Fantasy | Creativity

The Journey’s End

A vampire MacGuffin story

Hello all! This is a stand-alone short story in response to Jonathon Sawyer and The Kraken Lore’s Monday Mashup challenge, number 19:

“And this is…?” The man selling tickets to the airship turned a coin over in his hand. He spoke English, but with a strong accent.

“Canadian silver dollar,” replied Doctor Swarthmore impatiently.

“Ah — so many new kinds of money these days. You have a two dollar?”

Swarthmore scowled, fished in his pants pockets and pulled out another coin. On his travels, he had gotten used to being overcharged. But it was all in service of a greater cause.

As he climbed about the airship, Doctor Swarthmore allowed himself to relax a little. He was still clutching his leather satchel as if it was a newborn baby. Its contents were too valuable to stow with the other luggage.

But he had made it.

One trip across the channel to London, and the world would finally see the evidence of what he had suspected for so long. That vampires are real. That they walk among us.

Once aboard, Swarthmore turned and looked from the windows, scanning for danger or pursuit. The men on the ground were untying the ropes. Great weights were dropped from the vessel.

And now, he saw, the airship was rising. They were leaving.

Doctor Swarthmore took his seat. He had already scanned the other passengers with a scientist’s eye. He was sure that none of the enemy were on board. All the same, he took a seat beside an especially disorientated-looking traveller.

“From England?” asked Swarthmore politely.

“Hmm?” The man looked around, blinking. “Is this the train to Paris?”

Swarthmore eyes widened a little. He didn’t respond, instead clearing his throat and looking down at his boots. The fellow passenger’s amnesia was unsettling. But perhaps the fellow just had one of those disorders that had been explained in recent medical journals. A nervous disorder. Yes.

Swarthmore settled back. He was too tense to nap, that much was certain. Before long, the vessel would leave the coast of northern Germany, and then in a few hours… Ah! He couldn’t wait to show what he had found at the Royal Society.

All those experiments on vampire blood should have convinced them, as should the ample eyewitness accounts that he had gathered. But no.

Now, however…

Swarthmore risked a peek inside the satchel. There it was: the book. Bound in blue leather, it was made of reports dictated by Vlad III of Wallachia, and scribed by terrified courtiers. Official documents, signed and dated, proof of the infamous vampire lord’s activities. Once verified, this would show everyone at last.

As he buckled the satchel once again, Swarthmore mused on how famous he would become. But no — that wasn’t the goal. Once the scientific community believed him, well… the menace of vampirism could finally be tackled.

The evil stopped it its tracks.

Just then, Swarthmore noticed a concerned murmuring from among the other passengers. Someone let out a scream. He leaned forward to looked from the nearest window of the vessel, only to see an enormous huge bat-like creature. It was demonic, and larger than an eagle. Larger than a horse!

The flying monstrosity lunged towards the airship, its vast claws raking the surface above where the passengers sat. It must have rent the vast balloon-like structure, for the cabin began to slip sideways.

Passengers all around were yelling in fear and pain, falling… Swarthmore and the other passengers crashed into the wall at the back end of the vessel.

When he stood up, half-dazed, there was a smell like that of burnt corn in the air. And the confused passenger who he had been seated beside was now holding his satchel.

“Give me that,” spluttered Swarthmore. “It’s my work, it’s… very important!”

“I think, I don’t think, I’m supposed to…” muttered the man vaguely, turning the object in his hands.

But then a vast beaked head punctured the metal of their chamber. It slashed through the chest of the amnesiac passenger, grabbed the satchel by its strap as it fell, then swooped away again.

Doctor Swarthmore was only just fast enough to leap after the bat-like creature, and found himself leaving the airship, clinging to a scaly leg. He could now see that they had been flying very low; the whole vessel was seconds away from crashing down.

The demonic creature was also flying low, perhaps weighed down by Swarthmore as he clung on.

Ahead, the sea sparkled in the morning sun… but the beast was rising fast, the satchel still in its beak.

Swarthmore saw that he had a choice. If he could somehow hang on, there might be a chance to get back the book. If the monstrous creature — or its master — didn’t kill him first.

Or he could let go, and take his chances into the water…

Swarthmore released the creature’s leg, and braced for impact into the icy waters of the North Sea. Science would have to wait a little longer for proof.

I hope you enjoyed that story! Thanks Bradan Writes Stories and Jonathon Sawyer for the continuing inspiration! Love a dice roll! And I challenge Mojave Green and Zane Dickens the Instigator to have a go.

Ok, points time…

Main prompt:
Ship leaving... (2 pts)

Constraints:
Balloon popped – the airship (1 pt)
Burnt popcorn - smell (1 pt)
An old Canadian $2 bill – sort of!! (1 pt)
The color blue – the book (1 pt)
This 'old style' code box (1 pt)

Hardcore constraint:
A character has lost all their memories (2 pts)

Literary device:
A MacGuffin – the book/satchel (5 pts)

TOTAL: 14 pts

Thanks for reading! I later wrote another story featuring the same main character. Find it below: