Amy Lane is here today to tells a little about her new paranormal novel, Familiar Angel, from Dreamspinner Press & she's brought an excerpt too!
Familiar Angel Blogpost 9
Family Matters
By Amy Lane
Of course the “familiar” in this series refers to the witch’s familiar. Emma Youngblood, a desperate sorceress uses three boys as receptacles for her power so that she can keep some of it “on tap” and remain alive to help her lover adapt to the human world.
The three boys were escaping from a life of abuse and pain, and Emma is the soul of compassion. Whether she’d planned to or not that night, she’d done more than just cast a spell to pull her lover out of hell—she’d forged a family. A hundred and twenty years later, she added to the family by giving birth to Beltane, and the original three boys—Harry, Edward, and Francis—all had a child to spoil.
And now that Bel is grown, this family’s bonds in immortality are thicker than blood—hell, they’re thicker than the rock in Beltane Youngblood’s head.
And don’t think that wasn’t fun as hell to write. I mean, it has to be—I’m planning to write two more books!
*
“Harry?”
Only Emma’s voice could have made him stir. Harry pulled away from Suriel and found his mother’s arms wrapped securely around him.
“Sorry to worry you,” he said gruffly. He looked over Emma’s shoulder and smiled apologetically at Leonard. “I know how much you hate to travel.”
Leonard rolled his eyes. “It’s more frightening when your mother drives.”
Some of his exhaustion fell away. He straightened and kissed Emma on the cheek. “You didn’t need to come down,” he said doggedly. “Suriel and the boys talked some sense—oolf!”
Beltane appeared out of nowhere and hugged Harry for all he was worth.
“Holy beefsteak, Bel Youngblood! You can let go before you crack my ribs!”
Bel stepped back and grinned, his outsized biceps and broad shoulders dwarfing Harry as he dwarfed Edward and Francis. In Harry’s day, the three of them were moderately tall, standing between Francis’s five feet five and Edward’s five feet eight.
Bel Youngblood passed Edward up during his first growth spurt. He passed his father—who stood over six feet tall—during his last one, at the end of what would have been high school, had he ever attended.
“All I know is that everybody’s mad at you,” Bel said blithely. “I know when everybody is mad at me, a solid hug always makes it better.”
Harry grinned up at him, entranced as everybody else had been over their baby, their perfect child. “When, in your entire life, has anybody been mad at you?” he asked teasingly.
Bel had the grace to look away, and Emma scowled furiously. Even Leonard looked irritated, and he was the family rock.
Harry’s family antennae perked right up. “What?”
“You tell him,” Emma snapped to Bel. “I just—” Her hands flailed expressively, and Harry read her loud and clear.
“Jesus, boy—tell us before she explodes!”
“I’m not going to Oxford,” Bel said shortly, glaring at his mother.
Harry’s mouth fell open. “But Bel—you… you told your mother years ago, you were going to spend five years at Oxford and then come home. There’s a wizard there who can teach you, and peers, on both sides of the divide. Why would you—”
“He can’t bring cats,” Emma muttered. “Of all the stubborn, shortsighted—“
Harry blinked at him and for the first time realized Bel’s handsome, rectangular face and deep hazel eyes could look stubborn and determined, much like his mother’s—or his father’s, for that matter.
“I won’t leave him,” Bel said. He scowled at Harry. “Are you going to try to talk me out of it?”
Harry shook his head and held out his hands. “I’ve had enough of that crap this morning to last me another two lifetimes,” he said, sincerity rocking from the bottom of his toes. “You make the decisions best for you and your heart, Bel. You know I’ll always love you.”
He and the others had listened to Bel making excited vowels as he lay on a play blanket in a sunny room. They’d helped him take his first steps, had played with him—mostly as cats—when he’d been restless or teething, and had helped him learn his letters, and his figures, and chemistry and biology—and magic.
He could remember his delight the first time Bel had changed shape, and Francis’s pique when the shape had turned out to be a big blond dog.
Francis had overcome his disappointment, though, and soon he and Bel had become legendary in their county as the white cat and the yellow dog, and together the two of them had probably had adventures that would age Emma twenty years in a night—if only they told.
“I love you too,” Bel said, giving his mother the side-eye. “And I’m not going to nag you.”
“Well, I’m very grate—”
“I’m just going to tell you that now that I’m grown, I have an abominably long time on the planet, and you are one of the people I count on being there for the entire damned millennia. Do what you have to for that to happen, do you understand? This is bullshit. Mom and I were in the middle of a rip-roaring fight and suddenly we’re tearing ass down the road. We haven’t even stopped for dinner! Or breakfast! Or snack! Or coffee! Or—”
Francis appeared at his elbow with a pink box full of donuts, and Bel shoved one in his mouth.
“Fixth ith,” he ordered direly as Francis pulled him away.
Harry watched as he and Francis helped Linda clean up the last of the breakfast and saw that Edward was getting information from John and Krista.
He sighed and turned to his mother. “Fine,” he said. “I already told Suriel I’d go, but I think you’re all—”
“I love you, Harry, but you’re full of shit. Leonard, give me your hand—the cabin by the house will work, don’t you think?”
Leonard smiled. “It’s already stocked, dearest. Harry?”
“Leonard, I haven’t even had time to say hello to you—”
“I love you, son. Your mother’s right. Your mother’s always right.” Leonard stepped in and hugged him tight. “Love finds a way,” he whispered. “Through years, through death, through magic portals to hell. Believe in it, okay?”
Blurb:
One hundred and forty years ago, Harry, Edward, and Francis met an angel, a demon, and a sorceress while escaping imprisonment and worse! They emerged with a new family—and shapeshifting powers beyond their wildest dreams.
Now Harry and his brothers use their sorcery to rescue those enslaved in human trafficking—but Harry’s not doing so well. Pining for Suriel the angel has driven him to take more and more risks until his family desperately asks Suriel for an intervention.
In order for Suriel to escape the bindings of heaven, he needs to be sure enough of his love to fight to be with Harry. Back when they first met, Harry was feral and angry, and he didn’t know enough about love for Suriel to justify that risk. Can Suriel trust in Harry enough now to break his bonds of service for the boy who has loved his Familiar Angel for nearly a century and a half?
Now Harry and his brothers use their sorcery to rescue those enslaved in human trafficking—but Harry’s not doing so well. Pining for Suriel the angel has driven him to take more and more risks until his family desperately asks Suriel for an intervention.
In order for Suriel to escape the bindings of heaven, he needs to be sure enough of his love to fight to be with Harry. Back when they first met, Harry was feral and angry, and he didn’t know enough about love for Suriel to justify that risk. Can Suriel trust in Harry enough now to break his bonds of service for the boy who has loved his Familiar Angel for nearly a century and a half?
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