If suspicion conjectured
aright, and they opened the proper grave, the body of the vampire would be
found perfectly fresh and plump, sometimes indeed of rather florid
complexion;--with grown hair, eyes half open, and the stains of recent
blood about its greedy, leech-like lips. Nothing remained but to consume
the corpse to ashes, upon which the vampire would show itself no more. But
what added infinitely to the horror was the certainty that whoever died
from the mouth of the vampire, wrinkled grandsire or delicate maiden, must
in turn rise from the grave, and go forth a vampire, to suck the blood of
the dearest left behind. This was the generation of the vampire brood.
Lilith trembled at the very name of the creature. Karl was too much in
love to be afraid of anything. Yet the evident fear of the unbelieving
painter took a hold of his imagination; and, under the influence of the
potions of which he still partook unwittingly, when he was not thinking
about Lilith, he was thinking about the vampire.
"Meantime, the condition of things in the painter's household continued
much the same for Wolkenlicht--work all day; no communication between the
young people; the dinner and the wine; silent reading when work was done,
with stolen glances many over the top of the book, glances that were never
returned; the cold good-night; the locking of the door; the wakeful night
and the drowsy morning.
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