Pure and Sinful
By Killian McRae
Book Description:
Statistician Riona
Dade knows all about probabilities. Still, even she'd tell you the chances of
discovering you’re a witch, being appointed to the demon-slaying trio known as
the Pure Souls, and finding yourself sinfully attracted to a catholic priest
who uses amen and other four-lettered words with equal enthusiasm are pretty
slim. Also learning your ex was once Hell’s first-round draft pick, and
realizing you're a prize catch for Satan’s soul-damning quota leaves a girl
feeling like she just won the lottery while being struck by lightning while
riding a unicorn across Atlantis.
Trying to keep her mind off role playing the Thornbirds with Father Angeletti,
Riona leads the Pure Souls against a maniacal menagerie of Mephistopheles’s
minions plaguing greater Boston. Giving in to lust is a direct flight to
damnation for both her and the priest, leading Riona to distract herself by
striking up a romance with her new, foxy neighbor, Lucy. But she can't shake
her attraction to Marcello, and as the tension between them grows thicker than
a lumberjack’s beard, temptation may become too difficult to resist.
How long can they deny the pull growing between them, knowing there will be
Hell to pay?
As Dee sauntered away, Riona focused on the priest’s expression.
He wasn’t in his collar and coat today, but always carried the air of the
clergyman within to some degree, like he wore his collar on the inside.
“How did you end up here?”
She took in the rugged cut of his jaw, the stubble that showed
he hadn’t shaved in a day or two. He wasn’t bad looking by any measure, and he
probably could have been quite the heartbreaker if he wasn’t a man of God. His
eyes weren’t brown, they were black, and glistened like onyx pendants. A firm
jaw and supple lips were likely often employed more for battling the fires of
Hell than fanning the flames of lust. Nevertheless, the tools were there to be
used, if he so desired. For a man of the cloth, he sure cut that cloth fine.
The priest rose to what she considered the perfect height, had a body not too
muscular, but hardly milk toasty, and a swagger in his walk that would make a
lady think he could move his body in all the ways the good Lord intended.
If only his collar and his personality weren’t pressed with
double starch.
“Paolo’s is the best pizza in town. Trust me on that, I’m
Italian.” Sarcasm wasn’t his most attractive trait, but it was one of the most
prominent.
“Don’t deflect the question,” Riona commanded with a click of
her tongue. “I mean being one of the Pure Souls. I know how you found me…”
“… secured in a straitjacket and pending shipment to a cushy
psychiatric facility?”
She crossed her arms and grimaced, wondering suddenly if the hex
she’d learned to give demons jock itch would work on humans. “Look, you walk
through the steel wall of a meat locker and try to explain it to the police in
a way that doesn’t get you 5150’ed, and then you can talk. But, I mean, a priest?
Isn’t the Catholic Church, you know, kind of not kosher with the whole magical
powers and battling goblins thing?”
“Technically, the Catholic Church isn’t kosher with
anything,” he returned. “Kosher’s a Jewish thing, not that I think the people
of the book are anymore approving of mortal combat with the spawn of Hell. I
was born into it. Magic is a birthright, you know. It shows up in my family
every couple of generations. Just like being a priest - like my father before
me, and his father before him.”
Character Interview:
McRae: It was a difficult task for
me to decide whom to interview for this post today. My thoughts, of course,
turned firstly to the three demon-fighters themselves, the Pure Souls.
Unfortunately, at this time Riona Dade is inconsolable and Dee Zitka is being all
over-protective-big-brother-leave-her-alone-y. I would have called Jerry Romani,
but last time he got ahold of my phone number he kept texting me
less-than-appropriate messages and pictures. (I will never be able to get the
image of him and that platter of Egg Fu Young out of my head. Seriously, the
bleach required would make Clorox shares hit all-time highs.) Luckily Archangel
Ramiel, the official liaison between Heaven and the Pure Souls, agreed to sit
down with me.
Ramiel: I’m getting paid for this,
right?
McRae (chuckles uncomfortably): We
agreed I’d slip you a twenty. Like you have any need of money.
Ramiel: I don’t really have a need
for food either, but you try coming between me and a tray of White Castle
hamburgers and see which one of us walks away the wiser.
McRae: We’ll settle up later. Now,
be good.
Ramiel: (winks) Always, baby. You
know that.
McRae: Of course. Anyways, in Pure & Sinful we learn a lot about
Riona, Dee, Marc, and even the sexy but sinister Jerry Romani, but you sort of
dance around the edges of their story. At one point, someone mentions that
you’re not allowed to get involved directly in Pure Soul battles. Can you tell
us why that is?
Ramiel: Well, ya, it’s basically
like fielding a baseball team. I can practice with them, give them insights and
the benefit of my own experience, and teach them every dirty trick I know. When
it comes time to take the field, they’re on their own. It’s all set out in the
Heaven-Hell Accords.
McRae: (looks back through
notes) Right, that’s another thing I
wanted to ask you about. The HHA. What are those exactly?
Ramiel: Just an agreement between
both Councils of Seven about the regulations of the Elites – that’s the Archangels
on Heaven’s side, and the Grigori on Hell’s side – what we can do, can’t do.
What the definition of sin is, what gets one damned. Oh, and it also sets out
all the rules of engagement for the Pure Souls on Earth versus Lucifer’s
minions.
McRae: But it was only drafted in
the sixteenth century. Humans have been judged upon their deaths for eons
before that.
Ramiel: True, but up until that
time, hardly anyone lived in a society where they had a choice of belief
systems. The line between damnation and getting short-listed for Heaven was
pretty clear cut. After that, things began getting mottled. Both sides laid
claim the same soul. Big Boss wanted to advance our policies and become more
inclusive, but Lucifer insisted he was owed what was due him under the old
rules. The accords allowed us to grandfather in some belief systems – the
Catholic Church, for example, while making salvation a more one-size-fits-all
thing.
McRae: So it’s some sort of deified
detente then?
Ramiel: Yeah, I guess you could say
that. We drafted, negotiated, finalized, then both sides signed.
McRae: Signed? Like an actual
physical piece of paper?
Ramiel: What do you think? We’re
pretty up on the technology curve, but the only Apple either side had back then
already had teeth marks in it.
McRae: And who’s your mediator?
Ramiel: (so totally feigning deafness)
Excuse me?
McRae: Your independent third party.
Someone who doesn’t benefit on either side, and mediates any disputes. Surely
given the contentious nature of angels- both revered and fallen-you wouldn’t
have overlooked that part.
Ramiel: That information is
classified.
McRae: But-
Ramiel: NEXT question, Ms. Author.
I’m going to be like Fort Knox on that particular.
McRae: (shifts, clears throat) Um,
okay, fine. But you should know, I have other sources willing to talk to me on
that issue. I think you know of whom
I speak.
Ramiel: (raising eyebrow) Persephone
doesn’t know anything.
McRae: (scrawls on paper)
Per-seph-on-e. Right, then. (looks up) I wanted to ask you about something that
happened… Well, something that almost happened in Pure & Sinful. At one point, you make a play at bedding Riona,
but claim afterwards you only did it to get her to admit to her feelings for
Marcello Angeletti. Is that true?
Ramiel: Absolutely. I never would
have carried through with it. Angels only sleep with humans they’re willing to
take a metaphorical bullet for. The act usually leads to negative consequences.
McRae: I’m also curious that, in
that scene, though your plot succeeds a Riona turns you down because of how she
feels for Marc, she admits to being totally attracted to you in dangerous ways.
Is there a particular reason for that?
Ramiel: Screwed up chemistry.
McRae: Really? Do tell.
Ramiel: Okay, well angels, Archangels
in particular, are more closely descended from the Light. The divine spark,
whatever you want to call it. Human women in the child-bearing years of their
sexual lives can pick up on that on a very primal level. The desire to screw us
has nothing to do with pleasure. It’s all to do with reproduction. I know, not
really that sexy when it comes down to it.
McRae: And would that work?
Ramiel: My plumbing is fine,
Killian.
McRae: I mean the reproducing part.
Ramiel: (looking disapprovingly) You
played an angel in the Christmas Pageant when you were ten. What do you think?
McRae: Touché. So, you’ve never slept with a human
then?
Ramiel: Mess around? Yes? Fool
around with other non-human things? You bet your sweet bippy. Actually
consummate with a human? No en perpetua. Seen others do it, always turns out
badly in the end.
McRae: Kinda like it did this time?
Ramiel: (bolting up) Okay, this
interview is over.
Okay, that was great. Thanks for joining me on the blog today and I hope you find Pure and Sinful as exhilarating as I did.
About the Author:
Killian McRae would
tell you that she is a rather boring lass, an authoress whose characters’ lives
are so much more exciting than her own. She would be right. Sadly, this
sarcastic lexophile leads a rather mundane existence in the San Francisco Bay
Area. She once dreamed of being the female Indiana Jones, and to that end she
earned a degree in Middle Eastern History from the University of Michigan.
However, when she learned that real archaeologist spend more time lovingly
removing dust with toothbrushes from shards of pottery than outrunning
intriguing villains with exotic accents, she decided to become a writer
instead. She writes across many genres, including science fiction, fantasy,
romance, and historical fiction.
facebook fan
page:
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twitter: @killianmcrae
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