Prologue

1610 .

Knock. Knock. A petite little maid entered the room and peered through the crack into the dark room. She smelled moisture, there was an iron-laden scent in the air, and she tried not to think where the smell might be coming from. Her knees didn't stop shaking, however.

"Dorothea, what can I do for you, my girl," came a dangerously dark woman's voice from the shadows. She knew, of course, that it was the Countess who was in this room, but she was afraid of her. Nobody in the castle could tell the real story. But she kept thinking that girls would enter this room but never leave again. She had counted thirty-six women. Dorothea's suspicion became a firm belief when she looked at the floor and saw a dark liquid flowing in the joints. Little light came in through the barred window, but when the glow illuminated a trickle on the floor, she could see blood. So the rumors were true, but now she couldn't panic. Perhaps the countess let her go too. Then she would pack all her bags and never come back here.

“Tell me, my dear, what are you standing so rigidly in front of the door? Come in!"

The request went through the heart of the maid. Should she come in? What if she defied the countess's order? She didn't want to die like the other girls before her.

“Sorry, Countess Elisabeth Báthory, but a man named Georg Thurzo is trying to storm the castle and is on his way here. He wants to see you. ”With this announcement Dorothea tried to divert attention from the Countess's invitation, but she did not seem to be interested in anything. The maid heard how water splashed and the countess seemed to get out of a bathtub. As her eyes got used to the darkness, she could see a figure in the shadows, apparently naked in the room. Dorothea looked at the dark figure and recognized Elisabeth, who was looking at her with glowing red eyes.

"I asked you to come to me, child," the countess beguiled the maid in her sanctimonious, loving voice. Dorothea knew that she couldn't let that impress her. Everything in her screamed for an escape, but out of fear and awe, she couldn't run away. She thought: The Countess is faster.

She hoped that Georg Thurzo would catch Elisabeth, but he seemed to be taking his time searching the castle. She should have stayed with him and shouldn't have warned the countess at all. She felt like a string was choking off her neck.

The Countess's hand crawled out of the shadows and the light shone on her blood-soaked skin. She had bathed in it, Dorothea thought anxiously, and the greasy fingers wrapped around her forearm. With a violent jerk she was pulled into the room, the door closed and the maid screamed for her life. The shrill outcry penetrated the entire castle and Georg Thurzo followed it. With a strong kick against the locked door he caught the blood-soaked Elisabeth Báthory doing what she did, as she struck her sharp canine teeth into the maid's neck and delighted in her fresh blood.

He took his hat from his head in shock and looked to the left, to the other shady side, where he only saw dark figures hanging from the ceiling. Their bodies did not move and when he saw Elisabeth, his face immediately went pale: " Sanctae Matris Mariae, " he breathed in horror and ordered his men to move the countess around immediately. Their bodies trembled and Elisabeth carelessly threw Dorothea to the ground. She was still alive, but she appeared to be passed out. “I was right. Satan has allied with you. The descendant of Vlad. "

Elisabeth laughed out loud and threw her head back. Georg's soldiers moved closer and held a silver net in their hand that was decorated with tiny crosses. When Georg had regained his composure, he nodded and ordered the men to throw the net over Elisabeth, who went down screaming. The silver and the crosses carved in it weakened their power. She burned herself like holding her skin in hot fire. They pulled her into the glow of the light, but she was immune to the sun.

George's theories were based on legend, but only a few weapons seemed to work. He acted immediately, chained Elisabeth with silver handcuffs and tied every part of her body to her. Despite the great pain she must have felt, she still laughed mockingly.

"She's trying to impress him ," hissed Georg, and spat on her head. "So don't listen to them." Satan was always on the lookout for new hell beings to let loose on people. Thurzo found her blood-soaked body abhorrent and urged his men to get her out of the castle immediately, without causing much fuss.

Dorothea was treated and had to spend several days in the infirmary to recover. She said that Elizabeth was said to have murdered over thirty-six girls in gruesome ways. Another then said that there must have been up to eighty dead.

In 1611 Elisabeth Báthory was sentenced and locked in her room. Georg von Thurzo testified through his knowledge of Dracula that Elisabeth had made a pact with Satan in order to gain power. To put an end to the blood-drinking creature, it should die locked in a room without food. All that was offered to her was a cup of holy water. A priest blessed the room weekly.

In 1614, after long days of silence, Elisabeth Báthory was found dead in her room. On the walls she wrote in Latin: "The darkness lives on."