"Polidori_The Vampyre" - читать интересную книгу автора (Polidori John William)

found himself in utter darkness: the sound, however, guided him. He was
apparently unperceived; for, though he called, still the sounds continued,
and no notice was taken of him. He found himself in contact with some one,
whom he immediately seized; when a voice cried, "Again baffled!" to which a
loud laugh succeeded; and he felt himself grappled by one whose strength
seemed superhuman: determined to sell his life as dearly as he could, he
struggled; but it was in vain: he was lifted from his feet and hurled with
enormous force against the ground: -- his enemy threw himself upon him, and
kneeling upon his breast, had placed his hands upon his throat when the
glare of many torches penetrating through the hole that gave light in the
day, disturbed him; -- he instantly rose, and, leaving his prey, rushed
through the door, and in a moment the crashing of branches, as he broke
through the wood, was no longer heard. The storm was now still; and Aubrey,
incapable of moving, was soon heard by those without. They entered; the
light of their torches fell upon mud walls, and the thatch loaded on every
individual straw with heavy flakes of soot. At the desire of Aubrey they
searched for her who had attracted him by her cries; he was again left in
darkness; but what was his horror, when the light of the torches once more
burst upon him, to perceive the airy form of his fair conductress brought in
a lifeless corpse. He shut his eyes, hoping that it was but a vision arising
from his disturbed imagination; but he again saw the same form, when he
unclosed them, stretched by his side. There was no colour upon her cheek,
not even upon her lip; yet there was a stillness about her face that seemed
almost as attaching as the life that once dwelt there: -- upon her neck and
breast was blood, and upon her throat were the marks of teeth having opened
the vein: -- to this the men pointed, crying, simultaneously struck with
horror, "A Vampyre! a Vampyre!" A litter was quickly formed, and Aubrey was
laid by the side of her who had lately been to him the object of so many
bright and fairy visions, now fallen; with the flower of life that had died
within her. He knew not what his thoughts were -- his mind was benumbed and
seemed to shun reflection and take refuge in vacancy; -- he held almost
unconsciously in his hand a naked dagger of a particular construction, which
had been found in the hut. They were soon met by different parties who had
been engaged in the search of her whom a mother had missed. Their lamentable
cries as they approached the city, forewarned the parents of some dreadful
catastrophe. -- To describe their grief would be impossible; but when they
ascertained the cause of their child's death, they looked at Aubrey and
pointed to the corpse. They were inconsolable; both died brokenhearted.

Aubrey being put to bed was seized with a most violent fever, and was often
delirious; in these intervals he would call upon Lord Ruthven and upon
Ianthe -- by some unaccountable combination he seemed to beg of his former
companion to spare the being he loved. At other times he would imprecate
maledictions upon his head, and curse him as her destroyer. Lord Ruthven
chanced at this time to arrive at Athens, and from whatever motive, upon
hearing of the state of Aubrey, immediately placed himself in the same
house, and became his constant attendant. When the latter recovered from his
delirium, he was horrified and startled at the sight of him whose image he
had now combined with that of a Vampyre; but Lord Ruthven, by his kind
words, implying almost repentance for the fault that had caused their