Kiss of the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Dark Hunter #9, St. Martin's Paperback, April 2004, Rating: A

In this 9^th installment of her Dark-Hunter series, Kenyon delves into the lives of Daimons and how it is Apollites make the choice to die on their 27^th birthday or turn into a soul sucking Daimon. Like most things, there is some gray involved we learn as ancient viking and Dark-Hunter Wulf tryggvasen gets to know Apollite Cassandra Peters. The existence of the world rests in her hands, or rather her womb, as she is the last blood tie to Apollo. If she dies without giving birth, the sun dies and everything else will soon follow.

Cassandra Peters is months away from her 27^th birthday, months away from dying. She's avoided relationships not wanting to leave loved ones behind like her mother did to her human father and Cassandra. She holds onto a glimmer of hope that being half human might mean she will not die, but she's not overly confident in it. Out with some friends at a club that Were-Hunters, Dark-Hunters and the like frequent she meets Wulf Tryggvasen who helps save her from Daimons, some pretty powerful ones, too. She finds herself dreaming about him, her memory fuzzy as to who exactly he is, but the dreams are intimate. Soon, she finds herself pregnant and running from her life, assisted by the people she'd expect least to help her until her baby can be born and the world saved for another 27 years. Through Cassandra we learn that there are Daimons who while they feed off human souls only do so off the souls of evil people: murderers, rapists, etc. There are also Daimons who feed off other Daimons and don't actually suck souls.

Wulf Tryggvasen is an ancient Viking turned Dark-Hunter with an interesting twist (which I won't reveal here!). Cursed so that only those of his bloodline remember him, he has lived centuries with humans forgetting who he is, including conversations he's had with them, after being out of his presence for five minutes. His last living relative, Chris, lives with him and is growing rather frustrated at Wulf's pestering about his meeting a woman to have children with. Imagine his surprise when he meets up with the woman he saved at the Daimon bar in his dreams and she remembers him! When he discovers she's an Apollite, the people who turn into the Daimon's he hunts and kills, he's not so sure it's a good thing she remembers him and their attraction is so strong. Until her bodyguard (who we don't ever really find out who she is) reveals Cassandra's pregnant with Wulf's child. Through that child, the world will continue and Wulf's bloodline will continue through both that child and Chris. More people to remember him!

Together, Wulf and Cassandra do what they can to ensure their child is brought into the world. They've reconciled to the fact that in a matter of months Cassandra will be gone, leaving Wulf and Chris alone to raise the child. But as we've discovered in the previous books there's always a way out, loopholes are wonderful things. This book is somewhat of a companion to Talon and Zarek's stories, as the events of KISS OF THE NIGHT run cuncurrently with their stories. We hear Wulf's portion of the conversation he had with Talon at the beginning of Talon's book. We see and hear from many of the previous characters we've met, including Acheron and Simi. I was impressed with this installment, Kenyon pushes the envelope with her imagination but does it believably and convincingly. I rate this one an A.

©Susan Falk and phantomroses.com