My Ex is a Vampire!

"In the swamp’s shadows, a mother’s love stakes the undead."

Synopsis:
Lena Carter, a single mother battered by years of psychological and physical abuse, makes a harrowing escape from her ex-husband, Victor, a centuries-old vampire whose charisma masks a sadistic obsession with control. With her two young children—Mia, 8, and Sam, 5—clinging to her, Lena flees their claustrophobic Atlanta home in a stolen pickup truck, driving through the night to the Florida Everglades. The swamps, a labyrinth of cypress knees, black water, and predatory wildlife, offer a precarious sanctuary. There, Lena reconnects with Kai, her high school sweetheart and a Seminole tracker with an intimate knowledge of the land and its secrets. As Victor’s supernatural senses close in, his hunger for vengeance growing, Lena and Kai forge an intricate, desperate plan. Drawing on Kai’s ancestral lore about vampires—weaknesses like sunlight, fire, and sacred herbs—they weaponize the swamp itself, rigging traps with sharpened palmetto stakes, explosive fuel canisters, and a derelict airboat. The plan hinges on luring Victor into a dawn ambush, but as the final confrontation looms, Lena must confront her own trauma and the risk of losing everything she’s fought to protect. In a storm-swept showdown, where lightning splits the sky and alligators circle, Lena’s courage and Kai’s cunning face Victor’s immortal wrath, culminating in a battle that tests the limits of love, sacrifice, and survival.

Show Notes:

Setting: The Florida Everglades, a primal, untamed wilderness stretching across southern Florida, is both a character and a crucible. Towering cypress trees drip with Spanish moss, their roots submerged in brackish water teeming with alligators, cottonmouth snakes, and clouds of mosquitoes. Narrow waterways twist through sawgrass prairies, hiding sinkholes and quicksand. The air is thick with humidity and the scent of decay, punctuated by distant egret cries and the occasional splash of a predator. By day, the sun burns through the haze, but at night, the swamp becomes a disorienting void where Victor’s glowing eyes could lurk behind any tree. Lena and Kai’s hideout—a rotting shack on stilts, accessible only by pole boat—feels like a fragile bastion against the encroaching danger.

Main Characters:
Lena Carter: 34, a former nurse who lost her career to Victor’s isolating control. She’s wiry but strong, with haunted hazel eyes and a scar above her left eyebrow from Victor’s rage. Her love for Mia and Sam fuels her resilience, but guilt over staying with Victor too long gnaws at her. She’s quick-thinking, learning to wield a machete and navigate the swamp under Kai’s guidance.

Mia Carter: 8, precocious and protective of her younger brother. She’s observant, noticing Victor’s oddities (never eating, avoiding sunlight) before Lena fully understood his nature. Her sketchbook, filled with drawings of birds and monsters, becomes a quiet outlet for her fear.

Sam Carter: 5, shy and clingy, prone to nightmares about “Daddy’s sharp teeth.” His innocence grounds Lena, but his vulnerability makes every decision feel like life or death.

Victor Duval: 400 years old, turned during the French colonial era. Tall, pale, with jet-black hair and a disarming smile, he’s a predator who thrives on manipulation. His vampiric powers—superhuman strength, speed, and heightened senses—make him a relentless hunter, though sunlight and fire can destroy him. His obsession with Lena stems from her defiance, a challenge to his need for dominance.

Kai Blackwater: 32, a Seminole guide and mechanic with a lean build and steady hands. His dark eyes carry a quiet intensity, shaped by a childhood split between reservation life and urban struggles. He knows the swamp’s rhythms—tides, animal patterns, and hidden paths—and his grandfather’s stories about blood-drinkers give him an edge against Victor. Kai’s love for Lena is unspoken but fierce, tempered by his fear of failing her.

Plot Points:
The Escape: Lena discovers Victor’s true nature when she catches him draining a neighbor’s dog, his eyes glowing red. She drugs his wine with stolen sedatives, grabs the kids, and speeds south in his truck, abandoning it at a gas station to throw him off. Victor wakes hours later, his roar echoing as he vows to reclaim “his family.”

Swamp Sanctuary: Kai, tipped off by a frantic voicemail from Lena, meets them at a remote dock. He poles them through moonlit channels to the shack, teaching Lena to cover their scent with mud and avoid leaving tracks. The kids huddle under mosquito nets, whispering about “monsters” as Lena and Kai plan their next move.

Building the Trap: Kai shares a tribal legend about a “pale demon” defeated with fire and sacred datura plants. They scavenge supplies—fuel from an abandoned camp, palmetto fronds for stakes, and wire for snares. Lena suggests using herself as bait, knowing Victor’s fixation on her. They rig an airboat to explode and mark a clearing for a dawn ambush, when Victor’s powers weaken.

Victor’s Pursuit: Victor tracks them using a lock of Mia’s hair, his supernatural senses cutting through the swamp’s chaos. He leaves taunting signs—dead herons strung up, Lena’s name carved into trees—escalating the psychological warfare. A close call forces Kai to kill an alligator Victor spooked toward their boat, deepening Sam’s trauma.

Climax: A tropical storm hits as Victor breaches their defenses, his laughter chilling amid the thunder. Lena lures him to the clearing, dodging his lunges as Kai triggers snares. The airboat explodes, stunning Victor, but he recovers, wounding Kai. In a final act of defiance, Lena drives a datura-laced stake through Victor’s heart as the first rays of dawn burn his flesh, reducing him to ash.

Resolution: Bloodied but alive, Lena, Kai, and the kids collapse in the mud, the storm clearing to reveal a golden sunrise. They burn the shack to erase their traces and paddle toward a new life, uncertain but free.

Themes:
Survival and Resilience: Lena’s journey mirrors the swamp’s harsh beauty—both demand adaptability and grit to endure.

Maternal Sacrifice: Every choice Lena makes prioritizes Mia and Sam, even at the cost of her own safety or sanity.

Reclaiming Power: By facing Victor, Lena shatters the chains of her past, redefining herself as a protector, not a victim.

Cultural Wisdom vs. Supernatural Evil: Kai’s Seminole heritage, rooted in balance with nature, contrasts Victor’s parasitic immortality, suggesting that ancient knowledge can triumph over modern horrors.

Tone: Gritty and atmospheric, blending visceral horror with emotional depth. The story feels like a pulse-pounding survival thriller (The Hunted) fused with supernatural dread (Salem’s Lot). Quiet moments—Lena braiding Mia’s hair, Kai teaching Sam to spot fireflies—anchor the terror, making the stakes feel achingly human.

Visual and Sensory Notes: The swamp’s palette is muddy greens, silty browns, and flashes of crimson (Victor’s eyes, blood). Sounds—dripping water, buzzing insects, Victor’s low growl—build dread. Lena’s hands tremble as she sharpens stakes; Kai’s breath steadies as he prays in Mikasuki. The final fight is chaotic—rain-slicked skin, splintered wood, and the acrid smell of burning vampire flesh.