To the entire staff at St. Martin's for being so great, especially Monique and Matthew, who didn't faint at the length of this book. No author could ask for a better team. Thank you for all the hard work.

To Dianna Love, for keeping me sane through the long days of writing and the delirium that often ensues. Not to mention for being my intrepid tour buddy. Alethea Kontis, for babysitting me on the lockdown weekends and keeping me fed. Kim, Loretta and Tish, for all the verbal support. Pam and Kim, for being my comic relief. Steven, for writing Ash's song and for being the best little brother ever. Jack, Carl, Aimee, Ed, Alex, Soteria, Bryan, Judy and all the support staff who keep the site running so that I can work. Not to mention Zenobia, who is the greatest lithromancer.

Thank you to Pam Gardner, for her winning bid to be the best friend in the book, and Jessica Hayes, who also won this spot in the acknowledgments. Between the two of you alone, we raised over $4000 to help Autism and Diabetes Research. Thank you, ladies!

And to the readers, who love the series and characters as much as I do. For all of you who call Dark-Hunter.com home and who venture to the MySpace pages and YearofAcheron.com site. And for the RBL women who've been with me from the very beginning-even before there was a Dark-Hunter series. Thank you all. You guys rock!

Last, but not least, Merrilee, for all the hard work you do on my behalf and for making the Dark-Hunter series manga! At last, my lifelong dream is a reality.

First, let me say that I'm more than aware of the fact that the ancient calendar differed dramatically from our own. But since I'm dealing with a time of unrecorded history, I used our calendar for the dates to allow the reader to have an idea of when things were taking place. I hope those of you who are sticklers for such things will understand why it was necessary.

That being said, I've also taken license with how things were in the ancient world at the beginning. I've structured the world of ancient Greece and Atlantis around a later time period and given them more technological advances than what the historical record shows for the true time of when the book is set.

In my world, they had a lot of nifty toys until Atlantis sank into the ocean and Apollymi's wrath sent mankind back into the Stone Age. This is also dealt with and explained in more detail in the latter part of the book.

It's so strange now to have this tale written. I can still remember the first time I sat down to write a Dark-Hunter novel. Ash was one of the original characters, but back in the day, he was actually the leader of the Daimons and not the Dark-Hunters.

He's changed a lot over the years, but the one thing that hasn't ever changed is my love for him.

For my loyal readers, I want to warn you that the first half of this book is very different from the previous ones. Ash's human life is grim and it's harsh. I promised you the whole sordid truth of it, and that's exactly what I've written. I've pulled no punches.

As a survivor of childhood abuse myself, I know the strength it takes to try and silence the voices in your head and heart that haunt you long after you've broken free. It's not an easy thing to do, and just when you think you've buried those demons, they come back for you with a vengeance.

It takes a lot of strength and courage to trust a stranger when you've been harmed by the very people who were supposed to protect you. But the one thing I've learned is that it can be done. That all of us are worthy and that we all matter. As to this, I can never thank my husband enough for being the man he appeared to be both inside and out. Thank you, baby, for saving me, and for showing me that there are people in the world like you.

As my friend Tish taught me to say: Digmus Sum. Thank you, Tish.

So if you're looking for the humor of my previous books, it picks up when we go from Ash's past to present day New Orleans. I assure you all the sarcasm and bantering that the series is known for is alive and well.

But to understand Ash's present personality and mind-set, I think it's imperative to know his past.

And so here it is. Unvarnished and whole. This is the steel that was forged by the fires of hell.

As we leave behind this arc in the series, we will pick up with Stryker's tale, One Silent Night, in November, which starts us on the next arc: Jaden's, and it picks up right where this tale ends. The Dark-Hunter world is evolving, but Ash and the others will still be back and will still hold their places in this elaborate universe.

"Kill that baby!"

Archon's angry decree rang in Apollymi's ears as she flew through the marbled halls of Katoteros. There was a fierce wind blowing down the hallway, plastering her black gown against her pregnant body and whipping her white blond hair out in spiraling tendrils. Four of her demons ran behind her, protecting her from the other gods who were more than eager to carry out Archon's orders. She and her Charonte demons had already blasted half of her pantheon back. And she was ready to kill the rest.

They would not take her child!

Betrayal burned deep inside her heart. Since the moment of their union, she'd been true to her husband. Even when she'd learned Archon had been faithless to her, she'd still loved him and welcomed his bastards into her home.

Now he wanted the life of her unborn child.

How could he do this? For centuries she'd been trying to conceive Archon's son-it was all she'd ever wanted.

A babe of her own.

Now due to the prophecy of three small girls-Archon's jealous bastards, her child was to be sacrificed and killed. Because of what? Words those little brats had whispered?

Never.

This was her baby. Hers! And she would kill every Atlantean god in existence to keep him.

"Basi!" She shouted for her niece.

Basi flashed into the hallway before her and staggered until she braced herself against the wall. As the goddess of excess, she was seldom sober-which fit Apollymi's plan perfectly.

Basi hiccupped and giggled. "Did you need me, Auntie? By the way, why is everyone so upset? Did I miss something important?"

Apollymi grabbed her by the wrist and then teleported them out of Katoteros where the Atlantean gods made their home down to the hell realm of Kalosis where her brother ruled.

She'd been born here in this dank, forbidden place. This was the only realm that truly scared Archon. Even with all his power, he knew the dark was where Apollymi reigned supreme. Here, with her powers fortified, she could destroy him.

As the goddess of death, destruction and war, Apollymi kept a room in her brother's opulent ebony palace to remind her of her station.

That was where she took Basi now.

Apollymi locked the doors and windows to her room before she summoned her two most trustworthy demon protectors. "Xiamara, Xedrix, I need you."