The immortals after dark series is my greatest guilty pleasure. How Kresley Cole has churned out a total of 11 - five star stories from this series so far is beyond me, but after reading this, she's got plenty more to tell with a few surprises up her sleeve. This story was absolutely riveting and if you've read the previous stories we already had a glimpse from Demon from the Dark of where this story starts. An organization known as the Order have been capturing Lorean creatures for experimentation and study to find ways to destroy them and one of their prisoners is Regin the Radiant.Regin is a Valkerie and has lived almost a thousand years waiting for the reincarnation of her fated mate and Beserker Warrior, Aidan the Fierce. Regin has never felt attraction for anyone but Aidan, but because of his pride, he broke the rules of Woden, their God, and made love to Regin before he had earned his immortal status by winning 200 battles. As punishment, after making love to her, he is killed in each of their 4 incarnations together. This time around, Aidan has come back as Declan Chase, the leader and organizer of the Order responsbile for capturing and torturing, not only Regin, but many of her friends and allies. Regin is shocked to realize that the man who has sworn to love and protect her and has promised nothing will keep him apart from her is the man responsible for stabbing her, poisoning her, interrogating her, and ultimately, yes, it's true, not stopping her being vivisected. Having said that, you can see that this is a much darker side to Ms Cole's story telling and delves into issues far beyond a misunderstanding or miscommunication. Regardless of his responsibilities and his orders, Declan can't deny his obsession with Regin, even though, due to circumstances beyond his control, he was raised to believe all creatures of the Lore are his enemy. And through this grissly view, somehow it all still works.There is a great cast of old and new supporting characters, most prominently for fans, Lothaire, the most evil of evil, who we're all waiting with baited breath for his story. Dreams of a Dark Warrior still delivers the powerful erotic moments that Ms Cole delivers each and every time, but this is the first time I have to admit that it all gets a little twisted with flashbacks and major obstacles. It's not like Regin catches Declan/Aidan in a compromising embrace.... he tortures her! But fate is fate and the story leaves you curious, skeptical, hopeful, mad, sad, and ultimately glad. It's truly another winner that, although darker than most, has an abundance of laugh out loud one liners that will leave you anxious to get to the next one.I would definitely recommend reading the back stories, most especially the two previous, Pleasure of a Dark Prince and Demon from the Dark. That should give you all you need for to better understand these characters.