A Story About a Vampire

Chapter 4: The Tale of the Silver Wolf

This story begins on what was initially an average day, around 700 years ago. I was a young vampire of only 128 years since my turning, and I hadn't yet found myself just as empty as before; I was till lost in the throes of immortality, though it wouldn't be long before that ended. Regardless, I was perched in my usual spot atop the tallest tower of my home with a good book, though I don't remember exactly which book it was anymore, when there came a knock at my door. It was unusal for me to have a knock at my door, my only visitors were those who wished to slay me and they tended not to be so polite. With a snap I was at the door, and with another the door opened dramatically to let the moonlight illuminate me in a way I like to think was imposing. Standing at my door was a young woman in tattered clothes, the moonlight reflecting magnificantly from her wild silver hair. I opened to this visitor as I usually do to guests "You have approached the home of Vallentin Adolich, vampire lord of the Starfall Lake, state your business; though if it is battle you seek, I suggest you turn back." This woman didn't flinch at my introduction, simply cocked her head and narrowed her eyes as if curious rather than fearful or furious. "They said that whoever lived here had gazed deep into the supernatural, but I didn't think it would be a monster in the flesh." she began as she strode into my lair and began prowling in a circle around me, I didn't watch, I didn't need to, so I gazed at the crescent moon outside. Her voice came again from behind me, though I could here that she was continuing her circuit of me "You know you're the first other monster I've had the chance to talk to, I think we could both benefit from a detailed conversation if you're as much of a loner as the rumours say." Now I did turn to face her, I was beginning to panic, if she was a vampire too then her strength was a mystery; I'd need to be on guard, even with the advantage of being in my own lair. I summoned my sword to my hands and prepared for a potential battle, analysing her as she continued to circle me in a way which I suddenly became accutely aware was akin to a hunter circling their prey. She finished her circuit after a few more seconds of tension, and stood in the doorway in way which made it look like the crescent moon was her crown. "Fighting you wasn't my initial intention for coming here, but now I'm curious to test my skills against a different kind of beast" she said with a smirk. "Very well then," I responded, with a (fake) smirk of my own, "a friendly bout, one monster to another, tap out when you've had enough, I shall do the same." That's when things took a very strange turn, even moreso than a fellow monster at my door, this woman threw off her clothes right in front of me after I challenged her in combat. This made me baffled, cautious and embarassed all at once, I managed to keep my eyes above the shoulders and hide my embarassment for a few seconds before she began to hunch over, and her grin started becoming more sharp. Before I could even really process what I was seeing, this woman had transformed into a large silver wolf, but her emerald eyes still carried an unnerving quality of human intelligence. Until that moment I hadn't fathomed the possibility that other monsters from stories were real, but this was no vampire. A werewolf had come to visit my castle, and with this transformation our battle began.She lunged forward with inhuman or even inlupine speed, my own monstrous speed fortunately allowed me to evade harm by briefly transforming to mist in order to move to the bottom of the entry hall stairs, before reverting to my usual form. I guessed that taking the stairs as high ground wouldn't be such a bad idea, I figured that even when fighting a wolf the principles of combat still apply and so I took a few steps up the stairs and turned to face the wolf which was much closer than I was expecting. She almost caught me off guard with a nip at the leg but I was able to evade it and push her back down the stairs thanks to my high ground advantage. After this clash there was a moment of stillness, I could feel her eyes piercing through me, analysing my every move for an opening, as I was doing the same to her. She stalked the carpet in front of the stairs whilst I stood motionless, sword arm extended toward her. So far our exchanges had been short, safe attacks; whilst relatively riskless it didn't progress the fight very far, however I was still in the stage of analysing her movements and from the looks of it so was she, so I was content to continue these small interactions for some time. As she paced back to the centre of the stairs I noticed her hind legs slowly tense as our mutual stare continued. I brought my blade back and swung low to counter the safe, low strike I was anticipating and so was completely thrown when she leapt clean over the four steps between us directly at my thoat. My read of the situation was very much off, that stalking was the last bit of analysis the werewolf needed and now she was going for the kill. She cleared the swinging arc of my sword and barrelled into me, slamming me against the stairs and holding me down as she closed her jaws on my neck. Her teeth were incredibly sharp and her jaw exceedingly powerful, I was immobilsed by her strength as she ripped into me, however a vampire in his lair is not limited to his body to defeat his enemies. The stairs we were atop creaked as they began to move, and suddenly they flicked like the crack of a whip; throwing the werewolf from me whilst I remained in place on the stairs. They quickly settled back into position and as I saw the werewolf land, staggering from the impact. By the time she looked up I was gone, having passed throught the floor and emerged behind her, though in my panic I'd left my sword on the stairs by mistake. I was sure this wolf form had far greater sense than a human so I had to act first before she either smelled or heard me. Now that my ability to control my lair had been revealed, I had no qualms commanding the long, heavy curtains of the room to wrap the beast from behind, at least whilst my tenderised neck made it's recovery. The curtains bound the massive creature for now, though she struggled violently and a nice as those curtains were I doubted they could resist her strength long; as such I elected to step through the floor once again to retrieve my sword before rushing back over to take advantage of her vulnerable position. When I turned back to her from picking up my weapon she was part way through shredding my curtains with her teeth and claws, by the time I reached her she was free of them, and my neck still wasn't fully repaired. Not only that but such extensive use of my lair was quickly draining me, I was in no shape to call more assistance from the lair, nor step through its floor, or even transform into mist (which in that moment I realised I could've done whilst pinned by her). From this point forward I had to rely on my strength, skill and regeneration, all of which were traits she also seemed to have. I would have to make a big gamble. Her hind legs tensed to approach me again, this time I brought my blade in a wide overhead swing, throwing all my weight into one strike. My gamble was rewarded, her approach was another agressive pounce for the throat. I suspect that she was too busy considering how obvious her own injuries were to notice my own, and so anticipated that I'd expect her to return to a safer technique, therefore opting for the opposite. Regardless of her thoughts, her pounce was caught by my blade, or rather the opposite, she avoided grievous injury by catching it in her teeth; however my gamble in throwing everything into this strike caused the side-effect of us both tumbling to the ground. I found myself pinning her to the ground, my sword lengthways in her snout, so I began pushing to force the blade into her head as it was still clenched in her teeth. I cocked an eyebrow when I felt something move below me, I was feeling her bones bend themselves to new form as she reverted to human. When I realised this I stopped pushing, but soon enough I was placed in the awkward position of straddling a tussled, naked woman, though it didn't quite hit me at first. I'm sure you can imagine this only going poorly with my disposition. I was snapped from my 'combat mode' by her hand tapping the stone floor below, and raising an eyebrow "I've tapped out, would you like to get off me?" That was the moment I realised my position, I stood and turned away inhumanly quickly, busying myself adjusting my collar and straightening my cravat whilst my cheeks burned. From behind me I heard her stand, followed by some light clicking and the sigh of someone stretching, though at the time that may not have been my first thought. Then I heard her begin to speak "Well you have my respect, from one monster to another. Your control of your home is very interesting, and a royal pain I might add, but outside of your home I think I could take you... Um hello? Would you mind looking at my whilst I'm talking to you?" I was baffled by this, and responded as such "Madam do you recall that you're currently nude, I'm turned away for the sake of your decency!""O-oh right, I forget that point of etiquette alarmingly freqently." she responded with a chuckle."Well when you've clothed yourself go up the stairs and to the right , we can have that conversation you wanted." I babbled out as quickly as possible before snapping my fingers and vanishing in a candle flicker. Five minutes later she found me in the greeting room, with some tea prepared, sitting in my favourite arm chair, across from the sofa. I gestured to the sofa as I sipped my tea but recieved a dirty look in return. "I'm not an expert on politeness but I'm quite sure that teleporting away from your guest is rather rude!" she scolded."I think our exchanges thus far have been distinctly lacking in politeness already, at this point I fail to see the point in keeping up appearances. I mean you haven't even told me your name!" I rebuked."Hi I'm Lucia" she smiled in faux sweetness as she sat on the sofa across from me and picked up her tea cup. She had been correct with her proposition on my doorstep, the conversation that ensued taught us both a lot about the types of monsters eachother were. It turns out that werewolves can transform at will but are forced to on a full moon, at which point they have no control of their bestial form. Lucia had been travelling the land in search of a way to prevent this forced transformation and her pursuit of the mythical had lead her to my door, and whilst I didn't have the knowledge she needed, I did have an extensive library. The conversation went in some... interesting directions, as did our activities on that sofa, but I shall leave that to your imagination. The next few days we spent trawling through the library in search of something that could help Lucia. I'll admit that I wasn't too much help, I got caught up in the books far too easily, but eventually Lucia found legends about something that could help her: a Crescent Amulet. So Lucia had concluded her business in my lair, though she stayed with me that day. When dusk came I decided that I would go with her to find a Crescent Amulet, according to the legends a witch in the forest to the North of the Starfall Lake had the knowledge to create them. We travelled for two days before we reached the witch's hut, Lucia asked to go in alone and so I guarded the entrance in the meantime. To this day I have no idea what happened inside, but not long later Lucia emerged with not one but two Crescent amulets. This is where this pleasant story comes to a sudden close. Lucia handed me one of the amulets and told me that she had people that she needed to return to, a home that needed her, and that she couldn't return with me. She kissed me goodbye whilst I stood in a trance, doing my best to memorise her face as best I could in these final moments. And like that she disappeared into the woods. I returned to my lair, but I could swear that every night on my way home I heard a mournful howl.