The darkness pressed in from all directions, and suddenly Miss Crawford’s eyes shone with that same deep coal-red spark.

“LOOK INTO MY EYES!” she exclaimed in a terrible voice.

“Upon my word, there is certainly no need to shout,” said Fanny, putting down the book calmly.

This stunned Miss Crawford completely. She sat back in her chair, and then said, “Unbelievable. . . . Could it be that—that you are one of those rare few who are immune to the gaze of such as myself?”

“Such as yourself, Miss Crawford?” said Fanny. “And what might that be?”

“I suspect,” said Miss Crawford, “that you know quite well already.”

“I am afraid your meaning is quite beyond me.”

But, for the first time, Fanny smiled.

Immediately, the sensation of pressing encroaching darkness receded. Fanny Price felt an unbelievable confident calm, and an inner sense of power building up deep inside her chest, as normally would joy or utter exultation. She was no longer helpless and terrified of what was before her.

“Yes . . .” said the creature that was Miss Crawford. “You need pretend no longer. I see you know me. What am I, dear Fanny?”

“You are a creature of the night, Miss Crawford. Neither dead nor truly living. I have learnt of your kind in Mrs. Radcliffe’s novels, if I recall. You find sustenance in the drinking of that which courses in the veins of the living. The ancient Vampyre, or—vampire.”

“Ah, how clever you are indeed, Miss Price. You have discovered me. What, then, will you do now?”

“That, Miss Crawford, depends entirely on you.”

Fanny Price drew forward and stared directly at the vampire. Mary Crawford stared back.

“Look into my eyes, Miss Crawford. What do you see?”

“I see a foolish young girl. One who is bursting with newfound confidence and is, in truth, a breath away from death.”

“I suggest you look again. What you should see is the one person who will not allow you to commit any more evil under this roof. My cousin Edmund, and all of Mansfield Park are not yours for the taking!”

The elegant vampire laughed. “Oh, is that so, foolish Fanny? And how do you intend to stop me? Edmund is mine, you know. I shall have him in the end. It is what I came here to do. You are powerless against me.”

Fanny bit her lip, took a deep breath, and said: “Miss Crawford, I must kindly ask you to leave. Get out of my room, before I use that fireplace poker on you!”

But before Miss Crawford could hiss or attack, Fanny pulled out the little cross hidden close to her heart, and she raised it before the vampire. “Out!” repeated Fanny. “And do take your copy of that horrid Lovers’ Vows with you.”

Miss Crawford was gone out the door quicker than Fanny could blink. And immediately Edmund came to himself with a shudder, smack in the middle of declaiming a line.