Tabby's Nocturnal Nights: Erinyes—not your average heroines

Deciding to make my heroine in Daughter of Night one of the Greek Erinyes was a bit challenging at first. After all, these terrifying ladies are vengeance goddesses and their only duty is to punish mortal wrongdoers—not your average women. I had to figure out a way to make a female that looks frightening and punishes people into an attractive, likable heroine. With a little magic, I was able to make that happen.

And when I say magic, I mean that Rhea, the Great Goddess, used magic to turn her vengeance goddess into a human.

That seemed like the best way to turn a vengeance goddess into a heroine, considering that the Erinyes, known as Furies in Roman mythology, felt no remorse while enacting justice to mortal sinners. Punishments ranged from tormenting madness to suffering a terrible disease.

According to Hesiod, the Great Goddess, in her aspect as Night, bore these terrifying creatures. “Night bore hateful Doom and dark Fate and Death, she bore Sleep, she bore the Tribe of Dreams...and the Fates she bore, and the mercilessly punishing Furies who prosecute the transgressions of men and gods—never do the goddesses cease from their terrible wrath until they have paid the sinner his due.”

The Greek poets told of the Erinyes pursuing evildoers on Earth, usually as a group of three—Tisiphone, Megaera and Alecto. These Daughters of Night had a frightening appearance with snakes for hair, eyes that wept bloody tears, bronze or bat wings and sharp teeth. The only way to avoid being punished by these ladies was to live a sin-free life. Sounds easy, right? Apparently not for some people that were punished by the Daughters of Night. There is one bright spot—showing remorse can help end the torment.

In my new release, Daughter of Night, Rhea created another Daughter of Night named Becuille. This vengeance goddess had the power to punish mortals, but her main duty was to punish the other gods, the Titans, whenever they disobeyed Rhea. She also served Rhea as a personal guard and became the Great Goddess’s most trusted servant. Rhea uses magic to make Becuille human and sends her to find the Titan that betrayed her and hiding in a foreign land. Even though Rhea trusts Becuille, giving a vengeance goddess human emotions and sending her out into the world might not be the best idea.

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

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Blurb: Two mortals are caught up in the battle between the Titans and Olympian gods.