The Judging

Description

What happens when you want to do the will of God but are cursed for all eternity? Hungary, 1640. A village priest, enamored with his God and loyal to his sheep, awakens to find the village on fire. Searching for survivors, he is confronted by a dark creature with sharp teeth and red eyes. With the stab of the demon's fangs, the priest is transformed from a servant of good to an unwilling agent of evil. Present day. Four centuries pass, and Dr. Mark Corescu, that same village priest no longer recalls his origins. Corescu uses his position in the medical community to maintain a mortal facade as he pursues his true calling. Corescu seeks out evil men and women in a ritual he has dubbed the Judging. He condemns and kills them, one a night, feeding his lust on their blood. He feels neither guilt nor remorse. He believes he is serving a Higher Purpose. Artist and equestrian hobbyist Hope Brannen falls for the doctor at first sight. He feels the same, believing that she has been sent by God to aid him in his divine calling. Hope knows deep down he is not an agent of God but rather a real-life vampire. She turns to her seminary-going pal Tony Agricola for advice. As the story's only truly righteous character, Tony recognizes immediately that the doctor has incorrectly discerned the will of God. He agrees to speak to him about the matter, discovering that the doctor has suppressed his past. Slowly the doctor is reminded of his days as a humble village priest, as well as the time he spent in the clutches of the darkest creature imaginable. Steering the vampire down memory lane is difficult and risky but Tony does his best to correct the doctor's faulty theology. At the same time Corescu's perfect world is falling apart. Persevering through dangerous and perilous encounters with the vampire's immortal contemporaries, Tony shows the vampire the error of his ways. But just because his eyes are opened does not necessarily mean that his ways are easily changed.