Dark Journeys Series

When Judd Denning first meets Seda on the beach in Southern California after his discharge from the US Navy, she tells him that the word "vampire" should really be "vampyr": and pronounced vam-peer.  Many years later, he learns that she not only still exists but has a double-walker or doppelganger named Lucia. His therapist in the present-day Atlanta does not believe this, of course, and blames his mental condition for his insistance in her existence. Lucia, however, turns out to be viscious regarding his friends nearby and back in his home state of Illinois. When he learns about the existence of an Asian type of vampyr known as an aswang, he consults and works with a former student from the Philippines. This creature, he learns, can also produce doppelgangers but is even harder to spot during the day than a vampyr. Lives must be saved and sanity must be regained, but success with one does necessarily mean success with the other.

Dr. Harper Paget returns to China with the ashes of a lady-friend who died in the USA and resumes teaching in universities as he did before. He meets new friends and new students, including Dr. Brady Simon, a media professor from Canada. He also encounters Christabel, an unusual lady who gave him up for a French colleague before but who wants to keep in contact with him. In fact, she does visit him once in his campus apartment. SMSs turn out to be not only a method for Harper to communicate with Christabel or with his new love interest, Anjani; Brady also communicates with women in the Philippines who tell him about a creature called an Aswak. Harper knows that the Kuntilanak from Indonesia haunted China before and can certainly do so again. An SMS, for one thing, can produce more deadly results than before. This time he is attacked by a Kuntilanak in the dark, but he still does not know who she is. She may be Xue, a Chinese lady who works in the Foreign Affairs Office but who disappears from the campus. She may be Marilyn, a student from a former university who wants to visit him here, She may even be Anjani, his Indonesian love interest who tells him stories about human tragedies in her own country. Across the courtyard from his dorm building is a tall dorm building for female students. At night, from his wheelchair, he watches them and they watch him. Are they a formidable threat or not?.  Who is it? You are the target, Harper. You had better find out the real identity of the creature or you will soon be dead.

Harper Paget and his brother Sean Paget have both been in search of the entities that put a curse on the Paget family centuries ago. . . and they have been on the run for their lives. Harper spent many years in China and Indonesia trying to learn whether or not the ancient lamiae could, in fact, transform into other frightening creatures, such as the kuntilanak from Indonesia or the aswang from the Philippines. He finds that this is indeed the case and ends up killing one of them, with the help of a love Christabel, before leaving China for the last time. In the struggle, one of Harper's eyes is badly injured, and Christabel vanishes as if she is not human.     One event in the history of their family was the execution of Jaquema Paget centuries before who was identified as being a witch. Harper suspects that her death was carried out by, or influenced by, a clan of the lamiae. Harper also learns more about the family history from his beloved grandmother who read cards on an ouija board.     Shortly after returning from China, Harper's eye injury and his troubled psyche convince him to check into the Bethany Forest Clinic in Atlanta, GA, for observation and consultation. This results in his undergoing different types of physical and mental tests.  His brother undergoes even more serious problems and accidents where he lives in North Florida. They keep in touch by email and SMSs, as does their sister Sheila who does not accept Harper's realm of the supernatural and entirely opposed to his belief in the Paget curse.     In the clinic, Harper meets the Nurse Practioner Yanti Ilyas who happens to be from Indonesia. She learns about his history with Christabel and the lamiae. They become more that NP and patient, and this puts Yanti and other nurses in danger. The creatures can, after all, reach him and the others -- including his brother Sean -- by striking from the shadows. 

Our protagonist named Judd meets a vampire on the beach in southern Califorinia after he is discharged from the US Navy in the 1960s, and she tells him that it is actually "VAMPYR" pronounced vam-peer. What is astounding to him and his therapist in present-day Atlanta is that she still exists and has a doppelganger or double-walker. Seda is her good half, but her evil half is Lucia who proves to be a severe threat to his close friend Stephen back in his original state of Illinois. Among other problems for Judd is staying alive, particularly after a close friend is murdered.