Until Death We Do Part

Hunter Legends #12.5

by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Previously published in the anthology 'Love at First Bite', Until Death We Do Part is now available as a standalone e-novella from #1 New York Times bestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon!

The only thing worse than being Dracula's only daughter is betraying him by marrying his bitterest enemy-- a dark sorcerer warlord whose powers make a mockery of the legendary monster known for impalement and massacre. Forced to flee her father's wrath over her secret marriage, Esperetta is willing to sacrifice anything for Velkan Danesti, until she learns that he's tied their immortal souls together without her permission-- something she doesn't discover until after her father kills them and her husband sells both their souls to a Greek goddess for vengeance against him and makes them eternal Dark-Hunters sworn to protect mankind from the demons who prey on them.

Genres: Romance, Paranormal, Paranormal Romance, Fantasy, Vampires, Audiobook, Fiction

85 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2006

About the author

Official Author site
Official Nevermore site
Official Deadman's Cross site
Official Chronicles of Nick site
Official Silent Swans site
Official Hunter Legends site
Official Witch of Endor site
Official Lords of Avalon site
Official Facebook site

New York Times and international bestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon is a regular at the #1 spot. With legions of fans known as Paladins (thousands of whom proudly sport tattoos from her series and who travel from all over the world to attend her appearances), her books are always snatched up as soon as they appear on store shelves. Since 2004, she had placed more than 80 novels on the New York Times list in all formats including manga and graphic novels. Her current series are: Dark-Hunters, Chronicles of Nick and The League, and her books are available in over 100 countries where eager fans impatiently wait for the next release. Her Chronicles of Nick and Dark-Hunter series are soon to be major motion pictures while Dark-Hunter is also being developed as a television series. Join her and her Paladins online at MySherrilyn.com and www.facebook.com/mysherrilyn

Fan Run International Sites:

Argentinian FB Page 

Fans de Sherrilyn Kenyon en Columbia 

Fans de Sherrilyn Kenyon en Chile 

Filipino Fans on FB 

France/French 

Italy/Italian 

Portugal 

Soy Fans de Sherrilyn Kenyon 

Dark-Hunter Spain 

Spanish

Reviews

[Jasbell76 · Rating 5 out of 5]

First review
Aug 05, 2020
I love this couple too 🤯💖 I only wish it hadn't been so short, they deserved a longer story.

Updated
April 11, 2022
I will add it also deserves an epilogue, they were separated for hundred of years :(
Tag: Locale-in-Transylvania

[Sophia Triad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Velkan Danesti (Dark hunter/sorcerer) & Esperetta (immortal human)

Welcome in Transylvania!

Esperetta is the daughter of Dracula and Velkan is the man who killed him. Velkan came back as a Dark Hunter after Dracula killed his daughter and tortured and killed Velcan.
Velcan also made Dracula famous after he told his tale to Bram Stoker.

Nowadays Velcan has two favourite dogs named Bram and Stoker.
Nowadays Transylvania is packed with tourists who come to meet vampires and with Daimons who come to feed from stupid tourists.
Nowadays Esperetta hates Velcan and Velcan despise Esperetta.

A long time ago Esperetta and Velcan were in love and since Velcan is a great sorcerer, he managed to tie his life with Esperetta.
A long time ago Velcan gave his soul to Artemis to avenge Esperetta.
Neither of them can die, unless the other dies.

Awesome dark story and second chance romance. Lots of misunderstandings and lost years.
I wish it was longer.

[Thenia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh... I don't know if I'm more forgiving of male characters' stupidity, but I just could not forgive Esperetta hers. Granted, the usual male character stupidity doesn't cost people hundreds of years of misery and hers did, so that might have had something to do with it.

To sum things up, Velkan and Esperetta were the prototype for Romeo and Juliet, as in they came from two warring families and tried to make a go of it, hoping to end the war and even resorting to the sleeping potion to get away. In their case, their miscommunication did not cause their death but her psycho father, the notorious Vlad the Impaler, did.

Velkan made the deal with Artemis to be brought back and get revenge on Vlad for killing his own daughter, before torturing and killing Velkan himself, and that deal had unforeseen consequences and brought Esperetta back from the dead too.

Unfortunately for both of them, that's when her stupidity and lack of trust in him twisted her panties in a bunch and led to her cursing him out for saving her idiot self and dying for her. She then abandoned him for centuries, until some trickery not of his making brought her back home, where they get a chance to clear the air a few hundred years too late.

It takes them both a walk down memory lane in each other's shoes to get their heads on straight, but eventually they are back together and finally ready for their happily ever after.

I just wasn't feeling it by that point and were I Velkan, I would have required a lot more grovelling before even considering letting her back into my life. I mean, she wasn't even really willing to grovel - she apologized once and when he was less than thrilled and far from willing to trust her again just like that, she was ready to pack up and leave again, claiming that "there's nothing more I can do". So you solve his trust and abandonment issues by... abandoning him again. Great plan...

I think I prefer it when men are the one who need to grovel since they are a lot better at it, and they forgive too easily when they are on the receiving end, going by Velkan's example here.

The series continues with The Dream Hunter next.

Previous book reviews (Entire Dark-Hunter Universe series):
✦ Dark Side of the Moon (Ravyn - Susan)
✦ Unleash the Night (Wren - Maggie)
✦ A Hard Day's Night Searcher (Rafael - Celena)
✦ Sins of the Night (Alexion - Danger)
✦ Seize the Night (Valerian - Tabitha)
✦ Winter Born (Dante - Pandora)
✦ Night Play (Vane - Bride)
✦ Dance with the Devil (Zarek - Astrid)
✦ A Dark-Hunter Christmas (short story - Gallagher & Simi)
✦ Phantom Lover (V’Aidan - Erin)
✦ Night Embrace (Talon - Sunshine)
✦ Dragonswan (Sebastian - Channon)
✦ Night Pleasures (Kirian - Amanda)
✦ Fantasy Lover (Julian - Grace)
✦ Where Angels Fear to Tread (short story - Zeke)

[Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars

Liked Retta and Velkan's story. The Romeo and Juliet thing was very cute (thought the story was like that). Glad they were able to figure out what each other saw when they died and fix their issues. Hope they will have a great rest of their life together. Having the story interact with Dracula was awesome.

[Alice4170 🌙 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 ⭐️

[Gabriela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great little story !!! , It was not related very much to the Drak Hunters (except for the fact thst he was a Dark Hunter) but It was ebtertaining and sweet.
A very diferent twist to the Vampire story, this one about Esperetta and Velkan was a treat.
A very good read and a fast one at that !!

[Exina · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Let me guess, Velkan wants to see me?"
"No. The only thing His Highness would like to see in regards to you, Princess, is your disembowelment."

It is a Romeo and Juliet story embedded into the Dark-Hunter Universe.

The main characters are Esperetta, daughter of Vlad Tepes, and Velkan Danesti, once a sorcerer, now a Dark-Hunter with shape-shifting abilities. They were enemies by families but fell in love and got married in secret more than five hundred years ago. Both of their families disowned them, and after a tragic chain of events, Retta ran away from Velkan.



The story is very tense from the beginning: what happened to Esperetta in fact? Can she believe Velkan? Who is the real monster? Which one is real: their mutual hatred or desire?



Dignity and pride don’t allow them to express their feelings. They are both unbelievably stubborn not to reach for each other for five centuries. It is just unimaginable for a mortal like me to waste so much time.



Anyway, it is nicely worked-out, both for the main and the secondary characters. Aside from one little mistake in the plot, it is a great story.

[thevintagechronicles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Libby/audio

Es hears a story from the horses mouth, but decides to believe her dad(who killed her) was actually the trustworthy person in the equation, rather than her husband, who's family disowned him for marrying her.

So, she leaves him.

500 years later, still seething with rage, she is tricked into visiting him, a lady shows her what actually happened(news flash, her hubs was telling the truth!) and they reconcile.

Aw.

This was fine. But too short to really get attached to the characters. Miscommunication times 500 years. 🤣

[Jodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

500 years ago the daughter of Vlad the impaler married Velkan Danesti. In order to keep her safe and truly start a new life, they hatched a romeo and juliet plan. But Velkan didn't expect that when Dracula saw his daughter "dead" that he would impale her and thus kill her. Velkan ultimately called on Artemis for justice and revenge but when Retta awoke what she saw was Velkan beheading her father. She has never forgiven her husband for murdering her father. As a result they have spent the last 500 years apart. But when Retta gets word that Velkan is opening a Dracula theme park she can no longer be silent and she can no longer stay away. Which is when she discovers that love and hatred are two sides of the same coin and maybe love is just a little bit stronger. The problem with this story is it is too short. There isn't enough time for a decent build up. But it is also likely that I read this out of order and would have known these characters had I read this in order. Kenyon does sexual tension well and this story is no exception there just wasn't enough depth to make me care about the characters.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read as part of the Dark Bites Anthology.

[AlligatorSmith loves to read · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Dark Bites anthology. Read via audio book. Dracula's daughter and her love story over centuries. Got to say this isn't even close to being one I enjoyed. Lots of her whining.

[Jessalee Shields-Dulaney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story!

What a great short story. Interesting twist on Dracula and his family along with a little twist on a few other historical occasions. Once again, Sherrilyn adds a fabulous story to her Dark Hunters. Loved it!! Highly recommend.

[Janice Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sigh....

Too wonderful! Too short...totally sigh worthy!
I devour all Sherrilyn Kenyon's books, recommend them and sing her praises. An amazing author who never disappoints. It is rare to find an author who has an outstanding imagination, a good editing staff, has an excellent mastery of the English language and is devoted to quality researching. Such a rarity! I could so do coffee with this writer...until then this ol' artist will paint into the wee hours and wait for her next book...or read or listen to them again! Happy reading!

[Lois Alston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding short story

Just enough meat to make it exciting. Talking and actually listening goes a long way. But having to walk in the other person's shoes really is eye opening.

[Janet Murphy-DeBlois · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast and action packed.

So much information in such a short story. Really enjoyed reading it. Sherrilyn Kenyon surely knows how to keep your attention.

[Debrac2014 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short story about Dracula's daughter and her husband, Velkan, who had become a dark hunter! I've realised that I've read it already! It was ok.

[Rosalee Tabor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great read. Can read your books every time

[Natalia Paez · Rating 3 out of 5]

My rating for this book is 3.0 stars.

La historia de Esperetta y Velkan es una que poco se conoce y es bastante diferente, pues el alma de Velkan estaba ligada a la de su esposa por lo que cuando vendió su alma resucito a su mujer también. A diferencia de muchos de los Dark-Hunter, es difícil que él recupere su alma porque su caso es uno bastante singular. Velkan tiene habilidades sorprendentes, seguramente pueden llegar a la conclusión de que algunos fueron otorgados por Artermisa y otros por medio de la hechicería Celta de la familia de él. Este Dark-Hunter puede cambiar de forma a la de un murciélago, piromancia y otros poderes mas.

Pero todo lo anterior no le importa a Esperetta que aborrecía a su esposo porque supuso que la había matado como a su padre, cientos de años después su odio sigue vigente hasta que con ayuda de los Were-Hunter que sirven a Velkan descubre el otro lado de la historia. Ambos se ven obligados a enfrentarse cuando pretenden matarla a ella y él debe salvarla, verdades y realidades son dichas.
El futuro de ambos es incierto, pero al menos mientras él lucha en la noche podrá compartir sus dias con su esposa, porque varias de las reglas no se aplican a él.

[Tash · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was another unexpected good read, I mean great read!! OH MY SILLY <3 is doing flips for Velkan!! Gosh he's such a keeper and in my opinion, Retta does NOT deserve him. After everything he went through for her, she turned her back on him, oh HELL NO!!!! I was waving my cheerleading pom-poms in the air while Viktor was going off on her...yeah you tell her. Velkan goes out to save his wife once again and almost gets burned alive and NOW she wanna act like she cares and pulls the "wifey card", ughhhhh. But anyways, they both had to let go of some bad juju if they wanted anything between them to work out. Thank goodness for Raluca and her children & for their loyal service to their Prince. I'm glad she and her kids got their pay-back!!!
I'm gonna give this a 5 stars only because of Velkan and his servants, I still don't think Retta deserves him, ha!!

[Angela Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Both Esperetta and Velkan are Dark-Hunters. This short story is basically Romeo and Juliet but before Romeo and Juliet. They come from two warring families that hate one another but yet they fall in love and get married. But unfortunately for them Esperetta's father, Dracula, kills her and her husband Valken.

When Esperetta awakens she assumes her husband is the one that killed her because she seems him killing father and then beheading him. Fast forward hundreds of years later and still hates her husband because of what she assumed he did to her and her father.

This is a quick read but a very interesting read. There are a lot of things that I didn't realize about the Dark-Hunters and there are loopholes about couples and loopholes with the draining of the powers of two or more dark Hunters being in the same room or vicinity of one another.

[MiMi Rafaelo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Велкан и Есперета и тяхната неразбрана любов. Историйката беше страшно емоционална. Мъж, който обича жена си до смърт, но тя го вижда в лошата му страна и бяга от него. 500 години по-късно се виждат отново и Есперета смята, че Велкан я мрази. Велкан я обича, но е инат.
Двамата са се оженили и са искали да избягат, но е трябвало да заблудят бащата на Еспе. Велкан и дава да пие отвара, която ще я направи все едно е мъртва, но баща й я намушква, след което изтезава Велкан и го убива. Велкан бива съживен от Артемида, но понеже е свързал душата си с тази на Еспе, тя също е съживена.
Еспе излиза от гроба си и вижда съживения Велкан да убива баща й.

Естествено, че ще има неточности. Сега и двамата ще трябва да опитат да си дадът нов шанс.

[Karry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story has some serious life and love lessons. Sometimes couples don’t see things clearly from either side. They only see what’s in front of them, or whatever’s missing. This ALWAYS causes pain and unnecessary heartache. That doesn’t mean the love is gone. Love, true love, doesn’t work like that. It’s still there, buried under the feelings of betrayal and resentment. Only by opening their eyes, both involved, and communicating honestly with one another, will they be able to move forward and grow as the couple they were meant to be.

[BookNerdTori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the idea behind this story, I didn't like the Esperetta. Centries is a long time to hold a grudge and not to think of other possibilities. I did wish this story was a bit longer so we could have gotten more backstory on the Order and the other characters in this short story, but it was still pretty good. I enjoyed it quite a bit and I really liked Velkan more than I thought I would. But, I'm a sucker for Dracula and Shakespeare so there's that.

[Tracy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know I’m in a minority here. I wanted to try some Sherrilyn Kenyon, but didn’t really know what I was getting into. It was an intriguing plot line, otherwise I wouldn’t have attempted the reading of it. But the 500-year-old misunderstanding was too much for me to take. I also skipped the sex scene (in a novella? really?)—naïveté on my part, after all this is a vampire story. Silly me.

[Zayra Walik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me enfade muchísimo, me dieron ganas de golpear una y otra vez a Esperetta, aún cuando podía entender su situación, me producía mucho enojo su actitud. Me gusta como se relaciona con Drácula, el escritor Bram Stoker y como incorpora Romeo y Julieta de Shakespeare, basándose en ellos.

[Jules · Rating 1 out of 5]

TW: murder (beheading, staking), toxic relationship

Basically it's a grudge-filled version of Romeo and Juliet with the family of Vlad the Impaler

The combination of bad pacing, a toxic relationship, gratuitous cursing and death threats, and an insta-makeup plot made this novella a bad one.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always a pleasure!!

I'm never disappointed with a novel from this woman. I haven't read in a while and I finished this book in 2 days. It would have been one but life is demanding!!😊

[Regina · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Short story that felt more like a teaser. So much potential for something more if you have a man turned into a Dark Hunter with a wife who's soul is bound to his so that she is made immortal as well. That, and a 500yo misunderstanding that has kept them apart all these centuries.

[ChristiLovesBooks_smut · Rating 5 out of 5]

Until Death Do Us Part, book 20 - Velkan & Retta married in the 15th century. Velkan became immortal & Retta did since he tied her soul to him. Retta leaves him due to a misunderstanding. 500 years later, they meet again & realize they still love each other. 🥰

[Erin Trump · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a super fast Dark-Hunter novella, it was full of angst, pain, betrayal, anger, a touch of Dracula, misunderstanding and forgiveness.
After centuries apart, both feeling betrayed Velkan & Esperrata are reunited & it doesn’t go how either of them had envisioned.