Carmilla recap

Laura lives with her father in a remote Styrian castle when a carriage accident brings the beautiful Carmilla into their home. The two young women feel they have met in childhood dreams and form an intense attachment, although Carmilla conceals her history and behaves strangely. As nearby girls die and Laura weakens under recurring nocturnal attacks, an old family portrait reveals Carmilla's likeness to Countess Mircalla Karnstein. General Spielsdorf then recounts how a guest named Millarca befriended his ward Bertha before the girl died in the same manner. He recognizes Carmilla, whose several names are anagrams, as the same being. With Baron Vordenburg's guidance, the group finds Mircalla's concealed tomb and confirms that she is a vampire. Her body is staked, beheaded, and burned, ending the local deaths. Laura recovers physically but continues to remember Carmilla as both beloved companion and terrifying intruder.

Laura recalls growing up with her English father in a lonely castle in Styria. As a child, she once woke to find a beautiful young woman beside her and felt a sharp pain at her breast before the figure vanished. Years later, Laura's father receives word that his friend General Spielsdorf cannot visit because a young woman in his care has died after a mysterious illness. That evening a carriage overturns near the castle. Its commanding passenger says urgent business prevents her from caring for her injured daughter and persuades Laura's father to host the girl temporarily. The daughter, Carmilla, is identical to the visitor from Laura's childhood memory. Carmilla says she too dreamed of Laura years ago. The recognition creates immediate intimacy, but Carmilla will reveal almost nothing about her family or destination. Laura is drawn to her new companion while also unsettled by Carmilla's intense declarations and secrecy.

Carmilla settles into the castle but follows unusual habits: she sleeps late, avoids religious observances, tires easily, and sometimes disappears from her locked room. Her affection for Laura is passionate and possessive, alternating with periods of languor. Young women in the surrounding countryside begin dying from an unexplained wasting sickness. A restored family portrait dated generations earlier shows Countess Mircalla Karnstein, whose face is exactly Carmilla's and whose name closely resembles hers. Laura then suffers a vivid nighttime attack in which a large dark animal enters her room, presses upon her, and seems to bite her. She later sees a female figure near her bed. In the morning there is no ordinary intruder to find, but the experience leaves Laura frightened and increasingly aware that Carmilla's arrival, the old portrait, and the local deaths may be connected.

Laura's nights become more oppressive. She dreams of a voice warning her, sees Carmilla in threatening forms, and develops two small marks near her throat. By day she grows pale, weak, and strangely passive, much like the young women who recently died. Carmilla shows simultaneous tenderness and an unnerving fascination with death. Laura's father calls a physician, who treats the condition as an immediate danger and insists that Laura not sleep alone. He speaks privately with her father and recommends seeking further help. Carmilla herself cannot be found when the household searches her room, even though its door appears secured. Laura's father decides to take her toward the ruined village of Karnstein, partly to meet General Spielsdorf, whose own recent bereavement now seems relevant to the pattern surrounding Laura.

General Spielsdorf joins Laura and her father on the road to Karnstein and explains the death of his ward Bertha. At a masquerade, Bertha met a beautiful young woman calling herself Millarca. The girl's supposed mother arranged for Millarca to stay with the general, using much the same story that brought Carmilla to Laura's castle. Bertha soon suffered nightmares, puncture marks, and progressive weakness. The general hid near her room and saw a monstrous shape attack her; when he struck at it, Millarca disappeared, and Bertha died. At the ruined Karnstein chapel, Carmilla appears. The general recognizes her as Millarca and attacks her with an axe, but she evades the blow and vanishes. His account confirms that Laura's beloved companion has repeated the same approach under another rearrangement of her name and that Laura is close to sharing Bertha's fate.

A local woodman and surviving records point the group toward the lost tomb of Countess Mircalla Karnstein. Baron Vordenburg, whose ancestors studied the Karnstein vampire, uses inherited documents to locate the grave concealed within the ruined chapel. Carmilla, Millarca, and Mircalla are identified as the same woman, preserved through generations by feeding on young victims while approaching them as an intimate companion. The tomb is opened before officials and medical witnesses. Mircalla's body appears living rather than decayed and bears the physical signs they expect of a vampire. They drive a stake through her heart, remove her head, burn the remains, and disperse the ashes. The unexplained deaths in the region stop. Laura travels with her father and gradually recovers, but the experience never wholly releases her: memories of Carmilla's affection remain entangled with visions of the creature that attacked her.

General Spielsdorf recognizes Carmilla as the same mysterious young woman who entered his household under the name Millarca before Bertha died. At the ruined Karnstein chapel he attacks her, but she escapes. Baron Vordenburg uses family records to identify her as Countess Mircalla Karnstein and to locate her hidden grave. The investigators open the tomb and find her body unnaturally preserved and showing signs of recent feeding. Acting according to the accepted remedy for a vampire, they drive a stake through her heart, decapitate the body, burn it, and scatter the ashes. The deaths and wasting sickness in the district cease, and Laura slowly regains her health during travel with her father. She nevertheless remains psychologically marked by Carmilla, remembering at different times both the companion she loved and the predatory figure that haunted her room.