"Imperial Div" by Viktor Dashkevich (Flammer), summary

This book is the third installment in an urban fantasy series, published in 2024. It introduces readers to an alternate Russian Empire, where sorcerers and magical creatures summoned from the Wasteland — divas — exist alongside ordinary citizens. This gripping detective story depicts the harsh daily life of a St. Petersburg detective through the lens of the interplay between man and magic.

A trip to Omsk and the disappearance of a student

The sorcerer Hermes Averin and his div Kuzya arrive in Omsk. The div lugs five heavy suitcases, constantly dropping them on the floor. The Siberian capital greets the heroes with severe frosts. At the palace, Emperor Alexander V personally presents Averin with the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called. The monarch signs an official document, which grants Kuzya full familiar status in the Averin family. During a private audience, Alexander V treats his guest to cherry liqueur. The ruler discusses the need to relax laws regarding magical creatures. Man’s unlimited power over a powerless creature corrupts the soul. On the plane, Averin gives Kuzya a book on div anatomy to read.

At an Omsk hotel, Irina, a maid, asks the detective for help. Irina’s daughter, a student named Svetlana, has disappeared. She went to the train station in St. Petersburg and hasn’t been in touch since. Averin takes up the search. Returning home, he inspects the abandoned stolen car with police officer Viktor Smirnov. Soon, forensic expert Albert Kaminsky shows the detective a gruesome discovery.

An icebreaker discovered the decapitated body of a diva in the ice of the Gulf of Finland. The flesh was riddled with silver bullets. The wounds had long since healed. The creature had been systematically tortured. A trail of evidence leads detectives to a closed country club. The establishment is located on an isolated island in the Björkö archipelago.

Torture Island and Arina’s Betrayal

The club is owned by Averin’s old acquaintance, Prince Andrei Rozhdestvensky. Under the guise of an elite resort, wealthy aristocrats torture divas for sadistic pleasure. Club guests walk the creatures on leashes. The criminals use kidnapped female students as food. Human flesh helps the illegally summoned creatures acquire new identities. Kuzya tracks down the hovercraft of the kidnapper, Alexei Teterin. The diva kills the guard and frees Svetlana and the other captives. Averin hides the rescued girls in the lighthouse keeper’s house.

Averin infiltrates the club under the false identity of "Master Snake." To conceal his identity, he takes Kuzya with him, disguised as a wild jaguar, and borrows the diva Anastasia from a boy named Alyosha. Horrible things are happening inside the establishment. Guests throw silver darts at dancing girls. Averin spots the state diva Vladimir in the crowd. He’s working undercover with a young investigator, Sergei Monchinsky. Vladimir is posing as a captured Nazi for the amusement of the crowd.

The detectives join forces. The motives behind the dead body’s appearance in the bay become clear. Rozhdestvensky was betrayed by his own diva, Arina. Tired of years of sophisticated torture, she taught several creatures to imprint their dying memories in their physical form. The decapitated body was deliberately planted in the area where Rozhdestvensky’s icebreakers were operating. Arina wanted to bring justice to her master’s atrocities.

A bloody battle begins. Anastasia engages in a fierce duel with Arina. Anastasia fatally wounds her rival with her sharp claws. Arina asks the police diva to consume her flesh along with the incriminating evidence he has amassed. Vladimir consumes Arina. The police land on the island. Viktor Smirnov takes aim at Rozhdestvensky and places steel handcuffs on the prince. Law enforcement officers rescue the surviving prisoners.

Vladimir’s Secret and the Lost Sword

The heroes host a celebratory dinner at Averin’s house. Monchinsky is surprised by Vladimir’s Nazi German officer’s uniform. Vladimir reveals details of his past. During the war, Arkady Averin, Hermes’s father, implanted a secret invisible collar directly into the diva’s spine. Vladimir was infiltrated into the German leadership’s inner circle. He approached secretary Martin Bormann and absorbed him. Vladimir killed Adolf Hitler and his personal demon. The deaths of the leaders ended the war.

Emperor Alexander V urgently arrives in St. Petersburg. The monarch secretly summons Averin to a deserted restaurant. The Emperor tasks the detective with finding the legendary Japanese sword of Oda Nobunaga. Many years ago, this blade was used to summon a powerful Demon of the Sixth Heaven. Averin and Kuzya investigate a cargo plane and the garage of the Winter Palace. The car was traveling along the highway at eighty kilometers per hour. The kidnapper staged the appearance of a moose on the road. Kuzya finds a piece of window putty under the underbody of the armored car. Averin realizes the Japanese rock garden was an illusion. The criminal constantly eluded the guards’ attention.

Treason

The trail leads to Averin’s uncle, Count Vasily Metelsky. Averin goes to his relative for an explanation. Metelsky confesses to stealing the relic. The old man wanted to send his grandson to study in Prague, but the monarch forbade him from traveling abroad. The count decided to blackmail the ruler with the stolen blade. The old man reveals a terrible state secret to his nephew. The real emperor is long dead. The throne has been occupied for many decades by the Imperial Div — the very same Demon of the Sixth Heaven. The creature brutally destroyed the Vector research base along with all its employees. The Div killed Averin’s parents to keep the secret of his substitution.

Anonymous, the Averyins’ old familiar, saved Arkady Averyin’s dying memory. The Imperial Div learned of the information leak. The monster decides to destroy Anonymous. The creature attacks the estate of Averyin’s brother, Vasil. Anonymous protects the children and leads the monster into the forest. Kuzya and Anastasia come to the rescue. The Imperial Div suddenly retreats.

The reason for the unexpected retreat is revealed. The Imperial Diva has taken Averin’s nephew, little Alyosha, hostage. The monster demands that Anastasia kill Count Metelsky and return the Japanese sword. Anastasia breaks into Metelsky’s house. The Diva is forced to attack Averin to save the child. Metelsky casts the Northern Lights spell, which burns away magic like acid. Averin uses the combat Whip. The sorcerer opens a spatial vortex and sends Anastasia away. Vladimir arrives and takes his exhausted uncle into custody. Averin takes the sword and travels to the Winter Palace.

Battle of the Winter Palace

The final battle takes place in the palace chambers. The Emperor paralyzes Averin with a powerful magical blow, slamming him into the wall. The monarch takes the sword. The Imperial Diva assumes her true demonic form — the multi-armed Mara with three flaming eyes. The monster prepares to devour the detective’s mind.

Kuzya suddenly grows to a gigantic size. The cat rushes at the enemy, shouting, "Down with autocracy!" Averin notices his sorcerer’s star fused into the diva’s chest. The detective immediately activates the artifact.

A powerful spatial rift sucks the Imperial Diva back into the icy Wasteland. Kuzya falls into the vortex along with the demon. Averin falls into a deep depression. The lonely sorcerer sits by the wall of the family crypt, mourning the loss of his friend.

In the cold, lifeless Wasteland, Kuzya and the Emperor’s Div find themselves trapped in a massive glacier. Kuzya breaks through the ice with his claws. The cat breaks free from its icy confinement. A hostile demon mocks the deposed emperor. Kuzya drives the intruder away. The cat proposes to the former emperor that they join forces magically. The Divs discuss ways to break through the barrier between worlds and return to humanity.