About Ambergris: All for Love
by Kara Larson
45 pages / 10200 words
ISBN: 978-1-60370-339-0
Available file types -
html, lit, Adobe and Sony optimized pdf, prc, epub
Adrian and Bael were finally starting to fall into a routine after six
months of... whatever you'd call a relationship with a demon. Almost
convincing himself that his lover was just a really hot guy with wings,
Adrian was surprised when the supernatural elements of his life started
spilling over into the ordinary. It started when a fellow academic went
missing at one of the annual academic conferences, and only got weirder from
there.
Adrian has always been a reject from the anachronistic life his parents
wanted him to lead. He knew he'd never make it as a knight, no matter how
much they pushed him. And yet, he's drawn into a world of demonic mischief
and kidnappings, all tied together by an ancient aphrodisiac -- ambergris.
With Bael at his side, he can only hope they'll prevail.
Sample
Returning from a conference was usually something that
Adrian celebrated, high on three or four days of pure academic dorkitude,
where he was once again reassured that he wasn't the only one who cared
about Anglo-Saxon buckets, and why so few of them remained. Though the
department usually wouldn't pay for him to attend the big conference, he
still got away with sneaking off to one or two of the little ones each year.
Usually, it was reinforcing those 'connections' that he was theoretically
making for that day when he did go on the job market in *cough* years,
endless philosophizing at the countless wine hours -- hey, he wasn't one to
turn down free booze -- and laughing at the most esoteric book offered in
the exhibit hall. Romano-British horseshoe nails still reigned as king of
that particular title.
This year, though, for all the discussion of Pre-Lapserian language and the
addition of wormwood ale to the annual mead and ale tasting, Adrian had
mixed feelings. Maybe it was the presentation he completely flubbed early
Saturday morning, when he learned that he really sucks at giving a paper
under the influence of a raging hangover. Maybe it was the lack of Bael, and
the cold twin bed and scratchy sheets he'd endured for the past three
nights.
Or maybe it was the fact that Jeff Hinman from State U at Bonneville went
missing.
"You're home ear--" Bael threw the door open as soon as Adrian set foot on
their front stoop, but had no time to finish his sentence. Adrian lost no
time in pretty much flinging himself in Bael's arms, never mind how much the
neighbors saw. While he was sure that most of the other grad students who
lived in the complex didn't care if he was gayer than a rainbow of Care
Bears, he still didn't know how many saw Bael for what Bael really was --
one hundred percent sexy demon, albeit a shy and rather ineffective one.
At this point, though, Adrian just wanted to be wrapped in warm, leathery
black wings and held tight, making sure that no one else disappeared.