Deamhan Chronicles, Books 1-5: Deamhan, Kei. Family Matters, Dark Curse, Maris. The Brotherhood Files, Ayden. Deamhan Minion

by Isaiyan Morrison

  He threw me, violently, like a ragdoll down to the first level. I landed on my back, feeling my bones break in places that made me grunt in severe pain. I struggled to get to my feet as the light around me dimmed, blocked by the crowd of vampires who’d gathered around me.

  “Go, or I will let them rip you apart!” He raised his voice so that everyone would hear. They moved aside and now healed, I walked slowly to the exit.

  4

  A DYING GIFT

  I didn’t take my encounter with Lambert at Dark Sepulcher as a defeat. No. Instead, I took it as a learning experience and further prove that there wasn’t anyone in this city I could consider reliable or trustworthy.

  The only other individual I considered to be more than that was Maris. With that thought in mind, I began to think about how I could find her and warn her before she learned about Nicias and Kyra’s plan. She was more than just another Deamhan that I knew. We’d been through much together and to kill her meant that I was throwing that all away.

  I owed her that much. In fact, I owed her a lot more. She had been through much since she was sired. She suffered from loss, despair, and in return she craved acceptance. Those who surrounded her told her that she needed to be protected and she believed it. They told her that she was important and she took it all in. But they never told her the small details. They never showed her the acceptance she desired as she roamed the cities of New York and Chicago with Finley at her side. She sucked in everything he showed and taught her. He shaped her in the image he wanted and he did this in the only way that made her content. He said he loved her.

  Now that he was gone I became the only Deamhan willing to protect her. Only I could do this, but not by following Kyra at the same time. I had to choose carefully. If I did kill her, if I did everything Kyra asked me to, would I finally receive what I desired since the night of my sire’s death? Would I finally get the chance to kill Anastasia?

  I walked down the quieted streets of Hennepin Avenue. The hotspot for humans, vampires, and Deamhan from Thursday night to Saturday night. Satisfied with leaving Biddy at the mercy of the vampires, not once did I think about going back for her. She was now theirs to do with as they pleased.

  I didn’t smell Deamhan as I walked. I only smelled the unmistakable sour scent of Dorvo vampires. I crossed the street, passing by a fast food restaurant, as humans stuffed themselves full of food that made their blood taste like oil. Just down and across the street I saw a vampire couple holding hands. Upon noticing me, they didn’t jump or walk the other way in fright. It was as if they had no reason to fear those like me.

  My body healed from the wounds suffered at Dark Sepulcher. Torn about what Nicias wanted me to do, I started to think about Anastasia and the look on her face when I’d come for her. I needed to see her beg for my mercy. I knew I could take her and I tested my skill and strength against her during my first visit to Blind Bluff Manor.

  The need to end her existence plagued me to no end. It ravaged me and tore into my body, parting away flesh and making a home within my being. I kept it at bay because I had no other choice. Kyra helped. No, she demanded that I tamed that monstrous side until it grew into a gigantic cyst. She forced me to believe that my longing wasn’t as important as the lives of every Deamhan on the face of the planet. After securing Maris, would I be able to let the beast free.

  What she said would take a decade or so took a century instead. I waited and waited, keeping my mouth shut, giving her utmost obedience. After the warehouse, I thought that the time had come. She would allow me to release the beast on Anastasia. Instead, she forced me to leave the city with her and she then later abandoned me. For a week I searched recklessly for her. I combed through every safe house and sanctuary on my path until Nicias called me to meet him in Chicago.

  So here I was yet again, doing her bidding.

  It couldn’t be this hard, but my own life depended on it. Nicias would kill me for sure if I didn’t do what they commanded of me. No, I couldn’t kill Maris. I couldn’t betray her, even if that meant that I would never make Anastasia pay for what she’d done. No, I can’t accept that either. Before Nicias would make me pay for letting her live, I had to kill Anastasia. This is my fate.

  There had to be another way. Something that I could do to avoid all of this. Suddenly, I began to remember the stories Kyra would tell me about Deamhan who were older than her. They existed out there; somewhere in the world. They kept to themselves and had no desire to involve themselves in current Deamhan squabbles. Perhaps it was time to seek them out and tell them how our species was slowly erasing its own existence.

  So many thoughts, doubts, and possibilities ran through my head to the point that I didn’t notice that a Deamhan had made me out.

  The familiar scent floated in the air like a hot summer breeze. I could also tell the Deamhan had just fed, from the power exerting from her body. I saw a shadow just to the right, behind me, move swiftly to the opposite side of the street. When I realized who it was, it took everything in me to not look back. It wasn’t Nicias. It was Maris and she had found me before I found her.

  She blocked her thoughts and avoided making any unnecessary noise to spook me further. For her sake, I pretended to not notice her. There was a possibility that Nicias had followed me to the club and if that was the case and he saw her, he would kill her on site. I decided to take our potential meeting away from downtown.

  As I continued to walk the rows of storefronts disappeared, replaced by the Basilica of St. Mary. It was a beautiful church made up of bright white colored stone marble. It had a long entrance leading up to the front doors. I looked up at its towering omnipresence and I couldn’t help myself from wanting to venture in and have a look inside.

  Instead I walked underneath the freeway and toward the park; an outdoor art museum complete with the sculpture of a giant spoon holding a cherry. I jumped the gate and I took off in fast speed, hoping that Maris still followed me and she did, keeping her distance. When I stopped in the middle of the park, she stopped as well.

  I lifted my head slightly, taking in more of her scent just to make sure that I wasn’t mistaken and that we were the only Deamhan around. “I know you’re following me.” I waited but she didn’t reply. “How long have you been following me?”

  Finally she spoke with a soft voice that soothed my ears. “I thought you had high tailed it out of here with Kyra.” She stepped out of the shadows. She kept her hands hidden in the pocket of a short leather jacket and she wore knee high dark boots.

  “It’s good to see you again, Maris.”

  “You too, Ayden.”

  We ran toward each other and embraced in a tight hug. After pulling back, I stared at her like a thief admiring their precious treasure. My hand brushed over the jagged scar on her left cheek, which she didn’t bother to cover like she used to. Unable to hold back my excitement, I kissed her on her forehead and hugged her again.

  “I’ve missed you terribly.”

  She slowly removed my arms from our embrace. “You just left without saying a word.” She stepped back and her dark hair bobbed ever so gently in the cool wind. “You promised that you would never leave me.”

  “I know, and for that, I’m sorry.” I lifted my head in the air to reaffirm that we were still alone. “Why are you still here? Where are you staying?”

  “I was going to leave, but I knew you’d come back so I waited.”

  “Maris, you know I can always find you, right?”

  “So you did come back for me or did you come back for her?”

  I stopped smiling. “We shouldn’t talk here.” I moved in closer to her. “We should move.” She referred to the promise we made to each other about Anastasia. We planned to take our revenge as soon as we dealt with Lucius and the Dark Curse. It was the main reason I brought her to Minneapolis in the first place, but it wasn’t the real reason that I came back. It wasn’t easy to tell her how things had changed in my already fragile relationship with the other A
ncient Deamhan. I didn’t know how Maris would react if I told her the truth behind my return.

  She looked around our environment. “Is someone following you? There’s no one around besides a homeless man underneath the bridge.”

  “No. I just want to talk somewhere private.” With my arm around her waist we walked deeper into the park.

  Now with nothing around us but trees and thick bushes, she spoke again. “Is something wrong?” Her eyes exposed confusion. “Have you changed your mind?” She took a few steps in my direction.

  “No, of course not. Things are not simple anymore.” Of course I hadn’t changed my mind. I wanted to end her sire. The same Deamhan who conspired with Remy, another Deamhan at Blind Bluff Manor, to kill us both during the fight at the warehouse. The same Deamhan who killed Oliver.

  “It’s simple to me.” She took a few steps in my direction, glaring at me. She tried to understand what I was trying to say. She rubbed her chin in thought and growing impatient she pushed herself into my mind. Throughout the hundred plus years we knew each other she had never forced herself into my thoughts and it startled me. I reacted quickly, expelling her away.

  “Who is Biddy?”

  Out of all the thoughts she could’ve picked up from my mind, Biddy was the only name she deciphered.

  “No one important. Why did you do that?”

  “I just had to know.”

  “Know what?”

  “Why you’re hesitant.”

  We stood a feet away from each other when I watched as her eyes narrowed in on me. My statement didn’t seem to move her to speak up any more quickly than before. Eventually I had to break away from our staring contest. I turned my back from her and covered my mouth in anticipating for what I suspected. She believed that I had somehow reconciled my differences with Anastasia and no longer wanted to kill her. Like many Deamhan in her life, she believed I had broken my promise. She thought that I had turned weak.

  “I am not weak,” I said, after picking up on her thoughts.

  “Then why have you changed your mind?”

  “It’s complicated.” I still didn’t have the strength to face her.

  “The look in your eyes. Your body gesture. Your chest protruded slightly, your right pinky finger twitched. It’s Kyra, isn’t it?”

  “You don’t know the whole story.” The rage inside me rose to levels that I hadn’t experienced since my sire’s death.

  “Then tell me, but I promise you, there isn’t anything you can say that’ll make me change my mind. Anastasia will die. With or without your help.”

  “I don’t want to change your mind.” I finally turned to face her. “I haven’t forgiven her. She’ll get what’s coming to her. That I promise.”

  Her eyes expanded and she tilted her head to the side. “Sometimes you can be too gullible for your own good.”

  “Your life is in danger.”

  “My life is always in danger.”

  “Please. Listen to what I have to say.” Even though we still had the same opinions about Anastasia, I didn’t want her to be in the same city as Nicias. The bond between us was stronger than any disagreement we would ever have in our immortal lifetimes. However, I couldn’t just tell her that I had come to kill her. It would break her. “You have to leave the city. Let me kill Anastasia.”

  “No. We’re going to do it together.”

  “Stop being hard headed and listen-”

  “I’m not going anywhere, Ayden. I’ve waited too long for this.”

  Everything my sire taught me came back as if I had learned it yesterday. I held back, but used enough of my strength so that when my hand made contact with her chest, she would land back on the ground. That would make her know her place but it didn’t. Instead she jumped to her feet. Her Ramanga fangs slithered from her gums and her eyes turned black as charcoal. She came back at me and we collided. I let myself fall back, but in midair, I latched onto her and swung my body around so that when we landed I was able to pin her arms to the ground and straddle her.

  She peered at me. “What has gotten into you?” Somehow she successfully pushed against my weight and strength, forcing me back. She went to strike me across the face. I avoided her, grabbed her arm, and twisted it around her back.

  “You need to leave Minneapolis.”

  With the heel of her foot she kicked back, striking me in my knee. Pain traveled up my leg. I released her and she swung around, striking me in my other knee. I dropped to the ground.

  “Stop this!” Still riling in pain, I looked up at her.

  “You think she’ll kill me, don’t you?”

  “No, it’s not that.”

  “Then what is it?”

  My eyes reverted back to their normal color. “Did you not hear me? You’re in danger.” With my knees now healed, I stood to my feet. “Your safety is what matters the most.” It was a statement that I didn’t put as much thought in as I could have. I was there for her. I always have been and I didn’t want that to change.

  “Then who’s coming for me this time?”

  “A Deamhan.”

  “Who?”

  I leaned my head back. “Stop asking so many questions and just leave! Now!”

  “Why? Is it because Kyra wants me to?”

  Our conversation wasn’t going anywhere so I did the only thing I could think of that would hopefully make her listen to reason. I struck her again and this time I didn’t hold back. Her body darted backward and I reached out, grabbing her by her throat and pushing her back to the ground.

  “I’ve been on the run for most of my Deamhan life.” She attempted to pry my fingers from her neck which made me increase my grasp. “I won’t do that again.”

  “Even if you trust the Deamhan that’s supposed to kill you?”

  She immediately stopped struggling. “You?”

  I watched her eyes swell.

  “You’re going to kill me?”

  At that moment my senses went into overdrive. I didn’t think my next movement thru. My only thought was to make sure that she wouldn’t think of me as a Deamhan minion; a foot soldier doing Kyra’s dirty deeds. I no longer wanted to be viewed in that way. If I had to make sure that someone died before I left Minneapolis, it wasn’t going to be Maris. It would never be her.

  “I’m sorry. I really am. But you can’t go with me to kill Anastasia. I have to do this alone.” My eyes returned to their darkened state and I twisted Maris’ neck as hard as I could. “When you recover, you must leave.” Knowing that it wouldn’t kill her only incapacitating her. She screamed and I covered her mouth. With her head turned completely around, her body shook from the pain and blood poured from her mouth.

  “I did not want to do this to you, but I have to make sure that you won’t follow me.” I stepped back realizing that my actions had gone too far. I dragged her into a nearby thicket, hoping that no one would see her by the time she healed.

  She would never forgive me and I didn’t expect her to. I just hoped that she listened to what I had to say to her and heeded the advice. “I have to kill her before Nicias kills me.” I turned around in the direction of Blind Bluff Manor. “And I’m not leaving this world knowing that she still walks in it. I will end her, Maris. That’s my dying gift to you.”

  Without as much as another word, I disappeared into the night.

  5

  CONFRONTATION

  I signaled a yellow taxi and told the driver my destination. Before I could sit down in the back seat and close the door, he sped off down the street, heading toward the 35W North freeway. He weaved in and out of traffic, going about seventy miles an hour. He didn’t try to start a conversation with me and I didn’t want him to. We arrived at Blind Bluff Manor quickly. I paid him what I owed, stepped out of the vehicle, and watched it speed down the street and around the corner.

  The air was unusually warm for this time of year. Not a single cloud in the sky. To my surprise, the sanctuary looked more magnificent than the last time I set my ey
es on it. Protected by a tall black gate, which I found easy to jump over, I walked up the long stoned pathway keeping my eyes opened and my body on alert.

  Not only did I expect to run into Anastasia, I also knew I’d run into Nathan, the human owner of the property, Remy, the annoying Lamia, and Hallie, the youngest resident and the only Metusba living at the sanctuary. Just from our time together weeks ago, I was confident that I could take down Remy if he crossed my path. As for Hallie, her age and lack of knowledge about being a Deamhan meant that she wasn’t any threat to me. When I first came to the sanctuary with Maris, I was able to tell that she wasn’t like Remy or Anastasia. She was just a teenager—a child abandoned by her sire. She didn’t know much about Deamhan in general and Anastasia kept her confined to the manor.

  Remy, on the other hand, was maniacal and secretive in a crude kind of way. He was blessed with beautiful features and he used them to trick human and Deamhan females in trusting him. He loved the thrill of the hunt. That much I did know. Other than that, he kept his history to himself and groveled in that fact.

  As for Nathan, he was just a human who had ties with The Brotherhood. His ancestors helped create the organization and for centuries they researched and studied us. It was only a few decades ago that he was kicked out to fend for himself. He created Blind Bluff Manor as some sort of sanctuary where he could live among Deamhan he trusted.

  I decided that if I would leave anyone unharmed, it would be him...as long as he told me where he hid the piece of the tablet. That was the only part of Kyra’s insane mission that I’d follow. Once I got my hands on it I would destroy it so that no one would be able to use it for their own gain.

  I made it to the front door without any objection. I raised my hand to knock when the sound of grass crunching under feet, to my left, caught my attention. I turned and came face to face with Hallie.