The Dark-Hunters (843 page)

Authors: Sherrilyn Kenyon

Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Romance, #Paranormal, #Vampires, #Science Fiction & Fantasy, #Fantasy, #Paranormal & Urban

BOOK: The Dark-Hunters

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H
AIR
/E
YES
: auburn

P
REFERRED
W
EAPONS
: whip, bow

C
URRENT
L
OCATION
: Seattle, Washington

Were-Hunters

Their Bark Has Nothing on Their Bite

The Were-Hunters may be fuzzy, but they’re seldom warm.

—
Kyl

The Allagi

The mythic birth of the Were-Hunters is called the
Allagi.
But instead of forcing you through some dusty archaic translation, I’m just gonna sum it up for you. (You’re welcome.)

You already know that Apollo cursed the Apollites and everything went to hell with that. (There’s more in chapter 6, “How to Roast a Daimon,” if you need to jump ahead for details, but I’m guessing you’ve got the basics.)

Many years later, the sorcerer king Lycaon of Arcadia unknowingly fell in love with and married an Apollite woman. He knew she had a few strange habits—what nobleborn lady didn’t need to preserve her beauty by staying out of the sun?—but he loved her so much that he was willing to overlook them. She bore him two sons and then—you guessed it—she went and died at the unnaturally youthful age of twenty-seven. Lycaon, distraught and all too powerful for his own good, declared that Apollo’s curse would not plague his bloodline. He would see to it that his sons would outlive him.

Genius, scientific intelligence, and good intentions. We have the atomic bomb for the same reason we have the Were-Hunters.

And so, Lycaon began his terrible experiments on the Apollite people. He gathered up as many of them as he could and used his magic to … change them, to alter their makeup on a level so basic that it might fool the curse of a god. He tortured them and killed them so that he might find a way for them to go on living, so that his sons might go on living. He experimented on them as if they were animals.

And then he experimented on them
with
animals.

Using arcane magic, he took a page out of Apollo’s book. The Apollites were cursed with the traits of beasts, so that’s where Lycaon decided to start. He spliced the essence of the Apollites with predators renowned for their strength and superior survival skills. Bears, for their teeth and deadly claws. Panthers, for their agility and hunting skills. Leopards, for their almost supernatural ability to go undetected. Lions, for their speed and ability to work together. Tigers, for their size and lack of natural predators. Jackals, for their long legs and cunning ways. Wolves, for their heartiness and stamina. Hawks, for their swift and deadly beaks and their keen eyesight. The mad king even captured the legendary dragon, with all its might, magic, and majesty.

Lycaon hoped that if he could combine an Apollite’s life force with those of these animals it would make them powerful enough to somehow break the curse.

For better or worse, Lycaon’s experiments worked. Instead of living only twenty-seven years, these new Apollites now had life expectancies of close to a thousand. As he expected, they were strong, quick, powerful, and deadly. Their life spans were suddenly elongated to twelve times that of any human. And because they were born of magic and descended from the psychic pureblood Apollites, they ended up with a lot of innate bonus powers such as telepathy, telekinesis, and shapeshifting.

After choosing from among their new monstrous cousins, the king blended his sons with a dragon and a wolf—he decided that those were the most powerful of the animals he had experimented upon. He had thwarted Apollo’s curse; he had defied the will of a god with his own human hand.

The Fates were not happy when they found out.

Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos all came to Lycaon and demanded that he kill his sons, unnatural abominations that they were. It was not for man to change a fate handed down by the gods, and this should be Lycaon’s punishment.

Yeah. That went over like a lead balloon.

When he would not comply, Clotho cursed this new race—“They will spend eternity hating and fighting until the day when the last of them breathes no more”—and then sent Eris to plant mistrust among them.

Chalk one up for the Fates.

The second you have to chalk up to science. Due to the dual nature of Lycaon’s research, he was responsible for not one but two sets of laws: those of both heaven and earth. He was not going to get away with breaking either of them.

The first Law of Thermodynamics states that energy is neither created nor destroyed. Whatever you put in, you will get out. Because each member of this new Were race consisted of essentially half an Apollite and half an animal, whenever Lycaon blended the two beings together he created two new, separate beings: one with an animal’s heart and one with a human’s.

Plato’s theory about humans being two halves of the same person was based on the Were race.

The animal-hearted Weres were called
Katagaria
—a term meaning “miscreant” or “rogue.” Born in the body of their predator skin, they could only become human at puberty, when their magical powers were genetically “unlocked.” Conversely, the
Arcadians
—named after Lycaon’s own people—were born as humans, a fact that was used as the argument for Arcadians being a cut above their animal cousins. The Arcadians thought—and still do—the Katagaria needed close supervision and monitoring. They believed the Katagaria should be controlled, and contained.

Likewise, the Katagaria were mistrustful of their human counterparts. Humans are so often deceptive. They constantly deal in lies and subterfuge. If a wolf dislikes you, he attacks you openly, without question or hesitation. If a human dislikes you, he can smile to your face, and then stab you in the back. As Clotho predicted, it wasn’t long before war broke out between these two groups. That war continues on to this day. There are villains and heroes on both sides.

The direct descendents of the sons of King Lycaon took the surname Kattalakis. The name belongs to the Lykos and Drakos branches on both the Arcadian and Katagaria sides.

Through experience some of us have learned certain characteristics specific to each patria. For instance, that Were-panthers and -tigers cannot stand to be blinded, and that—like with most animals—chocolate is lethal to some Weres. Were-Hunters also mimic their animal brethren by preferring to move quickly to avoid or capture their enemies. Because of this, many Were-Hunters prefer racing bikes to standard automobiles. (Hah! Like an Aston Martin is
standard.
Most Dark-Hunters have garages packed with Bond cars. Don’t worry, you will too, in time.)

Slayers and Sentinels

Everyone has scars from their life.

—
Wren Tigarian

The Arcadians and Katagaria each have designated soldiers who fight and protectors who watch over the women and children of the group. Their societies and existence are extremely complex, though they will most often segregate themselves to be with their own kind. For example, an Ursulan (bear) Katagari will live in a clan (patria) of other Ursulan Katagaria, while an Ursulan Arcadian will live with other Ursulan Arcadians. You won’t generally see a bunch of random Were-Hunters bedding down comfortably in a mismatched pack.

I suppose one could consider it a bit racist … but while the human side of a Were has no problem mating with another human Were, their animal sides still have big mental hurdles to jump when it comes to intimate relations with a different species. The psychology is just a lot easier when a Were runs with his own pack. Especially the Katagaria.

Katagaria follow the basic law of nature: Kill or be killed. The Katagaria have their own form of soldiers, the
Strati,
who seek out Rogue Arcadians. (You’ve no doubt figured it out by now—if it’s Rogue, it’s got a death warrant.) Much like their predatory ancestors, Strati will not engage an enemy unprovoked. They will only kill to defend themselves, their pack, or their territory.

Speaking of animal instinct, it is a common Katagaria tradition to mount (as in, on the wall) your first kill. Say it with me: “Ewwww.” I bet most Katagaria wives hope their husband’s first kill is a Daimon. It’s kind of hard to mount a pile of dust.

It is also polite to refer to Katagaria by their animal selves. For example, you may address Vane Kattalakis as “Wolf.” It’s a bit like the equivalent of a “Doctor” or “General” honorific. The term
Were,
however, is a major insult to the Katagaria since the term is taken from Old English and means “man”—they pride themselves on being animals. They don’t mind the term
Were-Hunter
because it implies they are hunting men, which they are. It is normally fine to use the term
Were
when discussing them casually, like here, but it’s definitely not something you want to call them to their face. Katagaria do not like to be reminded of, or referred to by, their human half, and Arcadians in the main prefer to never think of themselves as anything but.

In times of desperation, a Were-Hunter’s body will resort to the form of its truest nature. It is almost impossible for Katagaria to maintain human form when injured, and the reverse is true for Arcadians. Consider this if you’ve got an injured Katagari on hand—you’re going to need a vet and an explanation for why you’re suddenly in a crowded place with an exotic animal. If an Arcadian is hurt while in his human form you’ve not got much to worry about. If the Arcadian was in animal form when injured, be prepared to give them your shirt and/or coat, especially in inclement weather, and do your best to keep them from getting ticketed for public indecency.

It is also difficult for either species to maintain constant form when zapped by an electrical impulse … but more on that in a bit.

The Most Wanted Katagaria are known as the Sons of Vengeance. Remember, each one is lethal, fast, and deadly. They possess an animalistic charisma that enchants human women to the point that such women will often protect them at any cost and are willing to die for the Katagaria. They have no known weakness and are loyal only unto themselves. Most are loners who will attack with little to no provocation. Their animal forms rule them and they are as dangerous in human form as they are in animal state.

Do not try to apprehend. They are to be destroyed on sight. Their bounties carry a triple bonus for anyone who can provide a hide as proof of the kill.

Watch for them—they could be in your neighborhood any day.

* * *

There are those Katagaria who are not able to rein in the natural, hedonistic impulses of their animal souls, and they eventually succumb to the madness of their blood. These Katagaria are true, unredeemable animals, and are called
Slayers.
Some Arcadians refer to all Strati as Slayers, but that’s somewhat of a sweeping generalization laced with a heap of latent hostility.

Arcadian soldiers are called
Sentinels
and they usually patrol in groups of four. A Sentinel’s main duty is to track and kill Slayers. (You can see now where the Strati-Slayer confusion, conscious or not, would cause a bit of trouble.)