Bloodfellow, Book One — Abraham R. Nox

Banesville: a small town possessed, hosts a killer clever with carving knives, a lonely Medical Examiner, Dr. Carli Dozzi, who speaks to his dead, a young boy, Cott, seeking a mentor and an escape, and Carol-Beth Chaucer, a lady jinxed in romance, open to Mystery . . . Pack O'Brien, assassin, a man with one mission, one reason to stay alive . . . Poised for a catalyst, this diverse gallery of characters is drawn together by an unlikely activator, a self-exiled, suicidal leader of the dwindling Bloodfellow clan - the Vampire Wolf O'Bellod. His blood necessary to convert "the crude mortal oil into the divine blood", he has nevertheless rebelled against his leadership obligations and left his ruthless, libertine brother Abaddon to rule alone, and to protect Bloodfellows from eventual extinction. Abaddon, however, cannot live, or create Life, without his twin, and has become "a singular urge in masculine form", the Sovereign of Deviation. Pursued by Abaddon relentlessly, Wolf still maintains his liberty for close to a millennium. Yet the solo life has left him desperate for conversations, for validation of his being. Now his monstrous intellect is faltering, his memories convulse through his skull, tormenting him; he feels the weight of his History and his Legend; he yearns to speak of the misery, the splendor, the solitary blood glory, the grandiose and ghastly vampire existence. If he gives into his desire to intersect with other beings, will he find once again that people are interested only in what he can grant them, and not what he can create or offer from his soul? Or will Abaddon locate him even before Wolf can discover the answers to his queries, and force Wolf to participate in the sacred rituals, which entail barbaric sacraments and even more lethal consequences? This first of two books tells the story of the converging events and lifelines as the characters intersect in Banesville and are faced with painful choices of Separation.