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= World of Dark-Hunters =

The World of Dark-Hunters (sometimes referred to as the Dark-Hunter Universe or Hunter-Legend Series) is a series of short stories and novels written by #1 New York Times Best Selling author Sherrilyn Kenyon, with some of the series written under her penname, Kinley Macgregor. The series intertwines paranormal romance and urban fantasy with parts of Greek, Egyptian, Celtic, Norse, Christian, King Arthurian and Native American mythos, focusing on supernatural/paranormal creatures like vampires, demons, witches, monsters, gods, shapeshifters etc...

The World of Dark-Hunters is made up of multiple interlocking series coming together to create a massive epic tale, with many characters and storylines from the different series crossing over with each other. Currently, the subseries include the Dark-Hunters series, the Were-Hunter series, the Dream-Hunter series, the Hellchaser/Hell-Hunter series, the Lords of Avalon series and the Deadman's Cross series. There is also a YA spin-off prequel series that's a part of the World of Dark-Hunters called the Nick Chronicles. Each series is marked by the type of creatures the novels are about, and a single book in the Dark-Hunter Universe can include elements from all the different sections of the series. For example, Son of No One is primarily a Hell-Chaser/Hell-Hunter book. However, it still involves a lot of elements from the Dark-Hunters, Lords of Avalon and Were-Hunters series, thus making it a part of all those series as well.

Hunters
A hunter in the series is a member of a faction that is tasked with protecting humans against some paranormal threat. They are either born into that role (Dream-Hunters, Were-Hunters and Hell-Hunters) or recruited into that role (Dark-Hunters, Hellchasers, Deadmen). Certain factions have alliances with each other, while other factions are enemies.

Dark-Hunters:

A Dark-Hunter is an immortal warrior who has sworn to the Greek goddess Artemis to protect humanity from Daimons for all eternity. A Dark-Hunter is created when a being is killed by such a great act of betrayal that their soul screams out to the goddess Artemis. In exchange for their soul and an eternity of service, Artemis offers to bring them back to life so that they can have an Act of Vengeance against anyone who wronged them. A Dark-Hunter is designed to be the perfect enemy for Daimons. They have no souls for the Daimons to feast on. They have superior senses, on the same level as Daimons and their bodies are physically stronger. They are also unable to die from most mortal wounds. Only a decapitation and stake through the heart can kill a Dark-Hunter. A Dark-Hunter's blood is also poisonous to a Daimon. However, they have some of the same weaknesses, such as neither a Dark-Hunter nor a Daimon can walk into the sun without dying. A Dark-Hunter can leave Artemis' service if they are able to find someone they trust enough to hold their soul and if that person can pass the test that Artemis gives them. There is only one shot at this, since if the person fails the test, the Dark-Hunter immediately dies and is sent to hell.

Were-Hunters:

A Were-Hunter is a half-animal, half-human hybrid creature (think werewolf) that hunts others of its kind. They are the result of an experiment done by a King who had unknowingly sired Apollite sons. To prevent his sons from dying painfully at the age of 27, he started experimenting with magic and combining animals and humans. He ended up creating the Were-Hunter creatures, who could bypass the Apollite curse and live for thousands of years. However, his experiments had resulted in forming two branches of Were-Hunters. First, there were the Katagaria, who were born as animals and had animal instincts, but when they approached puberty, they could shift into humans. Then there were the Arcadians, who were born as humans and had human instincts, but when they approached puberty, they could shift into animals. The Greek gods were angry that a human had dared to circumvent their curse, so they cursed all the Were-Hunter creatures that were created. The gods made it so that the Katagaria and Arcadian branches would always hate each other and constantly be at war with each other until no Were-Hunter remained. They also cursed the Were-Hunters to have limited free will and only be allowed to fall in love/have children with the people or creatures that the gods chose for them.

Dream-Hunters:

Dream-Hunters are made up of the Oneroi, children/descendants of the Greek gods of sleep, and they protect humans from Skoti and other demons that prey on them while they sleep. Many centuries ago, one of the Oneroi played a prank inside Zeus' dream. As a punishment, Zeus took away all Onerois' ability to feel emotions. Eventually, some Oneroi discovered they could feel emotions if they visited the dreams of sleeping humans. However, this had the side effect of slowly draining the life energy out of humans. Unfortunately, some Oneroi got addicted to that sensation, causing them to become Skoti. This led the Oneroi to become a group of Dream-Hunters and hunt any Oneroi that turned Skoti down.

Hellchasers:

A Hellchaser is part of a faction run by Thorn, the rebellious son of Lucifer, to hunt demons who have escaped to Earth/the mortal plane. A Hellchaser is created when someone sells their soul to Thorn for a favour. In exchange for granting that favour, they will have to spend the rest of their lives hunting demons down. However, because they've sold their soul, Hellchasers cannot kill demons, as killing a demon would result in the Hellchaser becoming possessed by the demons. So instead, they have to use other methods to trap the demons and send them back to hell. They stay in service until Thorn chooses to let them go.

Hell-Hunters:

Hell-Hunters are descendants of angels who are picked to get rid of demons that have escaped to Earth/the mortal plane. They are given enhanced abilities and can let the angel they're descended from possess them in order to be able to fight better. They are under fewer regulations or rules when compared to the Hellchasers, so Hell-Hunters are allowed to kill the demons they've encountered. Additionally, Hell-Hunters are solitary and do not work well with any other group of hunters, especially Hellchasers, as angels don't look kindly upon anyone who has made a deal with Thorn.

Deadmen:

A Deadman is another faction run by Thorn to hunt demons. A Deadman is created when someone who has lived a very sinful life dies after committing at least one decent act that catches Thorn's attention. Thorn offers them a deal that if they dedicate a certain amount of years to hunting demons down, their sins will be cleansed, and they will get a chance to live life and not end up in hell. Unlike Hellchasers, they are allowed to kill demons.

Creatures
There are many paranormal creatures in the series, and many subtypes or hybrids of creatures but these are the common ones.

Apollite:

An Apollite is a descendant of a race of people created by the Greek god Apollo. They have a stronger physique compared to most humans and particular magical abilities. Thousands of years before the start of the story, an Apollite queen became jealous of Apollo's relationship with a human princess and the son they had together. So, she hired assassins to kill that princess and her son. Once Apollo found out, he was enraged and cursed the entire Apollite race. They were to never be allowed to step out into the sun, lest they be burnt to ash. They were given animalistic features like fangs and could only sustain themselves on Apollite blood. And all Apollites will die a painful death on their 27th birthday by slowly crumbling into dust.

Daimon:

A Daimon is an Apollite who feasts on human souls to stay alive past their 27th birthday. They will die if they fail to feast on a soul before the current soul inside them is used up. If they feast on corrupt souls, there is a high chance of the Daimon going insane. If that happens, either a Dark-Hunter will take them out, or another Daimon will take them out. They have the same strengths, abilities and weaknesses as an Apollite.

Skotos:

A Skotos is an Oneroi that has gotten addicted to feeding on the dreams of humans.

Chthonian:

A Chthonian is a destined human who was born with the ability to kill a God without disrupting the balance of the universe. To successfully become a Chthonian and awaken their latent powers, a human who was destined to become a Chthonian must die a mortal death and be reborn.

Demons:

Demons are soulless creatures made by the "Chaos" side. There are thousands of species of demons, and they can vary from being kind to being very cruel. Each species has their own unique traits, abilities, weaknesses and culture, but they are all defined by being sired by one of the 3 Primordial Beings of Chaos.

Series
The World of Dark-Hunters is written so that each book or each series can be stand-alone. Therefore, a reader could presumably pick up any book and series and follow along with what's happening, as each series has its own consistent storyline, and each book is its own self-contained adventure. However, there are some elements that carry over to other parts of the series so that when there is a crossover between the different series, certain plot elements and storylines from each of the series end up playing a prominent role in the crossover story, making the story feel cohesive. Each book stars the journey of two different characters as they meet, go on an adventure and fall in love by the end. The main characters of one book will often make cameos in later books, and the side characters of one book will often get the opportunity to star as a main character in a book of their own. The type of creatures the main characters are influences what series the novel is going to be a part of.

Dark-Hunters
The Dark-Hunters novels/series usually has one of the main characters be a Dark-Hunter and the main conflict usually involves the war between the Dark-Hunters and the Daimons.

Were-Hunters
The Were-Hunters series focuses on the war between the Katagaria and Arcadians as well as learning the history of how they were created/how the conflict started.

Dream-Hunters
Most Dream-Hunter books either take place on Earth or on Olympus and usually involve the Dream-Hunters having fights with Skoti or other demons and trying to discover the real reason they were all cursed. They also tend to focus more on what it means to feel emotions and what it's like to live without emotions compared to the rest of the series.

Hellchasers/Hell-Hunters
The Hellchasers/Hell-Hunters series follows the ongoing battle between the side of "Order" and the side of "Chaos," with the Hell-Hunters being on the side of the former and demons being on the side of the latter. Hellchasers tend to be on the neutral side but lean toward the side of "Order." The characters involved in end the series tend to jump between the heaven and hell dimensions.

Lords of Avalon
The Lords of Avalon series takes place in a Camelot that got corrupted and frozen in time by Morgan le Fay after King Arthur died in battle. To prevent Morgan from being able to take over the world, many powerful sorcerers (who have a powerful magical artifact and have the title of Merlin) used a spell to hide the kingdoms of Camelot and Albion and the Forbidden Forest into a pocket dimension. Unfortunately, this caused both sides of the conflict (i.e. those on Morgan's side and those on King Arthur's side) to reach a stalemate. The artifacts used to make this spell were then scattered far away, and there is now a hunt from both sides to find those pieces first in order to This series mainly involves characters having a quest through this realm, needing to find the artifacts or having to stop Morgan's plans from succeeding.

Deadman's Cross
The Deadman's Cross is a trilogy that takes place at sea in the early 18th century. The trilogy follows the Deadmen crew aboard Devyl Bane's ship as they go on adventures to save the world from demons and slowly redeem themselves enough to become free. Since this story takes place centuries before the events of the main series, it has no official position on the reading order for the main series. However, since the story still follows the main Dark-Hunter Universe's continuity/timeline, it isn't considered a spin-off on the same level as the Nick Chronicles.

Reading Order
This is the current official reading order for the main Dark-Hunter Universe series, taken from the author's official website.

Spin-Offs
The Dark-Hunter universe also includes a Young-Adult spin-off/prequel series, Nick Chronicles, featuring a character named Nicholas (Nick) Ambrosius Gautier who appears throughout the Dark-Hunter Series. The series is divided into three subseries, The Chronicles of Nick, Shadows of Fire and a currently unnamed trilogy, focusing on different parts of Nick's life. The series mainly involves Nick coming to terms with his demonic nature and having his future self from the main Dark-Hunter universe continuity/timeline time travel to. This act of time travel and purposefully changing the future has resulted in the Dark-Hunter universe having two different timelines, the original main Dark-Hunter universe timeline and the Chronicles of Nick timeline. However, due to events in the series, both these timelines are heading for a collision course, causing both series to subtly influence each other. Therefore, it is recommended by the author to read the Chronicles of Nick and the main Dark-Hunter Universe books in release order as an action made in one Chronicles of Nick book can cause a ramification to the timeline in the main Dark-Hunter Universe books.

Chronicles of Nick
The Chronicles of Nick takes place 9 years before the start of Night Pleasures, centering around a 14-year-old Nick, his adventures in high school and discovering his demonic heritage along with the problems that come with said heritage. He also has to deal with his future self's warnings about the incoming apocalypse that he will cause and try to find a way to avoid that without shifting the timeline too much.

Shadows of Fire
Shadows of Fire is the YA/New Adult sequel series to the Chronicles of Nick. There are 4 planned books that take place after the events of the last Chronicles of Nick book, Intensity but before the events of the first Dark-Hunter book, Night Pleasures. These four books will focus on the adventures of Nick post-high school and explore the collision of timelines from what. The first book of this series is estimated to come out in late 2024.

Unnamed Nick Chronicles Trilogy
There is a planned adult novel trilogy set after the events of Shadows of Fire which will conclude Nick's journey. Not much detail about this series has been released.