When I first saw the artwork and depth of books by an author named Robert Wheeler I was very impressed. The artwork was amazing and I have this online interview with Dr Robert Wheeler, who wrote “The Witch of Endor” and also has some other amazing books out.
The blood’s the life, the life’s the blood
Beware the night, and vampires bite
A cross, a stake, be sure to make
Or pray the Lord your soul to take
The following is an excerpt from my novel, The Witch of Endor: Vampires.
Lilith is the Witch of Endor. She grew up speaking with the dead and later developed magic around puberty. She was spoken of in 1 Samuel in the Old Testament. She falls in love with a man named Lamech who is not just another pretty face. He is the first vampire. He was cursed for killing Cain, the older son of Adam and Eve. Lilith joins Lamech in eternal night and for a time they are happy together. However, unbeknown to both of them when two vampires have a child the curse of Cain deforms the children who are born as hybrids, gorgon’s, satyrs, centaurs and the like. Medusa is their child and this excerpt is a conversation between her and her mother and Paleus, the son of Perseus.
***
Medusa sat before a mirror turning her head from side to side.
“Mother, are you still here?”
“Yes dear I am here, but I must go to council soon. What is it, my love?”
“Am I beautiful?”
“Of course you are my darling! Why would you need to ask such a thing?”
“If I am beautiful, then why did father leave us?”
Lilith paused, thinking of the painful memory. Lamech had always hated his daughter; he could not stand the hiss of the snakes upon her head or the way the baby had stared at him.
“It was an accident, my dear, I have told you this many times. The ship exploded, and we were separated. You were just too young to remember.” Lilith told a partial truth.
“Can I come to council Mother?”
“Who will watch your sisters then? I need you to watch them until I get back. They cannot simply wander the halls unsupervised or they might turn your suiters to stone.”
Medusa looked disappointed and sighed.
“Every mortal that you have allowed to meet me has turned to stone Mother. The looks they have frozen upon their faces… well, they look terrified! Why do they look so, if I am beautiful?” Medusa started to cry.
Lilith walked over and embraced her eldest daughter, “There, there, my child. You and your sisters are beautiful, but you are different. You were made special. We will find you a suitor one day, I promise. In the meantime, Adonis and Festinia have had a child.”
Medusa perked up at the news.
“Is it a boy or a girl?”
“A boy the message said. I am sure that they have brought him along, and you will get to meet him tonight. Can you wait until after our meeting?”
“Yes, I suppose. Does he look like me, Mother?”
“I don’t know, but stay here, watch your sisters, and do not let them go behind the curtains. Agreed?”
“Alright Mother, I will watch my sisters, and I will spend some time talking with Paleus.”
“That’s my girl. Sthenno, Euryale, come to mommy.” The young gorgon twins slithered across the stone to Lilith’s outstretched arms. Their eyes shone brightly in anticipation of their mother’s love. The snakes upon their heads pecked at Lilith’s face. Lilith laughed at the tickling touch.
“Now you mind your sister while I am gone, do you understand? “
“Yes Mommy,” they said in unison, rolling their eyes.
After kissing them upon their cheeks, she sat them back down once more upon the smooth stones before turning to leave.
Lilith’s younger daughters turned away from her and stuck their forked tongues out at Medusa before slithering down the hall.
Medusa clenched her fists as she glared at them briefly before smiling at her mother.
Lilith smiled at her children before racing away.
Her mother’s movement was so quick as she exited the chamber that Medusa only caught the closing of the door with a click. She had grown used to being startled sometimes by her mother and Fedora as they seemed to almost appear and reappear when they were in a hurry, but this had happened less frequently since the twins were born as it still frightened them.
She moved over near the curtains that extended the length of one side of the chamber.
“Paleus…Paleus, are you awake?”
After a brief pause, a young, male voice, perhaps of a teenager responded, “Yes, Medusa, I’m awake.”
“Are you my friend?”
“I guess we are friends. You have always been nice to me even though we have never seen each other. Why is that? I have asked you before, why can’t we see each other?”
Medusa thought for a moment. “Have you ever met someone that was burned badly?”
“Yes, my uncle was burned in a fire as a child. Half his body is scarred. Half his face, one arm, one leg and his chest on the right side are burned and disfigured. Are you burned Medusa? Is that why you never show yourself to me?”
“Well, mother and I were in a fire aboard a ship when I was a baby, and the ship exploded. Mother was burned terribly, as she held me up out of the flames.”
“But I have seen your mother. She appears very beautiful to me. I have not seen any scars on her skin, at least not on her face and neck or her hands and arms.”
“Mother is skilled at magic. You could say that magic helped heal her.”
“Can’t she use this magic to heal you, too?”
“She has tried, but I was born different, Paleus. How do people treat your uncle when they see him?”
“He is shunned, people are frightened by him. If he covers his burns he can pass through the crowd with only brief stares at his bandages, but if he removes them, he is mocked and feared.”
“That is sort of what it is like for me, only worse. Think of a leper…”
“You have leprosy?!” Paleus blurted out before she could finish.
“No, no, I don’t have leprosy, but you would never want to look at me Paleus. People are…never the same after they look at me,” she said sadly.
“But I’m not like that, Medusa! I saw what it was like for my uncle growing up. I would never judge you by your looks. I mean we are friends, and we’ve never met. I miss my dad, and I am sure he is very worried about me. I was scared at first when I was brought here, but you and your mom have been real nice to me, and she lets me out into the open courtyard at dawn, and I get to play with the other boys until just after dark.”
“I know. You look like you have fun together.”
“You’ve seen me before?”
“I watch you when you are asleep, and I watch you play in the courtyard with the other boys. You are special mother says. You are different, aren’t you?”
“I guess you could say that. I get that from my father I suppose. He is different too. He is stronger and faster than other men. I am starting to find that I am different like him.”
“Remember when you were injured last week. Your wound healed quickly, in only a couple of hours. That’s different too.” Medusa said.
“Yes, I guess that’s true…if I am different, and since we are friends, then why can’t I see you? I promise I won’t make fun of you or tease you, no matter what you look like, ok?”
Oh, I want that so much!
Medusa paused and then she began to reach for the edge of the curtain, but down the hallway, the white statues of the boys who had been turned to stone caught her eye, and she froze, uncertain. Her hand was only inches from the edge of the tapestry that separated them.
Maybe he could see me and not turn to stone…he is different, stronger, and faster, and his body heals more quickly than the other boys.
Her fingers grasped the corner of the beautiful curtains that separated Paleus’ cell from the rest of the chamber. Her fingers wrapped around the edge of the thick fabric.
“Your fingers are lovely. You have beautiful finger nails, and your skin does not look burned.”
“You think I have pretty skin and fingers?”
“Very much so, come on out, it will be fine. I want to meet you.”
Medusa moved until she touched the fabric of the curtain gently. She prepared to pull it back, to finally see her friend, face-to-face.
The snakes upon her head became excited and started moving around one another in anticipation.
I can’t. If he turned to stone, I could never forgive myself.
Medusa pulled her hand away from the curtain looking sad.
“What’s wrong? Don’t you trust me?”
“I…I trust you, but my sisters need me.”
Dr. Robert K. Wheeler
I grew up around Pensacola Florida. I received a bachelors in Nutrition in 1995 from Life College in Marietta, GA. I earned my Doctor of Chiropractic degree in 1998 from Life University in GA.
I worked for 15 years in Anchorage, AK and in Indian villages there. I was taught many of the natives in the area of their folklore and legends, which inspired part of my first book, Scions of Azazyel: War in Heaven and a short story taken from that novel called, The Gnomes of Nome.
I enjoy studying religion, mythology, fishing, camping, beekeeping and writing.
I have returned to Florida where I have been practicing for 5 years. I write between patients and sometimes after work or on the weekend. I attend The Panhandle Writer’s Club on Thursday nights to improve my skill and help others do the same.
This book is personal to me in some ways. Medusa is deformed and to my knowledge, no one has ever tried to write from her perspective and her struggles with being different and not being able to show herself to mortals or to love and be loved (other than her mother, Lilith). I was crippled as a child and I shared empathy for Medusa in the story, knowing how hard it is to be shunned and mistreated. She is 16 years old for the majority of the story.
The Witch of Endodr: Vampires
When I read the Old Testament about King Saul visiting The Witch of Endor to raise the dead prophet Samuel to speak with him, I thought, who was this woman? What was her name? Lilith’s name also comes from Hebrew legends, but I do not want to spoil any future reveal in the series.
The book of Genesis tells of Cain who killed Able and who was cursed by God. Later it speaks of Lamech although only in apocryphal texts does it name the man whom he killed that day, but it does imply in Genesis that it was Cain.
Plot and Synopsis
Lamech was cursed for accidentally killing Cain. (Genesis 4:8-11, 14.) The curse transformed him into the first vampire. (The Lost Books of the Bible Ch LXXIX vs 16-20.) He also accidentally killed his young son that dreadful day. (Genesis 4:16-22.) He survived the Great Flood by clinging to ropes that held drogue stones beneath Noah’s ark. He had never fallen in love again until around 900 BC he meets Lilith who is the Witch of Endor that King Saul of Isreal visited to raise the spirit of Samuel the Prophet from the dead. (1 Samuel 28:3-7.)
Lilith falls for Lamech who came to her to learn more about magic. Only later as doubts gnawed at the back of her mind about why she had never seen him by day or why she had never seen him eat did she follow him one night. She joined him as one of the vampires so they could be together always and so that she would not continue to age. Their child is born in 3 months of gestation and is Medusa of Greek myth. They flee Israel as King David is hunting down all who can wield magic.
After a battle, Lamech and Lilith are separated when the ship explodes. Lilith though severely burned, is washed ashore in Greece, where Lilith starts a coven. Lamech on the other hand is captured by Maldivar Accludar, a renegade vampire who has learned to walk in daylight and who can control werewolves. He seeks to hunt down the other vampires and destroy them. 15 years pass. The coven has grown to twelve members before Maldivar finds their crypt. Lamech thought Lilith had died. Lilith thought that Lamech had abandoned them.
Medusa is falling for a boy who her mother keeps imprisoned although they do not know of his unique bloodline. Lilith seeks to find a suitor for her daughter, but thus far every boy she has shown to her has turned to stone. Through thick curtains, Medusa and Paleus get to know one another and fall for one another.
As the story unfolds love triangles develop, plot twists unfold and suspense and action will make you cling to the pages. Independent reviews from indiebookreviews and the redheadedbookloverblog.com have been terrific, all 4-5 stars.
Will Medusa show herself to Paleus? Will he be turned to stone? Will Lamech escape Maldivar? Will the coven survive the assault from the werewolves and their vampire master? Will Lilith ever find love again? Will the vampires discover Maldivar’s motive and how he is able to walk by day unharmed and control werewolves in time to survive?
I always loved Ann Rice’s book “Interview with a Vampire” and the movie. I love Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” as well. As far as the love story a reader may be more inclined to “Twilight” as comparison with my story. I really wanted to write a vampire story that was unique and new, not some repeated story already told. I have done this in The Witch of Endor. The book is currently being converted to audiobook and is scheduled for completion the end of July.
Themes
Hidden themes in my story…well I will share a secret. There are character names where I have mixed up the letters to where if the reader can rearrange the letters it will reveal the character’s true identity. This will otherwise not be revealed until later in the series. The underlying idea is that God is using the curse of Cain as a form of justice, because in my story, vampires are attracted to the evil-doer. The wicked person’s blood is sweeter to the taste of a vampire. Also, Lilith’s saving grace is her unconditional love. Her children are deformed yet she loves them and stays with them through thick and thin, when Lilith loves, its 100%. The story touches on revenge, betrayal, heartache, love, battle and forgiveness.
These same themes translate to the modern world.
Setting
The story begins in an old abandoned house in Greece. Lilith awakes burned terribly. She cannot recall how she got there, where her baby is and what happened to Lamech. She struggles to use her magic to be able to overcome two murderous thieves so that she may drink their blood and hopefully restore herself and also, so that she can feed the corpse to Medusa who only eats the dead.
Lamech meets Lilith 17 years before in Isreal in the city of Endor. They fall in love around 901 BC. Although sunlight burns their skin terribly it will not kill them. King Saul was killed by the Philistines and King David took his place at this time. Also, in Greece, the government changed over to new Archons which were their rulers. The legends of Medusa and Satyrs and such grew up around Lilith and her children in my story.
Characters
Lilith is a strong woman for she was teased, shunned and tormented as a child. She speaks with the dead and controls magic. She is strikingly beautiful but had never been in love because men would not stay with her for long as they feared the spirits and her magic. That is until she met Lamech who also could see the dead, although they would not answer to him like to her. He had a rudimentary ability to control magic that Lilith helps him develop, but through their nightly meetings they fall for one another.
Maldivar Acludar is hell bent on destroying the other vampires. I do not want to give away his motive or how he can walk by day or control werewolves however.
Medusa struggles growing up without her father and being raised by vampires. She wants so much to love a boy and to be able to show herself to him. She loves her mother and her little sisters, although they drive her crazy as siblings often do. She struggles with many of the same image complexes as young girls do today, only in a much more startling way.
Promotional Links and where to buy
Facebook, scionsofazazyel
My books can be purchased through my website www.rkwheeler.com or from amazon.com
Scions of Azazyel: War in Heaven (angelic cover), (2 cover choices the other is War in Heaven: Scions of Azazyel a girl on the cover), The Gnomes of Nome (A short story taken from Scions with a new into and prologue.), The Witch of Endor: Vampires and Mystical Musing: A Collection of Poetry. The Gnomes of Nome and The Witch of Endor are both being converted to audiobook and should be available on itunes, audible and amazon the end of July or first part of August. I am currently taking auditions to convert Scions of Azazyel to audiobook.
One of my poems was published in an anthology and made it to the semifinals of Poetry Nation’s contest. Only 120 were accepted out of 3300 submissions. I have just had two poems and a short story published by Red Cape Publishing in their magazine this month. I will be working on finding an agent and publisher as time permits.
I have received great reviews which can be looked at on amazon.com, frankfrisson.com, theredheadedbookloverblog.com, indiebookreviews.com, and onlinebookclub.com
I hope you love my stories!
Sincerely,
RK Wheeler
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