Chapter Text
The wind howled in the ears of Ralph, having his horse drop dead on him, he needed to get to the next town. The poor bastard got bitten by a snake, and a few minutes later, his travel companion was dead in the dried grass. Now on foot, opening a yellowed map with faint sketched outlines, he could peer down at the town he needed to be at.
He’d been going south, he needed to be eastbound. Turning his dusted and dirt stained boots, he trekked the land with long strides. Ralph was a hunter, more importantly, a vampire hunter. A woman reported a sighting of one, and with it came the cadaver. The poor man had a shattered windpipe and the familiar outlines of the bite, going across the bloodied and shattered throat.
So, he was hired to go find and kill it, along with the sins the thing had caused upon the town. Lifting a head forward, pocketing the map, he peered out to the dying trees mixed with the evergreens and red oak leaves, the sign of fall in these parts. Ralph adjusted his hat, a dusty leather thing with a few signs of weathering to it, had shown the need of a replacement as well as the quiet fondness for the material.
The sun was going dark over the rocky mountains, looking to his right, the blonde saw the usually angry eye fall into silence behind the mountain. The yellow eye cursed the sky in colors of yellows, oranges and forms of pinks and reds. The clouds began to drift off, and Ralph silently cursed the sky for it. Pulling out a sliver lined blade, he trotted off to a familiar area around 10 yards off.
Climbing over a moss covered stone, jagged and uneven from animals and the natural beauty of change, Ralph landed on both feet. Looking around at the familiar landscape, a small rocky wall surrounded a quiet pond on the west side of the rocky walls. The rock surrounding the area was only around 6 to 9 feet high, the area inside these walls was much larger however, Ralph was estimating maybe around 10 possibly 15 feet for the area inside.
Shrubbery decorates the rock, moss and plant floor, saplings begin to break between the cracks of gray slates of stones. Perhaps in a few years, it would grow completely and tower over this space. Setting down his bag on a small tree, he used his blade, gently stripping the same tree of its bark. The goal was fire, the light would hopefully ward off creatures and animals long enough to make the rest of the journey to the sighting area, next to the sighting area however Ralph knew of the small town of Tomblay. Surrounded by the dying forest and rocky scapes of mountains and hills alike.
But for now, a fire must be started, and therefore there was no time to think about tomorrow for now. Gathering the bark and strips of wood in a small pile, he took a match box from his duster and lit it before tossing it into the dried strips of wood. The pile burst into a light, streaking the area in a bright shade of oranges and yellows. Ralph, looking up, now saw that the sky’s curse of the eye had begun to fade into a deep black sky, the very outer layer of sky was a quiet pink and yellow as if peace had been brought upon it and now the curse was sleeping until the eye opened once more come tomorrow.
Ralph, reached to the gun in the holster strapped to the belt and removed it from its protected embrace. Checking for quality and any damage caused to it from combat or his own accidental neglect and only found the need to oil to mechanisms and reload the chamber of lethal sliver.
Taking a small bottle of a clear oil, he meticulously fiddled and cleaned the moving parts to keep them running smooth. He aided this with a cloth which after the task was done, he dipped in the pond and wrung it repeatedly until no more water came out.
Opening his bag, he didn’t have much for a bed anymore and he realized this with a sense of disappointment. He knew he left behind most of his belongings, traceable and stupid of him though it was but he couldn’t carry it all. So he grabbed his essentials and left, he could buy replacements with the money he pulled off of the mare. He didn’t have much food for tonight, but Ralph knew that it was a risky move and a possible energy waste to go out hunting this late while a vampire sighting was only 4 miles out.
So he didn’t, he took out a folded up cloth and decided that was a good enough pillow until morning and propped it up on a tree root that had uprooted itself before the rest of it dove back into the earth from whence it came. He rested his hat on his chest as load on his back, looking up at a full moon and ting dots of what he always thought were the souls of night flickering and pondering about inside a pink and purple line across a deep sky. Then he closed his eyes and he faded out into unconsciousness with the company of a crackling fire only 4 feet away.
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“Oh god no! No!”
Ralph heard, startling himself awake. Then he heard the screams of another, echoing throughout the otherwise silent wood. He did not hesitate, he pushed on his hat, grabbed his blade and quickly scaled the rock walls around the area. Digging his boots and calloused hands into crevices, he heaved his body upward, scaling the wall before rolling into dead grass.
“Fucking’ hell. Hold on, I’m here!” Ralph called, but received no answer in response.
He pushed forward, boots hitting dead plants and rock with a satisfying crunch and clacks. Moving forward through shrubbery and dirt quickly, before pausing his run to listen. Then he heard it, a scream echoed once more, then a sort of crunch noise and Ralph ran to it. He chose not to call again, maybe if he was quiet enough he would be able to see what was the current aggressor.
Slowing his body, Ralph heard a thrumming in his chest, and recognized his own heartbeat and pulse whispering in his ears. Then, looking down to the west, he saw the familiar crimson of blood. Removing his blade, he watched the sliver lining glint readily in the light of the moon above. Ralph narrowed his eyes, then slowly moved forward to the bloodlust trail before stopping in a quiet nervous state as he looked at a fresh corpse.
Blood ran brilliant red into yellowed grass and dried leaves. He approached quietly, kicking the man’s head carefully and exposed a bite. It was a vampiric, aggressive bite, the fucker got him in the jugular with an apparent violence. Now, there was a horrible shudder down his spine turning to the left. He felt the quiet sensation of being watched and the possibility of being attacked became a reality in his mind.
Then the thing struck from behind, nail-like claws brought him down with an evil hiss and Ralph landed with a groan as a stone dug into his side but he ignored it when he saw fangs snapping at him. Ralph, now quickly attempting to kill the bloody beast, thrusted his hand forward and pushed the head back of the beast, pushing his blade into the closest thing and only met a shallow side wound.
“Fuck!”
The vampire's claws cut a line into his shoulders in a violent retaliation and Ralph swung forward, and failed to hit and as a result was pinned by his hands and was looking into the eyes of an icy blue. A type of blue that was a violent, endless sea of contempt. The ginger curls of what he guessed in his struggles was a man, and before he could fully bring himself to look more, Ralph yanked his wrist free and swung his blade again.
But the vampire had learned from his mistake the first time, and arched his body away before snatching the other's wrist, worming the sliver weapon away from the grasp of the blonde and throwing the blade into a dead tree. A tense, silent violence fell over them, Ralph was mainly surprised he wasn’t dead yet. But the vampire said nothing, rather tilted his head in a mocking manner before breaking out into a grin.
“Nice trick.”