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  Revenant

  The Dark Rituals

  Book Three

  By Catrina Burgess

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Copyright

  For Mom. You showed me through example that during our darkest days, we must always endure and, at all costs, keep moving forward.

  Chapter 1

  I lay on a dirt floor. Mud matted my hair and covered my filthy, torn clothes. I kept track of the time by scratching out marks on the cavern ground with my fingernails. I’d been here ten days. Gage St. Clare had kept me alive, but barely. He gave me just enough food and water to function. Gage, the minion of a demon that I’d released. Gage, who’d taken me so I could create an undead army to do his bidding. I was now a prisoner of a man more mad than the serial killer I’d faced back at the asylum.

  So far, the demon hadn’t made an appearance, but I knew it was only a matter of time. The creature had promised me that our fates were intertwined. It told me we would meet again. It made the declaration before morphing into a young girl and skipping out of a burning ballroom, a hellhound at its heels. The plan that I was being forced to carry out was the demon’s doing. And I had no choice but to serve at its bidding.

  I heard footsteps in the distance. I slowly forced myself to my feet and leaned against the rock wall. This was the one thing I lived for. My only moment of happiness in this dark and desperate existence. I shuffled forward until my fingers wrapped around the steel bars. Any moment now…he’ll be here. I realized I was holding my breath. I closed my eyes.

  When I opened them again, he stood in front of me on the other side of my cell door.

  Luke. His eyes blazed with anger. His wrists were bound together by chains, and a dark metal collar wrapped around his neck. If I summoned any of my magic within a hundred feet of the collar, it would collapse inward and Luke would suffocate. I looked down at the chains—the metal cut into Luke’s bare flesh. A drop of blood slid down his hand, hitting the dirt floor beneath him.

  “Let him loose. You’re hurting him,” I cried out. I reached through the bars, but before our fingers could touch, rough hands pulled him away.

  Two men stood on either side of Luke. They were identical—blond hair, brown eyes, both dressed in black, both Gage’s henchmen. They were brothers. Twins. The only difference between the two was that Caleb had hair that came to rest on his shoulders. His brother, Jacob, wore his hair shaved close to his head.

  My whole focus was now on Caleb. He was the one I had to watch. He was the one who seemed to get the most pleasure out of causing me pain.

  My eyes met his.

  Caleb gave me a wicked smile and then feigned sad regret as he gestured toward Luke with a lazy wave. “Sorry, boss’s orders. Lover boy has been bad. He tried to escape again. I like the other one—he’s more docile. This one comes out every night and tries to make my life hell.” Caleb jammed his elbow hard into Luke’s rib cage.

  Caleb was dealing with not one prisoner, but two in Luke—and it was my doing. After I had unleashed the demon and caused Luke’s death, I’d committed myself to an insane asylum with the sole purpose of finding an empty vessel—a living body I could use to bind Luke back to earth and the living. And it worked. I found a young man who was once a death dealer. He’d become mentally lost during his training while performing the second ritual. It was only after I had done the spell and Luke possessed Dean that we realized Dean’s soul was still in residence, and that I’d mistakenly allowed two spirits to inhabit the same body. The second death dealer ritual trapped Dean’s spirit deep inside his body long before I met him—so deep that even his guild had been unable to revive him.

  But my powers had somehow woken Dean. He’d been able to come back and claim his body during the day while Luke had full use of it at night.

  But now it was only at night that I had any contact with anyone besides my prison guard. I hadn’t seen Dean since Gage brought us here, but I knew he was in there somewhere, listening to our exchange. Caleb said that Dean was docile, but I didn’t believe it. Neither Luke nor Dean would sit idly by while some madman bound them in chains.

  Caleb hit Luke again, and Luke grunted, bending over in pain.

  For a moment, I forgot my exhaustion. I could feel the rage rising inside me. “Leave him alone!”

  “Or what?” Caleb rushed forward and put his face inches from the bars. “Sorry, little bird—they’ve clipped your wings. You try any of your magic, and you know what happens. And let’s not forget the others. What about that dark-haired friend of yours? She’s a pretty one, she is.” He motioned to his brother, who was standing silently by Luke’s side. “She’s a quiet one, but I think Jacob here has taken a real shine to her. Haven’t you, Jacob?”

  “Don’t you lay a finger on Wendy,” I growled. I moved to grasp the bars of my cell and gave Caleb my most intimidating glare.

  “More threats? And here I thought we were starting to become friends. If you don’t want to say hello to your boyfriend, I’d be happy to drag him away. I didn’t realize you were so eager to start tonight’s work. There’s going to be a full moon out. Should be a pretty sky full of bright stars. I bet you can’t wait to see them.” Caleb grabbed Luke’s arm, pulling him toward the door.

  “No! Wait,” I begged.

  “That’s more like it. See how she changed her tune? She tries to look all tough, but when it comes to this one—” he yanked on Luke’s chains, causing Luke to moan in pain, “—she’s all soft inside like a marshmallow.” Caleb gave me another wicked grin. “You have ten minutes. But no touching. The boss wants to make sure you two keep your distance. I think he’s worried about what kind of magic the two of you might do if you ever get together. Me? I’m not so worried. Whatever Death Arts you can muster up don’t scare me. Soft like a marshmallow,” Caleb chuckled as he shoved Luke forward.

  Luke fell to his knees on the ground just shy of the bars.

  “Luke,” I cried out.

  His head was bowed, and for a moment he didn’t say anything. Then he slowly lifted his head, and his eyes met mine. “Colina.” He said my name through dry, cracked lips.

  Tears streamed down my face, leaving muddy tracks on my filthy cheeks. “I’m so sorry I got you into this mess.”

  Luke murmured something I couldn’t quite hear. He was only a few inches away, and I wanted so desperately to feel his arms around me. To put my lips against his. My whole body strained against the metal cage, but the solid bars didn’t budge.

  Luke leaned closer and whispered, “If you have a chance, I want you to make a run for it.”

  He wanted me to save myself, but I wasn’t going anywhere without him. “I’m not leaving you.”

  “If you get the chance, you run.”

  I raised my voice. “No.”

  There was anger in his eyes. “You escape. You get free. Do you hear me? I don’t know what this sick bastard wants with you. Colina, why won’t you tell me what he wants?” The anger left his face, his eyes now full of concern. “What does he have you doing?” He asked me the same question each night.

  I sat back on my heels and wiped the tears from my eyes. Luke kept asking me why Gage had taken us and what plan he had in store. But each time I refused to answer. How can I
confess to him the terrible evil I’m doing? Worse, how will he react if he ever finds out? I knew he would tell me his life wasn’t worth the unnatural acts I was committing, but there was nothing anyone could say that would change my mind. I would do whatever I had to in order to keep Luke by my side. I had already broken nature’s laws by bringing him back to me the first time. I would not risk losing him again. I would do whatever this madman asked of me if it meant keeping Luke safe.

  I wanted so desperately to tell him, to confess my wicked deeds, but I couldn’t bring myself to say the words out loud. Because of me, dozens—no, hundreds—of undead now roamed the earth. They were zombies, walking creatures formed from carcasses of the living. Luke had once called them draugrs—creatures pulled from his people’s myths and bedtime stories—but the term “zombie” fit them better. They were bodies raised from the dead, inhabited by wandering souls and used as slaves by the living in the worst voodoo tradition.

  Each night I raised the dead and then bound them to my will. But I was just a puppet as well; Gage was the puppet master. Gage was the one in control, and he could make me do whatever he wanted. He knew I would do his bidding as long as he continued to threaten Luke’s very existence.

  I looked away, unable to meet Luke’s eyes. I knew they were full of hurt and sadness. He didn’t know why I was keeping secrets from him.

  “Mildred came to see me,” he said, finally breaking the silence.

  My head whipped around. Mildred. A woman I’d thought was my friend, but who turned out to be aligned with my enemies. I asked the question that had been haunting me since the beginning of my captivity. “Why did she do it?”

  “She told me she was sorry. She never meant for us to get hurt. Gage promised to bring back her daughter.”

  Mildred’s daughter died years ago. I knew the loss still tortured her. “Can he do that?”

  “He’s powerful. He’s using magics not seen for a hundred years. Who knows what dark and twisted spells he’s been working.”

  “But her daughter must have crossed over.” I was almost sure of it. I’d never heard, nor seen the daughter’s spirit. If she’s roaming the in between, surely she would have come to her mother’s side during the time I was in the asylum.

  “Gage says the daughter’s spirit is trapped in hell. He says her daughter’s death wasn’t an accident.”

  “The girl didn’t drown?”

  Luke paused for a long moment before answering, and then he spoke slowly and carefully, his eyes fixed on me with concern. “She was killed…sacrificed.”

  Sacrificed like my family? My mind flashed back to the horror I had witnessed as I watched a group of madmen kill my loved ones. I had watched the blood pour from my father’s neck as their leader, Macaven, slit his throat. I watched, helpless, trapped inside the pantry, bound by a spell and unable to escape, as my mother was shot. The image of her face as the bullet tore through her skin was still burned into my brain. And then the dark mage had torn my brother James’s spirit from his body and turned him into a banshee to do his bidding.

  My family’s death had set in motion this dark path I now found myself on. A path that so far had caused more misery and heartache than I could have ever imagined.

  Was Mildred’s daughter an innocent child scarified like my father? The thought filled me with an incredible sadness. My eyes were full of tears as I asked, “What kind of monster would murder a young child?”

  “Someone without a conscience. Someone without a soul.” Luke looked over his shoulder. “Someone not unlike the people working for Gage. I’ve seen people become corrupted with the need for power. Once you start down that path, once you cross over the first line…it’s easy to cross over the next one. Then you lose yourself. You lose all hope.” Luke reached out for me again.

  In response, Caleb kicked the cage, laughing harshly as I quickly dropped my hands from the vibrating bars. He jerked Luke back by his collar, but Luke no longer seemed to notice the manhandling. He focused on me. “Colina, what’s the work Caleb is talking about? Why are they taking you to the surface every night?”

  I looked away, unable to meet his eyes. I can’t tell him. I won’t tell him.

  “Whatever it is, you can’t trust Gage. Whatever he promises you, whatever he says he’ll do…he’ll go back on his word. He’s truly evil.”

  And so am I. I’ve crossed one line and now another. I’m raising the dead so Gage can have a zombie army at his beck and call.

  “Time’s up,” Caleb announced.

  “Promise me that if you see your chance, you’ll take it. Run!” Luke said, this time not caring if they heard him.

  I watched in silence as Caleb and Jacob marched Luke out of the room.

  My strength left with Luke, and I fell back onto the floor. The tears came, this time fast and hard. I pulled my knees into my chest and rocked myself back and forth on the dirt.

  I’m not just creating monsters… I’m becoming one.

  * * *

  “Time to go to work.” It was Caleb. He was back.

  I had no idea how much time had passed. It was hard trying to judge time underground. There were no windows and no natural light; I was surrounded by rock walls.

  Caleb took out a key and inserted it into the lock. A section of the bars swung open.

  I forced myself to my feet. Caleb hated me. I could see it in his eyes. He never tried to hide his disdain, but I had no idea what I’d done to deserve it. He frightened me even more than Gage. I knew deep down that with the way he looked at me—the raw emotions I felt radiating off him every time he was in my presence—that given the opportunity, he would really hurt me.

  “Come on, I don’t have all night.” Caleb reached in and grabbed a handful of my shirt.

  He pulled me along with him and then pushed me ahead. He began shoving me down a wide, familiar tunnel. Torches lined the walls, spaced about six feet apart. The flames flared a bit higher when Caleb walked by, which made me wonder, not for the first time, what power he had that could affect the fire so. We finally came to a group of steps cut into the rock. We climbed for a while, until we came to a dead end. Attached to the rock wall was a metal ladder.

  I looked up into the darkness. I knew the ladder went up twenty or thirty feet. At the top of the ladder was a metal covering. Every time, Caleb would try and get me to open the covering on my own. Each time I would fail. I was too weak to muster the strength it took to push the thing open. After watching me try and fail miserably a half-dozen times, Caleb would laugh and push me aside, and with little effort he would swing open the covering. Why does he make me try each time? Does he get some sadistic pleasure from watching me struggle? I vowed that one day I would wipe that grin off his face and make him pay for the way he treated me. And for the way he tortured Luke every chance he got.

  Once through the opening, we were out in an open field. I took a deep breath of fresh air and enjoyed the sensation of the wind hitting my face. I looked up. Clouds were scattered across the night sky. I heaved a sigh and braced myself for what was to come. Caleb was right—the moon was full. It had an eerie, yellowish glow to it. A shiver went down my spine, and a sense of foreboding filled my body.

  And then Caleb’s strong hand pushed against my back and I was being shoved again, this time through tall grass. We went up a small hill and through a line of bushes. On the other side were about two dozen metal garbage cans scattered around the clearing. Tall flames burned in each one, illuminating the night and casting shadows on the bodies.

  I felt the mass of swirling spirits before I saw the bodies. They lay motionless, stretched out in neat lines and columns—men, women, and children all faceup on the grass. Gage said he killed three hundred. How many have I raised? I’d lost count. I knew that Gage’s minions had laid them out with their eyes open and with their hands crossed over their chests. They were all dead, killed by Gage and his men.

  I’d been told all this back at the asylum. Gage had slaughtered an entire commun
ity of death dealers and brought them here so I could turn them into zombies. Gage murdered them so they could become his powerful dark army, and now their spirits wandered this open field along with countless others that had already existed here. I didn’t know what he needed an army for. Honestly, I didn’t want to know. It was bad enough that I was playing any part in his evil, twisted game.

  If Luke finds out what I’ve done, will he ever be able to forgive me? I paused to correct myself. Not if, but when he finds out. It was only a matter of time before Gage put his undead army to use.

  And when that happened, how long would it take for Luke’s guild to find me? They were already hunting me—they had been for months. Luke’s sister, Darla, had vowed that the next time she saw me she would kill me herself. The Phoenix Guild pursued me for the wrongs I committed against Luke and his people—for raising the dead and causing dozens of deaths, including Luke’s—in our attempt to rescue Darla from a dark mage. And the worst crime of all? I’d released a demon. Admittedly, it was magic I’d unintentionally wielded, but it still had dire consequences. Because of my actions, death dealers everywhere were being persecuted, and violence against Luke’s kind—my kind—had run rampant. I’d done what was necessary to survive and avenge my family’s murder, but at what cost?

  And now Gage had slaughtered a whole town because he wanted to use my magic. I looked around for the familiar face of the monster who orchestrated this atrocity.

  “Gage isn’t here.”

  My gaze shifted to Caleb, not caring if he saw the relief in my eyes. However, any relief I felt was short lived. Two silhouettes carrying flashlights headed our way.

  “Hope you brought your A game, because tonight we have visitors,” Caleb said, giving me another shove forward.

  As they approached, I could see that both figures were male. One of them was very short and very fat. When he got closer I could see that his shirt was far too tight and rolls of fat rippled over his wide, black leather belt. His red hair was long on top, some of which fell down in waves across his forehead, and shaved short on the sides.