Chapter 1 WORLD OF HUNTERS 

Leo crouched in wait, with a spear at the ready. He was responsible for guarding the only opening in this dense part of the forest. The beast that his group had been hunting was slippery and successfully evaded all of their kill attempts. The plan now was that the hunters would corral the beast into him. Leo was nervous because if the beast got past him, it would no doubt escape. His eyes were peeled ahead, intently looking into the dense reddened forest. The tops of the rotten foliage began to emit sudden violent shakes. Any second now, he would see the beast that was coming his way. 

“Ok, I got this… I got this!” Leo nervously uttered, hunching forward and tightly gripping the shaft of his wooden spear.

The bushes shook one final time, before a boar exploded out, charging in his direction.

reeeeeee! The boar squealed as it charged right at him.

“RA!” Leo thrusted his spear forward. The boar barreled past him, knocking him to the ground and practically trampled over him. The animal continued onward, towards the exit of the forest before it swerved, crashing into the very last tree. Leo’s wooden spear was sticking out from its neck.

The hunters that were on the boar’s trail emerged from the bushes. “Nice kill Leo!” They happily complimented him.

“Thanks, I think that was my cleanest kill yet.” Leo was proud of his work. He’s been on plenty of hunts before, but he was still a newbie compared to these seasoned hunters. 

The group got to work on prepping the boar for transport back home. They stuffed and patched the neck wound on the kill to make sure it wasn’t bleeding. The oldest of the hunters, Marcus, was overseeing everything.

“Make sure you patch that kill right, we don’t need a blood trail leading up to the haven and hurry it up! It’s getting late!” Marcus was barking orders. It was true, this boar gave them a lot of hassle and seemed to slip by all the hunters for the majority of the day. The sun was beginning to set.

The patching on the kill took a few minutes. Once done, three hunters began carrying the large boar and the group began their trek through the forest back home.

Leo was walking in front of the group using his spear as a walking stick when Marcus marched up alongside him.

“Good job today, Leo.” A compliment from Marcus, what a rarity Leo thought.

“Thanks, Marcus.”

“Have you given thought about what I asked?”

“Not yet.”

“Well, stop dilly dallying, those bloodsuckers certainly aren't waiting for you to decide.”

“I’m starting to doubt if they even exist, Marcus. I still have never seen one.”

“You haven't seen any because we've been disciplined and careful. That doesn't mean they just up and stop existing. I need you to decide by tomorrow. If you don't go then I’m going to ask Ael to go in your stead.”

“Ael? She isn't even a hunter. Let alone ready for that trek.”

“Well, I'm going to need someone that speaks Vydian, you and Ael are the only ones that do.”

Their walk halted as a dark ominous feeling began overriding their senses. All the noise in the forest suddenly stopped as a chilling sensation ran down Leo’s spine. Leo looked to Marcus to question the feeling when he saw Marcus had an expression of heightened alert.

“Ah, Fuck.” Marcus uttered the curse once he met Leo’s gaze, confirming some suspicion.

A bird-like whistle was heard that caught both of their attention. Marcus responded to the noise by raising his hand in the air for all to see and motioning it in two gestures; His pointer and pinky were pointed upwards followed by a solid fist.

That was the sign for Silver and Ambush 

“Marcus is that-?”

“Hide and don’t you dare get killed!” Marcus cut him off with a whisper before drawing his silver blade and running towards the source of the noise.

Leo found a spot far ahead that overlooked the trail they had came from. He settled in some bushes and had a fairly elevated view of the reddened forest trail. The hunters were all pulling out silver weapons and repositioning on the sides of the trail. 

Nothing happened for a few minutes. Leo was thinking about leaving his hiding place but none of the hunters were moving, so he waited and continued to watch. He kept his eyes peeled on the trail and finally saw that something was approaching. It was a dark shadow. Was that it? The thing his clan feared the most? The legend that nearly wiped out human civilization? As the figure got closer, Leo could see two bright orange dots on its face, its eyes. Squinting to get a better look the figure started to appear distorted.

The moon began to rise from the horizon as rays of moonlight started shooting through various branches. The figure stepped into one, revealing its true nature. Its body was thin and its fingertips were growing into that of blackened claws. With long black hair, facial features resembling that of a middle-aged man. It wore a fancified nobilic cape that swam in the air. The cape even had a vydian symbol on it that Leo recognized. It looked… human. And just like the stories he was told repeatedly, there was no doubt that this thing was the very monster his clan feared the most.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

A vampire.

Leo watched as the hidden hunters moved in silence to intercept the thing that was now seemingly walking right towards him. The vampire stopped as his head rose towards Leo. Leo could feel its powerful gaze, it felt as if this thing was looking into his very soul. All his vulnerabilities had manifested to the front of his mind, loneliness and isolation took hold, the bushes began to disappear around him leaving him exposed. He was now standing on a black stage, standing face to face with this thing who spoke no words but was rummaging through his thoughts. They both watched as Leo’s life memories played out in front of him. The vampire raised its hand and Leo felt compelled to walk forward and take it. The message berating his mind ‘Live your true life.’ or ‘Live, as my slave.’  Leo began to rise from his hiding place with a blank stare on his face, before a sharp whistle broke him from the trance. A barrage of white flashes appeared around the vampire before silver bolts flew in from all directions, pelting the thing from all angles.

The storm of fire ended as the vampire began to ‘bubble up’ as if it was going to explode in a fit of volatility. The explosion that ensued wasn’t that of blood, guts or even dust. It was an explosion of bats. The bats flew everywhere in an erratic fashion, then they all started locking on to the areas where the white flashes came from. The now various clouds started doubling and tripling as it became apparent the bats were multiplying. Screams were heard everywhere as all the hunters were being attacked by this swarm.

The swarm of bats were biting and tearing into the hunters before they balled up and manifested into their own respective humanoid forms. Revealing that there wasn’t just one vampire here, there were several. All similar humanoid beings with large black claws and skinny figures. The hunters began fighting these demonic beings. Leo crouched even lower in the bush he was hiding in. 

The battle did not last long; all the hunters were quickly beaten. All Leo could do was continue to watch as his fellow hunters were now being dragged onto the trail and held down in submission. Soon the entire group except for him were on the ground. They were waiting for something, all of them were looking further up the trail and watching a fight taking place. Marcus’ fight.  

Marcus was battling the original vampire that had approached the group. The blackened claws sparked against Marcus’s blade with each savage swing. The moonlight fully illuminated the battle, as if it was a staged spectacle. Marcus was sweating and breathing heavily, clearly giving it his all against this thing. Leo could see the moonlight reflecting off Marcus’ sword with each of his swings. The vampire was reacting with small bursts of speed that blurred his image. The sudden bouts of speed made this creature seem unpredictable and impossible to fight, but to Leo’s surprise, Marcus was holding his ground. Marcus was reacting to it as if he already knew what the vampire was going to do.

Now Leo finally understood why nobody contested Marcus for lead hunter, his claims of being an old vampire hunter were practically confirmed with his actions at this very moment. Their lives were in his hands. He was the only one that could fight these things.

The vampire had a weird accent and shouted at him in a demeaning tone. “So, finally decided to come out of whatever hole you hide in?!”  As the vampire caught Marcus’ blade in one hand, tightly wrapping its claws around it.

“You’re the one who hides in holes filth!” Marcus retorted. As he ripped his blade from the vampire’s grip, readying himself for the next attack. Unbeknownst to Marcus, all eyes were on him as he was battling the leader of this vampiric group.

“I have longed for fresh blood, I think I’ll drink you dry.” A long tongue slithered out of the vampire’s mouth as it licked its own lips.

“You're nothing but a parasite! A rat! Your kind deserves nothing less than extermination!”

“You speak as if humans are noble, but tell me, is it noble to be baited by trained boars?”

Marcus only responded with the grit of his teeth. 

“And I thought I was the one with the fangs!” The vampire hunched over laughing. “Come then!”

They dashed at each other. Clashing thrice more times before Marcus parried its swipe and followed up with a thrust straight through the vampire’s gut. The blade began emitting a bright yellow light once it had penetrated the monster. A pool of blood began forming under its feet.

Marcus smiled devilishly.

“You picked the wrong hunter, swine!” his silver blade had pierced through the vampire’s gut and was poking out its back even through its cloak. The Vampire gave a reaction of shock as his breath pattered.

“H…oly, ma…gic?”

“Go on. Turn into a cloud of dust, morph into bats, regenerate your injury! Oh...You can’t? See That’s the thing about holy silver, it FUCKS monsters like you! Paralysis, dark magic negation, it is your bane, it is your fear. I am your FEAR!”   

The vampire stood frozen as more blood plopped to the ground as Marcus twisted the yellow glowing blade. The vampire’s eyes widened… before twisting its own expression into that of laughter.

“Heheh, haha ahaha! AHAHAA! WHAT A SHOW!”  The vampire grabbed Marcus’s sword arm, he tried to pull away but it was two late. The creature lunging forward, sinking its claws into Marcus’ chest. "Such a lovely boast of victory, however unfortunately for you.."

The vampire squeezed its claws deeper into Marcus’ chest, just around the area of his heart.

Marcus yelled in pain as the light on his blade began fading away.

“…Unfortunately for you, you decided to attack one of the only vampires alive who is resistant to silver.” He squeezed harder as Marcus fell to his knees and began to scream out in pain. “And that bit about holy magic, you have never touched a holy blade in your life. The person whole blessed that sword of yours is a sad excuse of a cleric.”

The vampire looked around at all his kin watching.

“Now then, let us take our fill brethren.”  The visceral noise of tearing flesh was heard by all as the vampire ripped out Marcus’ still beating heart. The heart sat in the vampire’s long clawed hand as the organ was still working to circulate Marcus’ blood. The fiend looked down at Marcus, maintaining eye contact while slowly raising the beating heart towards its mouth and taking a slow bite from it.

“Tender.”

Marcus collapsed to the ground and as if on cue, all the other vampiric fiends began jumping on his corpse like rabid dogs. The blood pool that formed under his body got pulled back so not a single drop was wasted. Everyone was stunned at the horrid site, this animalistic mauling. The orchestra of fiends did not cease until Marcus’ body was nothing more than a dried husk. 

Leo was the only one that hadn't been spotted. He needed to get the hell out of here! Marcus was the strongest in their clan and the vampires just tore him to shreds. Leo slowly backed up, exiting the bush he was hiding in. If he ran maybe, he could get away in time. Leo turned heel and was about to hit a full sprint when a dark shadow appeared in front of him. It was the vampire leader who just murdered Marcus.

“Where are you going little pup?”