Slowly, he drew her to him, his body aching to feel her embrace. Their lips met in the perfect balance of tenderness and passion, drowning them both in a dizzying spell of need. As he deepened the kiss, Zane ran his hands over her hips, gripping Vega’s waist so that his thumbs rested above her hips bones.
Vega responded to his passion with a fierceness that surprised even her. Her hands tightened, nails pricking his skin through his shirt, and quiet little gasp echoed in the brief space between their kisses. She pressed her body tighter against him, not seeing anything beyond the man she loved.
“You. Hey! What are you two doing in here? Damn kids!” The gravelly voice boomed from the bottom of the incline, where a man in dirty overalls waved a rake in the air above his head.
As if they were children caught with their hands in the cookie jar, both Vega and Zane jumped, putting a foot of distance between them. Instantly, their hands locked together as they stared at the stranger, wondering if he was real or another specter.
“Get down here. You got no right to be messing around up there.” He lurched forward, climbing the hill with some distress. “Move it!”
Zane and Vega, realizing the man was just a man, hurried down to where he huffed and puffed. “We’re sorry. We didn’t damage anything, I promise.” Vega tried her best to look innocent, though she knew he’d seen them in their passion.
“Damn kids. Always coming ‘round here making trouble. Disrespectful to be behaving that way in a place meant for the dead. Got no morals, kids these days,” the man grumbled to himself. Then, as if seeing them clearly for the first time, he stared at them with an opened mouth gape.
“Look, we weren’t hurting anything. We just came here to look for something. We’re sorry if we upset you.” Confusing the look of shock on the grounds keeper’s face, Zane tried to make amends. “We’ll just be going now.”
“You?” The man blinked rapidly, bringing the fist not clenching the rake up to rub his eyes. “It can’t be, but it is,” he said it matter-of-factly, but with wide-eyed wonder.
“Excuse me,” Vega interjected, “but are you okay?”
“I can’t believe my eyes. You look just like them, but it can’t be. He said this day would come, but I thought it was the drink. Never believed it was real.”
“Like I said, we’ll be going now.” Zane pulled Vega behind him, his eyes never leaving the man’s bewildered face. “Come on, Vega. Let’s go. He’s crazy.”
She pulled back, hesitating. “Sir, are you okay?” she asked, her voice low and gentle.
He shook his head, his deep brown eyes clearing. “It’s a long story. Sorry if I startled you. These kids, they come here to make out and party. They damage the stones and paint graffiti on the tombs. If you want to know about that old tomb, I have a story to tell you about a girl, a boy, a priest, two statues, and the devil himself.”
Vega sat next to the window, her elbows on the rough surface of the wooden table. To say, Gerald the groundskeeper lived rough was an understatement. She turned her face away from the forest view and shot her elbow into Zane’s ribs to remind him that they shouldn’t have agreed to follow a total stranger to his crumbling cabin in the deep woods.
Zane gave her a lopsided grin and squeezed her thigh, sending a shiver of lust up her spine as a reminder of how badly she wanted to finish what they’d started outside the tomb. Yet, inside of her, she felt a dark cloud form. In the heated moment, she hadn’t considered what passion might have brought out in Zane. In the quiet of the little shack, as Gerald made coffee, she began to wonder if she had come close to waking the demon once again.
In order to distract herself from such worrisome thoughts, she studied their host. He was ancient by any standard. Wrinkles and creases folded his weathered skin. His clothes were stained and frayed, but his thinning gray hair was well groomed and his nails were trimmed. Though his large hands were twisted with arthritis and looked as rough as sandpaper, he handled the coffee cups with a sure gentleness. The single gold band that rested between swollen knuckles glinted in the light, and Vega wondered if his wife still lived.
Gerald turned and caught her staring at his hand. Looking down, he smiled wistfully. “My Ira has been gone for five years now. That’s when I moved out here on a permanent basis. That old house just wasn’t a home anymore once she’d gone. I could have lived in a dumpster as long as that woman was by my side, and you can bet your buttons that she would’ve made it homey. Without her, well, I’m just not the same man.”
“I’m very sorry. Death is such a sick and demanding thing. It’s a thief, taking everything and giving nothing in return.” Vega sighed, accepted the steaming mug, and ducked her head to hide the tears that brimmed in her eyes.
“That’s nonsense, girl. When you’ve seen too much of the wrong kind of death, it may seem that way, but it isn’t always a cruel thing. My Ira passed with the sweetest smile on her face. She was ready to be rid of the human shell that had begun to fail her. She knew she’d go on to be with the ones she’d lost and that I’d join her soon. I’m guessing you’ve just had it rough.”
Zane scoffed, “You have no idea.”
“I might know more than you think, boy.” Gerald raised one bushy eyebrow as he sat down across from them at the table.
Sensing the man did know more than he was letting on, Vega couldn’t contain her sharp tongue. “I don’t mean to be rude, but why are we here?” She took a sip of her coffee, enjoying the sweet cream and warmth despite the stuffy conditions inside the little cabin. “You said you wanted to tell us a story, but why?”
Gerald sipped his own drink, his expression returning to one of awe for a moment, before his forehead furrowed. “When I was a young man, there was a legend told about this place. I couldn’t have been five or six when they buried my grandfather, the last surviving person to have lived in the town that once surrounded the graveyard. He told me that legend, and now I will tell it to you.”
Vega shifted, leaning forward, desperately hoping that he wasn’t some lonely old man who had decided to talk about myths and history instead of calling the police. Her thirst for information, her desire to save Zane, would not tolerate being toyed with.
“Some say that during the war of independence, there was no fighting in this area. Those folks are wrong. My family lived here then, they’d come over on the very first boats and built themselves a little homestead with the rest. At least until the curse came and destroyed the town.”
“A curse on the town?” Zane leaned forward as well, intrigued by the idea that there was something about their situation that he did not already know.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Gerald grumbled. “The war came, inevitable as it was, and when the red coats marched, they brought death with them. A creature named Eurynome, had followed their blood lust from England to the colonies. He latched himself onto a band of rogue soldiers, driving their need to kill into a frenzy.
“They broke away from their general and spread their carnage across the state. The demon guided them until they had pillaged, raped, burned, and killed anything in their path. When they reached the fields outside of town, they were met with resistance. The people had gone out, some armed with guns and others with farming tools, to face their enemy.
“The battle was brutal, and many innocent people died. At the heart of the battle, a young man fought with fierce devotion. His aim was true and his strength was unmatched by any grown man on the field that day. They say it was because he fought for something greater than possessions, greed, or himself. They say it was because he fought for love.
“This young man had a girl, and she was the most beautiful among the women in their town. Her vibrancy and vitality has been described as watching the sunrise on the darkest night a man has ever known. The young man meant to protect his beautiful fiancé from the hands of marauders who would have done far worse than kill her. When he left her behind, he made her promise to hide or run, not to fight. He made her swear on t
heir love that she would not come after him, because he had known she would.”
Vega laid her head on Zane’s shoulder, and he pulled her closer, both saddened and honored by the beautiful story history had told about them.
“In the story, it is said that the girl broke her promise, unable to allow her true love to face certain death. She ran to the field to beg him to run away with her, but when she arrived, her worst fears came to life.
“Before her very eyes, her young man was cut down by the leader of the rogue red coats. The soldier drove the tip of his bayonet into the boy’s chest with such vengeance, they say the girl felt it inside herself, and her wails of anguish could be heard by every soul in the battle. As the boy fell, and his enemy prepared to finish the kill, the girl ran to him.
“Mad from her loss, she grabbed up a discarded rifle and fiercely stormed up behind the man who she’d watched murder the love of her life. She drove the blade through him, screaming in pure hatred as she did. The man died instantly, but the rage inside of her as she pulled her lover’s head into her lap could not be quelled so easily. She couldn’t bear to watch the final light go out of his eyes, and she picked up the blade once more.
“In a final, desperate moment, she wrenched the bayonet from the top of the rifle and drove it into her chest. Together, the lovers held each other, tears of sorrow dripping from their cheeks as the men and soldiers continued to battle. The cries of the wounded and dying became their requiem.”
Gerald paused, allowing Vega and Zane a moment of silence to recompose. It saddened his old heart to see the couple tormented by his story. Yet, their presence in his life lifted his soul.
“Death had brought the devil to the field that day, but the glimmer of love that still shined from the young couple is what brought hell down upon their souls and the town. Given the opportunity to save her true love, the girl made a deal with the demon. She promised him thirteen lives in return for salvation for her young man. The boy lived in purgatory, and the girl was destined to be reborn again and again until the curse could be broken. If she failed to meet the demon’s terms, then their souls would be forever his.
“Once the battle was over, the women, children, and the clergy came out into the field to care for the wounded and cart away their dead. Though the red coats had been defeated, most of their men had died in the fight. As he stumbled through the battlefield, sick and frightened, a young priest came upon the lover’s bodies. His heart broke at the sight of their sacrifice, and he felt a powerful force come over him.
“He called together his congregation, telling them that he had been privy to a vision from the very depths of Hell. He had seen the demon, not in its manlike disguise, but in its hellish true form. He had born witness to the evil that Eurynome had done by controlling the soldiers and orchestrating the fall of two innocents.
“The creature had ordered him to take the lovers’ bodies and burn them upon the hottest of pyres, or else the town would be cursed and fall to ruin. Sickness, war, and all matter of ill things would befall all those who descended from those who did not obey the order.
“Of course the townspeople believed in their priest, and they vowed to deny the devil his due. Instead of burning the two youngsters, they created a shrine for them in the form of two statues, and the priest snuck their bodies away. He left the town, and all that he knew, and became the lovers’ sworn protector. In their own way, the people and the priest had given the two their first chance of beating the devil.”
“What happened to the priest?”
“What happened to the town?”
Vega and Zane spoke in unison, her concern for others eking through as he stayed focused on their situation.
“The town dwindled and died. Just as the demon had warned, all those who lived or descended from those who had lived there perished. Small pox, battles, murder, influenza. The graveyard is filled with names and dates, their history lost to the world.
“The priest left the town. Some say he was killed on his way to hide the bodies, falling victim to the demon’s long reach. Others say he was never truly human, but a guardian angel sent to stop Eurynome. Some say he still visits this graveyard from time to time.”
“How are you still alive if you are a descendent?” Zane’s skepticism made his voice sharp.
Gerald smiled, but the gesture did not meet his haunted eyes. “I was a young man when I took over the job as caretaker of this cemetery. I did not believe in curses, demons, or ghosts. The stories I’d heard growing up were no more than childish tales to me. Then one day, that all changed, and that moment protected me from the fate all others have suffered.
“I had a problem with the drink, then. Whiskey was like water for me. I never went anywhere without a flask in my pocket. It was summer, the temperatures soared, and I kept drinking away as I worked to scrub red paint from the tomb. I was sure teenagers were responsible, and as I cursed them, my blood pressure rose. I spent hours scrubbing away the word scrawled on the wall.
“The next thing I knew, I was lying on my back and sweating like a pig. My head spun and pounded from the heat. The first thing I did was reach for that flask, though I was already three sheets to the wind. I could barely unscrew the top, but when I wrenched it free, I immediately brought the bottle to my lips.
“It was then that the man appeared. A priest, dressed in the robes they wore long ago. He pointed to me, and shook his head, and the bottle fell from my hand. He never spoke, but the words formed in my head anyway. He told me that the young lovers would return, and when they did, I would be their guide. Then he vanished.
“I put that flask in the tomb, a gift for the couple, a tribute of my determination to live up to what was asked of me. I haven’t drunk a drop since that day, but tonight, I think I might drink until the sun comes up.”
Vega laughed. “And why is that, Gerald?”
He looked at her with knowing eyes for a long moment, and said, “Because you are finally here.”
Stunned, Zane and Vega stared at the man with wide eyes. They had thought he was just a man, and his story, while enlightening on the history of that day, was just a story. The idea that he’d known who they were the entire time was as shocking as the idea that he might be the very person who could help them save Zane.
“You knew the whole time?” Vega stammered.
“I thought so, but it wasn’t until I saw the pain of a memory on your faces that I was positive.”
Zane leaned back, huffing out a breath of exasperation. “Then we’ve got some question for you.”
Gerald nodded and motioned for them to follow him. As they talked, they walked from the cabin back to the tomb, and Gerald gave them the final answers he had to give. “I’ve worked here all my life. Many people are scared of graveyards, but I find them peaceful. No one here to bug you, you get to spend a lot of time alone with your thoughts. There’s only been two times in my life that I’ve been scared. The first was the day the priest came, the other was years later.”
Vega turned to look at Gerald, noting the tears that sparkled in the man’s eyes, and her skin puckered as if she were suddenly cold. “Tell us about it?” she asked with a quiet voice.
“It must’ve been ten years after I had spoken with the priest. I came up here one night to watch out for vandals. It seemed to me, every year on the same night, they would come up and spray paint the tomb, your tomb. One word, in a foreign language. I was determined to stop their butts.”
“So there I was, propped up against that monument over there,” he gestured to a large statue of the virgin standing twenty feet away, “my gun loaded with buckshot. I must’ve dozed off, because the next thing I knew, I opened my eyes to see a young man by the tomb. I shook my head to clear my vision, but I wasn’t just seeing things.”
“What was he doing?”
“Shh.” Vega shushed Zane and looked back at Gerald to hear the rest.
“He didn’t look real. There was a light about him, an eerie sort of glow t
hat can’t ever mean anything good. He had long blonde hair, and he wore a long black coat. He had his back to me, but I could see him moving his hand up and down, as if he was tagging the outside wall.
“I jumped up and yelled at him. When he didn’t move, I raised my gun. I wasn’t going to shoot him, mind you, just pepper the ground by his feet and give him a good fright. Well, anyway, I lined up that barrel and looked through the scope, and he was gone. Simply vanished into thin air. I was too close, he couldn’t have run.
“Confused out of my cotton picking mind, I walked up here, and I took a look around. The door was closed. It hadn’t been touched. On the wall, he’d left a dripping red mess, the same gibberish it’d always been. I shook my head and decided to head back to get a bucket and some soapy water to scrub away the graffiti again.
“I didn’t get two steps before I heard his laughter. I spun, gun drawn, and my eyes fell on the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen—man or woman. Now, mind you, I don’t go around sayin’ men are purty. I ain’t one of those fellers, but this one, well he was. All but the mean glint in his eyes. Oh, how they burned.
“Anyway, I leveled that shotgun on him and I asked what the hell he was doing. He looked at me, and just as the priest had, he spoke into my head. He told me then that he was Eurynome the Greater Demon, and if I wanted to live to see another day, I’d not wash his blood from that tomb until sunrise.”
“Why?” Vega demanded. “What did it mean? What was the word?”
Gerald pushed his shoulder against the tomb door, the loud scream of the metal echoing in the silence. “I looked those words up, and the other one, after that night. I waited until the sun came up, and I wrote it down before I scrubbed it away. Seen it ever year for most of my life now, couldn’t forget if I wanted to. That inscription says, ‘Anonymous: The lived, loved, and died according to their own demons.’ The word that demon writes on the tomb, its Ronwe.”
Fated to Return (The Death Eater Series Book 3) Page 3
