Mother's Day for Demons...

...and other things we don't think about.

I think one of the things the I always asked myself when reading paranormal romance was...and where did these people's families disappear to?? Granted, if you are turned into a vampire you have a choice, bury all your relations throughout the years or turn them and take 'em with you. Werewolves always seem to be more family oriented. Dens. Packs. Inbreeding and in-fighting. Okay, so sometimes there's such a thing as too much family.

I took a slightly more traditional approach to family when I created the Nightwalker breeds. They are family-centric, (although without the incest, tyvm) and that seems to me to be one of their most attractive traits. After all, didn't you just melt when you saw Noah playing with Leah? Didn't you just want him all wrapped up in a bow? Can't you just imagine him on Mother's Day with Kestra bringing her flowers and brekkies in bed?? (Well, had she not been...you know...) Doesn't it just kill you to think those genes aren't going to be spread into the future generations?? Aren't you just dying to know if the Vampire and the Lycanthrope are ever going to be able to reach across their racial chasm and perhaps, maybe, one day, make a baby together? What about the Lycanthrope and the Demon?? Or the Vampire and the...oops. Wait. That would be telling. ;)

I think this stems from my difficulties in the world of family. I had a brutal childhood, and although I have four sisters, we aren't what I would call uber close. I'm not blaming anyone. It's a pretty selfish day and age and we all get so wrapped up in our own crap that it seems family has fallen to the wayside. I am up front and guilty of it myself. As I get older I seem to long for the family touch more and more. After all, someone needs to take care of me one day when I am old and sick. :P Just kidding. I already was old and sick. I'm in my new thirties now.

But it always amazes me that, even if we lack for genetic family, we throng together to make families of our own. At my signing this weekend I spent fabulous time with this adorable family. They are called the Blood Lust Book Club. There's the gay male matriarch, the hippy dippy female father figure who runs War Hammer games, the gay male's wife who has a rockin tattoo and, erm, bite marks...and all the little kidlets that sit around and hug all the time, share meals, share hurts and woes and are probably more there for each other than most traditional church-going families ever will be. It's times like this I think we might actually have hope in our future as a society in general.

For now, I like making up my own societies. The good guys are good and the bad guys are dead...eventually. I swear....EVENTUALLY!! (Then again, eventually is true for all things in a thermodynamic universe...) In my new title Drink of Me (Zebra, Oct. 2010) I take a relatively orphaned group of males and make them into one of the tightest family units I've ever written. The blood drinking and all that...well, it's just one of those family quirks. But far be it from me to judge the non-traditional family. In fact, I celebrate it!

So imagine Mother's Day in Noah's castle. All your favorite characters are there. Doesn't it warm the cockles of your heart? Or, like me, can you see the sadder hearts that would be there? They have their HEAs, their one true love, but suddenly we realize that it's not all about that, is it? Are we selfish for wanting more? For wanting it ALL??

Meh. Not to worry. I'll see that we all get what we want one way or another. Even if we don't quite realize it was what we were really asking for all along.