Deb E. Howell's Works
Warrior's Touch
Once upon a time, the last Immortal lost his powers to an Aenuk Healer and her tree.
Nine hundred years later, he learns that an Immortal child is going to be born, and with it, a chance to regain his lost magic...
The Kara and Aenuk races have been enemies for centuries, but for Llew and Jonas, love won out. Now Llew faces an uncertain future: one nation wants her to breed their future army, and the other wants her dead. Her Healing talent also means she is feared – and the child she carries makes her a target.
Jonas has returned to his people, but he is torn. The woman he loves is being kept away from him, his superiors want him to carry on his bloodline with an appropriate mate, and he's being expected to fit back into a role he no longer wants. He is meant to be a hero, but the only champion he wants to be is Llew's and their child – a child who might change everything.
But for their enemy to regain his powers, Llew's child must die; and in order to retain them, every Aenuk must be destroyed.
In Warrior's Touch, loyalties will be tested, lives torn apart and magics rejoined.
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17
50 chapters
Complete
Magician's Touch
Jonas is broken and weak. He won't be saving anyone today.
Fortunately, his half-brother Braph has only ever wanted to beat him in a fair fight, something that is no longer possible.
Unfortunately, Braph still wants to sample a higher power.
That power resides inside the Ajnai tree planted over the bodies of Llew and Jonas's Immortal children; the tree infused with the soul of one of those children.
***
7th November 2024 update: I have a final cover illustration (subject to some minor adjustments due to perfectionism). I'm super looking forward to sharing it with the world, but this one needs to be done right. There need to be eyes looking. So, I'll keep writing, and eventually be in a place to market and grow my audience. Or, I'll just be ready to chuck it up on Kindle and go from there …
5th September 2024 update: Still working on it. My writing time is unpredictable around family and work commitments, but I really enjoy writing, and I love my characters, so I keep doing it. Cover is in production.
1,562
15
41 chapters
Ongoing
Healer's Touch
The Young Riders meet The Vampire Diaries in this tale of brother versus brother and blood-magic set in a gaslamp fantasy world. Book 1 in the Deadly Touch Trilogy.
Llew has a gift. Her body heals itself from any injury, at a cost to anyone nearby.
Llew's father disappeared when she was eleven, leaving her orphaned, as far as she knew.
Since then, Llew has learned to survive the streets of the gold-mining town of Cheer – full of opportunistic men and desperation. It’s a hard existence made tougher when her so-called friend accuses Llew of murder, sending her to the gallows.
Llew's Aenuk ability to absorb life means she doesn’t stay dead for long, but she does leave a trail of death behind her.
Escaping the hangman’s noose sees Llew fall into the hands of Jonas: the man with the knife and the Karan power to kill Llew’s kind. If Llew can nurture the attraction he has to her, maybe she can keep that knife from her heart.
But lurking in the shadows is Jonas’s half-brother, Braph: the man who has learned to combine Aenuk and Karan powers into infinite and addictive magical potential.
Healer's Touch is a fantasy novel flavored with a wild west setting, steampunk-like technology, enough romance to draw you in, horror to keep you hooked, and just enough sex to keep things spicy.
1,496
17
26 chapters
Complete
The Wolf and The Source
The world needs her. She needs him. He... just wants to have a good time.
Through no fault of his own, simply a matter of timing, Ekon has found himself in the possession of the mantle of his wolf pack's Alpha. It's a privileged role that comes with far too much responsibility.
Also the victim of timing, Anaïs has woken to find that she is a Sorcerer: the Source of all of life's power. The first for centuries. Why her? Because. Why now? Because. Power from the cosmos now flows through her, and out into the wider world, controlled only by the amulet she must always wear. And if she takes it off? Kaboom.
And if it's stolen from her? ...
**
This is the first book of a planned series called Guardians & Guides. It's still very much in its infancy, so will develop slowly (especially while I'm still prioritising finishing Magician's Touch from the Deadly Touch series). I'm also going to have to do a bunch of worldbuilding for this one, so the actual writing will happen later in the process, or will undergo some changes as I "discover" things. This is just to let you know it's on my agenda, just in case it's the sort of story you might be looking for ...
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14
4 chapters
Ongoing