Queen of the Night

A young boy travels in the company of several ghouls, despite being unable to eat the rotting flesh that sustains them.  Instead, he finds that he must consume the fresh meat of corpses, offerings left for the dead, and fruit foraged from gardens. The boy learns that he has been summoned by the Queen of the Night and worries that he will be killed if she does not approve of him. His undead companion, Eeesheeea reassures the boy that the Queen will accept him.  

The boy roams the countryside with Eeesheeea, Beeetheeeor, Neeeneeeaih, and Reeezthorreee. The band comes upon a caretaker’s cottage beside a churchyard.  Hearing singing from within, Eeesheeea urges the boy to mock the song.  The boy calls out corrupted lyrics, causing the caretaker to fear that the White Lady has come to take his young daughter Maria.  Beeetheeeor explains that the family has opened a grave as an offering to the Queen.

The caretaker, Johann, emerges from his home and chants an incantation against evil spirits.  His wife, Anna, places a bowl of milk and a slice of bread on her doorstep before returning indoors.

The boy eats and drinks Anna’s offering, climbs to the rooftop, and howls down the chimney.  Hanging from the eaves, he peers through the shutters and sees Maria, sickly and in bed.  The boy opens a window and drops into the loft.  He tells the girl that iron will ward off the ghouls and urges her to call for her parents.  Maria’s cries are too weak, and the boy draws the family’s attention.

Anna climbs the ladder to the loft and gathers that Maria has been visited by a fairy.  Johann joins his wife and demands a description of the visitor.  Maria tells of a thin, cold-looking youth.  In hiding, the boy supposes that Maria has not long to live.  Johann insists on leaving out a warm jacket to convince the unwanted company to leave. Maria suggests that iron may keep the spirits at bay.

Johann and Anna return downstairs and set out a pickax and shovel made of iron.  The boy returns to Maria’s bedside and advises her to bar her window.  The girl insists that the White Lady will come in the night and that she will die.  

The boy rejoins the ghouls and finds Beeetheeeor and Reeezthorreee reopening a grave with spade, pick, and claws.  The pair unveil a corpse driven through with a stake. Eeesheeea exclaims that the Queen approaches. The boy hears the driving of hooves and sees a black carriage moving along the moonlit hillside. 

The coach stops in front of Johann’s cottage.  A coachman descends, and a groom seizes the boy. Eeesheeea moves to protect her companion, but the boy waves her away. A voice from inside the carriage summons the boy, but he finds the coach vacant. Eeesheeea explains that the boy has been traveling with the ghouls for seven years and asks the Queen for three more.  The door of the coach springs open of its own volition, pushing the boy backward.  

A shutter creaks, and Maria emerges from her loft window wearing the expression of a sleepwalker.  She climbs outside and scales down the side of the cottage.  

The ghouls and the boy drop to their knees as a woman with pale features and black hair appears beside them.  Eeesheeea begs the White Lady for one more year with the boy.  The Queen rejects the ghoul’s request, noting that the boy is of age and must be returned to his kind.  The ghouls vanish, leaving Maria and the boy with the White Lady.

The Queen invites the boy into her carriage. The boy resolves to return Maria to her parents and walks the sick girl home.  He is greeted at the cottage by the White Lady, who unbars the door.  Maria wanders back to her bed.  The boy charges the Queen with making the girl ill.  The White Lady proposes to allow Maria to live for a year if the boy joins her.  Pressed by the White Lady, the boy admits to spending nine years with the ghouls.

The boy considers fleeing into the graveyard but worries about the consequences of defying the Queen. Instead, he takes a seat inside the coach.  Cracking his whip, the coachman drives away from the cottage.  The boy spots Beeetheeeor and Reeezthorreee among the bones of an exhumed woman.  

Inside the carriage, the boy feels a cold presence beside him.  The Queen announces herself unseen, pulling open the boy’s trousers. The boy tries to resist, but the White Lady mocks him and advances. She kisses the youth and, pushing him into the seat, pleasures him. The boy sobs, naked and overwhelmed. 

Looking outside, the boy spots a castle set atop a craggy hill.  The White Lady asks whether he has recovered sufficiently for more intercourse.  The boy pleads to be returned to Eeesheeea, and the Queen assures him they will be reunited.  Distraught, the boy throws himself from the carriage.

The boy regains consciousness in a canopied bed with black candles burning at each post.  He finds the Queen beside him.  She ravages him, drawing blood across the bed.  As she receives the boy, the White Lady grows more substantial.

After several days, the boy wakes alone. The White Lady enters his bedroom carrying a three-year-old girl. Overcome with desire, the youth urges the Queen to bed.  The White Lady cautions that he may die if they couple again.  Setting aside the girl, the Queen undresses to reveal her youthful body.  The boy lunges toward her but finds the White Lady, the child, and the chamber vanished.