Chapter 3: Culmination of a Hunt

Assar

The figure's back was turned to him, and Assar slowed his pace to a painfully slow advance.

He made not a sound against the dirt and stone floor of the cave. He successfully crept within striking distance of the thrall guard.

Assar decided not to waste a crossbow bolt on this guard. Gripping the long two-handed grip of his sword, Assar hissed out the activation word for his sword, and immediately runes carved into the blade which were invisible until activated blazed suddenly with the arcane power forged into the weapon made to slay monsters, especially vampires.

The sudden light caused the thrall to flinch in surprise and spin around, just in time to receive the full four feet of the blade directly through his throat, severing arteries and cutting his windpipe. Blood sprayed from the wound. The vampire couldn’t even scream as his life sprayed out from the fatal strike.

Assar swiftly stepped forward and caught the vampire before he could fall and make a noise. He slowly lowered the body to the floor and would return later to claim proof of the kill. He had to force his tongue back behind his teeth, as his instincts pushed him to taste the thrall’s blood. He grit his teeth in frustration at the urges, and instead forced himself to keep moving forward.

Assar knew he was nearing the main part of the cave as he could now taste the excitement of the vampires preparing to feed. He reached a bend in the tunnels and he could now easily hear the Vampires preparing to feed.

Blood crazed vampires were always easy to distinguish from the others of their kind simply by the way they spoke.

While most vampires spoke common fluently and elegantly, blood-crazed vampires spoke in harsh growls and guttural hisses. Assar had been hunting their kind for so long that he had a rudimentary understanding of the language and to his knowledge, no one had made any real study of the topic. Before rounding the corner, Assar ended his sword's enchantment so the glow wouldn’t give him away before he was ready. Once the runes faded back into the metal, Assar hefted his crossbow and slowly swung around the bend in the tunnel. The bend led to a small cliff that looked down at a large natural pit of sorts.

Assar got his first clear look at his prey below him. The thralls looked like all the blood-crazed of their kind. Permanent claws replaced their normally sharp fingernails small. Their armpits bore the beginnings of a bat membrane, and their eyes glowed permanently red against their pale skin. Though the skin was pale, their arteries and veins were visible all over their bodies as they pressed out against their skin.

The high vampire was something else entirely. He looked to have turned almost fully into a bat hybrid. His once regal face was now a mask that looked as if a bat's face had melded human features. He had large fangs that protruded several inches from his mouth. When he opened his mouth, Assar could see that the rest of his teeth ended in sharp points as well. His ears extended back behind his head and came to sharp points. His arms were now elongated, and the entirety of the back of his arms had a large and powerful membrane that Assar knew were his wings. At the end of his winged arms where hands should be, sported three fingered claws that were each six inches long.

The vampire was hunched forward, but even in that posture, he was an easy seven feet tall. His torso was corded with large muscles which rippled with strength as it stalked towards its meal. While the veins and arteries of the thralls looked sickly, his pulsed with life, and gave him a terrifying visage. Where the vampire once undoubtedly had pale flawless skin, now was replaced by coarse patches of fur covering large swaths of its leathery body.

Assar watched as the High vampire barked orders to the thralls, who hissed in response and moved away. Several seconds later, they came back dragging three humans. One woman and two men. Assar recognized the sickly cast of their skins and hollow eyes. They were in the process of turning. The high vampire opened his mouth and moved forward, eager for his feeding before his rest.

Assar’s chance was coming soon. He aimed his crossbow at the high vampire as it moved towards its awaiting meal. The vampire leaned forward and sunk his fangs into the meat of the first man’s shoulders. The man in question moaned in pain, fear, and ecstasy as the vampire drank its fill.

Assar smirked, and whispered, “Die.”

He pulled the trigger, and the first string twanged as it shot its bolt directly into the back of the high vampire. Assar knew it wouldn’t kill the monster, but it would cause enough pain to distract it long enough for Assar to deal with the two thralls. Just as the bolt struck the vampire right between its shoulder blade and back, a spot Assar knew would cripple its ability to fly until its healing kicked in.

Assar yelled out the activation for his sword, no longer caring for stealth. The runes blazed to life, and Assar leapt from his hiding spot. Like an angel of death, Assar flew from the cliff and fell the fifteen feet to the bottom of the pit, landing directly on the back of a surprised and infuriated thrall. The thralls shriek of anger was quickly silenced as Assar brought the blazing blade down and stabbed directly through the back of the vampire's skull. The body immediately went limp, and Assar wasted no time in pressing his attack.

The other thrall had whirled on him, and with mindless rage, threw itself at Assar. The hunter was ready for this though, and calmly stepped back, lifted his crossbow, and took aim at the thrall. A split second later another bolt tore through the air and punched straight through the skull of the oncoming thrall. As if it was a puppet with its strings cut, the thrall collapsed mid-stride, as the crossbow bolt tore through its brain.

Assar quickly turned to look for the High vampire and was frustrated, that the beast was nowhere in immediate sight. He held his blade up in a ready position as he slowly stalked and scanned the area around him. His breathing was calm and steady as he listened for the beast's presence. Then he heard a sound. It was faint, if his half-blood nature hadn’t given him increased abilities, he never would have heard it. Thankfully he did though, and it’s what saved his life. Assar ducked and felt a talon swipe over him, exactly where his head had been seconds ago.

Assar sprang forward and rolled to create distance between him and his prey. Assar managed to get to his feet and turn to face the vampire just in time to intercept a strike from the talons of the high vampire. Now face to face with its attacker, the vampire screeched in rage and its jaws snapped forward in an attempt to bite off Assar’s face.

Assar jerked back and quickly kicked out with his boot and caught the vampire in the chest. The blow pushed the vampire back again and Assar quickly followed up the blow with a slash of his sword, aimed at decapitating the monster. This was no thrall though and with frightening speed, the vampire danced back away from the slash. It then reversed its momentum, and with a flap of its wings, propelled itself forward straight towards Assar.

Assar was no amateur though and had been fighting vampires for nearly two decades. He prepared to step into the charge and stab straight into the chest of the vampire when fortune dealt him a bad hand.

A moan came from his side and one of the captured humans hurled a rock at Assar’s side. It was a negligible attack, but it took his attention away from the fight for a split second. Unfortunately, that was all it took to leave him vulnerable to the charging vampire.

“F*ck!” Assar growled as he tried to dodge the attack instead.

It wasn’t enough though, the vampire hit Assar full force and the pair tumbled to the ground. The vampire hissed and slashed at Assar’s face trying to rip it to shreds. The vampire's jaws also were frantically trying to close around his face. Assar roared into its face, as hot drool dripped out of the vampire's mouth, landing on Assar’s face.

Assar knew he was at a disadvantage in this position. His sword wasn’t suited for up close fights, and with a growl, he let go of the weapon, and instead held onto the two hands of the vampire. Keeping the talons from ending his life. The vampire’s scrambling feet kicked the weapon out of reach, and unfortunately, the legs also managed to jab into Assar's legs. The thick hide pants, made from another monster he had slain blocked a lot of the damage, but the tips of several claws penetrated and tore into Assar’s flesh.

He roared in pain and knowing he needed to extricate himself from this position, he twisted his hips, which quickly and momentarily misbalanced the vampire perched on top of him. Letting go of one of the taloned hands, Assar reached down to his belt and withdrew the short blade he used for close confrontations. It wasn’t going to be able to do any significant damage to a high vampire, but it would help get him out of this position.

The tradeoff was that one of the vampire’s talons was free now and the bastard wasted no time slashing at Assar’s throat. The hunter turned his shoulder up and intercepted the talons with his shoulder flesh. The pain racked the hunter’s body as the talons dug into his shoulder and he felt the scrape of talon on bone. Still, it gave him the split second he needed to ram the blade up into the chest of the vampire.

It growled in pain and reared back from the blow. It wouldn’t kill the vampire in fact it wouldn’t even cause it much harm, but it would sure as hell hurt it. Seeing his opportunity Assar pulled himself out from under the vampire and scrambled for his sword. His shoulder and leg were pulsing painfully, but the blood he had drank prior to the fight helped him ignore the wounds. Assar’s hands closed around the blade a split second before the High vampire shrieked in a deadly rage and flung itself at the hunter's prone form.

Assar roared in response and rolled onto his back just as the Vampire collided with him. He thrust his blade up from the floor and the magical blade easily passed through the vampire's flesh. It traveled straight through skin, muscle, and bone until it skewered the vampire’s heart. A perfect strike.

The vampire was dead before it could register the pain, and Assar now found himself pinned underneath the corpse of the vampire that had come very close to ending his life. . He lay there for several seconds before with a grunt of effort he heaved and pushed the corpse off of him. As he tried to control his breathing, he glanced down at the two-deep gashes the vampire had scored in his body. Long years of dealing with such wounds, paired with the blood he had drank, kept him from feeling too much pain at this point, but he would need to take care of them. Assar didn’t have time to wait for his healing to kick in. He knew if he wanted full use of his arm and leg sooner rather than later, he needed a boost.

Reluctantly he reached down to his belt and pulled out a second vial of blood. He knew that he had to be careful of how much he consumed in such a short time, but he knew this wouldn’t push him over the edge. Still, he didn’t like it. He popped the cork and downed the drink.

The effects were instant and his already enhanced body seemed to shudder at the boost. He had to clench his hands to keep them from shaking too much. The sudden urge to drop to his knees and feed on the dead vampire was extremely hard to resist. He took a knee and did his best to breathe and control himself.

He repeated a mantra he had used many times in the past in similar situations and waited for the increase to his body to heal his wounds. Several minutes later, he felt the familiar itch as his wounds began to heal. Thirty seconds later, his wounds had disappeared except for the scars he knew would be left behind.

Now that he was healed he stood back up and turned to the human captives. Once again the urge to feed hit him like a gut punch, but Assar had experienced this before. He would maintain who he was. Instead, he hefted his sword and deliberately marched forward. This was always the worst part of hunting vampires.

Ending the victims who were beginning to turn.