CHARACTERS
KATE DANIELS
APPEARANCE
Age: 24
Gender: female
Height: 5’7”
Build: lean, muscular
Hair: dark brown, long
Eyes: dark brown, almond shaped, slightly elongated
Skin: tan
Distinguishing marks: a tattoo on her left shoulder of a raven holding a bloody sword with the words Dar Vorona (Raven’s Gift)
AFFILIATION
Guild, later the Order of Knights of Merciful Aid
SPECIALTY
Killing things, with much bloodshed. Talking trash, infuriating authority. Driving the Beast Lord crazy.
FUN FACTS
Kate is short for Ekaterina, but Kate never thinks of herself as that. Daniels is not her real surname; it was randomly chosen by her adoptive father, Voron.
CURRAN LENNART
APPEARANCE
Age: 31
Gender: male
Height: 5’11”
Build: muscular, defined, gives off a sense of coiled strength about to explode
Hair: blond, typically cut short except during the flare, when it grows into a mane within a few days
Eyes: gray, luminescent with gold when excited or angry. Curran’s gaze is extremely difficult to hold.
Skin: naturally pale, but he tends to bake himself in the sun every chance he gets
Distinguishing marks: a broken nose that didn’t quite heal right, very unusual for a shapeshifter
Beast form: an enormous gray lion, striped with darker gray, like smoke blown against gray velvet
AFFILIATION
Pack. Curran is the Beast Lord. Tremble.
FAVORITE MODE OF FIGHTING
Grows teeth the size of dinner forks and bites people’s heads off. Roars afterward.
SPECIALTY
While Curran’s physical power is overwhelming, he rarely has to use it. He’s observant and shrewd, and tends to employ diplomacy and intimidation, breaking into violence only as a last resort. He moves extremely quietly and enjoys sneaking up on Kate.
JIM SHRAPSHIRE
APPEARANCE
Age: 33
Gender: male
Height: 6’2”
Build: lean, muscular, sinewy and very defined but not bulky like a bodybuilder
Hair: dark brown, short
Eyes: dark brown
Skin: dark
Face: Jim cultivates a thuggish appearance because he likes when people underestimate him. He is not a handsome man, but he is masculine and confident.
Voice: Jim has a melodious voice. He clearly can sing, but nobody has ever heard him do it.
Beast form: American jaguar, Panthera onca veraecrucis
AFFILIATION
Pack, alpha of Clan Cat, chief of security; Mercenary Guild member.
SPECIALTY
Suspecting plots, hiding things in odd places, obsessing to the point of paranoia, berating Dali for driving too fast, berating Kate for doing stupid things, berating Curran for not following security protocol.
Jim is the Pack’s chief of security. His attention to detail is meticulous. He notices everything and forgets nothing. He is fiercely independent and a powerful opponent. He is Curran’s best friend. He accepts Curran’s authority as Beast Lord; however, Jim enjoys a greater degree of autonomy than other Pack alphas, because Curran is aware that Jim is smarter than he, and he generally leaves Jim to do his job as he sees fit. Jim has many aliases, including Jim Black, as he’s known in the Mercenary Guild.
MAHON
APPEARANCE
Age: 62
Gender: male
Height: 6’
Build: broad shouldered, heavily muscled, looks like you could hit him with a truck and the truck would fold about him like a crushed Coke can
Hair: very dark and curly, typically worn shoulder length; a thick beard that Mahon keeps neatly trimmed
Eyes: brown
Skin: ruddy. Mahon looks like he spends a lot of time outdoors.
Distinguishing marks: a long scar reaching from over his left eye to the temple, only visible if you look very closely
Beast form: a huge Kodiak bear, Ursus arctos middendorffi. Mahon has never been weighed in beast form, but rumors say he tops fifteen hundred pounds.
AFFILIATION
Pack. Mahon is the Pack’s executioner.
FAVORITE MODE OF FIGHTING
Mahon prefers to charge, using his weight as a weapon. Like Curran, he can crack a shapeshifter’s skull with a single blow of his paw.
SPECIALTY
Kingmaker. Mahon is a strong believer that the Pack requires a powerful leader to survive. He groomed Curran to take that position, supported him in his rise to power, and now he assists him unconditionally, even though they don’t always see eye to eye.
TED MOYNOHAN
APPEARANCE
Age: 51
Gender: male
Height: 5’10”
Build: Once very fit, Ted now runs to hard fat: he won’t be running any races for fun, but if you slammed a door in his face, he’d punch through it. He looks like a middle-aged heavyweight boxer who developed love of Twinkies and Western clothes.
Hair: salt-and-pepper, short, hides his bald spot under his hat; sometimes grows a short beard, sometimes prefers to be clean-shaven
Eyes: brown
Skin: pale. Despite cowboy clothes, Ted hasn’t seen a ranch for years and years.
AFFILIATION
Atlanta chapter of the Order of Knights of Merciful Aid, knight-protector. As the knight-protector, Ted oversees the activity of the Atlanta Order office.
FAVORITE MODE OF FIGHTING
Ted prefers a large heavy mace but is also fond of modified guns, especially revolvers.
SPECIALTY
Seems to always know more than people expect he does. Demands exceptional results in unreasonable time, and when his subordinates deliver, he takes it as a given. Dislikes any deviation from the human norm. Ted is very stubborn and has been known to dig in his heels when it suits him.