Carmilla: A Vampire Love Story

"Carmilla" is a Gothic novella written by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. It was first published in 1872, The story centered around a young woman's susceptibility to the attentions of a female vampire named Carmilla. "Carmilla" predates Bram Stoker's Dracula by twenty five years, had a strong influence on Stoker's famous novel and has been adapted many times in films, dramas, animes, comics and so forth. I am going to tell you now of a dream that led immediately to an odd discovery. One night, instead of the voice I was accustomed to hear in the dark, I heard one, sweet and tender, and at the same time terrible, which said, "Your mother warns you to beware of the assassin." At the same time a light unexpectedly sprang up, and I saw Carmilla, standing, near the foot of my bed, in her white nightdress, bathed, from her chin to her feet, in one great stain of blood.