have to unwrap me.”

Oh, how Reseph loved presents. “And then you unwrap me?”

“Mmm. Very, very slowly.”

Jillian followed up on the slowly thing. After he was naked, she spent an hour worshipping his body and doing wicked things with one of the candy canes on the tree.

As Reseph lay sated and exhausted, tangled with her in front of the fire, he could only think that hundreds of Christmases and thousands of presents had come and gone for him, but this one, above all others, was the best. The Apocalypse was over, his entire family was whole and happy, and he’d been given the greatest gift of all.

Love.

Apocalypse: The Lords of Deliverance Compendium

The Introduction

One of the most common questions I hear is, “How did you come up with the idea to write about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?”

Well, put simply and vaguely, it just popped into my head. No, really. I can’t remember any kind of trigger, like an article or a TV show or even the sight of four horses standing in a field. I just remember that several years ago, before I’d even sold the Demonica series, I wanted to do something with the Horsemen.

I just didn’t know what.

It wasn’t until I was writing Ecstasy Unveiled that I had the glimmer of an idea of what to do with them. I could create a brand-new series with a brand-new world… or I could incorporate them into the Demonica world.

But how?

The answer came during revisions to Sin Undone.

See, I wanted to stay in the Demonica world, but Underworld General needed some time to recover from five books of mayhem. I also needed a little space, but at the same time, I didn’t want to stray too far from my beloved hospital and characters.

Enter the Horsemen. On horses. With deadly weapons and nerves of steel and bodies of solid muscle. These boys were meant to fight. Except, oops, one of them was female. Limos tossed a wrench into my plan. She’s mischievous that way.

So the Horsemen were born, and oh, the possibilities for their stories! Right away I envisioned some of the big events, while others came during the course of writing and revising. But all the while, I had a specific arc in mind, one that would keep our Demonica characters front and center and then take us right back to Underworld General.

As the Demonica/Lords of Deliverance world expanded, so did the need for another compendium. There are more characters, more species, and more supernatural abilities to keep track of. And, of course, there’s a short story to give you more background into how it all began. “Eternal Damnation” will take you back to the Horsemen’s very roots, when they were but a twinkle in Lilith’s evil eye.

Read on, Riders, and enjoy!

The Key Players

Born of a match between good and evil, four siblings stand between hell’s minions and everything they want to destroy. They are the Lords of Deliverance, and they must live their lives walking a line between two prophecies, one set forth by the Bible, and one penned by the prophets of the demon holy book, the Daemonica. Two prophecies, both ushering in Doomsday, but whether the Horsemen fight on the side of good or evil is yet to be determined…

First Horseman of the Apocalypse: Reseph aka Pestilence—Born to the evil succubus Lilith and the angel Yenrieth and given up as an infant to an Akkadian princess who believed herself to be a goddess. Reseph was spoiled, given everything, anything, and anyone he wanted. Though he had a rude awakening when he learned the truth about his origins and was cursed to be a Horseman, he never truly lost his carefree attitude or playboy lifestyle. He lives to have fun. His favorite things include country music, margaritas, women, and vacationing anywhere it’s warm.

Height: 6'8'

Hair: Very light blond

Eye color: Ice blue

Location of home: Caves in the Himalayans Mountains

Personal weapon/symbol: Bow

Tattoos/identifying marks: Stallion glyph on right forearm

Horse’s name and description: White warhorse named Conquest

Agimortus (trigger for breaking Seal): An event defined in prophecy

Weakness: Drawn to scenes of great disaster and disease

Armor: Plate metal armor that must be fed blood in order to stay strong

Most memorable historical event: The Black Death

Daemonica Prophecy: She of mixed blood who should not exist, carries with her the power to spread plague and pestilence. When battle breaks, conquest is seal’d.

Second Horseman of the Apocalypse: Ares aka War—Raised to be a warrior from the moment he was switched at birth with a human child, Ares lives to fight. The curse brought down upon him and his siblings that turned them into Horsemen made him even better at warmongering… and it also causes humans to become agitated and violent when in his presence. Because of this, he has lived apart from humans and keeps his distance when forced to deal with them. He is a fan of classical music, Greek food, and ouzo.

Height: 6'9'

Hair: Brown with reddish highlights

Eye color: Black

Location of home: Private island in Greece

Personal weapon/symbol: Sword

Tattoos/identifying marks: Stallion glyph on right forearm

Horse’s name and description: Blood bay stallion named Battle

Agimortus (trigger for breaking Seal): Death of person as defined in prophecy

Weakness: Drawn to scenes of large scale battles; close proximity to his agimortus-bearer dulls senses, strength, and weapons, softens armor

Armor: Leather made of Gerunti demon hide

Most memorable historical event: The Battle of Hastings

Daemonica prophecy: An angel’s mistake shall bring about War, and her death shall break his sword. But be wary, a hound’s heart may yet defeat.

Third Horseman of the Apocalypse: Limos aka Famine—Limos, the only female Horseman, is also the only one of the four to be raised by the mother that gave birth to them. Brought up by Lilith and betrothed to Satan, Limos became an expert at deception and lies. When she left Sheoul, the demon realm known as hell to humans, she found and united her brothers. She is a girly-girl to the core, preferring to dress in ultrafeminine, bright-colored clothes. Her favorite color is pink, she loves fruity drinks and flowers, and painting her nails is practically an obsession.

Height: 5'8'

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