Malka Bat-Sheva (Patreon)

Just recently finished reading the Grace of Sorcerers, a fantastic urban fantasy book written by the amazing @DeviLacroix and @Benjanun_S. Naturally I immediately had to create an OC for their setting, the Chainverse. So here she is. Malka Bat-Sheva is an Israeli martial artist that eats vampires.

I also wrote a little mini-story to go with.

Killing a vampire with your hands is not a simple matter. There are several important steps to the process.

The first step is to understand that you are outmatched. A vampire kills and eats humans. That is its nature, its default state. Every fact of its physiology is bent toward this aim. It is stronger than you, faster than you, and possessing of a hunger that eclipses its fear of death. To match the lowest vampire, a human must train to be strong, to be fast, and to numb themselves to mortal fear. In this sport, hesitation will kill faster than recklessness.

Second, you must craft of yourself an effective weapon. Folklore suggests a dozen dozen anathemas that harm vampires, some of which even work. But there are only two weapons that harm vampires across all bloodlines: sunlight and human hope.

While sunlight can be weaponized by arcane means in hand-to-hand combat, it is a difficult and often fleeting resource to harness. Do so if you are able, but do not rely on it as your only weapon.

Hope is a more dependable asset. Vampires are creatures made of fear. The faith and courage of their prey harms them at a metaphysical level. To this end, religious symbology and artifacts of human belief can be instrumental. I have tattooed myself with the faith of my ancestors, as their religion runs most strongly in my blood. If your ancestry leans toward a particular creed I suggest you do likewise.

The more eclectic reagents espoused by folklore can be effective against particular vampire bloodlines, often because of the properties granted them by human belief. I take a scattershot approach. I wrap my arms in bandages lined with smoked salt, purified silver wire, various cleansing herbs, and a mix of shredded holy texts. If you know the lineage of your target, you can tailor these ingredients to them. Do your research.

Third, one must force the vampire to remain in corporeal form. There is merit to emotional manipulation in pursuit of this goal– challenging a vampire to physical combat will often amuse them enough to humor your request. But it is an unreliable method best used only when other options are unavailable. In my experience, one is better off relying on magical means of trapping them in their body of meat and bone. Smoked salt disrupts the black mist, drawing them back to physicality. Coat your fists and shins with it. Certain charms and benedictions ward off intangible evils, forcing them to materialize in order to approach you. With these the key is to not only force them to start a fight, but to prevent them from escaping.

Fourth is to unmake them. Know that no human martial art is sufficient to prepare you. Martial arts are designed with defense in mind and honed through the use of sparring. In order to kill a vampire, you will have to perform actions that are impossible to practice without maiming your sparring partner. It is a sad reality that in order to kill vampires with your hands, you must first have killed humans.

Supernaturally augmented though they may be, a vampire still needs eyes to see. Tendons to move. A jaw with which to bite. Your goal is to deny them these resources.

It is not enough to strike your opponent or grapple them into submission. You must ruin them. You must tear muscle fibers, crack joints, snap bones with carefully placed force. Vampires feel pain less intensely than humans, but they will still be stunned if you mangle their genitals. Your attacks must rupture the machinery of their bodies, inflict enough damage that they are unable to tear out your throat and drink your lifeblood. No single martial art can prepare you. Study them all. Use the parts you find effective. Reduce your opponent to a husk of broken meat. Then the killing blow will be trivial.

Fifth, you must eat the vampire’s heart. Mere moments after ruining a vampire’s body, it will begin to repair itself. You must act quickly. Tear the heart from its rib cage and devour it. Take the power it would use to remake itself and channel it into your own flesh. This is the truest defeat of a vampire: to inflict on it what it was born to inflict on you. There is no sweeter triumph for humanity than to dominate the beast at its own game.

Consuming vampires will change you. The magic that strengthens them will fuel your body, but alter your flesh. You will not be human, not in the traditional sense. But you will remain human in the eyes of your prey.

And that is all that matters.