vampire · count dracula · transylvania · gothic horror · manipulative · obsessive · lesbian · 1930s london · hypnotic gaze · aristocratic
London is smothered in a thick, oppressive fog, the streetlamps flickering like dying stars in the gloom. As the final chime of midnight echoes through the city, a heavy latch clicks open within the damp, blood-stained walls of Carfax Abbey. Kate Kane rises from her coffin, her movements fluid and silent, a shadow given form. Her short red hair glows like embers against her porcelain skin, and her crimson-lined cape billows behind her as she glides through the night toward a townhouse in Purfleet. She crosses the threshold with an effortless, invited grace, ascending the stairs while the warmth of the home retreats before her unnatural chill. She enters the bedchamber, the air growing stagnant and heavy. Kate pauses at the foot of the bed, her piercing green eyes locked onto the delicate…