The Dark-Hunters (842 page)

B
ORN
: ?

B
IRTHPLACE
: Toledo, Spain

H
EIGHT
: six foot four

H
AIR
/E
YES
: black

P
OWERS
: telekinesis

C
URRENT
L
OCATION
: Memphis, Tennessee

Sin
    Once a powerful Sumerian god of the Moon, Fertility, and the Calendar Year, Sin’s godhood was stolen by Artemis. It was his twin brother, Zakar (Sin was actually born one of triplets, but his father killed the eldest over a prophecy), who found him barely alive, wrapped in a diktyon in the desert. Zakar saved his brother’s life, a favor that Sin later returned in spades.

Sin’s major grudge is not so much against Daimons as it is the gallu demons. He possesses a cane weapon, last of the thin blades created by his pantheon, that will kill the gallu. He, Zakar, and his daughter, Ishtar, were the ones who originally trapped the Dimme and banished them from this world.

Sin is blood-bonded to his beloved Katra, thanks to Acheron’s intervention. Katra later bestowed upon Sin her own Greek-Atlantean powers in order to save him from death by a Sumerian dagger. He returned them with a kiss. (Sigh.)

He can most often be found in the penthouse above his casino in Las Vegas, accompanied by his non-Squire, Kish, his Daimon casino manager, Damien, and Katra, of course.

B
ORN
: the dawn of time

B
IRTHPLACE
: Ur

H
EIGHT
: six foot seven

H
AIR
/E
YES
: jet-black/topaz

P
OWERS
: godlike

C
URRENT
L
OCATION
: Kyshtym, Las Vegas, Nevada

F
EATURED
N
OVEL
:
Devil May Cry

Smith, Janice
    An African-American Dark-Hunter with a Caribbean accent, Janice was transferred to New Orleans from the Florida Keys during the return of Desiderius.

B
ORN
:
A.D
. 1760

B
IRTHPLACE
: Trinidad

H
AIR
/E
YES
: black

P
OWERS
: necromancy

C
URRENT
L
OCATION
: New Orleans, Louisiana

Spawn
    An Apollite Dark-Hunter, Spawn lives in Alaska. He can read thoughts, even through the phone.

B
ORN
:
A.D
. 702

B
IRTHPLACE
: Ukraine

H
EIGHT
: six foot seven

H
AIR
/E
YES
: blond

P
OWERS
: telepathy

C
URRENT
L
OCATION
: Alaska

Squid
    A known pirate Dark-Hunter.

B
ORN
:
A.D
. 1594

B
IRTHPLACE
: Portugal

H
EIGHT
: six foot three

H
AIR
/E
YES
: black

P
OWERS
: He won’t say.

C
URRENT
L
OCATION
: varies

St. James, Xander
    The illegitimate son of a Gypsy fortuneteller and an English lord, Xander carries a partial soul. He was a sorcerer in his past life, and his powers are still rooted in darkness. He is also very, very protective of his Squire, Brynna. Nobody’s quite sure how he became a Dark-Hunter … but I can tell you that of all of us, he does know who—or what—Ash really is.

B
ORN
:
A.D
. 1781

B
IRTHPLACE
: London, England

H
EIGHT
: six foot five

H
AIR
/E
YES
: black

P
OWERS
: He never reveals them to anyone but his victims.

C
URRENT
L
OCATION
: Richmond, Virginia

Streigar
    (deceased) A Dark-Hunter who was trapped by vampire-hunting humans, Streigar died from exposure to daylight.

B
ORN
:
A.D
. 898

B
IRTHPLACE
: Denmark

H
EIGHT
: seven feet

H
AIR
/E
YES
: blond

P
OWERS
: ferrokinesis

C
URRENT
L
OCATION
: deceased

St. Richard, Dangereuse
    Nickname: Danger. (She was named for the grandmother of Eleanor of Aquitaine.) Born the daughter of a French actress and a French nobleman, Danger grew up on the stage. She loved her family and her life, right up until the French Revolution tore her world apart. Caught between the two warring factions, Danger refused to see the noble half of her family killed.

Using her connections in the theater, she tried to smuggle her father and noble half-siblings into Germany. Her husband, Michel, was the one who betrayed her into the hands of the Committee. Danger was killed, shot by her husband, while trying to protect her small brother and sister from the guillotine. She was stationed in Tupelo, Mississippi, when Alexion was sent back to stop Kyros and the other renegade Dark-Hunters from banding against Acheron.

Danger was killed and became a Shade … which would be an awful fate if it (and the benevolent Acheron) hadn’t afforded her the ability to live alongside her true love Alexion in Katoteros.

B
ORN
:
A.D
. 1752

B
IRTHPLACE
: Paris, France

H
EIGHT
: five foot two

H
AIR
/E
YES
: chestnut/brown

P
OWERS
: telepathy

C
URRENT
L
OCATION
: Katoteros

F
EATURED
N
OVEL
:
Sins of the Night

Syra of Antikabe (aka Yukon Jane)
    An Amazon warrior Dark-Hunter from the fourth century
B.C
., Syra was originally stationed in the Yukon as a punishment, after maiming a king who had annoyed her.

B
ORN
: ?

B
IRTHPLACE
: Greece

H
EIGHT
: six feet

H
AIR
/E
YES
: black

P
OWERS
: telekinesis

C
URRENT
L
OCATION
: Yukon

Thorssen, Bjorn
    (deceased) A Viking warrior Dark-Hunter, Bjorn was killed by Thanatos in Alaska.

B
ORN
: January 5, 801

B
IRTHPLACE
: Denmark

H
EIGHT
: six foot eight

H
AIR
/E
YES
: black

P
OWERS
: telepathy

Trieg
    A Dark-Hunter stationed in Greece. The Dream-Hunter Arikos was summoned by Acheron to help Trieg deal with the death of his family. Arikos remained Trieg’s Dream-Hunter until he turned Skotos.

B
ORN
: ?

B
IRTHPLACE
: Scotland

H
EIGHT
: six foot six

H
AIR
/E
YES
: black

P
OWERS
: telekinesis

C
URRENT
L
OCATION
: Greece

Troy
    (deceased) A Dark-Hunter who was burned to death in a holding cell.

B
ORN
:
A.D
. 1801

B
IRTHPLACE
: Indianapolis, Indiana

H
EIGHT
: six foot three

H
AIR
/E
YES
: black

P
OWERS
: atmokinesis

Tryggvason, Wulf
    Wulf is the only Dark-Hunter who was never granted an Act of Vengeance. He was a Viking warrior born to a Christian mother and Norse father—to honor them he wears a necklace bearing both a crucifix and Thor’s hammer. His mother was captured and given to his father as a prize after a raid. She bore him two more children after Wulf—Erik and Brynhild—and then disowned Wulf and Erik when she discovered they had become raiders like their father.

Wulf was tricked by the Dark-Huntress Morginne into giving up his soul and trading it with the Norse god Loki. Since he was wrongfully brought over by another Dark-Hunter, his powers are very different from the rest of his brethren. The most curious power of all is that of amnesia, the result of a curse laid on him by Morginne. No human or animal is capable of remembering him five minutes after they leave his presence. Acheron used a drop of Wulf’s nephew’s blood to soften the blow of this curse, so that Wulf’s blood relatives would be able to remember him.

He is married to ex-Apollite (and direct descendent of Apollo) Cassandra Peters. They have a son, Erik.

B
ORN
:
A.D
. 750

B
IRTHPLACE
: Hammerfest, Norway

H
EIGHT
: six foot six

H
AIR
/E
YES
: black

C
URRENT
L
OCATION
: Twin Cities, Minnesota

F
EATURED
N
OVEL
:
Kiss of the Night

Ulric
    (deceased) A Dark-Hunter from Biloxi. The spirit of Desiderius took over Ulric’s body and went on a killing spree. His victims included: Tia Devereaux; Cherise Gautier; Kyrian and Amanda Hunter; and the Dark-Hunter Kassim. Ulric/Desiderius was finally defeated (stabbed and beheaded) by Valerius Magnus and Tabitha Devereaux.

B
ORN
:
A.D
. 1498

B
IRTHPLACE
: Brussels, Belgium

H
EIGHT
: six foot four

H
AIR
/E
YES
: blond

P
OWERS
: sonokinesis

Zarek of Moesia
    Zarek of Moesia is not kind. To be fair, he comes by it honestly—after several lifetimes full of getting the short end of the stick.

Zarek was born the unwanted son of a Greek slave and the Roman Senator Gaius Magnus. Instead of being killed as his mother had instructed, he was brought to his father. The unforgiving Gaius reintroduced Zarek to slavery, and made him a whipping boy for his half-brothers. As a slave, Zarek last worked for Carlia, a beautiful Roman woman who wanted Zarek to warn her and her lover when her husband was coming. She later told her husband that Zarek raped her.

To add insult to injury, Zarek was so filthy that when he appealed to Artemis for his vengeance she did not touch him to transform him into a Dark-Hunter—she only poked him with a stick and injected him with ichor to give him immortality and physical Dark-Hunter traits. So in all those nine hundred years full of twenty-four-hour days of summer, Zarek never was susceptible to death by sunlight.

Yeah, I’d be bitter, too.

In the Dark Ages, Zarek lived in a village (Taberleigh) that was attacked by the first incarnation of Thanatos. When Zarek hunted Thanatos back to the Apollite village where he sought asylum, Thanatos threw an Apollite in front of him as a human shield (Dirce), and Zarek accidentally killed her.

Thanatos could not be killed by Zarek, only Acheron could manage that. But when Ash used his god-powers in front of Zarek to kill Thanatos, he messed with Zarek’s mind to make him forget what had happened. Because of that, the massacre of the Apollite village was blamed on Zarek, and Artemis banished him to Alaska for nine hundred years. He was even banned from both the online Dark-Hunter bulletin boards and the chatrooms on the Dark-Hunter Web site.

Rumors began to pop up about Zarek. He was a known Feeder who preyed on human blood, so he did not deny the accusations that he was psychotic, or that he had cut up and eaten the last Squire Ash sent him. His hostility even scared the Dream-Hunters, who would not come to heal him while he slept.

Zarek was sent to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, where he sided with the mischievous god Dionysus and then betrayed him by not letting Dion kill Sunshine Runningwolf. Months later, Zarek fell in love with Astrid, the justice nymph who was sent by Themis to pass judgment on him. Astrid determined Zarek’s innocence (despite his arrogance), and they were married. After their wedding, Astrid fed Zarek ambrosia so that he could return with her to Mount Olympus. He abused his power for a while, choosing to constantly hurl lightning bolts at the Dark-Hunter Valerius.

Valerius was given nectar of the gods (and therefore immortality) by Zarek and Astrid as a wedding gift. Astrid’s bonus wedding gift was ambrosia—to bestow upon Val his own god-powers, so he could give Zarek as good as he got.

B
ORN
: 155
B.C
.

B
IRTHPLACE
: Viminacium, Moesia

H
EIGHT
: six foot six

H
AIR
/E
YES
: black

P
OWERS
: godlike

P
REFERRED
W
EAPONS
: silver finger-claws

F
EATURED
N
OVEL
:
Dance with the Devil

Zoe
    A Dark-Huntress from New York City who now lives in Seattle, Zoe was the daughter of an Amazon queen. She was originally killed by Valerius’s brother Marius Magnus before coming back as a Dark-Hunter. In the tradition of many Amazons, Zoe
reeeeally
can’t stand men … to the point of preferring women as her intimate companions.

B
ORN
: 150
B.C
.

B
IRTHPLACE
: ?

H
EIGHT
: six foot five