Week 11 Story - A Hunter in the Night

Sigmund walked into town; the villagers stopped what they were doing to stare. Sigmund was used to it. He was a behemoth of a man. A white bear’s pelt covered his chainmail but still allowed easy access to the two swords on his back. That sort of a man attracts a lot of attention: both wanted and unwanted.  He walked up to the town’s center and eyed the notice board. He made his way to it and plucked off a piece of paper from it. WANTED: MONSTER HUNTER. Sigmund pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and unfurled it. He held them side by side to compare them. They were the same: he knew he had arrived in the right town. Sigmund made his way to the inn, figuring the innkeeper would know a thing or two about what he was about to hunt.

“I’ve heard you’ve got yourself a bit of a problem.” Sigmund said, unfurling the bounty notice and placing it in front of the innkeeper.

“Aye,” the innkeeper replied gruffly, “And what’s it to you?”

“I’m looking to solve this problem for you. What can you tell me about it?” Sigmund asked.

The innkeeper’s shoulders grew heavy hoping that he would not just be sending another man to his death. He called his assistant to cover the bar as he motioned Sigmund over to the kitchen. Sigmund followed after him.

“I apologize fer the attitude, Mister. See, the townsfolk have grown restless. There’s a cave not too far to the east. Used to be a pretty popular spot for the kids to play around. But then the kids started to disappear near the cave. They said that they would go in, but only some of them would come back out. Some of the men went to the cave to find them, but they never came back neither. And then, people started to disappear at night too. We don’t know what to do anymore. If you can help us, well, we can’t give you much, but we can give you everything we got to give.”

Sigmund obliged. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of this for you.”

Since the attacks only happened in a dark cave or at night, Sigmund resolved that it was likely a vampire, but he would have to make sure. Sigmund waited until it was dark, suspecting that the creature would likely leave it’s dwelling at night. As nightfall came, Sigmund headed east towards the cave.

The Cave

With a torch lit, he headed inside to look around. Less than twenty feet in he saw them. Bodies. At least twenty of them. But they were all still intact. Sigmund walked amongst them. They were all pale. He knelt down and inspected the body of a man. There were holes in his neck. Bitemarks. I haven’t dealt with a vampire in years. Should be fun.

Sigmund exited the cave with his suspicions confirmed. He carried two swords on his back. One steel, the other silver. While silver itself did little to harm vampires, his blade had been blessed by a priest years prior. Sigmund pulled it from its scabbard. He sat down to begin his preparations. He pulled out a small vile of holy water from a pouch. He poured it gently over his blade and rubbed it into the metal. The blade began to glow softly. Then, he waited. The creature would have to come back to its den before sunrise.

As dawn approached, Sigmund saw two eyes staring him down. In front of him was the silhouette of a thin and lanky human. But Sigmund knew what it was really that he was facing. He stood up and readied himself for the fight ahead.

The creature was fast, but Sigmund was faster. With one swift strike, the creature was cut cleanly in two. That, however, would not be enough to kill it. As what remained of its upper half struggled to pull itself back into the cave, Sigmund pulled out his steel sword and drove into the creature, pinning it to the ground. The creature struggled, wailing horribly, but could not pull itself free. Sigmund, knowing the fight was over, sat down to rest. The sun slowly began to rise, disintegrating the creature as the rays of light crawled up its skin.

Authors's Note
In the original story, Krishna notices that some cattle and some of his friend are disappearing near a cave. He goes to investigate and finds that it is the mouth of a giant snake demon. The demon tries to bite down on Krishna, but Krishna grows in size eventually breaking its jaw and killing it. I replaced Krishna with monster hunter. I made the cave an actual cave and replaced the demon with a vampire.

References
Nivedita. Krishna. The Dilemma of Brahma.

Image Source