The gist of the story is that Kyrian was betrayed thousands of years ago by someone he loved, and his cry of anguish was heard by the goddess Artemis, who had created this band of hunters - led by Acheron - to battle the Apollites who turned daimon. A Dark Hunter relinquishes his soul to Artemis, and they are fated to walk the world alone. Apollites, also known as the descendants of the god Apollo, were cursed to live no more than 27 years before they crumbled to dust and died. Those desperate enough not to die become daimons, blood suckers, and require the souls of humans to sustain their existence. Dark Hunters do not require blood to survive, nor do they kill humans for their souls. However they cannot be out in sunlight, unlike daimons, and while immortal, they can die. A Dark Hunter who dies becomes a Shade, doomed to walk the earth always hungering, longing, but never being satisified. It is an existence beyond cruelty.

So Kyrian is hunting daimons, most especially Desiderius, who seems to have powers unlike any daimon he's known. Desiderius handcuffs Kyrian to Amanda Deveraux, a human with extraordinary powers of her own, coming from a magical family. But while Amanda loves her family, she denies her roots, preferring to live in the "normal" world. She doesn't know it, but has incredible power, and Desiderius is fully aware of this. He uses his human minions to carefully nurture Amanda's gifts without her knowing.

While together, Amanda and Kyrian begin to fall in love, although because of his tortured past and the incredible betrayal he suffered, Kyrian is convinced no woman can ever love him. He continues to push her away. But it's no use. He finds her extraordinary, and is constantly surprised at her bravery and fearlessness. So while he finds himself wishing for a life other than that of a Dark Hunter, a life filled with love and family, he knows the chances of that are near impossible of surviving. Only a handful of Dark Hunters have ever successfully gotten their souls back, and the price is one that may just be too steep to pay....

My thoughts:

Of course I have to mention, again, this is when we first meet Acheron, leader of the Dark Hunters and a being who's walked the earth for over 11,000 years. He's got a "partnership" with Artemis since he's in charge of the group but Artemis still owns their souls. What do we know about him? He's very tall, been around almost forever, looks young, has long hair that he changes the color with his moods (it's green when he first comes on the scene). And the dude's got powers. Amazing powers. And then there's that whole deal with Artie....

But moving on. I liked that while Kyrian is a dangerous hunter, he also retains some of his humanity. He can be quite funny and blase' about what he does. After all, he's been alive a looong time (though not even close to as how long Acheron's been walking the earth) so there's not much he hasn't seen or done. He now has a purpose - to kill daimons - and he does it very well. Amanda has him thinking of things he hasn't thought of since he was human - a home, family - and part of him longs for it, while another part believes deep down it can never be. All he can do is keep her safe.

Labels: quickie reviews, Sherrilyn Kenyon