`Demon from the Dark' is the tenth book in Kresley Cole's `Immortals After Dark' paranormal romance series.
Carrow Graie has been kidnapped. Along with hundreds of other immortal creatures, from vampires to nymphs, she has been captured by human military-types who lock her up in glass cages and intend to do experiments on her witchy-self. The stakes are raised when a witch from Carrow's coven is murdered, and her daughter taken prisoner. Now Carrow has to rescue herself, and little witch Ruby. And it just so happens that the humans have a proposition for her...
Carrow is to travel to a demon dimension and retrieve a vemon (demon-vampire hybrid) to be bought back to the prison for experimentation. There are only for vemons in the entire world, so Malkom Slaine is very rare indeed. . .
Carrow is on a mission - capture Malkom and bring him back to be experimented and tortured. Should be easy, since Malkom is a horned, ravenous, hairy beast. . . but what happens when Carrow introduces him to personal hygiene and he keeps saving her life in the demon dimension? What happens when Malkom turns out to be hot and hunky and Carrow suddenly can't stand the idea of betraying him?
I wasn't sure going into this tenth instalment, since I've had a few hits and misses with the `Immortals After Dark' series. I tend to only like the books concerning the Lycans and Valkyries - because I love the Lycan's Scottish brogue and the Valkyrie have some hilarious secondary characters (Nucking Futs Nix!).
I was also a little sceptical about this tenth book because Carrow and Malkom were completely unknown characters to me. I hadn't been anticipating their story, because they weren't secondary characters in past book. Carrow may have been mentioned in passing, but not enough to pique my interest about her HEA.
So I went in to `Demon from the Dark' very sceptical, but I came out with a new `Immortals' heartthrob to lust after!
`Demon from the Dark' is a paranormal retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Carrow is a witchy party-girl who grew up in the lap of luxury, but had an isolated childhood. She's had many boyfriends, but few honest relationships... until she travels to a demon dimension and meets Malkom Slaine.
I was initially wary of Malkom as a love interest because his physical description is so foul. He's tall and towering; with wildly long hair, no concept of tooth-brushing, caked-on dirt and he eats chicken blood. Eew. To top it off, Malkom has two large horns above his ears and is a blood-drinking vampire. Carrow's first-impression of Malkom is not helped by a language barrier between them. Malkom can only speak demon but no English, Carrow knows some Anglish and neither of them can understand a word the other says. . . Kresly Cole's signature hilarity ensues.
Malkom definitely starts out beastly, but is eventually transformed. Carrow bathes him, introduces him to a tooth-brush and cuts his hair, and realizes that beneath the dirt is a burning hunk o' vemon man! We also learn that there's more to Malkom than the ravening beast he starts out as. He actually has a very tragic past; he was a child blood-whore and sex slave, then he was a prince's friend, royal betrayer and when Carrow meets him he is in the midst of his centuries-long punishment. . . he's perhaps the most complicated `Immortals' man we've met in the series, but he's also the sexiest.
Carrow and Malkom's sexual relationship starts out rocky. Malkom recognizes Carrow as his mate from the moment he smells her, but the language-barrier prevents him from explaining his maddening lust to her. . . there's no rape, but Carrow has to lay down the law where Malkom's lustfulness is concerned.
But when these two do get hot n' heavy. . . watch out! They burn up the page! These two are the absolute cutest couple to come out of the `Immortals After Dark' series. Their Beauty and the Beast, will-they-or-won't-they tension is delicious and Malkom is so manly and rough around the edges! I loved these two together, and I especially adored Malkom. `Demon from the Dark' is my favourite `Immortals' book after `A Hunger Like no Other' - and that's a big call!
