Becoming the Dark Lord

“I am one of the three Vampire Lords on this planet,” he said. “I am also known as Prince Damian.”

Then he crouched in front of Charlie. “And I came to ask this woman for her hand in marriage.”

Luke conjured a black knife into his hand and immediately began channeling power into the blade.

“Step away from her,” Luke said.

The man standing before them was pale, impossibly pale. His long black hair framed a face with sharp fangs and red eyes. He wore simple clothes, his shirt half-unbuttoned, exposing part of his chest.

Charlie looked utterly bewildered.

“This is a powerful vampire,” the heroine Serena said. “He’s known as a master manipulator, highly skilled in hypnosis and charm.”

“I officially have no idea what’s happening anymore,” Evangeline said. “But apparently there’s been some kind of misunderstanding, and now there’s a vampire here.”

“Not just any vampire,” said the Flame Hero. “This guy is stronger than the count, and he walked in here without caring that we were present. He knows he’s stronger.”

The heroine had already taken a battle stance, and Luke had too. Charlie had stepped back, gripping her sword with both hands.

“I activated a skill that suppresses hypnosis around me, at least the kinds I can handle,” Serena said. “If anyone starts feeling the effects, tell me.”

For an instant, golden light coiled across Serena’s body. She was layering buffs.

“Go ahead, if you want to fight me,” Damian said, rising smoothly to his feet. “But know this, I came in peace. I’m here to ask for her hand.”

A vampire lord. Another person carrying the title of lord. Is that what triggered Serena’s sword?

But knowing that the heroine knew he had a lord title, even though he himself didn’t know it, put him on alert for some kind of trap from Serena.

“I reject your proposal,” Charlie said. “I would never be with you, and I already have a husband. I only love him.”

The vampire frowned for a moment. “You already do? Then tell me where he is. I’ll get rid of him, my dear, and then the path will be clear for us and our love.”

“I’m right behind you, bastard,” Luke said as he stepped out of a shadow with his kukri at the vampire’s throat.

Angie moved in front of Luke, spear in hand, pointing it toward the two heroes.

“There’s a powerful enemy behind you, so why are you pointing your weapon at me?” Serena asked her.

“You were the ones who pointed your weapons at the one I serve. I won’t forget that.”

Luke kept the blade pressed to the vampire’s throat.

“Well, well,” said a voice. It was Erza Grimhart. “What a performance I walk in on. Blades pointed at one another, heroes aching to deliver justice, and now a vampire lord. But I’m late, and I don’t have all night to waste.”

“I came only for my bride, Lady Grimhart,” the lord said. “I’m a romantic, you see.”

“Grimhart?” the Flame Hero said. “The royal family?”

“Yes, the royal family. The very one whose friend you were attacking a few moments ago.”

“We have more important problems right now. This man came here, and he’s a lord,” Serena said.

“And he specializes in manipulation. If he’s here, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the Count’s army managed to escape, strange as that is given they’re supposed to be enemies,” said the Flame Hero.

“I swear I’m completely innocent in that matter,” Damian said. “But believe me, if I had come for war, I would have arrived with an army. As I said, I came here for her.”

The vampire looked at Charlie. “To offer her the chance to become my bride.”

“I’m refusing,” Charlie answered at once.

“The lady has refused,” Erza said.

Serena’s hand began to glow yellow. “I’m going to do my duty.”

“Heroine, I’m sorry. As beautiful as you are, the offer is only for the woman standing in front of me. My apologies,” Damian said. “Dearest Charlie. That is your name, isn’t it? Lovely, just like you. And what would you say to reconsidering my proposal before rejecting it so quickly? To become my fiancée would mean power, and the eternal beauty that comes with being a vampire. A kind of immortality. You would not need to keep leveling up, nearly dying in battle for scraps of experience just to earn a few more years of life. Becoming a vampire grants true longevity. What do you think?”

“I refuse to be your fiancée, and I refuse everything you just said,” Charlie answered, firm and unwavering.

“But of course you’d refuse becoming a vampire, because... you already are one,” Damian said with a smile. “Oh. You didn’t know? My mistake. I ruined the surprise.”

Luke moved in a blur and slashed Damian across the neck. The lord kicked backward and sprang away, blood spraying through the air. Serena rushed him with her sword.

Luke threw a kukri into the vampire’s leg and came in with the other to strike. The vampire raked at him with a claw, then kicked him hard into the trees. Serena tried to follow up, but Damian slipped past her, and then...

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

[Crimson Fang activated]

The vampire was struck in the back, the kukri sinking into him, and then he was yanked backward. The second kukri was already waiting at his healed throat.

Damian laughed. “No, you got me there. You have interesting movement. How did you get behind me that fast after I kicked you several yards away? Teleportation?”

The vampire glanced down and noticed the pentagram circle on the ground. “I see. So you led me here, like part of a dance. But that would mean you had to predict the heroine attacking me and calculate every possible direction I might dodge, all while my throat was cut open. Interesting. And in chess terms, what was the move if I hadn’t ended up in this position?”

“Who knows?” Luke said, pressing the kukri deeper into the vampire’s back.

The heroine stepped closer, but Angie moved behind her and touched the tip of her spear to Serena’s head. “Don’t move.”

“Wow,” the vampire said. “We’re all dancing together now. And you, Flame Hero, why are you standing there?”

“Because you came here alone. Which means there’s a trick somewhere.”

Eleanor had her bow drawn, arrow aimed at the vampire. Evangeline held her daggers and stayed close to Charlie. Erza remained behind them all with her small group of maids beside Anne.

“Let’s do a simple bit of math,” Damian said. “This event locked everyone below Rank C into this region of the water world, which means people between level 1 and level 199. Population-wise, about 38.7 percent of System users at Rank F chose to grow strong enough to evolve to Rank E. Of those Rank E users, 19.6 percent made it to Rank D. And only 2.5 percent of that group managed to reach level 150. People were living in peace. Living their little lives in the kingdoms built by great kings. Like cattle in a pasture. But when we return, the world will have expanded. There will be many kingdoms, many species. And what was once a peaceful life will become something that drives everyone to hunger for levels.”

“So what? What does that mean?” Serena asked.

“It means,” Damian said, “that I simply want to enjoy what little peace remains by giving my beloved fiancée the attention she deserves and arranging our wedding. None of you need to die. Nor do I.”

Luke let him go and walked back to Charlie’s side.

“What are you doing?” Serena asked.

“Come on, Angie, Charlie,” Luke said.

Angie looked at Luke, then lowered her spear. Serena stared at him, confused.

“I don’t owe you obedience, and I’m not here to fight your battles. A few minutes ago, you had a blade pointed at me. But I have every reason to want this guy gone if he keeps insisting on making moves on my wife. Still, this isn’t the real vampire. It’s just a plant.”

Damian smiled and raised both hands in a mock surrender. “You got me there.”

Serena looked at Damian.

“It’s true. I’m a plant. A drone, if we’re being intimate. A messenger, for the less imaginative. But I’m fascinated that you figured out my little trick. No one ever has. I see you like plants as much as I do.”

A fireball slammed into him. The flame hero stood with one hand raised. A moment later, a flaming arrow struck the vampire, and he began to burn.

“Dear Charlie, I care very little which vampiric bloodline runs through your veins. You are one of us, and you belong with your own kind. These humans will pretend to tolerate you, but they will judge you, and then they will try to kill you out of fear, out of suspicion. Come to my side when that happens, because I will be the only one who understands you.”

Luke hurled a kukri into the burning vampire’s face, cutting him off.

“Fuck, a lot just happened here,” Evangeline said.

“I need to warn the hunters,” Serena said.

“The lord knows where we are. He could be spying on them,” the flame hero said.

Suddenly, black knives floated into the air, stopping in front of them. Then Luke appeared behind Serena, gripping her and pressing a blade to her throat.

“I’m pretty sure you’re not like a vampire, heroine. I cut off your head, and that’s the end of you.”

“What are you doing, Luke Moon?”

“You started this conversation by pointing a blade at me. Now it’s my turn.”

“Wait, Luke. Serena cleared up the misunderstanding,” Eleanor said.

“You’re not warning any vampire hunters. Not right now. What are you going to do with the information that my wife is a vampire?”

Luke pressed the kukri’s edge more firmly against Serena’s throat.

“I understand,” the flame hero said. “You’re not a vampire, but she is. In your position, I’d be just as concerned if an army of hunters were on my wife’s trail.”

Angie’s spear crackled with electricity.

“And what exactly is your solution, Luke Moon? Are you going to try to kill the heroes?” asked the heroine of light.

“Serena, point your sword at her,” the flame hero said.

“Make one sudden move, and you already know what happens,” Luke told Serena. He understood the test the flame hero wanted to run, and he wanted the answer too.

Serena’s sword glowed yellow as she pointed it at Charlie. Then the light slowly faded.

“She isn’t a threat to humanity,” the flame hero said. “Now point it at him.”

Serena lifted the sword and angled the tip back toward Luke. She barely needed to. It was already glowing.

“As for your wife, I wouldn’t worry too much about that,” the flame hero said. “There are plenty of vampires out there. My focus is on the powerful ones. There’s no victory in wasting my time hunting a simple vampire when there are barons, counts, and lords out there. But that sword glows for you. Curious.”

“And do you know why the sword glows for you, Luke Moon?” Serena asked.

“Maybe because someday I intend to found a place where my word is law, and anyone who disobeys dies. But that can’t be it. Otherwise, that sword would glow for every greedy human alive. You tell me, heroine. You’re the one who had suspicions about me, not the other way around.”

“I have a skill that detects individuals whose nature is malicious, or something even beyond that, the kind of thing karmic paths might mark as a danger to humanity. So I don’t know why it shines for you.”

“But he does,” said the Flame Hero. “There’s no doubt in his voice, and no surprise either. On the contrary, he’s trying to figure out how he was discovered at all. And something tells me he’d kill us without hesitation to keep that secret.”

“I agree with that,” Luke said. “That’s exactly what’s going through my head right now.”

“This man may have done something evil, or gone through something his own being would classify as evil. I’m almost certain that’s what this is,” the Flame Hero said.

“What do you mean?” Serena asked.

“Serena, your special Hero skill is that detector. Mine is... let’s just say I see things very clearly. And I can see a creature’s core inside him. A very strange creature. One that knows I can see it, by the way. And I’m guessing that to get something like that, he had to give up part of his humanity. If someone is capable of going through a process like that, something so abominable to his own soul that he fuses himself with a creature that unnatural and malignant, then yes, I can see why he’d be classified as a threat to all humanity. A man like that doesn’t even respect his own humanity.”

For Luke, it was better if they believed that. And honestly, the sword probably would react to him for that reason too.

“What I can’t figure out,” said the Flame Hero, “is how that was even possible, and how insane someone would have to be to do something like that to himself.”

Luke released Serena.

“I don’t care what any of you think is making that sword shine for me. I’m leaving. And that Vampire Lord is west of here. Trust me, I’ve got an excellent plant sensor. So you’ve got a choice. You can come after me, or you can go after him.”