I, Carpathia

Part One — Bucharest, 1995

Modern Bucharest clubs and cafes provide cover for crime and corruption.

The Cold War is Over — In 1995, Fred Grant is a young, ambitious American aid worker who is eager to make his mark in Bucharest, Romania, a forgotten backwater of freshly liberated Eastern Europe. He is anxious to succeed on his own terms without trading on the memory of his CIA hero father, who died a mysterious and early death. Despite Fred's low profile, he cannot shake the feeling that he is monitored, even targeted. Indeed, on his very first day he is drugged and compromised unknowingly in his hotel room by a sly undercover operative.

Like many ex-pats living in Bucharest at the time, Fred is eager to find a profitable side-hustle that goes beyond his entry-level job. He gains a local mentor, Tom Cameron, an American CIA spy hiding in plain sight as the US embassy's economic counselor. Cameron admits that he knew Fred's father from the Cold War era and the two become fast friends in a place where everyone has a hidden agenda. With Cameron's encouragement and secretive cash financing, Fred launches Romania's first-ever English-language weekly newspaper as an optimistic, yet naive, entrepreneur.

Part Two — The General's Shadow

Ion Mihai Pacepa, Romania’s famous defector in 1978 and keeper of many secrets.

Cameron at the embassy has his own undercover CIA mission. He believes that the former communist general Victor Lupescu is the key to understanding Romania's corruption problem. A mastermind controlling the levers of power with his media empire and ex-Securitate connections, Lupescu has organized a secretive cabal that siphons off incoming western funds meant to help Romania transition to a western, capitalist society.

To get proof, Cameron must track down Romania's greatest defector, Mihai Pacepa, now living in America under the witness protection program. Pacepa's accounts confirm the worst fears about General Lupescu and his growing power. Cameron passes his research and theories to Fred, in the hopes that Fred will publish investigative journalism targeting the general and bring him to heel.

Part Three — The Ancient Darkness

Many believe this Orthodox Cave Monastery was simply a ‘front’ for the pagan rituals deep in the mountains behind it.

Far beyond his overt criminality, it turns out General Lupescu has much more sinister plans. He has uncovered the ancient knowledge of the lost Dacian tribe, the hardy warriors that fought and survived against the Roman Empire. At his mountain redoubt he conjures the dark arts, and has revived their pagan wolf cult practices, along with their rites including human sacrifice, and wolf transfiguration.

For years, the Dacian cult has been secretly surviving, hidden deep within the Carpathians, but growing more powerful with the general's financial support and leadership. The grotesque horror of their ancient rituals is slowly revealed, including the revival of powerful shapeshifters called Pricolici, who transform from human to wolf-form by entering a drug-induced trance and wearing a wolf cloak that melds into human flesh.

Romania has a documented history of supernatural lore that goes far beyond the Hollywood interpretation. In Transylvania and the Carpathian Mountains, villagers as recently as the 1980's spoke matter-of-factly about werewolves in the area.

Long-exiled Romanian King Michael holds a valuable diary, detailing the lost Dacian tribe’s supernatural practices.

Part Four — The Summit

When Pacepa and others close to Fred are brutally kidnapped to stand before a vengeful Lupescu, Fred, Cameron, King Michael and a colorful cast of characters must embark on a risky mountain rescue mission before the General can be crowned as king of 'New Dacia,' and unleash his brutal takeover plans of Romania's government and society.

High on the stormy mountaintop, the final showdown occurs, amidst secrets, confessions, accusations, and judgements. Who will be sacrificed to the ancient god? Who survives the inevitable clash with the wolf warriors? Can Fred and the rescue squad stop the madman from carrying through with his scheme, which threatens an entire nation?