Dance With The Devil by Sherrilyn Kenyon

5 out of 5 stars
*All Time Favorite Book List*

(from Goodreads.com)
Zarek's Point of View:

Dark-Hunter: A soulless guardian who stands between mankind and those who would see mankind destroyed. Yeah, right. The only part of that Code of Honor I got was eternity and solitude.

Insanity: A condition many say I suffer from after being alone for so long. But I don't suffer from my insanity-I enjoy every minute of it.

Trust: I can't trust anyone...not even myself. The only thing I trust in is my ability to do the wrong thing in any situation and to hurt anyone who gets in my way.

Truth: I endured a lifetime as a Roman slave, and 900 years as an exiled Dark-Hunter. Now I'm tired of enduring. I want the truth about what happened the night I was exiled-I have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Astrid (Greek, meaning star): An exceptional woman who can see straight to the truth. Brave and strong, she is a point of light in the darkness. She touches me and I tremble. She smiles and my cold heart shatters.

Zarek: They say even the most damned man can be forgiven. I never believed that until the night Astrid opened her door to me and made this feral beast want to be human again. Made me want to love and be loved. But how can an ex-slave whose soul is owned by a Greek goddess ever dream of touching, let alone holding, a fiery star?
***

This book inspired so many emotions for me.

Long before I fell in love with the King of all Tortured Heroes, Zsadist (from JR Ward's brilliant Black Dagger Brotherhood series), there was Zarek. A truly frightening lone-wolf assassian who delights in shocking and scaring the hell out of anyone who even attempts to get to know him.

Zarek's backstory is heartbreaking. And in fact, a lot of the flashback scenes are a bit hard to read. But that only made me love this character more by seeing the reasons he ended up being so damaged...so cold. When Astrid enters his life, she becomes his lifeline, his reason to not give in completely to the darkness. Their scenes together are not always perfect. Kenyon frustrated me with a couple of the encounters that the two of them ended up having, but it still adds up to one of the most satisfying, heart-wrenching, and beautiful stories I have ever read.

Kenyon's dialogue here, shines. Some of the things that Zarek says to Astrid were heartbreakingly beautiful and romantic. In my opinion this is SK's best work, and Zarek is a character that I will never forget.