The Dark-Hunters (850 page)

H
EIGHT
: six foot three

H
AIR
/E
YES
: dark blond/turquoise

W
ERE
-F
ORM
: white tiger, snow leopard, or combination

C
URRENT
L
OCATION
: New Orleans, Louisiana

F
EATURED
N
OVEL
:
Unleash the Night

Tigarian, Zack
    The Were-tiger son of Grayson and cousin of Wren Tigarian. Zack was the one who called the charge of trelosa on Wren, saying that Wren was responsible for the death of his parents.

Timoria
    Katagaria punishment.

Trelosa
    A rabieslike madness that comes upon Were-Hunters when they hit puberty. Zack Tigarian accused Wren of killing his parents while under the influence of the trelosa.

Whelps
    Young Were-Hunters who have reached puberty and mastered their hormones, but have yet to harness all their powers.

Whitethunder, Carson
    Arcadian Were-hawk; the only son of a Sioux shaman and a Gerakian Katagari. His mother died not long after his birth, and his father raised him alone. Once he fell into puberty, his father took him to Sanctuary so that the Peltiers could help him “adjust” to his newfound powers.

The cross-mixture of his blood has left him with a few strange tendencies that cause him to spend a lot of time alone. Hoping to better understand himself, he went to med and vet school. He ended up back at Sanctuary where he now helps both Arcadians and Katagaria as the resident vet and medical doctor. He hopes to one day find a way to bring peace to the two groups.

He takes a room upstairs above the club and is on duty pretty much 24/7. Carson often seeks the advice of Dr. Paul McTierney on tricky cases.

B
ORN
: October 13, 1910

B
IRTHPLACE
: New Orleans, Louisiana

H
EIGHT
: six foot four

H
AIR
/E
YES
: black/hazel green

W
ERE
-F
ORM
: hawk

P
OWERS
: astral projection

Wilder, Jace
    Arcadian Were-cheetah, and Regis of the Helikias patria.

Xanatos, Trey/Ax/Trion
    One of the few Katagaria Slayers who travels with a friend, Trey/Ax/Trion (they are not actually the same person, but are in fact identical triplets) is often found in the company of Paris Sebastienne. These Were-tigers possess the ability to be in more than one place at a time.

B
ORN
: 55
B.C.

B
IRTHPLACE
: Gaul

Dream-Hunters

Mr. Sandman, Your New Best Friend

Dreams provide a necessary outlet for everyone.

—Arikos

Origin of the Oneroi

Dream-Hunters (also known as the Oneroi) are the cursed children of the Greek gods of Sleep (Morpheus, Hypnos, Phobetor, Icelus, Phantasos, and Thanatos). Some are born of human mothers, but many are born of the Greek goddess Mist.

As long as one of a child’s parents is an Oneroi, that child can inherit their powers and duties. They also inherit some residual emotions, emotions that are stripped from them very early on, usually by beating. More about that when we get to the curse.

Once a child has been embraced by its Dream-Hunter brethren, the distinction between branches of the family tree, however distant, becomes obsolete. All Oneroi consider one another brothers or sisters whether they actually share the same parents or not. They are taught by their siblings how to enter dreams, and the rules of what to do and what is forbidden. They learn how to fight the Skoti, and how to fight the war of raging emotions inside themselves after a visit with a vivid dreamer so that they don’t become the next monster with a price on its head.

Dream-Hunters can be either male or female. Most have black hair and pale blue, almost colorless (and kind of glowy) eyes. They feel a bit like static electricity when touched, and transport from one place to another in a golden flash of light.

The Oneroi possess the power to create dreams, and control them. They direct the dream host to reveal his or her deepest desires, or to find solutions to the nagging little problems of the dreamer’s everyday life. Without the Oneroi to steer dreams and inspire people, humans (and other such dreamers) would lose their minds.

It takes many years for a Dream-Hunter to master his powers. If the training of an Oneroi fails, and it cannot be beaten into him, then he is executed by order of the leaders of the Dream-Hunters.

It’s not that the leaders are evil (they are not), or because they are cold (which they are). It’s because they don’t want to incur the wrath of the gods … again.

The curse of the Oneroi all started with a joke. Zeus thought the Dream-Hunters too powerful and arrogant, and not being known for his tact he said as much. But even gods have to sleep sometime. Gods, like everyone else on the planet, are vulnerable to the Oneroi when they are resting. And since Oneroi can travel carte blanche through the dreamworld, they know a lot of tricks the old gods don’t.

The Fates enjoy being tempted, you know. Spices up the long days of eternity for them. And they can be vengeful bitches.

One of these mischievous Oneroi thought Zeus’s statement more than a bit hypocritical, so he played a joke on old Thunderbutt (it’s said that Hades, Hypnos, and Wink had a hand in this, too … but what roles they played exactly has never been made clear). This Dream-Hunter monkeyed with the god’s mind and made him lust after a goat.

Which, you have to admit, is pretty darned amusing.

No harm, no foul. At least, that’s what the Oneroi thought.

As you have learned by now, gods don’t exactly have the best senses of humor. By simply performing that one not-so-innocent act, the Dream-Hunter had cursed himself and his brethren until the end of time.

Zeus—once he regained his composure—ordered his assassins, the Dolophoni, to round up all the Dream-Hunters. A small group was immediately killed outright, including the one who had played the trick. Another group was summarily tortured to a point just before death. Among that group were M’Ordant, M’Adoc, and D’Alerian.

The rest of the Oneroi’s torture was a bit more subtle. Any non-Oneroi members of their families were killed. They were cursed to never again have emotions of any kind. Without humor or pride or jealousy, none would be tempted to try the same trick on any other god again. But with those emotions also went fear, hate, ambition, envy, compassion, and love.

Yes, it’s all fun and games until someone loses their emotions.

(Sorry, I couldn’t resist that one.)

Since the inherent nature of the Oneroi had changed after the curse, their duties summarily changed as well. Instead of causing, creating, and playing in dreams willy-nilly, the Dream-Hunters became siphons.

The empty emotional containers that are the Dream-Hunters’ bodies help humans (and others) by absorbing the excess emotions during sleep so that they might feel less stressed and more rested in the morning.

What’s it like for them? Arikos once said that being in a dream was “like bathing in Jell-O. It feels kind of thick and at times can be overwhelming. You never know what you’re going to find.” A heady and sensual description indeed, but one limited to the external senses. They cannot love or hate or fear or care. They just
are.

The only times the Oneroi can feel anything emotionally are those moments when they are helping in the dreams of humans. All that fear and love and passion are all-too-brief visitors in the cold vessel that is a Dream-Hunter’s consciousness, like stolen souls in a Daimon. Emotions are like a drug for them; they crave what they cannot have.

Because of that, the Oneroi are sworn to never participate in the dreams, and to never visit the same human more than once. They are also sworn to never seduce a human during sleep to jump-start these passionate, heady emotions.

It’s never easy to resist. Ever. A Dream-Hunter faces these temptations every single night, and every single night he must somehow force himself to resist them. It takes tremendous strength, unbelievable control, and a willpower I’m not sure even I possess.

The World of Dreams

Betrayal is for those who have something to gain.

—Kratos

There are different kinds of dreams, and different realms for each of them. The Oneroi often travel between these dreams through the
strobilos
—a vast demesne like a hall with many chambers. The strobilos amplifies the powers of the Oneroi so that they can slip in and out of dreams unnoticed, manipulating them with superior ease, and siphoning emotions from their dream host without fear of any lasting physical or emotional damage to that host. The Oneroi may rest undisturbed in the strobilos, drifting in and out of dreams at will.

While in the strobilos, however, the actions of the Oneroi can be monitored by both their leaders and certain interested gods. The idea is that the knowledge that they are never unwatched will serve to keep them in line.

The Oneroi know that the gods fear them, and the gods make a show of their powers by exacting control over the Dream-Hunters whenever the opportunity presents itself.

As a rule, Dream-Hunters do not prey on dreamers. But when a subject needs to be induced, there are several serums Dream-Hunters use to make a dream host drowsy. Lotus serum is the most popular, and idios more rare. Others have been known to use sleep mist (or dust) directly from the god Wink himself.

One of the other main duties of the Oneroi is the care of the psychological well-being of the Dark-Hunters. In fact, an entire branch of Oneroi are dedicated to this cause. The transition to what you are … what you’ve been through … it’s hard. Even the toughest bully would crack under that kind of pressure. Many have.

It is in Artemis’s best interest to have her soldiers remain hale and whole and unaffected by their past lives. They need to be able to set the sadness, hate, love, and pain behind them, and to channel those feelings into their war against the Daimons.

A Dream-Hunter can help a Dark-Hunter control those feelings. To ease them. To make them more manageable, and to make you more able to manage them. He can be your Yoda, for lack of a better comparison.

Since Oneroi can siphon pain, they are also given the task of speeding up the healing process of an injured Dark-Hunter. A Dark-Hunter heals while sleeping, and a Dream-Hunter’s powers are unmatched in the dream realm. Voilà!

When a Dark-Hunter is given to a Dream-Hunter to care for, no one else is allowed to trespass on that Dark-Hunter’s dreams without an invitation. And once a Dream-Hunter is assigned to you, it’s for life. As condescending and annoying as a Dream-Hunter can be, it’s a blessing really, so appreciate what you’ve got. Don’t think you’re the only one with a severely messed-up past. There were more Dark-Hunters before you, and there will be more after you.

How to Summon a Dream-Hunter

• Severe pain (They will feel it and be drawn to you.)

• Unconsciousness (Dreaming is their deal, after all.)

• Getting emotional (Sad? Angry? Orgasmic? A Skotos will find you …)

• Just calling (Do try to shy away from “Hey, Dork, I need you.”)

•
Don’t
ask Ash. He’s got better things to do.

•
Don’t
eat to try and induce nightmares. Unless you’re going for option one.…

If they were all well-adjusted individuals, they wouldn’t
be
Dark-Hunters, now would they? Besides, Dream-Hunters with their steady, calm, Zenlike manner will always be a welcome change of pace from your overopinionated, crazy, loud, hormonally imbalanced, know-it-all brat of a Squire. And they’re definitely more rational and level-headed than most gods you’ll ever come across.

Perhaps, at times, too rational.

Some say that while Zeus is a mighty god indeed, his control over an entire race of beings this powerful is not quite so endless and all-encompassing. There is a rumor that the emotions of the Oneroi are returning slowly after all this time, and growing stronger with every year that passes.

But if this is indeed true, it is not for a Dream-Hunter to ever tell.

Some things are better left unknown.

Sticks and Stones

Ah, man, not another one of
you.
Great.