601: BAD MAN FROM BODIE, A Vampire Western

In the waning years of the 18th century, amidst the darkened forests of Colonial Massachusetts, where signs of witchcraft stirred fear in the hearts of many, a coven of necromancers delved into the forbidden arts. This coven of witches, condemned and feared for these dark arts, stood united in their final act before the flames of persecution could claim them. Their unholy rituals, conducted under the cloak of night, reached beyond the veil to summon a creature of unspeakable malice from its slumber in the abyss. Killion emerged, a demon of insidious power, conjured from nightmarish depths to walk the earth. As Killion grew in strength and malice, he found amusement in the frailties of his creators. Within weeks of his existence, he began whispers of treachery, he sewed seeds of paranoia among the witches, convincing each that betrayal was imminent from their sisters in the dark arts. With paranoia fueling their actions, the witches turned against one another in a spiral of madness and bloodshed until only one remained—a sole practitioner of the macabre communion they had once shared. This survivor, alongside Killion, ventured west across the plains, where they chanced upon a tragic figure: a woman, pregnant and forsaken, left to the mercy of the elements in a desolate wagon.

She confessed to draining the life force upon her fellow travelers, an admission that sealed her fate among her kind. Sensing the dark potential, Killion whispered prophecies of blood and power, convincing the witch to take the woman under her dark wing until her child, Caroline, was born into the twilight world they inhabited.

Caroline, nurtured by blood and darkness, mirrored her mother's cravings, and now with her mother murdered, she was thrust into a world steeped in bloodlust under the witch's tutelage. Yet, before the child could fully embrace her nightmarish legacy, she was struck by an affliction so severe that even the shadows feared her end. In desperation, Killion and the witch defied natural laws, summoning a congregation of demons to possess and sustain the child’s life force. Legend whispers of a ghastly ritual performed over the carcass of a dying animal, the witch and the child bathed in its blood, an unholy communion. Fate, however, is merciless as this ceremony was interrupted by local tribal warriors, guardians of their lands, confronted the embodiment of their darkest fears. Recognizing the evil that stood before them, they acted with swift brutality, ending the witch's tainted existence. The fate of the blood-cursed child, Caroline, however, faded into the obscurity of whispered legends, her fate an unsettling silence in the annals of horror.

Killion, bereft of his witch ally but undeterred, wove himself into the fabric of nightmares. A shapeshifter, a manipulator of wills, he thrives in the shadows of human consciousness, planting seeds of chaos, and breeding anarchy. His ultimate design, a world drowned in shadows and blood, a realm where vampires rule over the ashes of humanity, remained a constant, driving force. As history unfolds, his legacy of terror persists, a reminder of the darkness that lurks at the edge of reality, waiting for its moment to consume the light.

Thus begins the tale of Killion, a demon born of witchcraft, whose saga is interwoven with the fate of mankind—a horror that transcends time, whispering of blood, darkness, and the unyielding thirst for chaos.

One night, amidst the shadowy expanse of the plains, the demon was seized by an eerie revelation. A twisted grin spread across his face. Rising to his feet, he murmured a final word as he strode across the desolate landscape. “Bodie,” he whispered.