KAREN: Nicole Zoltack is a multi-published author of fantasy/paranormal, romances, horror, and historical, for adults and young adults alike. In her flash fiction tale, The Bloodied Knight, Lady Pamela has been jilted, but she meets a knight that is all too willing to set the score right... or does he?
***Giveaway: Nicole is giving away a PDF copy of her new release, Black Hellebore, to one lucky trick or treater! Read on and find out you may add this fantastic super hero tale to your goody bag!
Don't forget to enter the Rafflecopter for the last chance to win one of the Grand Prizes! Good Luck!
The Bloodied Knight by Nicole Zoltack
Lady Pamela walked the streets of
London with her head held high despite the tears streaming down her face. A
fancy black carriage rushed by, and mud splattered onto her face. How fitting.
Her day could not turn out more poorly.
For Lance to have betrayed her so
crushed her spirit. For months now, he had courted her and now this. Showing up
at the party tonight with another woman. Not only was she exceeding beautiful,
but she was pregnant. With Lance's child.
She had stormed out of the party
after dropping her drink. The wine surely stained Jessebel's rug, for which
Pamela would pay for. In the morning. Right now, she couldn't return there. Not
even if her life depended upon it.
But she also could not bring
herself to return home. The party would last for another three or four hours
yet, and if she went home now, her parents would ask questions she did not wish
to answer.
So she strolled along the streets.
A bitter wind wrapped itself around her, and her heart. The clouds drenched the
city below with rain. Soon, she found herself lost within the dark alleys. She
turned around to go back the way she'd come when a form stepped out of the
shadows.
Dressed all in armor, the man
looked to be a knight from the days of old. He stood tall before her, barring
her path.
"Please, let me pass."
She tried to skirt around him but found no room. Desperation and fear coiled
around her heart like ice. "Please, leave me be."
"I can help you."
"Help me? Walk me home?"
Pamela took a step back, not about to allow some man she didn't know, let alone
could not see his face, to go anywhere with her. "I am quite fine, thank
you."
She turned around to walk down the
length of the alley, but the knight stood before her somehow.
"I can help you." His
gauntlet touched her arm, and she saw a flash of Lance before her eyes. Then
her vision cleared in time for him to touch his sword.
"You'll seek revenge on Lance
on my behalf?" The idea left her breathless and quite beside herself.
Revenge was hardly ladylike. But
the hurt and betrayal she had felt… She had truly loved Lance. "I do not
wish him any harm. But if you could perhaps scare him?"
The knight nodded and vanished. A
large puddle formed where his huge feet had marred the mud. Through the watery
reflection, she watched as the knight entered the party, the clock on the wall
reading seven, and tapped Lance on the shoulder. Her one-time lover turned
around and grabbed his chest. He fell to the ground. A crowd of people rushed
around him, and Jessebel's father, a doctor, knelt beside the fallen man. The
doctor soon lifted his head, and Pamela could read his lips: "He's
dead."
"No. No. No." Pamela
stepped back several times until she collided with something hard.
"I did what you wished."
"No! I didn't want him
dead!"
The knight lifted his sword and
slashed across her chest. Pamela fell to the ground, next to the puddle. The
reflection of the bloodied knight shimmered. Then the knight disappeared.
Again, the party scene played before Pamela's eyes. This time, the knight approached
Lance as before, only Lance did not collapse. The clock only read six.
Unlike the first time, Pamela could
hear the partygoers enjoying themselves, talking and laughing, music playing in
the background. She heard the knight offer his help to Lance. She watched in
her former lover's eyes as he understood what the knight meant. And she watched
as Lance nodded, sealing her feat.
She should have killed Lance when
the knight had given her the chance.
One more tear fell, and Pamela
breathed her last. Then she stood up. Armor covered her body. She was now the
bloodied knight, and would remain so, unable to be at rest, until another
jilted lover choose to kill their former heart's desire. A curse that had
spanned for centuries, donning back to Marc Anthony and Cleopatra.
The End
About Black Hellebore:
Once a year for the past decade, Nicholas Adams returns to Falledge and leaves a black hellebore on his girlfriend's grave. While fleeing Falledge, he spies a shady man sneaking into the laboratory. Nicholas chases after him and dies for his trouble. A witch brings him back to life, only Nicholas is not the same man. Turns out, magic combined with a black hellebore in his pocket changed him into a kind of a super man.
Julianna Paige, his girlfriend's twin and deputy of Falledge, struggles to solve several murders. Nicholas, and his alter ego the Black Hellebore, helps her, even as she helps him move on and start to truly live again.
Unfortunately, Nicholas wasn't the only one changed in the laboratory explosion, and now a super villain is bent on destroying Falledge, and killing the Black Hellebore. But falling in love might prove more dangerous than any super villain. You an purchase a copy of this book at Amazon.
***Giveaway: Nicole is giving away a PDF copy of her new release, Black Hellebore, to one lucky trick or treater! Answer this question: What are your plans for Halloween? Don't forget to leave your email!
About the Author:
Nicole Zoltack loves to write fantasy/paranormal, romances, horror, historical, for adults and young adults, novels, short stories, and flash pieces. She doesn't want to get boxed in by genre -- she might be claustrophobic! She's also an editor for MuseItUp Publishing and works as a freelance editor.
When she isn't writing about girls wanting to be knights, talking unicorns, and zombies, she spends time with her loving family. She loves to ride horses (pretending they're unicorns, of course!) and going to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire, dressed in period garb. Her favorite current TV show is The Walking Dead.
The End
About Black Hellebore:
Once a year for the past decade, Nicholas Adams returns to Falledge and leaves a black hellebore on his girlfriend's grave. While fleeing Falledge, he spies a shady man sneaking into the laboratory. Nicholas chases after him and dies for his trouble. A witch brings him back to life, only Nicholas is not the same man. Turns out, magic combined with a black hellebore in his pocket changed him into a kind of a super man.
Julianna Paige, his girlfriend's twin and deputy of Falledge, struggles to solve several murders. Nicholas, and his alter ego the Black Hellebore, helps her, even as she helps him move on and start to truly live again.
Unfortunately, Nicholas wasn't the only one changed in the laboratory explosion, and now a super villain is bent on destroying Falledge, and killing the Black Hellebore. But falling in love might prove more dangerous than any super villain. You an purchase a copy of this book at Amazon.
***Giveaway: Nicole is giving away a PDF copy of her new release, Black Hellebore, to one lucky trick or treater! Answer this question: What are your plans for Halloween? Don't forget to leave your email!
About the Author:
Nicole Zoltack loves to write fantasy/paranormal, romances, horror, historical, for adults and young adults, novels, short stories, and flash pieces. She doesn't want to get boxed in by genre -- she might be claustrophobic! She's also an editor for MuseItUp Publishing and works as a freelance editor.
When she isn't writing about girls wanting to be knights, talking unicorns, and zombies, she spends time with her loving family. She loves to ride horses (pretending they're unicorns, of course!) and going to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire, dressed in period garb. Her favorite current TV show is The Walking Dead.
You can find the author online at:
Website
Blog
Twitter @nicolezoltack
Google+
Goodreads
Amazon