Hawkyn (1001 Dark Nights #77)

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Synopsis

Hawkyn is an earthbound Memitim, or guardian angel, and for the most part, he likes his job of protecting Primori, people who will somehow become influential to human history. Most of his charges are good people, but every once in a while, he must look after someone who isn't. Such is the case with his latest Primori, Draygar, who is a psychotic serial killer. Hawkyn would rather not have to deal with the guy, but he's bound by the rules and regulations of his order until the night he goes to check up on Draygar and finds him about to kidnap a beautiful young woman. Although he's not supposed to intervene, Hawkyn steps into the fray only to receive a blast of pure energy from the woman that knocks him out. When he awakens, he can't help wondering if that energy burst might have rendered Draygar unconscious instead if only Hawkyn had stayed out of the way. Not able to stand idly by if his screw-up may have been what got the woman kidnapped, he sets out to find her. However, in order to rescue her and protect her from a madman, he might have to destroy any chance of realizing his dream of being on the Memitim council, but she just might be worth breaking every rule in the book.

Aurora Mercer is a half-wytch who is Portland's most in-demand masseuse. It's because her wytch abilities allow her to siphon off negative energy from humans which in turn charges up her own powers. When she's approached by a guy in a grocery store parking late at night, she's instantly wary, gathering her energy in case he attacks. When a second guy comes from out of nowhere, she spends all her energy blasting him instead, only to be abducted by the first guy. After spending a few days in Draygar's lair being tortured, she's finally rescued by the hot guy she'd blasted, who turns out to be a freaking angel. When Hawkyn tells her he's Draygar's guardian angel, she isn't too sure about him at first, but as they spend more time together, evading Draygar, whose obssessive nature won't allow him to stop until she's dead, Aurora begins to trust Hawkyn more and starts to fall for him, especially when she learns that he's breaking all the angel rules just to keep her safe.

Review

Hawkyn is the fifth book in Larissa Ione's Demonica Underworld series, which is a spin-off or sub-series of her greater Demonica world that follows characters who live in the Underworld, and it's the sixteenth book in the larger combined series. Hawkyn is a Memitim, an earthbound guardian angel, who protects Primori, people who will somehow become influential to human events. Draygar, his latest Primori happens to be a serial killer. Hawkyn has tried to ignore the fact that sometimes Primoris happen to be terrible people, but the knowledge that Draygar stalks, tortures, and kills women still haunts him. When he goes to check up on Draygar and finds him about to abduct yet another victim, Hawkyn has had enough. Although he's not supposed to intervene, he does anyway, but Aurora, the woman in question, gives him a blast of energy that knocks him out cold. Now Hawkyn wonders if he hadn't gotten involved if that blast might have been meant for Draygar instead, which would have allowed Aurora to get away. Not able to stand idly by if his screw-up might mean death for an innocent woman, Hawkyn sets out to rescue her. He successfully gets her away from Draygar, but he soon discovers that the killer has a mysterious ability of his own that allows him to track the little Wytch and his obsessive nature won't allow him to stop until he's found her. It will take all of Hawkyn's Memitim skills to keep Aurora safe without killing his own charge in the process, but he may end up breaking just about every Memitim rule to do it, which will mean that he'll never be able to Ascend and realize his dream of joining the Memitim council to make a difference for his earthbound siblings.

Like all Memitim, Hawkyn's father is Azagoth and his mother is a Heavenly angel. Just like his brethren who came both before and after him, he was abandoned to be raised by humans, because it was thought to be the best way to bond them with those they would later serve as guardian angels. Also like most other Memitim, his upbringing was anything but ideal with him hunting for scraps as a child just to survive. But then his mentor came and showed him the ways of the Memitim. As such, he must follow a number of rules and regulations, including celibacy and not asking questions about his charges. Most Primori are decent people, but occasionally Memitim are called upon to guard evil people if they will somehow change history for the greater good. Most of the time, Hawkyn just goes along with it and tries to ignore the injustice, because he desperately wants to Ascend and become a member of the Memitim council so that he can help change the rules. But now his latest Primori, Draygar, happens to be a psychotic serial killer who likes to abduct and torture women before killing them. When Hawkyn checks on him one night, he finds Draygar about to kidnap a beautiful woman, and in a split second, he makes a fateful decision to get involved even though it's against the rules. By the time he realizes that his interference might cause the death of an innocent woman, she's already been taken. He sets about freeing Aurora and then protecting her when they realize that Draygar can still track her and isn't backing down. Before he knows it, he's fallen for the beautiful Wytch and is breaking every rule in the book to keep her safe. I like that Hawkyn has a conscience and can't bear to see innocent people hurt even if the powers that be say it's for the greater good. I also admired him for wanting to find a way to affect changes to the unfair Memitim rules and for caring for Aurora enough to be willing to do whatever it took to protect her even if it meant that it came at a great personal cost.

Aurora is a Wytch whose powers come from a sex demon who is the common ancestor to all Wytches. Despite having magic and living longer than most humans, she's been raised in the human world, where she now lives as an unassuming masseuse. Her job allows her to siphon negative energy out of her clients that both recharges her powers and makes her clients feel so good that she's the most in-demand masseuse in Portland. She's approached in the grocery store parking lot one night by a guy who she senses is up to no good. Then a second guy seemingly appears out of nowhere. She uses all her energy to blast Hawkyn, thinking he's an accomplice, but that leaves her with no energy left to take out her real abductor. She spends the next few days being tortured by Draygar until Hawkyn shows up to rescue her. At first, she's wary of him, especially when he admits that he's actually Draygar's guardian angel. But as she spends more time with him, Aurora grows to trust him and starts to fall for the handsome angel who breaks all the rules and goes out of his way to keep her safe. Aurora has a lot of different sides. She's a sweet and caring person who can't bear to see Hawkyn hurt for protecting her, but she also has a tough side, bravely standing up to Draygar until Hawkyn gets there. Also because of her succubus ancestor, she has a very passionate side that she generously offers up to alleviate Hawkyn's pain. But no matter what side she's showing, I really liked her.

Like all the novellas in the Demonica Underworld series, things happen rather quickly in Hawkyn. The characterizations perhaps aren't as deep as they are in the longer novels, but I still got to know Hawkyn and Aurora well enough to like them and feel they complemented each other well. Their relationship is basically an insta-love one, which often doesn't work for me, but here I felt that all-important emotional connection between them that made it more palatable. The plot isn't as involved either, but it was still enjoyable and kept me reading to see what would happen next. There were a couple of interesting plot twists as well that I didn't see coming. There's also a subplot involving Hawkyn's father, Azagoth (Azagoth), who's in a sour mood after asking a lot of questions about his offspring and what their lives were like growing up. As a result, he starts to push Lilliana away, which was rather hard to see, but I feel confident that things will be set to rights between them in a future book. We get to see a handful of other common characters as well, including Hawkyn's full sisters, Idess (Ecstasy Unveiled) and Suzanne (Her Guardian Angel), and his fallen angel friend, Cipher (Cipher). There was also the poor lion shifter, Lexi, who keeps popping up in these books, only to lose one of her nine lives. I hope maybe we'll get to see her find some happiness before the series ends. All this being the case, the only real weakness I found is that Draygar's part in everything seemed a little murky and I wish it had been explained a bit better. Otherwise, I very much enjoyed Hawkyn and look forward to exploring this sub-series more.

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Larissa Ione