The Priest of Blood

From Douglas Clegg, award-winning author of The Machinery of Night and The Hour Before Dark, comes his first dark fantasy novel, dealing with the edge of a fantastic medieval world.

The Priest of Blood is the first novel of The Vampyricon, a saga of sword and sorcery – and vampyres. Born the son of a woman thought to be a witch, Aleric does not know who fathered him. From his grandfather he learned the skill that will change his life. With that training – and his own ability to communicate with the great predator birds of the forest – Aleric is taken into service by the Baron and put in charge of his falcons. Now called Falconer, he rises fast and far. Still, to those at court, he remains the bastard son of a peasant whore. And when his forbidden love for the Baron's daughter is discovered, his punishment is swift and severe. Beaten and brutalized, he is forcibly conscripted as a soldier and banished to the Holy Land to fight the Saracen infidels. Amidst the horror and chaos of the ongoing struggle, he becomes a mighty warrior – and a man without faith or conscience. Then, in an ancient ruined city, he finds a new love. She calls herself Pythia – and in her passionate, bloody embrace, he also finds his destiny...

Set in an alternate medieval world of ancient forests and buried kingdoms, of gods and monsters, of love that crosses centuries, and vengeance beyond lifetimes, The Priest of Blood is the tale of Aleric, Falconer, of his quest for his beloved, and for the legendary priest-king within whose tomb the secrets of the ancient, immortal race of vampyres reside.