Vampire (Challenges & Contests)

Maria Theresia of Austria

Duchess of Lorraine, Grand Duchess of Tuscany and Holy Roman Empress

Vienna (1760).

I wake up in my chambers as Friedrich Wilhelm is sitting next to me at the bed and holds my hand. "I'm sorry, my Empress. This was the only way...", his voice full of worries.

What an unholy situation! "Friedrich... what did you do to me?", I ask my counselor running my fingers over my throat. I remember him attacking me and forcing me to drink something. I should be afraid, but I'm only fearing for my undying soul. I know the stories from my borders in Transylvania.

"We need your help.", he knits his brows. "I know that you don't believe in all that superstition about vampires, but it's far more real than you think. The only way to make you believe was to turn you into one of ours. I didn't mean to hurt you..." 

My eyes grow wide but I feel an itch in my throat. "My Empress...", he kneels down in front of my bed. "I am part of the Vampire's Society of Vienna and I broke several rules to get to you, but we really need to stop that madness. I don't want to see any more of my friends get beheaded or their hearts ripped out. What kind of religion is this, that would allow such cruelty?"

His words are honest but I'm still digesting the first part. He is one of my closest counselors next to Gerard van Swieten. I sit up to look into his face. 

"You doomed me to get your cause being heard?"

"I gifted you immortality. God created all the creatures on earth. Why are we more doomed than others?", his fingers are stroking mine. I'm a married woman, but that doesn't mean I don't know about my husband's affairs. We are gifted with sixteen wonderful children, but knowing he is getting his desires fulfilled somewhere else, I also grant Friedrich and Gerard to show me their affection now and then.

I think about his argument while watching him biting his wrist. "Please, take my blood as a sign of my devotion.", he says and I can feel the urge to take it. To feel the liquid inside me, but I don't dare to move. Everything is so different; so intense. The smells and looks - the partly golden walls and the heavy decorated vases with the fresh flowers. It is as if I experience the world for the first time with a clear mind.

"I'm a ruler. I overcame all thresholds so far.", I start and think about it. "I'm here to help my people and if this now means I have to protect this hidden society, I will." He looks up to me in awe. "... I already thought about passing an edict to stop the superstition. You wouldn't have needed to do that." I can see his eyes starting to glow.

"No, my Empress. I maybe wouldn't have to, but this way, we can be together forever."