When Simon Magus, a magician with Messianic ambitions and a rival of St. Peter who is mentioned in the New Testament, gives orders to have himself buried alive, he promises to arise as a god. Instead, he awakens as an immortal being with terrible powers and a thirst for human blood. SIMON MAGUS: THE FIRST VAMPIRE unfolds his adventure of self-discovery and quest for asylum and power, as he is pursued by the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church. SIMON MAGUS: THE FIRST VAMPIRE is the fast-moving, magical, horror story of a Middle Eastern sorcerer and cult leader from Biblical times. Simon cuts a picaresque swathe through the world, turning a chosen few into his companion vampires, and running afoul of the established powers of the magical and conventional worlds, all the while exchanging his continued life for the blood of those he kills. The sweeping story takes him through the centuries, from Rome, to Transylvania, to Basque, and finally to England Populated by a colorful assembly of vampire friends and consorts, heroic Churchmen, Roman generals, magicians, and even witches, demons, and goddesses, SIMON MAGUS: THE FIRST VAMPIRE is filled with surprises, building to a tense, thrilling blow off in which Simon Magus escapes from a showdown with the forces of the Church by outracing the rising Sun.