''Child of an Ancient City" (1989) is an Historical Fiction Horror novella by Tad Williams.
In the late 8th century AD, Mansur al-Adan is assigned to an embassy sent by the Caliph Harun al-Rashid to the Caucasus Mountains, but en route they encounter a millennia-old, incredibly dangerous Vampyr.
Tropes which have survived since time immemorial include:
- Because You Were Nice to Me: The reason why the Vampyr spares the survivors at the end of the story is because Susri al-Din (aka "Fawn") cried at the monster's backstory.
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Cry for the Devil: Fawn's in-story reaction to hearing the Vampyr's tale. - Dark and Troubled Past: The Vampyr was turned through no fault of his own and doomed his family, his beloved and his home city, even before he began killing strangers.
- Face–Heel Turn: The Vampyr becomes a murderous villain immediately upon turning, according to his own account.
- Framing Device: Decades after the events of the main tale, Mansur al-Adan gives a dinner party at which he tells his guests of his encounter with the Vampyr.
- Grudging "Thank You": The Vampyr is obviously grateful to Fawn for caring about him, but isn't very nice about acknowledging this. He basically throws the lad at Abdallah and shrieks:The Vampyr: Go! Get you gone from my mountains! Go! ... Build your houses well, little men! My life is long ... and someday I may regret letting you go!
- Horror Hunger: The Vampyr must drain humans of their blood on a fairly regular basis to survive.
- Last of His Kind: The Vampyr may well be the last survivor of his whole civilization.
- Mighty Whitey: Muslim Arab variant. The main characters are Muslim Arabs at the height of the Arabian Caliphate, venturing on behalf of that Caliphate into barbaric lands inhabited by lighter-skinned whites, and they are able to successfully survive attack from a monster which has slain many, many native wayfarers.
- Nested Story: Not only is the main story contained in the Framing Device of the dinner party, but the stories told in the contest are nested within the main story.
- Shout-Out: To the Arabian Nights, in several ways:
- The story is set in the late 8th century AD and the characters serve Caliph Haroun al-Rashid.
- The heroes face an overwhelmingly-powerful supernatural horror which must be vanquished by persuasion.
- Specifically, they must compete with the Vampyr in the telling of tragic tales.
- Start of Darkness: As a Vampyr, he was probably doomed to this anyway, but slaying his own family, his beloved, and eventually his whole home city rather limited his compassion for any other humans.
- Tragic Monster: The Vampyr was an innocent youth who stumbled upon and was turned by his dying predecessor.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: We have only the Vampyr's word for it, but he seems to have been a nice boy before he was made against his will into a vampire.
- Warm Bloodbags Are Everywhere: The Vampyr's normal attitude toward humans.
- Was Once a Man: And mourns his lost humanity.
- Where I Was Born and Razed: The Vampyr preys on the people of his home city until it is no more.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: The Vampyr's immortality is a curse, because it comes with an insatiable craving for blood that, most of the time, prevents him from even talking to humans.
