Category: Horror Publisher: By Light Unseen
ISBN-10: 1935303341
Pages: 338
Copyright: Jan 1998
ISBN-13: 9781935303343
A True Son of Asmodeus is a story about a vampire, the ghost of Hitler, and the agnostic doctor who has to fight the demon in the gas chamber of Dachau and a supernatural restoration of the chamber in Auschwitz.
A TRUE SON OF ASMODEUS, approximately 90,000 words, describes a different kind of vampire.
When Eli Rothenberg's mentor and idol attempts suicide, Eli, a young doctor, accepts a too-convenient research opportunity in England and Germany. In London, a series of murders shows signs of a vampire attacks, and forces Eli to re-evaluate his rationalist beliefs.
When he gets to Munich, he visits the Dachau concentration camp where a fanged monster attacks, or is it a dream? A Hasid tells him the monster was real, the demon that incarnated Hitler, and adjures Eli to fight the monster with Jewish mysticism lest the demon trigger a second holocaust.
Though Eli is skeptical, continuing bizarre occurrences force him to cooperate and prepare for a final battle in the ruins of Auschwitz.
Excerpt
I entered the silent gas chamber, that place of remembered murder. Two other people remained inside. Once more I heard that mournful sound barely audible even in the quiet gloom. I thought of the overwhelming misery this dreadful camp had caused and shivered. Weariness overpowered me and forced me to sit on the floor. I propped my head against the cold stone wall and lost consciousness without saying the Kaddish.
I dreamed of an insane slasher attacking Fred Ashley. The madman, a grinning, hideous brute, inched closer to Fred while the cop cried, his whining ever louder. That cry pulled me out of my sleep. It was the same sound I had heard all afternoon, now a clear, wailing pouring out misery.
The room stank of rotting flesh. I gagged and choked down vomit. I had to pry my sticky eyelids apart to look around and orient myself after the bad dream. By a faint red glare, I recognized the walls of the gas chamber. But the door next to me stood closed. I turned to the source of the glare, and saw, almost close enough to touch, the vampire.
Jews of past ages had called this monster Amalek, Haman, and Titus. One hundred years ago it took the name of Hitler. This force had throughout history tried to destroy us Jews. Almost within arm’s reach stood the enemy of me, my family and all my people.
The fortunate inherit riches, prestige, positive notoriety. Those not so lucky bear legacies filled with poverty, infamy or, worse yet, the unhinged insanity and murderous urges of their ancestors.
Chris has been fostered at the Crowley boot camp since he turned seven. At sixteen, he is finally ready to run away because his foster father is an abusive person who works Chris and the other children to the point of exhaustion. All he has left of h