Calantha

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"Her eyes large emerald pools, yet with a puzzled expression ― so beautiful! Her flaxen tresses framing perfect features. She reminds me of her mother. I see so much of Carmel in her each day she grows. ... Her young face looked up at me. It seemed in that moment to contain the expression of my beloved Carmel when we first met more than thirty years ago. How strange life is. In our hot youth we cannot imagine the outcome of a chance meeting in the spring of our existence. Now my life feels as though it is in its yellow leaf and still I cannot anticipate from day to day what might happen. ... She must ge guarded with our lives. ... Calantha's flowers had already completely withered in just a small space of time, adding to the perfumed smell of death which seemed to linger everywhere. Scraping the coffin lid's opaque glass clear of debris, I lifted the candelabrum and peered through. ... A shudder of horror went through me. Then I lurched backwards; momentarily freezing to the spot as my heartbeat raced. A strange stillness hung oppressively in the air. Extinguishing the candelabrum and leaving it nearby, I made my way through rows of moonlit gravestones to the lane outside ..." ― Carmel: A Vampire Tale (2000), pp. 55 & 84.

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