Divination (Deamhan Chronicles Book 4)

by Isaiyan Morrison

  “Until we figure out your true intentions, we’re not letting you anywhere near the tablet.”

  Now untied, Remy took Ruby by the wrist and led her out of the room. He secretly came up with plenty of ways he could get her to stop talking about their demise and reveal the tablet piece she hid from them.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  ANASTASIA

  Anastasia approached the fireplace and stared into its bright flames. She grabbed the iron poker and jabbed at the tablet piece which had yet to burn.

  “I told you,” Krerina said. “You can’t destroy it. No one can.”

  From behind, Anastasia heard her scuffle as Ayden forced Krerina down in the same chair Ruby sat in before Remy dragged her up to his bedroom. “Anything can be destroyed, even a tablet piece imbued with dark magic. It’s in two pieces. Clearly, someone has tried to destroy it before.”

  “Yes, but that still wasn’t enough.”

  She pulled the poker away from the fire. “You’ll use every ounce of your borrowed magic to protect us until nightfall. If not, I’m going to shove this into every orifice in your body.”

  “I planned on it. But I can’t when Ayden is holding me down in this chair.”

  “Wait.” Maris stepped forward. “You won’t torture her, will you?”

  “If Anastasia doesn’t, then I will,” Ayden said.

  “Krerina wants to help us,” Maris spoke in a worried voice. “We should believe her, not torture her.”

  “Then she shouldn’t have lied to us in the first place.” He wrapped his arm around her.

  “Ayden, you spent nearly two years traveling the world, looking for support, and she was the only one willing to help us. We need to give her the benefit of the doubt.”

  “Baby, we’re running out of time.” He gently caressed the side of her face but Maris wasn’t having any of it.

  She took a step back from Ayden. “What do you need?” she asked Krerina.

  “Just more time to decipher the tablet and my things in the other room.”

  “Go and get them.”

  “Maris—” He reached out to her but she slapped his hand away.

  “No, this is what I want and this is how we’ll do it.”

  “I’ll go with her.” Defeated, he followed Krerina out of the study.

  “He sounds like you,” Maris said to Anastasia.

  “He’s right to doubt her.” She periodically poked at the embers with an iron fire poker. Throughout the whole debacle, Nathan didn’t say a word. She couldn’t help but notice his eerie silence. “What are you thinking about?” she asked him.

  “Krerina easily breaks away from Amenirdis after hundreds of years. I don’t believe it.” He rested his head back against the chair. “The other issue I have with her is her ability to use dark magic. Amenirdis is the reason she can wield it. If she cut herself off from the Dark Mother, she shouldn’t have any access to it.”

  “I agree. As long as she has access to dark magic, Krerina is still connected to the Dark Mother.” She placed the poker aside. “She hasn’t been a hundred-percent honest with us and she never will be.” She tapped her left fist into the palm of her right hand. “I know that you want to trust her.” She turned to Maris. “I know you want her to be the one who can end this once and for all, but I’m telling you, she can’t.”

  Maris turned to the tablet piece which still remained in the fireplace. “She has to be.”

  “Well, Krerina was right about one thing.” Hallie pointed to the fire. “It can’t be destroyed.”

  The tablet remained unchanged while it remained in the intense heat. Anastasia grabbed the poker again to use it to pull the piece out and onto the floor. “Once Ruby tells Remy the location of the other piece; we must take the entire tablet far away from the city.”

  “We’ll give it to the Brotherhood. That’s the only place where it will remain safe. It’s also the only place where Maris can be safe as well.” Nathan’s suggestion didn’t sit well with Maris who immediately retorted.

  “No, I won’t go there! You won’t take me to the Brotherhood. What makes you think those humans can protect me?”

  “Those humans are more than just researchers with tablets and pens at their disposal. Believe me. Once they know, if they don’t already, they will and can safeguard the tablet and you.”

  “Is that what you and the Brotherhood discussed?” Anastasia sat on the arm of his chair.

  “That and much more.” He nodded. “Apparently, they believe that Krerina is working with Amenirdis.”

  “They’re on their way to the city, aren’t they?” Hallie asked.

  “Yes.”

  Anastasia watched Maris grow agitated. She tried her best to comfort her offspring by ensuring her that Nathan made the right call, even though she wasn’t entirely sure herself.

  “You have no right to bargain my life!” Her eyes turned dark.

  “I didn’t.” He stood from his chair. “Lenore said they should arrive sometime before sunset. I’ve welcomed them to come here. They’ve promised to share their resources and any information they have in exchange for the tablet. They suggested having you go to San Diego but I told her that wasn’t my decision to make.”

  “They came here before. What makes you think that this time it will be different?” Anastasia asked.

  Maris remained apprehensive of the new plan. “Ayden won’t let you do this.”

  “Ayden will have no choice but to agree or he can step aside.”

  “Do what?” Ayden spoke as he walked into the study with Krerina close behind.

  Hallie sighed. “I think I’ll see how far Remy’s gotten with Ruby.” She hurried and left the room.

  “Do what?” he asked again.

  “The Brotherhood should be here before sunset.” Maris looked to him for support but to her surprise, Ayden showed no signs of helping her.

  “I don’t like the idea. But whatever it takes to make sure Maris is safe, right?”

  “Of course. If I was in your position, I would do the exact same thing.” Krerina placed various items on the table, including the magical knife from the gold-etched box. “The tablet isn’t safe out as long as Amenirdis remains free and my sister still serves her.” She examined the knife. “But I’ll be ready if she decides to show up here.”

  “I’m sure you will,” Anastasia mocked. She gripped tightly onto the poker and pushed it against Krerina’s lower back.

  Panicked, she jumped. “What are you doing?”

  “I don’t trust you,” she growled. “So I’ll force the truth out of you.” She had no problem doing what had to be done. She’d already tortured Kenneth by turning him and he wasn’t the first of her victims to meet such a fate.

  Maris stepped forward. “Don’t do this.”

  “If you don’t like it,” she pointed to the doorway, “you can wait out there until we’re finished.”

  “Ayden.” She looked back at him.

  “Let’s wait out there.”

  “I can’t… I can’t be in here.” She left the room and he followed. Nathan remained.

  “You should probably go too.” She squeezed her grip on the poker.

  “I’m fine right here.”

  “Your stomach can’t handle…”

  “Anastasia, I said I’m fine,” he spoke in a loud voice. “I’m more worried about you.”

  “Me? I’m fine.” She proceeded to push the poker further into Krerina’s back.

  “What more do I have to tell you?” she pleaded. “I’m not here to hurt any of you. Think about it, Anastasia. I have the power to hurt each and every one of you, but I haven’t.”

  “Do you think that makes me feel easy around you?” She paused her attack, for now, and stood across from her. “Deamhan know how crucial the triplets were for Amenirdis. You acted as her voice when she remained in Limbo. You granted the wishes of a few for things in return. Kei came to you, offered Lucius to you on a silver platter, and you accepted without so much as a
thought. You helped create the vacuum we have to deal with, now.”

  Krerina swallowed hard. “I won’t just let you kill me.”

  “I won’t… if you can find a way to kill your sister.”

  “Kill her? I can’t do that.”

  “Then I have no further use for you.” She placed the end of the poker between Krerina’s eyes.

  “Anastasia, let me try to talk to her.” Nathan attempted to intervene.

  “No. I’m tired of talking. No more talking.”

  Nathan grabbed the poker. “Anastasia.”

  “I don’t need your help.” She held on tightly at his slightest effort to take the weapon from her.

  “What happened at the warehouse affected you more than you realized.” He pried it from her hands. “Give it to me.”

  “What happened in the warehouse was nothing more than the Dark Mother flexing her power.” She set the poke back between Krerina’s eyes. “She’ll always serve her. There’s no way around it.” She pressed the poker into her skin and didn’t stop. “None of us know what she’s planning because we can’t read her thoughts.” She increased the pressure and pushed it further until it broke skin. Krerina grunted and a trail of blood traveled down the rim of her nose and over her lips.

  “THAT’S ENOUGH!” Nathan’s voice rose.

  Finally, Anastasia let it go and he set the poker next to the fireplace.

  “This can’t be approached with threats and torture.”

  Feeling her impatient levels rise beyond their normal limits, she closed her eyes to calm herself down. “You’re invading my space, Nathan,” she said with clenched teeth.

  “No, I’m just stopping you before you do something that you’ll regret later.”

  “I don’t regret anything.”

  “So you say. You lie to yourself to make it seem that your behavior doesn’t bother you. In the years we’ve stayed here, I’ve come to understand how you approach situations. When you feel threatened or undermined, you resort to what worked in your past.”

  “Yes.” She snapped her head in his direction. “And it works rather well.”

  “It works well… in the moment. But what about tomorrow or next week?”

  She slowly tilted her head to the side. “You’re still holding that over my head, aren’t you? You still feel betrayed that I gave you vampire blood against your wishes?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “That has nothing to do with what is happening now.” He placed his hand on her shoulder.

  “If you know me like you say you do, then my behavior shouldn’t come as a surprise.” She took her index finger and dabbed it into the trail of blood traversing down Krerina’s face. “It all boils down to survival.” She placed it up to her nose. Surprisingly, it smelled rancid. “As a Deamhan, I can’t help it.”

  Only when she placed her bloodied finger to her lips did Krerina speak.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

  Anastasia ignored her and sucked the blood from her finger. Almost immediately, her body hunched over and her throat tightened. For a Ramanga Deamhan like herself, blood was blood, but in this case, Krerina’s blood felt like the effects of poison traversed through her blood stream.

  “Anastasia? What’s wrong?” Nathan asked.

  She maneuvered back and waved her arms, unable to find her voice.

  “That’s the problem with Ramanga.” Krerina wiped the blood from her face. “Always bloodthirsty. Always willing to bite first and ask questions later.”

  Anastasia’s eyes darkened and she placed her hand on the table for support. “Your blood,” she replied in a weak voice. Her arms wobbled and she fell to the floor.

  Nathan rushed to her side. “Krerina, stop this!”

  “I’m not doing anything.” She leaned over her.

  Anastasia rolled onto her back, feeling Krerina’s blood burning as it traveled through her veins. She crunched her body into a fetal position and lost control over her own movements. Her fangs dropped from her gums, retreated, and then dropped again. She felt her eyes switch back and forth from the color brown to a ferocious black.

  Nathan stood. “You’ll stop this.”

  “I can’t, even if I wanted,” Krerina replied. “One thing about my blood… it isn’t meant for consumption. No Deamhan can feed on my psychic energy. A perk for being a servant of Amenirdis.”

  As soon as Nathan went to grab the poker, it miraculously moved and skittered on the floor in Krerina’s direction. She picked it up and held it in her hands. “She warned me that you were the worst one. She told me that if any Deamhan killed me, that Deamhan would be you, Anastasia.”

  Anastasia knew exactly who Krerina referred to. “The Dark Mother was right.” Her throat tightened.

  “She was, wasn’t she? She wants you. She always did. You were to be her greatest prize, even bigger than my sister and the other two Deamhan, Sia, and Anzuna. You were supposed to be her strongest weapon.”

  Anastasia clawed at her. “I will kill you.”

  Krerina stood. “I won’t kill you. Mother won’t allow it.” She pointed her weapon at Nathan.

  Helpless, she had no choice but to watch Krerina point the sharp end at his solar plexus.

  “But the fate of your friends…she left for me to decide.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  REMY

  Since Anzuna and Kenneth occupied his favorite torture area, Remy had to make do with what he had. His bedroom was the closest thing to a dungeon minus the caltrops and pitchforks.

  After securing Ruby to his bed by tying several bed sheets to her wrists and ankles, he sat down on a chair across from her. She tested the sheets by tugging on them but they didn’t budge. Satisfied that she wasn’t going anywhere, he leaned back and placed his feet on his bed.

  She giggled. “So, where are the pretty instruments you promised?” She looked around. “I don’t see them.”

  “They’re in the basement, where you should be if there was room.”

  She pulled on the sheets again.

  “You’re not getting out of that.” He leaned back. “So you might as well get comfortable.”

  Fresh out of ideas, he had no clue as to what he wanted to do next. Eventually, he would get her to talk, somehow, meaning he wouldn’t have any choice but to resort to primitive methods.

  “You should get them.” She smiled. “It’s been a while since I had a good torture. May I suggest Judas Cradle? What about Brazen Bull? That one used to be your favorite.”

  “Don’t push the issue.” He sat up in his chair. “Remember… I’m still hungry.”

  “Then you should eat. You can always take a little from me.”

  “I’d rather starve.”

  “You never were a good liar.” She banged her hand on the bed. “A trait you didn’t learn from me.”

  He leaned back again and closed his eyes. “I didn’t learn anything of value from you.”

  “Remember the time we had in Marseille? The sex! We couldn’t keep our hands off each other.”

  “Yeah, I remember and I’ve been trying for years to erase those memories from my mind.”

  “Why? You enjoyed it. You enjoyed watching me torture other Deamhan. You were such a good little boy to me.”

  “You know, for someone who just found out that they were a guinea pig for the Dark Mother, you sure are in good spirits.”

  “You know I always see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

  “Enough reminiscing. You’ll tell me where you hid the piece of the tablet.”

  “No, I’m not. At one point, I would’ve spilled all of my secrets to you. What we had was something precious. But we’re no longer an item so that time has passed.”

  “How can you call what we had together, ‘precious’?” He rolled his eyes. “It was nothing short of insane.”

  “But you liked it.” She smirked and Remy felt his body tingle.

  He did like it. In fact, as a young Deamhan, he enjoyed it so much so t
hat killing for her became a task that he couldn’t wait to do.

  “You know, it’s not too late for you.”

  “I’m not letting you go.” He laughed at her feeble attempt to persuade him.

  “Oh, well.” She turned away. “Can’t say that I tried to save you.” She thought. “The first thing I’ll do when I get out of here is kill that pathetic waste of a Deamhan first… what’s her name again? Hallie?”

  With her threat, the flirtatious conversation turned into a serious one. “Talk about her like that again and I will kill you.”

  “Kill me and you’ll never find the tablet piece,” she teased. “I could never understand that with you. You were always so heart stricken at the sight of a female human, but a baby Deamhan?”

  “Hallie means much more to me than you ever did.” He sat up.

  “I doubt that. You better kill me now because I will chain your little Deamhan in the basement and tear out her eyes, like I did yours. I’ll even let you watch.”

  Ruby’s response triggered Remy to react in Deamhan speed. He placed both hands on the side of her head. “Keep talking about her and see what happens.” He threatened with his black eyes tearing into her.

  She opened her mouth. “Yeah, just like that.” Her tongue twirled around her right fang. “You know you want to taste me.”

  He opened his mouth. Just one taste. That was all it took, one huge, satisfying gulp to make her shut up for good.

  “Just like you used to.” The words came out of her mouth like a slow song.

  Remy heard enough. Unable to keep his rage in check, he locked lips with her and sucked. He felt her horrid essence flow into his mouth and down his throat. His body warmed as her energy replenished his own. At first, she didn’t struggle but as he continued, she tried to pull away.

  Before he could suck any more, Hallie’s Metusba scent floated into the room. He pulled back from her just as he heard the door open.

  “Remy?” She stood in the doorway.

  He blinked to turn his eyes back to normal. When she stepped in, he forced a smile on his face. “Yeah, I’m here.” He pushed himself off Ruby.

  “What were you doing?”