Vampire Hunter D (novel)
Vampire Hunter D Volume 1 is a Japanese novel by Hideyuki Kikuchi. It was first published in Japan in 1983, and was translated into English in 2005.
 Cover of the English edition of Vampire Hunter D Volume 1 | |
| Author | Hideyuki Kikuchi |
|---|---|
| Original title | Vampire Hunter "D" (吸血鬼ハンター"D", Kyūketsuki Hantā "D") |
| Translator | Supplicant |
| Illustrator | Yoshitaka Amano |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Series | Vampire Hunter D Vol. 1 |
| Genre | Science fiction, Fantasy, Light novel |
| Published | 1983 (Asahi SonoramaJP) 2005 (DH Press USA) |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 300 (USA) 282 (JP) |
| ISBN | 1-59582-012-4 (USA) ISBN 4-257-76225-X (JP) |
| Followed by | Raiser of Gales |
Plot
It is the year 12,090 A.D. The world has all but ended, ravaged in a firestorm of man's wars and madness. But from the wreckage a few humans manage to survive. A few humans... and something else.
Doris Lang knew what her fate would be when the vampire lord Count Magnus Lee bit her: an agonizing transformation into one of the undead, doomed to be stalked by her fellow villagers, or cursed to become the bride of the unholy creature and face an eternity of torment, driven by the thirst for human blood. There was but one option left, and as she watched him ride in from the distance she knew there was hope. Salvation... from a vampire hunter named D.
Magnus has his own problems. His beautiful daughter Larmica refuses to let a human into her family. Enlisting the help of Garo, a werewolf retainer, she attempts to kill Doris before the wedding, only to find D standing against her.
Greco Rohman, son of the chief, wants Doris for himself. The same goes for the skilled fighter Rei-Ginsei and his Fiend Corps. Both men are eager to eliminate D, as his skills and Doris' favor makes them see him as a threat. Doris knows she isn't the only one in trouble - her younger brother is perceived as her weakness, and there is more than one person out there willing to use him as leverage against her.
Adaptations
The novel is adapted into a direct-to-video film of the same name in 1985 and a manga series, Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D, in 2007.