Dark-Hunter (series)

Dark-Hunter is a paranormal romance series by Sherrilyn Kenyon. Kenyon began writing the series in 1986 in Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction magazines. The Dark Hunters are immortal warriors created by the goddess Artemis to battle the daimons (who were created by her brother Apollo) that kill humans in order to steal their souls so that they may live past their twenty seventh birthday. Artemis created the Dark Hunters as a way of controlling the Atlantean god, Acheron, whom she had bound to herself and who she had once had a relationship with prior to his human death at the hands of her brother. She knew of Acheron's love and compassion for humans and his unwillingness to allow others to suffer when he could stop it. Knowing this, she created her immortal warriors and manipulated him into leading, training, and being responsible for them. Not just anyone may become a Dark Hunter, nor is the process easy. A person must die as the direct result of a terrible betrayal, such as their best friend or a family member killing themin a brutal way. At the moment of their death, their soul will cry out for vengeance loudly enough to be heard by Artemis on Mount Olympus. Upon arriving, she offers the person a choice: true death or trading their soul to her to be resurected as a Dark Hunter. In exchange for their soul and service in her Dark Hunter army, Artemis gives them 24 hours to seek their revenge against those who betrayed them. After those 24 hours are up, they must do their duty to mankind and hunt down the Daimons that prey on the humans. When a Dark Hunter slays a Daimon, they release any human souls that the Daimon has stolen, provides that the Dark Hunter finds the Salmon fast enough. If the Daimon is not slain soon after taking the human's soul, the soul will die from being in the wrong vessel and be unable to pass onto whichever afterlife they were meant to go to upon their death. The Dark Hunters work individually, each of them having a territory to watch over. They cannot be in close proximity to each other for more than a short amount of time without draining each others powers. Also, any physical harm cause by one Dark Hunter to another will cause the first Dark Hunter to suffer the same physical pain or inhurt tenfold. The Dark Hunters are night dwelling immortals who cannot be in sunlight (as Apollo cursed the Daimons with not being able to go out in the sunlight so too did Artemis leave the Dark Hunters with the inability to stand sunlight). They were made to be similar to the Daimons that they hunt so that they would be better able to hunt, battle, and kill them. They have fangs, super sensitive senses, and various psychic powers.

Fantasy Lover is not officially a Dark Hunters novel, according to Kenyon's website

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