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…”
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…” The Vourdalak
The family explains that Gorcha has gone to hunt and kill a notorious vourdalak (a Slavic vampire, distinct from a traditional nosferatu; a vourdalak is a reanimated corpse that returns to torment and drain the life from its own loved ones first, often calling them by name in a pitiful, irresistible voice). The family’s patriarch was warned that if he does not return before midnight, he will be dead — but worse, he will become a vourdalak himself. Finally, only Sdenka and the marquis remain