The craziness of Thanksgiving got to me. My planned post about the Branal didn’t get posted on the date I planned. So here it is.
The Branal are a group of paranormal people in the Stone Passions world. They were in part inspired by several types of the sidhe. The Leanan Sidhe inspired the Branal’s ability to draw power, although the Branal aren’t vampiric muses. Their ability with fire comes from elemental aspects of certain fairies.
The Branal move between their culture and the human culture, mixing with ease. Their powers begin to manifest in their teenage years, but they strengthen slowly so that the Branal have time to learn to control it.
While males exclusively rule the gargoyle, females can lead the Branal. At the start of Stone Passions series, a female leads the Branal in Stone Cliff. She’s taking care of the group for her brother, but it isn’t because she’s related to him, it’s because she’s strong enough to hold the group in his absence.
The abilities of a Branal depend on the strength of the persons power.
Fire-They can call fire. Most of the time it’s thrown or used to burn, but those with more strength can use it in different ways.
Light-If they’ve learned the ability, they can use it to light the way or temporarily (sometimes not so temporarily) blind an opponent.
Teleportation-The very strong can use this ability to move from place to place in an instant.
Energy drain- They can drain energy and use this to defeat the Appari.
They can return the souls of those the Appari have drained and stolen the essence.
They can twist (as in turn spiritual energy). The shift in energy flow can stun enemies. If the twisting is continued it can kill, but that’s rare and a very drastic step.
They’re physically strong and not fragile.
Those with enough strength and will, can project a spirit version of themselves in another place.
Here’s an excerpt of Naomi using some of these abilities:
The Appari backhanded the young man, knocking him to the ground. He fell and didn’t move, but the Appari didn’t advance on him. She turned to the woman she’d first attacked. As the being advanced, Naomi knew that she couldn’t let the thing get to her. She had to stop it before it took the woman’s life energy.
“Hey, you pale skinned hag, why don’t you come over here and try a taste of me.” She summoned the fire within her.
It pumped through her giving her a little confidence. She took slow steps forward, all too aware that she had no real idea what to do. The haggard being turned her head, but continued toward the woman. Naomi held her palm out flat and shot a bolt of fire toward the soul-stealing bitch.
The hot flame hit the woman. The smell of seared flesh carried on the wind. The Appari screamed and swung around to face Naomi. That did it. The creature lost its focus on the easy prey now.
Even if Naomi ran over, she might not get to the woman before the thing stole her soul. She had to stop it before it started drawing the spirit energy from her, and before the Appari fled. A body could only live so long without its spirit. A Branal or Gargoyle’s body would eventually die if the soul didn’t return to them.
“Be careful, Naomi.” Isaac’s words came to her as she approached the Appari.
Naomi didn’t shake her head, but wanted to look back at him. He wanted her to be careful while she fought a beast that could take her spirit. And he’d urged her to come over here and do this. It made no sense.
As her focus narrowed to the thing in front of her, her worries and fears fell away. She didn’t know how she’d do it, but she would kill this thing. Her body relaxed. She channeled her fire into the knife in her hand. The heat and fire were necessary. Claws could cut it, but the fire within its body hurt more.
The pain itself wouldn’t do much, but if she could hold it and hurt it enough, she should be able to take its energy. Hopefully, it didn’t have a soul within it. She didn’t know what to do with that either.
The Appari glared at her and swiped at her. Naomi jumped back, but lunged forward again. She swung her blade. It slashed across the being’s hip, drawing a screech from it.
A surge of exhilaration raced through her. She’d hurt it. A smile crossed her face. She hadn’t expected to do that yet. She hadn’t thought about what she was doing.
Capturing Their Flame is available for purchase at Siren Bookstrand! http://www.bookstrand.com/book/capturing-their-flame
Happy Reading!
