When a covert government agency enlists a vampire as an operative, they gain more than a star agent. They also inherit her centuries-old feud with Charles Oliver Haddon, an immortal sorcerer who is currently behind a sinister plot to replace all government figures in America with demonic impersonators. And that's just the opening gambit in a global game that could plunge the world into a worse Hell than Dante dared imagine. But the Wanderer, as she's known in the Agency, is no run-of-the-mill vampire. She absorbs her prey, body and soul. This enables her to assume her victims' identities at will, with their appearance and all of their knowledge and skills. It's a useful talent for infiltration and espionage - but it comes with a grim and terrible price tag. When one of her victims, a sadist and former member of Hitler's top-secret Occult Bureau, is reincarnated in her supernaturally powerful body, things begin to get complicated - and dangerous . . . With her young friends Tom and Katie Pelham and their infant daughter Tania targeted by Haddon and his masters, who are developing a dangerous new technology that can open the gates to unthinkable demon realms, the Wanderer must struggle with the terrible thirst of her curse as she tries to rescue her friends and fulfill her mission. She must also fight with her urge to avenge herself on Haddon, who betrayed her and inflicted the curse of the vampire on her to save his own life. From the high-tech labs of a cutting-edge electronics firm to an ancient subterranean temple where a terrifying demon waits to be evoked, from the devil-haunted darkness of the Jersey Pine Barrens to the broken predatory streets of the inner city, the Wanderer's fight calls upon all her reserves of skill and cunning. Yet even these might not be enough to stem the dark tide threatening to drown the world. If she fails, the Pelhams will be only the first ones to die . . . THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE WANDERER: NIGHT SPAWN 2: GARGOYLES NIGHT SPAWN 3: D-DAY OF THE DEAD NIGHT SPAWN 4: RISE OF THE STARBORN THE TWO MASKS: TALES OF HUMOR AND HORROR (contains the novella "The Purging")