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Hey Survivor,

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my newest story, “He Who Preys.” My name is Sylvester Barzey, and I’m an award-winning horror author. I’ve been publishing since 2017, and in 2025 I sat down and watched Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, and it changed my brain chemistry. It just made me want to create something on another level. So, in 2026 I decided to create a story about a woman battling her past, her faith, and the devil she can’t escape.

The fun part is I’m doing it in real time for you to read. Basically, every two weeks on Fridays, a new episode of He Who Preys drops, and you get to let me know what you think, get behind-the-scenes notes about what’s going on, and just get to live through the process of me creating my latest book.

To stay up to date with the story, be sure to subscribe to my Substack so you don’t miss an episode. Free Subscribers get an episode biweekly on Fridays. Paid Subscribers get the same with author notes, chats, extended scenes, and an extra episode every now and then. Sign up today.

The story is set in South Carolina in a little town my in-laws come from called Denmark. There’s dark subject matter and depictions that might not be for everyone. Here are your content warnings.

Religious Trauma
Loss of Parents
Alcoholism
Bullying
Child Abuse
Talk of Sexual Abuse
Murder
Child Death
Harm To Animals
Talk of A Dog’s Death

Tracie Todd is returning to her hometown of Denmark, SC, after her father, an accused serial killer, dies in prison. When Tracie and her family roll into town, they’re not greeted with open arms or any form of Southern hospitality, which is to be expected because in 1979, Tracie’s father was arrested for the murder of the town’s beloved pastor and accused of kidnapping and murdering six local girls that same year, known as The Bamberg Six, victims of The Bamberg Butcher.

Tracie isn’t getting an invite to the cookout.

But something no one ever expected was for the kidnappings and murders to start back up again after Tracie arrives.

Is it a copycat?
Did they arrest the wrong man?
Has a murderer returned from the dead?
Or does Tracie know more about what happened in the summer of 1979 than she’s letting on?

Determined to move on from a traumatic past, Tracie left Denmark, SC behind in 1979 and built a quiet life for herself in Bronx, NY. For 16 years, she escaped her past, but when she receives news of her estranged father’s death, Tracie makes the difficult decision to return home to Denmark, a small town in Bamberg County, South Carolina, with her husband and daughter. Her goal is simple: bury the man she never quite forgave, but to whom she owes her life.

Tracie tries to focus on healing her strained relationship with her daughter over the summer, hoping to reconnect and make up for the emotional distance her work has caused. But when a local child goes missing, and Tracie begins experiencing vivid nightmares and seeing ghostly figures, she fears history is repeating itself.

This time the Bamberg Butcher isn’t gonna stop until he gets what’s his, and only Tracie knows what that is.

Angela Todd is a 16-year-old Bronx native with big dreams of becoming a professional artist. She’s at that complicated crossroads of identity, creativity, and faith, trying to figure out who she is and where she belongs. Unlike her mother, who keeps religion at arm’s length, Angela finds comfort and connection in church.

Angela doesn’t see much of her mother, who’s always buried in work. Most of her time is spent with her dad and aunt. She’s excited for a summer by a last-minute announcement: they’re heading to a small Southern town she’s never heard of, to bury a man no one ever talked about.

Angela arrives in Denmark, South Carolina, and she starts volunteering at the local church, a decision that, for reasons she doesn’t understand, deeply unsettles her mother.

When a young girl from the church goes missing, Angela’s world is turned upside down. Alongside a new friend, she begins investigating and uncovers disturbing truths about her mother’s childhood, the town’s buried secrets, and a creeping evil that may have never left Denmark.