Divination (Deamhan Chronicles Book 4)

by Isaiyan Morrison

  “Nothing.” He wiped his mouth. “So, has Ana made any progress with that what’s her name?”

  “I don’t know. I left before she started.” She wrapped her arms around her waist. “I think she’s going to torture her.”

  “Like Remy’s going to torture me?” Ruby spoke in a mischievous voice.

  “Not a good time, my littlest Deamhan. You should get some rest.”

  “I’m not tired.”

  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. “Go smoke… or something.”

  “Oh, don’t go!” Ruby smiled. “You can watch, if you want.”

  Hallie questioned. “Is that how you’ll make her talk? By kissing her?”

  “I wasn’t kissing her. I was…feeding from her. Here, go and smoke.” He tossed the pack at her and she stepped aside. It landed on the floor.

  “Hallie.” The name floated from Ruby’s lips. “Would you like to play a game with me?”

  “No, we aren’t doing that.” Remy picked it up off the floor.

  “Let’s all play a game! How about a little Truth of Dare?”

  He grabbed Hallie by the wrist and soon after, she yanked herself free.

  “Ohh, I like her,” Ruby spoke. “She has fire in her eyes.”

  “Hallie. You need to leave.”

  “No.” She crept toward the Dorvo vampire. “I’ll play this game with her.”

  “Ohhh! Since I’m so nice, you can go first.”

  “Truth,” Hallie snarled. “What did you and Remy do the first time you met?”

  Ruby giggled. “This may be your last day alive and the only question you can think of is how Remy and I met? Cute. I thought you’d at least ask me where I hid the piece of the tablet.”

  Remy placed his hand on his forehead. Hallie literally exposed herself to her games, giving her exactly what she wanted. Attention.

  “When I first met him, I was ready to rip his throat out. He was new, inexperienced, but damn, he was a fine Deamhan specimen! He literally threw himself at my feet and we made love that night and well into the morning.”

  “If you’re going to play this game, play it right. I didn’t throw myself at your feet,” he interrupted. “Also, we had sex until late afternoon, not morning.” He then felt Hallie’s cold stare on his left cheek.

  “We loved to visit the taverns throughout the cities in France,” Ruby continued. “He always looked for a young, beautiful girl with long, curly, brown hair and dark eyes. He’d seduce her and when he had her in his grip, he’d take her back to me so I could get a taste.” She let her tongue glaze her lips. “They tasted so sweet. Like cake. Tell her, Remy. What did they taste like to you?”

  “That’s enough from you.” He moved in front of Hallie. “And where in the hell did you learn how to play Truth or Dare? This isn’t how you play it.”

  “Did he ever tell you about how many Deamhan he killed for me?”

  “This game is over.”

  “Oh hush, my bourgeoisie. We’re just getting started.” She returned to Hallie. “I see that you’re surprised. You wonder how he could do such a thing. You shouldn’t be,” she mocked. “Well, I’ll tell you how. It’s because it’s bred in him. I molded him. What he is now is the Deamhan that I made him to be.”

  “He’s not like that anymore,” Hallie replied. “He’s better.”

  “You can’t treat this like a disease. There’s no cure for the monster inside that beautiful body of his. Now it’s my turn. I choose dare.”

  “She’s done playing this stupid shit,” Remy said to her.

  “Hush now. The big girls are playing.”

  “What’s your dare?” Hallie asked.

  Ruby smiled. “I dare you to kill that cancer sickly human you all seem to care about so much.”

  “Hallie. Please leave,” he pleaded again. “She’s not going to stop.”

  “Why would I, my bourgeoisie?” Ruby taunted him. “This is too much fun.”

  He grasped Hallie by the shoulders and spun her around to face him. “I need to get her to tell me where she hid the piece of the tablet and you being here isn’t helping.”

  She stepped back. “You sucking the life out of her wasn’t helping either.”

  “Okay, this game has gotten boring.” Ruby rolled her eyes. “You’re a horrible player, Hallie. The way Remy and I used to play it was so much fun. I miss those days.”

  Remy lowered his gaze. He was sure that Hallie only knew a few things about his past because he allowed her to. Now, with Ruby blabbing, he didn’t want to explain it. Facing it felt like torture. Admitting to it felt like torture. He didn’t want her to find out… not like this and a sense of remorse grew strong within his conscience.

  “I don’t know why you’re ashamed, my bourgeoisie. I wouldn’t be.” She giggled at him. “You and I can still play.”

  Hallie’s eyes turned dark. “Screw you.”

  “How about you come over here and loosen these sheets. We can go a few rounds. I promise I’ll kill your littlest Deamhan quickly.”

  “How do you know I won’t kill you?” Hallie moved forward again.

  “I’m four hundred years old. You’re like, what? Three?”

  Remy did his best to calm Hallie. He tried to push her back toward the door. “She loves to get under your skin. I should know. Don’t let her.” However, he felt his legs buckle under her strength. Surprised, she pushed him to the side and stood face to face with Ruby.

  “Please!” Ruby tilted her head back and laughed. “You’re not the killing type. I knew Deamhan like you. They didn’t survive long. They were easy to hunt down. Weren’t they, Remy? Such fun times!”

  Still laughing and using her taunts, Remy knew he had to turn the conversation back to finding out where she hid the tablet piece. Their whole life depended on finding it.

  “Still, you wouldn’t last a second against me, but how about this?” Ruby continued. “I’ll give you an advantage. Just loosen my right arm… I bet that I’ll still make you scream.”

  “How about you just stop and tell us what we want to know?” Remy asked. “Just do that and when the sun sets, I’ll untie you and let you go myself.”

  “You don’t get it.” The smile disappeared from her face along with her playful demeanor. “I will never tell you or any other Deamhan. Years of dealing with your kind had left supernaturals tired and thankful that a change was coming, a change which saw Deamhan on the bottom of the predatory chain and me as the woman who put an end to you once and for all. Why would you think I would jeopardize my calling?”

  Hallie made her move.

  Remy called out to her but he was a second too late. He watched as Ruby’s eyes widened along with her throat. He heard the sound of her bones cracking underneath her skin. He reached to pull Hallie out of the room, but she used her strength to push him back.

  His littlest Deamhan fed in the only way she could. Like a Metusba. She drained and sucked the aura from around Ruby and she didn’t stop there. She ramped up her attack and this time, he heard Ruby scream. Her skin shriveled over her frame and her multicolored eyes rolled into the back of her head. Her lips sank back over her teeth, making her fangs appear slightly larger than they were and her tongue, now withered, protruded from her opened mouth.

  “Hallie!”

  She stopped, just when she had her fill.

  “Why?” He stood back in awe and examined what remained of Ruby, a shriveled mummy-looking corpse that soon crumbled onto the bedsheets. Hallie had taken away their only chance of finding the other piece of the tablet and he turned angry. “You shouldn’t have done that!”

  “Why not?” Still riled up, she faced him.

  “You should’ve left when I told you to! Now we’re fucking screwed!” He plopped on the bed.

  “You heard her! She would’ve never told us anyway!”

  He placed his face in his hands and attempted to calm down. “You need to think before you act, sweetheart.”

  “Do
n’t criticize me! You kill people all the time.”

  He sighed. “Are you really going there now?” He lifted his head.

  “Yeah, let’s go there. So it’s okay for you to do it, but not me?” She jabbed her finger in his chest.

  “The people I killed weren’t hiding a piece of a tablet that we need!” he screamed back at her.

  “Oh, don’t give me that crap. You know she deserved it.”

  On the other hand, it felt damn good to see Ruby finally get what she deserved. “I’ll have a long talk with you about your recent behavior, later.”

  “No, let’s talk about this now! At one point, you said that I should grow up. I should step out of my shell. Well, I have and this is who I am now.”

  “I said we’ll talk about this later.” He stood slowly from the bed.

  “Stop trying to walk away from this conversation!”

  Remy expanded his chest and held his head high. “Sorry, but I don’t want to discuss the value of life with a serial killer in the making.” He watched her dark eyes peer into him.

  She slapped him and for a few seconds, he saw stars.

  He blinked his eyes. “Did you have to do that?”

  “Serial killer! Really?”

  “Okay, you need to relax. You just consumed a huge amount of Dorvo essence—”

  “I don’t need to relax!”

  He raised his hands. “You’re not yourself.”

  Hallie cringed and hunched forward. “I think I took in too much.” She wrapped her arms around her stomach.

  “Ruby was an old Dorvo vampire. You’ll probably feel this way until the next sunrise… if we survive the night.” His eyes shifted to the remains and he noticed a small object just underneath what remained of her ribcage. He lifted it from the bed. “Interesting.” He dusted off the broken clay tablet.

  “What is it?”

  “It’s the other part of the curse tablet.” He studied it. “That clever bitch! She had it hidden inside her body all this time.” You really outdid yourself, my precious jewel. There were many things he missed during his time with her. She was the Bonnie to his Clyde, his yin to his yang. At one point, she was the only woman he’d lie down and die for. The day she betrayed him was the day that everything went sour and even now, he wished it had played out differently. With her death, he finally had the opportunity to place his memories with her aside. No more precious jewel, no more bourgeoisie, and most importantly, no more Ruby.

  “Don’t mention what you did to anyone, not now.” He held onto the piece. “They wouldn’t understand, especially Nathan.”

  “Mention what? That I killed her?”

  “Yes.” He laid it on the bed. “Now, relax and I’ll handle this—” He stopped in midsentence when the bedroom door creaked open. “Hello?” He didn’t pick up on any smell or anything else out of the ordinary. He approached the door and after finding that no one was there, he leisurely waved away his concerns. “Weird.” He turned to walk back to the bed when he saw the fear in his littlest Deamhan’s eyes, making him spin back around.

  Anastasia stood in the doorway, her eyes dark and her fangs exposed.

  “Woah, you look like you’re ready to throw down,” he said. “What’s going on?”

  “You found it.”

  Her swift statement threw him for a spin. “Yeah… wait. How do you know?”

  She held out her hand. “Give it to me.”

  Something wasn’t right. “I think I’ll hold onto it… for now.”

  “No need. I’ll take it.”

  Still confused as to why she looked ready to fight to the death, he questioned her. “What’s wrong? Something happened, didn’t it? Where’s Nathan?”

  “Just… give it to me!!!”

  He’d never heard her raise her voice high enough to shake the foundation of Blind Bluff Manor. Sure, there were moments in their past that her voice had reached a sustainable threshold, but this wasn’t one of them. She never went overboard. Not like this.

  “I don’t think so.” His eyes turned dark. “What is going on with you?”

  In Deamhan speed, she made the first move and slammed her hands into his chest. His body flew back toward the bed, which tipped onto its side, sending the tablet skidding on the ground toward the bathroom.

  Remy ignored the pain and stood to his feet. “Hallie, get out of here!” He straightened his clothes and prepared himself for her next attack. This wasn’t Anastasia. Someone or something had taken a hold of her and now used her to do their will and the only person capable of doing so was Krerina. But that didn’t matter. He concentrated on fighting her off and staying alive long enough for Hallie to get help.

  “Give it to me!” She moved in again and he intercepted her. They collided against the wall and he held her down for as long as he could, giving Hallie a small window to escape the room.

  He heard her frantic footsteps as she ran for the door but that was cut short by a scream. Just as he looked up, he felt Anastasia’s hand grip his throat and squeeze. He punched at her forearm as she used her strength and flung him off her. His body lifted and struck the bedroom ceiling before he landed back on the floor.

  “If I knew she was this strong, I would’ve done this earlier.”

  In pain and dizzied, Remy managed to turn and see Krerina standing in the doorway, blocking Hallie’s escape.

  “I thought you could at least put up more of a fight.”

  “Yeah, well, one thing you should know about me.” Remy stood to his feet. “I’m not as weak as I look.”

  “Oh, trust me. I know everything about you, Remy Durand.” She snatched the tablet from Hallie’s hands. “I know you wouldn’t last long against her. Better yet, I’m curious to see what you’ll do if she tries to kill Hallie.” She pointed at Anastasia. “You,” she then pointed at Hallie, “attack.”

  It was Remy’s worst nightmare.

  As soon as the order was given, Anastasia, like a trained dog, charged at his littlest Deamhan. He wasn’t fast enough to stop her, nor strong enough to last against her. However, that didn’t stop him from trying. He jumped onto her back in an attempt to slow her down. She snarled and ran crisscross in the room to throw her off, in which she did. He quickly made his way over to Hallie and placed himself in front of her.

  The only thing he had left in his arsenal was to feed from her. He hypothesized that he could take enough to power her down but in the process, he’d weaken himself. If he fed for too long, he could kill both himself and her.

  Anastasia thrusted her fist at his chest and he caught her just inches from ripping his heart out. Now close, he opened his mouth and placed it over her own. Her fangs nipped his lips but he didn’t let go. He felt her distorted energy enter his mouth and it didn’t take long for his body to wane from its effects.

  “Now, this is interesting.” Krerina watched. “I didn’t expect that.”

  Remy didn’t stop until he and Anastasia dropped to their knees. Eventually, he couldn’t take anymore and he pulled back. Both weakened, she fell onto the floor and he collapsed into Hallie.

  “Hmm, well.” Krerina exhaled. “I guess I’ll need to charge her up.” She tapped her chin in thought. “Anastasia.” She waved. “Come.”

  On her hands and knees, Anastasia crawled over to her.

  “Once the Dark Mother feeds you again, you’ll be strong enough to take whatever is thrown at you.” She helped Anastasia to her feet. “Yes,” she admired the tablet, “our Mother will be pleased.” They left the room.

  “Remy!” Hallie’s nervous voice poured into his ears. “Remy, are you okay? Remy?”

  “Just… so tired.” He nodded slowly. “I need a few minutes…”

  “I’ll get help.” She ran to the door when he called out for her.

  “No! Don’t go out here! Too… too dangerous, my littlest Deamhan.”

  “I’ll be fine.” She peered out the doorway. “Just… don’t die on me, okay?”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

&
nbsp; HALLIE

  What would Remy do?

  It was the only question that repeated in Hallie’s mind over and over as she ventured out into the dark hallway. Her vision adjusted and she crept toward the balcony where she saw just a hint of light coming from the study.

  I’m too young for this. Even with Ruby’s essence still traveling through every inch of her body, she wasn’t strong enough to take on Anastasia, let alone Krerina.

  Get a hold of yourself, Hallie. You can do this.

  As a young and somewhat inexperienced Deamhan, she’d been through her fair share of violence. Just last week, she survived the threat of an Ancient Deamhan who wanted to kill not only her, but her sire as well. She lived through the Minneapolis sanctuary fires and the threat of Lucius killing random Deamhan in the streets. This is nothing, she told herself. If I can survive through all of that, I can definitely survive through this.

  She felt all alone and had no idea where Sia, Maris, Nathan, and Ayden had gone. Maybe Krerina already had them and somehow contacted the Dark Mother…

  Just the thought of it made her shutter. She closed her eyes for a moment to build her confidence. I just killed a ‘who knows how old’ Dorvo vampire. Yes, I can do this.

  She tiptoed down the stairs, one step at a time. Her eyes remained on alert. The doors to the study were closed, which didn’t make sense. Nathan hardly closed them.

  Just then, she felt a cold palm on her shoulder and she spun around, only to find Sia and the others standing behind her. When she saw that Ayden had Remy’s arm around his shoulders, a sense of relief overcame her. Now, she didn’t feel alone. Now she didn’t have the weight of their survival on her shoulders. “Oh my God, I thought Krerina had killed you,” she whispered.

  “We came as soon as we heard the commotion,” Sia replied. “We found Remy like this. What exactly happened? Where’s Ruby?”

  Hallie locked eyes with Remy.

  “She’s dead,” he replied in a coarse voice. “I killed her but we found the tablet piece.”

  “Did you kill her before she told you or after?”

  “Does it even matter? I got that stupid magical crap piece back,” he said in a tired voice.

  “You should’ve let us know what you were going to do,” Ayden chimed in.