The Sin Eater's Promise

Sin eater, Desdenova Fleetwood dreamed of falling in love—but knew it could never happen to her. When the mysterious soul bringer, Blackthorn Regis, demands she give up her livelihood, the two question their very reason for living—and loving.

So let me tell you a little about my short story, found in THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF PARANORMAL ROMANCE 2, which is showing up in stores right about now (it's already out in the UK).  First, ever since I started noticing the Mammoth books, I really wanted to be in one!  Then, after pining for a while, I got an email from the fab editor of those books, Trisha Telep, asking me to write a story.  Yes!  And I actually had a character in mind that I wanted to explore further—a sin eater named Desdenova Fleetwood.

I wanted to keep the story in my Beautiful Creatures world because that just makes sense.  If you like this short story, then you might like my longer stories.  And if you like my longer stories, you might like to check out the shorter ones as well.  I've had this character in my brain for years, but just never had the right story for her.  But I also knew I only wanted to show a scene from her life, so it wouldn't be a long story.

So, who to pair her with?  That came rather easily, since I had just finished writing Angel Slayer, and knew that I would someday like to do more with the soul bringer, Blackthorn Regis.  (I lurve that dude, fancy vest, and all.)  Again, I never felt he would have a full-length story, and I wasn't even sure he could have a relationship, because of his job.  But turns out, he was looking for someone to love.

Now, the story is sweet.  Just a kiss.  Really, it's not long enough for anything more, but also, these two really need to go slowly.  This is the beginning of their relationship, and I wanted to leave it there.  They may show up in a later book as cameos, who knows.

The thing that really surprised me, after I'd finished writing this story, and sort of looked over it as a whole, was this: it's got some weirdly moral and religious undertones to it (at least, when you compare it to my other work).  If you had the ability to take away a person's sins, would you do it?  Would you have a right to do so?  I explore that a bit.  Actually, it just happened that way after I put these two characters together.  Hadn't planned to get into the deep stuff, but it's there, and well, I hope you like the story.  It's a short read, and there are dozens more stories in this anthology that I'm sure are excellent.  I haven't seen an author copy yet, so I don't know the other authors who are in it.  But heck, I recommend it for my story alone.  ;-)