Intercession, Pepper Espinoza

A vampire determined to keep a promise.  An angel sent to help him.  A lonely man with a death wish.  Each must battle between what's right and wrong in order to survive.

** There are no real spoilers in this review with the exception of what some might consider to be one in regards to the ending.  No details are given that will give the story or resolution away but some comments at the end of this review may be more than the reader wishes to know.  Keep that in mind before reading this review. **

- Review by Cindi

David Derringer made a promise.  He promised his mother at the moment of her death that he would take care of his little brother Danny.  This is a promise he was unable to keep so he spends 50 years searching for the brother who disappeared on that horrific night so long ago. 

David is a vampire, created by monsters on the night of his mother's death. He was turned at the young age of eighteen.  Fifty years later he still walks in the young body but nothing else about him is eighteen.  He has been forced to kill to survive and his very survival depends on him constantly being on the run. There are those who hunt him and his kind and he must always stay one step ahead as he actively searches for the brother taken away from him.  His life is constantly in danger as these men will stop at nothing to destroy him.  The leader of the organization created to eradicate his kind has taken David on as his personal mission.  He will stop at nothing to see him turned to dust and if innocent victims are taken out in the process, he believes their loss is collateral damage in the name of God.

Frustrated and feeling like he has reached a dead end with his search for Danny, David does something he has not done in over fifty years... he goes inside a church and prays, asking God for guidance in finding Danny before David is caught and destroyed.  His prayer is answered in the form of an angel, Jophiel.  Jophiel is not your typical guardian angel and the reader learns this little by little as the story plays out.  His assignment to return to earth to help the vampire is given with few details from his superiors.  He must go in blind, at all times wondering why an angel of God would be sent to earth to assist one of Satan's children.  Jophiel's work deals with souls.  Vampires don't have them as they leave their bodies on the moment of the change from human to demon with their souls dying and going to Lucifer.  With zero knowledge of what he is about to embark on, Jophiel follows the orders given and returns to earth to meet one angry vampire.

David

David and Jophiel reluctantly embark on a journey in search of Danny.  Along the way they meet  Arthur.  Arthur has a death wish and this is proven when he knowingly picks up David in a bar and takes him home for sex.  Arthur is very aware of what and who David is which is why he singled him out.  He wants to die and the vampire is the perfect way for him to meet his end.  But something happens.  The killer who has killed thousands without thought is unable to harm Arthur.  Never has he walked away from a kill.  David's plan to have sex with Arthur then drain him of his blood allowing him to die slowly goes out the window.  He wants to kill him.  He wants his blood.  But he can't.  After a night of passionate sex David and Arthur fall asleep in each others arms on the couch of Arthur's home.  They are interrupted the next morning by one pissed off angel who knocks the door down in order to get to the two men.  Jophiel has discovered something about Arthur that somehow connects all three men.  Arthur, a man picked up by David at random for a quick meal and sex, is the key to finding Danny.  Arthur reluctantly joins David and Jophiel in their search for the missing brother. 

There are obstacles constantly thrown in the path of the three men.  There is violence, kidnapping. bloodlust, sex, sex and a little more sex, angry angels, and many other things.  What happens if Danny does not wish to be found?  What if Danny is not who David wants him to be?  He made a promise to his dying mother that he would take care of his little brother but what if Danny is now, as an adult, someone that David should be running far away from not to?

David is not your sparkly vampire who feels that killing is wrong.  He is a very dark character who has no qualms doing what he must to survive.  Jophiel is an angel of God who has secrets.  Coming to earth he never expects to feel something for not only a human but a product of Lucifer himself.  Arthur is a lost soul.  He desperately wants to die and not only must deal with those emotions but the emotions of falling in love with two very different beings.  

Arthur and Jophiel

This is a menage story between three very different men.  The sex (with the exception of David and Arthur early on) is not written as simply one giant sex scene about three men getting off.  It is written beautifully and the reader is given the knowledge that there is much more than sex between the three men.  

There are so many things that I wish I could say about this book in this review but I can't.  Anything I say beyond what is already stated would be a spoiler.  Secrets come out in regards to all three men.  Some will having you shaking your head and others will give you that "Aha!" moment.  

Overall, this is an excellent read and exactly what I needed at this time.  The story is written very well and the love story between David, Jophiel and Arthur is written beautifully.  

This ends with a major cliffhanger.  This would not be an issue for me had I known going in that it was the first of a series as I would have expected the abrupt ending.  Don't get me wrong, it was brilliant.  Seriously brilliant.  But I would have appreciated being aware of what was coming... or not in this case.

I have an issue with buying books that are not listed as part of a series. I would like to know this information going in so that I will have an idea of what to expect.  I assumed wrongly when I purchased this book that it would be a stand-alone story with everything tied up nicely at the end.    In normal instances I could follow an author's blog or on Goodreads or some other way in order to find out when the next in a series will be released.  After a lot of Googling I finally gave up.  All information for this author that I found is outdated (even the sites where she co-writes as Jamie Craig).  If  anyone reads this knows something I don't, please share that information with me.  Granted, I may have overlooked something in my search and it could have been right in front of me the whole time.  I really enjoyed this book and I am eager to see what happens next.  So many things are left undone and I would hate to miss out on the next story because I am not seeing updates from the author.

This is a beautifully written dark romance between three men.  Do not read this book expecting everything to be happy and sweet.  That is not the case with this book at all. There are sweet moments.  There are violent moments.  There are moments that will have you in tears.  Keep that in mind before reading it.  For those wishing to read something different from your average vampire and angel story and who don't mind knowing it ends with a cliffhanger, I highly recommend this book.

My thanks to my blog partner for sharing a photo of a vampire who doesn't sparkle. :)