Dear companions, and all whom it may concern,
should you receive this letter, I will have suffered the Final Death – or worse. Maybe you have already found out about my true nature, if not, you have earned the right to know the truth.
Whatever may happen – should my Sire get his monstrous claws on me, I will rather seek death than betray or hurt you.
But maybe I should start at the beginning.
Though I was born in Leipzig on the eleventh of April 1975, I spent my early childhood in a little village near the outskirts of town. I think those years were the happiest of my life. When I was twelve years old, my family moved to Leipzig because both my parents had found new jobs there. My father, Rudolph Winter, had gained a position in the international trade fair, and my mother, Angelika Winter, would start as a secretary at a local school.
The change of place wasn’t good for me at all. Suddenly I didn’t have any friends any more (and try as I might, I couldn’t find any during the rest of my school days), and the loss of my old home was very painful for me. I withdrew into myself and the rest of my time at school I spent more or less alone reading or drawing. My marks were above average though.
The reunification of Germany came with lots of chaos and personal catastrophes – both of my parents, like so many others, lost their jobs. They made me study medicine, even though I wanted to study arts, but they said that I should study something useful to be able to make a living. Medicine would be much better, right? They sealed my fate with that.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
My father had made a Romanian friend during his time with the trade fair, Janosz Visarik, who became part of our family over time. His daughter, Ecaterina, was my age, and he sometimes brought her with him when he visited us, and we became friends.
This friendship became stronger when she came to Leipzig to study German literature, and soon we were like sisters. I shared everything with her, my hopes and dreams, my first heartbreak, even the place of my happy childhood. I led her through the fields and meadows that were still so familiar to me, and she filled a little bag with earth, saying that it would comfort me to carry a piece of my home with me.
I finished my studies as the best of my year, and a bright, glittering future lay ahead of me. So many possibilities, so many offers – I was quite overwhelmed, and didn’t really know what to do next. Work at a hospital? Work abroad? Teach? Research?
I didn’t have a clue.
Ecaterina invited me to spend the summer with her family in Romania. She said that the distance would be good for me, and that I would be able to clear my head and make a decision without any others influencing me.
So that was it – I packed my bags and travelled to Romania.
Ecaterina's village was pretty high up in the mountains and was enclosed by deep, dark forests. I liked it there immediately. Everything was perfect, the friendly people in their quaint houses, the meadows, the forests with their ancient secrets – too perfect.
Because behind that picturesque façade lurked a monstrous evil.
One evening Ecaterina's mother sent me out to fetch some herbs from the garden. I made my way through the well-kept flowerbeds looking for the right plants, when suddenly two creatures appeared before me that seemed to come straight from the nightmare of a madman. They rushed towards me and I screamed – then one of these monsters hit the back of my skull with one of his limbs and I lost consciousness.
I came to in a room lying on a bed. Methodically I checked my body for injuries and found myself mostly unharmed – there was only a lump at the base of my skull and a hammering headache. Light concussion, I diagnosed myself, and proceeded to examine my surroundings. It was still dark, and only a few candles chased the shadows away. The furniture and general state of the room indicated that it hadn't been used in a long time. There was an ancient washstand, the bed, a wardrobe with intricate carving and several faded rugs and tapestries. A thick layer of dust covered most things, but the sheets on the bed smelled fresh. The room had two doors and a window.
After a while I made it to my feet and tried the doors. One led to a privy, the other was locked. The window was my next destination, and though I was able to open it, I was dismayed to discover that it was barred with iron bars as thick as my thumb. I tried to rattle them, but they were set solidly into the wall and didn't budge.
“Your attempt to escape is quite futile. Give up, child, you cannot run away from me.”
That was the first time I heard that voice, that mellifluous baritone that seeped into my mind like dark honey. Oh how I would learn to hate it during the next weeks.
I turned around and froze.
Right in front of me stood a creature of terrible beauty, an unreal mixture of wildest dreams and visions of the abyss; awesome and frightening at the same time. He, at least I guessed the creature was male, having the shoulder/hip ratio of one, was dressed in a delicately embroidered robe of blood red velvet. The cut was vaguely traditional, but so that it allowed bony spikes to protrude at his shoulders, the openings for them embellished with more of the fine golden embroidery. His skin was pale and of a vaguely greenish tinge, only the thin, unpigmented tissues of his lips and around his eyes betraying that his blood must be as red as mine. His bone structure looked delicate and elongated, forming strange patterns and occasional spikes.

A nictitating membrane slipped over his eyeballs and back again.
“If I may introduce myself; my name is Mihai Lupescu. But you will call me 'Master'.”
I was still paralysed by fear.
“Come, you were unconscious for a day; you must be quite hungry.”
A whole day? So it wasn't still dark, it was dark again. Certainly the Visariks must have been searching for me already?
Then my brain finally found the synapses of its language centre.
“Who... what are you?”
The creature gave me an indulgent smile.
“All in good time. Come, and stay close to me. There are things walking these halls that would love to take a bite out of you.”
That I could well believe, so I followed him into the hallway and down a veritable labyrinth of corridors. He led me to a formal dining room, which had the same aged feel as the room I'd woken up in. And there awaited me the second shock of the evening.
Ecaterina.
She bowed to Lupescu.
“Master,” she said, and gave him something that I recognized a the little bag of earth from my home village a moment later.
The realization was crushing. She had been part of this the whole time. My best (and only) friend had betrayed me. The sister of my heart had handed me over to a monster.
“Ecaterina,” I stammered, shaken, and collapsed on one of the chairs surrounding the long table.
She didn't look at me.
“Oh, you mustn't hold it against her, child. Her family has been serving me for centuries; she didn't have a choice. I've had my eyes on you ever since Ecaterina's father mentioned you to me. I have watched you closely through him and Ecaterina. They have been very thorough in their reports to me.”
He knew? He knew everything about me? My deepest, darkest secrets, my most precious dreams...I swallowed my tears and uttered the only word I was able to.
“Why?”
Lupescu sent Ecaterina away with a negligent wave of an elegant hand.
“Because I need you. That's why.”
He took a plate filled with open sandwiches and a cup that sat further up the table and set them down before me.
“Eat, and I'll explain.”
Mechanically I took the first piece and took a bite.
“First, you certainly noticed that I'm not a human being,” he said, sitting down across the table and folding his hands on top of it.
I nodded, so he continued.
“I'm a vampire. Careful, don't swallow the wrong way. There are different kinds of us, which we call clans. I'm part of the clan Tzimisce. We used to rule this part of the world, until... ah, that is a story for another time, I'm afraid.”
He paused and leant forwards.
“We are proud of what we are. We take only the best, the most brilliant, and make them as we are.”
“Why me? Aren't there enough brilliant minds in Romania?”
He smiled that indulgent smile again.
“Of course there are, more than enough. But, you see, we have a little ... quirk. We must sleep in the soil of our home, or we lose our powers. Yours is in here, just enough to surround you until you return,” he explained, gently patting the little bag lying on the table.
“Oh,” I said stupidly.
“An ancient terror awoke and is now roaming Russia. I feel that I must turn elsewhere to live, further west, but not too far.”
I blinked slowly.
“You want me as some sort of... bridgehead,” I said.
“Exactly. You are perfect for my purpose. Your special field alone...”
I was a little confused. What did an ancient vampire want with a doctor who specialized in re-constructive plastic surgery? I had chosen this field, because I could use my artistic talents a little. A plastic surgeon needs a good eye and a sense for proportion just as much as a steady hand.
“Even in your mortal life you have prepared yourself for doing what my clan loves most,” he said with an enraptured expression on his alien face. “Just look...”
With a strange, smacking noise he started changing his form, I could see bones and ligaments shift beneath his skin, and the cold, analytical part of my brain started dissecting the purpose of each shift, even as my conscious self was repulsed and horrified. I felt sick, and regretted having eaten anything.
Eventually he was back to his former appearance, he had only kept a few more of the bony spikes protruding from his skull.
“I could do the same with you, if I wanted to.”
Now I could barely hold the food in my stomach. And I'm a doctor.
I jumped to my feet and did the only thing I could do. I ran. Out of the door, through the maze of corridors. Maybe I'd get lucky and find a way out?
It went all rather well, until I almost ran into one of the monsters that had caught me. It roared out of about four or five throats and attacked, so I turned and ran into the other direction, until I ran straight into Lupescu's arms. He held on to me, and barked a short order which made the creature shamble back down the hallway again.
“That was not very wise, dear child,” he said, sounding more amused than anything else, and dragged me with him. I kicked and hit at him, tried to wrench myself out of his grasp, but it was futile.
A little while later I found myself in the room I had woken up in. I was slightly dizzy, and I guessed that there had been a sedative in the watered down wine I'd had with the sandwiches. I barely made it to the bed before I fell asleep.
Like last time it was dark when I woke up. I looked around and found myself alone. Taking a deep breath I got up and made use of the privy and the washstand before again trying to escape. The door opened just when I was trying to pick the lock with one of my hairpins (hey, it works in the movies), and I hastily jumped back as Lupescu entered the room.
“I hope you slept well, child, because the night will be long for both of us. I wish I could take the time to introduce you to your new life slowly, but alas... that is a luxury we don't have,” he said, and I could see an inhuman hunger in his eyes.
I struggled against him desperately, but of course I wasn't any sort of match for him. All too soon he had me on the bed and his teeth inside my cartoid artery.
The feeling was indescribable. I didn't know any more why I had fought him, my hands that had clawed at him only moments before held on to him now. I closed my eyes and just let myself go.
I became aware of my pulse slowing. Everything became dark and quiet, until something ran down my throat and I swallowed instinctively.
It burned.
Oh, how it burned!
As if some sort of acid would corrode me from the inside. I screamed, and writhed beneath him and ...
Died.
And then, suddenly, I opened my eyes and...
“Oh...”
It was as if I'd been deaf and blind my whole life, so many sensations flooded my brain. The shadows, the way the candles guttered, the whisper of the trees, Lupescu's blood red velvet robe under my hands.
And then there was the hunger. I wasn't able to speak, could only utter a whimper.
“Hush, dear child. Come,” Lupescu murmured, pulled me to my wobbly feet, and led me to a room nearby where, tied to a chair, Ecaterina was waiting for me.
She said something, but I didn't listen, was completely fixated on the pulsing vein in her neck. I could almost hear the sweet blood rushing along inside of her in time with the frantic beat of her heart.
“Drink, dear child,” Lupescu said gently, and let go of me.
Nothing else mattered. I was dimly aware that Ecaterina cried and begged, but that sweet ecstasy of her hot, fragrant blood flowing into me... until Lupescu dragged me away from her lifeless body. And slowly it dawned on me what I had done.
I wrenched myself away from him and rushed towards Ecaterina's corpse, ripped her bonds apart with my bare hands, and pressed her against my chest. She had been, in a way, the most important person in my life – and I had murdered her.
I was completely hysterical and screamed like an animal.
And I could only see utter lack of understanding in the face of my Sire.
The next weeks were hell. To this day I can't utter the words, or put them on paper to describe what he did to me, what he made me do. I learned, because my Sire forced me to learn. Forced me to learn how to twist and form my own flesh. How much torture can you inflict on someone who can't die? I found out. He made me drink his blood again, and I noticed that it did something to my emotions. I found myself drawn to him, wanting to please him. I truly started to hate myself then, even though I was told later what a Blood Bond was.
Then, one night, I felt his absence and escaped. Perhaps he was letting me go, because I could even take my bag of dirt. Who knows what was going on in his twisted mind – anyway, I came back to Leipzig. A Toreador who I'd known in my mortal life (she had actually planned to sire me) took me in and passed me off as her childe. I have no idea, not to this day, what she did to make the Prince grant her this favour. She also helped me to establish myself in my new field of expertise – tattoos and body-modifications. I'm sure my Sire would love the irony.
The rest you know.
Part of me hopes, for my sake, that you'll come and save me. Part of me hopes, for your sake, that you won't.
I hope you will forgive me one day for hiding the truth from you,
Eleonora Winter
Name: Eleonora “Nora” Winter
Gender: female
Age: 36
Apparent Age: 25
Place of Birth: Leipzig (Germany)
Species: Vampire
Clan: Tzimisce
Sect: Camarilla
Generation: 8th – due to mental trauma she’s more like 10th
Sire: Mihai Lupescu, 7th Generation Tzimisce, used to be part of the Sabbat, is leaning more towards the Inconnu now (he still does his experiments, though)
Disciplines: Animalism 2, Auspex 2, Vicissitude 1 (or something therabouts)
Languages: German (1st language), English, Latin
Haven: flat above "Needles & Pins"
Merits: Generation (10th, though she's technically 8th), Property (her tattoo & piercing parlour "Needles & Pins")
Flaws: Enemy (her Sire), Prey Exclusion (children, cats), Probationary Sect Member/Dark Secret
Blood Bonds: The original two point BB forced on her by her Sire has abated to a one point BB over time. But that's still bad enough.
Ghouls: A male hairless Sphinx cat named "Mihai", after her Sire. The cat was a foundling, and Nora found its affectionate nature endearing and its freakish appearance darkly amusing.
Appearance: In an attempt to go back to normal, Nora has returned more or less to the appearance she had as a mortal. 1, 65 m tall, curvy (slightly overweight) round, innocent looking face, long, dark brown hair. But she now keeps one blue and one green eye. Due to her work as a tattooist, she dresses mostly in black, usually a girlie-shirt of some Metal-band or another (Pain, Blind Guardian, Iron Maiden) and leather pants or skirt. She doesn't have any tattoos herself, only various piercings in her ears and one stud beneath her lower lip.

Personality: Nora is a loner who just wants to get by. She’s not ambitious, she doesn’t really like attention (though she sometimes pretends to), but she does have a brilliant, inquisitive mind. She is also a bit of a bleeding heart with a weakness for outcasts, but she keeps others at a distance and is, due to past betrayals, not really capable of forming deep friendships. The only other person she trusts is Helene Seiler, the Toreador who took her in after her flight from Romania. She finds it hard to be diplomatic and doesn't dissemble well when it comes to her emotions - she is honest and usually quite blunt. Nora is fond of all kinds of music, though she likes Hard Rock and Heavy Metal best. She sees humans as thinking, feeling beings and tries not to hurt them. The rather cavalier attitude of some Kindred regarding mortals repulses her. The vampiric condition as such isn't much of a problem for her, but she is disgusted with the Tzimisce part of it (but it's a bit of a love-hate relationship; a part of her also finds it quite fascinating). Her two different eyes are a reminder to never forget it, to never grow complacent. And though she hates and fears her Sire, she is also drawn to him; though she isn't quite sure if it's the Blood Bond or her own genuine emotions.



