Camilla

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If the books are not part of a series, they are also on sale for 99 cents. Enjoy and thanks for saving a tree every time you read an ebook!
Laura starts her story in her childhood where she grew up in a storybook and lonely castle in the middle of dense forest in Styria. She lives with her father who is a very wealthy widow, English from birth but now a retired Austrian officer.
As a young child, Laura often "saw" a beautiful woman visit her bedroom at night. She remembers her kissing Laura goodnight but also believes she was bitten around the neck. No wounds were ever found when she told the story the next morning.
When Laura is eighteen, her father tells her that he received a letter from his long ago friend General Spielsdorf. The General is coming for a visit. Reluctantly her father also tells her that the General had been planning to bring his niece, Bertha, but she had since passed away. The General is very guarded in his writing and says he will discuss the matter further when he gets there.
Laura is upset that she lost a chance to have a visitor her own age. That same time a carriage accident occurs near the castle and a young girl is brought in for care. He name is Camilla and both girls recognize each other from the dreams they had as young children, the one where they are bitten.
Camilla is injured and so her family leaves her in the car of Laura and her father as they continue their journey. Her mother says she will return for her in three months.
Camilla's visit brings horror and intrigue as balls are given, tombs discovered and vampires ultimately revealed. Is Camilla really Bertha transformed into a vampire but keeps her visit with Laura even after death and transformation?

Except:
It was past four o'clock, and I preferred passing the remaining hours of darkness in Madame's room. Daylight brought no solution of the difficulty.
The whole household, with my father at its head, was in a state of agitation next morning. Every part of the chateau was searched. The grounds were explored. No trace of the missing lady could be discovered. The stream was about to be dragged; my father was in distraction; what a tale to have to tell the poor girl's mother on her return. I, too, was almost beside myself, though my grief was quite of a different kind.
The morning was passed in alarm and excitement. It was now one o'clock, and still no tidings. I ran up to Camilla's room, and found her standing at her dressing table. I was astounded. I could not believe my eyes. She beckoned me to her with her pretty finger, in silence. Her face expressed extreme fear.
I ran to her in an ecstasy of joy; I kissed and embraced her again and again. I ran to the bell and rang it vehemently, to bring others to the spot who might at once relieve my father's anxiety.
"Dear Camilla, what has become of you all this time? We have been in agonies of anxiety about you," I exclaimed. "Where have you been? How did you come back?"
"Last night has been a night of wonders," she said.
"For mercy's sake, explain all you can."
"It was past two last night," she said, "when I went to sleep as usual in my bed, with my doors locked, that of the dressing room, and that opening upon the gallery. My sleep was uninterrupted, and, so far as I know, dreamless; but I woke just now on the sofa in the dressing room there, and I found the door between the rooms open, and the other door forced. How could all this have happened without my being wakened? It must have been accompanied with a great deal of noise, and I am particularly easily wakened; and how could I have been carried out of my bed without my sleep having been interrupted, I whom the slightest stir startles?"
By this time, Madame, Mademoiselle, my father, and a number of the servants were in the room. Camilla was, of course, overwhelmed with inquiries, congratulations, and welcomes. She had but one story to tell, and seemed the least able of all the party to suggest any way of accounting for what had happened.
continued...