The place: Pompeii. The year: 79
AD. Having recently returned from
a victorious battle, the most powerful
general in the Emperor's army celebrates
with a party where he shows off a
bust made in his likeness and laughingly
admits to putting out the eyes of
the artist who created it. The telling
of the rest of his devious exploits
is interrupted when the General's
mistress, Seline enters the room
and greets her mate for the first
time since his return. Their relationship
is obviously strained but they manage
to be cordial in front of the guests.
When Lucius inquires about their
daughter, Seline tells him that
young Divia had been very ill but
an ancient healer sent by the gods
came and restored her health. Not
wanting to spend any more time
with him, Seline hurries off to
entertain her guests. As Lucius
ponders their shaky relationship,
he's approached by the Proconsul
who has a few words for him concerning
his daughter. He tells him that
something isn't right about Divia.
"She's pale and silent," he utters
to the General. "She never plays
in the sunlight; there's a menace
to her."
The Proconsul's observations are
cut short when the person he speaks
of makes an appearance. Lucius
calls to his daughter, extending
his arms for her to embrace him.
Divia ignores the gesture and with
a devilish smile, silently retreats
back into the darkness from whence
she came, leaving her father somewhat
forlorned by the rejection.
While sleeping off the effects
of too much partying, Lucius is
startled awake by Divia, who questions
him on the rumor that he ordered
his men to rape the women of his
vanquished enemy, the Gauls. He
explains that it was to crush his
enemy and reward his men. "I must
get my vicious streak from you,"
Divia muses. She then casually
mentions that she's going to live
forever and asks her father if
he would like to do the same. At
that moment, an earth tremor begins
to rock the palace and the Proconsul
rushes in with a warning about
Mt. Vesuvius erupting. He tries
in vain to get the General to vacate
the palace immediately.
Lucius refuses to believe that
the gods can destroy him, but as
the building shakes violently and
everything begins to collapse around
him, he drops to his knees in defeat.
His daughter approaches and tells
him that death can be cheated.
With glowing eyes and fangs extended,
Divia asks her father to choose.
"Live or die. What is your decision?"
"To live, Divia," he responds annoyed,
not knowing what she has in mind.
"To live!" With that, his daughter
sinks her fangs painfully into
his neck, thus beginning his life
as a vampire.
Twenty years after the eruption
of Mt. Vesuvius and the destruction
of Pompeii, Divia takes her father
to an Egyptian tomb to visit the
vampire that created her. She explains
that he was the healer that came
to her while she was ill, but that
he had since been staked, scorched
by the sun and his remains sealed
in the sarcophagus. When she admits
to being the one who killed the
ancient vampire, Lucius becomes
enraged. He scolds her for carelessly
destroying someone who should have
garnered her highest respect. Divia
tells him that she did it because
Carral wanted to control and harness
her evil for his own purposes.
She killed him to be free to live
as she pleases.
Divia tells Lucius that they are
free to do whatever they want,
including killing as much as they
want and loving whomever they choose.
It just so happens that Divia chooses
her own father to be her lover.
When she request that Lucius make
love to her, he is so sickened
by the incestuous suggestion that
he decides that his daughter is
just too evil to live. Luckily,
there's a razor sharp scythe in
handy reach, which Lucius picks
up and swings at his unsuspecting
child, relieving her of all those
naughty thoughts, along with her
head. He then seals her remains
in a sarcophagus, secure in the
knowledge that his evil deed will
remain a secret for all of eternity.
