Divination Read online

  Table of Contents

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  DIVINATION

  Deamhan Chronicles #4

  ISAIYAN MORRISON

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or person, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means without prior permission from the author.

  Divination

  Deamhan Chronicles #4

  Copyright © 2017 Isaiyan Morrison All rights reserved.

  ISBN-13: 978-1975785543

  ISBN-10: 1975785541

  Cover Design by: Masoumeh Tavakoli Digital Dreams

  DEDICATION

  Special thanks to my Street Team members.

  To my husband, Al, who makes sure I reach my writing goal before getting on my Xbox One and PS4.

  To readers and fans. Thank you for taking a chance and allowing me to share my Deamhan world with you.

  DEAMHAN

  Deamhan Chronicles. Book One

  KEI. FAMILY MATTERS

  Deamhan Chronicles 1.5

  DARK CURSE

  Deamhan Chronicles. Book Two

  MARIS

  The Brotherhood Files

  AYDEN. DEAMHAN MINION

  Deamhan Chronicles 2.5

  HALLIE. A TIT FOR A TAT

  Deamhan Chronicles 3.5

  DECEPTION

  Deamhan Chronicles. Book Three

  OLD FARMER’S ROAD

  COMING SOON

  REMY

  The Brotherhood Files

  Come back. Even as a shadow, even as a dream.

  -Euripides

  PROLOGUE

  RUBY

  Her pursuers pinned her between the two buildings and with her back against the brick wall, Ruby slid further into the corner to avoid their beastly eyes.

  She felt that she could sink further into the cold concrete and disappear within its cracks if she willed it. Everything moved too fast and she needed a moment to come up with an escape plan, but they’d have none of it.

  This wasn’t the first time she found herself cornered with no escape.

  When word spread that she had taken one piece of the Dark Curse tablet from the researcher, suddenly she found herself being hunted. Deamhan’s network rivaled any other in the supernatural world. After two years, these supernaturals never grew tired and they never hesitated.

  This particular group of Deamhan chased her for hours, days, and weeks through the suburbs of Madison, and then Milwaukee with the chance of capturing the most wanted Dorvo vampire in the Deamhan world.

  There wasn’t anyone she could turn to, no one who’d risk their lives to save her. The werewolves and any other supernatural creatures she came across in the past two years, many who despised and loathed Deamhan, shut their door in her face. “You made your bed, now lie in it” became their motto. Gone were the days of these creatures cowering at her status, fearing Dorvo vampires. She failed everyone. She failed herself.

  What would my sire think of me now? Poor Ruby! Poor, dreadful Ruby! Stuck in a rut with no place to go.

  And the regular, run of the mill vampires? They cheered on her downfall. They celebrated! This only made her angrier. They’d forgotten that Deamhan were their enemies. Now that title belonged to her.

  “Hand it over.”

  Her multicolored eyes watched their every move. The piece of the Dark Curse tablet didn’t belong to them. She would never hand it over.

  “You’re beneath me,” she hissed at her two attackers. “I’ll never give it to you.”

  “Give it to us or we’ll make you give it to us.” One of them, a Ramanga, approached her. His fangs glistened in the darkness.

  “You inexperienced dizzards.” Her insult flew right over their heads, just as she expected. From their pungent odors, she figured that they were between three and seven, in Deamhan years. They were new to the world and like most Deamhan at that age, they had the desire to prove themselves. What better way to do so by killing the leader of the now defunct Dorvo vampire clan. “You know nothing about what will happen next.”

  The taller one, a Metusba Deamhan, punched his balled fist into the palm of his hand.

  “Pugilists,” she sneered. “That’s all you Deamhan are. That’s all you’ve ever been. You think you scare me? I’ve faced far worse than you.”

  The Metusba laughed. “I doubt that.” He pointed to his accomplice. “You see my man over there, he took down two Dorvo dudes last week on his own and I raided a house full of them about a month ago.”

  “They begged me to let them go,” the Ramanga finished the story. “You should’ve seen them.”

  “Oh! Don’t forget about that researcher you ate too, James. He was a handful.”

  “But his blood tasted so damn good,” James laughed along with his friend.

  With no way to escape and nowhere to go, she prepared to make her last stand. If they somehow managed to overpower her, they wouldn’t kill her outright. Torture was the name of this game.

  But suddenly, all of that changed when the two Deamhan went on high alert. They weren’t alone. A scent Ruby had never smelled before crept into the alley.

  A stranger appeared, her face hidden behind a gray mask with a solemn expression. Her body language looked non-threatening and her long, brown hair rested on her shoulders. Barefoot, the individual made her way toward them and Ruby’s attackers didn’t approve.

  “Who are you?” James asked and received no response. “This is our catch. We got to her first! Get out of here.”

  As the stranger closed the distance between them, the Metusba stood in her way. “You heard my man. Get out of here.”

  But Ruby knew who this person was. Who didn’t? Her name spread like wildfire among the lips of many supernaturals she came across in these last two years. “Don’t let the Defiler catch you…”

  The woman ignored the Deamhan and instead, she reached her hand out to Ruby. “My dear, you’re a hard woman to find.”

  “Who are you?” Ruby took another sniff and smelled nothing.

  “She’s ours!” James grabbed the stranger by her collar and revealed his fangs, sinking into her right shoulder.

  Ruby struggled to her feet and watched. James would kill the woman if he didn’t stop, but what did it matter to her? This gave her a small window to make a dashing escape.

  James pulled back and immediately hunched forward. “Dude, I don’t feel so good.” He dropped to his knees and spat the blood onto the pavement.

  Unaffected, the woman then turned her attention to the Metusba. “I do like it when they underestimate their prey.”

  “As do I.” Ruby had never witnessed anything like it. James began to hyperventilate and his body shook.

  Panicked, his friend stepped away from the mysterious woman. “What did you do to him?” James made a move
that even stunned Ruby. In a quick speed, he jumped up, placed his right hand on his friend’s shoulder, and punched through his chest, obliterating his heart.

  The Deamhan’s skin shrank over his bones and mummified. His eyes dropped deeper into his skull until they disappeared altogether, leaving nothing but empty, dark holes. His body collapsed into a pool of blood, bone, and dust.

  “I know who you are,” Ruby said.

  The woman held out her hand again to her and Ruby hesitated. “Don’t worry. I have no intention of harming you.”

  Ruby adjusted her soiled clothing and straightened her knotted hair. “What do you want?”

  “You know what I want.” She flicked his wrist at James who ran to her side.

  “It’s mine.” She had no intention of handing over the one thing that could end the Deamhan species. She craved their demise since a Deamhan killed her sire centuries ago. No one would take that desire from her.

  “It doesn’t belong to you,” the woman replied.

  “Oh? Is that right? Then who does it belong to. You?” Through the eye slits in the stranger’s mask, Ruby saw her bright and colorful green eyes. “You’re The Defiler. I’ve heard about you. You’ve made a mess of plenty of Deamhan these past two years. If you wanted to impress me, all you had to do was kill the Deamhan in Minneapolis.”

  “I’m not here to impress you.”

  Ruby felt her body jump just as a swift and unseen force pushed itself into her mind. Images she’d never seen before appeared to her subconsciously, ones that answered every question and solved every problem she had. The green-eyed woman wasn’t there to take what Ruby believed to be hers.

  “You’ll go back to that city. That’s where I need you. That’s where she needs you.”

  “No. You won’t force me!” Ruby fought back against the mental attack. “I’m a Dorvo vampire. You’re nothing to me.”

  “You will.” As the Defiler spoke, Ruby felt her body and mind relax. The woman’s suggestions replaced her desire to be as far away from the city as possible. She fought against the pain she felt in her eyes and her ears.

  When it passed, she grasped her head in pain. The thoughts and the memories entering her mind against her will had suddenly disappeared. She remembered nothing. “How? What… who are you?”

  “A concerned citizen,” the woman placed her hand over James’ chest, “who wants to see this world burn.” She ripped through his chest bone and slowly pulled out his dark heart. “She has great plans for you.” She crushed the heart in her grasp as James’ body deteriorated in front of them. “She has plans for all of us.”

  CHAPTER ONE

  ANASTASIA

  The smell of wet garbage and old oil floated on the breeze off the sea’s shore. Anastasia stood alert and eyed the huge cargo ship docked at the pier. Its red-rusted hull contrasted against the moon’s pale glow. The clear, star-dotted sky accompanied the sounds of dock workers and machines working in an even tempo.

  Her offspring, Maris, stood to her right, eying the spectacle without saying so much as a word. Sia, her new confidante, stood to her left. Both women remained silent but Maris fidgeted and looked for any signs of Ayden aboard the ship. Anastasia sensed her offspring’s concerns and she wanted to comfort them, but she knew that Maris wouldn’t take any comfort nor would she want anything from her.

  They’d waited in their shitty hideout for a week. It was a large condemned building with boarded windows and rat colonies that even they found annoying and troublesome. In that time, Maris avoided any conversation with her. Instead, she found comfort in Sia through midnight private conversations while she waited in silence for any word of her beloved Ayden. Every night she asked Sia, who would disappear, only to return before sunrise with no news to report. Sometimes, Maris wanted to leave their hideout, seeking to escape the darkness and mild odors and of course, Anastasia’s presence, but Sia told her that she was too important to step outside those doors.

  This disturbed Anastasia greatly. After all, Sia was an Adze—a Deamhan thought to be extinct and for a good reason. Like all Adze, she moved within the shadows, using them to travel great distances, track her prey, and kill her enemies. These were useful traits, yet also dangerous for any other Deamhan.

  Once Sia received word of the ship’s arrival, she used her unusual shadow-traveling skills to get them from Chicago to the New York City docks in a moment’s notice. There they waited out of sight from humans. Sia kept her head low in an attempt to hide her intimidating appearance. Before leaving, she sewed her eyes shut like she did every night. Anastasia couldn’t understand why and how a Deamhan could purposely put themselves through so much pain. Sometimes, Sia whimpered and other times she growled, forcing herself to swallow her physical suffering. With a large thick needle, she interwove the thread, and near the end, she jerked. Blood trails traveled down her cheeks and left dark stains.

  They watched the humans descend down the metal stairs from the large cargo ship and to the pier. Many of them were older men, clueless to what traveled with them on their voyage to New York. The dock workers turned to their machines to move the metal crates. Maris pulled down the hood from her sweater and her short, dark hair, which she’d cut the previous night, lifted in the breeze.

  “I don’t see him. Do you see him?”

  Anastasia concentrated her sight. When that didn’t work, she used her keen sense of smell. Unable to pick up Ayden’s scent, she shook her head. “No. Are you sure that he’s arriving tonight?”

  “Yes. He’ll be here. He has to be.” It was the first time Maris had spoken and replied to her in weeks. She tucked her hair behind her ear, revealing the scar on her left cheek. Anastasia couldn’t help but stare and, when Maris noticed, she moved forward.

  Two years ago, Ayden traveled to the Old World to look for a Kashshapu. The trip was meant to be short but he sent word that the search would take longer than expected. Since no one knew exactly what the Dark Mother, Amenirdis, planned next, it made sense to Sia and Maris to search for humans who practiced the same dark magic responsible for the creation of their species—Deamhan. According to lore, they no longer existed. Wiped out centuries ago, these humans were the only individuals who could harness the dark energy. To Anastasia, it felt idiotic to think they could’ve survived after all this time without being seen or heard from. However, Sia remained adamant that they existed and Anastasia believed the Adze Deamhan embedded these fraudulent thoughts inside Maris’ fragile and young mind. For her, things felt simpler if they could come up with a solid plan that didn’t involve Kashshapu.

  In the meantime, the Dark Mother disappeared into thin air. No one had heard or seen her since then. Many Deamhan thought that the worst was over. There would be Revelation—the ritual that would release the Pure Deamhan from Limbo. This also meant that Maris no longer had to worry since her blood was the key to the entire fiasco.

  However, another face in the dark took the Dark Mother’s place. Rumors spread about a woman who killed Deamhan with dark magic. She was first spotted near the Texas and Mexico border. Afterwards, they heard of another slaying in Nebraska and then Utah. At first, they perceived the rumors to be just that, until Ayden sent word that this woman did exist and she had Deamhan from all over the world scrambling in fear. This woman was strong enough to stand up against Deamhan and no one knew her identity, but they knew her MO.

  Any Deamhan she came across, she slaughtered without hesitation. She defiled their bodies and propped them up as a warning for others in the area. Hence, they called her the Defiler. To Anastasia, that was a silly name.

  Sia pulled down her shawl. “He’s here. I’ve got his scent.”

  Anastasia sniffed the air. “I don’t smell him.”

  “Believe me. He’s here.”

  Soon, Anastasia saw Ayden standing on the top step next to an unknown female dressed in a black leather jacket, black shirt, and dark jeans. As the wind picked up, it carried the stranger’s aroma and Anastasia tried her hardest t
o decipher it, but failed. Ayden cut his dirty-blond hair short and he looked tired as if he hadn’t eaten in days. He wore a slightly discolored shirt and stained jeans.

  He descended the metal steps with the female following him and they reached the pier. He trotted toward them and, with his eyes, dissected Anastasia.

  “Ayden!” Maris ran into his arms.

  He looked her over. “Are you okay?” he asked in an uneasy voice.

  “Yes, I’m fine.”

  His soft eyes glanced at Anastasia. “Why is she here? I thought you said you wanted nothing to do with her?”

  Maris pulled back. “Things are different now. We need all the help we can get.”

  “We don’t need her, now that we have her.” He thumbed at their human guest who didn’t bother to make eye contact. Instead, the guest, who looked no older than eighteen to Anastasia, viewed the pier and the immediate area with wonder in her eyes.

  No matter the excuse, Anastasia knew that Ayden would never accept her or stand by her. Their tangled and dark history extended decades back. She was responsible for the death of his sire and that wasn’t something he’d forgive so easily. In fact, he wasn’t looking for forgiveness. He wanted revenge.

  “And who is this human that you so desperately need?” Anastasia asked rudely.

  “She’s our protection,” Sia answered. “Thank you for coming.” She held out her hand to the female. “I know this must be… difficult and weird for you.”

  The teenage girl tilted her head to the side and with her bright, green eyes, she gazed at the thread sewn in Sia’s eyelids. “Yeah… uh, it’s not what I was expecting.”

  “I’m Sia.”

  “I know.” She nodded. “And that’s Maris,” she pointed to Maris. “And of course, I met Ayden already.” She stood in thought. “You… I think I’ve heard about you.”