The Psalm ended and Thomas cautiously approached the head of the bed. With one last look back at Vega, he dipped his fingers in holy water and allowed the drops to fall onto Zane’s forehead. Crying out, “God, whose nature is ever merciful and forgiving, accept our prayer that this servant of yours, bound by the fetters of sin, may be pardoned by your loving kindness.
“Holy Lord, almighty Father, everlasting God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who once and for all consigned that fallen and apostate tyrant to the flames of hell, who sent your only begotten Son into the world to crush that roaring lion; hasten to our call for help and snatch from ruination and from the clutches of the noonday devil this human being made in your image and likeness. Strike terror, Lord, into the beast now laying waste your vineyard. Fill your servants with courage to fight manfully against that reprobate dragon, lest he despise those who put their trust in you, and say with Pharaoh of old: ‘I know not God, nor will I set Israel free.’ Let your mighty hand cast him out of your servant, Zane, so he may no longer hold captive this person whom it pleased you to make in your image, and to redeem through your Son; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever.”
Vega’s whispered, “Amen,” went unheard as Zane roared to life, his scream a duplicity of devil and man.
Thomas did not step away, nor did he flinch in the face of the devil. “I command you, unclean spirit, the demon known as Ronwe, along with all your minions now attacking this servant of God, by the mysteries of the incarnation, passion, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, by the descent of the Holy Spirit, by the coming of our Lord for judgment, that you tell the day and hour of your departure. I command you, moreover, to obey me to the letter, I, who am a minister of God despite my unworthiness; nor shall you be emboldened to harm in any way this creature of God, or the bystanders, or any of their possessions.”
Zane’s eyes flashed wildly around the room, finding purchase when they stopped on Vega’s shocked face. “You murderous, traitorous bitch,” he growled. “You did this to me. You made me what I am. You, who sold my soul to the devil for the price of your own worthless life. You are the cause of my suffering.”
Vega felt the tears roll down her cheeks before she’d ever realized that she’d begun to cry. All her fears were summed up in those terrible, truthful words. Her own greed had condemned them to die, had destined them to live the hellish existence of so many lifetimes, and she had never atoned for that sin.
“Zane, please—”
“No, Vega. Do not speak to it. That is not Zane, it is Ronwe, and the demon lies.”
Thomas didn’t turn away from his mission, but she could feel the heat and fervor in his words. Her lips sealed shut, and her heart broke a bit more.
Thomas thrust his arm forward, and his palm pressed against Zane’s forehead as the demon bucked and cursed. Strings of obscenities and threats filled the room between deafening roars. Sweat poured from his body and the veins in his neck pulsed as he fought against the exorcism.
Still, Thomas did not back down. “They shall lay their hands upon the sick, and all will be well with them. May Jesus, Son of Mary, Lord and Savior of the world, through the merits and intercession of His holy apostles Peter and Paul and all His saints, show you favor and mercy.”
Zane lurched, his body contorting against the restraints as they dug into the fragile flesh. “You son of a whore. I shall be here on Earth while you are still ashes in the wind and worm rot in the grave. I shall always be. I am Ronwe, the eater of death, the destroyer of life.”
Vega could barely focus, her teeth chattered in the cold, making her vigilant “Amen’s” stuttered. She felt weakness in her knees, and her mind seemed to haze. Suddenly, all she wanted to do was rest. Just for a little while. The urge to curl into the fetal position and ignore all the bad things pulled at the corners of her mind.
She felt her eyelids grow heavy, and her body sway. Chills prickled her skin and her body ached under the pressure of the bitter air. Thomas’s murmured words had faded from shouts to a soothing hum. Through faded and blurring vision, she watched him move in slow languid movements. She wanted a blanket, something soft and warm.
As if her wish had been granted, she could almost feel it being wrapped around her. The protection from the cold felt so comforting, she could hardly stand not lying down right there on the floor. Only a single, nagging thought kept her upright. An idea that there was something very important going on around her, something she needed to do. It danced lightly across her thoughts, like a nymph in its agility, impossible to catch.
She felt herself sway again, and leaned forward on the rail, fighting for balance. The room was gone, only darkness surrounded her. There, in the midnight depths, she was safe from the thing she could not remember. She didn’t have to feel the cold, or the fear that the thing brought with it.
The lulling murmur of Thomas voice became a fading cadence, and in the distance, she saw the movement of shadow on shadow. She watched, fearless, as the thing in the dark edged closer. Its movements were stealthy and swift, as if it were part of the darkness, rather than hiding in its cover.
“Say my name, Vega, and I shall lead you into the light,” a hauntingly beautiful voice coaxed.
“I do not know your name.” She felt the genuine confusion ricochet through her, shaking her senses.
“Yes you do,” the shadow coaxed. “You’ve known me for many lifetimes.”
Vega stepped forward, the familiarity in the tone tickling her mind. She didn’t want to go back to the world, back to the pain of…the thing that she didn’t want to face. There was something there that meant sadness, hate, and heartache for her. In the ebony abyss, there was only the voice and the feeling of safety.
“I have been with you for so long. Say my name, Vega.”
She saw him then, the beautiful blonde man. His face like an angel’s, though his eyes held a certain cruelty. She remembered good things about the familiar stranger. The feel of his arms holding her as a child after her parents had died. She’d loved him, she’d wanted him, and she’d shared secret passionate moments with him over decades and decades. Always, he had been there, the owner of that voice. He’d always known her, and though tragedy had forsaken her time and time again, he’d been there.
“I do know your name,” she whispered, her voice sounding very far away to her own ears.
“Yes. That you do, my girl. Now, call me back to you. Say my name and summon me to return.” The voice became urgent, and the man’s face twisted with his passionate plea. Something beneath the skin shifted, and an odd glint flashed in the bright orbs of his eyes.
A memory crept into Vega’s thoughts. The sense of peace slowly peeled away like a dead layer of skin, revealing the monster for what he truly was.
“Euro—” Vega halted, realizing her mistake seconds before she’d committed it. “You, you bastard! Go back to Hell where you belong.”
The scream from inside of her head met with the real wails of anger that filled the room around her.
Zane had broken free of one of his restraints and he had gripped a terrified Thomas by the shirtfront. The two grappled as the exorcist fought to say the passages and while in the grips of the demon.
“Zane! No!” Vega screamed, before she could stop herself.
His head snapped around, the swiftness of the movement eerie and inhuman. “Back so soon from your little nap?” he hissed through clenched teeth.
“Zane, baby, please. I know you’re in there. I know you can hear me. Let us help you.” Her tears poured down her cheeks. Her sobs warbled as the fear and frigid temperature made her body violently shiver. Yet, Vega met the demon’s eyes, undeterred by the hellish hate that boiled within them.
Thomas pried at Zane’s fingers, trying desperately to free himself as the demon studied Vega, its head twisting and cocking from side to side. The pause gave the man time enough to pull the ancient cross from around his neck, and w
ith all his strength, he shoved it against Zane’s face.
“I cast you out, unclean spirit, along with every Satanic power of the enemy, every spectre from hell, and all your fell companions; in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Be gone and stay far from this creature of God. For it is He who commands you, He who flung you headlong from the heights of heaven into the depths of hell. It is He who commands you, He who once stilled the sea and the wind and the storm.”
Zane roared at the words, clawing at Thomas’s throat with heated fury, as the cross burned into his cheek. The flesh bubbled and melted there, as if the fires of Hell had been unleashed.
Vega, unsure of her place in the ritual after having blacked out for so long, did the only thing she could. Making the sign of the cross, she recited the Lord’s Prayer over and over, refusing to let the doubt come again and whisk her away to where Eurynome awaited. He’d try again to return, only needing to be summoned by the mention of his name.
Thomas’s voice rose higher, frantic and loud over the demon’s curses and Vega’s whispered prayers. “Hearken, therefore, and tremble in fear, Ronwe, you enemy of the faith, you foe of the human race, you begetter of death, you robber of life. Be gone, then, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Give place to the Holy Spirit by this sign of the holy cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever.”
Zane was thrown backward on the bed, his hips rising off the metal frame until he bent nearly double at the waist. As he thrashed, Thomas stood over him, making the sign of the cross. Inside, Vega could feel his pain. It started at the base of her ring finger, where the simple band of silver lay against her skin, and moved up her arm. Agony like none other she’d ever known scorched her nerve endings.
She fell to her knees, her lips still moving in a silent prayer, and struggled to yank the ring away. It had saved her once, but in that room, it had become the source of her torment. In one swift movement, she pried it over her knuckle and threw it. As if in slow motion, it spun through the air, the metal glinting in the low light as it torpedoed toward Zane.
As if he’d felt her movements, his face turned toward her with blackened eyes and sharpened teeth. Dark lines swelled up beneath his skin, tracing patterns across his cheekbones.
“Vega!” the demon screamed as the ring hit his chest.
A silent explosion sent a wave of power through the room, accompanied by a blinding flash of light. Vega felt her body soar backward, hitting the wall hard enough to cause dust from the ancient cinder blocks to fall around her. Her arm shot through an old glass table, breaking the top and slicing into her flesh. Her head throbbed, and her body screeched with pain. She shook her head, clearing her vision, and nearly retched as her eyes fell on the bone peeking out of her shin. She bit down on her lip, trying not to let go of consciousness, as the agony raced through her nerves.
Thomas groaned from somewhere across the room, and Vega looked up to see where he’d landed. She searched the dim corners of the room for him, her eyes passing over the large shelf that had fallen to block the door. Her mind wanted to panic, but she forced herself to stay calm. At last, she saw him, unconscious and unmoving, his groans of pain the only sign of life.
Swallowing her terror, she let her gaze track back to the bed, and the fear stuck in her throat. Zane lay prone on the metal frame his chest rising and falling in slow even breaths. He had ceased his struggles, but his face remained lined by the darkened veins.
Vega breathed deep, attempting to focus through the torment of her wounds. In a hissed whisper she called out to Thomas, but he didn’t stir. She shifted, muffled a scream behind her hand, and scooted toward the unconscious priest. The groan of bed springs made her pause, and she jerked her head back toward Zane.
His eyes sprang open, locking with hers.
Fear enveloped her body, and Vega pressed herself against the wall as the dark eyes of the demon bore into her. The world around her warmed, her mind grew fuzzy, and she clenched her eyes closed. A war raged inside her between the fear that Ronwe would cast her into the darkness with Eurynome again if she let him wind her in his spell, and the terror that he would come for her while she couldn’t see. Making the sign of the cross, she began the Lord’s Prayer from the start for what felt like the millionth time.
Zane’s lips parted, revealing sharp teeth, and his free hand reached out for Vega. Her name was a whisper, “Vega.”
Her arms wrapped around her body, the words still falling from her trembling lips, and she shuddered. His voice almost sounded like his own, the tone nearly sounded loving. She knew it had to be one of Ronwe’s tricks, but she couldn’t help the longing in her heart.
“Vega, help me,” Zane pleaded.
She prayed on, too injured to move, too afraid to think. The prayer tumbled together, jumbling with the sounds of his movement on the bed. She knew he was trying to free himself. She knew she needed to run, but she had no means of escape. With her bones nearly shattered and the door blocked, there was no more she could do. In a moment of pure panic, her fingers wrapped around a broken shard of glass.
Zane struggled with the ropes holding his left wrist and feet. His body completely out of his control, he battled against the demon, even as he watched like a stranger trapped inside his own mind. Inside, he could feel the demon, its claws shredding his soul into strips of blackened hate. The war raged his desire to destroy the woman he loved overpowering the want to save her.
Ronwe had allowed him to surface, only enough to use his voice to coax Vega nearer. That had failed. Instead, she remained crouched in the corner, her leg jutting out at an odd angle as she nonsensical murmured words. The vision of her was blurred, but her beauty still entreated him to help her.
The drugs in his body made the demon’s movements sloppy and uncoordinated, but Zane’s hands finally found purchase on the final knot holding him in place. The squeak and squeal of the metal frame protesting under his movements only added to the cadence of madness that pounded against him. Still he fought on, trying to claw his way to the surface as the demon had done so many times.
His body stood from the bed, and when he felt the feral smile spread across his lips, Zane roared in protest. With each stumbling and half-blind step, Ronwe grew closer to Vega, his intentions purely to destroy the innocence that had helped keep him bound for so many years.
He halted, a foot away, and his laughter filled the room. “Vega, look upon me. See the man who loved you and the demon who will destroy you.”
She sobbed, shaking her head in denial. Her eyes remained scrunched shut, refusing to look upon her death.
“Look at me, girl!” Ronwe demanded through Zane’s clenched teeth.
“Never,” she whispered, the resolution in her words a slap to Ronwe’s face.
He lurched forward, arm outstretched to grab her, the desire to rip her up by the hair filling him. He would drink her death as if it were the wine of Gods.
“Ronwe!” Thomas’s voice erupted. “By the power of Christ, I compel you! Get thee behind me, demon!”
At the sound of his voice, Vega’s eyes sprang open with hope.
Zane felt his body turn, and the exorcist came into view. “So you wish to die first?”
Thomas, on his knees, held up the cross. Fierce determination filled his features as he ordered, “I abjure you in His name, be gone from this man who is His creature. It is futile to resist His will. It is hard for you to kick against the goad. The longer you delay, the heavier your punishment shall be; for it is not this man you are condemning, but rather Him who rules the living and the dead.”
The cross in Thomas’s hands burst into flame, high reaching, and glowing with the hottest of fires. Vega could feel the warmth radiating from two feet away.
Zane leaned backward, his body contorting at an impossible angle, until he bent far enough to look into her face. “I’ll be right with you.”
As he swooped back up, he la
ughed in the maniacal demon’s voice. “You are no man of God! You cannot compel me. Your faith is not pure.”
Zane lurched forward, his body weight crashing down onto Thomas, smashing them both to the floor. The flaming cross fell to the side, quickly sputtering out and turning into a charcoaled relic. With his hands wrapped around the man’s throat, he jerked Thomas’s head back and forth, pummeling it into the concrete floor.
Vega screamed out Zane’s name as she dragged herself forward. She might not have had the courage to save herself, but Thomas had done nothing to deserve to die. He’d opened his door to them in a gesture of kindness, willing to save them, and she could not have his blood on her hands.
As the demon and man fought, she scrambled forward, dragging her fractured leg behind her and smearing a bloody trail over the dirty concrete. The sharp edges of the glass shard she still clutched cut into her palm, making the slick surface difficult to grip. Her only reprieve came from the short distance she had to cover, or else, Vega knew she would not have made it.
Her breathing ragged, her vision darkening around the edges, and her body wracked with pain, Vega struggled to stand behind the two men. In a moment of terror, she realized what she meant to do. The agony of her heart breaking inside her chest hurt far worse than the broken bones and cuts. Tears of pain and frustration turned to sobs of sorrow as she raised her hand, the piece of glass catching the light.
Zane straddled Thomas, the demon’s voice screaming ancient and unintelligible words, as he continued to choke the life from the man. As if sensing a change in the air around him, his hands fell from Thomas’s throat and he twisted, seeing Vega hovering over him.
In a quick slash of her arm, she brought the sharp glass downward, the edge cutting into her beloved’s throat. “Go to Hell!”
The demon tried to roar, and blood spurted out of the gaping wound, covering Vega’s torso. The hot splashes of crimson churned her stomach, but she stepped forward, raising her arm to make another pass. The hardest thing she had ever done, in all of her lives, was to watch as Zane grabbed at his throat and fell to the side.
Fated to Return (The Death Eater Series Book 3) Page 6
