Review: Demons and Lullabies by Kallysten

Title: Demons & Lullabies

Series: Demons Age, Book 2 (Can be read independently)

Author: Kallysten

Genre: Male/Male, Paranormal, Romance,

Publisher: Self-Published

Ebook/Paperback

Words: 107.000 words

Purchase:

Kallysten.net |

 

Book Description:

Some little boys want to be firemen or astronauts when they grow up. From the moment Jacob understood what his fathers did, he never wanted to do anything but fight demons.

Andrew, Jacob’s father and a vampire, fights demons because it’s a necessity: few others have the strength or skill to kill the strange creatures that started appearing the very night his son was born. He carries with him some guilt, too, and the suspicion that the magic that made Jacob’s very life possible also opened the way for the demons. The last thing he wants is for his son to ever join this fight and get hurt.

As the years pass, however, and Andrew watches Jacob grow up and grow more determined, he slowly has to accept there’s little he can do to deter his son. It doesn’t help that Nicholas, Jacob’s other dad and Andrew’s Childe, starts giving Jacob sword-fighting lessons under the cover of playing, or that Jacob discovers his mother’s diaries and comes to the same conclusion Andrew did concerning his origins and the demons’.

Through snapshots covering Jacob’s life from birth to adulthood, watch all three members of this unusual family change, grow up, and find their place in the world.

Excerpt:

His father’s car was there, and Jacob tried to swallow the lump in his throat when he saw it was empty. He rested a hand on the hood for a second; it was lukewarm, as though the car had only been stopped for a while. The roof was down, and Andrew rarely left the convertible open if he expected to be gone for long. Dropping the blanket inside the car, Jacob checked the phone again. The pin that represented him was very close to Nicholas’, but as he looked around, he couldn’t see anyone. It was that steady water drip he could still hear that clued him in.

Near the beginning of the trail was a water fountain, with one of those old-fashioned hand pumps and a basin at the base. If it dripped…

Tightening a suddenly sweaty hand over the hilt of his sword, he went over to the fountain. He wanted to run, but forced himself to walk at a steady pace, giving himself time to look around for any sign of life, to listen for suspicious sounds, even smell the air, like the hunter Andrew had tried for so long to deny Jacob was.

Before he reached the fountain, he had already picked up both his fathers’ scents, along with something else, something like sulfur and rotten eggs. He’d smelled this before, lingering on his fathers’ clothes or Craig’s after they had fought hard. This was what demons smelled like.

His heart jumped in his chest at the same time he flexed his fingers on the sword. He had been trained to fight demons since the very first time he picked up a foam sword and played with Nicholas but he didn’t know if he was ready to fight one now.

A gleam, low in front of him, brought his gaze to the ground. He bent down to pick up Nicholas’ phone. His throat had never felt so tight. His eyes searched the ground for ashes and dust, but even if they were there, would he have seen them in such poor light?

He wanted to call out for his dads, but at the same time he knew it would have been a terrible idea. If there was a demon around—demons—the last thing he wanted was to give away his presence. Besides, he had other means to track them down.

Turning off Nicholas’ phone, he slipped it into his pocket and took a deep breath in through his nose. Nicholas’ scent, along with Andrew’s and the demon’s, led him straight into the woods.

He advanced with cautious steps, holding the sword in front of him with both hands, his eyes sweeping around him, attentive to any movement. There was none that he could see, and no sound other than the rustling of leaves above them, or small animals scurrying out of sight. He continued to follow the scents deeper into the woods. Again, he wanted to call out for them, and again he thought better of it.

He was afraid—no, he was terrified—but not for himself. He was afraid of how badly his fathers might be hurt. Afraid it had taken him too much time to come to them. He wanted nothing more than to run, find them fast, find them now, but everything he had ever learned told him to go slow, from Nicholas teaching him how to be very quiet when he had been a toddler to Andrew’s slightly surreal but actually helpful lesson about controlling his heartbeat and breathing, a few weeks earlier. Slow and steady, listening to every sound, breathing in through his nose not to lose the scents he was tracking, he crossed through the woods.

At the end, both their scents and the demon’s led him to a small clearing. A stream passed through, murmuring quietly, the water flowing around the massive body of the demon that laid face up across it.

His fathers’ scents were thicker here, now with the prominent smell of blood like a veneer that tinted everything. More than ever, Jacob wanted to call out to them, but he managed to reign in his instincts. If there were more demons, he didn’t want to draw them to him now. He held the sword hilt so tight that his knuckles turned white and approached the demon. Under a row of small spikes in the place of eyebrows, the demon’s eyes were open, staring straight up at the tree canopy above them. It was dead, and Jacob only needed seconds to find the bloody wound on its side that must have killed it.

He looked around again, and this time caught sight of a glimmer on the other side of the stream, moonlight reflecting on metal. His heart in his throat, Jacob started circling the thick tree that blocked his view, remaining at some distance so he would see before being seen.

He recognized the weapon first: Nicholas’ sword. Two more steps and he could see Nicholas, sitting on the ground with his back to the tree, holding the sword in front of him with both his hands as though defending. Jacob only needed one more second to know what he was defending. Across his lap, the unmoving body could only be—

“Dad!”

About the Author:

Kallysten’s most exciting accomplishment to date was to cross a few thousand miles and an ocean to pursue (and catch!) the love of her life. She has been writing for fifteen years, and always enjoyed sharing her stories and listening to the readers’ reactions. After playing with science fiction, short stories and poetry, she is now trying her hand, heart and words at paranormal romance novels.

To see her stories, including free short stories and sample chapters, visit

http://original.kallysten.net

Website | Facebook | Twitter |

The Jeep Diva Review:

eBook, 321

Published August 29th 2012

ASIN: B0092Z8XIA

Source: Author/Tour, for the purpose of an honest review

Genre: Paranormal Romance, m/m

Series: The Demons Age, book #2

Best read in order: no, each works as a stand alone

Stars: 5

Flames: 5

Demons and Lullabies by Kallysten is a heart-felt story about a very unusual family trying to find their place in a world that is not always accepting.  Jacob’s birth is one of awe and concern, especially since his father is a vampire.  His biological mother passed away when Jacob was born and he is now being raised by Andrew, his father and Nicholas, Andrew’s Childe and lover.  Jacob’s family is not one of true societal convention as his dads are vampire hunters who run a Special Force Agency.

The story is written through the lens of Jacob’s life starting from birth through teenage-hood.  Each year of his life takes the reader through the highs and lows of raising a child in a world where the paranormal is the norm, but being gay parents is not.  Andrew and Nicholas love their son very much and make it their life’s goal to protect him from the evils of the world.  Unfortunately, that is not always possible when your dads are vampire hunters. I appreciated Kallysten’s point of view when depicting Andrew and Nicholas.  I felt as if they were everyday parents where one parent is the heavy, Andrew, and the other is the “push-over”, Nicholas.  This POV gave the book normalcy in attempting to raise a very precocious and self- aware son. Jacob idolizes his dads and wants to grow up to be just like them.

As the reader progresses through Jacob’s life, we watch the evolution of not only the child but of the relationship between Andrew and Nicholas. I found the story flowed effortlessly as it was told from all three characters perceptions. Andrew and Nicholas, Sire and Childe have a love that spans the tests of time and as with any true committed relationship, have vowed to create a life for themselves as well as their son. Through all the pitfalls and angst of child rearing and spousal relationship, they complement each other’s personality and drive.  Demons and Lullabies swelled my heart with the immense love displayed throughout the story between lovers, family and friends.  Kallysten truly has a winning book in Demons and Lullabies.