A very long time ago, long before the United Kingdom as we know it, there was once a countess who lived in the area that would become known as Great Britain. She was fairly respected, as far as any run-of-the-mill countess could be expected, but one day she simply vanished. Her land would be divided by the nearby landholders, her servants scattered to serve other nobles, and her castle in the woods would be abandoned to rot.

But unknown to anyone, she never actually left. She simply... laid low for a few decades, long enough for people to leave and forget about her. And given an unfortunate run-in with a vampire, that was probably for the best. And so she sequestered herself in her castle, having to find ways to pass the time. Occasionally, she would make the rare trip outside the castle to trade a piece of gold for some kind of knowledge from any tradesman who was willing to talk to her. Some information on blacksmithing here, some information on architecture there, and she was able to at least keep her castle from crumbling in on itself. She would write stories that no one would read and create paintings that no one would see.

This life of isolation could be boring and lonely at times, but it served a purpose. Most vampires grew arrogant and haughty, viewing the still-living populace as beneath them and nothing more than prey. And that arrogance would lead to their destruction at the hands of vengeful mortals. At some point, Jackie (she had long abandoned her former surname and title, as there was no one left to officially recognize her) realized she was the last living vampire on the British Isles, possibly even the last one in Europe. As far as she was aware, vampires other than her were completely wiped out.

So not wanting to face the same fate as her less cautious and immoral counterparts, Jackie slowly but surely spread rumors about vampires that made her being pegged as one much harder. Silly rumors like they couldn’t look at crucifixes, step foot in churches, or couldn’t enter homes uninvited. Over time she came up with even sillier rules, like they couldn’t stand garlic, they had no reflection, or they couldn’t cross running water. With all the misinformation she spread, it wasn’t long before people would be unable to mistake her for anything other than a slightly unusually looking tiger; her appearance was already considered odd enough in life.

She even successfully imprinted the ridiculous notion that vampires burned to ash in the sun. True, vampires didn’t like being out in daylight but she would later learn that vampires were simply weaker while under higher concentrations of UV rays, something the moon and far more distant stars gave off in far weaker doses during the night.

And so she remained, still alive, by herself in her castle. Things did become easier over time. She could finally sell her paintings anonymously as a “starving artist” at trade shows and trade in old jewelry and antiques for cash. Radio made it easier to keep tabs on the outside world and she eventually learned how to steal cable, to say nothing of how easy it was to connect with others once the internet became a thing. All she would need was a generator and gas was always inexpensive for one who didn’t need to eat food very often.

Jackie never did prey on mortals, she simply drank the blood from the beasts of the wild. Though once blood banks became a thing, she couldn’t help but occasionally “borrow” a pack or two from time to time; anyone would become sick of nothing but deer blood after a couple of centuries. That said, she does have her eye on a certain weasel mortal who works the night shift. Perhaps if he’s willing to be turned, she might finally have some more permanent company…

Here we see Jackie waking up from another day spent sleeping in her coffin. That was another thing that was actually true about vampires; they did sleep better in coffins, though she preferred to rest her head on a soft pillow. And sleeping in a full suit was just silly; pajamas were much more comfortable.

If she looks slightly off, well… vampires do have a connection with bats; fangs and large ears are the price one pays for vampirism, after all.

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Just a late(?) Halloween upload. Speaking of Halloween, Jackie's official birthday is actually the 31st of October.

Jackie is mine. Art is by . Please fave and comment on the original here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/58534402/