Dear Readers:

I’d like to introduce you to Adrian, hero of Immortals: The Calling, and let him tell you a little bit about the Immortals series.

The series tells an entire story: Start with Book 1 and read all the way to Book 4 for the final resolution.

Jennifer Ashley

Jennifer Ashley: Adrian, thanks for talking with me. Will you explain what an “Immortal” is?

Adrian: First off we Immortals have nothing to do with a TV show about men in kilts. I hear Kalen has started going around in nothing but a kilt, but he always has to do his own thing.

My brothers and I are essentially demigods. We each were born of a goddess and a human male—we call ourselves brothers because our mothers are all some aspect of the mother goddess. Plus we were raised together, taught to fight for others and help people anywhere they need us. Except Kalen—like I said, he always has to be different.

Jennifer: Explain that—how is Kalen different?

Adrian: He was created by the Etruscan goddess, Uni, to be protector of her people. He’s an artist, got into their art and culture—he really liked playing god to them. Which means he decided he never had to listen to me, bossy big brother. He only responded to the Calling spell if his people were in trouble. Otherwise, he did what he wanted.

Jennifer: What about your other brothers? Do they come when Called?

Adrian: The Calling spell basically compels us to answer whoever uses it. Magical people—priests and witches—would Call us to help with whatever big, bad Death Magic was trying to harm them. We’d answer, kick evil butt, and then party.

So, yes, Hunter, Darius, Tain, and me all had to answer the Calls. My little brothers can’t do anything without attitude, so I wouldn’t say the Calling spell tamed them or anything.

Jennifer: You mentioned “Death Magic.” What do you mean by that?

Adrian: Death Magic is a factor of the universe we have to live with. Death Magic is what makes the existence of creatures who feed on death possible—vampires, demons, zombies, and others who are dead themselves and use death to keep themselves going.

Opposite that is Life Magic, the magic of living creatures and those magical beings who are alive—Werewolves and other shape-shifters, dragons, Sidhe, selkies, merfolk, and the like.

Immortals were made to fight Death Magic creatures and keep them at bay. The world was overrun with them in ancient times. The goddesses knew humans wouldn’t survive them, so they brought us into being.

Ancient vampires and demons—we call them Old Ones—were hard to kill. Today’s demons just aren’t as tough. Hunter in particular enjoys slicing and dicing demons.

Jennifer: Why is that? Why him “in particular?”

Adrian: He was stupid enough in the past to fall in love and get married. Demons killed his family, and the grief made him a little crazy. That was a thousand years ago, and he’s still crazy.

Immortals shouldn’t fall in love—love isn’t a luxury we get. We fight, we move on. That’s the way it is.

Jennifer: Sounds lonely.

Adrian: You bet it is. Next question, please.

Jennifer: From what I understand, the Immortals haven’t been Called in a long time, about seven hundred years since the last Call. Why is that?

Adrian: You tell me. Yes, the last time we were Called to fight was in Scotland seven hundred years ago. After that, the summoning stopped. I guess people didn’t need us any more, or the secret of the Calling spell was lost. I don’t know what the spell is—witches use is, not me.

Jennifer: So what happened after that?

Adrian: My brothers and I went our separate ways, and I haven’t seen them since. That’s fine. We kind of fell apart after I lost Tain.

Jennifer: You lost him? You don’t mean he died—no, of course not, he’s Immortal.

Adrian: I mean I lost him. Tain is the youngest of us, the son of Cerridwen. Someone or something dragged him away, and I haven’t seen him since. He’s gone, and it’s my fault.

Jennifer: Do your brothers blame you?

Adrian: I have no effing idea. Can we get off the subject?

Jennifer: I see. Well, you’ve talked a bit about all your brothers, except Darius. What can you tell us about him?

Adrian: Darius is the “good” one. He does what he’s told, has a deep sense of duty. Kind of refreshing after Kalen ignoring me and Hunter acting like a maniac.

Darius has tattoos all over his body that become his weapons. I’m not sure how he does that—that’s his magical talent, making flat objects become real.

Jennifer: Do all the Immortals have talents?

Adrian: They’d all claim talent in bed, but I know that’s not what you’re talking about. Yes, we all do. Kalen can teleport. The rest of us can’t do that, though we can all teleport ourselves to and from Ravenscroft, our home kind of out of phase with this world.

Tain was a healer—I suppose he still is, wherever he is. He can heal with his touch, though it takes a lot out of him to do it.

Hunter has this affinity with animals. He just knows what they’re thinking, and they trust him. He says it’s not telepathy, but I don’t quite believe that. It’s uncanny how he communicates with them.

Jennifer: What about you? You haven’t mentioned your own talent.

Adrian: Mine is calming people down. I’m a demigod, the first Immortal created, and the power I radiate can terrify people. So I can calm them with my mind, make them accept me—see me as fairly normal. I’m the most powerful Immortal of the bunch—that’s not bragging, it means I have to be careful. I can too easily hurt people who aren’t ready for what I am.

Jennifer: Is that why you’ve never fallen in love, because you haven’t found a woman who can take all that power?

Adrian: What is it with these questions about love? Immortals can fall in love—but it’s the stupidest thing we can do. Look at us—think about what I told you about my brothers. We aren’t made for happily ever after. I think I’m done with this interview.

Jennifer: All right. Well, thank you, Adrian for being so candid.

No happily ever after? I don’t know about that.

Let’s see what happens in the stories of each of these Immortals: Adrian in The Calling by Jennifer Ashley (May 2007), Darius in The Darkening by Robin Popp (June 2007), Kalen in The Awakening by Joy Nash (August 2007), and Hunter in The Gathering by Jennifer Ashley (September 2007).

For more information about the Immortals, their talents, their goddesses, their books.

Read the excerpt here

Immortals: The Calling (Book 1) is out today, I will let you know when the authors will be guesting. They are still recovering from RT fun, I think *G*