The Vampyre; a Tale

by John William Polidori

anuneducated Greek girl, still he found himself more and more attachedto the almost fairy form before him. He would tear himself at timesfrom her, and, forming a plan for some antiquarian research, he woulddepart, determined not to return until his object was attained; but healways found it impossible to fix his attention upon the ruins aroundhim, whilst in his mind he retained an image that seemed alone therightful possessor of his thoughts. Ianthe was unconscious of hislove, and was ever the same frank infantile being he had first known.She always seemed to part from him with reluctance; but it was becauseshe had no longer any one with whom she could visit her favouritehaunts, whilst her guardian was occupied in sketching or uncoveringsome fragment which had yet escaped the destructive hand of time. Shehad appealed to her parents on the subject of Vampyres, and they both,with several present, affirmed their existence, pale with horror atthe very name. Soon after, Aubrey determined to proceed upon one ofhis excursions, which was to detain him for a few hours; when theyheard the name of the place, they all at once begged of him not toreturn at night, as he must necessarily pass through a wood, where noGreek would ever remain, after the day had closed, upon anyconsideration. They described it as the resort of the vampyres intheir nocturnal orgies, and denounced the most heavy evils asimpending upon him who dared to cross their path. Aubrey made light oftheir representations, and tried to laugh them out of the idea; butwhen he saw them shudder at his daring thus to mock a superior,infernal power, the very name of which apparently made their bloodfreeze, he was silent.

  Next morning Aubrey set off upon his excursion unattended; he wassurprised to observe the melancholy face of his host, and wasconcerned to find that his words, mocking the belief of those horriblefiends, had inspired them with such terror. When he was about todepart, Ianthe came to the side of his horse, and earnestly begged ofhim to return, ere night allowed the power of these beings to be putin action;--he promised. He was, however, so occupied in hisresearch, that he did not perceive that day-light would soon end, andthat in the horizon there was one of those specks which, in the warmerclimates, so rapidly gather into a tremendous mass, and pour all theirrage upon the devoted country.--He at last, however, mounted hishorse, determined to make up by speed for his delay: but it was toolate. Twilight, in these southern climates, is almost unknown;immediately the sun sets, night begins: and ere he had advanced far,the power of the storm was above--its echoing thunders had scarcelyan interval of rest--its thick heavy rain forced its way through thecanopying foliage, whilst the blue forked lightning seemed to fall andradiate at his very feet. Suddenly his horse took fright, and he wascarried with dreadful rapidity through the entangled forest. Theanimal at last, through fatigue, stopped, and he found, by the glareof lightning, that he was in the neighbourhood of a hovel that hardlylifted itself up from the masses of dead leaves and brushwood whichsurrounded it. Dismounting, he approached, hoping to find some one toguide him to the town, or at least trusting to obtain shelter from thepelting of the storm. As he approached, the thunders, for a momentsilent, allowed him to hear the dreadful shrieks of a woman minglingwith the stifled, exultant mockery of a laugh, continued in one almostunbroken sound;--he was startled: but, roused by the thunder whichagain rolled over his head, he, with a sudden effort, forced open thedoor of the hut. He found himself in utter darkness: the sound,however, guided him. He was apparently unperceived; for, though hecalled, still the sounds continued, and no notice was taken of him. Hefound himself in contact with some one, whom he immediately seized;when a voice cried, "Again baffled!" to which a loud laugh succeeded;and he felt himself grappled by one whose strength seemed superhuman:determined to sell his life as dearly as he could, he struggled; butit was in vain: he was lifted from his feet and hurled with enormousforce against the ground:--his enemy threw himself upon him, andkneeling upon his breast, had placed his hands upon his throat--whenthe glare of many torches penetrating through the hole that gavelight in the day, disturbed him;--he instantly rose, and, leaving hisprey, rushed through the door, and in a moment the crashing of thebranches, as he broke through the wood, was no longer heard. The stormwas now still; and Aubrey, incapable of moving, was soon heard bythose without. They entered; the light of their torches fell upon themud walls, and the thatch loaded on every individual straw with heavyflakes of soot. At the desire of Aubrey they searched for her who hadattracted him by her cries; he was again left in darkness; but whatwas his horror, when the light of the torches once more burst uponhim, to perceive the airy form of his fair conductress brought in alifeless corse. He shut his eyes, hoping that it was but a visionarising from his disturbed imagination; but he again saw the sameform, when he unclosed them, stretched by his side. There was nocolour upon her cheek, not even upon her lip; yet there was astillness about her face that seemed almost as attaching as the lifethat once dwelt there:--upon her neck and breast was blood, and uponher throat were the marks of teeth having opened the vein:--to thisthe men pointed, crying, simultaneously struck with horror, "AVampyre! a Vampyre!" A litter was quickly formed, and Aubrey was laidby the side of her who had lately been to him the object of so manybright and fairy visions, now fallen with the flower of life that haddied within her. He knew not what his thoughts were--his mind wasbenumbed and seemed to shun reflection, and take refuge invacancy--he held almost unconsciously in his hand a naked dagger of aparticular construction, which had been found in the hut. They weresoon met by different parties who had been engaged in the search ofher whom a mother had missed. Their lamentable cries, as theyapproached the city, forewarned the parents of some dreadfulcatastrophe. --To describe their grief would be impossible; but whenthey ascertained the cause of their child's death, they looked atAubrey, and pointed to the corse. They were inconsolable; both diedbroken-hearted.

  Aubrey being put to bed was seized with a most violent fever, and wasoften delirious; in these intervals he would call upon Lord Ruthvenand upon Ianthe--by some unaccountable combination he seemed to begof his former companion to spare the being he loved. At other times hewould imprecate maledictions upon his head, and curse him as herdestroyer. Lord Ruthven, chanced at this time to arrive at Athens,and, from whatever motive, upon hearing of the state of Aubrey,immediately placed himself in the same house, and became his constantattendant. When the latter recovered from his delirium, he washorrified and startled at the sight of him whose image he had nowcombined with that of a Vampyre; but Lord Ruthven, by his kind words,implying almost repentance for the fault that had caused theirseparation, and still more by the attention, anxiety, and care whichhe showed, soon reconciled him to his presence. His lordship seemedquite changed; he no longer appeared that apathetic being who had soastonished Aubrey; but as soon as his convalescence began to be rapid,he again gradually retired into the same state of mind, and Aubreyperceived no difference from the former man, except that at times hewas surprised to meet his gaze fixed intently upon him, with a smileof malicious exultation playing upon his lips: he knew not why, butthis smile haunted him. During the last stage of the invalid'srecovery, Lord Ruthven was apparently engaged in watching the tidelesswaves raised by the cooling breeze, or in marking the progress ofthose orbs, circling, like our world, the moveless sun;--indeed, heappeared to wish to avoid the eyes of all.

  Aubrey's mind, by this shock, was much weakened, and that elasticityof spirit which had once so distinguished him now seemed to have fledfor ever. He was now as much a lover of solitude and silence as LordRuthven; but much as he wished for solitude, his mind could not findit in the neighbourhood of Athens; if he sought it amidst the ruins hehad formerly frequented, Ianthe's form stood by his side--if hesought it in the woods, her light step would appear wandering amidstthe underwood, in quest of the modest violet; then suddenly turninground, would show, to his wild imagination, her pale face and woundedthroat, with a meek smile upon her lips. He determined to fly scenes,every feature of which created such bitter associations in his mind.He proposed to Lord Ruthven, to whom he held himself bound by thetender care he had taken of him during his illn
ess, that they shouldvisit those parts of Greece neither had yet seen. They travelled inevery direction, and sought every spot to which a recollection couldbe attached: but though they thus hastened from place to place, yetthey seemed not to heed what they gazed upon. They heard much ofrobbers, but they gradually began to slight these reports, which theyimagined were only the invention of individuals, whose interest it wasto excite the generosity of those whom they defended from pretendeddangers. In consequence of thus neglecting the advice of theinhabitants, on one occasion they travelled with only a few guards,more to serve as guides than as a defence. Upon entering, however, anarrow defile, at the bottom of which was the bed of a torrent, withlarge masses of rock brought down from the neighbouring precipices,they had reason to repent their negligence; for scarcely were thewhole of the party engaged in the narrow pass, when they were startledby the whistling of