A long time ago, in a kingdom in a land far, far away from here, there lived a Count and his wife, Esmerelda. Late one winter's night, Countess Esmerelda sat at her bedroom window, gazing at the blanket of white snow on the ground. In that moment, she wished for a child with skin as fair and pure as the white snow and hair as dark as the night's sky.

Nine months later, the Countess gave birth to a child, a daughter. But, a complication occurred during her birth. The child was pulled from the womb, dead. Heartbroken, the Countess quickly followed. The Count was overcome with sorrow, ready to end his own life so that he could join his wife and child, but before he could, a miracle happened: the stillborn infant began to stir in the midwife's arms. The child lived! And because of the girl's snow-white color, the Count so named his daughter Snow White.

After one year had past, the Count had taken a new bride. Her name was Elizabetha, and she was known across the land as the most beautiful woman ever laid eyes on, but in truth was vain and pure evil at heart. The most horrifying truth about the Countess was that the secret behind her beauty, was blood. Each night, the Countess would bathe in the warm blood of young girls so that she could restore her own youth. And then each morning, the Blood Countess would stand before her looking glass that was enchanted so that it would speak the truth whenever asked, and she would ask of it: "Looking glass upon the wall, tell me who is the fairest of all," to which it would always answer, "You, my lady, are the fairest of all. Fairer than all others, great and small."

Soon after the marriage, the Count fell ill and died. From then on, the Countess' true nature came to light, treating all in the castle with nothing but cruelty, especially Snow White.

As Snow White grew, so did the Countess' hatred for her. After hearing the people remarking at how lovely the young girl was with her fair skin and ebony-dark hair, the Countess then sentenced the girl to work in the castle as her slave; she would be forced to remain in the castle at all times, never even for a moment allowed to show her face in the sun, she would wear rags, have her hair cut short, and would have to clean in the filthiest of places so that her face would be smeared with grime. The Countess even went so far as to remove all other mirrors from the castle so that the girl could never see her own face.

It was on the morn of Snow White's eighteenth birthday that the Countess' looking glass told her, "Snow White is the fairest of them all. Fairer than all others, great and small."

This news filled the Countess with a burning envious rage unlike any she had ever felt before. She asked her mirror the best way of disposing of Snow White, to which it answered: "When the girl with snow-white skin had been birthed, she had nearly passed, but had been remedied with the blood of a Child Of Night, turning her into a Halfling. Bathe in the child's blood, and your youth shall be everlasting."

Overjoyed by this news, the Countess summoned the village's strongest, most powerful huntsman and assigned him the task of obtaining Snow White and bringing her to the Countess' chamber, then filling her tub with the girl's blood and removing her heart so that the Countess might eat it.

What the Countess had not realized was that the huntsman was a close friend of Snow White's father, and therefore had no intention of slaying the poor girl. Instead, he led her to the edge of the Dark Forest, where few who have gone in and returned with their lives. He told her to find the cottage of the Seven Dwarves. The huntsman had once rescued their lives by freeing them from a cavern which they had been trapped in, therefore, they owed him a favor in return. If Snow White went to them, they would provide her sanctuary.

And so, the Huntsman loosed Snow White into the forest. After she had gone, a wild boar crossed the huntsman's path. He then worked quickly to tie up the beast and carry it in a sack up to the Countess' chamber, where he drained it of its blood and carved out its heart, then disposed of the carcass, hoping that the Countess would be none the wiser. But the countess was no fool; she instantly deduced by the heart and the scent of the blood that it was not that of a human. As punishment for his disobedience, the huntsman sentenced to be flayed alive then roasted.

The Countess next asked of her magic mirror: "With skin white as snow, lips red as blood, and hair black as the night, tell me, where now is sweet Snow White?"

"Through the Dark Forest the Fairest Child flees, untouched by the Night Creatures that inhabit it. She means to reach the cottage of the Dwarves. Once she hast crossed over their threshold, she will be untouchable by you while she is inside."

Before the Countess could find a way to capture Snow White, the girl had already made it into the Dwarves' cottage. She had told them of her troubles of her wicked stepmother trying to murder her, and how the huntsman had sent her to them. Sympathetic to the poor girl's plight, the Seven Dwarves agreed to pay their debt to the huntsman by allowing the girl to stay with them in their cottage, on the condition that she would cook, clean, and care for their household as long as she lived there. And so she did, sweeping the floors, warming a fire, and cooking and serving the Dwarves their supper after they had returned home from a day's work at the diamond mines, day in and day out, all while the Countess stewed in her castle formulating her plan on how to obtain the girl Snow White.

TO BE CONTINUED

part 1 of my prototype for a vampire/horror version of Snow White, one of my favorite fairy tales :) much like how Don't Fall Asleep was a prototype for NiGHTMARE

i've been trying to come up with a good vampire story based off of Snow White, but i finally started formulating one after learning about Snow White & The Huntsman, the action-fantasy version of Snow White, which i am DYING to see :D