Thanks to modern-day literature-and movies, a vampire is a creature that we are most familiar with. Male vampires seem to have a dominant presence in the myths related to vampires, than female vampires. Female vampires are often referred by the term vampiress and are believed to be unearthly beautiful with seductive charms which would help them to lure their prey. Even though the presence of vampiresses is considerably low, their existence is acknowledged before the existence of male vampires.
As for historical records, Persians were one of the first civilizations to have tales of blood-drinking demons. Persians recognized that there are female creatures that drink blood from men. This is proven by the pottery shards that were found, which were dated to be made during the period of the Persian civilization. These pottery shards were often decorated with paintings of females attempting to drink blood from men.
Dracula is by far the most prominent vampire in the western world. Whenever the word Vampire is mentioned, most of us would immediately think of Dracula. So Dracula is often referred to as the king of vampires. Even though history suggests that vampiresses emerged before vampires, it does not specifically mention an entity that is prominent just like Dracula.
The closest entity that could be considered to be of similar status is the vampress Mircalla. Therefore, Mircalla is often referred to as the lady vampire. She is a countess who is believed to be native to the Austrian Empire. But mostly she is known by the name Camilla which she uses to disguise her true name after rearranging the letters in Mircalla.
Dracula first appeared in the novel written by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. Interestingly, a similar novel about Mircalla was written in 1872 by the Irish author “Sheridan Le Fanu”. Even though the novel written by Sheridan Le Fanu, didn’t receive the same popularity as the one written by Bram Stoker, it should be noted, that Camilla was written 25 years before Dracula. The novel Camilla could be considered one of the early works of vampire fiction, and often consider to be one of those novels that inspired the popular Dracula novel, written by Bram Stoker.
Mircalla is portraited as a seductress. As for some sources, Mircalla is one of the true vampires of their species and has the power to turn humans into vampires as well. Other sources claim that Mircalla was turned into a vampire by another vampiress named Emily, with whom Mircalla shared an intimate relationship. So Mircalla is identified as a lesbian vampire. Instead of men, she is more attracted to beautiful young women.
Unlike other vampires, Mircalla does not feed upon those who come to her by chance. Instead, she specifically targets her victim and strategically enters their house. For this, she even has a group of assistants. This is because the vampiress cannot enter a house without an invitation. So her assistance would get the owner of the house where her prey lives, to invite her in.
It is not clear if this group of assistants consists of humans or if they are undead themselves. Once Mircalla finds her prey, she falls in love with them and uses her seductive capability to get them into a romantic relationship with her. Once they are in the relationship, the vampiress commits to it, and even becomes overly possessive of her lover. But eventually, she would feed off her victim and would ultimately kill her.
It is after her lover’s death that Mircalla would move on to a different human and again falls in love. Mircalla has the power to shapeshift. But unlike most vampires that change their shape to a bat or a dog, Mircalla changes herself into a black cat. She can even drink blood off her victims in her cat form. Unlike other vampires, Mircalla does not die or change her appearance when exposed to sunlight. But it does weaken the powers of the vampiress so she does not prefer the sunlight. Another interesting fact about Mircalla, is that she can only give names to herself using by rearranging the letters of her original name.
That is why she has only appeared with names such as Mircalla, Camila, and Marcilla. It is believed that the name of the vampiress is one of the main sources that give her supernatural powers. This attribute could be seen in vampires that were introduced after Camila. Even Dracula is believed to use the name Alucard, which is Dracula spelled backwards, to hide his true identity. It is also interesting to note, that Camila is the first vampire mentioned to drink blood with fangs, that only appear during the times she feeds. Then onwards, every vampire that joined the vampire fiction, including Dracula, used fangs to draw blood. Camila also has the power to pass through the solid walls which not many vampires have the power to do.
Like most vampires, Mircalla is repulsed by religious objects and could not stand listening to prayers and hymns. She too sleeps in her coffin which is cleverly hidden in a place where no human could find it. This is because it is during her sleeping hours that the vampiress is most vulnerable and could be easily killed. She has the power to enter and leave the coffin without disturbing any dirt covering the grave. A mere bite of the vampiress does not kill the victim or turn them into a vampire. She would feed off her victim over a period of time while the victim slowly withered away.
Camilla is sometimes referred to as one of the three brides of Count Dracula. They are not believed to share the same dominance as Dracula, and are instead viewed as servants who lure men into the lair of Dracula with their charms and beauty. In return, Dracula would let them feed off children and babies. It is also believed that these three vampiresses are not blood-related but are called sisters because they belong to the same species. In the Bram Stoker novel, when the three brides recognize Mina Harker who is one of the primary protagonists, to be destined to become a vampire, they refer to her as ‘sister’ and ask her to join them.
Camila is an interesting character created by Le Fanu, especially because it greatly challenged the cultural views on women. At the time, women are considered merely as useful possessions of men, and would always have a need to rely on men, and need constant guardianship. But Le Fanu portrays Camila as a superior being to men, where they become helpless to protect their own families in the hands of the vampiress. Also, the methodical approach of the vampiress in choosing her prey is something that is not very commonly found among male vampires, who are most likely to pray upon those who come across them by chance. This portrays her superiority in intelligence. She even bonds emotionally and sexually with her victims, and remains faithful to them until they die. Through these aspects, one could argue that Le Fanu portrays women as equal to men, or even superior to men, and that is why the vampiress showed no interest in men even as a prey.
This view did not sit well with the cultural ideologies at the time, so women who challenged the acceptable boundaries of society were viewed as vampireses. It might also be a reason that Camila didn’t receive the same popularity as Dracula. Yet, she is one of the main characters that greatly influenced vampire fiction, including the myth of the king of vampires, Dracula. What do you think of this story? Let me know your thoughts and anything I might have missed. Thank you so much my Patreon and subscribers for your amazing support. If haven’t already and if you’d like to support me you can do so by being a Patreon a youtube member and a subscriber. Hope you enjoyed it and I’ll see you again with another story to tell. My Patreon thank you so much for your amazing support. Hope you enjoyed it and I’ll see you again with another story to tell.
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