“It’s over, Elizabeth. Your own words in your own diary sealed your fate.”

“You dare use my given name? I am the Countess Bathory, and you will address me as such.”

“You gave up that right when you turned into the vile creature you are. You are a Lady by name only, though it has been stripped from you.”

Suddenly she calmed, as if being reminded of her birth was all it took to change her.

“Well, what is my fate to be then?”

        The Count struggled within himself. He firmly believed that the punishment the Emperor dealt her was fair. However, it still did not change the fact that she was family. Then again, if he allowed himself to remember all the horror he had heard in the past few days, dealing her punishment would not be so hard after all.

      “Elizabeth Bathory, Countess and Lady of Castle Csejthe, you are condemned to die in the very place you caused so much anguish.”

Elizabeth stiffened and her fists balled at her sides. She looked alone and scared. Thurzo felt that it was only fitting that she felt the same numb terror her victims did. There had been so many.

“You will be walled into your tower with only food and water to sustain you, and with minimal light and no contact to the outside world.”

She attempted to run from the room, only to be blocked by soldiers.

“You will remain in this room for the rest of your natural life. You will grow old and you will die. Though others demanded your death, the Emperor has spared you a public execution. This is what your nobility had bought you. Though, I believe, a slow death would have been more fitting.”

The scream that came from the Countess was chilling. Anger radiated from her body, her eyes poured evil as she glared at Thurzo.

“Until that day, when the breath and the life leave my body, I will curse you with every fiber of my being,” she panted. “I have not lived all these years and learned nothing. The future generations to come will not be safe from my wrath.”

He wanted to feel such pity for this once beautiful lady. However, once the shell of her perfection had been cracked, the ugliness had seeped through. It was vile, and one could almost smell its evil stench.

“Then curse me, Elizabeth. Your murdering days are over.” Thurzo shook his head. “All you have accomplished is your own end. The blood spilled here had better have been enough to sustain you. Because I, and all who know the truth, see you as you truly are. You are an ugly, bitter woman with the soul that belongs to the devil himself. I wonder if now you feel any remorse?”

Thurzo turned and left the room. He turned his back on her screams as the soldier detained her. The masons would make quick work of her new prison. In the back of his mind, he hoped her threats were empty. He would pray for his family’s future if they were not.

            For many years, Elizabeth’s hate sustained her. The servant that passed her food and water reported to the governor that she was rambling, cursing, and talking to herself most of the time. Though the servant would never address her, she would watch her through the small door made only for the passing of food and water.

One morning, the servant heard her whispering to herself and scratching on the wall. By the next morning, when the food was left untouched, the servant opened the hatch to look inside.  There on the floor, face down, was the Countess Bathory. Needing to be certain before reporting it to the governor, the servant called a guard and pried open the door so long ago sealed. She was in fact, dead.

What caught the attention of both the servant and the soldier was the writing on the wall. It looked to be written in blood, and the servant was sure it was a spell. The Countess had studied in the black arts. She was not certain what it was, however, so she crossed herself and said a prayer for the lady, then left to report to the governor that his cousin was dead.

Thurzo did not grieve, nor did the people from the village. They were now serving a new lord. However, her threats echoed in his mind once again. Whatever would come to pass he had no way of knowing, however, he asked the priest to bless his family at every opportunity.

As the word spread of her death, many sighed in great relief. Their loved ones who had died were now at peace.