It was not on the ashes of Silumko’s home that this monument to murder was built. But mine. It was my place to tear it down.
I jogged further down the spiralling halls, following them until they turned towards a double door. The dark-wood doors were open, and I had the distinct feeling that this was my destination. The end of the road. I checked my mags one final time and entered.
Nkosi Igazi didn’t look shocked to see me. He wore a crimson trench coat, with black formal attire underneath. His red eyes glowed slightly as I approached. I had planned to fire immediately, but something stopped me. The cool way he stood, his arms crossed behind him, as he faced me. He looked confident. Unfazed. As if he had expected me. Well, with all the noise we had made, he definitely did.
“Thank you,” he said, with that same authoritative and unceasingly predatory tone. “For saving me the need to track you down, human. It is always simpler when the prey pursues the predator. And I grow tired of long, drawn out hunts.”
He lifted a hand and indicated the wall. The room, I realised, was round. And the walls were lined with paintings. One of them was a painting of the she-vamp I had killed.
“She was precious to me, in a way. One of the first of your kind I made whole. And you took her from me. An inevitability, to be sure. I have lost my children before. Some from their own stupidity, others to those who wear the black. But, every time, the Blood remembered. And we always finish our vendettas.”
I’d heard enough. I fired both my pistols, now carefully aimed at Igazi’s head and chest.
I could only have imagined it, but in a blur, both bullets completely missed. Just before I felt a sharp thump on the back of my head.
I fell to the ground, dropping my guns. In a haze, I saw a figure loom over me. Wearing black.
“Ble…ssing…” I wheezed, disbelieving.
Even in my blurry vision, I saw tears in his eyes.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” he pleaded, over and over.
“Why?” I groaned, groggy.
“It was on a hunt,” Blessing explained, as way of an excuse. “Hunting a vampire. But I got captured. They fed me their blood. I couldn’t help it! After they let me go, I needed more. And only they could get it for me.”
I wanted to yell at him. I wanted to scream. But I couldn’t say a thing. Tears escaped my eyes. I thought he was my friend.
Igazi only laughed, his gloating and voice a distant booming as I tried to lift myself up.
“Did you really think you could stand a chance against us? The Izingane Zegazi tamed these lands. We brought order to this domain of weaklings!”
He approached, his boots clapping against the stone floor. Blessing sobbed, backing away as Igazi came closer, looming over me.
“The human Emperor thinks he rules this land. But this is our domain. And we are the ones who truly rule. Humans are weak. Like your friend, who betrayed you for a few sips of blood. Like your comrades who are just now being consumed by my children. If it was not for this blasted ball of fire, we would rule this land for all time, but that does not mean you stand a chance. This is nature, my puny hunter. And you are a lesser being. Simply, prey.”
Igazi rounded me, pacing. He sniffed and I saw recognition in his eyes. Blessing hadn’t hit too hard. I was recovering. Slowly.
Igazi looked at me, almost surprised.
“I remember you! The little boy whom the impi defended. Do you know what became of that impi? I consumed him. He tried to stand in the way of a vampire and his prey again, and this time I was not sated enough to let it slide.”
Igazi grinned, wide. His fangs glistened.
“Do you like what I have done to your home, little Xhosa?”
“You will burn, vampire,” I spat.
In a dark flash, I was beaten to the floor. I felt flesh tear from my cheek as he raked his claws across my face.
Igazi laughed and stood up straight again.
“P…p…please, master. I did what you asked…” Blessing grovelled, edging closer.
“You let rebel scum blow up valuable infrastructure.”
“Please, master! I had no opportunity to report to you. But I did as you asked. I brought you prey.”
Igazi raised a hand towards him. Blessing recoiled, shaking like an addict with withdrawal. Because, that’s just what he was.
Igazi suddenly grinned, toothily, and retrieved a vial of red liquid from his inner pocket. He tossed it to Blessing who yelped as it almost fell to the floor. In a single breath, Blessing started chugging the blood.
Igazi turned to me, just as I saw a flicker of movement behind him.
“Why did you do this?” I asked, not caring about the answer. I focused on Igazi’s features, not betraying the movement behind him.
“Master,” Blessing begged, squeezing the empty, red-stained vial in his fist. “I need more.”
Igazi ignored him, even as he edged closer, grovelling.
“Do what, human?” he said the latter as if it was the gravest insult.
“Treat humans like…like cattle. Why do you despise us so much?”
I spotted a glint of silver. So close. Blessing whined, approaching from another angle. Paying no mind to anything else but his grovelling.
“Why shouldn’t I?” Igazi asked. “You are weak. Pathetic. You hide under this accursed star, protected by a long-forgotten Seraphim pact. It is shameful for the beast to deny its true nature. And the nature of humans is to be our food.”
“How can you think that, when you used to be one?”
Igazi laughed, as a silver blade slowly got into position to thrust towards his heart from behind.
“That is where you are a fool, little hunter. I’ve never been human.”
Silumko thrust forward with his silver-tipped spear, driving home towards Igazi’s heart. And, for the first time, I saw shock on my master’s face, as his spear shattered, sprinkling shards of metal across the floor.
I lunged towards my pistol but was too late. I watched as my master was raised above the ground, spitted by a pair of shadowy claws. He kicked wildly, trying to beat at the vampire till the very end. My mentor didn’t blink. Not once. Even as the claws closed and severed his head from his body.
Blessing yelled out a painful wail, as he fired his pistol multiple times towards Igazi. The bullets didn’t even pierce. Blessing wailed in guilt and torment as he unloaded his pistol towards the vampire, impotently. Our master’s head lay at his feet.
I reached for my pistols but, just before I could pick them up, shadowy blades severed them, spilling even the powder of the bullets onto the floor.
I drew Blessing’s knife, its edges coated with fresh silver.
Igazi, a bit annoyed at Blessing’s betrayal, turned towards him, just as I pounced on his back, throwing him off balance. I stroked the blade across his throat, drawing some blood, just before he shook me off, sending me flying towards the opposite wall. With an oomph, I hit the paintings, tearing some down with me.
I recovered just in time to see Blessing split in two, blood spraying across the floor and onto the stone roof.
Blessing’s remains fell by our mentor’s. I felt wetness on my face. Blessing had betrayed us, but then…
I raised my knife as Igazi sauntered towards me. Not a speck of visible blood marred him. He straightened his coat and stood just before me.
I thrust forward with the knife, just as he split it in half with his shadowy weapons.
“You are unarmed, little hunter. And all alone. It’s fitting, isn’t it? I took away your home, your family, your comrades. And now, everything that’s left. Accept this. It is the way of the world. Alone you were born to suffer, and alone you shall die.”
“Except, he’s not alone.”
Igazi turned, shocked, and then looked down at Graham, standing proudly, despite only coming up to the vampire’s calf. Igazi laughed.
“Go on, tokoloshe. The real monster is playing.”
Graham ignored the vampire and, thro
ugh his legs, looked at me.
“I can see true names,” he said, matter of factly. “And I know you told me the truth. Why?”
Even through the pain in my head, and the blood dripping down my cheek and onto my body, I grinned.
“The best place to hide,” I said. “Is in plain sight.”
Graham laughed, as if it was the funniest joke in the world. Igazi looked between the both of us, unamused, before lunging towards Graham. But he was no longer there.
He appeared on Igazi’s shoulder, who staggered back from shock. I had long since gotten used to Graham’s impromptu teleportation.
“You say you’re the real monster,” Graham mocked, teleporting to Igazi’s other shoulder as he swiped at his last one with his shadowy claws.
“But, you’re too afraid to go out in the sun.”
He appeared on Igazi’s head. Igazi looked around, confused.
“Everybody knows about vampires,” Graham chortled. “You’re living clichés.”
With a roar, Igazi let loose a spire of dark energy up above him. Graham had already teleported just behind him.
“But you know what makes tokoloshes so dangerous?”
Igazi let out a frustrated roar, letting loose an arc of dark energy that cut through the wall just above my head.
Graham appeared right by Igazi’s ear.
“…Nobody knows what we do.”
Suddenly, Graham appeared in front of Igazi, hovering above the ground. I had never seen him do that before. His arms were outstretched, his eyes gleeful and sober. And, for the first time that I’d known him, I detected an unmistakable aura of power.
“You think we’re not monsters?” Graham grinned. “Well, then you’re in for a shock!”
Graham disappeared. And, in his wake, a blinding white light filled the room. I shut my eyes, as its brightness was too magnificent to handle. It was the sun.
I heard Igazi scream, a deathly wail unlike anything I had ever heard before.
“Tokoloshes…” Graham groaned; his voice strained. “Aren’t meant to kill. But…we can.”
The hum and heat of Graham’s light increased and, even through my eyelids and arms blocking my face, I felt that I would be washed away.
And then…
Silence. I no longer felt the golden light. The glow ceased and I was surrounded by black.
I waited. No more screams. I opened my eyes. There was no trace of Igazi. Not even ash.
I stood, wincing as I clutched my wounds. But I had to find Graham. I shambled into the centre of the room, looking around anxiously for my friend.
“Graham!” I called. No reply.
I winced as my sudden turning strained my wounds, but I had to find him.
“Demon! Tokoloshe! Where are you?”
I stumbled throughout the chamber, finally stopping by where he had shone like the sun. I touched the stone floor.
He was gone.
He had not lied. Tokoloshes could kill. But that was their end.
“Thank you, friend,” I whispered, some tears falling to the ground.
I picked up the shaft of Silumko’s broken spear, and used it as a crutch, as I limped outside of the Keep, and into the darkness.
Chapter 27. Hope
Miraculously, Themba and the rebels had all survived with perfectly survivable wounds. I met them at the rendezvous, where they were already toasting their part in the victory. Anathi also lived. She wore the vampires’ fangs on a new necklace. Said she was going to give it to her daughter.
We all had long moments of silence. For Blessing, who had done the right thing in the end. For Silumko, who even now seemed unbreakable. And for Graham, who had proven he was my monster.
We licked our wounds after that and then went our separate ways. We didn’t say exactly where we were going, but I knew we were all heading west by separate routes. There were too many impi between us and Goldfield to the north. So, Hope City it would have to be.
I wished my cousin good luck on his journey. Anathi kissed me on the cheek. I didn’t feel envy anymore. Or longing. I was just glad she was okay.
I stayed near Mqanduli in the following days. In the chaos after our killing Nkosi Igazi, it wasn’t too hard to watch from a distance. It took two days for new vampires to arrive. The Blood persisted. Always. And when you cut off one head, two more grew in its place.
The connection between a vampire’s sire and its fledgling was stronger on the side of the sire. It was easy for Igazi to have a picture of my essence. But it would be harder for his children to track me through the shadows of his memory. Harder…but not impossible.
I could hide. In the wilderness. In the darkness. But that was not the way to truly escape the Children of Blood. The best way to hide was in plain sight. And, in the anthill of Hope City, I could disappear. Perhaps, they’d even waste time trying to track us north, in Goldfield, where vampires were persona non grata and we were expected to go.
Honestly, the thought of moving to a country where vampires had human rights sickened me, but it was better than dying.
In the darkness of the night, I took my bike, patted my perpetually empty wallet, and rode out west. I avoided the highways. The Three Point Line was too hot. I went the north-western route. Through the almost deserts of the Karoo. Monster territory. But I’d killed ogres before. And I’d been friends with a real monster. I wasn’t afraid of them.
I rode under the cover of nightfall, just in case there were impis patrolling the border. The roads were dark. Many had turned from tarmac to dirt roads under disrepair. I didn’t mind. I had been riding rough what seemed my entire life.
I snorted.
Life.
Yeah, that was it. I was alive. If only Graham could see it.
My headlights pooled in front of me as I rode at a conservative pace down this dark and abandoned wasteland road. The night had been pitch black beyond my meagre illumination until, in the distance, I saw a faint light. Headlights. Unmoving.
That was peculiar. The only things living in this wasteland didn’t own cars. And when they did, they could most often be found munching on the car’s previous owner.
I rode steadily towards the lights, wishing I had found a replacement gun. All my weapons had been destroyed in the fight with Igazi.
As I approached the car, facing south-west, I realised it was stuck in a large pothole. But that was the least of its problems. Its engine, hood open, was chugging out enough smoke to blind a jet plane.
As I halted, a disgruntled face looked up from the engine. A white guy, with short dark hair in a buzz cut and a sprinkling of dark stubble. My headlights lit up his bare arms, where I could see a tattoo just below his shoulder.
56-3.
“You smell like vampire blood,” the man commented, then looked at me with the eyes of a killer. “You a vampire?”
“No,” I replied, simply. That seemed to satisfy him, as he looked back at the engine.
“Good. Cause if you were, I’d have to kill you.”
“These roads aren’t good for cars,” I said. “Too many holes. And can’t dodge an ogre in a Corolla.”
The man tightened or loosened something before he got a face full of smoke.
He backed away, coughing, before sighing. Defeated.
“I’m heading to Hope City. Need a lift?” I asked, before realising what I’d done. I was a loner! Didn’t need company.
The man pondered it, looking me up and down.
“Are you sure you’re not a vampire? You wear a lot of black. And there are some vamps with mutations to hide their eyes.”
“You know a lot about vampires,” I commented.
The man glowered but went into the car and retrieved a backpack. It was smaller and lighter than mine. But he also retrieved a pump-action shotgun. Maybe some armed company would be welcome.
The man approached the bike and offered his hand. I accepted it, gripping firmly and looking him in the eyes.
“Brett Callahan,” he said.<
br />
“Guy Mgebe,” I replied.
Brett mounted the bike, which strained under his weight. Brett was far heavier than Graham. But my bike was strong. Sure, I missed my old one. But this girl was growing on me.
I started riding into the night. Dead trees and abandoned settlements passed us as we rode towards our new home.
“I hear Hope City is more than just at the edge of the world,” Brett commented idly, over the hum of the engine. “Apparently, it’s a place you can become a new person.”
I grunted. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
AN END
I hope you enjoyed Guy’s origin story! If you’d like to meet up with Guy again in Hope City, make sure to pick up your copy of Part-Time Monster Hunter, or dive straight in with the Kat Drummond 4-book boxset, the best way to continue your journey on Post-Cataclysm Earth.
If you enjoyed the book, please let me know by leaving a review on Amazon and Goodreads!
Guy’s story isn’t over. The Children of Blood are still out there. And they never forget!
Author Note
Despite Hope City being a city in Africa, it always felt a bit more western. This is understandable, as Cape Town (Hope City’s real-life counterpart) is a very much western society at the bottom of Africa.
In the Kat Drummond Series, I infused Hope City with a very Capetonian flair. A lot of the myths and legends are based on Cape folklore, the food Kat eats is often Cape cuisine and the places she goes to are (for the most part) real.
But for many readers, these aspects are subtle. Some may even excuse them as quirks of a post-magical world, and not a different culture of a real city at the edge of the world.
Blood Hunter is different. While in the same region as Hope City, it is set in the context of the amaXhosa and amaZulu of South Africa, and the book itself is dripping with not just references to these vibrant cultures that exist today, but set around how these cultures interact in a new world.
Guy’s journey through occupied Transkei and the surrounding areas are very much steeped in his struggles with very real traditions and conflicts that are immersed in history.
Blood Hunter: An Urban Fantasy Vampire Hunting Novel Page 19
