Vampire Huntress

Chapter 1

An air of uncertainty hung very heavily over the land, the townsfolk of the villages in the countryside were greatly troubled. As the sun slowly set, a lone figure was walking into one of the small villages. Looking around, the entire place seemed empty as the setting sun gave off its orange-ish tone to everything. Looking over at the graveyard, there were a few open holes in front of headstones, and the gate was faintly swaying in the wind, hang on one hinge, appearing to have been forced open from the inside. As the figure pressed onward, it noticed that even the homes appeared to be empty, no activity within or outside of the houses and buildings.

As it's shadow slowly reached deeper into the village, it did actually stir everyone that was within the Inn. The Inn was jam packed, everyone huddled in the back and the upstairs, while a few had the courage to keep an eye on the activity outside. To an extent, as once they caught sight of the shadow creeping down the street, they quickly duck and hid, while still keeping the windows and doors in view, they were still terrified. Mothers holding onto their children, while their husbands held onto them, others who were by themselves, hiding under, and behind various pieces of furniture. They were afraid of the creatures of the night, and they obviously thought they were safe if they all hid within one place before the sun set.

Their hearts beat rapidly as they started to hear the sound of footsteps walking on the gravel street for several minutes, getting closer as it switched to the sound of footsteps walking on the wooden walkway in front of the buildings, getting closer and closer to the Inn. Many of them pressed deeper into the shadows as they saw a shape go in front of the window, the setting sun rendering it hard to tell what it was. It eventually stopped in front of the door, a moment of silence as one villager grabbed his pitchfork, prepared should what ever was on the other side to enter.

The doorknob slowly turned, a feminine figure was on the other side as the door swung open, the villager didn't want to take a chance, he charged full force, raising his weapon to plunge it into whoever or whatever was outside. Seeing the instant hostility, the figure drew a whip, giving it a firm crack, it wrapped around the middle of the handle as the man continued to charge. It then gave a firm yank, toppling the man over as his weapon was yanked from his hands, and it plunged into the wall above the doorway. The whip then gently fell as the figure gave a quick motion, making it coil back up.

Everyone was rather terrified, unmoving, and totally silent. The figure eventually stepped fully into the Inn, revealing blue knee high boots with protective knee pads, slender legs, a blue leotard that complimented the female figure under it, gloves that went up to the elbows, which also had protective pads, and there was a blue cloth choker of sorts around the neck, and finally, a beautiful face of a young woman, around her teens or so. Her eyes around the same blue as her clothing, while her long smooth hair was green.

She glanced about the room as no one dared approach her, a lock of hair between her eyes, which added to her beauty, and the intensity of her gaze. She noted several Holy objects and other objects set about the windows and doors, anything that could be used as an entrance or exit. She glanced out and noted that the sun was about fully down now. So she stepped in further, turned around and closed the door, seeing half a cross etched onto the door, ending where the door would close. Looking at the wall where the door closed, she saw there was also half a cross, appearing to meet where the one on the door ended. Closing it firmly, she saw the outline glow for a second or two.

"This place must be more infested than I thought, why else would everyone cram into one building and fortify it with the strongest of Holy artifacts and powers they could muster?" she asked, rather impressed by their feat. They all remained silent as she turned back to face them, setting her hands on her hips as she looked about the room with a smile.

"Don't worry, if I was one of them, I wouldn't have even be able to touch the door, let alone the entire building. You're safe in here," she stated before quickly using one arm to whip the pitchfork stuck in the wall down to her, holding it out to the man who still lay on the floor, he was too shocked to even move during any of that. But after a few seconds he took his weapon back and got to his feet.

"And just who are you? You most certainly aren't dressed like any traveler or any villager passing by that I ever saw," he commented. The girl giggled.

"Not surprising, we hunters don't usually dress like the common folk," she stated.

"Hunters?" he asked, and with that everyone started whispering amongst themselves trying to figure out what sort of hunters she was talking about. She kept her composure and smile as she closed her eyes, bringing her hand up to her choker, putting it under it, she soon pulled out a Rosary from under it, holding up the Crucifix at the end of it up for everyone to see.

"I, am Natalia, Vampire Huntress," she stated with a slight bit of pride.

"So, you're a Vampire Hunter?" someone asked.

"Yep, Vampire Hunters hunt down vampires, and anything else demon and undead related on down," she replied as she put the Rosary back under her choker.

"Vampires are the top of the list for various reasons, the fact they are generally more powerful and more resourceful than the average zombie or skeleton being a few of them," she added.

"Now, what exactly is going on here? Seeing as to how the entire village is hiding out in this Inn and has such powerful barriers, one would think that an army of monsters was coming," she commented as she put her hands on her hips again, looking about the room, wondering who would answer.

"A few days ago, our grave watcher was doing his usual routine patrol in the night, when he came across one of the oldest graves wide open, the entire coffin had somehow open up, in doing so opening the soil around it," a woman replied.

"We didn't think anything of it till awhile later when we saw a skeleton roaming around, looking like it was waiting for something outside the village. When it caught sight of a few of us, it chased us, but we managed to stop it, and reburied it," another man said.

"Then more and more started coming out, when a man in dark armor appeared, with a whole army of dark forces behind him. One of our scouts spotted him after nightfall, and we quickly got everyone into the Inn as fast as we could, and prepped it up the best to our abilities as you said," another added.

"So then what happened?" Natalia asked.

"They marched right through the city, and since no one was outside, I imagine it would have turned out much different if we didn't get everyone inside when we did. You'd have probably found nothing but a ruined town today," another replied.

"And I doubt any other villages would be as lucky as you were. I better go and find this guy before he gets to another village. Where's the next nearest one?" Natalia asked.

"Here, take this map, it covers the entire area," one of them said as they brought her a map, pointing her to the village she was currently in. Once she saw that, she knew where to go next.

"I best be going now, not sure if I'll come back, but you'll probably know once I've killed him. Do not leave this Inn till the time is right, got it?" she asked, and everyone nodded. With nothing else to be said, she went to the door and departed. It was already dark, nothing but a moonlit sky, as she walked along the dirt road to the next village.

"Hard to say if that was a vampire they were talking about, but he's powerful regardless if he's commanding an entire army," she commented to herself as she walked along, the moon was very bright, and very pale, pale as death as some might say. She eventually stopped in her tracks as she heard a faint crumbling sound, sounding very close, like dirt and rocks falling.

"Since when do Cliffside sounds happen in an open field?" she asked before noticing a hand pop out of the Earth several feet ahead, some portions of dirt and soil falling into the ground as an entire zombie would start to climb out.

"Good lord they're acting like moles!" she stated before looking behind her as a mound of dirt was rising. Natalia realized she was getting quickly surrounded, so she started to run before they would fully climb out, but the mound behind her burst part as a zombie sprang from it, only halfway though, but it was enough for it to wrap it's arms around her legs, making her fall forward with a thud, while she fell, she came out of it's initial grasp.

Quickly gathering herself, she started to try and create some distance between her and it by crawling a bit, but she wasn't able to crawl far as she was still in arms reach, as it grabbed hold of her ankle and tried to pull her back. She groaned as she dug one hand into the soil to anchor herself as she drew her whip, quickly snapping it back, it glowed a fiery red as it struck the zombie, releasing her from it's grip as it quickly burst into flames, then into nothing within a few seconds. She then quickly swung it in a sweep motion ahead of her, striking the zombies ahead, getting rid of them in the same way as the first. That didn't stop more from coming, but she was able to get to her feet and official start running down the path.

"Whoever this guy is, he's so powerful that he is able to have minions continue to roam the land after dark, this is most certainly going to be a long and eventful hunt for sure. The people are lucky we don't charge for this, cause if we did, I'd charge a fortune for this kind of work!" Natalia stated as she ran down the path as zombies continued to rise, striking her whip around every once in awhile when the zombies would be close enough to the path to be within striking distance.

"I just hope the next village is able to hold out, because otherwise this guy will bring ruin to the entire land!" she exclaimed, as many other creatures of darkness were watching her from afar, as she was started to head for a forest.

End Chapter 1