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    Ancient Curse
    Ancient Curse
    Ancient Curse
    Ebook95 pages1 hour

    Ancient Curse

    By Donna Hernandez

    ()

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    About this ebook

    A novelette
    Four sisters fight an evil force that holds their mother in its ancient curse. . Will they be able to save their mother from the curse and will they find one another?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDonna Hernandez
    Release dateSep 25, 2013
    ISBN9781497703063
    Ancient Curse

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      Book preview

      Ancient Curse - Donna Hernandez

      Acknowledgement

      To my husband understanding the long hours at night working on the computer, to my mother for always believing in me.

      Chapter 1

      CATHERINE

      The utter blackness of the night enveloped her as she drifted gracefully down from the balcony, her pitch black cloak billowing silently around her, cool air causing a chill to pass through her body ... or was it because she sensed the intense power emanating from her quarry? Once her feet touched down onto the cobblestone road, she quickly pulled her cloak about her tightly, rendering herself almost invisible to the human eye. She knew that if the demon looked in her direction, it would see her. Demons were far superior to humans in every regard, Catherine knew this because it was her job to know. Certain that she remained undetected; she rose up and continued on foot after her prey, the half-demon she had been tracking for three weeks, ever since it had arrived in London. It had made a mistake by coming so close to her, and remaining thus. It was a little unusual for a demon to enter her part of London. Green Castle was her domain, her hunting ground and in fact before this creature had shown up it was a place she no longer considered tainted, stained by the evil forces that existed in abundance upon the earth, spreading silently, like a plague yet to manifest its symptoms. Her job here was completed, at least until this powerful figure had boldly shown up and made its presence known.

      Skirting a broken wall agilely, Catherine watched as the tall figure of the half-demon disappeared into a shadowy alleyway fifty yards ahead of her, vanishing in the blink of an eye into the blackness of the tunnel. She had no fear of the dark, in fact darkness was her ally and always had been, although many of the foul, tainted creatures she hunted were just as adept if not more so at concealing themselves within the darkness. Catherine used her magic, and had honed it to such a degree that even demons couldn’t detect her standing in the shadows a few feet away; that is until she withdrew Hallu-thril or Demon-sleep from its scabbard. They knew she was there then. When Hallu-thril suddenly lit up the night, its blinding white light cutting through the darkness like a thousand rays of sunlight. They could not sense its presence while it was sheathed, but once it was unsheathed, it came alive with powerful magic that sent an electrical surge throughout Catherine’s entire body and at first, she had been unable to hold it for very long. Its power was too great for her. However, the more demons she had vanquished, the more she seemed to be able to withstand the immense energy that radiated from the intricately carved runes along the forty-inch blade. All evil beings feared the weapon, not just demons. One strike from the blade was enough to send demons, vampires and evil spirits to their maker and for four years, since she was sixteen years old, Catherine had sought to cleanse the world of evil, wielding the vicious blade without mercy. Where the blade had originated and how it had come to be upon her bed one night when she had awoken during a terrible storm, she did not know. Still she had instinctively known what it was to be used for – the destruction of the evil creatures she had suddenly become aware of at the age of thirteen once her powers had begun to manifest. Once she was a normal girl who had friends and was shy and innocent, but the power that suddenly switched on within her one day changed everything. At first, the power had been frightening. The way it arced and crackled along her skin when she was angry or irritated, scared her. It was as if she was becoming something else, what, she had no idea but she knew it could not be good and because of that, she hid it from her grandmother and the other children at school. She became withdrawn and reclusive, not daring to speak to anyone for very long, fearing they would see the unrelenting power within her.

      She had no choice; her only option was to limit her interactions, the power running through her veins would not allow her to be human, at least not in the traditional sense. By all accounts and appearances, she was human to other humans but there was something very different about Catherine. She was a witch. Once the powers had begun to manifest within her, she kept them to herself, not telling anyone, not even her grandmother whom was closer to her than anyone. She was afraid of being labeled different and cast out by normal children but most of all, she feared the Witch-hunters who prowled the lands burning and torturing helpless women who they believed to be witches. She had seen a burning herself, whilst still only fifteen years old and from that moment on, she had hunted the hunters. Witch hunters, once her most feared enemy became the catalyst for what she was today, a fighter of all things evil. She approached the dark alleyway, quickly casting spells of concealment over herself as she did so, her little hands waving about her intently and within seconds, she was merely an outline.

      Entering the darkness, one hand resting ready on the hilt of Halu-thril, Catherine stopped, and stood still, allowing her senses to adjust to the new environment. It was quiet, only the lonely howl of the intermittent gusts of wind that whipped through the narrow space could be heard and the air was thick with the smell of soil. It was a rich musky scent that she breathed in deeply as she stood, savoring it and letting it linger a while in her nose before she breathed out slowly. As well as being almost invisible, Catherine possessed keen eyesight that did not need magic to complement it. It was enough on its own and had assisted her in many a dark passageway such as the one she now walked slowly through, scanning as she went, but seeing no signs of the half-demon. Only the moss covered brick walls either side of her, mottled green, black, and glistening with moisture from the mist-laden air. She was not afraid; in fact, Catherine was very rarely afraid these days. She smiled as she recalled how on her first encounter with a vampire, in an alleyway much like this one she had wet herself and almost become vampire food. Luckily,

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