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Flashback: Stone’s Embrace
Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

If you post a comment today and you’ll be in the running
for a free download of this book!

I have a new book coming out with Samhain on September 7th—another Lone Star Lovers book. Just thought I’d mention that. 🙂

Here’s another Samhain story that you can order right this minute. Don’t you love gargoyles?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“…STONE’S EMBRACE is a wonderfully descriptive story…The mix of Greek mythology with Christian elements is intriguing and adds to the subtle layering of eroticism and exoticism…this story is fantastic and a super-hot read!”
5 Angels, Fallen Angels Reviews on STONE’S EMBRACE

“…The sex in the book was off the charts hot!…It was a wonderfully different story with a strong characters and a fun plot that left this reviewer breathless!”
5 Stars, Just Erotic Romances on STONE’S EMBRACE

Lust trapped them in darkness…only love can free them…

Petra Pedersen has lived as a recluse all her life thanks to a genetic double whammy—a strange deformity and a shameful power inherited from the father she will never know. The power to incite lust in men and women with just a touch.

Exploring the garden of the mansion she’s just inherited, she comes across a fascinating stone gargoyle whose raw, passionate expression draws her to caress its broad chest. Her imagination follows her fluttering fingers. As she closes her eyes and gives herself up to the arousal, something shifts beneath her touch.

Long ago, failure to stop a demon battle trapped Octavius in a prison of stone. Freed by the woman’s incendiary touch, he doesn’t hesitate to unleash his pent-up rage and desire in a blistering fury. Yet once the haze of lust clears, he discovers he isn’t really free after all.

They are both trapped in another realm where he must choose between his last chance for redemption or returning Petra home…

Warning: Sex with inanimate objects, lusty m/m/f ménages with gods…it’s all good when the reward is freedom.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Louisiana 1909

Octavius rammed his shoulder against the heavy oak door. The lock and hinges gave and the door crashed backward with a satisfying thud, raising dust that sifted through the air like silver-gilt fireflies in the moonlight. Wary, he stepped across the threshold. Inside, the house was dark, the air thick—too heavy to be natural.

He knew, without reeling in the psychic tether that kept him chained to the Grigori, that Bacclum was here. That the bastard had found the demon. He prayed he wasn’t too late to save Bacclum from his own insatiable lust for power. The consequences of his failure would mean his own end.

He should have known that Bacclum planned mischief that night. The mixed-blood angel had been too eager to see Octavius take a rare walk among humans, encouraging him to attend a masked ball at a wealthy residence inside the French Quarter.

While Octavius had enjoyed the rare opportunity to mingle among sweet-smelling women, secretly laughing as he pretended a lever inside his vest controlled the movement of his wings and thrilling to the many strokes of soft hands along his ribbed folds, Bacclum had snuck away. But not before he’d assured himself that his watcher’s vigilance had been dulled by the herbs stirred into his drink. If Octavius hadn’t noted the uneasy glances of the sloe-eyed woman who’d gulled him, he might have drunk the full measure. As it was, his head still swam and his loins throbbed with unabated lust.

The sound of crashing furniture and the low rumble of a masculine voice drew him up the staircase and down a hallway toward the sliver of golden light, fanning outward from a partially opened doorway. Sliding his back close to the wall, he gently pushed open the door and peered around the corner into a room lined with shelves of books.

Bacclum’s dark head was bent toward his chest, his thighs braced around the demon, his hands wrapped around a straining throat.

I’m not too late, thank the gods. “Let go, Bacclum!” Octavius growled as he stalked toward the Grigori steadily strangling the demon he clasped.

“Not until he gives me what I want.” Bacclum grunted, his face screwing into a fierce grimace. “I want all of it.”

Octavius stepped deeper into the library then felt a slight, telltale rumbling beneath his feet.

Bacclum seemed unaware of the heightening danger, so intent was he on murdering the demon and claiming his power for his own.

Octavius cursed beneath his breath. He should have suspected what Bacclum had intended when he’d entered this demon’s realm. The angel’s thirst for power was unquenchable. The council had warned Octavius long ago of Bacclum’s unrelenting quest, but he’d believed the core of the creature squeezing the life force from the demon was good and honorable. He’d believed that Bacclum understood the uneasy balance that had to be maintained between the forces of light and darkness. In the end, he’d misjudged him, underestimating his need for vengeance. Now it was up to him alone to set this right.

Octavius folded his wings forward, scraping the leathery tips against Bacclum’s slick, hot skin, intending to wrap his wings around Bacclum’s face and smother him into unconsciousness. The rumbling increased, fed by the faint chanting echoing inside his head. The demon was far from vanquished.

“Let go, Bacclum,” he roared, leaning closer to pull Bacclum back, but something lashed around his own wrists. Invisible bonds tightened then jerked him off his feet.

He landed on the floor on his knees and growled. The air around them grew dank and humid like a demon’s breath, and the voice chanting in an ancient tongue inside his head grew louder and stronger.

The house shivered violently. The wood flooring creaked. Windows rattled then shattered. Glass shards, like silvery projectiles, peppered his wings and back and shredded his clothing, drawing blood from hundreds of cuts.

Bacclum’s head jerked back and canted to the side. At last, he’d caught the chanting voice and had to know he’d awakened the demon’s inner fire.

The breeze sweeping through the shattered window intensified and swirled around the room, tightening into a devil wind that picked up more slivers of glass and jagged bits of shattered furniture that pinged against the paneled walls but sank into tender flesh.

Octavius’s chest, back and wings were flayed, scraped raw. He reared back, fighting the phantom manacles holding him. Suddenly he was wrenched from the ground and held still inside the fulcrum of the whirlwind.

With only a moment to suck in a deep breath, he was flung forward, forced to ride the arc of an invisible whip, then shot backward like a cannonball through the gaping window onto fragrant grass.

Frogs croaked. Crickets chirped. Moonlight silvered the damp grass. He shook his head clear and ripped off the ragged clothing hanging from the belt at his waist.

Freed at last, he knelt, breathing deeply and gathering strength. He flared his wings and dug his knuckles into the turf. He pushed upward—but his feet never left the ground. His wings never caught the wind beneath their leathery folds.

Frozen, first by horror, then irreversibly by magic, he could only stand there, his terrified gaze watching as his body was slowly consumed, inch by inch, by stone.

20 comments to “Flashback: Stone’s Embrace”

  1. Wesley Nichols
    Comment
    1
    · August 24th, 2010 at 9:13 am · Link

    How have you been these last few days? Have you had a chance to get back into the groove or are you still a little shell shocked from your vacation and then having to hit the ground running last weekend 🙂



  2. Julie K
    Comment
    2
    · August 24th, 2010 at 11:45 am · Link

    Sounds yummy Delilah! I have missed you while you were gone, You got a lot done and I am looking forward to it all! I am off from surgery last wee and I have been re-reading all your stories!

    ~Julie



  3. Valerie
    Comment
    3
    · August 24th, 2010 at 12:35 pm · Link

    Wow, an intensive excerpt…I want!!! Hehe!!!

    Valerie
    valb0302@yahoo.com
    in Germany



  4. Ilona
    Comment
    4
    · August 24th, 2010 at 1:28 pm · Link

    WOW! That made me want the book *keeps fingers crossed about winning it*



  5. Himeko
    Comment
    5
    · August 24th, 2010 at 2:52 pm · Link

    count me in!



  6. Rasha
    Comment
    6
    · August 24th, 2010 at 3:09 pm · Link

    Well I have this one and I can tell you all its a fab read. I love this book. Hi DD! Been too long 🙂



  7. Sherry S.
    Comment
    7
    · August 24th, 2010 at 3:17 pm · Link

    I think this sounds like a very hot book. I love the blurb and the excerpt that you gave us. Glad your back and I hope you have a wonderful time.



  8. Terri W.
    Comment
    8
    · August 24th, 2010 at 4:17 pm · Link

    Hi Deliah,

    Oh this sounds like another hot read and after reading the excerpt it makes me want to read it even more!

    Welcome back and I do love gargoyles.



  9. Estella
    Comment
    9
    · August 24th, 2010 at 4:36 pm · Link

    Good excerpt! Makes me want to read more.



  10. Joder
    Comment
    10
    · August 24th, 2010 at 5:51 pm · Link

    Lovin’ the sound of this and would be thrilled if this book would make it on to my eReader. Missed you while you were gone and am glad things are slowly getting back to normal.



  11. Delilah Devlin
    Comment
    11
    · August 24th, 2010 at 6:52 pm · Link

    Wesley! It’s not been easy to get back into the swing of things. I’ve had lots errands outside the home, and any time I leave during my prime writing hours, my wordcount suffers. Plus, I’m having to do edits of the final galley of my first Viking book, due out in January. That has really eaten my lunch this week.

    Julie! Surgery?! Hope it wasn’t something drastic and that you’re recovering nicely. 😯

    Valerie! I’ll pick a winner on Thursday. Good luck!



  12. Delilah Devlin
    Comment
    12
    · August 24th, 2010 at 6:53 pm · Link

    Ilona! Glad you enjoyed it!

    Himeko! You’re entered. Good luck in the drawing. If you want another chance to win, be sure to comment tomorrow too.

    Rasha! Thank you, thank you! And it has been a long time!



  13. Delilah Devlin
    Comment
    13
    · August 24th, 2010 at 6:56 pm · Link

    Sherry! Thanks so much. And it is good to be back. I like burrowing into my mole hole and dreaming up new ways to torture my characters. It’s hard to think about being mean when you’re having fun. :mrgreen:

    Terri! I know, right? Rock-hard bodies, wings, ferocious temperaments. What’s not to love.

    Estella! LOL! Seriously! That’s the point!



  14. Delilah Devlin
    Comment
    14
    · August 24th, 2010 at 6:57 pm · Link

    Joder! Thanks. Good luck in the drawing. I missed hanging out too!



  15. sue brandes
    Comment
    15
    · August 24th, 2010 at 7:09 pm · Link

    Sure are glad you are back Delilah. Missed you around here. This book sounds so good. Loved the excerpt and the cover.



  16. Judi
    Comment
    16
    · August 25th, 2010 at 12:42 pm · Link

    This sounds great. Can’t wait to meet the “love interest”……..



  17. Beth C.
    Comment
    17
    · August 25th, 2010 at 12:46 pm · Link

    Tried to get here yesterday. Server Not Found is not a good message to see.

    Love the sound of this book. I’ll have to add it to my wish list.



  18. Patricia K
    Comment
    18
    · August 25th, 2010 at 2:25 pm · Link

    A story with gargoyles that is so great as thay have been a mystery that I wanted explore.
    horseunicornkey@aol.com



  19. Brandy Blake
    Comment
    19
    · August 25th, 2010 at 7:42 pm · Link

    Hi. I love the cover!!!

    ~Brandy
    brandyzbooks@yahoo.com



  20. Fedora
    Comment
    20
    · August 25th, 2010 at 10:29 pm · Link

    Tried to post yesterday, but that didn’t seem to work! Glad to see this excerpt and reminder, Delilah! It’s in print now, too, right? 🙂



Comments are closed.