Death Eater Complete Collection

by Catherine Stovall

  “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 bastard! Go back to Hell where you belong.”

  The scream from inside her head met with the real wails of anger filling the room.

  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 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.” Tears poured down her cheeks, and she shivered out of fear and from the frigid temperature in the room. Yet, Vega met the demon’s eyes, undeterred by the hellish hate boiling within them.

  Thomas pried at Zane’s fingers, trying desperately to free himself as the death eater 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 with 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 specter from hell, and all your felled 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, clawing at Thomas’s throat with heated fury as the cross burned into his cheek. The flesh bubbled and melted 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 death eater’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, you corrupter of justice, you root of all evil and vice; seducer of men, betrayer of the nations, instigator of envy, font of avarice, fomenter of discord, author of pain and sorrow. 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 she’d ever known scorched her nerve endings.

  She fell to her knees, lips still moving in a silent prayer, and struggled to yank the ring away. It had saved her once, but it had become the source of her torment now. 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 of the room as it torpedoed toward Zane.

  As if he’d felt her movements, his face turned toward her with blackened eyes and sharpened teeth. The dark lines swelled up beneath the skin, tracing patterns across his cheekbones.

  “Vega!” the death eater 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’s body soared 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. A throbbing pulse exploded in her head, and her body screeched with pain, the certainty of a broken leg clear as she tried to understand what had happened.

  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 as she continued to seek out the exorcist. 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 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. As if sensing Vega watching him, his eyes sprang open, locking with hers.

  Fear enveloped her body, and Vega pressed against the wall as the death eater’s onyx eyes bore into her. The world around her warmed, and her mind grew fuzzy. Her eyes clenched shut, fearing Ronwe would cast her into the darkness with Eurynome again if she let him wind her in his spell once more. Her arm almost too heavy to lift, she made the sign of the cross and began the Lord’s Prayer for what felt like the millionth time.

  The metal bed frame groaned as he stirred, and she peeked through her lashes.

  Zane’s lips parted, revealing sharp teeth, and his free hand reached out. “Vega.” Her name a mere whisper of breath seemed to explode into the room.

  Arms wrapped around her body, and the words still falling from her trembling lips, she shuddered. His voice had almost sounded like his own. The tone had almost sounded loving. She knew it had to be one of Ronwe’s tricks, but Vega couldn’t help the longing in her heart. She clenched her eyes tighter, begging for strength.

  “Vega, help me,” Zane pleaded.

  She prayed on, too injured to move and too afraid to think. The prayer tumbled together, jumbling with the sounds of his movement on the bed. He was trying to free himself. 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.

  Chapter Eight

  Zane struggled with the ropes holding his left wrist and feet, his body completely out of his control. He battled against the death eater, even as he watched his body’s actions like a stranger trapped inside his own mind. Inside the death eater’s claws shredded 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 crouched in the corner, leg jutting out at an odd angle as she murmured nonsensical words. His vision 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 pounding against him. Still, he fought on, trying to claw his way to the surface as the demon had done so many times.

  He saw himself stand from the bed, felt the feral smile spread across his lips, and 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 inside Zane 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 as the desire to rip her up by the hair filled him. “I will drink your 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!”

  Vega’s eyes sprang open with hope.

  Zane’s body turned so that he faced the exorcist. “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 men you are condemning, but rather Him who rules the living and the dead, who is coming to judge the living and the dead and the world by fire.”

  The cross in Thomas’s hands burst into flame, high reaching and glowing with the hottest of fires.

  Zane leaned backward, his body contorting at an impossible angle until he bent far enough to look into Vega’s face. “I’ll be right with you.”

  As he swooped back up, he laughed 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 on top of Thomas and 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, the death eater jerked Thomas back and forth, pummeling his head into the concrete floor.

  ****

  Vega screamed out Zane’s name as she dragged her broken body 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 two men fought, she scrambled forward, dragging her fractured leg behind her and smearing the blood from her arm onto the dirty concrete. The sharp edges of the glass shard 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, vision darkening around the edges, and 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 death eater’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, his hands fell from Thomas’s throat, and he twisted, seeing Vega hovering over him.

  “No!” the death eater cried in Zane’s voice as his hands came upward.

  His actions too late, Vega brought the sharp glass downward with a quick slash, sending 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. 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 her lives, was to watch as Zane grabbed at the wound and fell to the side.

  The blackened veins faded, and the color of clear skies replaced the darkness the death eater had brought to his eyes. She wanted to look away, deny what she’d done, but the proof pooled at her feet in scarlet red. Even as his skin paled and his fingers clutched at the jagged line on his throat, Zane—not the demon—looked up at her, a smile on his face.

  She fell, unable to stand any longer. Her legs entwining with Zane’s and Thomas’s, she curled beside her lover, listening to his heartbeat fade. “No. No. I’m sorry, Zane. Oh no. What have I done?” Remorse rocked her, the knowledge she’d taken his life hitting Vega hard enough to overwhelm everything else in the room. “I’m sorry, my love. Forgive me for this, for all these years. Forgive me for all my wrong doings. I love you.”

  In her mind’s eye, she saw that far away day when she’d taken her life on the battle field. The answer came to her as if she’d always known. The words from the tomb clearly etched across her memory.

  They lived, loved, and died according to their own demons.

  She had possessed the power all along to end their terrible fate. She’d condemned them both when she’d made the deal with Eurynome, but she’d always been able to undo it. Vega just hadn’t been brave enough before.

  By giving life to her and Zane’s dying souls, she had forsaken their destiny in God’s master plan. She’d defied the laws that held life and death sacred, and her own vain love had been their downfall for lifetimes.

  That had been her demon, the inability to let go of a love she’d seen as greater than God himself. Zane’s demons were far different. He’d been vain in life and in death. Too sure of himself to make the choice to end it for them, he’d bent to Eurynome’s will.

  With resolution, Vega dragged herself into a sitting position and raised the glass shard once more, her arm trembling with the effort. She turned to look into Zane’s eyes, seeing the last vestiges of his light fade away into a darkness that had nothing to do with demons, only death.

  In her final moments, she whimpered a prayer for forgiveness and drove the glass shard into her jugular. At last, she accepted they’d always been fated to return to the death that had tried to claim them long ago. Falling backward, her head landed in the crook of Zane’s shoulder, and she felt no pain. The world turned cold and dark, but her heart was finally at peace.

  ****

  Thomas’s eyes opened, and the throbbing pain in the back of his head radiated until it felt as if the orbs might push forward from his sockets and land on his cheeks. The weight against his legs did not move, and slowly the memory of what had occurred hit him with a powerful force.

  With a deep gasp, he rose onto his elbows, and his eyes fell on the two lovers—dead by his side. Leaning forward, he felt the blood seep from the wounds at the back of his skull and run down his back, but he did not care. Ever so gently, he closed Zane and Vega’s eyes, giving them a final show of respect.

  Beside the bodies, the ghostly apparition of a priest wearing an ancient habit appeared. He looked to Thomas with a nod, made the sign of the cross, and to the fallen lovers said, “May you go with God, and may he bless your journey.”

  Epilogue

  Vega stared up at the massive demon before her as she and Zane lay dying in each other’s arms. Great billows of black smoke filled the sky behind him, and the smell of gunpowder filled the air. Eurynome drew a massive, clawed hand across his face to clear away the dripping blood from his chin.

  “Your lover is dead and gone, child. Only the power of a greater demon, such as I, can resurrect such things. Your life force is nothing but a tiny grain of sand in the vast desert, only a greater demon, such as I, can restore such a thing. Do you ask these things of me?”

  Vega swallowed hard against fear and instinct. “No!” she screamed as she clung to the quickly fading memories of lives lived in Hell because of a deal made with the demon.

  He tossed his long black hair out behind him as he laughed with raucous supremacy. “You are not smart. You must know you will die and taking your own life is a sin.”

  Drawing on the little strength she had left, she stared into the soulless, black eyes of the greater demon. “Our love is strong enough to carry us both to our destinies. If I must perish in Hell for not being able to live without the man I love, then I will see you there, demon.”


  His wide-mouthed grin revealed dangerously sharp teeth. “I will see you in Hell, little one.” Eurynome faded away, leaving her to die in peace.

  Vega took one look at Zane’s graying face, hating herself for her selfish need of him. “May God go with you.”

  Bending down, she placed a farewell kiss onto Zane’s lips before she laid down to die. Darkness ebbed away her vision, and her weakened heartbeat drowned out the sounds of the battle raging around them. Succumbing to the hand of fate and death, she closed her eyes on the world.

  ****

  The name Vega meant the brightest star, and even when surrounded by darkness, she shined. That light drew another being across the battlefield and to her side. The priest who did not know he was a saint in the making knelt down and touched her lifeless cheek. Sorrow filled the man as he confirmed Zane had also gone.

  Around them, a blood red sigil glowed, visible to only the priest’s eyes. The sign of the demon that had come in search of a sacrifice to make his power greater, it pulsed with evil. He could smell the stink of sulfur and the char of brimstone in the air.

  “This was not God’s plan, but the work of the devil.”

  Falling to his knees, the priest lifted his hands to the sky and implored his Lord to renew the life that had been stolen. He begged for forgiveness for the girl who had taken her life, and he argued the strength of the boy who had fought a demon in battle. In all his prayers, he asked the Lord to give back what had been taken, if only to place the world at rights once more.

  As others came, drawing around the priest, they too prayed for the fallen children. The boy had been brave and strong, and the girl had brought joy to their lives. They held hands and sang songs of praise, asking for the spark of life to be returned.

  A strong breeze lifted the congregation’s hair and whipped at their clothes. It blew through the valley and cleared the smoke away. The sun shone down, a spotlight to illuminate the lovers’ faces. The voices surrounding Zane and Vega rose in hope and jubilation as they watched the Lord’s hand at work.