Dark Hunter Profiles: Valerius

Valerius is the son of a Roman Senator. By age 22, he became a Roman General who led conquests throughout Greece, Gaul and Britannia. For a most obvious reason, he doesn't play well with most Dark-Hunters and it is imperative we keep him far away from Kyrian, Kell, Safrax, Zarek and Zoe.

Val is truly ostracized from the rest of his brethren. Retta has tried from time to time to bring him more into the DH circle, but the older Dark-Hunters refuse to forgive him for his past crimes.

Talon followed his line of vision to see Valerius approaching them. He'd only met the Roman general one other time. Val had taken one look at Talon's jacket and torc, and sneered the word "Celt" thus letting Talon know friendship with this Dark-Hunter was about as likely as finding a parking space for a tank on Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras.

The Roman's black hair was pulled back into an impeccable queue. He wore black pleated pants, loafers, turtleneck and a long cashmere coat. If one didn't know better, he would appear to be an affluent attorney, not a Daimon executioner.

Val's story is told in Seize the Night:

"Succeeds in offering a lively read containing her signature blend of brisk action, sensual thrills and light humor."
~Publisher's Weekly 12/20/04

Hail Glorious Reader:

Rome ruled the world and my family ruled Rome. I was born the noble son of a legendary Roman Senator. I walked through the ancient world as a general, a god, and through an act of brutal betrayal, I bound myself to a goddess so that I could protect mankind from the evil scourge that haunts it.

Now I find myself dating said scourge. I’m not exactly sure how it happened. One minute I was in my element, killing vampires and the next thing I knew a self-styled vampire slayer had stabbed me.

Tabitha Devereaux is unlike any woman I have ever known. A human, she has trained herself to fight vampires every bit as capably as any immortal. Idiosyncratic and off-beat, she’s is the total antithesis to everything I find desirable in a woman and yet she beguiles me.

There’s only one small problem. She happens to be the twin of my mortal enemy’s wife. A man who was once killed by my family. More than that, Tabitha and her sister are now being stalked by an ancient evil bent on revenge. One that refuses to rest until everyone Tabitha holds dear is dead.

Unlike my Dark-Hunter brethren, I rely on no one but myself. They spurned me and I turned my back on them. I’ve never cared what the other Dark-Hunters, or anyone else, thought of me. But now the only way to save Tabitha and her family is to find someway to bridge two thousand years of hatred and prejudice.

They say that opposites attract, but can they continue to stay together when even the very Fates of the universe conspire to keep them apart?

~Valerius Magnus

Excerpt

“Happy birthday, Agrippina,” Valerius said as he laid a single red rose at the feet of the marbled statue that held a sacred place in his home.

It was nothing compared to the sacred place that the woman herself had held within his heart while she had lived. A place she still, even after two thousand years, occupied.

Closing his eyes, he felt crippled by the pain of her loss. Crippled by the guilt that the last sounds he had heard as a mortal man had been her wrenching sobs as she called out for his help.

Unable to breathe, he reached up and touched her marbled hand. The stone was hard. Cold. Unyielding. Things Agrippina had never been. In a life that was measured by brutal formality and harshness, she had been his only refuge.

And he loved her still for the quiet kindness she had given him.

He clasped her delicate hand in both of his, then laid his cheek against the cold stone palm.

If he could have one wish, it would be to remember the exact sound of her voice. To hear her say his name one more time.

To feel the warmth of her fingers on his lips.

But time had robbed him of everything except the agony he had caused her. He would die ten thousand more deaths if only he could have saved her the pain of that one night.

Unfortunately, there was no way to turn back time. No way to force the Fates to undo their actions and give her the happiness she should have known.

Just as there was nothing that could fill the aching void inside him left by Agrippina’s death.

Grinding his teeth, Valerius pulled away and noted the eternal flame that burned by her side was sputtering.

“Don’t worry,” he said to her image. “I won’t leave you in the dark. I promise.”

It was a promise he had made to her during her lifetime and even in death, he had never broken it. For more than two thousand years he had kept her in the light even while he was forced to live in the darkness that had terrified her.

Valerius crossed the sunroom to reach the large Roman styled buffet table that held the oil for her flame. He removed the oil from the center of the buffet and took it to her statue where he stepped up onto the stone pedestal to pour the last of it into the lamp.

In this position, his head was even with hers. The sculptor he had commissioned centuries ago had captured every delicate curve and dimple of her precious face. Only Valerius’s memory supplied the honey color of her hair. The vivid green of her eyes. Agrippina had been flawless in her beauty.

Sighing, Valerius touched her cheek before he stepped down. There was no use in dwelling on the past. What was done, was done.

He was sworn now to protect the innocent. To keep watch over humanity and make sure that no other man had to lose so valuable a light in his soul as Valerius had lost.

Assured the flame would last until tomorrow night, Valerius inclined his head respectfully to her statue. “Amo,” he said to her, whispering the Latin word for I love you.

It was a word he wished to the gods that he’d had the courage to say aloud to her while she had lived.

Val's story is told in Seize the Night:

Excerpt

Dark-Hunters, Were-Hunters, Dream-Hunters are ©2000-2005 Sherrilyn Kenyon.

Dark-Hunters, Were-Hunters, Dream-Hunters are
©2000-2005 Sherrilyn Kenyon.