An Interview with Skrike by Danielle D. Smith

It’s Hallowe’en time. And it has been an exciting fall for me this year.

Solstice Publishing released my second novel, a steamy horror romp called Black Dog and Rebel Rose. Released in eBook, Kindle, and Print formats, the novel has been extremely well received.

To celebrate the season, and the appropriateness of a sexy vampire-splattering romp, I have a very special guest joining me today. Usually he’s on the move, blasting from one hunt to the next, but I managed to catch him as he went blasting down the corridors of my mind (as he tends to do, his Harley roaring, even when I’m trying to sleep). Please welcome Skriker, the half-demon hero of Black Dog and Rebel Rose.

Dani: Welcome, Skrike. Thanks for joining us today.

Skriker: (smirking) Thanks, baby. Glad to be here. (winks)

Dani: Let’s start at the beginning. Tell me about your childhood, and how it led to you becoming a supernatural hunter.

Skriker: Nothing much to tell at first, love. I had a pretty normal childhood. It was just me, my pops, my mom, and my little brother. I grew up in the ‘burbs, if you’d believe it. Went to public school, played Little League. Got straight A’s, believe it or not. We had a nice house and all; my mom didn’t have that after her parents died, so she wanted that for me. My dad hunted, but he was secret about it; he didn’t give me and my kid brother the grisly details. But he taught us how to be tough from the start, just in case. When they were all killed, it was up to me to survive and make a life for myself. Hunting was the best option, ya know? And I couldn’t give it up if my life depended on it.

Dani: Your father was a True Native of Hell. Tell us about him.

Skriker: A True Native is a purebred demon—a demon born directly from the fires of Hell. My pops wasn’t a fallen angel—nothin’ fluffy like that. He was a mean bastard before he met my mom. She must’ve worked some Swedish magic on him, ‘cos she killed all the Hellfire in him. (laughs)  I know I have a shit ton of his swagger in me, just as it should be. I’m damn proud to say he was my father.

Dani (raising an eyebrow): Fallen angels are fluffy?

Skriker (laughing uproariously): Yeah, I said it. True Natives are super proud that they weren’t born of Heaven at first, like the Fallen, but straight from the Pit. But don’t let it out too much that I called any angel ‘fluffy’—it may get around to my sweet Rosie, and she won’t take to that so well. I might end up on the couch for a few nights! (winks again)

Dani:  What do you hunt?

Skriker: Anything and everything that spreads evil and wrong in the world. You name it, I hunt it, and kill the shit outta it every time. Vamps, werewolves, shifters, Wendigos, other demons—you name it and it deserves to have its guts blown all over creation, I kill it.

Dani: You kill your own kind, then.

Skriker: Oh, yeah. Other True Natives ain’t my pops—they’re mean and nasty, and although I’m proud of what I am, I don’t consider any other demon my fellow. I send ‘em straight back to Hell…

Dani: You have a ton of tattoos. Do they have any specific meanings?

Skriker (laughing): The classic question! You’re tattooed, too, baby, so you probably hear the same question all the time. Truth be told, some of my ink means something, and some of it doesn’t mean diddly-squat. The nautical stars on my hips were done by an apprentice girl I was screwing in London and I had told her to just do what she wanted. My sleeves, however, represent my folks: my left arm is all for my pops and the demon strength he passed down to me. My right is for my mom and the Viking blood she pumped into my veins.

Dani:  That’s right. You also cage fight. Tell us about that.

Skriker: Woo-hoo! I have my surrogate father, Harry, to thank for that. He pulled me off the streets when I was thirteen and taught me all I need to know about scrapping. He runs this fight club and pub in the Underground—that’s what folks like me call the shadow places where dark beings turned good or neutral hide out, hang out, and swap stories— and that’s where I fight. And it ain’t that rollin’ around on the floor UFC kind of shit—this is down and dirty, no-holds-barred fighting—rules don’t apply. There’s always a bet goin’ on, and I always win. I fight whatever comes at me—vamps, ghouls, werewolves, other hunters who think they’re hot shit—and I love every bloody second of it. I bring home a pile of cash every night; plenty to keep my Nephil princess happy and give her some pampering.

Dani: Your girlfriend, Rose, is half angel. Tell us about that.

Skriker (sighing): Ah, my favorite subject. I first ran into Rose on the hunt—I think your fans might be tuning into that story? I collided with her—literally—in this town called Paradise Hill that went dead as dogshit decades ago. Ran smack into her in the hallway of the old school. She clobbered me good, too, ‘cos she’s no wilting flower, despite her pretty name. It’s no secret that I’ve had my share of time with plenty of lovely ladies, but when I saw that beautiful raven-haired girl, I knew right off that she was my One and Only. Took a long while for me to break through her shell, though, lemme tell ya! She’s full of spitfire and used to running on her own—her daddy made her that way, I think—and she fought me like a wildcat! It was like being a hound after a hare for a while there. But when we finally hooked up…er…will any kids be reading this?

Dani (laughing): I think we get the picture, Skrike.

Skriker (chuckling, eyes twinkling): Yeah, I think you got it.

Dani: So, a half-angel girl and a half-angel guy in a relationship. How do you pull it off?

Skriker (smirking): Lots and lots of hot sex. No, but seriously, she’s my soul mate. I didn’t believe in that before—now there isn’t a doubt in my mind that soul mates are the real deal. It’s like Rosie likes to say: it’s like we were written in the stars for each other. Of course her big angel daddy doesn’t like it one bit—his baby girl hooking up with the son of a Hell fiend—but he’s just gonna have to deal, ya know?

Dani (grinning): Oh, yeah. Thanks for stopping by.

Skriker: More n’ welcome, baby.

Danielle D. Smith is an angels-and-demons fantasy author, tattoo artist, and painter living in San Diego, CA. You can visit her online at http://www.danielledsmith.com/ She maintains a blog, The Angel’s Gate, at http://www.theangelsgate.blogspot.com/

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