The Vourdalak Now

The marquis stays the night. As the clock strikes midnight, a knock comes at the door. It is Gorcha. He is pale, his eyes are glassy, and he moves stiffly. The family is horrified, but he insists he is alive. He acts strangely, demanding food and wine but barely touching them. He tells a rambling, unsettling tale of killing the vourdalak, but his story has gaps and contradictions.

A young French marquis, the Marquis d’Urfé, is traveling through the wild, mountainous regions of Serbia and Wallachia. He is seeking the infamous brigand, Ali Beg, but loses his way in a desolate valley. He seeks shelter at a poor, isolated farmhouse, home to an old woman named Zdenka and a proud, beautiful young woman named Sdenka. Two men are absent: Gorcha, the family patriarch, and his younger son, George. The Vourdalak

The marquis rides away, haunted. He ends his tale by saying he no longer laughs at the superstitions of peasants. He has seen the family of the vourdalak standing together in the dawn light, the dead smiling a welcome that he will never forget. The marquis stays the night

Finally, only Sdenka and the marquis remain. The marquis tries to protect her, barricading the door, keeping a fire blazing. But the voice of Gorcha outside shifts, becoming the voice of her dead brother George, then her mother. Finally, it becomes a soft, heartbreaking whisper of her own name: “Sdenka…” He is pale, his eyes are glassy, and he moves stiffly

The marquis watches in helpless terror as Sdenka’s will breaks. She unbolts the door and walks out into the moonlight, arms outstretched, weeping with joy to see her “family” again. The marquis hears a wet, tearing sound, then silence.

That night, the youngest son, George, hears his father call his name softly from outside. Unable to resist the sorrowful, familiar voice, George goes out. The next morning, George is found dead, with two small puncture marks on his neck. Gorcha is gone.

The family knows what this means: Gorcha is a vourdalak, and now George will rise as one too. The marquis, initially skeptical, witnesses the horror firsthand. Over the next few nights, the vourdalak Gorcha returns again and again, calling to each family member by name. One by one, in a trance-like state, they go to him. The old woman Zdenka disappears. The strong, brave son, Pierre, resists for a while but eventually succumbs to the pitiful, irresistible voice calling, “Pierre, my son… open the door… I am cold…”