Victor Decimus (The Vampire Maker) has been a vampire for over 2,000 years. Once a Roman Legionnaire, for millennia Victor has remained a step or two ahead of rivals, would-be executioners, and the mysterious Dark Kingdom, which sets the rules for vampires' existence. Having left New York and his lover Paul Lewis - the vampire he made then abandoned to escape the vengeance of the Dark Kingdom, Victor sets himself up again - with his thrall - in New Orleans.
But in New Orleans, his thrall becomes the point of a new, larger conflict. On the one hand, a local priest seeks to break Victor's hold over the thrall; on the other, the Dark Kingdom fears that Victor is going to become a Vampire Maker - one who continually creates new vampires, while refusing to take his place on the next plain of existence and thus creating an imbalance in the powers of the universe. And between both walks Victor, determined to have his own way, exerts control and remains defiant to the end.
Review
We seem to go in cycles about vampires and every once in a while they are the rage. Right now is one of those times. Michael Schiefelbein gives us vampire stories all of the time--he doesn't wait for the cycle to come around and his books keep getting better and better. This time he writes about Victor Decimus, a vampire maker. Victor is 2000 years old and after having lived in Washington, D.C. with his lover Paul, he now decides to move to New Orleans. He and protégé, Kyle, set themselves up in New Orleans after the hurricane. The reason Victor decided to come to New Orleans was that the Dark Kingdom which sets up the rules for the existence of vampires is seeking vengeance and there are several that want Victor dead. New Orleans has always been known for the way it cares for the undead but it looks like Victor's hope of finding peace there are not good. At the same time a local priest attempts to free Kyle from the vampire grip.
Victor, as a vampire maker, has the ability to create new vampires. If he does so this would change the balance of power in the universe but he has his own plan and he is determined to go through with regardless of the odds and the danger.
Schiefelbein is quite the writer and I love this as much as I do any of his other books in his vampire series. However, this one seems more mature and as usual he writes in a way that we have no idea of what to expect next. He combines some of his regular characters with some new ones and what I especially like about this book is that it makes you think about what you read.
