January Beastie - The Bathe

The Ecology of The Bathe

I was once told the story of an unfortunate fellow who found a strange pebble, shaped such that it gave the impression of a man curled up into a fetal position.  It was no larger than a coin.  According to him, when he held the stone for too long, his palm began to bleed.  Miraculously, the liquid was absorbed by the rock, like a sponge.  Alarmed, he brought the curiosity to a university professor he knew and showed him the process again.  Several times he repeated this, trying to find explanations from geologists and naturists.  He noticed that the stone was getting larger, until it was nearly the size of a tropical coconut.  Shortly thereafter the man was found dead in his home, entirely exsanguinated!  In addition to this horror, over the next few weeks several more people were found in the same state.

This evidence leads me to believe that what the man had found was no ordinary stone, but was, in fact, a Bathe.  No one knows the origins of the Bathe.  They are monsters of old, perhaps demons (if they are, then they are corporeal, there is no spiritual aspect to the Bathe), or possibly another species (most certainly parasitic if this is the case).

A Bathe is a creature with a life cycle governed by hydration, more specifically, blood hydration.  They must regularly wash their bodies in blood, absorb it into themselves, to obtain a near human form.  Yes!  These fiends can take upon them our visage if they’re lubricated enough by our own vital fluids!  With a lack of such sustenance they shrivel, harden, and eventually shrink into a small, dense stone, awaiting the unhappy chance that someone might stumble upon them and provide what they need.

Make no mistake though, while the Bathe may, through osmosis, obtain the outward appearance of humanity, inside, they are anything but.  These creatures require no organs like normal men and can grow foul appendages within the hollows of their bodies.  They will appear human so they can hunt with ease, but when threatened their bodies can erupt the most disturbing limbs to ensure their defense; tentacles, pincers, and claws!

There is little known about how to kill such a beast besides depriving it of blood.  It will eventually revert to its stony prison.  In this state, perhaps, they may be crushed and ground to dust (although I fear even that may survive with ample amounts of blood).

Do not assume in cases of blood draining that the vampire is the culprit!  We must never forget that blood draining is not the sole perview of such fiends.  There is more darkness in the shadows than we know.