The Vampyre

By G. W. Thomas

"My son has fallen victim to a vampyre!" bemoaned a prominent man in Bast-il.

"I will come with you and get rid of it for you," offered the wizard kindly.

The two went to the rich man's home. The son was lying on a straw bed admiring a tall folding wooden screen. On the screen was a picture of a beautiful girl, fourteen years of age, a virgin and half-dressed. The young man did not look up from the screen mural at the sound of the two approaching men.

"He bought the screen yesterday in the market," offered the rich man. "He has been like this since. He will not eat. He will not sleep. He just sighs."

The young man sighed as if commanded.

The Rainbow Man nodded. "Yes, I have seen such murals as this before. They are the work of a Hadisan sorcerer named Kemek. Your son has indeed been possessed by a vampiric thing. Fetch me the ax from the wood pile out back."

The rich man did as he was bid. The wizard accepted the tool with one of four hands and swung it high over the screen. The ax-head bit with a loud crack, shattering the beautiful artwork into many pieces.

"Quickly, collect the pieces before your son can stop you. Burn them! Burn them!"

The wealthy man again did as he was told, flung the shattered bits into the hearth. The younger man cried a heart-rendering shriek then fell into a faint.

The father rushed to his boy. "My son is saved? He will live?"

"If you can call it that," sighed the wizard sadly. "Spending the rest of your life missing that girl, always looking for her in crowds, always comparing women you meet with that perfect image, --then yes, I guess so. But truly, I think it may have been kinder to let him die."

That is how the Rainbow Man dealt with a vampyre.

Originally appeared in The Vampire's Crypt #18.

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