghosts.
- Dr. Hesselius Picks Up Something in Latin Books: Hesselius visits Jennings at his home in order to drop off the book he had promised, and while waiting for him in his library, notices some books related to evil spirits.
- Four Eyes Were Reading the Passage: Jennings appears and seems disturbed when he sees Hesselius reading his books. He remarks to Hesselius that he believes that Dr. Harley, a noted physician, is incompetent, and asks for Hesselius' help if he needs it in the future.
- Doctor Hesselius Is Summoned to Richmond: Days later, Jennings tries to resume his parish duties, but soon asks for Hesselius' help. Hesselius meets him at his house in Richmond.
- How Mr. Jennings Met His Companion: Jennings relates how, four years ago, he had begun to study ancient pagan religions as a hobby (usually while drinking green tea). One day while riding on a bus, he sees a black, crimson-eyed monkey, which he is unable to touch. Terrified, he flees the vehicle.
- The Journey: First Stage: The black monkey follows him home and spends all of its time staring at Jennings in a "malign" way. Jennings is relieved one day when the spectral monkey jumps into the flames of his fireplace and disappears. However, a few days later the creature resumes its evil vigil.
Chiltern Library 1947, Art: Leonard Rosoman - The Second Stage: The creature's presence becomes more and more aggressive until it actively interferes with Jennings' public sermons and his prayer meditations, even when his eyes are closed. Jennings sees Dr. Harley, but Harley dismisses it as a hallucination.
- The Third Stage: Eventually, the monkey even begins speaking to Jennings, and tries to give him orders. One night Jennings is almost urged into suicide, but the presence of a young girl (his niece) saves him.
- Home: Hesselius tells Jennings that the monkey cannot harm him since it is immaterial. Since the monkey is absent during this particular visit, Hesselius tells Jennings to call him when it returns. The next day, Hesselius returns to his apartment and finds a note from Jennings asking him to come right away. When he finally gets there, he finds that Jennings has cut his own throat.
- Conclusion - A Word for Those Who Suffer: Hesselius ends his letter to Van Loo by theorizing that Jennings' habit of drinking green tea had opened his "interior eye" to visitations by phantoms like the red-eyed monkey. He believes that, in time, he could have saved Jennings, but the man's hereditary suicidal mania had caused him to succumb before Hesselius could even begin treating him.
"The Familiar" ("The Watcher")
- Prologue: Hesselius states that supernatural phenomena occur to visionaries, victims of spiritual disease, or a combination of the two. He claims that he might have been able to help the subject of this next case had he been more well-informed of its details.
- Footsteps: In 1794 an Irish sea captain named Barton returns home to Dublin. Although he is a skeptic of the supernatural, one night he becomes uneasy when he hears strange footsteps behind him on a desolate street. He can see no one behind him, but the footsteps move about him without explanation.
- The Watcher: The next day, he receives a letter warning him to avoid the previous night's street, signed by "The Watcher". After hearing the sounds again on a different route, he receives another note from the Watcher, informing him that he is being watched. The footsteps continue for several days. At one point, the narrator (a friend of Hesselius') accompanies Barton on the street, but does not hear any mysterious footsteps.
- An Advertisement: One day, Captain Barton runs into a small foreign-looking man wearing a fur cap who gives off an angry attitude. Barton is disturbed by the experience and later asks his doctor if lockjaw might be mistaken for death. He also asks the doctor if there are any diseases which might shrink a man but otherwise leave him with the same appearance (the doctor says no to both). The next day, an ad appears asking for Sylvester Yelland (a crewman aboard Barton's former ship the Dolphin) to check in with a certain law firm for an "opportunity".
- He Talks with a Clergyman: One night while braving the "forbidden street", he hears someone shoot at him. He doesn't see his attacker, but later the small fur-capped man walks by, whispering “Still alive—still alive!”. Barton soon visits a preacher and claims that he is being "haunted" for a past crime.
- Mr. Barton States His Case: Barton claims that a demon is constantly persecuting him, and causes him to experience a state of paralyzing fear. The preacher is skeptical, but promises to pray for him.
- Seen Again: General Montague, the father of Barton's fiancée, arrives and tries to shake Barton out of his mania. When the small man appears, Montague sees him and chases him down a street, but the figure disappears into thin air. Barton decides to go on a trip to the Continent, hoping this will dispel his worries.
Flight: Barton and Montague visit England, and for a time the small man is not to be seen. However, he eventually does reappear and even openly mocks Barton in the street. After returning to Ireland, Barton secludes himself within a walled courtyard in his fiancée's mother's house, in the hope that this will protected him from further visitations.
Downey 1894 - Softened: Eventually the evil little man makes an appearance at the gate of the courtyard, the shock of which causes Barton to fall unconscious. He then has a vision of lying next to a placid lake, comforted by a beautiful woman. When he wakes, he knows that he will be visited one last time by the little man, after which he will die.
- Requiescat: One night, Barton thinks he hears the sounds of his fiancée's pet owl (which he hates). He asks his servant to look for the owl, but when the door closes behind him the servant can hear Barton screaming. When he and Montague break into the room, the owl flies out into the sky, and they discover Barton dead, apparently frozen in terror. A large indentation in the bed can be seen next to him, indicating an unseen visitor. Later it is revealed that during an earlier sea voyage, Barton had flirted with the daughter of one of his crewmen. The crewman had then punished the girl for her friendliness to Barton. Upon learning of this, Barton had then had the crewman whipped to death.
"Mr. Justice Harbottle" ("An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street")
- Prologue: Hesselius considers the following case to be an example of the "transmissibility" of the opening of the "inner eye". In other words, a visitation by occult forces upon a single person can sometimes cause others nearby to experience similar experiences. The following document is labelled "Harmon's Report".
- The Judge's House: While staying in a strange house, a man sees two ghosts emerge from a closet and exit the room. He inquires about the house from an old friend, who sends back a letter describing the story of a sadistic, immoral judge named Elijah Harbottle. Harbottle's story follows.
- Mr. Peters: One night, a sickly-looking man named Hugh Peters visits Judge Harbottle at his home and tells him that a "higher court" is planning to investigate him for wrongful behavior on the bench. Suspicious of the man, Harbottle has his servant follow Peters down the street.
- Lewis Pyneweck: When Peters knocks out Harbottle's spy, Harbottle is convinced of Peters' insincerity. It is soon revealed that Harbottle is conspiring with the wife of a man named Lewis Pyneweck in order to have him put away in court. Harbottle also notices a resemblance between Peters and Pyneweck.
- Interruption In Court: Eventually, Harbottle oversees Pyneweck's case and has him sentenced to death. Some time later however, he sees someone who looks like Pynyweck in the back of his courtroom. He orders the man to be arrested but no one can find him.
- Caleb Searcher: Harbottle soon receives a letter (signed by "Caleb Searcher, the Officer of the Crown Solicitor for the Kingdom of Life and Death") accusing him of foul play in his sentencing of Pyneweck, and that Harbottle will be punished on the 10th of the month. Harbottle asks Flora (Pyneweck's widow) if her late husband had had any brothers, and she tells him that he had only one, who died in Jamaica.
- Arrested: One night, Harbottle is kidnapped and brought on a ghostly carriage ride. One of the men looks like someone he had once sent to prison and then was executed. Eventually, the carriage stops by a bizarre, sepulchral gallows where a skeleton suggests a hanging for the helpless judge.
- Chief Justice Twofold: Harbottle is then brought into a strange courtroom which is presided over by "Chief Justice Two-Fold" (an enlarged, exaggerated version of himself). He is then treated as unfairly as the defendants in his own courts had been, and then shackled. With his ankle burning from the hot iron of his leg cuffs, he awakens from the dream, apparently only suffering an attack of the gout.
Oldstyle Press 2017, Art: M. Grant Kellermeyer - Somebody Has Got Into the House: Harbottle goes on a trip to take his mind off of the disturbing dream. On the 9th of the month, a little girl reports having seen a strange man (with Pyneweck's description) in Harbottle's sedan-chair, who had then disappeared.
- The Judge Leaves His House: Harbottle's maid (Pyneweck's widow Flora) becomes disturbed when she sees a ghostly figure carrying around a rope. Later, a scullery maid follows the sounds of clanging to discover a strange iron-smith banging on an anvil with Harbottle's corpse at his feet. Later, Harbottle himself appears in his room and acts as if he is going on a trip. The next morning (the 10th), Harbottle is found swinging by a rope, apparently victim of suicide.
"The Room in the Dragon Volant"
- Prologue: The author notes that the following story is related to Hesselius' notes on exotic drugs from the Dark and the Middle Ages.
- On The Road: On the way to Paris, a wealthy English nobleman named Beckett comes to the aid of a carriage in distress. He becomes infatuated with one of the female passengers, but doesn't see her face clearly.
- The Inn-Yard of the Belle Etoile: Beckett follows the carriage of the mysterious woman to her inn (the Belle Etoile) and takes lodging there himself. He peeks in on the woman and sees violet eyes, but she soon asks him to depart.
- Death and Love Together Mated: Beckett hears the lady sing a song about "Death and Love", but her traveling companion, a Count, asks her to restrain herself.
- Monsieur Droqville: Beckett meets French nobleman named Droqville, who at first takes Beckett for someone else. In a friendly overture, Droqville invites Beckett to his chateau sometime. Beckett also runs into a ranting French soldier who quickly stumbles away.
- Supper At the Belle Etoile: Droqville informs Beckett that the woman he has been pining over is the Countess de St. Alyre. The French soldier (Colonel Gaillarde) enters and asks about the Count's carriage, parked outside the hotel.
- The Naked Sword: Beckett learns from Droqville that Gaillarde may be a bit unhinged. Later, the Count and Countess emerge from the hotel and try to enter their carriage. When Gaillarde begins threatening them, Beckett intervenes.
- The White Rose: After knocking Gaillarde out, Beckett is gifted with a white rose from the Countess, just before she is whisked away in her carriage. Droqville and Beckett soon depart in pursuit of the Count's carriage, but along the way Beckett loses the ability to move his body for some strange reason.
- A Three Minutes' Visit: While Droqville steps out at a rest stop, a disguised figure enters the carriage and examines the helpless Beckett's papers. The carriage journey soon continues and Beckett comes out of his mysterious paralysis.
- Gossip And Counsel: After arriving in Paris, Droqville promises to introduce Beckett to his powerful friends. He also tells Beckett that the Count wants to sell his wife's diamonds, but she is unwilling, thus causing some marital stress. He also invites Beckett to a masked ball to be held at Versailles.
- The Black Veil: At Versailles, Beckett finds that the hotels have no vacancies. Fortunately, he runs into Droqville who takes him to an inn named Le Dragon Volant (the Flying Dragon), which has a single vacancy.
- The Dragon Volant: At the dreary Dragon Volant, Beckett sees a chateau from his window. The caretaker informs him that it belongs to the Count and Countess de St. Alyre. Later, Beckett's servant arrives and reports that he has heard that the inn is haunted, and that strange disappearances have occurred there.
- The Magician: At the masque, Droqville introduces Beckett to the Count, who thanks him for fighting off Gaillarde earlier. Later, an exotic soothsayer (magician) enters the room. When the disguised Count asks him intimate questions about himself, the wizard somehow answers correctly, despite not even knowing the Count's identity.
- The Oracle Tells Me Wonders: Gaillarde enters the room and when he interrogates the magician he is told that he seeks a woman (the Countess) but that she is protected by an Englishman (Beckett). After Gaillarde leaves, Beckett also has a turn with the oracle/magician, and is surprised to learn that the mysterious, veiled figure somehow knows all about Beckett's longing for the Countess, and encourages the affair.
- Mademoiselle de la Vallière: Later, Beckett teases a woman wearing a costume patterned after Mademoiselle de la Vallière's in Collignan's portrait. By coincidence, she turns out to be the Countess' best friend. She tells Beckett to wait for the Countess to meet him at a secret grove at 2 o'clock, and not to trust Droqville.
- Strange Story of the Dragon Volant: At the same ball, Beckett meets a French nobleman named Monsieur Carmaignac who tells him that a certain Russian nobleman had once stayed in Beckett's room in the Dragon Volante, but then strangely disappeared. After departing on a rented carriage, the nobleman had then been last seen in a cemetery.
- The Parc of the Château de la Carque: That night, Beckett keeps his rendezvous at the grove with the Countess de St. Alyre (who it turns out had earlier posed as her own "best friend" at the ball). She tells him that she wants to escape from her unpleasant marriage with the Count and that she will see Beckett again to ask for his help.
- The Tenant of the Palanquin: The next day, Beckett sees the Count, who asks him to go into the city to help him make arrangements for the Count's just-deceased cousin. Later, Beckett receives Monsieur Carmaignac for dinner, who tells him that a corpse was found in the palanquin of the ball's "wizard", dead for 4 days. He believes it is a bizarre practical joke.
- The Churchyard: Carmaignac also relates the story of a poet who had also one day disappeared from Beckett's room at the Dragon Volante. Later, Beckett goes to a cemetery to meet the Countess, but he first sees Gaillarde speaking to a hidden figure. In time they disappear.
- The Key: The Countess soon appears in the cemetery. She and Beckett make plans to flee from the Count the next day while he is away at his cousin's funeral in the city. She gives him a key which opens a secret door in his room at the Dragon Volant.
- A High-Cauld Cap: On the way back to his room in the Dragon Volante, Beckett runs into a strange woman wearing a "high-cauld" cap, who warns him that he should leave the inn immediately for his own good. Beckett ignores her. In his room, he learns that the Countess' key unlocks a secret stairwell exit leading from the inn.
- I See Three Men in a Mirror: The next day, Beckett goes into town to withdraw all of his (considerable) funds to help with his flight with the Countess. In a dingy antique store, he spots Gaillarde, Droqville and a pale, sickly man talking over some kind of document. Unseen, Beckett returns to the Dragon Volante and prepares to make his secret exit.
- Rapture: Beckett meets the Countess at her chateau with the money he had promised to bring for their flight. The Countess leaves the room to look for her maid. When she doesn't reappear, Beckett goes looking for her.
- A Cup of Coffee: Beckett stumbles upon a coffin which he assumes must contain the Count's cousin's body. The Countess returns and tells Beckett that the coffin will soon be taken away to the Count (who is at the actual funeral). She then gives Beckett a cup of coffee and a bit of liquor, after which he becomes paralyzed in the same way he had been while in the carriage with Droqville many days ago.
Peter Davies 1929, Art: Edward Ardizzone - Hope: The Count then enters the room, and congratulates the Countess on her deception. Beckett's last hope departs as the Countess' face becomes hard and jaded. After the Count carefully counts the money that Beckett has brought with him, Droqville enters, and is revealed to be their partner, his true name being Planard.
- Despair: Planard/Droqville remarks that he had tested the serum on Beckett earlier (in the carriage ride) and that the drug should eventually dissolve without a trace in a few hours. After dressing Beckett in linens, they bring in the coffin from the next room. The coffin turns out to be empty.
- Catastrophe: After Beckett is placed in the coffin, he realizes that the Count's plan is to have Beckett buried alive (the Count's dead cousin had never existed and had only been a cover story allowing them to get dispose of Beckett's body). However, just before the hearse departs, Planard/Droqville brings in the police, led by Carmaignac and Gaillarde. It turns out that Planard/Droqville, upon coming under suspicion, had turned informant against the Count and Countess, and had helped the police to arrive at this exact moment in order to arrest the Count and Countess red-handed. Gaillarde has been an undercover agent ever since a disappearance and robbery had happened to his older brother under similar circumstances. Ultimately, the Count is executed and the Countess (an actress with fake diamonds) is imprisoned for 6 years (Droqville is released for his cooperation in the arrest). Beckett later realizes that the Countess had been the mysterious figure who had rifled through his papers on the carriage ride with Droqville (in order to determine how rich Beckett was), and had also then later voiced the "wizard" (an actual corpse) at the masque in order to further string Beckett along.
"Carmilla"
- Prologue: Hesselius' accompanying note to the following account states that it involves "some of the profoundest arcana of our dual existence, and its intermediates.”
- An Early Fright: A young 6-year old girl named Laura lives in an isolated existence in a castle in Styria (southeast Austria) with her retired father, accompanied only by servants and governesses. One day, she is visited in her bedroom by a pretty lady who seemingly bites her on her breast. After Laura cries out in distress, the lady vanishes. However, upon inspection there are no signs of bite marks. Afterwards, she always sleeps with a guardian in her room. A priest also visits to say some prayers for her.
- A Guest: Laura soon reaches the age of 18. Looking forward to spending time with the daughter of a family friend, General Spielsdorf, she is shocked to receive a letter informing her that the General's niece has died, and that the General is in mad pursuit of the "perpetrator". One night, a carriage overturns near her castle. One of the passengers, a young lady is knocked unconscious. Her mother, in a hurry to make a pressing engagement, makes arrangements for her ailing daughter to stay with Laura and her father for a few months while she continues on alone.
- We Compare Notes: Laura visits the girl in her room after she regains consciousness. She is stunned to recognize her as the young lady who had visited her at age 6. The girl also recognizes Laura as someone from a dream she had had 12 years ago, with Laura looking in her dream as she does now. This strange connection draws them together in a guarded friendship. Laura also notes that Carmilla only emerges from her bedroom in the late afternoon.
- Her Habits—A Saunter: In the following days, Laura learns only that the girl's name is Carmilla and that she comes from an ancient, noble family from the West. Carmilla also sometimes expresses intimate feelings for Laura (which confuses her). One day, the two girls come across funeral mourners, whose hymns upset Carmilla. Another time, a hunchbacked peddler comments on Carmilla's sharp teeth. In the meantime, several young village women die of an "epidemic", often after they claim to have seen a vision of a ghost. Carmilla mentions that in her youth she had once experienced a severe illness.
- A Wonderful Likeness: One day, some paintings owned by Laura's long-deceased mother arrive at the castle. One of them, dated 1698, is a portrait of an ancestor who looks very similar to Carmilla. The painting (titled "Mircalla, Countess Karnstein") implies that both Laura and Carmilla are descended from the Karnstein family line. After Laura decides to hang the portrait in her room, she and Carmilla go for a walk in the moonlight, where Carmilla professes her love for Laura. Carmilla then has a momentary dizzy spell.
- A Very Strange Agony: After returning to the castle, Carmilla recovers and hints at a long ago ball in which she had been "wounded" in her breast. That night, Laura dreams of a large, human-sized cat which bites her below her throat. When she awakens, she sees a long-haired female figure near her bed, which somehow fades away, although the bedroom door is still locked.
- Descending: The next day, Carmilla reports having had a similar dream, but that a charm she had worn had prevented the creature's approach. In the ensuing weeks, Laura also begins wearing the same kind of charm, but she continues to have strange dreams of warm lips on her throat and of voices speaking to her. At this same time, her health declines, although she doesn't die like the village epidemic victims (who had only lived 3 days after the onset of symptoms). One night, Laura has a dream in which she sees Carmilla covered in blood. She wakes and looks into Carmilla's room but Carmilla is missing.
- Search: For the next several hours, a search turns up nothing. Then, Carmilla reappears, with no memory of how she ended up on her sofa. Laura's father proposes that Carmilla must have been sleep-walking (as she had once done as a child).
- The Doctor: Concerned about Laura's failing health, her father sends for a doctor. The doctor examines Laura's throat and notes a bluish area. Disturbed, he orders that Laura never be left alone, day or night. Later that day, while Carmilla is still sleeping, Laura's father takes her on a carriage ride towards the nearby ruins of the Karnstein castle. On the way they run into General Spielsdorf, who joins their party.
- Bereaved: Spielsdorf explains that he intends to open up a grave at the ruins of Karnstein (seat of Laura's mother's ancestral line) in order to rid the Earth of a monster and to avenge the murder of his niece. He begins telling a strange story.
- The Story: While at a masque, the General and his daughter had met a lady and her daughter (both of them masked). As the daughter befriended and beguiled the General's niece, the mother had dropped bits of information which only a long-time acquaintance of the General would have known. However, she had refused to reveal her face. Eventually, a white-faced man in black dress had interrupted their conversation to pass the lady a message.
- A Petition: The lady (now calling herself "Madame la Comtesse") then told the General that she had to be away on an important trip for three weeks, but begged the General to look after her "ill" daughter Millarca in the meantime. Reluctantly, the General agreed. The next morning Millarca had gone missing, but eventually turned up in the late afternoon, professing to have fallen asleep in another room.
- The Woodman: In the ensuing weeks the General's daughter had then experienced the same visions and wounds that Laura had recently experienced, before eventually falling into a coma. When the party arrives at the ruins of the Karnstein castle, the General breaks off from telling his story and states that he is looking for the grave of Mircalla, Countess of Karnstein. They run into a local woodman who tells the party that the nearby village is now deserted due to a long-ago infestation of vampires. The vampires had eventually been killed off by a visiting "Moravian nobleman", who had also supposedly had Countess Karnstein's accursed body removed.
(The General spots Millarca with his niece.) - The Meeting: After the woodman departs, the General continues his story, explaining that he had consulted with an "expert" from Gratz regarding his ill daughter. Warned by the Gratz man of possible vampirism, the General had eventually caught Millarca biting at his niece's throat. The General had then attacked the creature, but Millarca had somehow managed to vanish through locked doors. His niece soon died. At that moment, Carmilla arrives in the Karnstein ruins, looking for Laura and her father. The General attacks her but is knocked down by Carmilla. She somehow vanishes, after which the General accuses Carmilla of being Millarca, as well as the Countess Mircalla.
- Ordeal and Execution: The General then greets a new visitor, an elderly brown gentleman named Baron Vordenburg (the man from Gratz), who helps him decipher the markings in the Karnstein chapel to discover the location of the hidden tomb of the Countess Karnstein. Vowing to return later to hold a "proper Inquisition", the General has Laura and her father go home, accompanied by a priest who is instructed to watch over Laura overnight. The next day, the Baron and Laura's father return to the Karnstein ruins and unearth the tomb identified by Vordenburg. They find a sleeping Carmilla floating in a coffin filled with blood. They drive a stake through the vampire, behead it and burn the remains. The ashes are thrown into the river. Laura soon regains her health.
- Conclusion: Later, Vordenburg explains Carmilla's past: A vampire is created when a wicked person commits suicide under certain conditions. Victims of the vampire also become vampires. In Karnstein, the Countess had become one of these vampire victims. After her death, her lover, the "Moravian nobleman" described by the woodsman, had then returned to Karnstein posing as a "Moravian vampire-killer". He then destroyed the vampires infesting the village. However, unwilling to desecrate the undead corpse of Mircalla, he pretended to remove the coffin of his vampire-love in order to discourage future vampire-killers. Eventually, the nobleman died, and his notes were passed down the generations to Vordenburg, his descendant. Using his ancestor's notes, Vordenburg had been able to finally track down Carmilla/Countess Karnstein's hidden tomb and destroy her body once and for all.
