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

by Isaiyan Morrison

  She had her fill of human earlier that evening.

  To me, she was past any forgiveness. She needed to be put down and I was the only one who had the guts and courage to do it.

  “I’ve waited so long for this moment.” I circled her to create my own invisible parameter.

  “I warned you that if you came back here that I would kill you.” Her brown eyes scrutinized me from head to toe.

  “Your threats don’t scare me.”

  “I provided you with a way out.”

  “You only did so because you know you can’t take me.”

  Her lips curled into a snicker. “I can take you. I just don’t have the time nor the desire to.”

  “Bullshit!” I slowed down my pace. “I saw fear in your eyes the night when I overpowered you. At that moment you knew, for the first time in your life, that your days were numbered.”

  She sighed. “There’s a lot happening—changing—since the Limbo incident. Deamhan are no longer the majority in this city. We all have to put our differences aside and acknowledge that.”

  “Is this your way of telling me that you need my help?” I laughed. “Despicable.”

  “I’m telling you that there’s no time for this,” she replied. “Killing you is the furthest thing from my mind.”

  “Well, killing you has always been on my mind.” My body began to surge with strength. “I’ve dreamt of it for over a hundred years. I’ve waited long for this moment and no one, not even Maris, can stop me.” My eyes changed and I cleared my mind, preparing myself for the upcoming battle.

  “And where is she?” Anastasia looked around.

  “She’s far from here, and from you.” I wished that Maris took my warning to leave the city. I prayed that she had already left.

  “Our differences are miniscule compared to what’s happening around us. Dark times are coming Ayden. We will all suffer.”

  “You would rejoice in that, wouldn’t you?” I laughed at her weak attempt to change my mind. “Trying to turn your enemies into your friends. That’ll make it easier for you to stab them in the back later on.”

  “Why stab you in the back when I can easily stab you in the front?”

  Yes! Finally I saw the brutal and emotionless Anastasia I knew from the past. That part of her still existed, just hidden underneath decades of lies. “Enough talking!” I spoke with clenched teeth.

  Revenge. How sweet it felt.

  Now I regretted not taking the weapons Nicias provided me. I pulled a dried corn stalk from its root and I ran at her as fast as I could, gripping it tightly with my right hand. I aimed it at her heart, but she quickly knocked it out of my grasp, grabbed me by my neck, and lifted me in the air.

  “A corn stalk?” She titled her head to the side. “Really?”

  I growled back and with my legs I pushed into her stomach, forcing her to lose her grip. She released me and I moved back, preparing myself to go in again. I quickly punched and my fists met air. Her smooth and fast movements made it hard for me, but I kept telling myself that I could do this. I’d fought and killed many Deamhan older than her. However, my anger fueled me now.

  Her eyes had turned black and her fangs extended. Her fist met my face, dizzying me long enough for her to disappear from my view. I looked around, saw nothing, but I still smelled her Deamhan stench in the air.

  “You fight like a coward!” I yelled. A trickle of blood ran from my left nostril and I wiped it away. “Come out and face me!”

  The wind behind me picked up and I immediately turned around. I don’t know how she had moved in so close without my body signaling danger. I jumped at her and immediately felt a burning sensation in my chest that brought me to my knees. She had found a piece of wood and implanted it into my flesh, stopping short from pricking my heart. I fell back onto the dirt. I wondered why she didn’t push the stake further into my heart. If she wasn’t destined to be my killer then Nicias would definitely fulfill that role. I still wouldn’t stop from throwing everything I had at her until either she had fallen or I had failed.

  She stood over me and stared in silence. She watched while I struggled to pull the wood out. Eventually she knelt next to me and her eyes returned back to its natural brown color. I did my best to not scream at the pain.

  “I’m not going to kill you, even if that is the right choice,” she said.

  I grunted and continued to pull at the stake.

  “I need you alive.” She stood up and stepped back. “Maris is bonded to you and I know that you will foolishly protect her with your life.” She looked up at the darken sky.

  I grunted again, feeling the blood now rushing out of my mouth in spurts.

  “I don’t have time for your pettiness. You need to decide. Either protect Maris or continue to serve Kyra.” She turned around. “If you choose to stand behind Kyra and you show your face, I won’t show mercy a second time.”

  My rage grew and I yanked the wood out of my chest, tossing it aside. I lifted myself up slowly, watching her walking away in victory. She would not win this. Everything inside me; rage, hatred, anger, and disgust for her expelled out of my mouth in a banshee scream. It was loud enough to make her snap her head to look over her shoulder.

  Again the cornstalks around us became my weapon. I yanked them from their dead roots and threw them at her like knives. Each one she avoided by either standing aside or catching them in midair. However, she didn’t attempt to throw them back at me. She dropped them to the ground. Her face showed no expression. She just stood there. I paused and heaved heavily.

  “I’m allowing you to walk away. To live another day.” She lowered her head slowly and her face showed no emotion. “You’d be foolish to not take it.”

  “I’m not leaving until you’re dead.” I grabbed another cornstalk. “Or I’m dead. You need to pay for what you’ve done to me.”

  She still remained in an offensive stance. “I’ve done a lot of things to a lot of people. Not just you.”

  “And you deserve to die for every evil thing you’ve done. For centuries you’ve walked away unscathed. You’ve never paid for your crimes.”

  “Your past is just as dark as mine, Ayden.”

  “I’ve never turned against those close to me. I’ve never betrayed them. And now, because Maris has come back into your life, you think that can use her to avoid my wrath?”

  “And you haven’t used her?” She stepped forward.

  “No.”

  “Oh yes. You’re not immune. We’ve all used her.”

  The scent of another Ramanga scorched my nostrils followed by a sharp pain ebbing from my stomach. My eyes swelled and the abhorrent smell of my blood fumigated the air around us. I gazed down at a fist, covered in my blood, protruding from my stomach. Pain began to set in and when I turned to look over my shoulder, I saw Maris’ dark eyes gazing back at me. She yanked her fist free and I heard the sound of my flesh ripping. I grunted as my legs stumbled underneath my own weight. She pushed me forward and I fell onto the ground, landing on my side.

  She looked back at me and growled, showing her Ramanga fangs. Part of me felt delighted to see that her neck had quickly healed while another part of me wondered why she hadn’t left the city like I told her to do.

  “You son of a bitch!” She leaned over me.

  “Maris?” In a blur Anastasia made her way over to us. “What are you doing?” Seeing her offspring brought delight to her, but only for a moment. The look on Maris’ face proved otherwise.

  “I won’t let you kill him!” The tip of her boot connected with Anastasia’s chin. The force pushed her onto her back and immediately her sire jumped to her feet, her body at the ready.

  With extended fangs Maris ran at her with arms swinging in frightening speed. Anastasia dodged her attacks. Seeing a small window of opportunity she grabbed Maris by her arm and twisted it behind her back.

  “I’m not going to kill him.”

  Maris struggled in her grasp.

  “Stop before
I hurt you!”

  Maris snapped her head back and it collided with Anastasia’s nose. Now free she began to pummel her fists into her face and her chest, making Anastasia stumble. “I won’t allow you to kill him!” She picked up a corn stalk and flung it in her direction.

  “That’s why you’re both here.” Anastasia ducked as it flew over her head. “You want to kill me.” Her fangs dropped from her gums and with her mouth opened slightly, she showed them off like a prized possession. “But you can’t. You both aren’t strong enough to take me.”

  I expected this day to come, but not entirely like this. I thought and acted it out in my brain. I envisioned standing across from Anastasia, like two cowboys at a high noon showdown. Yet at this rate Anastasia would kill her.

  I had to do something to stop Maris from bringing upon her own death. Still bruised and battered, I lifted myself up slowly. Now on my feet I waved my arms to get their attention. “Maris, come here.”

  I thought she listened to me, but I found out quickly that wasn’t the case. In Deamhan speed she approached me and grabbed onto the collar of my shirt.

  “You broke my neck and left me in that park. I heard what you said to me. Why does Nicias want you dead?”

  Anastasia’s eyes moved back and forth from me to her.

  “He told you to come after me, didn’t he? Why would you do this to me?” She growled. “After everything we’ve been through Ayden! We’re bonded! We’re like siblings!”

  “Nicias serves Kyra,” Anastasia spoke. “What else would you expect?”

  “This has nothing to do with you!” Maris screamed at her. Now ravenous, her fangs extended to their furthest points and like a wild dog she launched herself at her sire again.

  Anastasia did little to fend off her attack. She ended up on her back with Maris over her, clawing at her face. She closed her eyes as if just seemed to take and accept it. My hearing picked up the sounds of flesh ripping and blood rushing from her wounds. The pain she encountered wasn’t anything remotely equal to the amount of pain she caused all those she knew in life, but at least it did something for Maris.

  Eventually the incursion ceased and Anastasia opened her eyes. Exhausted, Maris fell to the side on her back, gazing at the nighttime sky.

  “Why?” Maris whispered.

  Anastasia sat upright and touched the wounds on her face. They had already began to heal. “Why what?”

  “Why didn’t you fight back?”

  She stood to her feet. “I already told you. You aren’t strong enough to kill me.”

  With her elbows resting on the grass, Maris looked up at her. “One day I will be.”

  “That day isn’t tonight.” She held out her hand for Maris to take, but the stubborn Deamhan slapped it away and raised herself from the ground.

  “This vendetta against me is pointless.” Anastasia shook her head. “You both keep trying to kill me when you know you can’t. I’m trying to give you an opportunity to leave.” She pointed at me. “Before I change my mind.”

  “Fuck your opportunity!” My dark eyes expanded. “Nothing you do could fix what you’ve done to us.”

  “Don’t you think I know that?” she said. “There’s nothing I can do to change the past and what I’ve done.”

  “Have you even tried?” Maris asked. “You can’t even tell us that you’re sorry.”

  Anastasia remained silent.

  Maris sniggered. “That word doesn’t exist in your vocabulary.”

  7

  DESPERATION

  “You told me that Kyra wanted to protect me,” Maris said. “Why has this changed? What have I done to make her turn against me?”

  I couldn’t answer her.

  Anastasia placed her hand underneath my chin. I tried to jerk my head away, but a sharp pain exploded in my brain which made me flounder back. Placing my hands on my head, I looked up seeing her eyes gazing into mine.

  “Get away from him!” Maris attempted to come to my rescue.

  “He won’t answer you,” she said. “But he can’t keep his answer from me.”

  “I said get away from him.” She pushed her back.

  “I’m trying to help you.” She then pushed back against Maris.

  I snarled as she shoved her way through my thoughts. Every barrier I placed up, she knocked down with ease. She swam through, picking up snippets of my meet with Nicias in Chicago and Minneapolis, Biddy, my encounter with the vampires at Dark Sepulcher, and when I snapped Maris’ neck before coming to Blind Bluff Manor. When she finished with me, she left my thoughts.

  “Either he kills you, or Nicias will kill him.” She glared at me like I was an abomination she’d never seen before. “He has no plans to follow through on Nicias’ orders.” She moved back. “He came here for me.”

  Maris’ voice trembled. “Is this true?”

  “Go ahead.” I froze with expanded eyes, sure that she would kill me without hesitation. “Do it.” After all we’d been through, to end me while standing by the side of her traitorous sire, shattered my realization of her. I didn’t want to believe she would do it.

  She lowered her head briefly. If we Deamhan could cry she would have. Her hand quivered and she dropped the stake. “You don’t have to do anything that you don’t want to.”

  Addled by her stance, Anastasia tilted her head to the side. “Of course he does. He serves Kyra.”

  Maris looked over her shoulder. “He doesn’t have to do anything he doesn’t want to do!” She repeated her statement in a stern.

  “I’m not amused by your temper tantrum. You know this city was never safe for you, yet you came back here because he promised you revenge. Dorvo vamps are everywhere and we Deamhan are severely outnumbered. I’m sure you’ve smelled them. Take him with you and leave.”

  “We don’t need your advice. I know how unsafe this city is.”

  Then leave and take him with you. Run far away from this city. You’re too important to die in your silly attempt to kill me.” Anastasia’s eyes revert back to normal and her fangs sank back into her gums.

  “I know how important I am. No Deamhan has made me forget it.” She jabbed her finger at Anastasia’s chest. “Your actions never let me forget it and that’s one reason why I could never trust anything you have to say.”

  “But I’m telling you the truth.”

  “I know you.” Her eyes narrowed. “I know how you are. The reason you want me to run is because you don’t want to deal with what might happen if I don’t.”

  “Fine. Stay if you want, but I can’t guarantee that you will be protected.”

  “By you?” Her nose cringed in disgust.

  “You think you’re safer around him if you stay?” She pointed at me.

  “Yes, I would be safer around him.”

  “Then stay and test that belief.”

  “Desperate doesn’t look good on you sire.” She then looked to me. Her face revealed pain and anger, all wrapped and warped into one emotion. Her left fang rested on her bottom lip. I noticed speckles of blood on her chin and the collar of her shirt.

  I didn’t want to tell her that her sire made a valid point. Although I saw no end for me except for either killing Anastasia, or dying in the process, Maris had more options. If I wasn’t around to protect her, who would be?

  She sensed my doubts, and in response she grabbed me by my wrist and easily flung my body up into the air and back down. I rolled onto the ground with such force that I felt my left arm break into two. Stopping face first into the dirt I looked up, seeing her standing just a few feet from me. Even though she wasn’t as old as I was, her age still managed to seep from her like the smell of strong rot.

  I raised myself to my feet, feeling my body beginning to slowly heal. I saw her shoulders moved up and down, underneath her clothing, as she tittered in response.

  “When you came to me in San Francisco, you told me that you didn’t trust Kyra. You said that I was in danger and you would protect me. Would you sacrifice your li
fe for me?”

  I nodded. “Yes I would.”

  “Then break your bond with Kyra. Do that and put her and her wickedness behind us.”

  I waved my finger at her. “It’s not that easy.”

  “It is that easy, Ayden. If you would’ve told me the moment you saw me in the park, I would’ve left the city with you.”

  “You shouldn’t run every time there’s a threat.”

  Before I could do anything, Anastasia had moved upon me. She pushed me back onto the ground with her hand gripped tightly around my neck. I felt my throat constrict under the pressure. Her threat reminded me so much of older Deamhan and their abuse of power. In the past Maris and I both agreed that the older a Deamhan was, the more they used their age to get what they wanted.

  “If you stay, I will kill you.”

  This time Maris didn’t come to my rescue. I made eye contact with her, for what felt like forever, as I waited for her decision. Would she stand back and do nothing as Anastasia did away with me? It was obvious that I wasn’t in any position to fend off the attack. After everything we’d went through in the past together; watching her as she Hibernated, protecting her from dangers, killing her offspring who had joined with another Ancient Deamhan to kill her…there were far too many things that I had done for her safety. Now I felt that she’d thrown that all out the window if she didn’t lift a finger to stop her sire from killing me.

  A look of despair overcame my face. Knowing that Anastasia had won, my fate was sealed. I wouldn’t be able to obtain my revenge. The beast inside me wanted to rage, but I didn’t have enough strength to lash out. The only thing left was to convince Maris to leave the city with my dying breath.

  “I’m tired.” Maris lowered her head. “I’m tired and I’m pissed.”

  Anastasia released me and stepped back, allowing me a small window to jump to my feet. Now standing I let my body heal from her hellish attacks.

  The validity of her statement stopped me dead in my tracks. I still couldn’t bring myself to push my need for revenge aside. I wrapped her in my arms and kissed the top of her head.