On her way out of Carmilla's sleeping chamber, Tori thought of something. "We should probably check in on Great-Aunt Lisa."
"You mean Liesel von Karnstein?" asked Erzulie.
"I refuse to acknowledge that name," Tori said firmly. "Once a Vordenburg, always a Vordenburg. And since she's family, it's only right to check in on her. Even if... if... you know..." A gloomy look came over Tori's face. "Even if she has been brainwashed by the leeches."
"You okay, honey?" Erzulie asked, placing a chocolate-colored hand on Tori's shoulder to console her girlfriend.
"Grandpa took Great-Aunt Lisa being turned really hard," Tori sighed. "I don't think he ever really got over it. He always talked about how Clan von Karnstein took his sister from him. Oh well, a stolen relative is still a relative. Let's go see her."
They checked in Liesel's room, a hippie paradise with floral wallpaper, dreamcatchers, yoga mats, and a coffin painted in garish psychedelic patterns. It was completely empty. "She must be working," Erzulie thought out loud.
The two finally tracked Liesel down in her study. The small room was crowded with astrolabes, star charts, crystal balls, candles, tarot cards, ouija boards, rune-engraved pens for automatic writing, mirrors, books on reading the patterns in flocks of birds, geomancy manuals, powders for capnomancy, and (disturbingly) a dead sheep whose innards spilled out onto the floor in apparently portentous patterns. Hunched over the slaughtered sheep was a pale girl with sliver-blonde hair down to her ankles dressed in a white lace tunic top, a dark purple maxi-skirt, and a garland of black roses in her hair. Her pearly feet were bare. Tori instantly recognized her undead great-aunt, Liesel von Karnstein.
Liesel looked up from her work, looking simultaneously pleased and nervous. "Ah, you're here. Welcome back to Stokerville, Tori. It's totally righteous to see you again! You too, Erzulie."
"How's Claudia?" asked Erzulie. Tori's face darkened at the mention of the vampire who had recruited Liesel into Clan von Karnstein.
"She's doing groovy, man," Liesel smiled. "She's tinkering on her motorcycle right now. I can't go get her if you wanna see her."
Tori cleared her throat awkwardly. "No need, Great-Aunt Lisa."
"Please, call me Liesel," Liesel smiled cheerfully. "It's what Matriarch Carmilla named me at my initiation, after all. I think it sounds pretty far-out."
"Okay... Liesel," Tori said, forcing the vampire name past her lips for Liesel's sake.
"So, how's the business been treating you?" Liesel asked.
"Not bad," Tori shrugged. "We just got back from Scotland."
"Ooh, I love Scotland!" Liesel chirped as she wiped the sheep's blood off of her ceremonial dagger with a handkerchief. "It's such a mystical land. Mother Night's very powerful there. What brought you there?"
"A killer vampire," said Tori. "It's usually rogue witches, werewolves and faeries who bring us to Scotland, but there's vampires up there as well. This particular vampire was lairing on the Isle of Ronay, an isolated, podunk island in the Hebrides Archipelago where it never quite stopped being 1910. Their only real contact with the outside world came from tourists coming to see the local rock formations... and they were becoming vampire chow."
"The vampire came to Breamish, Ronay's main village, in the Eighties," Erzulie added. "She claimed to be the daughter of Mother Night and Lady Moon, and she quickly set up a pagan cult on Ronay with herself at the head. She then proceeded to grow a new clan for herself under the guise of human sacrifices."
Liesel frowned. "That is SO ungroovy! I've never had a drop of human blood in my life, let alone led a human sacrifice. Animal blood all the way, people!"
"That's why you're the only von Karnstein that I trust," Tori smiled. "I know the others mind their manners and don't kill the people they feed from, but luring people into abandoned buildings, mesmerizing them, and drinking their blood creeps me the fuck out."
"Tell me about it," Liesel giggled. "I guess there is still a little Vordenburg in me. So, what happened with the Ronay vampire?"
"We spied on one of her rituals and saw her turn a tourist named Megan Swanson into a vampire," Tori continued. "We followed her into the old castle she was lairing in and got into a fight with her and her clanmates and her ghoul servants."
"I don't think we'd have survived if one of her clanmates hadn't defected to us," Erzulie chimed in. "After the fight, I restored that vampire's humanity and she resumed her old life as Fiona MacGorrie. Megan wanted to stay a vampire, though." Erzulie decided not to mention that she and Tori were currently traveling with Fiona and Megan.
"Once all that was done, I took a good look at what remained of this mysterious 'Daughter of the Moon'," said Tori. "She actually turned out to be Drusilla von Wisborg!"
"Count Tiberius von Wisborg's seer?!" Liesel gasped, recognizing the name of the evil clan. "But I thought my dad destroyed Clan von Wisborg!"
"Great-Grandpa Victor destroyed Clan von Wisborg, not all of its individual members," Tori explained. "Count Tiberius is still being sheltered by Clan Tepes, in Transylvania, for example. Drusilla was also at large... until we took care of the bitch." Tori laughed, a triumphant gleam in here eyes.
"I'll make sure to tell Carmilla about what you did in the Hebrides," Liesel smiled. "She'll be grateful."
"I didn't do this for her!" Tori scoffed.
"Taking out a von Wisborg is a good deed for everybody on the planet," Liesel responded. "Those guys give off totally bad vibes, man. Vampires like them are the reason we need hunters like you." Liesel then surprised Tori by catching her in a tight hug. "I may be a von Karnstein now, but you're still family to me... and I'm totally proud of you."
"Thanks," Tori smiled. "I... I hope you're happy here."
"I am, Tori," Liesel laughed. "If I weren't, I'd have asked Erzulie to cure me a long time ago. Claudia's been totally righteous to me, and life as a seer is so exciting." She released Tori from the chilly hug. "Speaking of which, I still have a lot of omens to read. Thanks for visiting, though."
"Bye, Great-Aunt Lisa... errm... Great-Aunt Liesel," Tori said, waving goodbye. "If I need any extra help in the Beck case, I'll be sure to give you a call!"
"Will you really?" Erzulie asked as Tori closed the door behind her. "Aren't her loyalties divided?"
"Like I said earlier," Tori smiled, "a Vordenburg is a Vordenburg. Now let's get back to the Motel 6."