Skip to main content

The Hero and The Horror


This is but a sample of this story.  The complete version is available in my print collection Man Against the Future.  From there, you can order signed copies, or buy it for the Kindle or the Nook.

            "Order!  We will have order!" the town elder shouted over the din of his panicked townspeople.  They had gathered at the town's hall, an immense room with high echoing ceilings, thick beams, and a thatched roof.  In better times the town and it's people would have been celebrating their idyllic lifestyle, the kind a community of simple dairy farmers could do.  But now, a darkness had descended over them.
            "One at a time, one at a time," he shouted again.
            He pointed to one man, giving him permission to speak, "She's dead already.  Let's just finish it."
            A woman stood up, babe in arms, "But he said he'd kill us if we hurt her!"
            "All of us!"
            "But what do we do?"
            "What can we do?"
            "If we do nothing, this will go on forever and we'll live under his thumb."
            "He'll kill us all, one way or the other."
            "Cowards!" came one young voice.  It was full of steel and resolve and did a better job to silence the crowd than the elder could do.
            All eyes were on him.  The elder narrowed his gaze and invited the boy to explain further.  "And what should we do, young man?"
            "We fight.  We fight him and make a stand.  We fight him while there is still enough of us left to resist him."
            He dodged a piece of fruit thrown at him, "You're the coward!  You only say such things because it's still the day time and it's safe."
            "When the sun goes down, none of us will be safe!"
            The afflicted girls mother sobbed loudly and the hall broke out into shouting once again.  The village elder raised his hands, requesting quiet from the crowd.  A hush fell over the townsfolk as soon as they noticed their leader calling for that quiet.
            Slowly, he lowered his arms, timing the utterance from his lips for maximum dramatic impact, hoping that his words would resonate with his flock like a tuning fork.  "We will hire a vampire hunter."
            A few of the old maids gasped, but by and large, the audience sat in stunned silence.  A few more in the back muttered things like, "We can't," and, "No," and, "It'll be the death of us all!"  But they al knew that the elders word was the law and a hunter would be hired from community funds and it would have to happen quickly.  There were only two nights left before the girls turn would be complete and the villain would be back to collect her.  And now that an aggressive course of action had been decided on, every one lived on the edge of fear.
            It was never wise to draw the ire of a vampire, and the townsfolk didn't know if there were any familiars among their number loyal to the vampire, and they didn't know if they'd even be able to find a vampire hunter, let alone one knowledgeable enough to vanquish an immortal.
            The town spent the next night unable to sleep for fear of attack.  They were still uneasy from the last attack waged against them.  The moon was full and the night was crisp and cool with the approaching autumn.  It began as a low howling and a foul smell on the wind, and the howl turned into a shrill shriek through leafless tree branches.  And on the wind came the sound of leather wings flapping toward them in the night.

The complete version is available in my print collection Man Against the Future.  From there, you can order signed copies, or buy it for the Kindle or the Nook.

Comments

Miranda said…
Oh wow! What great suspense! And thank you for making vampires scary again!
Not Quite Human said…
Great story, thanks for sharing! I also like scary vampires over the sentimental ones that now run amok in modern day fantasy :)
Stories Inc. said…
You sure are a great storyteller. Love your choice of words. And I always do adore a good vampire story anyways... So, thanks.
(One little remark: he got BACK to his footing BACK and swung his FIRST hard into the vampire’s left temple. I’m not a native speaker of English, but I thought this was off, so...)
Anonymous said…
Amazing story...I cud actually visualize the shadows, the cries and every other moment in the story...u r an amazing story-teller..

Popular posts from this blog

Salt Lake Comic Con 2017 Schedule

It's time for another year of Salt Lake Comic Con and another hectic schedule for me. But! that doesn't mean it's not a helluva lot of fun. I hope you're able to join me at any of these panels. Especially if you like Star Wars. And please, please, please come to my signing and visit. Get some books signed. I'd love that enormously. Here is my Thursday schedule: Everything here is a highlight. That first panel about behind the scenes of the prequels is with Pablo Hidalgo and I'll be asking him questions about what it was like to be there on set for most of the prequels. Then I'll be asking questions of Michael Biehn, who I've been a fan of since I was a little kid. Aliens and Terminator were favorites. If you want to ask him a question, please hit me up on Twitter with it. I will ask it at the panel. And you don't want to miss Fauxthentic History's Infinity Gauntlet live episode. It's going to be soooo good. Here is Friday:

The Missed Opportunities of Days Gone By

“Hello?” I said into the phone, accepting the call from a number I didn’t recognize. “Hey,” the feminine voice on the other replied, as though I should know the sound of her voice. At a loss, I said, “Can I help you?” “It’s Brooke.” Her name stopped me. It couldn’t possibly be her. We hadn’t spoken in years, a decade perhaps. “Brooke?” “Yeah, Brooke Baker. This is Mark, right?” Jesus Christ. It was her. “Yeah, it is Mark. Brooke. Wow. How are you? It’s been a long time since… well… since anything.” “I know.” “So, how are you doing?” “Okay, I suppose…” Her voice belied her words, though. Something was up. “I… It’s just been so long and I guess I wanted to hear your voice.” “I don’t think I had a number for you. Ever. I offered a couple of times, but…” “I was a brat back then.” And that’s how a random phone call turned into a two-and-a-half hour catch-up session. We spoke of everything under the sun: people we still knew, how different we were, h

The End of an Era and a New Beginning

It's been a long time coming, but I think an upgrade to my web presence was long overdue. I began this blog in 2005 and it's served me well over the last 13 years. My goal in those early days was to write a short story every month. Back then, that was the only writing I was doing. This website, then called "Bryan's Short Story Corner," got me into a regular writing habit. One that I still maintain today. I hoped it would help me get eyeballs on my words and, looking back at some of those early short stories, I shouldn't have wanted any of those eyeballs looking. Today, my Patreon fills that void. There is a dedicated group of supporters there that help subsidize my ability to write short stories on the regular. After I started publishing books, this blog morphed into a place to talk about my projects and writing and it worked well enough for that for a long time. But now I have Twitter and Medium for those functions and they have much cleaner and easi