Forever My Mistress

By Anison Roberts

It has been four hundred years since I turned. I could have never imagined that I, a vampire killer, would one day become a member of the living dead. I dedicated myself to ridding the world of such fiends only to become one of the dreaded creatures myself. Ironically, I've even become a member of the vampire hierarchy. My demise began when a fellow vampire hunter summoned me to the Carpathian Mountains from my homeland in Eastern Africa. A professor Stewart was on the trail of a blood thirsty vampire. This vampire was a woman who resided in a castle just outside of Transylvania. Several young women from the local village had gone there looking for work. None of these women would return.

Professor Stewart moved to the area from England to research vampirism for a book. In fact, he didn't actually believe that real vampires existed. He thought that there had to be a more scientific explanation for the legends of the undead. These legends spread, in various ways, throughout Europe, Asia and Africa. Upon moving to Hungary, the professor found things that convinced him that undead creatures of the night, a.k.a., vampires, do exist.

When I arrived to the village I found the area to be quite old fashioned, even by Old World European standards. In the heart of the village/town there was a small house where the professor was staying with his servant, Michelle. The professor was a tall man of good stature. A man in his mid to late forties, he had graying hair and a thin mustache. He was a healthy man with a strong Glasgow accent. The servant girl, Michelle, was a French orphan whose parents died while vacationing in the area. She was only about seventeen. The young girl was a thin blonde who was very nice and soft spoken. She seemed very grateful to be employed.

The professor was married but his wife stayed in England and would visit on occasion. She never stayed more than a full week however.

The professor was very happy to see me. He had heard of vampire killers but since he hadn't believed in vampires until now he had very little reason to take much stock from my lifelong hobby. I had been to Central Europe before. As a student, ten years earlier, I studied in Transylvania. Professor Stewart came across my name because I had made a name for myself as a vampire killer since my first encounter during my days as a student. Since then I had been chasing vampires from Europe to Africa.

"So you are the famed vampire destroyer" the professor proclaimed. "Why yes, I am Anison Roberts, at your service" I responded. We sat down for an old fashioned cut of English tea. The professor found that this was the time to let me in on what I had gotten myself into.

During the previous two years, the professor noticed that the village/town was growing more and more weary of the castle to the north. When investigating, he found out that several young women had gone to the castle looking for work. None of these women were ever heard from again. No one would contact outside authorities because the mistress of the castle was the powerful Duchess Cassandra. The duchess was second cousin to the king. The only contact that the duchess had with the outside world was to send her protégé, a young woman named Donna, into town for food and supplies. Donna and another girl, named Melody, lived with the Duchess. The professor pointed the two ladies out to me one day as they walked through town in the early evening. Just after sundown.

The two women were of similar build although Melody appeared to be a bit taller and a little younger than Donna. Both had dark hair and a slim figure. Melody's hair was slightly darker but the two women looked as though they were probably sisters. I thought that were, in fact, sisters until I was told of Melody's history. She was a slave girl, sold to Cassandra by one of the military men who courted the elderly, yet single, duchess. Donna had lived in the castle 11 years before Melody's arrival. Despite living in the castle for the last 11 years, the locals claimed that Donna's appearance had not changed since the day she came to town for the very first time.

The professor informed me that his suspicions were first aroused when he realized that he never saw either woman in daylight. This led him to start asking questions around town. It did not take long for him to conclude that not only are vampires real, but there was a very good chance that the women who lived in the castle were in fact, vampires. He then sent for me. No one amongst the townspeople was willing to help. Everyone was in fear. In fact, most of the people that we encountered tried to talk the professor and I out of our quest to stop the women of the castle.

Once informed of all of the details the professor and I knew that it was time to get to work. First, we sent a young boy to the castle, during daylight, with a message that a young African Prince had noticed the lovely young lady named Donna when she came into town and that this prince would like an audience with her. We were not sure what response such a message would provoke but Donna sent back an invitation to dinner for the following evening. An invitation to the castle was just what I needed to case the place out and see how many women were there. I could also find out if the vampires had any other protection on the grounds. Usually vampires have servants who protect them during daylight so that vampire killers like myself can’t just walk in and destroy them while they rest.

I spent the day of the dinner preparing for my first encounter with Donna. I wore a silver cross with an all black suit. Vampires have a strange attraction to the color black. Most vampires avoid crosses. 400 years ago all vampires avoided crosses. Many people think that vampires fear crosses. Truth is, the cross represents everything that a vampire will grow to hate. A cross will, in fact, do a vampire no harm (except for in the movies). There are many untrue myths about vampires. It has been claimed that vampires avoid garlic. I can tell you first hand that some vampires LOVE the good taste of garlic.

Armed with crosses and a concealed wooden stake, I was prepared to head out to the castle. Upon entering the grounds of the estate I noticed how beautiful the grounds were. In my past encounters with the undead I often found them to lead a rather dreary existence. Most vampires made it a point to make the living feel unwelcome. This place, however, was quite inviting.

I knocked on the door and a young servant girl opened it. She may have been one of the missing girls from the neighboring village. Her name was Veronica. She was a beautiful young dark haired girl. She stood about five nine and quite slender. She invited me in and I walked in. The place was a nice as any aristocrat's home of the time. Soon, I found myself face to face with Cassandra. "Anison Roberts at your service" I proclaimed. Cassandra responded, "So you are the suitor to my young protégé?" She continued, " Not many men have come up to our little estate but then again there are very few noblemen or men of royalty in the area. What brings you to our country, Prince Anison?" "I chuckled with my response, "The beauty of the women in this region my lady. I fancy myself an adventurer but I am still a gentleman and I assure you that my intentions are quite honorable." Cassandra smiled back at me and said, "You are quite the charmer young man. Donna better beware. I might want you for myself." Cassandra's smile caught me totally off guard. She may have been the most beautiful older woman that I had ever seen. This woman was probably well over a hundred years old but she looked like she was barely over fifty. She had dark brown hair with a touch of grey. However, I could imagine that a teenage girl would do anything to have a figure like hers. But as we were flirting, Donna's soft voice caught us both by surprise, "There you go again, testing the waters for Me." as she walked forward. She then turned to me and said, "You must be my prince?" I responded, "I would like to be your prince, Miss Donna" as I kissed her hand. Watching the two women stand side by side almost made me forget that my job was to destroy them. The servants served us a delicious steak dinner. Cassandra made a joke about steak giving her heartburn that I had to pretend I didn't get. During dinner, I asked about the other young lady, Melody, who often came into town with Donna. Cassandra pointed out that Melody was in town at the moment handling some of Cassandra's affairs. After the ladies and I were finished with dinner, Cassandra and Donna asked me to come back in the near future. I told them that I would. Cassandra spoke, during dinner, of how much she missed having a man around, “Even if it’s only to take my protégé away”. I was still amazed that these two beautiful women were bloodthirsty members of the undead, but my mission for the day had been accomplished. I knew how to get in and out of the house. I was able to case the place out just enough to know how and when to return.

As late night began to approach, I headed back into town. The women were a little too happy to have me around so I figured that I had better get out of there while I still could. When I got back to the village, my pleasant evening took a horrible turn. I got to the professor’s house only to find him dead. The local sheriff was already investigating. As it turned out, while I was in the castle with Donna and Cassandra, the two women sent Melody to kill the professor. It was apparent that Cassandra and her little undead sorority knew what I was up to all along. The professor’s servant was nowhere to be found. The sheriff told me that the marks on the professor were, without any doubt, the work of a vampire. He was surprised that I believed him but I knew more than he could have imagined about vampires. Apparently, handling Cassandra’s affairs meant killing one of her enemies. I explained to the sheriff what I and the professor had been up to and what I knew about Cassandra, Donna, Melody and Veronica. The lawman explained that nearly everyone in the village knew of the castle and had suspicions about what was going on at the castle but no one, including the sheriff, himself, was brave enough to up there. Even in daylight.

Knowing that it was up to me to avenge the professor’s death, I decided to wait until dawn and go back to the castle by myself. Even though I knew that I needed a good night’s sleep, I knew that I wouldn’t have time to sleep at all. Michelle was missing and I had my suspicions that she was going to be the next evening’s meal at the castle.

The next few hours were torture. Nothing can be more frustrating than waiting to do something and not being allowed to sleep. Nevertheless, to go there at night would be suicide and I knew it. I had to wait. Without me, the little village was doomed to be nothing more than a human ranch for the undead. I wasn’t sure if the duchess knew that I had been working with the professor which was another reason that I had to act as soon as possible.

At Dawn I headed for the castle. I remembered that Victoria, the servant, was very likely mortal and therefore would the only thing between me and the three women of my prey. I had no plans to harm Victoria unless I was forced to.

When I got to the castle the sun was just rising. Much to my surprise Victoria was waiting at the front door with a steal sword in her hands. I had brought plenty of vampire killing equipment but I was totally unprepared for a sword fight. She had not seen me yet so I knew it was time to think fast or turn around. I decided to approach. I walked right up to Victoria at the front door and said, “Hello Victoria. Is your mistress home?” She angrily responded, “You know that they are all home”. I knew then, that the women of the castle had known what I was up to all along. Victoria started towards me. Since she had a sword and I did not, I felt that my only chance for survival was to out run her and regroup later. I was also sure that she would not stray too far from the castle. I started running towards a hill. Once I started running downhill, I caught a break. Victoria slipped and fell. She rolled downhill, dropping her sword in the process. I raced over and grabbed the sword immediately. I ran to the spot where Victoria had landed. I did not want to kill a mortal but I knew that she would try to kill me so I prepared to use the sword to kill her. She broke her neck during the fall however so she was already dead when I got to her.

Now, I was even more tired as I staggered back to the castle. The door was locked and there was no longer a servant to let me in. I had to slip through a window. I searched for the caskets of the three vampires but initially, I could not find anything. I looked in the attic and the cellar but found nothing until I got to the master bedroom. There was a single casket. I walked in and then opened a shaded window so that the sunlight would hit the contents of the casket as soon as I opened it. When I opened the casket, it turned out to be the casket of Cassandra. The sun hit her lifeless body, which began to burn. I could not watch as this vision of beauty burned and aged at the same time. Turning away, however, did not save me from her blood curdling screams. When the screaming stopped, I turned to the coffin and saw nothing but the ashes that had once been Cassandra. At this point, I made my biggest mistake. I just stood there. The waste of time would come back to haunt me. Before I knew it the sundown was approaching. I did not want to face to angry vampires in my tired state so I headed back to the village.

I knew that Michelle was not safe so I stopped by the professor’s house to see if she may have been there but she was still missing. I knew that I couldn’t stay at the professor’s house because Donna and melody were sure to come looking for me since I had just destroyed Cassandra. I went to a local Inn, rented a room and slept through the night.

When I finally awakened, I realized that I had overslept. In fact, I had missed most of the day. Down the road from the Inn where I was staying there was a ruckus at the local church. I got dresses and rushed down to see what had happened. Five nuns lay dead amongst a crowd of people. One of the locals told the sheriff that Donna and Melody were seen walking off with a woman who fitted Michelle’s description. I realized that even though the sun was going down in an hour I knew that Michelle’s fate was in my hands so I headed off towards the castle.

When I got back to the castle it looked as though Donna was about to kill Michelle but much to my surprise, she had been waiting for me all along. She saw me enter the castle and laughed, “You came to save the peasant girl?” I responded, “Please don’t kill her. She’s done you no harm.” Donna smiled and said, “You can save the girl. But are you willing the pay the price?” I was confused. “What price is that?” I asked with caution. Donna looked over at Melody and smiled. As Melody smiled back and walked out of the room, Donna turned to me and said, “Join me. You and I will live forever. I don’t want to hurt this little girl anyway. Unlike Cassandra we can feed only when we have to. You took Cassandra from me. You have to replace her.” At this point my dilemma was laid out for me. In order to save Michelle I had to sacrifice myself. I could not allow Donna to kill the innocent Michelle. So I agreed. First Donna opened a vain just above her right breast. She brought my head to the wound, making me drink some of her warm blood. Then I closed my eyes as Donna bit me. The pain was nothing when compared to the orgasmic sensation of my blood being drained from my body. The next thing I remembered was being on a ship to the new world with Donna. I went to Europe to destroy Donna and others like her and found myself becoming what she had become.

It’s been four centuries and Michelle is has been dead for a long time now. Donna and I are a team. We still hear from Melody, who has survived as many years as Donna and I. Donna’s weaknesses have become my strengths and my weaknesses have become her strengths as well. I have been married for some time now and I have been faithful. But Donna, who has been by my side for over four hundred years, is FOREVER MY MISTRESS.