Staked: The Last Night of the Crimson Countess (Patreon)

The velvet room was silent when the hunters finally found her. Three hundred years of hunger, and it ended on a crimson sofa in a dying candlelit house.

She had heard them coming and did not run. She was too proud, and too tired. When the first stake hit, her breath tore out of her in a gasp. Her fangs flashed, and her fingers dug into the velvet.

The wood burned like ice and fire together, splitting the silk over her heart. Her pulse, slow for centuries, struck once, twice, then stumbled. Blood ran dark over the black corset, and the room faded into red.

Her last thought was not of fear. It was of the first night she ever felt the hunger, and the first sunrise she would never see.

The Countess did not scream. She only whispered, "Finally…"