Vampires, and How to Be Prepared for Them

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DonSteppedOutside 07/21/2016 (Thu) 22:13:41 #09213382


Not three hundred years ago, the extermination of vampires and their ilk served a perfectly legitimate profession. In the modern world, such that it is, the extermination of vampires is regarded as windmill-tilting at best and criminal at worst. So what changed?

Some would tell you that the vampire was but a cultural abstraction of our worst fears: plague, predator, parasite. Others would tell you that yes, the vampire existed, but through the hard work of the Church (ignoring the fact that the first and most prominent vampire hunters were Levantine Jews), they were eradicated from the face of creation. A third will tell you, with resignation, that the modern justice system simply lacks the capacity to distinguish between cold-blooded murder and a genuine extermination.

With the decline of the vampire hunter comes the decline of the hunt as an artform. The old masters have retired, taking no protege and leaving no memoir. What little that trickles down through history is filtered through misunderstanding and mixed-metaphor, and the light grows dimmer as the darkness encroaches.

On my honor as a hunter, I cannot let it fall from the human collective conscience.

DonSteppedOutside 07/21/2016 (Thu) 22:13:59 #09213384


I shan't give many more details of my life than necessary, for reasons you will come to understand. Suffice to say, the path from war orphan to vampire hunter was a complicated one. Trauma and age have done wonders on my mind, but they have not engendered coherency.

I do remember my mentor, Auguste. He does not call himself "Auguste", but it is a name of the same culture as the actual name he gave himself. He is tall, with piercing blue eyes and an extravagant mustache and beard that engulfed the bottom half of his face in dark, black hair. A foreigner to my land, Auguste recounts that he had arrived on behalf of his church, intent on "spreading the good word", as it were. He never returned, of course. I don't think he quite wanted to return.

It's a common story: a street urchin happens upon the old hunter as he puts a stake through the heart of a nosferatu. Unwilling or unable to justify his habits to the constabulary authority, he takes the urchin into his home, feeding him, clothing him, and instructing him in the art of the hunt.

At least, such was my path. Auguste is loath to talk of his.

From early adolescence to the prime of adulthood, I trained under and hunted with Auguste. He was a harsh mentor, but it was because of his rigorous training that I became the hunter I am today.

DonSteppedOutside 07/21/2016 (Thu) 22:14:11 #09213385


Every culture has its own iteration of the vampire, for it is a beast of vile fecundity. A hunter's first lesson is to cut through the myth in order to find the truth.

Most of what you believe about vampires is wrong. They are not repelled by the cross, nor by the scent of garlic, and while they detest the light, it is not enough to end their unholy existence. Moreover, the basest assumptions of the vampire's body should be scrutinized, as even the lowest of nosferatu are eager to exploit such expectations in the pursuit of prey.

Auguste taught that it is as hard for the hunter to identify the vampire as it is for the vampire to identify the hunter. The competent of either stripe know not to skulk about as a paragon of their allegiance, nor to fall into habits too tied to the intricacies of the hunt. The key is in patient awareness, so subtle as to be indistinguishable from the human habit.

Because most of the time, the vampire and hunter remain indistinguishable until the time to strike.

DonSteppedOutside 07/21/2016 (Thu) 22:14:44 #09213389





She peeked around the corner

She offered me her hand

My teeth touched her skin

Then she was gone again


Inspired by a healthy amount of The Magnus Archives (and possibly Minecraft, given it's my podcast game).

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