Vampire KillerCase #0100710Audio byJonathan SimsAuthorTrevor HerbertDate of Statement10th July 2010Date of Event1959, 1968, 1982LocationsManchesterMeta Info Audio Transcript Warnings Release dateApril 14, 2016NavigationLast EpisodeA Father's LoveNext EpisodeDreamerStatement of Trevor Herbert, regarding his life as a self-proclaimed vampire hunter.
The Vampire Killer
Trevor explained in his statement that he sees vampires as more animalistic than human-like. According to him they don't speak as they don't have space in their throat for anything except their tubular tongue, although they can communicate through some sort of telepathy or hypnosis. They can go out in daylight and don't reproduce by feeding, but he isn't sure how they dispose of bodies.
10 years later, in late June 1968, Trevor had discounted the events of his brother's death, blaming it on the trauma of his brother's passing, when he attempted to beg money off a couple. The man, one Robert Arden, communicated non-verbally that he'd not be getting any money, and Trevor realised this man was a vampire. He followed them back to the house and engaged the vampire before he killed his would-be victim. Robert Arden bit into Trevor's neck, but recoiled, which Trevor put down to the heroin still in his system, which he had abused for several years. The young woman came out and set about Robert with a kitchen knife, allowing Trevor time to drive an improvised wooden stake through Robert Arden's chest. The woman ran off and Trevor torched the body.
Statement of Trevor Herbert, regarding his life as a self-proclaimed vampire hunter. Original statement given July 10th, 2010. Audio recording by Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.
It looked like an older woman, a widow I assumed, from the way it dressed in black and had a strange manner, which I now know to be the mark of the vampire, but back then I paid no attention to it. Many of the older folks had lived through both wars, and it was not uncommon for them to be somewhat strange. I thought this was the case with Sylvia McDonald, and after a small amount of discussion, my brother and I agreed to the offer of food and shelter.
Another misconception I have always faced when trying to discuss vampires is that people think they cannot go out during the day. They can. While I have witnessed them avoid direct sunlight if possible, and wear generally more covering clothes when moving around during the daytime, they seem to have no significant problem doing so. I would describe them as weaker during the day, but whether this is scientifically due to the sunlight, or simply because evil has less power in the daylight hours is unclear to me. Sylvia McDonald came to us on an overcast afternoon, and enough of its pale flesh was uncovered that, were sunlight to truly harm a vampire, then it would likely have been destroyed.
Even the floor was pale with dust, except for a stark line where Sylvia McDonald moved, the train of its dress dragging behind it. I remember wondering whether Sylvia McDonald walked exactly the same route through the house always, as I saw other clear lines of passage in the rooms we passed through. None of the furniture looked used, and when I picked up a book from one of the shelves, the pages were solid with damp and mould. I began to feel very uneasy at this point, but whatever powers of persuasion the vampire had calmed me enough to continue following it with my brother.
I just lay there watching as its stomach began to distend and swell, the now bulbous belly straining against the black dress it wore. After the longest ten minutes of my life, the vampire finished. Its tongue retracted back into its throat, still dripping blood onto the now-pale corpse of my brother, and it lay back upon the floor, apparently contented.
Following that night, though, I was never again worried that I might have been wrong about the existence of vampires. I always kept my eyes open for them, although sometimes I was too eager, as was the case of Alard Dupont, who I killed in 1982, and later discovered was a human. It is my belief that they are very rare, and feed only infrequently, as all evidence I have seen points to their feeding being fatal. If there were many vampires, or if they ate often, the number of disappearances would quickly become noticeable to the rest of society.
I do not know what they do with the bodies of their victims, and this has always perplexed me, as they do not have any mechanism for eating solid food, and I do not believe there are many, if any, cases of murder where the body is found completely without blood. I certainly do not think they rise as vampires themselves, as the vampire population seems far too small for this to be a possibility.
Riva, now 63, testified at a parole hearing in October that he was tormented by delusions about vampires when he killed his grandmother, 74-year-old Carmen Lopez. He said powerful hallucinations led him to believe that vampires, including his grandmother, were stealing his blood and that he could only stop it by drinking blood himself.
The board noted in its decision that Riva's mental health problems started early in his life. He received his first diagnosis at 16 for what is now understood to be paranoid schizophrenia. Riva said he believed he was a "food animal" for vampires who were taking his blood.
The board noted in its decision a threatening letter Riva sent to his mother in 2009 and posts on social media that discomfort his family. Riva said he submits writings that are posted to a website. The board said the posts elicit letters from people "fantasizing about vampire beliefs."
The weapon debuted in the original NES/Famicon Castlevania game, but this wasn't its canonical origin story. It was created sometime before the events of the PlayStation 2 title Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, which is set in 1904, making it canonically the first game in the series. Here, Leon Belmont storms the castle of the vampire Walter Bernhard to save his betrothed, Sara. Before entering the castle, he's gifted a whip made from alchemy (creatively named the Whip of Alchemy) that is strong against the creatures of the night.
The appearance of the Vampire Killer changes even within the games it appears. In most games, its default appearance is a simple leather whip, with upgrades making it longer or transforming it into a chain whip or Morning Star. Its enchantment is effective not only against vampires but all manner of supernatural creatures, including so-called gods and even Death itself. Charms can also be added onto it to ward off evil spirits and beings, and other items can allow the Vampire Killer to utilize elemental abilities. Its length can also deflect projectile attacks and strike at out of reach enemies such as the flying heads of the Medusa.
Vampires possess a number of weaknesses in fiction, ranging from things like sunlight, garlic, a holy cross, running water, or a wooden stake to the heart. The Castlevania series takes a different approach to this, as the ultimate weapon for defeating vampires is a magical whip, known as the Vampire Killer.
The Vampire Killer is the chosen weapon of the Belmont family, though a few other skilled individuals have managed to wield its power over the years. The Vampire Killer is often depicted as a whip, but it's sometimes shown as a flail or chain whip, depending on the game. There are lots of vampires hanging around in the Dungeons & Dragons multiverse, so we're going to stat out the Vampire Killer from Castlevania as a magic item for DMs to use in their game.
The Vampire Killer whip is a weapon designed for smiting evil in all of its wicked forms. The whip is at its strongest against vampires, where it gains a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls. Any successful hit deals an extra 3d6 radiant damage against vampiric foes. When facing other enemies, the Vampire Killer has a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls.
In terms of another campaign, the Vampire Killer is best used in ones filled with undead, such as Curse of Strahd. It's a strong weapon in its chosen field, so it should be saved for the later stages of the campaign. The Belmont link can be referenced with an off-hand comment about how the previous wielder was a member of a famous vampire hunter family, but he was slain by a foe and their weapon was lost in the conflict. This helps to build up the current foe as a threat, as they were the vampire that took out one of the mythical Belmonts. This can set the players on a quest to find the missing Vampire Killer and see if they are worthy to use its power in battle.
Forget the years of Hollywood consigning vampires to sleepy Northwestern suburbs, abandoned factory cities, and German coastal towns; for Day Shift, Hollywood looks inward, recognizing the power of a city known for being parasitic as a setting where vampires come out to play. 2ff7e9595c
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