Alastor Darvell is not an ordinary vampire. He learned his survival skills at the Krypteia, the equivalent of the Spartan 'special forces' and his powerful esoteric knowledge has been bequeathed from a long line of ancient Egyptian magicians - which tend to make him pretty well invincible. Forced against his will to become a vrykolakas - or 'avenger of the blood' - Alastor embarks on an endless voyage of discovery, persecution, boredom and loneliness as he searches the world for others of his kind - hoping to find the secret of his release from the cycle of everlasting life. Not only does his story reflect the trials and tribulations of the Old World, he also finds himself embroiled in a contemporary intrigue that runs parallel with his narrative and which threatens to expose him to the unknown dangers of the 21st century. Nevertheless, he has a powerful guardian in the beautiful, but long-dead Egyptian sorceress Amenirdis whose influence reaches out from beyond the grave to protect him. The Wanderer takes Alastor on a new phase of his long and varied existence ...