The Mage's Trick: Book II of the Mage Tales

Ancient vampires. Treacherous beheadings. Bomb-filled body bags. This mage is on a course that’s set to explode.
Ah, Rome. The city of Raphael . . . Bernini . . . Caravaggio. And an ancient and evil vampire who’s recently come out of a deep sleep.

The mage known as Joshua is finally reunited with the mother who disappeared when he was a teen, but there’s little time to celebrate. His mother’s kidnappers may be dead, but their master—a merciless vampire who wants to rule humanity—is very much alive. And he grows more powerful every night, making followers and plotting overthrows.

The only hope Joshua has of stopping this tyrant is a daring scheme that puts him in the belly of the beast—a beast that includes treachery, gas attacks, fake corpses, beheadings, and bombs.

Can a few witches, a possibly-repentant blood-seeker, and a lone mage save the world? Or is the whole situation about to explode?

Literally.