'There she sees a damsel bright,
Drest in a silken robe of white,
That shadowy in the moonlight shone:
The neck that made that white robe wan,
Her stately neck, and arms were bare;
Her blue-veined feet unsandl'd were,
And wildly glittered here and there
The gems entangled in her hair.
I guess, 'twas frightful there to see
A lady so richly clad as she-
Beautiful exceedingly!'

Excerpt from the poem Chistabel,
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
(1772-1884)

Chapter 1 Prologue of Sadness

It was a cold autumnal night and the dogs in the front yard howled as an omen that the Reaper stretched his bony fingers over the Cuthberht's mansion. In the distance, the craggy peaks of the Harz mountain range stood scarcely visible amidst the darkness and the thickness of the clouds in the sky. Lightnings flashed, flaring up the firmament while thunders clashed rumbling by the hillsides to them echo back on the stone walls of the castle announcing that a storm threatened to lash over the region of Harzburg.

Strong gusts blew, howling a mortuary chant to open with rampant force the windows of the room where the duchess agonized. Orla, the faithful servant, wrestled against the raging blinds portending to unbolt to let in the cold and fierce winds.

"Alea iacta est", crestfallen, Bishop Rudrich muttered, still waiting outside the dormitory to give the final anointing as accustomed by faith. Lady Edwina's soul would dwell with the Lord on that stormy night.

The healers also left the room at requested by Lord Aelderic, since nothing else could be done for the poor woman and the duke wished to spend those last moments with his beloved wife. Only Lord Aelderic, his daughter Ardith and Orla, the old maid, remained.

More than a simple maidservant, Orla was a close friend to the Cuthberhts and a mother to the manor's mistress. When Lady Edwina was a little girl, her father, the Duke of Goslar, hired the woman to be the girl's nanny and governess. By that time the young and fair lady renounced to everything; having her own life and a family to serve unconditionally to the Goslars and years later, the Cuthberths. It was the nanny who walked Edwina to the altar when she got married and assisted her when Ardith was born. But that night, the so anguished servant cried with hopelessness, praying by the window; her stare wandered outside in the stormy sky. There, Orla begged fervently to all the saints she recalled by name for a miracle to happen, even though she knew that this evening would be the last for the castle's mistress.

Lord Aelderic leaned his tired back against the wall, his gaze lost somewhere in the dormitory waiting for the anticipated, yet undesired upshot. His beautiful young daughter sobbed uncontrollably while sitting on the bed next to her dying mother. What a pitiful situation, for Lady Edwina was still young, barely in her forties, yet her beauty languished to the specter of a terrible disease. Where it was once abundant and red hair, now reduced to frail gray rags and her bright green eyes lost the luster that life once had given to them. Her feeble and appalled body quivered as she coughed repeatedly, exhaling painfully her last breaths while Ardith held with tenderness her mother's cold and trembling hands.

Contemplating for the last time her daughter's tearful face and making an extraordinary effort considering her circumstances to keep her eyes open, the duchess smiled. A thin line drew on her colorless lips. Her labored breathing sounded more like a loud and laborious moan, giving signs of a weary body losing the battle for life. Edwina tried in vain to reach Ardith's face, but her hand fell to her sides and her eyelids closed forever.

Three years later...

It was early in the morning and Ardith read sitting by the stoned water well in the garden sheltered under and arch of flowers and vines. A beautiful day like no other, that summer nature had been benevolent offering days without heavy showers and somehow warmer than usual in the slopes of the Harz mountain range. Her pleasant reading and her stranded thoughts were interrupted when Orla arrived to the garden. "There you are my girl. I've been looking for you", the servant said beaming a motherly smile.

"Is it time for my harp lessons Orla?"

"Oh no, my dear. You father requests your presence in the main hall. We have very important guests today, and the duke wants you to meet them."

"Oh, why? Please, I don't want to go, Orla. Tell father I'm not feeling well", Ardith protested.

"No I would not tell him that. Ardith you can't dissatisfy your father with a childish tantrum of contempt this time. The duke only pursues for your happiness and you don't help him that much my girl." Orla stroked Ardith's hair as she spoke to her.

"Fine, Orla, I'll go." Scowling, the young lady stood up and gave the book she was reading to the nanny.

"Wait. You can't go in there looking like that. I told you they are very important people", Orla untied the sachet hanging from her waistband, taking out all kind of fine jewelry. "You're such a beautiful lady, Ardith. It's about time for you to realize that you're not a girl anymore. Here, I brought you these earrings and bracelets. Put them on... Let me comb your hair and place some flowers as a headdress... There you go. We want your father to be pleased and proud of you. Our guests will swoon flabbergasted by your beauty." Orla smiled still playing dolls with Ardith's face and hair.

"Ha, ha, Orla. The things you say. No one will be charmed by me ever. Only you and father consider me that pretty. I will never be as beautiful as mother was", downcast, the young lady spoke.

"Your mother was a woman of great beauty, that can't be discussed, but you my dear are a fair lady, charming and smart. She must be smiling from heaven above looking to the lovely woman you grew up to be."

"Do you mean it Orla?" The lady asked.

"I say it because it's true. Ardith, I know you miss your mother, so do I, but we must leave the dead to rest in peace and go on with our lives. You're young and so beautiful and it's a pity my dear, you barely go out. Never attend a soiree or a tournament, you don't have friends... think of what your mother would have wanted for you. Certainly it is not to consume your life secluded inside this castle's walls. There's so much to see out there. So many handsome gentlemen waiting to meet you, to fall in love with you."

"Yes, like the ones visiting us today, only gray hairs and mead round bellies", Ardith giggled and shrugged while taking a bottle of lilac perfume Orla handed to her. She grimaced and rolled her eyes, protesting but in the end put no resistance to Orla's beauty session.

"There you go. Now you are ready my child. Go inside, your father is waiting for you... And please, smile."

"Thank you Orla. Yes, I will", the young duchess mimicked a wide exaggerated grin that looked more like a scowl. Orla laughed, as she knew she could do nothing more than what she had done for her beloved Ardith.

In the main hall, Lord Aelderic conversed aimlessly with a group of men. In her always timid fashion, Ardith sauntered towards the group. She forced herself to walk with her head up and smile as Orla told her to do. "Good morning", she greeted and curtsied to the men.

A proud Lord Aelderic beamed with joy to see his daughter walking into the salon, smiling, so stunning. Her blonde hair braided neatly to her sides, crowned with flowers. There was even a little touch of make up on her face and she wore jewelry, something that Ardith rarely did. "Gentlemen I want to introduce you to my beloved daughter Ardith. Isn't she the most charming lady of them all? Please, my dear, come to meet some important people who paid a visit to us in this magnificent day." In a fatherly tone the duke introduced her each one of the five men.

One of them that stood up from the rest. One who's hair wasn't gray and had no bloated stomach. Her face blushed to the insistent stare of this gentleman and she smiled, this time genuinely to him. "Least but not last, I want you to meet Sir Edmund Wigheard, son of the count of Wigmodia, a dear friend of mine. Did you know Ardith that this young man is King Henry's herald?"

"A great pleasure to meet you, Sir Edmund. Welcome to the house of my father", Ardith greeted the man.

"Pleasure is all mine. To your service, milady." Edmund kissed Ardith's hand. "Certainly, there's no other woman this charming, Lord Aelderic. Allow me to say, with all respects, that your daughter is a true beauty.

Ardith's cheeks flushed after Edmund's kiss left a delightful tingling sensation on her skin.

"Yes she is. Just like her mother was... Well, I'll leave you two to talk and get acquainted. I will be there with the elderly." The duke laughed and joined the rest of the party.

Ardith and Edmund conversed for hours. Lord Aelderic's heart warmed to the sight of his daughter enjoying the handsome young man's company. For the first time he saw her this happy and his paternal intuition told him this wasn't going to be the last time he would see his daughter blissful because of Lord Edmund Wigheard.

Hello Wattpaders. Thanks for taking your time to read my stories. This is the first vampire novel I write. It was first written in Spanish where it is featured. I'm slowly editing the English version. I hope you had enjoyed this first chapter so far.

What do you think of this first chapter? How about Ardith?

Feel free to leave your comments in the section below. Pressing that orange star means a lot to me!