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The bastard Vampire King is indubitably in the tallest tower.

I exit the Vampire’s main room, past the throne, out the door to the left, and into the hallway. Adorned upon the walls are intricate paintings, scenes of horror. All Vampiric, of course. I dart past darkened doorways, leading to all sorts of a Vampire’s macabre odds and ends. The smell of human blood can never be cleansed from the Vampire King’s castle. It has permeated each and every stone. A smell that draws every Vampire to the town, almost subconsciously. But it was built not as a pyre for Vampire kind, but as a labyrinth for humanity’s death…

I fly up the narrow spiral staircase and into the chamber at the top of the highest tower. Dracula, the Vampire King, stands there, awaiting me.

“Blah, Vampire: The Vampire Hunter! Ever the human, it took you long enough to traverse my Vampire haven. Ever the human, you do not appreciate your Vampiric gifts. It’s most curious how you hold onto such a pathetic ideal, the antithesis of the Vampire. Life, for the undead Vampire is only a gift of food, not to be protected, but to be harvested, as livestock.”
“…”
“We Vampires, although some fear your ferocity and determination in our eradication, see you as a joke. ‘Did you ever hear the one about the Vampiric Vampire Hunter and the Pope?’ we’ll say. Then share in a good, hearty laugh, all-knowing of the punch line.” He stands there, moon at his back, hoping he would entice me to make the first move. Not this time.
“Did you ever hear the one about the Vampire King and the afterlife?”
“Why, no,” says Dracula, King of the Vampires, “how does it go?”
“It doesn’t.” I pause.
“Vampire Hunter, I don’t think this needs to be said, but your humor is… lacking.” Keep him talking.
“It wasn’t supposed to be funny, Vampire.”
“You’re not nearly as afraid as you should be, because there is not afterlife for any of us, the Vampires. This is an eternal life on top of the food chain. We are hunters, but your prey is of your own Vampiric Kind. You are a cannibal, a freak, an aberration that I, Dracula, King of all Vampires, will rectify.”
“You? you’re looking a bit long in the tooth. I don’t think you could even scratch me, Vampire.”
“Vell, my form is preferred, it offers many advantages, despite my advanced age, it vorks to show it. My power is over and above all Vampires on this plane, in this dimension that the Vampirismus has crossed over to.”
I unsheathe Vampire-Killer in faster than the blink of a Vampire’s eye, and spin it around, stabbing it into the wall, into the Vampiric shadows behind me. The Vampire King collapses on the ground. Then his trespassing shadow follows suit.
“Did you really think such an old trick would work on me? I have been living of shadows for years.”
“So,” the Vampire coughs up blood, “you are more aware than I thought, Vampire Hunter, but it will do you no service. This castle is my home, and I have the advantage here.”
“No, Vampire, you only have your death here.” I stab the old Vampire King through the heart. He turns into a Vampiric mist, and curves up my blade, swirling. The mist thrusts me against the wall and explodes into bats as the bricks begin to deteriorate and the tower shakes violently. I rush back down the Vampire Castle tower’s narrow stairwell, avoiding blood tinged stone after stone. I hear the souls echo out and extinguish, released into the ether, trapped no more. Or forever. I leap into the hallway as the large frame to the stars collapses behind me, showering me in dust, with Vampire-tainted blood flowing over my boots exploding from the veins of the destroyed walls.

Strange noises emanate from the central hall, and I make my way there, to the center or the Vampire King’s castle.

Vampire-Warriors and Vampire-Knights descend from the ceiling, crawling like some sort of infestation. Their swords glint in the ambient candlelight, just as their fangs.
I stand at the throne of the coward Vampire King, and in a flash, the mob of Vampires leap down. I duck, and raise Vampire-Killer over my head, stopping a grouping of blades from the Vampires. I push up, and toss them all backwards. They come at me again; I block their attacks easily with Vampire-Killer, and maneuver out of their encirclement to begin cutting into them. Their armor and ancient Vampire training means little to me. Clanks of steel hitting the floor echo off the walls of the throne room.

The Vampires keep coming. They won’t rest until they are all dead. They all fall defending their Vampire Kingdom, Vampire Castle and Vampire King with beyond religious fervor. The Vampires are certain, there is no belief, no unknown in Vampire lore. Once they have all perished, it is only then that I notice there is no blood on the floor. It all drained out into the center, not into the Vampire-Killer. The horned Vampire King appears and kills the lights, transformed. Three fireballs fly at me out of the darkness, I slice them into nonexistence with the Vampire-Killer when the floor begins to slide open.

Dracula, the Vampire King leaps at me, and pulls me downward for what seems like an eternity. Fighting, exchanging deadly blows against each other descending into this pit below the castle. The Vampire grabs my arm, ripping it off, it and the Vampire-Killer fall into the blackness below. The Vampire King gains the upper hand, at my throat, at the last minute, and I hit a floor of stone and dirt.

“Blaah, I vant to suck your blood from your heart!”
“Suck on this, Vampire!” I manage to lift my other arm, and tear into his throat; my middle finger entering exactly into the suprasternal notch; and pull up, tearing off the Vampire King’s jaw in one swift motion. Shocked, in pain, he lets go of my throat, stumbling backwards, gushing fountains of blood, and falling over. One thing I didn’t count on, however, is that while one hand was crushing my trachea, the other hand dug into my chest. So, in standing, the Vampire just ripped my Vampire heart of out of my chest.

I manage to stand, and stagger over to him, when I see the Vampire-Killer out of the corner of my eye. I drop the jaw and flailing tongue, holding my gaping chest wound, I make my way towards my sword, my removed arm still gripping tightly. I quickly pick them both up via the hilt upon hearing the Vampire King begin to stand behind me.
It has no words for me.
With one attached arm and no heart, I wouldn’t stand a chance without the Vampire-Killer. I make a false lunge, and quickly spin, stabbing the air with my blade. Surrounded by Vampiric mist, I hear the echos of hollow screams, my sword lodged deep in its heart. I quickly rip its hand off, and replace it into my chest, along with my heart, matching the finger grooves of where it was torn out.

“It’s over, Vampire!” Ash explodes around me, ending the reign of Dracula, the Vampire King for all eternity.

With that, a quake begins as the Vampire King’s entire Castle begins to collapse around me. Shit. It was another trap all along to get me, Vampire: The Vampire Hunter, down here, my final grave. There’s no way I’m fast enough to escape this. I’ll be crushed by rubble. I sprint up the stairs along the pit wall from the Vampire King Dracula’s dungeon. Chunks of ceiling wall and stone fall around, taking massive chunks out of the spiraling staircase. I jump over pitfall after pitfall. Vampire statues collapse upon me from the upper levels. I have no idea how many stories rest on top of me, but I can sense no end to the ground that I’m below. The stairs finish their collapse before I can make it to the top, I attempt to gain momentum by leaping upwards across the chasm, but large chunks of stone continue pummeling me from above. Flight is useless, there is simply too much of the Vampire’s castle collapsing on top of me. A spire catches me through the abdomen, and takes me down to the bottom of the Vampire King’s pit.

I awake in a pool of my own blood and viscera. The Vampiric face from the spire, mocking me with its upside-down grimace. Is this how it will end for me? Weakened, trapped beneath Vampiric debris, impaled by filthy Vampiric idolatry. I can’t even pull it out of me, not with only one arm. Where is Vampire-Killer? I attempt to summon it, but it does not respond. My grave, a pit, my tombstone, the collapsed remains of the Vampire King’s castle. Not a bad end, but far from my goal. I look down at the battered and beaten mess of my body. The Vampire King’s clawmarks: a permanent addition to my chest of scars, a deep red visceral irregular pentagon that will never fade. My mind begins to fade, however, blood loss, disconnection from my Vampire-Killer. Perhaps this should be my end. I can think of no escape. I try to break apart the spire with my one arm, but only take small chips off the ancient Vampire-stone, and lose consciousness..

Soon, however, from the darkness of a faded consciousness, I hear the unmistakable pizzicato tip-toeing of a pesky Vampire. Multiple Vampires, crawling all over the walls and through the rubble. Drawn in by the smell of all of the blood I’ve lost. They’re watching. It’s then that I realize, these are the Vampire-Demons, smaller than Vampires, weaker, but faster and always in great numbers. This pit, it must lead to a cavernous maze, their Vampiric underworld abode. I am scraps of meat to their Vampiric palette; filthy Vampiric scavengers. The first of the Vampire-Demons approaches cautiously, sensing activity within my corpse. They are not used to live prey, no doubt. It sends one of its lessers towards me; smarter than I thought, but still foolish. These Vampire scum should have left me to enter the Vampire’s hibernation sleep. It would have been their only reprieve. The small Vampire-Demon comes within a close distance, attempting to taste of my spilled blood, but it comes within arms reach, and I grab it, sinking my talons deep into its shoulder. The Vampire-Demon struggles, thrashes about, but it’s too late, and I sink my fangs into its neck, draining it of all its blood. I tear off its head with my teeth, and toss it to the side. I smash the stone piercing through my abdomen, affixing me to the ground, and stand. The Vampire-Demons startle. I call out to the darkness, the Vampire covered walls.

“Where is my sword, Vampires?”

Darkness. That is what Vampirism has taught me. But the darkness is for ignorant pretenders.

I have a moment to think while I descend through the atmosphere to Earth. I must continue the eradication of all Vampires. I must kill the Vampire King, and all within his Vampire Kingdom. There is no time to spare, I’m certain that the Vampires beneath the Kingdom have something up their sneaky Vampire sleeves that may have repercussions for the entire world. I land into the side of a snow-covered mountain top, my crash sending steam and debris outwards into the sky. My jacket is ruined, I remove it and toss it to the side as I stand on the cusp of my impact crater. I breathe the air deep into my pointless Vampire lungs, and try to remember what it felt like to be alive. Feeling nothing, I focus on the death of all Vampires, and jump down the mountain, skimming, hovering upon the snow in a false slide.

The sun glistens over the mountain top; I keep my eyes on the darkness that trains itself beneath the Vampire-King’s Castle. He has been made King, to reign over a secluded Vampire Village. His Vampire Kingdom remains in the visual era of carriages and cottages. No doubt, however, that the Vampire-Demonic have set him up in preparation for me. The Vampires have always been cowardly, hiding beneath a veil of humanity to attract their prey. Their carriages and cottages are but fronts to the technology they possess, pure Vampire aesthetic. They have always been and always will be a mockery of humanity. A cheap imitation, made to feed off of them in the shadows. I’d pity them and their bloodlust if my own didn’t burn within my veins, fueling the unending hatred.

The Vampire Castle is tall and imposing. Large spires intimidate the night sky, as the castle itself blocks out the day for the large Vampire village below. I arrive at the end of the slope, and leap into the Vampires’ town square. Vampires immediately stop their night-to-night routines, and stare. I stand upon their giant fountain of a Vampire bat.

“Vampires! I am VAMPIRE: The Vampire Hunter, and I am here to kill all of you, as well as your Vampire King!” I pause a moment to let them absorb the information, for they surely saw me plummet to earth and into the mountain side. I drop down onto the rim of the fountain.
“You can still die with honor: line up here, and do not resist my blade.” Vampires never die with honor. The town of Vampires parading as humans are the same. Vampire shopkeeps, Vampire tailors, Vampire wives, and Vampire husbands all prepare to attack, in their own ways.
“Vampires, please, you prey on humanity, and live in secrecy, allow me to end this mockery of platitudes you call a life!”
“Please, we’re good Vampires!” One shouts from the crowd. Another pulls forward to defend and support the first Vampire.
“Yeah, we Vampires just want to live here and be left alone!” The defenders begin to pull to the front, trying to reason with me.
“We have families here, under the protection of the Vampire King, we only want to retain our humanity,” says a mustachioed Vampire, holding his bowler hat to his heart, Vampire wife and Vampire child close by his side.
“We never seek to create new Vampires,” says one, with more coming to the front. A common tactic in humanity, bringing faces to a nameless group. Makes them harder to kill, allows for attachment.
“We survive off a synthetic blood, created beneath the city,” says one, proving that they are no danger to humans.
“We offer protection to those who no longer want to prey upon humans, it’s not the life for us,” says a final Vampire, a beautiful young woman who stands directly in front of me, holding a small bouquet of white roses and chrysanthemums; enhancing her soft, pale skin and ruby-red lips. I look deep into her eyes, and then, I speak to the crowd:

“Your words touch me, Vampires, they really do. So, I have reconsidered.”

I unsheathe Vampire-Killer, and swiftly remove the heads of all those in the crowd directly in front of me. Blood sprays up into the sky, before the slumping of their bodies drenches me in it.

No matter their words, within their eyes and within their hearts will always be death. I know the secrets of the synth-blood. Like all things Vampiric, it is a lie. Their ignorance is no excuse; execution is to be their enlightenment. They cannot live without preying upon the living, that is their definition. I can see that this place is the cause of the disease, and must be uprooted violently. No more symptoms.

The commoner Vampires, surprised that their idiotic and pathetic begging for mercy did not work, attack in a staggered fashion. Poorly organized, untrained. Living too long as a mockery of humanity. The worst sort of Vampire, stealing back a life they gave up. The missing people from surrounding towns for miles around, travellers to the region, those whose lives the Vampires stole to feed themselves, are of no consequence upon the minds of these Vampires. As they come at me, I make quick work of them, the Vampires’ bodies splay across the old-fashioned cobblestone ground surrounding the fountain. With my maneuvering around the statue, the fountain’s water soon turns a deep red with the blood of the Vampires as I hack away at their pathetic attempts at defending their accused Vampire village. I make my way away from the centre, and blood pools in between the cracks of each stone, flowing outwards, filling the town square.

Through the initial hoard, I make my way towards the Vampire King’s Castle. The Vampires still in their houses exit to defend the way of undeath they carved out of human flesh. There are at least 500 Vampires coming out from their businesses, stopping their chores, all sensing the danger, all sensing the end to their Vampiric ways. Vampire after Vampire fall to the Vampire-Killer. As crowds of Vampires lose their lives, I revel in each and every kill. I listen to each slice, each splatter of Vampire intestines and dismembered Vampire limbs hitting the ground, being trampled.

Vampires continually burst out of windows and old wooden trap doors in attempts to surprise me, to try to lay even a scratch on me. They all fail; but the King of Vampires is no fool. He did not become the Vampire-King by allowing these trespasses to occur. Vampire-Warriors and Vampire-Knights flood out of the windows of the castle. A small percentage of the actual Vampire guards on staff, I’m certain. I jump to the rooftops to gain a better vantage point, slicing Vampires as they jump up through the alleys. Scalps removed, Vampires fall by the wayside. Taloned hands reach out at me, grabbing me, bright white fangs bared, glistening. Saliva flies out of their panicked vengeful mouths with their hissing and inaudible threats. Bloody pieces fly away, disconnected, ash explodes and scatters as I drive my blade through the Vampire-Warriors and Vampire-Knights, impeding my rooftop jaunt.

Having traversed most of the Vampire Village, I return to the streets, into the frantic crowd of Vampires. So thick in number, it is all I can do to swing Vampire-Killer and end them, slowly making my way towards the path. The trudge through crowded streets of removed limbs, heads, splattered brains is soon over, the final stand is made to head me off at the pass, the clearing before the long winding mountain path, a huge, Vampiric conglomeration. If I could tell one Vampire from another before, I most certainly couldn’t now. They all meet their end, falling to the Vampire-Killer. I almost zone out through the monotony of Vampire screams, becoming soaked in Vampire blood and entrails. Not a single Vampire is spared in the village.

My disgust for Vampires has no fathom to its depths. I kick the final fallen corpses out of my way, and continue towards the Vampire King’s Castle. The path is long and narrow, sheer cliffs on either side, at the bottom of the chasm, only shadow can be seen. I sense them first, the underdwellers. A form of Vampire-Demon, smaller than Vampires, weaker, but faster and always in great numbers. This doesn’t feel like a trap. More like a few near the surface, scared, attacking out of instinct. They like to remain underground, where they feel safe. I sprint down the path, knowing that the longer I stay, the more their deathscreams will draw others, more Vampires. Having quickly made my way to the gate of the Vampire King’s castle, I realize: this is the trap. The large doors swing open of their own accord with a large creak. Before me is a large hall, lined with large statues of Vampire-knights and Vampire-demons and Vampire-demon-knights. At the end of the hall, is the Vampire-King’s throne, and there he sits: the Vampire-King himself, Dracula.

“Vell vell vell, it seems I have a guest, you must be VAMPIRE: The Vampire Hunter, blah!” His thick Transylvanian accent grates on me.
“I’ve been waiting a long while to meet you face to face, Dracula. I’m going to destroy you once and for all.”
“You have no idea vhat you’re up against. I am the Vampire King. I am the vone of True Blood!”
“I know exactly what I’m up against, Vampire, and believe me, your time is at hand.”
“Blahh, I suppose I should simply abandon my castle and kingdom, then… flee, never to return…”
“Don’t mock me, Vampire, I’ll see to it that your Vampire blood is spilt by my blade.” I fly at the Vampire with Vampire-Killer.

The Vampire turns to mist before my eyes, vanishing. My sword, embedded deep into the throne. I’m left alone in the empty hall of Dracula’s castle. Shadows cast, my only company.

My Vampire-Killer blade. The Vampire-Killer blade. It is the ultimate weapon for use in ridding the world of the Vampire. I created it before I was to become a Vampire. I bonded with it a piece of my soul. This sword is what allows me to retain the supernatural powers of the Vampire, but still maintain the internal power of the human. Power of will over the Vampiric bloodlusting. Power over the day. Power over the Vampire. Power to end the reign of the Vampires.

In traveling the world as a mortal, seeking tools to kill the Vampire, I came across many artifacts, but none that would make me a lone match for any Vampire, let alone every Vampire. They were gimmicks, useless toys for the delusional groups. Lost in battles of the now-dead, held by Vampires, or hidden away by cowards too frightened of the Vampire, laying in wait for a true Vampire Hunter.

I waited, I trained, and I broke through new states of consciousness and human endurance. I read: Vampirism steals the soul. This fact stuck out to me. I knew I needed that, that which would separate me from the Vampire. The power of the Vampire is how I could fight against them, and I knew if I could retain my soul, even a piece, I could rise above the petty bloodlust of the Vampire. How was my only question, and so I did my research. I’d heard of warriors from the East sealing their souls in blades to achieve eternal life as a warrior. Wizards with powerful artifacts, Lich Kings. All undead because of this process. They were greedy, and that was their downfall. I did not want immortality; the power of the Vampire would bestow that curse unto me. I spent years crafting the perfect blade to hold a piece of my soul. It is unbreakable. Designed with the killing of Vampires in mind. Made of the finest of enchanted silver, inscribed with runes, with a dual tip, and a central magically petrified wood core to the hilt. It is the Vampire-Killer. Not trusting of another, being wary of soul-stealers parading as soul-forgers, I performed the spell myself. It was excruciating: far worse, physically, than turning into a Vampire.

After it was made, I locked it away. Then, all I had to do was become a Vampire. The only way to become a Vampire is to be turned by one. Vampires won’t just turn anyone, the newest wouldn’t even know how. No, I had to completely trick a Vampire into becoming my friend, into trusting me, into knowing that I was entirely committed to being a Vampire. No easy task, as they can read the minds of man. Even if you can find Vampires, what’s to stop them from simply making you a meal? Especially if they can read your intent to use that power to become a Vampire Hunter. They have their spots, their hangouts, and their haunts. Exclusive clubs. It took years of meditation to be able to separate my mind’s thoughts, lock the disgust and contempt I have for the Vampire just as I locked away my soul, my Vampire-Killer.

The Vampire’s name was Nikki, she had set out on her own years prior, disconnected from her master having learned all she needed too. Without my intervention, she would have continued to be an excellent continuation to the Vampire lore, very by the books. Easy to obey. She truly was the perfect Vampire, a Vampiric killing machine like no other. Any human meal she wanted was at her sharpened fingernails. She wanted an apprentice of her own, to teach, to subjugate. I would be just that Vampire for her. In her mind I was the perfect slave, a male strong in appearance with the desire for the woman, and an even stronger desire for the undead life of the Vampire. She was drawn to my prime human flesh. She described being around me as comparable to being around a feastful thanksgiving table, for those who still have a god to thank. She was, however, thankful when she drank of my blood, stealing my soul for the Vampire-Gods. It was months we were together before that, and we were together as Vampires for an unknowable period of time after. Everything feels fleeting as a Vampire. We had as much feelings, as much of an emotional connection as Vampires could have for one another. It was not long after I had learned all I could from her that she tired of me, and I her. Knowing she would eventually attempt to find another apprentice to turn, it was when I could no longer feel her lingering presence that I searched out Vampire-Killer.

Once I found the Vampire-Killer, my toughest choice then was not whether or not to slay her, but to test my skills and kill her during the day, during her slumber, or at night, when she has committed her Vampiric feeding, and is at her most powerful.

That night I kicked down the door to one of our old places, where she still resided. I stopped her in the midst of her Vampiric feast. A woman, near dead, drained of blood; around my mother’s age at the time of her untimely death. This is what I had trained for almost my whole life.

“What’s wrong, my young Vampire? Did you miss me? Ahahaha! You always were weak!”
“No, Vampire, I’ve come to put an end to you.”
“Quit playing around, you know I never found jokes humorous. If you would like one more night of bloodlust, I do not mind heading back out to find another quick meal; once I finish this one, of course.”
“You misunderstand, this is where your bloodlust ends, Vampire.” She could no longer tell what my intentions were; they were hidden by me, by my possession of the Vampire-Killer. I unsheathed the blade; the inscripted runes glinted in the moonlight coming in through the window behind her. By the confusion and betrayal in her eyes, I could tell that she now understood I was serious. That I was now, and always had been a Vampire Hunter. This Vampire, just like all Vampires, had betrayed humanity; there could be no remorse to feel.

“So, Vampire, are you ready to die?”
“If you really think you can kill me, apprentice, and become a big, bad Vampire Hunter out of the blue, you’re the one who should be prepared to die.” The Vampire’s face gnarls, showing her Vampiric bone understructure; she bares her fangs, and hisses as she leaps through the air across the room. Her force pushes me out of the doorway, knocking Vampire-Killer out of my hand. I crash through an old stone wall and before I realize what exactly going on, she’s on top of me, slashing deep into my bare Vampiric flesh. She bites a chunk out of my shoulder, and blood soaks the rubble underneath us. She stands, grabs me by the leg, and drags me down the old hallway leaving a path of blood. The Vampire then uses her might to shatter an entire six flights of stairs with my body. She elegantly, Vampirically floats down to the tiled ground floor. The Vampire stands over me and kneels down, thrusting her hand deep into my chest. She squeezes my dead Vampire heart.

“Any last words before I tear out your heart, oh mighty and brave ‘VAMPIRE: The Vampire Hunter’?” she smiles at her own sarcasm.
“To me, my blade.” Vampire-Killer comes spiraling towards me, separating her arm from her body, leaving it lodged in mine. I grab Vampire-Killer, and slice the Vampire’s head off. I stand up, throwing her body off mine, and drive Vampire-Killer through her heart; making sure to kill her for good.

“Take THAT, Vampire.”

I pulled the Vampire’s arm from my chest cavity, and tossed it to the ground. I watched the hole quickly heal itself, leaving no scars. I felt the nail-marks disappear, and my shoulder become whole again. I felt Vampire-Killer take the blood into my soulwound.
The first Vampire I had slain was the Vampire who had turned me. Unlike the werewolf, destroying the Vampire who turns you does nothing; one can never revert back to being human from Vampirism. From then onwards, I could only be VAMPIRE: The Vampire Hunter, never again human, never willing to be a Vampire. Only in the hunt can I seek my redemption, only when the last Vampire is dead can I be free. I forever am, and always was in full dedication to my goal of the eradication of the Vampire.

Ah, but that was only the beginning; where does one go after killing their first? To the rest of the Vampires, of course. The Vampires she introduced me too, the Vampire who turned her. Then, the Vampires they knew, Vampire hangouts, Vampire clubs, Vampire bars, Vampire haunts and Vampire houses; any places Vampires would congregate. They’d all burn to the ground once I made sure there were no survivors inside. I would kill every Vampire until I reached Vampires who knew things, knew the inner workings of their entire Vampire society, to take it all down from the inside. Then I’d continue killing every Vampire I’d heard even a whisper of. No Vampire will be left on this earth and beyond. That is my vow; that is my debt. As the Vampire hungers for the blood of man, Vampire-Killer is driven for the blood of the Vampire.