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Description
An Encounter - October 13, 1899

The woman sits down across from me, uneasy at first.

I insist that we are alone, yet her yellow eyes dart throughout the room as if to make sure. Only then does she relax into her chair.

I press the pen to the paper and nod. Victoria begins telling me her story.

She claims to have been born in 1769, into an Aristocratic French family.

Victoria tells me that she married a Marquis in 1787, and that she and her husband resided in a chateau on the outskirts of Paris.

Then, she says with pause, the Revolution came. Victoria’s husband assumed they were untouchable, but he learned the hard way. During the Terror, sometime in late 1793, the Marquis was put to the Guillotine. Victoria says she escaped by paying a foreign merchant to smuggle her out of the country.

With considerable wealth still in her possession, she then boarded passage to the New World. This, she tells me, was sometime in 1794, but in her own words, “the years blur together and I cannot be certain.” During the voyage, she describes a “terrible creature” visiting her in the night, to inflict upon her its gift.

Interesting that she refers to her maker with such scorn. What I would not give to receive everlasting life!

What happened to this creature, I asked. Victoria tells me that she never saw it again. That she was thrust into this new life with not a soul to guide her.

There are moments where I cannot help but contain my excitement over this dark gift. Alas, Victoria makes sure to tell me of both the advantages and the drawbacks. She tells me that she does not remember what the sunrise looks like.

Alas, I digress.

Victoria continues her story. She arrived in Louisiana in 1795, which was at that time a colony of Spain. Her homeland of France had only relinquished it decades before, and as such she describes its culture as familiar. It was a home away from home.

She says that she did not live in an estate. That she rented modest abodes, and never stayed in one place for too long.

It is at this time I pluck up the courage to ask her about her accent. It is a peculiar mix, mostly French, but certain words are not pronounced in a contemporary fashion. There is a drawl on her vowels.

Victoria tells me that she has indeed travelled all across the United States of America, but she is angered as I press for more details, and insists that we move on.

I do not disrespect the lady's wishes, and I steer our conversation towards Europe. She is, after all, here before me now, on the outskirts of London.

Victoria tells me she returned to the Old World recently. Within the last decade.

And her name? My courage bubbles to the surface, so I ask her. Victoria is not a French name, but derived from Latin. So then, is it not the one she was born with?

She tells me I am correct. Victoria is her chosen name, not the one she was born with. She has forgotten what she was once called. Another drawback of vampirism, she insists. "You can grasp onto memories as hard as you wish, but certain ones still slip away into the abyss."

I ask her another question, what are her concerns for the present day?

She goes silent, casts her gaze down at the wooden table that separates us, and thinks for a long moment. When she lifts her gaze once more, she tells me matter-of-factly that her only concern, right now, is to feed.

I feel a deathly chill down my spine, but I keep writing. I feel as though my life is about to end. That the Vampire has, at least, given me warning of what she plans to do to me. To feed upon me.

But -

[ Series of scribbles. ]

I looked up and she was gone. Disappeared into the night. She has left me with my life intact. But I wonder, would she kill me if she knew how I desired her gift of unlife?

Now that I know the truth, I must find her again.

- - - -

Victoria's story is obviously inspired by "Interview with the Vampire".

But instead of having her "interview" set during modern times, I had it in the turn of the century.

The post work was done to simulate an old, under exposed photograph. I am aware there are slight colours in this image, whereas it should be monochrome. But that's just a stylistic choice.

The choice of present tense of the story is designed as if the interviewer is writing everything at the exact moment she is telling it.

- - - -

Rendered in Daz Studio Iray. Post work in Photoshop.

Description
An Encounter - October 13, 1899

The woman sits down across from me, uneasy at first.

I insist that we are alone, yet her yellow eyes dart throughout the room as if to make sure. Only then does she relax into her chair.

I press the pen to the paper and nod. Victoria begins telling me her story.

She claims to have been born in 1769, into an Aristocratic French family.

Victoria tells me that she married a Marquis in 1787, and that she and her husband resided in a chateau on the outskirts of Paris.

Then, she says with pause, the Revolution came. Victoria’s husband assumed they were untouchable, but he learned the hard way. During the Terror, sometime in late 1793, the Marquis was put to the Guillotine. Victoria says she escaped by paying a foreign merchant to smuggle her out of the country.

With considerable wealth still in her possession, she then boarded passage to the New World. This, she tells me, was sometime in 1794, but in her own words, “the years blur together and I cannot be certain.” During the voyage, she describes a “terrible creature” visiting her in the night, to inflict upon her its gift.

Interesting that she refers to her maker with such scorn. What I would not give to receive everlasting life!

What happened to this creature, I asked. Victoria tells me that she never saw it again. That she was thrust into this new life with not a soul to guide her.

There are moments where I cannot help but contain my excitement over this dark gift. Alas, Victoria makes sure to tell me of both the advantages and the drawbacks. She tells me that she does not remember what the sunrise looks like.

Alas, I digress.

Victoria continues her story. She arrived in Louisiana in 1795, which was at that time a colony of Spain. Her homeland of France had only relinquished it decades before, and as such she describes its culture as familiar. It was a home away from home.

She says that she did not live in an estate. That she rented modest abodes, and never stayed in one place for too long.

It is at this time I pluck up the courage to ask her about her accent. It is a peculiar mix, mostly French, but certain words are not pronounced in a contemporary fashion. There is a drawl on her vowels.

Victoria tells me that she has indeed travelled all across the United States of America, but she is angered as I press for more details, and insists that we move on.

I do not disrespect the lady's wishes, and I steer our conversation towards Europe. She is, after all, here before me now, on the outskirts of London.

Victoria tells me she returned to the Old World recently. Within the last decade.

And her name? My courage bubbles to the surface, so I ask her. Victoria is not a French name, but derived from Latin. So then, is it not the one she was born with?

She tells me I am correct. Victoria is her chosen name, not the one she was born with. She has forgotten what she was once called. Another drawback of vampirism, she insists. "You can grasp onto memories as hard as you wish, but certain ones still slip away into the abyss."

I ask her another question, what are her concerns for the present day?

She goes silent, casts her gaze down at the wooden table that separates us, and thinks for a long moment. When she lifts her gaze once more, she tells me matter-of-factly that her only concern, right now, is to feed.

I feel a deathly chill down my spine, but I keep writing. I feel as though my life is about to end. That the Vampire has, at least, given me warning of what she plans to do to me. To feed upon me.

But -

[ Series of scribbles. ]

I looked up and she was gone. Disappeared into the night. She has left me with my life intact. But I wonder, would she kill me if she knew how I desired her gift of unlife?

Now that I know the truth, I must find her again.

- - - -

Victoria's story is obviously inspired by "Interview with the Vampire".

But instead of having her "interview" set during modern times, I had it in the turn of the century.

The post work was done to simulate an old, under exposed photograph. I am aware there are slight colours in this image, whereas it should be monochrome. But that's just a stylistic choice.

The choice of present tense of the story is designed as if the interviewer is writing everything at the exact moment she is telling it.

- - - -

Rendered in Daz Studio Iray. Post work in Photoshop.