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Overview
Consider this handbook your education. Hunter 101. And don't go thinking you got off easy just because there's not a pop quiz at the end. This is the good stuff. The real deal. In here you'll find out all there is to know about being a Dark-Hunter.
Now for the disclaimer: This book is mutable. It goes with the wind. It changes more often than the mind of a sixteen-year-old Gemini with a closet full of clothes and a date in an hour. Don't be surprised if you open it up for the thirty-five thousandth time and find something old, something new, something borrowed or. . .well you get the point.
Curl up in a comfy chair with some millennium-old scotch and feast upon the informative banquet I have prepared for your enjoyment.
Welcome to your new life.
---From the Dark-Hunter Companion
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781429931342 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | St. Martin's Publishing Group |
| Publication date: | 11/13/2007 |
| Series: | Dark-Hunter Series |
| Sold by: | Macmillan |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 464 |
| Sales rank: | 584,124 |
| File size: | 4 MB |
About the Author
Sherrilyn Kenyon has placed more than 50 novels on the New York Times Bestseller list. Her current series include The Dark-Hunters, the The Dark-Hunter manga, Deadman’s Cross, The League, the Dream-Hunter novels, and the Chronicles of Nick.
Alethea Kontis' short fiction has appeared in Realms of Fantasy and Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show. In 2005, she co-edited the critically acclaimed SF all-star Elemental: The Tsunami Relief Anthology.
Defying all odds is what #1 New York Times and international bestselling author Sherrilyn McQueen writing as Sherrilyn Kenyon does best. Rising from extreme poverty as a child that culminated in being a homeless mother with an infant, she has become one of the most popular and influential authors in the world (in both adult and YA fiction), with dedicated legions of fans known as Paladins--thousands of whom proudly sport tattoos from her numerous genre-defying series.
Since her first book debuted while she was still in college, she has placed more than 80 novels on the New York Times list in all formats and genres, including manga and graphic novels, and has more than 70 million books in print worldwide. Her series include: Dark-Hunters®, Chronicles of Nick®, Deadman’s Cross™, Eve of Destruction™, Nevermore™, Lords of Avalon® and The League®.
Over the years, her Lords of Avalon® novels have been adapted by Marvel, and her Dark-Hunters® and Chronicles of Nick® are New York Times bestselling manga and comics and are #1 bestselling adult coloring books.
Alethea Kontis lives in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. She is a contributor to the Apex Science Fiction and Horror Digest.
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
So Now You're a Dark-Hunter ...
What to Do, What Not to Do, and How to Royally Screw It All Up
We're not the damned, folks, we're the categorically fucked.
— Urian
Take a deep breath.
Turn out the lights.
The reason you're having a hard time reading this is because the eyesight of a Dark-Hunter is the first, and possibly the most difficult, thing to adjust to. Birth is hard, especially the second time around. We'll go in baby steps, all right? Take your time. Are the lights out? Pull the shades, twist the blinds, and put blankets over the curtains.
Sounds insane, I know, but you're going to have to trust somebody sometime. That guy you met on the way in? That's Acheron. When the world inevitably goes to hell, he's one of the only people you will always be able to trust.
I'm one of the other ones.
Now, light a candle. But don't look straight at it since it'll only hurt more.
Here, I'll do the same thing so you don't feel like you're the only weirdo in the universe.
Go on, trust me. You may as well. I'll keep reminding you, so you won't forget. What else have you got to lose?
See, I know you that well and we've barely even met.
So.
You with me?
First lesson: Candlelight and firelight are second only to moonlight when it comes to enhancing a Dark-Hunter's vision. It makes sense if you think about it — these natural sources of illumination are instruments of the gods. Our Dear Lady Artemis is the goddess of the Moon. You are a product of Artemis's handiwork, therefore you are able to see better by the light of her totem.
Honestly, come on. Have you ever heard of the god of Neon or the goddess of Fluorescence?
I rest my case.
But what if it's nighttime? you ask. If I can see better by moonlight, why did I just block up all the windows?
Three reasons.
Three is a significant number among the gods, didn't you know? Well, you do now.
One: You have to think outside the box for a minute. You can do it. ... I'll give you a couple of seconds just in case you need them.
Humans are creatures of habit and, despite their amazing innate evolutionary ability to adapt to their environment, they are exceptionally averse to change. People notice change, but they aren't bothered by sameness. Constancy flies under the radar. If you shut up your windows every day and open them wide every night, someone will notice and wonder why. If you just leave them closed — or go so far as to block or board them up — it will be speculated upon and then shrugged off once the guy down the street brings a strange woman home, or the woman next door forgets to wheel her garbage to the curb.
Two: In a perfect world, Dark-Hunters sleep all day and hunt Daimons all night. Of course, if this world were perfect there wouldn't be any Daimons or Dark-Hunters. Curses wouldn't exist, the gods would never get angry, we would all love one another, and everything would be rainbows and puppies.
If you're anything like any of your predecessors, you're going to work your ass off all hours of the day and night. You will never be able to predict when you're coming or going — where your next nap or your next meal will be coming from. (Unless you have latent psychic abilities, but for the purposes of this discussion let's assume you don't.) I hear from the ancient Greeks that it's a bit like the army.
Even on cloudy days, daylight is still daylight. There will come a night when you inevitably sleep well past sunrise. That moment, you'll be thanking me for not having to wake up on fire.
Which brings us to three: about that fire.
I'm assuming you've got that candle lit by now. In many ways, that tiny dynamic flicker of energy is the perfect representation of your existence. It can be small, simple, and easy to manipulate. It can be wild, passionate, and unstoppable. It can feed; it can consume. It can save lives just as effortlessly as it can kill.
Above all, its very existence is among the first substantial evidence of the true wrath of the gods.
You know Prometheus, right? (No, I don't mean personally, you nitwit. Though if you do, tell him I said "Hi" next time you see him. And remind him that he owes me five bucks.)
Consider the candle.
Exhibit A.
Prometheus was a Titan, one of the giants who inhabited the earth before humans. In fact, Prometheus is sometimes credited with making the human race from the earth, in the image of the gods. Perhaps he felt like a father to humans, complete with a sense of protection and obligation. He taught humans the basics of civilization by bringing them fire down from the hearth of Mount Olympus, magic firsthand like none of them had ever witnessed before.
He introduced the world as we know it to ... well ... the world as it used to be. In his humility, Prometheus took something that only the gods had complete power over, and he did it for the good and the survival and the progression of mankind. Humans stayed warm. They cooked their food. They thrived. They lived. They evolved.
The gods, however, did not see it that way. They didn't exactly warm to the thought of a more level playing field. They never do. The gods are gods because they are worshipped. A god who is not worshipped loses power. Humans with power begin to question their gods. What Prometheus did for the world not only shook Mount Olympus to its core, it fractured its foundation.
It also doomed Prometheus — who held the secret to how the gods could remain the ultimate power in the universe ... but would not tell them.
Zeus, in his rage, chained Prometheus to a rock and left him to the carrion birds. Every day, his liver is eaten out by a vulture; and every night, it grows back again. Over and over and over, until the end of time. Pretty much forever-and-ever. Amen.
Now.
Consider the candle.
It is a testament to what you are — a player in the game set into motion by the wrath of the gods. An immortal being charged with a secret, and the protection of the human race. You are a champion who bears a burden of tremendous responsibility ... and tremendous suffering. But don't lose faith. Just remember: You wouldn't have been chosen if you weren't strong enough to handle what you're about to face.
After all, what doesn't kill you ... just really pisses you off.
How It All Went Down
When you've spent a lifetime being betrayed by everyone around you, it's really hard to let that go.
— Acheron
I'm guessing you forgot both the white stones and the breadcrumbs, so you're probably a bit hazy on the details of what brought you to the ginger-damned house. Let me recap.
You were wronged. Big-time. Happens to everybody ... but what happened to you was beyond forgiveness. Beyond redemption. Someone deserved to pay, King Solomon style, and karma would have had no problem with it.
The part you didn't know about — behind the scenes, under the skin, in the ether — was that when a soul is wronged so unjustly, it cries out. And it's not just a baby's cry, or that noise you make when you hit your thumb with a hammer. It's the sound of ultimate betrayal: the sound a heart makes when it's breaking, the sound of the sky falling. It is the voice of the Phoenix when she rises up from the ashes.
That sound echoes in the ears of the gods, and most of them wave it away like an errant fly.
Except for Artemis.
To Artemis that's the sound of another job applicant filling out the paperwork and requesting an interview.
She came to you in that moment. You'll remember her: tall, red hair, body to die for, and the aura of a snake? (If you are a snake enthusiast, I apologize.) She offered you your last request: She offered you an Act of Vengeance. In return you swore your allegiance to her and her cause, to become a soldier in her nine-thousand-year-old army against the Daimon parasites who prey upon the earth.
To seal the deal, you gave her your soul. (That's usually how bargains with immortals go down, so don't go feeling particularly unique.) She laid her hand upon you and extracted it — you have her double bow-and-arrow symbol marking the spot, but you won't remember the pain. It's a bit like childbirth that way. Some memories you just don't need to keep.
After Artemis took your soul, she brought you back to life. Immortal life. Yup, you could quietly live forever now, with no fear of disease or death. (Only your life from this point will now be loud and messy, so you may want to be careful. See "How to Die.") You were born again as a Dark-Hunter, and you had twenty-four hours in which to exact your revenge.
If you ultimately decided not to take advantage of that window of time, I am obligated to tell you that you can't go back. The road only goes forward, and there are no second chances. For better or worse, Artemis has your soul until Shadedom or Rebirth.
The part that no one is forcing me to tell you is that I admire you. It takes a person of extreme moral character to walk away when faced with the opportunity to lower themselves to the depths of their greatest enemy. That act takes a person with a seemingly endless capacity for love, and there are few enough of us in the world. I value that. And I commend you; no fine print, no strings attached.
What You Got Out of the Deal
I can hear your heart beating faster, your blood flowing through your veins as you sit there wondering whether or not I would really hurt you.
— Kyrian Hunter
You may think you're a vampire. You are not. You cannot fly and you cannot turn into a bat (one particular Dark-Hunter sorcerer notwithstanding). Unless you were formerly a Were-Hunter, you cannot shape shift. Do not try either of these things at home or anywhere else. You'll just look stupid. And trust me, with cameras being what and where they are in this century we will all laugh at you for decades to come.
There are thousands of Dark-Hunters. No two Dark-Hunters are alike, and no two Dark-Hunters have the exact same combination of superpowers. Like snowflakes. A few things are pretty constant, though — such as the traits Dark-Hunters were given to mirror the Daimons, so that they may better track their enemy.
Almost all Dark-Hunters' eyes are jet-black and, like an eagle's, densely packed with light-sensitive sensory cells. You will rarely see a fellow Dark-Hunter without a decent pair of sunglasses. It's one of the first things I recommend you pick up for yourself. If you have a Squire (you lucky dog), this may have already been taken care of for you.
Speaking of dogs: You now have pointed canine teeth, ones that you will eventually learn to stop cutting your lips on. In time you will also train yourself to know instinctively the exact degree of a smile that will conceal this feature ... and the degree in which to show it to its best advantage. You will become a master of the difference between a laugh and a threat, but you have to give yourself time.
And if you're lisping, don't worry. That doesn't last long. Just don't try to intimidate anyone verbally while it remains, otherwise you might damage your ego. And our reputations.
Just because you have these teeth does not mean you have to drink blood. (Dark-Hunters who do so are called Feeders, and to say that Acheron frowns upon the subject would be a gross understatement.) You started out as a human, so you do not need blood or human souls to survive. The basic physical human needs still apply, however. Dark-Hunters, when they're not busy working, normally eat three meals a night. And yes, they still have to go to the bathroom.
You will be unable to cast a reflection; this is a power Artemis bestowed on her Hunters as the perfect camouflage. Some Dark-Hunters report that they can cast one if concentrating ... but again, that takes time. For now, don't worry about what your hair looks like. The Daimons you dust can report you to the fashion police in hell.
As you have probably discovered already, your vision is not your only heightened sense perception. (And yes, that smell is you ... you should probably go take a shower.) You can smell and hear and think and see and feel more than any human, more than any animal ... possibly more than anyone save a Were-Hunter, or a god. It's a bit overwhelming at first, but the more of the world that's currently jamming itself into your brain right now will quiet down as you learn control. Trust your biological clock: You will know now when the sun is setting and, similarly, when it's about to rise again.
Each Dark-Hunter possesses a certain degree of mind control — use it wisely. Each also has the ability to heal quickly, often within twenty-four hours. Quicker, if a Dream-Hunter is involved. Which is a good thing, because while you — as an immortal — are immune to addictive substances, you are also immune to anesthetic. When you are injured, you will feel a natural urge to sleep. Go with it. Just make sure you're in a safe place where the rising sun won't turn you into a fried crispy Hunter. Remember, you will sleep for quite a few hours so take precaution before you succumb to it.
Now that you have none of your own, you are particularly sensitive to the presence of a soul, which is how you will be able to instantly discern the difference between an Apollite and a Daimon, and how you can feel a baby's soul inside its mother's womb.
Other powers you might develop include psychic abilities like telekinesis, mind reading, and precognition. (Once you have the ability to see the future, you will never lose it. So if you've had it before, no worries — if you just now got it, good luck.) You could also have healing powers, or control over certain elements. There's no way to tell until you use them, so keep an eye out. Pay attention. And be careful.
Powers That Be
With my background and genetic makeup, buddy, you're lucky I'm as normal as I am.
— Katra Agrotera
You can't be sure which of these you will develop with your new birthright, if any. But definitely be on the lookout for signs. Better safe than sorry.
Keep in mind, too, that gods have one, many, or all of these powers. When you're thinking about giving one a piece of your mind, consider what the consequences might be.
Aerokinesis The ability to mentally manipulate wind and air flow.
Animation The ability to bring inanimate objects to life or to free a person from petrification.
Astral Projection The ability to separate and control one's astral body. The out-of-body experience can be achieved by dreaming or deep meditation. Astral projection is sometimes considered a form of telepathy or clairvoyance. Remote viewing is a specifically directed form of astral projection. Depending on the strength of the projector's ability, the astral body may even be able to interact (speak or move objects) with its surroundings.
Atmokinesis The ability to mentally manipulate changes in the weather, up to and including the bringing or banishing of pressure systems, clouds, rain, storms, hurricanes, and tornadoes.
Aura Perception An aura is the spiritual energy field that emanates from a person or object. Most often, auras convey the feelings and emotions of the person or object involved in a range of colors. An aural perceiver has the equivalent of a permanent mood ring decoder for everyone and everything in his path.
Biokinesis The ability to heal, or perform other biological manipulation. A biokinetic can knit tissue together just as easily as he or she can stop a breath, or a heart.
Chlorokinesis The ability to mentally manipulate plants. A chlorokinetic also sometimes has a bit of clairvoyant ability, but only in regards to plants. The plant can "speak" to a chlorokinetic, conveying sounds, images, and sometimes even the entire passing of a sequence of events.
Chronokinesis The ability to mentally manipulate time. Weres can surf the Rytis to travel through time, but the rest of us seem to be slaves to this relative.
Clairaudience The ability to aurally perceive words or sounds originating on the spiritual plane. Clairaudients are also able to hear sounds at low and high frequencies not audible to the human ear.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "The Dark-Hunter Companion"
by .
Copyright © 2007 Sherrilyn Kenyon.
Excerpted by permission of St. Martin's Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Title Page,
Copyright Notice,
Introduction,
Epigraph,
So Now You're a Dark-Hunter ... What to Do, What Not to Do, and How to Royally Screw It All Up,
Dark-Hunter Directory Your Fellow Soldiers,
Were-Hunters Their Bark Has Nothing on Their Bite,
Dream-Hunters Mr. Sandman, Your New Best Friend,
Squires Can't Live With Them, Can't Live Without Them,
How to Roast a Daimon Apollites and the Origin and Weaknesses of Daimons,
Great Gods All Mighty Dealing with Demons, Demigods, Deities, and All Other Things Immortal,
Civilians Your Raison d'Être,
Yes, Virginia, it is a Language Conversational Atlantean for the World Traveler,
Acheron Parthenopaeus,
All Greek to You Insight into Being and Speaking Greek,
The Big Easy A Brief Tour of New Orleans and Cajun Culture,
The Author Goddess Interview with Sherrilyn Kenyon,
Goody-Goody Gumdrops: Bonus Material,
An Interview with Acheron,
An Interview with Simi,
Widget Bones's Diary,
(A Dark-Hunter Parody),
Second Chances,
(A Short Story),
Synopsis for Saving Grace and Deleted Scenes from Night Embrace and Seize the Night,
Reading Order of the Dark-Hunter Stories and Novels,
Official Series Web Sites,
Exceptionally Brief Afterword,
Acknowledgments,
Also by Sherrilyn Kenyon,
About the Authors,
Copyright,
