Maddox’s Story

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The Lords of the Underworld began as warriors chosen and made by the gods to be their guardians. Being too proud became their downfall when Pandora, another guardian warrior, was chosen to guard the box of evil. The warriors, feeling slighted, chose to steal the box and open it. They figured that would show the gods that Pandora wasn’t the right warrior to chose. All come apart when the demons inside the box were released. The gods meted out their punishment by making them each host a demon inside them. Also their downfall included being forced to live among humans. After centuries of living for their demons, the warriors seemed to grasp a hold of humanity to an extent. Maddox was further punished since his demon controlled him to kill Pandora by stabbing her six times. Now every night at midnight his two fellow warriors must chain him to his bed and stab him six times and send him to hell for torture until morning. He dies every night just to do it again the next night. His demon is Violence. He has to have Reyes, the warrior/demon Pain, stab him and Lucien, the warrior/demon Death, take him to hell.

Living among humans has been hard especially with the Hunters always trying to kill them. When some of the warriors split up from disagreement, Maddox and his few went with Lucien while the other warriors continued to chase the Hunters for justice from killing one of their one. Maddox just wanted to be left alone and have some semblance of peace. Once the Hunters come around and bring a woman that Maddox cannot resist, things really start to get crazy.

Ashlyn has been hearing conversations her whole life. Something like eavesdropping but it could be a conversation from 20 years ago. It only takes her a moment to walk in a spot to hear everything that was said there. It has been driving her crazy. She works for an Institute that studies the paranormal. She finds them and the other take care of everything else. She didn’t know that there was anything out of the ordinary going on. When she heard about the warriors living in a castle, her determination to find them and see if they could help her either take the voices away or teach her to control them was overwhelming. She headed that way. The way she met Maddox was extraordinary but he was able to take the voices away just by standing beside her. She was dumbfounded and couldn’t speak for a time and just relished the silence. When he has to go because it is getting closer to midnight, he takes her to the castle for some reason that he doesn’t even understand. When the other warriors find out about her, the chaos begins.

You have got to read this one. I was enthralled with it. I haven’t been able to find the second one, The Darkest Kiss, yet but the book store is only a few hours away. I was on the edge of my seat throughout this whole story. I love the idea of warriors having to live life among people that don’t understand them, Hunters wanting to rid the world of their evil demons, and a woman coming into the mix to turn their whole world upside down. I just love it. The details that Showalter puts into her characters is excellent. A definite read.