Vampire Knights: A Pulp Fantasy Tale

By Spencer Honor

In a last man standing tournament to determine which human will join the ruling vampire caste, a young slave with little life experiences has to overcome hardened warriors and other more battle tested contestants if he wishes to outlive his opponents and be declared the winner. However, in the course of the tournament, he learns that everything is not as it seems and becoming one of the VAMPIRE KNIGHTS may be his only path to victory.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Spencer Honor
• Release date: Dec 4, 2014
• ISBN: 9781502278432

Spencer Honor

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Book preview

PART ONE

Chapter 1.0

A full moon. Julia climbs up to the top of Point Mountain. Three ogres immediately attack her. She unsheathes her sword and decapitates all of them in a matter of seconds. The path to the throne and the gold crown that sits in the chair is now clear.

Unless I’m dead, says a familiar sounding voice. You’re not sitting on that throne.

Sun climbs up to the top of Point Mountain and unsheathes his sword. A knife is still lodged in his back. Julia is close enough to the throne where she can easily beat Sun to it and put the gold crown on her head. She doesn’t though. Julia turns around and attacks Sun. They engage in a war. Sun may be stronger (and have a knife sticking out of his back), but Julia is faster. Neither can exploit their respective advantage though and the two fight to a draw.

Julia suddenly drops to the ground. Sun neither stabbed nor cut her though. Seeing an opening, he impales her in the chest with his sword and kills her instantly.

Sun turns to the throne. He locks eyes with the gold crown and tries to take a step toward it, but he cannot. His legs have locked up and he falls flat on his face.

I climb up to the top of Point Mountain and walk past Sun’s fallen body.

This is what happens when you have a person who knows something about roots treating your wounds, I say. You never know if he’s actually helping you or poisoning you.

I sit down on the throne, locking eyes with the dying Sun as I put the gold crown on my head. I can see anger in his eyes. This gives me great satisfaction knowing that I - the piece of shit bottom dweller - was able to best the all-knowing General. I smile as I see life slip out of his eyes.

I don’t know what to expect next. I won the tournament and am the first to wear the gold crown.

I’m sure no one expected a frail bottom dweller to win, I say to no one in particular. But I’ve done it and I expect to collect my prize now.

Actually, says a voice. Physical superiority is a trait we don’t factor into our analysis of who we think will win the tournament.

I look up. An overlord walks towards me.

You won the tournament not because you are the biggest or the strongest, says the overlord. But because you are the most deceitful and that singular trait is what makes an overlord an overlord. Are you ready to begin?

Yes, I say.

Before I can even react, the overlord is standing over me. He grabs onto my shoulders with a ridiculous vice grip that keeps me in place. The overlord unleashes two fangs from his mouth and chomps down onto my neck. The pain is excruciating.  I am about to scream out in agony when darkness suddenly envelops me.

Chapter 1.1

An open field. The only thing providing any light is the half-moon above.

A sword lands at my feet with a loud clang. The overlord that was speaking to me on the mountaintop stands before me.

Pick it up, says the overlord.

Why? I ask.

Pick up the sword, says the overlord who says it with enough authority and warning in his voice that I know that I should pick up the sword.

I pick up the sword.

Now what? I ask.

The overlord attacks me with his sword. I immediately flinch, accidently drop my sword and inadvertently, close my eyes. His sword should have struck me by now. I slowly open my eyes and see that the overlord is holding his sword a hairline away from my face. If the overlord wanted to he could have already sliced my head in half.

A warrior you are not, says the overlord. Fortunately, you have the rest of time to learn.

The rest of time? I ask.

You won the tournament. Did you think we would allow you to continue your life as a mortal?

I’m an overlord now?

Yes.

When did this happen?

When you died.

I don’t remember dying.

Humans never do.

Who are you?

I am Nicholas, your high brother and your creator.

Nicholas finally moves his sword away from my face.

Come with me, says Nicholas. You have much to learn.

Chapter 1.2

I stand inside a cage. Across from me stands Nicholas. The cage we are in is not big - only if we were to stand right in the center of the cage would we be able to freely swing our swords in a three hundred and sixty degree manner.

Why have you imprisoned me? I ask. I thought I’m an overlord now.

You are an overlord, says Nicholas. But when you were a human you were a bottom dweller. Being turned into an overlord doesn’t all of a sudden change your position in the caste system.

Overlords abide by the same caste system?

Not the same, but similar. Overlords only have two castes - the royal caste and the warrior caste. The royal caste has the blood of god flowing inside of them and thus, have divine knowledge to make the right decisions. We of the warrior caste, on the other hand, were put on this world to carry out their orders - in whatever manner we deem necessary.

So I’m a warrior?

Yes.

So why have you imprisoned me?

I haven’t imprisoned you.

You put me in a cage.

I put you in this cage so that I can teach you how to fight.

In a cage?

You're afraid of getting hit.

So?

Nicholas raises his fist to punch me. I immediately flinch and close my eyes. I brace for the impact of his fist on my face.

So how do you expect to defend yourself or mount any sort of offense when your eyes are closed? asks Nicholas.

I slowly open my eyes. Nicholas hasn’t moved. He stands in the exact same spot and his fist has not moved any closer to hitting me. Nicholas drops his arm. I relax. Nicholas suddenly raises his hand again. I flinch. Nicholas punches me, knocking me down to the ground.

Get up, says Nicholas.

I get up. Nicholas moves to punches me again. I flinch. He hits me again and I fall to the ground.

Get up, says Nicholas.

So you can hit me again? I ask.

Yes.

How is beating me teaching me how to fight?

Because you’re afraid of getting hit. Beating you helps take that fear away by letting your mind get accustomed to this act.

And how long will it take for my mind to get accustomed to you beating me?

The first thing you need to do as an overlord is to accept the fact that you are no longer constrained by time anymore.

What does that mean?

It means that as an overlord, because our lifespan can theoretically be infinite, we now have the time to overcome any physical limitations imposed upon us by nature and thus can become special at any and everything.

And how do we do that?

Through patience and repetition. Now get up.

I get up.

I’m not going to stop until you stop flinching, says Nicholas.

Nicholas raises his hand. I flinch. He punches me, knocking me back to the ground.

Chapter 1.3

I’ve lost track of how long Nicholas has been punching me. It must have been a while. When we first started, the sun had just set. Now, through cracks in the ceiling above, sunlight shines into small areas in the cage. (Or maybe I already noticed this when the sun rose yesterday? Or was it two days before? Or maybe it was even longer than that?)

Get up, says Nicholas.

I get up.

Nicholas punches me in the face again. I fall to the ground. My arm hits an area where sunshine hits. The sunlight burns my skin. I immediately move it away. My skin is only exposed to the sun for a split second, but a scar already appears on my forearm. I notice that I have multiple scars of this nature on my body. All of them are in different phases of recovery. I guess I have been here awhile.

Get up, says Nicholas.

I get up.

You may not have any talent, says Nicholas. But at least there’s no quit in you.

This is bullshit, I say.

"How is this bullshit? I am giving you