She suffered from a rather nasty case of anemia. She seldom
smiled; the effort was probably too much for her. I saw her really smile
only once._

_We had been on one of our short hikes in the woods close by the
grounds. She stumbled over a twig or a branch, I'm not sure which. Suddenly she was in my arms. Have you ever held a cloud in your arms,
Morris? So light she was, although she was almost as tall as I. Warm and
pulsating. Her eyes held mine; it was almost uncanny. I have never been
affected like that by a woman. Then I was kissing her; then a sharp
sting, and I winced. There was the warm, salt taste of blood on my lips. I never knew how it happened. But she was smiling, her full mouth parted
in the strangest smile I have ever seen. And those small white teeth
gleamed; and in her eyes, which were all black pupils now, with the iris
quite hidden, was desire--or something beyond desire. I couldn't define
it then; now, I think I can. Her small, pink tongue darted over her
lips, tasting, seeming to savor._

_I was frightened, for some indefinable reason. I wanted to get away
from her, from the woods, from myself. I grasped her arm roughly and we
started back for the grounds. We never mentioned the episode again, but
we neither of us ever forgot. She intrigued me now, more than ever. The
doctors were able to satisfy my curiosity somewhat. They told me she had
been a patient for some four years. Some days she was better, some days
worse. She needed rest--much rest. Most days she slept past noon with
their approval. Some days there was a faint flush beneath that ivory
skin; other days it was pale and cool._

_Just when we became lovers, I scarcely remember. Things were happening
so fast I could barely keep pace with them. There was a magnetism about
Eve which compelled. I couldn't have resisted if I'd wanted to--and I
didn't._

_I began to have long periods of lassitude, times when I would black out
and remember nothing afterwards. And the dreams began. I would dream I
was stroking a large, velvety-black cat, a cat with shining yellow eyes
that looked at me as if they knew my every thought. I would stroke it
continuously and it would nip me playfully. Then, one night the dream
intensified: I was playing with the creature, caressing it gently, when
of a sudden its lips drew back in a snarl, and without warning it sprang
at my throat and buried its fangs deep! I thought I could feel life
being drawn from me; I screamed._

_The doctors told me afterwards that I was semi-conscious for days; that
I had to be restrained._

_When I was well again, Eve came to see me. She was gentle--soothing. She held me close to her and oh! it was good to be alive and to belong
to someone._

_I remember to this day what she wore. Black velvet lounging slacks, a
low-necked amber satin blouse, caught at the "V" by a curiously wrought
antique silver pin. It was round, about four inches in diameter. In its
center was the carved figure of a serpent coiled to strike. Its eyes
were deep amber topazes and its darting tongue was raised and set with a
blood-red ruby._

_"What an unusual pin, Eve," I said "I've never seen it before, have
I? "_

_"No," she replied. "It belongs to the deep, dark, seldom discussed
skeleton in the Orcaczy closet, Tod. You see, my great-great grandmother
was quite a wicked lady, to hear tell. Went in for Witches' masses and
the like. They say she poisoned her husband, a rather elderly and very
childish man, for her lover, whom she subsequently married. Together
they did away with relatives who stood in the way of their accumulating
more money. This pin was the instrument of death. "_

_Her slim fingers pressed the ruby tongue and the pin opened, revealing
a space large enough to secrete powder._

_"It's like those employed by the infamous Borgias, as you can see," she
continued, shrugging. "Perhaps it was fate then, that her devoted new
husband tired of her once her fortune was assured him, took a young
mistress for himself, and disposed of the unfortunate wife, using her
own pin to perpetrate her murder. She was excommunicated by her church,
too, which must have made it most unpleasant for her, poor old dear." The slim shoulders straightened. "But let's not discuss such unpleasant
things, my dear. The important thing now is for you to get well quickly. I've missed you terribly, you know. "_

_It was then I asked her to marry me. I knew I didn't really love her,
but there seemed nothing to prevent our marriage. And she had gotten
under my skin. It was as elemental as that. She said she thought we
should wait until I fully recovered._

_"Don't say any more, darling," she said. "Rest your poor, sore
throat. "_

_She bent over me solicitously and I reached up to stroke that smooth
black hair. It had a familiar feel to it that I couldn't quite place. Of
course I had stroked it hundreds of times before, but it wasn't that. Then she looked straight at me, those large, glowing hazel eyes boring
into mine, and I knew. Knew and disbelieved at the same time. I froze
where I lay, paralyzed by my fear; unable to make a sound._

_"So you know," she whispered. "It is well. I have marked you for my own
these many months. Now that you know, you will not fight. You know what
I am, or at least you can guess. This pin you admired so--it was mine
three hundred years ago and it will always be mine! "_

_Her lips were on mine. She had never kissed me like this. It was like
the touch of hot ice, freezing, then searing. Unendurable. I lay inert;
I couldn't have moved if I wanted to. I could scarcely breathe. Then I
felt the blood within me pounding, pulsing, beginning to answer in spite
of myself. I tasted once more the warm, salty fluid on my lips. Eve's
body was liquid in my arms; warm, heady, narcotizing. Once again I felt
the agonizing, dagger sharp pain in my throat and--darkness._

_Have you ever wakened to a bright, sunny afternoon and heard yourself
pronounced dead? They spoke in low, hushed tones. How unfortunate. Young
fellow only thirty, dying so far away from his homeland. No family. Good
thing he was well-set in life. This sudden anemia was most
extraordinary; fellow showed no signs of it previously. All he had
really needed was rest. If he had recovered, that lovely Eve Orcaczy
might have made both their lives happier, richer. Sad ending to what
might have been an idyll. Good of her to claim the body. She said she
was going to inter it in the family vault in_ Konigstein Mountain _in
Transylvania._

_I heard them distinctly. I wanted to shout that I wasn't dead; I wanted
to wake up from this horrible nightmare. I was as alive as they. I knew
I had to get out of there, some way; to get away from Eve, whom I now
feared. They left to make arrangements._

_The lassitude crept through me without warning; I dozed in spite of
myself. And I dreamed again. I was a cat running, leaping through
windows, loping over the countryside, stopping for no one. I panted with
my exertions.