Deception (Deamhan Chronicles Book 3)

by Morrison, Isaiyan

  When Enlai approached him, Remy pulled him aside, away from Hallie’s prying ears. Anastasia pried on their conversation.

  “There’s something about you that I don’t like,” Remy said to him. “I don’t know what it is yet. There’s just something…” He jabbed his finger into Enlai’s chest. “I could read your thoughts and find out for myself—”

  “I have nothing to hide,” Enlai replied. “And you’re not the only one who doesn’t trust me. But like I told Anastasia, I’m only here to help.”

  “Still, I don’t trust you.”

  “She does.” He nodded to Hallie.

  “Yeah, about that…” Remy lowered his voice. “If anything happens to Nathan or my littlest Deamhan, I will kill you. We clear?”

  “Crystal.”

  “Good.” Remy smiled. “Now, off you go.”

  Anastasia watched in silence as Enlai and Hallie took off in Deamhan speed, taking Alexis and Nathan with them. When she could no longer see them in the distance, she returned to the porch of Blind Bluff Manor and waited patiently for Ruby’s arrival.

  Remy sat on the steps. “Did you try to read Enlai’s thoughts?”

  “No.”

  “Maybe we should have.” He rubbed his hands together. “There’s something about that boy that I don’t like.”

  “You’re starting to sound like me.” She studied the horizon in front of them. Rain began to fall from the heavens in thick sheets, turning the hardened soil into thick, dense mud.

  “Yeah. I’m just concerned for Hallie and Nathan. She’s matured so much since the first night you brought her here.” He thumbed at the manor. “Maybe you shouldn’t have forced them to leave. Hallie was right. It’s not like these Dorvo vamps can enter this place. It’s still in Nathan’s name and they’d need his permission.”

  What he said was true, but to Anastasia, that was the least of her worries. Amenirdis’ blood inside her wasn’t enough to hold them back or beat Ruby and her horde at their own game. While she respected Remy’s choice to stay and fight alongside her, she had more of a chance of surviving their upcoming clash than he had.

  “Man, this place… So many memories. It’s crazy that we have to abandon it.”

  “We’re not abandoning it, Remy.”

  “Sure feels like it,” he replied. “You should eat something.”

  “I’m not hungry.” Her thoughts drifted back to Amenirdis. She proceeded to do something that only a desperate Deamhan would do. She closed her eyes and called out for the Pure One to hear her.

  Inside her mind, she called for assistance. She warned Amenirdis that if she refused to help, the Dorvo vampires would be one step closer into starting Revelation. If she decided to help, Anastasia promised to hand herself over to her in exchange. She would agree to be her minion.

  “I want Ruby,” Remy spoke, unaware of Anastasia’s meditative state. “If you see her, let me know. She’s mine.”

  She continued, focusing on the furthest part in her darkened vision. With each telepathic call, she felt her mind starting to palpitate. Images began to pull together in her brain. She saw snow-covered mountain peaks and a landscape so vast that she didn’t know where it began or ended. Trees burst from the ground below, transforming the area into a thick and lush forest.

  Amenirdis, what are you trying to show me?

  “Never thought I’d go out like this,” Remy continued to speak. “How did you think you’d go out?”

  The vision then showed her an empty shallow grave.

  “Ana? Ana? Anastasia?” Remy jumped to his feet.

  His voice pulled her out from her vision and back to reality. She lazily opened her eyes.

  “Are you nuts?” He violently pushed her back. She caught her footing and angrily gnarled at him. “Why are you contacting Amenirdis?”

  She miscalculated that Remy would read her thoughts.

  “She won’t help us. She’ll kill us.” Upset, he smacked his lips. “You’ve lost your goddamn mind!”

  “This is my plan. If you don’t like it, you can leave.” She eyed the environment around them and sniffed the air like a tracking dog.

  “That’s not the point. If she comes here, she’ll kill them and us.”

  “Remy, do you honestly think that she doesn’t know where we are? If she wanted us dead, we’d be dead.”

  Still upset, he turned away from her. “You really have a death wish, don’t you?”

  At first she caught the scent of mildew and blood mixed with the rain. It grew more potent along with the sounds of feet trampling.

  Her fangs dropped from her gums. “They’re here.”

  His eyes transformed and he also picked up on the subtle noise. “They don’t even try to hide.” He saw quick and sudden movements near the front gate. “Conceited little fucks.”

  The shadows moved in brisk speed. At first she counted twenty-five Dorvo vampires heading toward them; however, their numbers soon swelled to fifty. There were too many to fight head on and she started to think about drawing their attackers away from the manor.

  He moved forward and she stopped him. “Let’s lead them away and then split off in different paths.”

  Before he could agree, they heard the sound of an object splitting the air. A piece of wood with a sharpened point came hurling at them. They moved out of the way, just in time to see it embed itself into the front door.

  “Spears?” He laughed. “They have fucking wooden spears?”

  Anastasia moved to her right, signaling him to move to his left. She ran at her attackers in frightening speed, feeling Amenirdis’ blood rushing inside her body. She ignored the mud, now ankle deep. She struck the first Dorvo vampire across his neck, partially severing his head from his shoulders. Quickly, she moved on to the next.

  A tall male, who smelled of old blood, came at her with his mouth opened and fangs extended. She flashed her own while avoiding his kick. Placing her hand on his shoulder, she slammed him to the ground and bit into his throat.

  The blood was the nourishment she needed, giving her body a huge jolt as she now focused on three of them standing in front of her. They moved haphazardly, back and forth to confuse her before coming to an abrupt halt. Two now stood in front of her, but she felt the ground behind her move as the third one rushed at her. She swung her elbow back, colliding with his nose, and he dropped.

  Seeing fear in the eyes of her attackers, her lips pulled back into an evil snicker. They hesitated to move in on her and she took advantage, punching her fists through their chest and crunching their hearts in a tight squeeze.

  With no more in the near vicinity, she eyed Remy on her left as he ripped open the chests of his aggressors. He towered over a female who looked no older that twenty, sucking away her life as a Lamia would. A muscled Dorvo vampire tackled him. They both fell to the ground and began to overpower the other. Anastasia ran to his aid, tossing him off and helping Remy to his feet.

  “I don’t know who I want to kill first.” He pointed at a group heading toward them. “They’re just so many.” His words weren’t filled with concern but rather the opportunity to take as many of them down before he met his own fate.

  Anastasia studied the smell lingering from the group; five males and three females. At that time she assumed they also caught wind of them as well. “There’ll be tons to choose from. They don’t travel this lightly.”

  They both ran toward them, dodging their attacks. Their combined age gave them a huge advantage and they took down the group with ease. Another board flew through the air, but this time Remy caught it and threw it back. It pierced through the sternum of an older male, dropping him to his knees.

  He moved forward and, sensing that Anastasia didn’t follow, he looked back at her in a suggestive gaze, his face splotched with droplets of blood, mud, and flesh. “What’re you waiting for?”

  Something didn’t feel right. She looked around, searching for any signs of Ruby. It all felt too easy.

  Tired of her uncer
tainty, he moved onto his next victims. Now at the epicenter of the manor’s front lawn, she realized that their attackers had the opportunity to surround them. Before she could reveal her concerns to him, Remy moved farther away and she witnessed another group appear from the encompassed darkness, running toward him. The moment he straddled a terrified Dorvo vampire, the wind around them picked up. She snarled, then felt a sharp sting in her lower back, making her turn around. A piece of wood tore through her flesh, exiting through her lower stomach.

  More of them appeared on her right and on her left, creating a semi-circle. It was a situation that she feared; however, as they continued their assault, she realized that they were much younger, and her own strength gave her up the upper hand.

  “We should’ve brought silver.” Remy, noticing that they were completely surrounded, stepped backward to her.

  “If we did, it wouldn’t have been a fair fight for them.”

  They attacked again. She quickly finished off a female by punching straight through her sternum and ripping out her heart. A male, who smelled older than the female, moved quickly and wrapped his arms around Anastasia's throat. She easily flipped him over and slammed her right foot over his neck to hold him still.

  She turned her attention to Remy who was in his own battle with another Dorvo vampire. With his right hand around his victim’s neck, he tossed the weakened attacker in the air and his body landed feet away.

  “Stop.”

  A voice that Anastasia could never forget called out in the air and the Dorvo vampires halted. It brought back memories of the last time she saw Ruby, who chased her and her sire across the vast lands of Europe.

  Ruby stood next to Kenneth and another human woman she’d never seen before. Anastasia let her fangs retract and after her eyes changed back to their original color, she saw Lambert standing next to Ruby. His hands were tied together with silver chains.

  “You’re outnumbered.” The seductive Dorvo vampire pushed Lambert to his knees.

  Remy wiped his face and examined his bloody hand. “If you want us dead, send better fighters.”

  Anastasia placed more pressure against the Dorvo vampire’s neck. “Hurt Lambert and I’ll kill this one.”

  “Kill him,” Ruby replied.

  She increased the pressure, hearing her victim’s bones began to break and crack. “Don’t doubt me.”

  “I would never doubt you.”

  Several more Dorvo vampires stood in the shadows around them.

  There were too many to count and even Amenirdis’ blood wouldn’t be enough to stop them all. Anastasia slowly removed her foot from her victim’s neck. Kenneth’s appearance stirred the most violent thoughts in her mind. Suddenly her wish to see Ruby die by her hands wasn’t important. She now saved that special spot for the researcher.

  Kenneth raised his voice. “Kill them and get it over with.”

  Angered at his presence, Remy launched forward. At that moment Ruby pulled out Maris’ amulet from her pocket and, upon seeing the trinket, Anastasia placed her hand on his chest to stop him.

  “They’ll die when I wish it.” Ruby eyed the amulet and gleefully twirled it in the air.

  The threat in front of them turned the tide of the battle. “Don’t move,” Anastasia whispered to Remy. Her keen sense of smell also marked more than just the Dorvo vampires they could see around them.

  “I don’t care about that amulet.” His desire to make Kenneth pay for taking Veronica moved Remy to inch forward again. “I want him!”

  She muscled him back, fearing that Ruby could kill him with her new weapon in one movement.

  “It took me a while to realize how important this piece of jewelry is,” Ruby said. “I know you well enough, my bourgeoisie. You fear it and that makes me curious.” She brought the amulet to her mouth and kissed it. “It’s been a long time, Auerelia, or do you go by Anastasia now?”

  Anastasia gnashed her teeth.

  “The last time we met in violent circumstances was when I locked you in your coffin to rot for eternity for what you did to my sire.”

  “I didn’t do it alone.”

  “No, but it was you who parted his head from his shoulders for sport.” She pushed Lambert toward the human female. “But you escaped. You always find a way to escape. Not this time. I have you where I want you.”

  “Then finish it.”

  Ruby approached her. “I will put you down like the filthy animal you are and once you’re out of the way, I’ll end all Deamhan with the Dark Curse.”

  Remy exploded in laughter. “You can’t kill the Pure Ones. Even you aren’t that strong.”

  “I don’t need strength. Just wits and this.” She dangled the amulet. “This lovely jewelry can kill Deamhan.”

  Anastasia communicated telepathically to Remy. How do you know Ruby? She couldn’t help but to notice the strange connection.

  That’s a story for another time.

  Kenneth marched toward her. “What are you doing? Just kill them and get it over with!”

  “Not before I kill you.” Remy launched himself at Kenneth and, again, Anastasia held him back.

  Ruby took a short interest in their conflict. “This must be about that researcher—Veronica, right?” When he didn’t reply, she placed her right hand on her hip. “I guess my suspicions were correct. You are in love with a human.” As she spoke, her lips puckered. “Oh, my bourgeoisie. We need to have a chat about that.”

  “Enough talking.” Kenneth continued revealing his revulsion. “Kill them already!”

  Ruby jerked her head to Johanna. “Keep him quiet!”

  Johanna begged him to step back, but he refused.

  “Fine! I’ll fucking do it.” He pulled a wooden stake from his pocket.

  Anastasia knew just enough about Ruby to predict her wild reaction. The Dorvo vampire faced Kenneth and, in one quick motion, she slapped him across the face.

  He fell to the ground and his stake skidded toward the circle. Belittled, he rubbed his cheek. “If you don’t do it, the deal is off.” His voice quivered.

  She laughed at his threat. “I no longer need you in order to know where you hid your piece of the tablet.” She tapped the side of her head. “I already know.”

  “You don’t know anything.” He struggled to stand to his feet.

  “I knew on the first night we met, when I read your thoughts.”

  When Johanna reached out to him, he slapped her hand away. “I told you we couldn’t trust them.”

  The Dorvo vampires standing in a circle around Anastasia and Remy parted, creating a narrow path for her. She walked into the circle and they reclosed their ranks.

  “I’ve been waiting centuries for this moment, and no one, especially an annoying human researcher, is going to stop me from getting what I want.” She combed her fingers through her hair and her fangs ascended slowly until they reached her bottom lip. “Such a pretty home.” Her dark eyes scanned the manor. “Where is the human? Nathan?”

  “Using an amulet to kill me?” Anastasia attempted to turn the conversation away from Nathan and the manor. “Have you grown soft over the years?”

  “I don’t need this to kill you.” She placed it around her neck. “But it’s really pretty and perfect for the occasion.”

  Her charcoal eyes and fangs returned and she went to the task at hand. She charged Ruby, who avoided her attack. Remy attempted to follow her lead but was held back by Dorvo vampires behind him.

  Ruby, who had centuries over Anastasia, moved quickly, making the fight an uphill battle. Anastasia hoped that Amenirdis’ blood within her would narrow down that difficulty.

  Ruby’s fist collided with her right cheek, pushing Anastasia slightly back. She attacked again but with her nails to slice flesh and they nipped across her chest, drawing first blood.

  The burning sensation didn’t stop Anastasia nor did the chance that Ruby’s next strike would put her down. She jumped at the Dorvo vampire, grabbing a handful of her hair. She yanked
down in hopes to take the fight to ground level. Instead, Ruby fought against the pull, allowing Anastasia to rip out a small quantity of her hair.

  Angered, Ruby slashed again, cleaving a swath from Anastasia’s right cheek and down to her throat. This time the wound ran deep and without giving her any time to heal, she kicked at Anastasia’s stomach, sending her on her back.

  She raised her foot and stomped. Anastasia blocked but paid the price. Her right forearm shattered against the poundage and part of her bone broke through her skin. The pain made her groan yet she still managed to go against the attack, giving her enough time to roll out of the way and stand to her feet.

  She clutched her right arm with her left. Hunched over, pain ebbing through her entire body, which began to fail her, she couldn’t fight off the last attack of the fight.

  A Dorvo vampire standing in the circle tossed Kenneth’s stake to Ruby. She caught it and threw it like a dart, aiming for Anastasia’s heart. Anastasia moved her body slightly to the left as the wood planted itself into her left shoulder.

  Even a splinter of wood was enough to cause them to drop to their knees. Defeated, she felt her body lean forward, trying to gather enough strength to fight back. She spat out a mixture of sludge and blood from her mouth.

  The crowd cheered at Ruby’s seemingly easy victory.

  “Like I said, I don’t need the amulet to beat you.” She placed her hand underneath Anastasia’s chin, tilting her head up. “I thought you’d put up more of a fight.” She yanked the wood from her shoulder and placed the pointed end over her heart.

  The crowd’s cheer for her death was soon cut short by a blood-curdling scream.

  A burst of wind traveled by her, gently lifting her dark hair. A male Dorvo vampire grasped his neck and blood seeped from between his fingers. The sound of fast moving footsteps suddenly had everyone’s undivided attention. Another Dorvo vampire dropped to the ground soon after, followed by another and another, creating a large gap for Remy and Anastasia to escape the makeshift coliseum.

  Ruby’s fighters panicked and her attention also turned to what was happening. Remy ran over to Anastasia and helped her to her feet. “Amenirdis?”