Kerry Allen

Name: David
Classification: Supernatural Stud
Subclass: Djinn

Found In: Rachel Caine’s Weather Warden series (all books listed below). For the sake of performing the introductions, I’ve excerpted from Ill Wind, the first book in the series, but I assure you, David gets even better over time.

The Meet Cute: Joanne picks up a hitchhiker while fleeing for her life.

The Catch: David’s kinda sorta responsible for the circumstances necessitating the fleeing and wants to make amends, not that he confesses this, and by the time Joanne figures it out, she’s too in love with him to hold a grudge.

The Pretty: When Joanne first sees David, she describes him as “just a guy.”

A guy with brown hair that needed trimming and some silly-looking round glasses that reflected blazing sunlight. A nice face, with smile lines around the eyes that said he was older than first glance would take him for. He was wearing a patched olive-green trench coat that for some reason reminded me of World War I—a vintage clothing enthusiast, or somebody who could afford only Salvation Army couture.

(David almost always wears that coat. It has sentimental value. He also has a fondness for flannel shirts, jeans, and hiking boots.)

He had really dark eyes, but dark in a warm, earthy kind of way. If he were a season, he’d be fall.

(I love that line about fall.)

Skin like burnished gold, and under it the best kind of muscles on a man—long, lean, defined without bulging.

(Damn, I cut out the part where he was wet and wrapped in a towel. Use your imagination. Is lickalicious a word?) (This was later, by the way. She didn’t pick him up on the side of the road, wet and wrapped in a towel, though that would be an effective way to get a ride…)

Djinn tend to look like humans because blending in is safer. Once Joanne knows he’s Djinn and not “just a guy,” David lets his appearance slip enough to reveal his real eyes, always a dramatic feature in Djinn.

His eyes were deep, beautiful, and entirely alien. Copper-colored with flecks of bright gold. They flared brighter as I watched, then faded into something that was nearly human-brown.

(That’s how my imagination paints David: copper and gold.)

Endearing Qualities

• His dietary indiscretions include cheese doodles, Twinkies, and diet soda.
• He’s keenly focused on the object of his affection, as if her every word, every gesture, every breath is something he treasures.
• He smells like a cookie: “something cinnamon, exotic, warm.”
• He’s quiet, enigmatic, and wry.
• He reads popular fiction and likes The X-Files.
• He’s a rescuer. Car breaks down, demon incubating in your chest gets riled up, somebody tries to kill you—David to the rescue.
• And while he’s at it, why doesn’t he offer to sacrifice his freedom and his sanity to get that demon out of you because he loves you that damn much.

Handy Skills

• Magically hotwire a car when a quick getaway is called for
• Magically clothe you in the latest designer fashions
• Keep your spirit alive when your body has burned to bones and ash while you were out of it, trying to save the day
• Conceal you from prying eyes so you can make like bunnies in public

In David’s Words

“I don’t like you,” he said. “Like has no pulse. No fever. No fire.” His right hand came out of the water now, joined the left in gliding up my shoulders, my neck. I could feel my pulse pounding wildly. Both my hands on his chest now, mapping the golden territory of his body. “Like isn’t what I feel for you. It never was.”

The Drawbacks: David spends a lot of time as someone else’s property. As such, he’s often treated about as well as you would expect someone who would keep a slave to treat that slave. I know people who have stopped reading the series because they couldn’t stand the abuse he suffers.

The Up Side: If you stick with it, there’s a Djinn rebellion, and pity the fool who messes with David after that.

Get Your Hands On David: Linkage goes to B&N search page containing all the Weather Warden books, penned by Rachel Caine. (For a refreshing change, they’re actually listed as Book One, Book Two, etc. in the search, but I’ve also put them in order below if you choose to browse elsewhere.)

Ill Wind: Book One
Heat Stroke: Book Two
Chill Factor: Book Three
Windfall: Book Four
Firestorm: Book Five
Thin Air: Book Six