Doc Warlock

DOC WARLOCK, MONSTER HUNTER

Created by Thomas V. Powers

Characters:

Doctor Paul Wagner (aka 'Doc Warlock')   

Valentina Vladescu

Occult detective Paul Wagner, known to the public as Doctor Warlock, protects the world from the indescribable dangers of the supernatural. He is a 'Knight Tellurian' in the Order of Beowulf, an international group founded circa 1000 A.D. Their mission is to study the occult and other strange phenomena in order to combat the dangers it, and debased science, present to the world. Their numbers are dwindling in the modern era.

In addition to normal weapons, Wagner is skilled at using mystical objects to aide in his campaigns, although having to use them makes him somewhat leery, as he considers himself a scientist, first and foremost - and he knows they have limitations and personal costs. One of these objects is a hooded 'cloak of invisibility' that only a skilled mental adept can function in; its use can make anyone near its field disoriented, even nauseated. The Doc Warlock identity is a pseudonym / code name used to keep his name out of the papers and preserve security when he works with government agencies.

Wagner also finds it useful to 'put on' the Doc Warlock persona to make himself a more effective fighter and less naturally sympathetic to the people he encounters, as he is a person of sensitivity. Left to his own devices, he would prefer to avoid violence and conflict. His academic leanings and medical background are somewhat at war with his training as a sometimes deadly and pragmatic Knight Tellurian. 

 It may be of some interest that the Doctor Warlock story Conspiracy of the Damned, edited by G.W, Thomas, was originally written as a radio play, and the first half of it appeared online in streaming form for a number of years.

In this adventure Paul Wagner is called in on a case by General Udderson of British Intelligence. One of their agents and a courier were both found drained of blood in the nation of 'Wallachia', and then their bodies disappeared from the morgue. Vampire activity is suspected in this pre-war espionage tale.

Aided by local partisan Armand Taslov, Wagner first meets Countess (more properly Contessa) Valentina Vladescu, a young woman who had been helping the incipient underground, and involved romantically with the British agent.  It proves that she is a unique individual; her mother was infected with vampire blood while pregnant with Valentina. The young Countess is a kind of Dhampir, pale, photosensitive and listless by day, strong and vital at night, and gifted with psychometric abilities - she can sense the presence of the supernatural. By the end of the tale she has decided to join Doc Warlock and the Order of Beowulf. She evidences some attraction towards the older Paul Wagner, which makes him uneasy, due in part to the differences in their ages. He's also old-fashioned and perhaps has a puritanical streak, though he is normally very affable and down-to-earth in his dealings with others.

Other Doc Warlock tales have been written, awaiting congenial publishing opportunities. The second story-"The Werewolf Warriors"-seems to have caused two planned anthologies to crash and burn before ever taking flight.

1. "Conspiracy of the Damned": GHOSTBREAKERS: THE VAMPIRE HUNTERS, Cyber-Pulp Press (2005).