Ok, so Julian, in Fantasy Lover. Back before he was cursed, his best friend was Kyrian of Thrace.
Remember Grace? Julian's love? Her best friend Selena is a psychic and is the one who found Julian's book and got Grace to call him out. Selena's sister is Amanda.
This is Amanda and Kyrian's book.
Amanda's family is like Selena, except for Amanda. She's the only "normal" one. That even includes a vampire hunter. Really.
For real.
Kyrian is the first Dark Hunter we meet and I finally know what they are! OK, a Dark Hunter is a warrior who has sold his/her soul for 24 hours to exact vengeance. Nope, not the Devil - Artemis. In payment, they become immortal hunters of Daimons. Daimons are Apollites who have decided to extend their lives by killing and eating the souls of humans.
None of those words make sense, do they?
So, back in the day, Apollo and Zeus were arguing about who had the better people. Apollo thought he could make a better race than humans and did, the Apollites (there's no arrogance there *eye roll*). Apollo was setting up the Apollites to take over the world and subjugate the humans. Before he could, he got some other woman preggers and pissed off the Apollite queen. She killed the mistress and child and tried to make it look like an animal killed them. Apollo was pissed (even though it was pretty much his fault to begin with) and cursed all Apollites. One, he never wanted to see them again. Being the god of the sun, that meant they weren't allowed out in the day. The sunlight burns them. Two, because they tried to make it look like a wild animal killed the mistress and child, he cursed the Apollites with animal characteristics, like fangs. Three, because they were so blood thirsty, they can only survive by drinking each other's blood. Finally, he cursed them to die at the same age as his mistress, 27. On their 27th birthday, they will age and die all in 24 hours.
Sounds kinda familiar, huh?
To escape this fate - well, the death part - Apollites start taking the souls of humans, becoming Daimons. As long as they're taking souls, they live. Once the gods realize the Daimons aren't going to just lay down and suffer the consequences for a choice they didn't make, they create the Dark Hunters to keep them in line. AKA to kill them.
Dark Hunters have no soul in part to protect them from Daimons taking it. They can be freed from their contract with Artemis if a loved one, aka lover, takes the hunter's soul and holds it over Artemis' mark. The catch? The soul isn't meant to be held in mortal hands so it burns. The past few attempts have failed. Once the lover takes the soul, he/she can't let it go. If he/she does, the hunter is cursed to wander the world in a state of wanting. Hunger, thirst, physical needs, emotional needs, they feel all of that, but can't interact with the mortal world. They'll never fill those needs.
Amanda passes the test, of course and Kyrian is freed.
To be honest, I really didn't want another vampire series. While I liked this book for the most part, I don't know that I want to keep reading about vamps at this point. There were a lot of good aspects. The god angle was not something I expected and leads me to believe there might be more going on here than vampires. While it's heavy on romance, it does give some good plot points with the connection with Julian and Grace, and other characters. And as I said, the gods. Plus, I just really liked Kyrian and Amanda.
I'm going to keep going. I'm still not entirely sure where the series is going, so, I'll keep going if for no other reason that curiosity.
Night Pleasures, Sherrilyn Kenyon
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