I mutter to myself about how I always seem to get caught up in this mess. It’s still early in the morning but I have already seen a few farmers tend to crops. Probably getting ready for the winter that is soon to be upon us. I look down at the ground in front of me, reminiscing about the past. I can hear the light crunch of leaves, and the squelch of mud from under my stiff leather boots. My sword rattles in its scabbard with every step I take. It’s cold iron blade has spilled the blood of hundreds. As I look back up snapping out of my trance, I see the men and women making up the party, armed with just ordinary swords and spears. They don’t stand a chance. They are whispering to each other in excitement. I can just about hear them, telling one another tales of the vampire we are supposedly hunting today. At least thats what a witch hunter from a nearby region, as well as the town’s priest had told us, that we were hunting a vampire. I can’t believe I was caught off guard by a witch hunter, he probably hasn’t even killed a witch in a fair dual yet. His only strengths are gun powder, numbers and a lack of morals.
It was roughly eleven o’clock last night, when I was getting ready to leave the pub before I lost common sense to drink, when a half a dozen town guards walked into the pub with the witch hunter at the front. The witch hunter offered to pay the hefty fee of three silver coins to anyone who joined a vampire hunting party that would be hunting what we believed to be, century old vampire, Tyrid Blood Letter. A vampire famed for slaughtering anyone who happens to see it. Well, apart from its first ever accounted attack, where for some unknown reason it allowed one person to survive. Whenever it does attack, which is estimated to be about every two months. A surprising statistic, as most vampires can only control their bloodlust for a few days before going on a rampage. So it will kill nearly an entire town when it attacks, as otherwise there wouldn’t be enough blood to sustain itself. No one knows if it’s male or female or even what it looks like, since its one survivor is said to have gone mad from the paranoia of believing they are still being hunted by the creature itself. Maybe it is, maybe it’s not, no one knows. Either way it is believed they are currently in hiding.
Getting back to what happened yesterday, most people chose to join voluntarily, since they overestimated the power of the priest and the witch hunter as well as the other men and women. Sadly, for those of us who chose not to join, we still had to come along because of a law passed where if we didn’t join, it was treason against our empire and God. If we were not helping to scourge the empire of all evil, its perceived to be as bad as helping it, therefore not joining could lead to our execution. I keep thinking I should just dash off the path and into the fields where they won’t find me. But if I did that, they would probably just put a bounty on me for an accusation of treason. Then use me as an example, and get away with it because all the barons and baronesses are corrupt in this country and would be quick to put a bounty on me, if given a bribe. Everyone, especially the counts and barons in this country, are blind to anything that goes against the clergy as they want to gain favour with them. In short, since the clergy and an apparently ‘powerful’ witch hunter lead this mission, it’s not worth the risk of running away.
After walking for a while, we came across what looked like a wizard’s tower. It was old, very old, you could just tell by how the once great stones making up its walls and roof have become nothing more than ruins, only a husk of its former glory. Its stone walls were comprised of large stone slabs that are layered on top of one another, once great but now ancient and crumbling. The tower looked like it could tumble over at any time, becoming nothing more than a heap of stones. I didn’t know if there was a real wizard or just a charlatan who lived in it. We took a break beside the tower and then after about half hour or so we continued our journey. There was something like forty to fifty people in the party, a dozen of them were guards. Then there was the priest in the centre, just praying and casting spells that according to him are somehow going to protect us with their holy might and then the witch hunter polishing the barrel of their rifle.
It was starting to get dark so we set up a camp for the night. The witch hunter told us we would meet up with some survivors of the town the following day. I thought to myself about how lucky they were compared to their fellow townsfolk who were slaughtered at the hands of Tyrid Blood Letter. The stew we were eating that night smelt delicious! I could see potatoes and small chunks of beef floating at the top of it. The cauldron we were cooking it in was huge, I could probably fit in it if I tried. Tyrid Blood Letter had never attacked any big villages or cities.. It was too stealthy and careful, it knew that as soon as it was recognised, it wouldn’t be long before it was hunted down and killed. So it only raided small remote towns that would take weeks for news to spread. Thats why it attacked its most recent town as the closest town to it, the one we left earlier today, is a day and a half trek away. Never mind how long it takes for a proper force to be mustered, because if you try and hunt Tyrid down with only a dozen men, that’s only asking for an instant slaughter. The attack already happened a few days ago, but there was a chance it was still in the ruins of the town, maybe the town didn’t feed it enough blood and the party is just going to be slaughtered as soon as we make it there. Doesn’t matter, it is probably gone by now and its getting late and so I place my blanket on the ground and go to sleep.
I can see it all again now, it happened so long ago but is still clear as ever in my memory. I had gone to bed when all of a sudden I started to feel sick. I vomited again and again, screaming in agony by the time I was done. I went to my bathroom to clean myself but when I looked in my mirror, I saw it just behind me staring right at me in the reflection. It was hideous. Cold red eyes, pale skin and two long jagged fangs. Then I went unconscious, by the time I awoke the town was destroyed, doors ripped of their hinges, barrels torn apart and fires everywhere. I smelt blood and ash, it was wretched. I jolted up off my blanket, beads of sweat trickling down my forehead. The party members were already disassembling the camp. I quickly got ready and helped take down the camp and soon we continued our journey, but as we walked the sky darkened and it started to rain though we persisted but eventually it turned into a violent storm so we took refuge in some nearby caves. After the storm ended, we continued walking, except at a much quicker pace. I started to see a camp of sorts, it looked quite makeshift but well-fortified. As we got there, we had a short break and we gave the survivors of the village some well needed rations. The witch hunter, priest and temporary leader of villagers decided it would be too dangerous to stay the night in the camp. So as the sun set, we set off into the remains of the village but as we entered the village, I started to feel that all too familiar sensation again. My skin whitened as my eyes turned blood red. I could feel my blood trickling down my gums as my fangs tore through them. None of them noticed, I was too far back and they were too caught up with themselves. In no time I had lost myself to the blood lust. I charged forward with my sword, ready for slaughter once again. They are doomed.