The soldier and the vampire

Ghost story from Russia.

Long ago, when the Tsar ruled Russia, the soldiers were away from home for long periods of time. But sometimes they could be allowed to travel home on certain special occasions. A soldier had been granted leave just to travel home and attend his sister's wedding. But when he arrived at the family farm, he was greeted only by wailing and sadness. His sister was sick to the point of death and lay in bed, pale and dull. The soldier obviously wondered what had happened. His crying parents explained that there had been a sorcerer in the area who died a few months ago, but returned as a vampire. It was he who sucked both blood and life out of his sister. They all sensed that the vampire would return any night to finish his evil deed. "But why hasn't anyone put an end to this monster?" asked the soldier. "At night he is so strong that no one dares him," explained the man the sister was to marry. "And no one knows where he hides during the day." The soldier thought for a moment as he looked at his sister. "Still, someone has to stop him," he said. “It might as well be me.” So he took his saber and went out into the night before anyone could stop him.

The soldier didn't know where he could possibly find the vampire, but he chose to walk the very darkest and loneliest paths that night. Suddenly he heard someone walking right next to him and he smelled earth and mold. He realized that he was joined by the vampire. He stopped and made a sign he had learned during his travels, a secret sign that only wizards make to each other.

"Greetings, brother!" exclaimed the vampire. "Why do you walk in my lonely ways?" "I have heard that you have solved the secret of overcoming death," said the soldier. "That's right," replied the vampire. "By drinking human blood, a little every night, I easily escape the grip of death. Last night I stole the lifeblood of a young woman here in the village and when dawn comes she is gone, but I live on!”

The soldier wanted to know more about this and the vampire took him to his grave in a clearing in the forest. "I feel that the dawn is coming and I must go to my rest, but I still have time to show you," said the vampire, taking out a small bottle from a pocket in his coat. The bottle was filled with blood that glowed in the moonlight. "If I drink this now before the sun rises, I'll be a normal man again the next night, and the girl will have to take my place as undead," laughed the vampire. “So to cure her the blood has to be returned to her?” asked the soldier. "Not just that!" replied the vampire. “I must also be completely annihilated. But you would have known all that if you had been a real wizard, and for your falsehood I will now tear you to pieces!”

With those words, the vampire lunged at the soldier, who had been expecting to be exposed at any moment. He had his saber ready and unleashed it on the vampire. There was a fierce fight with the monster, but as soon as the roosters hatched and the sun began to peek over the treetops, the vampire lost his strength and fell to the ground. The soldier put on the vial of blood and then began the gruesome work of chopping the sorcerer's body into small pieces. The soldier knew that every little part of a vampire's body must be destroyed in order for it to die completely. So he built a pyre and threw the wizard's body parts onto the fire. But as the flames began to consume the monster's flesh, it turned into a multitude of snakes, toads, lizards, spiders and worms that tried to crawl down from the pyre. These were not real animals but the last of the vampire's evil essence trying to escape. But the soldier fought them all back into the fire with his sword and after a few hours only ashes remained. He scattered those ashes to the wind in the four directions and returned home to the family farm. Carefully he poured the blood over the wounds the vampire had given his sister and almost immediately the color returned to her cheeks. After just one day she was as lively and happy as ever and you could celebrate weddings like you had never celebrated before in that village!