Divination (Deamhan Chronicles Book 4) Page 5

  “Anzuna?” Frazzled, Remy pushed Lambert to explain.

  “This is why you need to get out more. You would’ve already known about this if you did.”

  Ahead, they heard a gasp. Remy used his Deamhan eyesight to break apart the darkness. If it really was Ruby and her Dorvo vampires, he would’ve at least picked up on her scent. When his eyesight focused, he made out the body of a woman, pale and completely drained of blood. Next to her was the body of a man in the same condition. Near the far back was another victim, sprawled out on the ground. His eyesight, now adapted to the darkness, saw that bodies littered the floor.

  He’d seen this before, back when he and Ruby roamed the streets of Paris. She sired new Dorvo vampires at an alarming rate, as many as a hundred a night with the intention of creating her own army to battle Deamhan.

  He lowered his body and tapped Lambert’s shoulder. “You should’ve called in the cavalry.” Near the back, he saw a figure standing in the corner. That’s when Ruby’s scent swam gently into his nostrils and it reminded him of the dark and twisted memories he had of his ‘precious jewel.’

  She stepped forward and out of the shadows, wearing only a red turtleneck shirt with dark stains and dirtied, white pants. Her hair was an absolute mess. For Remy, this wasn’t the woman he knew who reveled in beautiful, clean clothing and wouldn’t be caught dead wearing anything unworthy of notice. She gripped a sharp wooden stake in her right hand.

  “Let me do the talking,” he whispered. “Get your vampires to hold off, for now.” He cleared his throat and stepped forward. “Long time no see, my precious jewel.” He studied her appearance. “You don’t look so well.”

  She smiled at him but only briefly. “You look as beautiful as ever.”

  “I try. So… um… what’s with the bodies?”

  “My army.”

  He watched her as she paced back and forth while tapping the sharp edge of her stake in her palm. “You know it won’t work. That never works.”

  “What do you want, Remy?”

  “You know what I want.” He held out his hand to her. “Drop the stake and come with me.”

  “And leave my babies?” She referred to the bodies.

  “Darling, you don’t need them. You have me.”

  She turned against him. “Since when?”

  “You never lost me.”

  “I’m not an idiot. You haven’t been mine for well over a hundred years.” She snapped. “You saw to that. You made sure of it.”

  He dropped his hand. This wouldn’t be easy.

  “You left me and when I came to this wretched shit of a city, you tried to stay as far away from me as possible. You rejected me; you rejected what we had.” She pointed the stake at him. “I tried to make you remember what we had. I wanted to recreate that for you.”

  “You ripped out my eye and you tried to take over Lambert’s territory. Don’t blame me for your mistakes.” Remy studied her beautiful slim face, sharp cheekbones, dark features, and multicolored eyes. She was still beautiful, exotic, and he couldn’t help but stare. Just then, his craving for vampire returned and he swallowed hard. Concentrate. “Can I convince you to come with me?”

  “Not now. Not yet.”

  “You think your baby vamps will help you?”

  “No. But they’ll give me the time I need, my bourgeoisie.”

  Bourgeoisie. He hadn’t heard her call him that in a long time. “Time for what?”

  “You’ll see soon enough.”

  Remy studied one of the bodies of her newly turned victims on the floor. The woman moaned as she attempted to raise her head. “I thought you left the city after we kicked your ass at the sanctuary. So why come back here? Just to hide in this cave and sire humans?”

  “I can always make more but that’s not why I came back.” With her index finger, she rubbed the right side of her mouth. “I was told to come back.” She stopped pacing. “I was forced to come back.”

  She wasn’t making any sense. “Ruby, I’ve never known anyone who could force you to do what you don’t want to do.”

  “Don’t you think I know this?” She dabbed her finger into the blood of a nearby body of a male.

  “Who forced you?”

  “Don’t act like you care. I know you don’t. We share nothing, Remy. Not anymore.” She lifted her finger to her nose. “The feelings we had for each other have withered and rotted away, like you wanted it to.”

  Remy sighed. “We can talk later about those feelings, but not here.” He approached her. “Let’s go, darling.” He went to grab her arm and she aimed her stake at his chest. Lambert’s group snarled at her.

  “No! This place is perfect.”

  With the sharp point of the wood resting against his skin, Remy looked back over his shoulder at Lambert and his vampires, standing at the ready. He sighed, knowing that the conversation was going nowhere. Someone was bound to make the first move and it wouldn’t be pretty.

  “It reminds me of how you’ll never come back to me, how I will forever feel alone because of you.” She placed her hands on his face and leaned in close. “You know, I forgive you for what you did to me.” Instead of removing it, she inched the weapon further. “Remember when we traveled around Europe? I wanted to go as far east as China, but you said the humans tasted terrible. Remember the hot sex in the Deamhan sanctuaries you helped me destroy? Mmmm, sounds like a good time, doesn’t it?”

  “Ruby, the stake.”

  “Don’t you miss that, my bourgeoisie? Don’t you want that?” She cozied up to him.

  He closed his eyes and images of what he and Ruby had done in the past came back to him in droves. He missed those violent, carefree times. He did what he wanted, to whom he wanted, whenever he wanted. Although going back to that would be the easiest route to take, he considered himself a mature Deamhan and had moved past that point in his life.

  To him, it sounded enticing, but he wasn’t there to take a trip down memory lane. “That was before I realized that you wanted nothing more than to see my species wiped off the face of the planet. And that was before I realized you were a few cards short of a full deck.”

  She pushed him violently away. “You’re no fun anymore.” She dropped the stake. “I remember when you used to be.”

  He placed his hand over her cold cheek. “Please, come with me.” He stared into her beautiful, multicolored eyes.

  “No.” She stepped back.

  “Ruby, enough of this. Just come with—”

  “I said I won’t.”

  “I’m done listening to this,” Lambert spoke up. “You’re coming with us and you’re going to tell us where you hid the piece, whether you like it or not.”

  Her eyes moved to him. “That’s it, isn’t it? That’s why you came here. Of course, that’s the only thing you want from me!”

  “No.” Remy sensed her explosive anger at the surface and he tried his best to calm her. “I want you to be safe, as well.”

  “You’re lying.” She shook her head.

  “My precious jewel, if you don’t come with us, Anzuna will find you and kill you,” he begged her. “Please.”

  “As long as I have the piece of the tablet, no one will kill me.” She rocked her body from side to side. “Amenirdis needs me. You all need me.”

  “If you won’t shut her up, then I will.” Lambert approached and grabbed her by the arm.

  “Don’t touch me!” She pushed him and he went flying back.

  On his right, Remy heard a female scream, followed by a cool substance pepper his face. He wiped it and examined his hand. Blood. He saw one of Lambert’s vampires, a female, lying on the ground, still alive but with her throat slashed open. His craving for vampire returned and suddenly nothing happening around him remained important. He rushed to her side as she held her arm out to him.

  “Oh, sorry, love.” He pushed her arm away. “I’m not here to save you.” His eyes transformed and now filled with the darkness, and it was the last thing the vam
pire saw—a hungry, ravenous Deamhan. She tried to push him back, but her attempt did little. Remy closed his eyes, positioned his mouth over her own, and sucked. The nourishment from a vampire was something he’d craved since feeding from Alexis. Although nothing could compare to her delectable psychic energy, he became desperate enough that any vampire would do.

  Cold hands grabbed him by the shoulders and flung him off. His body flew through the air and he managed to position his feet before landing with a hard thud on the dirt floor.

  “What in the hell are you doing?” Feverish, Lambert stomped toward him.

  “What does it look like?” He pushed the vampire aside. “I was feeding until you rudely stopped me.” He headed straight for the female vampire, but again Lambert pushed him back. He snarled, showing his fangs, but they weren’t enough to scare Remy from his goal.

  He wanted the psychic energy from that vampire.

  “She’s dying anyway.”

  “I don’t care, Remy. She’s my kind and I won’t stand back and let you eat her. Snap out of it.” He rushed quickly and somehow managed to grab Ruby by her neck. “Where is the tablet piece?” He showed off his fangs.

  “Let me go!” She gagged.

  He lifted Ruby a few inches in the air and then slammed the vampire on her back.

  Remy enjoyed what he saw and crossed his arms. “I wouldn’t struggle against him. He’s stronger than you.” A wide smile appeared on his face. It had been a long time since Ruby got what was coming to her. This was the same woman who had tortured him at Dark Sepulcher, the same woman who had attempted to overthrow Lambert from his spot as the main vampire in the city. And in just one movement, Lambert had brought her down a peg.

  Lambert snarled at her. “I will rip you into pieces if you don’t calm down.”

  What seemed like a success suddenly took a turn for the worse.

  The bodies of Ruby’s victims stirred. It was hard not to notice and Remy glanced around the room. In no mood to kill the plethora of new baby Dorvo vampires, he urged Lambert to take her and head for the exit.

  He then felt someone collide into his back. The impact forced him to catch his footing as he tumbled into the cave wall. He spun around and came face to face with one of her Dorvo vampires who clawed at his face. He fought back, finding his attacker’s weak strength annoying.

  “You should stop.” He let his eyes turn dark and he did what came naturally. He opened his mouth and fed, satisfying his urge. It worked! The attacks weakened but he didn’t stop there. He sucked as hard and as quickly as he could until there was nothing left. He then pushed the man away before he crumbled into a pile of dust.

  Another one came at him. Remy studied his slim face, sharp cheekbones, and deep-set, brown eyes. He was beautiful, almost exotic. “I suggest you think this through before you end up like your friend.”

  “Tell your vampire to let her go before—”

  Remy punched through his sternum and ripped out his heart. “I don’t do well with demands.”

  Lambert yanked Ruby to the entrance of the cave.

  “Filthy vampire!” she screamed. “Let me go!”

  Distracted, Lambert didn’t see a female Dorvo vamp running in his direction. She tackled him and broke his hold over Ruby.

  Remy felt numerous hands on his shoulders and both arms. Before he had any chance to retaliate, he found himself surrounded by more of her new Dorvo vamps. They tore at him with their hands and teeth. Feeling his flesh being torn open, he covered his head with his arms and crouched. A hard steel boot met his stomach, sending him back on the floor. There, his attackers pummeled him. He heard Ruby’s voice through the sound of his rib bones cracking.

  “I see now. We can never go back to how things were, my bourgeoisie.”

  He managed to jump to his feet and handle his attackers one by one. He punched through the chests of two men and tossed the hearts at another baby Dorvo vampire on his left. “How many did you turn?” He grabbed the long, brown hair of another woman and slammed her to the floor before stomping his foot violently over her neck, snapping it. He managed to fight them off, but more came and replaced them.

  Ruby giggled. “The entire sorority.”

  Another woman joined the fray and launched herself at him.

  He moved to the side and managed to grab her by the neck. In a flick of his wrist, he pushed her to the ground. His attacker struggled against his grip.

  “Oh, you’re a beautiful one.” He admired her attractive features and short, black hair.

  Just then, he felt fangs embed in his back and upper arms. The pain forced him to let go. The woman got up and lowered her upper body in a dog-like stance. A strong hand gripped him by the shoulder and hurled him back. Before he knew it, he landed on the hard ground with the woman and a man standing over him. He kicked him in the face and Remy felt his teeth loosen in his mouth.

  “That one was a football player,” Ruby said.

  The woman punched him in the face and blood gushed from his now broken nose. The blow was strong enough to push his head back into the floor.

  “And I think that’s his girlfriend. Or his sister… I don’t remember.”

  The male went to kick him again and, still aware of what was going on, Remy caught him by the foot. “Watch the face.” He twisted and the man screamed in pain and fell to the ground.

  The woman punched him across his left cheek and then his right.

  “I could never separate a woman from her true love.”

  When his female attacker went in again, Remy moved his head slightly out of the way and wrapped his legs around her waist. “You’re stronger than you look.” He managed to get her on the ground and he rolled over to his side. Now on his level, he kicked her and she slid a few feet away from him. “We’ll continue this some other time.” He stood and Ruby was nowhere to be seen. “Darling, where did you run off to?”

  Chaos and fighting continued all around him. Lambert’s vampires slaughtered Ruby’s babies one by one. The herd thinned while the death toll climbed.

  Finally, he saw her running toward the cave entrance. “There you are!” He snapped his nose back into place and ran for her.

  Another sharp pain near his ankles caused him to trip over his own feet. He looked down to see another woman’s fangs deep in his skin. That soon followed by the stingy sensation of more fangs embedding in his back and his upper arms. He felt fists in his lower back and sides, including one catching him off guard and landing across his right cheek.

  “I suggest you all back the fuck off.” When that didn’t work, he turned to the closest Dorvo vampire to him— a male—and Remy placed his mouth over the vampire’s in a passionate kiss.

  He sucked as much of his psychic essence as he could and the man immediately pulled back. Remy had just enough psychic essence to use his new strength and violently throw them all of him. He went on the warpath, breaking necks, ripping out hearts, and tearing off limbs until the Dorvo vampires that remained were reluctant to attack.

  “Ruby!” He ran swiftly after her before she could reach the cave’s entrance. “Come here!” He grabbed her arm and violently yanked her back.

  She paused. “Like I said.” She smiled “You need me.” She rubbed her hand on the side of his face and kissed him on his right cheek.

  “Yes, I need you because you have the other piece of the tablet.”

  “If you kill the vampire, I’ll tell you where I’ve hidden it.” She kissed him on his left. “Will you do that for me?”

  “No.”

  A serious look appeared on her face.

  He bolted for the entrance, dragging her along the way. Thinking that he made a somewhat clean escape, another loud and terrifying scream broke through the air.

  He turned around and watched what remained of Lambert’s vampires and Ruby’s baby Dorvo vampires being ripped to shreds, one by one by an unforeseen force. Whomever or whatever it was used their speed to avoid their eyesight.

  “Fall back!�
� Lambert yelled, but it was too late. The bodies of his fallen comrades lay on the floor next to fresh body parts and piles of ash, blood, and bone.

  Now focused on getting the hell out of Dodge, Remy pushed Ruby into Lambert’s arms. “Go, I’ll catch up.”

  “Who is it?”

  “Go!”

  Lambert then pulled her toward the entrance.

  Suddenly, Remy felt his body fly back as if someone had pushed him. He landed on his feet and startled; he surveyed the now quieted cave. There was nothing, no movement. No one remained alive except for him.

  Weak. Weak. Weak. A voice pushed itself into his mind. It singed his brain. Bright spots affected his vision and his ears rang. He remembered the voice clearly when he first heard it back at Blind Bluff Manor. Anzuna’s voice was just as annoying and strong then.

  He felt searing pain. Her elongated nails embedded into his chest and lifted him off his feet. Her white, piercing eyes stared at him.

  Weak. Weak. Weak. Unexpectedly, she tossed him aside and his body smacked into the cave wall. He felt his spine snap in two. He landed face first and dirt caked his nostrils. Unable to move, he relied on his hearing while his body went to work on healing his spine. “Lambert, get her out of here!”

  In no time, the vampire disappeared from the cave with Ruby, leaving anyone left behind to suffer horrible fates.

  Screams reverberated in the air. There was nothing he could do as Anzuna made quick work of the remaining Dorvo vamps and Lambert’s own vampires in the cave.

  When the dust settled and his spine finally snapped back into place, Remy stood to his feet. His legs wobbled underneath him and he placed his hand on the wall for support.

  I like this game.

  The power he sensed from her was unlike anything he experienced before. She stood with her upper body slouched, in the middle of the cave, surrounded by what remained of her victims. He feared that he was next and his state of mind changed to fight or flight. Sure, running was the better option, but he wouldn’t get far, being chased by a Deamhan who moved faster than he ever could. If he stayed and fought, he wouldn’t last a second against her elongated and sharp fangs. Since Estrie Deamhan lived off the psychic energy within their victims’ blood, including vampires, humans, and Deamhan as well, she’d eat him and spit him out. He wasn’t eager to be someone’s snack for the night.