Dreams of a Dark Warrior

coincidental.
    Copyright © 2011 by Kresley Cole
    All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or
portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address
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    First Pocket Books paperback edition March 2011
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    Cover design by Lisa Litwack
Cover illustration by Craig White
    Manufactured in the United States of America
    10   9   8   7   6   5   4   3   2   1
    ISBN 978-1-4391-3680-5
ISBN 978-1-4391-7701-3 (ebook)

 
    Dedicated with much love
to the amazing Roxanne St. Claire,
a bright shining star of a writer and dear friend.

 
    Glossary of Terms
from
    THE LIVING BOOK OF LORE
    THE LORE
    “… and those sentient creatures that are not human shall be united in one stratum, coexisting with, yet secret from, man’s.”
    ♦Most are immortal and can regenerate from injuries. The stronger breeds can only be killed by mystical fire or beheading.
    ♦Their eyes change with intense emotion, often to a breed-specific color.
     
    THE VALKYRIE
    “When a maiden warrior screams for courage as she dies in battle, Wóden and Freya heed her call. The two gods give up lightning to strike her, rescuing her to their hall and preserving her courage forever in the form of the maiden’s immortal Valkyrie daughter.”
    ♦They take sustenance from the electrical energy of the earth, sharing it in one collective power, and give it back with their emotions in the form of lightning.
    ♦They possess preternatural strength, speed, and senses.
    ♦Without training, most can be mesmerized by shining objects.
     
    THE BERSERKERS
    “A berserker’s lonely life is filled with naught but battle rage and bloodlust. …”
    ♦A cadre of human warriors, known for their merciless brutality, who swear allegiance to Wóden.
    ♦Stronger and faster than mere mortals, they carry within them the spirit of the bear and can channel its ferocity into a
berserkrage,
temporarily becoming as powerful as an immortal.
    ♦When a berserker wins his two hundredth battle in Wóden’s name, the god will grant him
ohalla
—immortality with untold strength.
     
    THE ORDER
    “The immortal takers. Once captured by the Order, immortals do not return. …”
    ♦A multinational mortal operation created to study—and exterminate—nonhumans.
    ♦Thought to be an urban legend.
     
    THE VAMPIRES
    ♦
The Fallen
are vampires who have killed by drinking a victim to death. Distinguished by their red eyes.
    ♦
Tracing
is teleporting, the vampires’ means of travel. A vampire can only trace to destinations he’s previously been or to those he can see.
    THE TURNING
    “Only through death can one become an ‘other.’”
    ♦Some beings can turn a human or even other Lore creatures into their kind through differing means, but the catalyst for change is always death, and success is not guaranteed.
     
    THE ACCESSION
    “And a time shall come to pass when all immortal beings in the Lore, from the Valkyrie, vampire, Lykae, and demon factions to the witches, shifters, fey, and sirens … must fight and destroy each other.”
    ♦A kind of mystical checks-and-balances system for an ever-growing population of immortals.
    ♦Occurs every five hundred years. Or right now …

PROLOGUE

    H ark! Hear this tale, the legend of Aidan the Fierce and Reginleit the Radiant One, a pair of lovers both bound and cursed by fate.
    It begins, as many legends do, with a destined meeting—this one between an immortal girl who would never know death and a jaded mortal man who lived only to kill.
    Theirs is a story of woe and warning. Take heed and listen well. …
-i-
    The Northlands
    In ages long past
    “So this is debauchery,” Reginleit murmured as two guards led her into the mead hall of the notorious warlord Aidan the Fierce.
    At twelve years of age, and newly quit of the paradise of Valhalla, Regin was certainly getting an eyeful.
    As she and the guards wound through the crowd of hundreds of berserkers, she gaped at drunken warriors sparring in naught but loincloths while half-clad whoresserved ale, trenchers of meat, and … other needs.
    Luckily