Baltimore, or The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire
Mike Mignola
 Each chapter begins with a quote from Hans Christian Andersen's, "The Steadfast Tin Soldier." The novel consists of several tales all interlinked around a fictional Captain Lord Henry Baltimore who leads a night attack on a battlefield during World War I, and the men who know him. His entire squad is killed by enemy fire and Baltimore himself is wounded in the leg and left for dead, he awakes some hours later to see giant bat creatures feeding on his dead men. When one attempts to feed off him, he slashes at it with his bayonet and scars its face hideously. The giant creature in return wounds him and infests his leg with such terrible gangrene that when he is later brought to hospital, it is amputated, leaving him with a jointed wooden leg. Unknowingly, Lord Baltimore struck a powerful vampire who is so angered by Baltimore's permanent blinding of his right eye that he causes a "plague" in warring Europe. People think this to be a sickness which spreads quickly across countries, but in truth it is vampirism. Baltimore returns home from war haunted by his encounter on the field, yet happy to be home early on account of his leg. But upon arrival, he discovers his parents and sister have succumbed to the plague - only his wife Elowen survived. The plot turns to three of Baltimores' companions who have helped in the past - battlefield surgeon Doctor Lemuel Rose, gentlemen trader Thomas Childress Jr., and sea captain Demetrius Aischros. They have all been called to meet at an inn with Baltimore, and while they wait for him, each tells two tales: how they met Baltimore and why they believe his tale of the vampire encounter to be true. The Doctor treated his leg, Childress grew up on his island home and Aischros shipped him home after the war. From their tales of Baltimore and the supernatural it becomes apparent that Baltimore has become a man bent on a mission to kill the "Red King vampire" (also known as Haigus), who infested his family and then murdered his beloved wife. He travels to kill the lesser vampires in hope of reaching the Red King, and has called his three friends forth in hope of their aid.