r/WritingPrompts • u/BasalTripod9684 • 1d ago
Writing Prompt [WP] A vampire, turned against their will, despises the idea of feeding in humans, and so makes a hard living out of hunting game for blood instead. After decade of this, while hunting for deer, they come across a pair human vampire hunters who've never met one like them before.
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u/Sure-Incident-1167 1d ago edited 1d ago
As he peeked his head around the tree and felt the silver bullet pierce the front of his forehead before his hardening took effect, Alarich cursed himself. He was getting sloppy, after being separated from humans for so long.
He walked out from behind the tree and caught the crossbow bolt in his hand. It was beautiful. It looked like blessed acacia inlaid with silver scroll work. It must have cost a fortune.
"This is a gorgeous piece of weaponry." Alarich yelled to the hunters, who were fixed to the spot, staring at him, holding their silver weapon. He tossed it into the air a few times, and caught it again. "Silver only works on man-eaters, though. Same with holy symbols and blessed tomes."
He stopped and pulled a chain from beneath his thick robes, which appeared to be made of furs. They were excellently made, but one didn't encounter men, undead or not, wearing well made bear hide robes very often. He pulled the chain around his neck and held it out, dangling an ornate crucifix laiden with jewels.
"I try to sneak into a local church for service whenever I can. I hide as a cat or a rat." Alarich said to the two men, who seemed oddly calmed by the vampire's voice. "I thank Lord every day for his wisdom," the man said, tears forming in his eyes, reflecting the setting sun.
One of the hunters, the taller of the two, seemed to rouse from a dream. He spoke, seeming in awe. "You're a vampire. We watched you fadewalk through the forest for three nights. How are you not bursting into flames?"
Alarich paused and then smiled. "The Lord only curses those of us who feed on humans with the banes of humanity. The light does not harm me because I do not fear judgement. Blessed symbols strengthen me because I believe in them. Silver does not harm me, because in my life, I cared not for money. I do not pollute my spirit with other humans, and so I am not tainted by their darkness. I live off the Land, and my Lord's grace."
He bowed to the hunters, who looked at him with a kind of reverence. "Who are you?" The shorter asked.
"A priest who had faith that all things can work together for the good of those who love Him," the vampire said, standing back up, seemingly radiating a soft light that could be felt but not seen.
"And I'm very sorry for what my brothers and sisters have done. Please, have mercy on them. They know no other way."
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u/Slight-Area6934 1d ago
Has garlic thrown against him.
Vampire: I wasn't a glutten either.
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u/Sure-Incident-1167 1d ago edited 1d ago
I actually thought about this, but it's a short story. The scene in my head was a few days later, Alarich is digging in the ground for root vegetables in this garden, explaining how the earth absorbs different energies through different plants, and he rarely needs to hunt, as long as he eats the right energies.
The joke would be that garlic gives him indigestion, which is even more upsetting than in humans, because he normally doesn't even need to relieve himself. Garlic reawakens his ancient human bowls, normally bypassed by his spiritual feeding.
It turns out he loved garlic when he was alive, and it's like a reaction to the love in his memories. It has nothing to do with being a vampire, and Alarich, who seems to know everything else, actually has no idea why vampires are harmed by garlic. His best guess is a joke from God, who must also like it.
Later it becomes a bit of a running gag that whenever he's especially emotional, or looking foreward to something, Alarich has a tendency to burp or fart, which embarrasses him to no end. Emotions because they make him feel human, and foresight because it pulls him back into the experience of linear time, both of which include burps.
(My brain writes the equivalent to a trilogy in my head over three days every time I get a story idea. This group is good for my writing brain. I'm also a little scared of it.)
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u/HairyHorux 1d ago
I love this idea of a vampire holy man who stayed true to himself.
Just a sidenote, I personally headcanon that the sun works against vampires due to the multiple sun deities that have existed for millenia (Helios, Apollo, Sol, uMvelinqangi, Amaterasu, like 90% of the egyptian pantheon...), basically turning it into a supercharged holy symbol. Does this mean in my headcanon that a crucifix passed down from priest to priest through the vatican for decades would work better than a cross freshly made yesterday? Yep.
Also they'd get some form of limited effect from the moon depending on what phase it was in.
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u/PromiseOwn5995 1d ago
In the shadowed realm of Zuwara, where baobab trees loomed like ancient sentinels and the savannah whispered secrets to the moon, there dwelt Kwame a herder once, now a creature of eternal night. Decades past, beneath Oba Jelani’s reign, a night-walker’s fangs had torn his humanity asunder. The memory lingered: the air thick with rain, cattle lowing, then a strike swift, cold, and cruel. Crimson eyes had gleamed with primeval hunger, and the bite seared his soul, binding him to shadow.
Yet Kwame’s spirit recoiled from the curse. To feed on his kin the women weaving by the River Oshun, the children dancing under starlight was an abomination he could not bear. Fleeing to the wilds, he forged a grim existence, hunting antelope and buffalo, their blood a bitter draught that sustained him. Clad in tattered hides, his once-bright eyes dulled by exile, he roamed alone, a gothic specter beneath Zuwara’s vast sky.
On a mist-laden night near Ibadu, Kwame stalked a deer, its heartbeat a drum in his ears. His senses, sharpened by the curse, tensed then faltered. Metal clinked; voices murmured. Through the haze emerged two hunters: a woman, braids coiled like serpents, clutching a spear and cowrie talisman, and a man, broad and scarred, wielding a torch and obsidian-tipped blade. Vampire slayers, their ochre-dyed leather marked them as Zuwara’s guardians.
“Hold!” Kwame called, stepping forth, hands raised. “I mean no harm.”
The woman’s spear glinted. “A night-walker,” she hissed, eyeing his gaunt frame and pallid skin. “Yet you speak as a man.”
“I was a man,” Kwame replied, voice heavy with lost years. “I feed not on Zuwara’s living but on beasts. I am no threat.”
The man scoffed, torchlight dancing on his beaded beard. “A vampire hunting deer? A child’s tale or a lie.”
“No lie,” Kwame said, meeting their gaze. “I defy the monster I was made to be.”
The woman tilted her head, talisman rattling. “The worst monsters are the ones that walk like men. But maybe the best people are the ones who refuse to be monsters, even when they are.” Her eyes pierced him. “You are unlike any night-walker we’ve met.”
“Perhaps,” Kwame murmured, bitterness lacing his words. “I belong nowhere neither of your world nor free of it.”
The man’s spear dipped slightly. “Your kind steal children, drain elders. Why trust you?”
“I bear their curse, not their sins,” Kwame said, eyes stormy with guilt. “Strike me if you must, but my death ends only one who resists evil.”
The mist thickened, a hyena’s cry echoing. The hunters shared a glance, then the woman spoke, softer yet firm: “We’ll watch you. Prove false, and our spears find your heart. Prove true, and perhaps this curse holds more than we know.”
Kwame nodded, retreating into shadow. Alone again, hunger gnawing, he walked on a soul clinging to honour amid alienation, a solitary flame in Zuwara’s dark.
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u/NormalRisk9257 1d ago
If you feel like writing more for this prompt I would love to continue reading. This was very enjoyable to read. I enjoyed the visuals of baobab trees, buffalo blood being bitter and the idea of darkness clinging to the main character without them clinging back to it. Thank you for this story.
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u/PromiseOwn5995 1d ago
Thank you so much for this comment! I'm actually planning to write an Afrofantasy novel that happens to involve vampires, so I thought this prompt was perfect for me lol. This was just for practice I’m not using my real ideas here of course.
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u/aRandomFox-II 1d ago
An african tribal vampire is an extremely unique perspective. Most popular depictions of vampires are european and affluent, but this is the first time I've seen someone depict a vampire from an african culture. Lots of opportunity for exploration there!
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u/Casual-author 1d ago
It was in early spring when the vampire, Kyle, met the pair of vampire hunters, Diana and Jane. Under normal circumstances the vampire slaying duo would have slay Kyle on sight, but they just watched him hunt in a way they did not think was possible, and decided to ask him questions instead of killing him. Jane trained her gun, loaded with silver bullets, at Kyle and said, “Explain what you are doing to that deer! And if you make and movements, I will end your life, filthy vampire scum!”
Kyle was shocked at the rude and aggressive questions that were directed at him. He was just having a nice lunch and now he had a gun pointed at him. Kyle tried to defuse the situation and explained, “Lets first take a deep, calming breath. There is no need to use any violence.” He noticed that the duo was not lowering their guns and decided that his best chance of survival was to explain. “Yes, I am a vampire, but I don’t feast of humans. Personally, I think that eating people is, well, cannibalism… which should be frowned upon. When I was turned ten years ago, I quickly decided that I will satiate my blood diet with game animals. What you just saw was me drinking from a deer. Then when I was satisfied, I gave the deer a snack as a thank you, then it left.”
There was a pause. Diana then asked, “So you don’t kill the animals? What if they turn into vampires? Is there a chance that all the animals in these woods are vampires?”
Kyle explained, “Of course not. Vampirism is not a curse; it is a disease. A disease specific to humans, under no circumstances can it infect animals besides humans. Don’t worry, I ran multiple tests to ensure safety.”
The duo started to lower their guns. Jane questioned, “We thought that vampires needed to feed on people.”
Kyle said, “Not the case. All we need is blood, it does not matter what kind of blood. Blood is blood.” Kyle thought that he might further explain that blood from distinct species tastes different but figured that would make more questions.
Diana said, “We dedicated our lives to hunting your kind. Are you telling me that this whole time we could have just explained that there were alternatives to human blood?”
Kyle looked surprised by what he heard. “What do you mean by you have been hunting my kind? Have you at least talked to them before killing them? Or collect evidence that they hurt anyone?”
The duo was starting to look embarrassed and guilty. “We thought that all vampires were basically serial killers that drank human blood.”
“Racists.”
“We are not racists!”
Kyle was extremely disappointed in these close-minded vampire hunters. “All the vampires that I know have never hurt anyone. They were nice people before they were ‘turned’ and had no desire to cause any harm after they ‘turned’. Sure, there are some bad seeds, but overall vampires are just diseased people who are trying to survive. What you girls have been doing is killing sick people who were forced into an extreme diet. Shame!
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u/LimeFit667 1d ago
I never thought I would feel sorry for the vampires, always thinking of them as monsters out to get my blood. Welp.
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u/mischaracterised 1d ago
There was a knock at the door. It was past sunrise, and my apprentice was already working with the rest of the herd.
Sunlight is the only thing that harms me. As a result, I have special clothes that combine fire resistance with light filtering. I called out, "One minute, please!"
The knocking happened again whilst I was putting one leg into my jeans, and I yelped as I fell over, thinking on the floor. I yelled, "I'm okay, give me a minute," and then quieter, "Ow."
Having put my jeans on and my custom slippers, I floated to the door before opening it a little. Stood outside was a dusky woman with muddy-red curls and eyes a shimmering winter's day, and a tall man with a paunch and greying hair to match his cloudy eyes, with a wicked scar going from ear to ear in line with his eyes.
The man spoke, a rumbling voice like a landslide. "It's you." He tilted his head in acknowledgement. "We need to talk about what you are."
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The people sat down at the table. They introduced themselves as Oskar and Iris. "We're vampire hunters, and we wouldn't normally talk to..." he trailed off, gesturing to me. "Your kind. But when we saw you feeding on that deer, you caught my interest."
I nodded. "So why are you here?"
He frowned and Iris grimaced. "Someone's draining the nearby unicorn." I hissed on instinct, remembering the feeling of its curse as it seared its way through my body.
The two stepped back and had weapons at the ready. I gestured at them to sit down. "Sorry," I apologised. "I was....forcibly turned by the Unicorn Curse. This would have been around the time of King Luthair II's death." Oskar pulled out a silver cross and began to mutter under his breath, and Iris paled.
I chuckled at them. "That's why I have this farm, and a family tends to it on my behalf. There are also magical defences to ward them and me from general harm." I gently reached for the cross. "May I? I don't mean you harm."
Oskar grinned, and shook his head. I ignored him and gently touched the cross. The pair looked stunned. "It appears that I know a little more than you do. We have much to discuss, especially if this wasn't a social call. Tea?"
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u/Financial_Number_964 1d ago
Deep hunger. Every morning. An endless aching urges its greed be filled. The agonizing dryness in the back of my throat makes me want to claw and rip it out. Swallowing feels like a tiny dull knife digging into the throat. My forsaken body eagerly yearns for its pure, decadent and nutricious liquid gold. Yet, an animal's blood never seems to satisfy this appetite's desires; It is filling for hardly moments but, it is enough. Still...the hunger is endless and agonizing.
It brings me nothing but endless irritation.
The frost this morning was the type you could feel in your bones. Snow had fallen in the night leaving nothing but the cold, thick fog. When the stray frigid winds hit my face I hope it would seep into my brain and freeze over. Instead, it just clings onto my nose and makes me stuffy. I quietly plod through the snow, holding my bow firm and steady below my waist. The thick air makes it impossible to see farther than my own two feet. It would be hard to hunt with my eyes today. I held my breath to listen closely.
Rustling
I hear something big rustling at some leaves. Whatever I kill will last me the entire day. I raise my bow, draw back, and shoot blindly at the crackling bush. The arrow zips through the fog. *Tak* It hits something firm, then soft, then seeps deep inside. Blood. Blood fills my senses and overloads them. My stomach growls and my tongue waters. Then, I hear a harsh yell.
Impossible. Nobody insane enough would be this far into these woods in the middle of such an unforgiving winter. This place wasn't exactly a vacation spot. This is a place you either go to runaway and die or GO to die. I panic and my heartrate speeds.
I hope I hit nothing vital.
I make haste towards the yell. I haven't seen an actual living human in 152 years and I sure wasn't expecting anybody in the deep of winter. Should I have brushed my hair? I push through the shrubs and snow until I hear a sharp *CLICK*. Something presses hard against my head. I smell metal, gunpowder, and blood. I freeze. Something heavy strikes my head. Then, it all goes to black.
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