That Way Madness Lies: The Mayan Immortality Curse

“What would you give to be young again, Hal?” Gene Gatz said. “I've almost got the cigs beat, doctor's orders, and I gave up drinking.”
Hal Scott let his eyes drift closed and slowly shook his head. Gatz noticed a patchy age spot near his temple. Hal opened his eyes and the sparkle was gone. “That only slows it down, Gene; believe me.”
“But just supposing, Hal,” Gene pressed. “What would you do?”
Hal studied Gene a moment then leaned back. “To really have my youth again?” He held his mutilated hand up. “To be whole again?” Hal chuckled and said, “Hell, boy, I'd kill for it.”

What would an aging archaeologist do to regain youth and fame?
That Way Madness Lies is a fast-paced, violent horror novel that also explores the human condition through themes of aging, faith, revenge, love, remorse and prejudice.
In a Spanish castle, University Professor Gene Gatz finds a rare, Mayan codex that promises eternal life, but the ceremony involves the blood sacrifice of a virgin bride. Possessed through the codex by the demonic spirit of the Mayan high-priest Xan Tak’An, Professor Gatz chooses one of his young students, Sara Drake, for the gruesome transformation ritual. What he doesn’t count on are the results: true, desperate love for the murdered Sara, a dark existence as a vampire, and the obsessive revenge of Detective Tony Drake, the bride’s brother, an atheist with latent but growing psychic power. Drake´s pursuit of Gatz brings him into contact with Gene Gatz´s friends Jay Johnson and the elderly professor Hal Scott.
Conflict erupts between Tony, who wants to destroy Gatz, and Hal and Jay, who want to help him. Their group is complete when they meet Angela, a Catholic prostitute, nursing a dying friend who had been attacked by Gatz. Angela´s friend Emma dies, transforms into a vampire and nearly kills Tony and Angela.
Initially at odds, the confrontation brings Tony and Angela together romantically, maybe. At the same time, Tony realizes that a cross in the hands of someone without faith is useless against a vampire, definitely.
The story also follows Gene Gatz through his transformation ritual and his resultant vampiric existence. As Gatz tries to replace his lost love Sara with a trail of drained bodies, he falls further under the power of the spirit of the Mayan priest Xan Tak’An. What Gatz fails to realize is that the possessing spirit of the priest is only using him to conduct a much more evil ceremony intended to bring the powerful demon Moloch into the world. For that, Xan Tak ‘An´s spirit needs the sacrifice of a psychic conduit: Tony Drake.
While Drake pursues Gatz from Mexico to California with a vengeance, Gatz grows more powerful. Their final confrontation makes Drake reevaluate his atheism as well as his past life, loses and new, unexpected love.