The Man sat there trying to catch his breath leaning against the wall. One villager laid on the wood floor of the small empty home bleeding out on the floor. Another more rotund villager sat next to the Man leaning just beneath a window catching his breath as well. The dark night’s sky was lit in areas throughout the small village as mobs combed the streets with pitchforks, torches, and hounds. “What was some important in that bag that you had to grab it?” asked the Man. The portly man reaches into his bag and pulls out a piece of popcorn. “I figured we would be out for a while,” as he puts the buttery puff into his mouth. “You are thinking of food at a time like thi…” as a spiked metal club the same girth as the man eating popcorn swings through the window smashing the obese fellows head like a watermelon smashed with a mallet. The body slunk down to the floor as blood seeped through the cracks down to the earth that greeted it with unquenchable thirst. Brain matter splattered across the Man’s face. Mental note, cover face. The Man tumbled away from the window as an armored hulk of a man burst through covered in full plate mail. His gaze was fixed upon me.

At this moment a young girl skipped in carrying some kind of contraption with a needle on the end. She hopped over to the dying man who was laying on the floor unconscious and jabbed it into his neck. Blood began to fill a jar that she was carrying. Dodge! As the spiked club swung between the Man’s legs. It looks like he would be the last one this group. Where was that mentor of his? This town just keeps getting better and better. He draws his sword and prepares to fight the beast in front of him. However, no sooner than the Man brandishes the sword is it then greeted by the club of the armored fiend in front of him. The sword now has an inconvenient ninety degree curve to it. The Man tosses the bent sword at his foe and slides for an opening between his legs. As he slid, he could see the girl still sitting there pumping the blood out of the man while singing to herself. She seemed completely oblivious to the mayhem around her. Could this one be her guardian? As he continued sliding, the Man grabbed the armored ones leg and spun himself to his feet behind him. The Man jumped on its back before it had time to recover and drew his knife. The metal terror tried to shake him off, but the Man held tight. With the knife, the Man stabbed the beast of a Man in the neck several times, but he would not go down. The guardian was becoming upset and began shaking the Man by moving around the room in a frenzy. The Man was able to remove the helm after working on it. What he saw startled him more than anything. Underneath was a rotting bald face. Black ooze was pouring out from the stab wounds to the neck. The beast’s eyes turned towards the Man. It was like looking into a deep well of death. The fiend reached for his club again. The man noticing this tried the only thing he could. He began hacking at the undead’s neck with his blade. It’s too late, a club began its motion swinging over the creatures head towards its back. Rather than being impaled the Man dismounted and rolled towards the front of the creature as it slammed the spike club into its back. The Man quickly jumped back up and began hacking at the throat of the creature while it tried to remove the club. The club came loose and was ready to be swung over head at the Man, when he severed the last sinew. The club was dropped behind the beast as it slumped down. The Man crushed the head beneath his foot as he stood there catching his breath once again.

The little girl’s hums continued to fill the air as she continued to drain the now dead man’s blood in the middle of the floor. Could he really be? With that the Man pulled the corpse out of the armor. It was massive, but it could work. He allowed himself to be devoured by the mass of metal that was once the protection of that undead beast. He reached for the club. It was impossible for him to pick up. The armor only made it worse. He then cleared his mind and tried to remember the words the old man had taught him. They came out with hesitation, but strengthened at the end. With that, the Man reached down and picked up the club with ease. He slung it over his shoulder and waited for the girl to finish. She finally turned around and looked up at him with a jar full of blood. “All done, metal man. Let’s go back to master!” she said with joy. There was a glowing ring on her finger that was now visible once the man had time to focus. The girl handed the contraption with the jar to the Man who placed that in a side pouch on the armor. He then reached down and tossed the girl on his shoulder and headed out into the town.

The town was eerily quiet except for a patrol that was headed his way. The Man gripped his new weapon tighter. As they came closer the hounds became more agitated, yet the villagers kept their distance from the armored Man. The little girl looked and taunted the villagers. She knew they would not come a step closer. Their faces were filled with anger and bloodlust. Why would they hate someone who was trying to help them so much? He continued marching to the keep. The girl began playing with her doll being distracted. She was balancing herself well enough that the Man had a free hand to do some work.

The keep was large. The gloomy outside gave way to a dim but regal inside. There were others in armor walking about. Many had a boy or a girl with a similar ring on their finger. Still the Man went unnoticed. Fate seemed to guide the man. It led him up a large set of stairs to an ornate room where there he sat. The lord vampire was instantly recognizable. He sat by a large desk near the back wall. The little girl whispered, “Down.” The Man obliged. She held out her hands and he handed her the jar and contraption. Both the armored Man and the girl approached the lone figure in the room. The figure ever so cocky took the clay jar from her sweet hands while not looking up from his book. He took it and drank it with a thirst the man had only seen from a man working in the field all day during summer. The vampire after swallowing the contents began clawing at his throat. The clay jar dropped and the liquid that came out was not red, but a clear color. The vampire lord looked at it with horror and then at the incoming spiked club that pinned him to the wall. The man quickly pulled out his silver dagger and sawed through the burning neck of the vampire. “How was that water, M’lord? I got it from the priest up the road,” said the Man with No Name.

With his work done, he tossed the body on the desk and the head into the fireplace. He took a log out and lit the desk on fire. The girl’s glazed look began to disappear. She was coming to. The Man looked out the window over the town. Were they ready to wake up?

Tale of the vampire lord from No Name.

Image from Bloodborne.