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    Sacred Atonement: A Novelette (The Birthrite Series, #1.5)
    Sacred Atonement: A Novelette (The Birthrite Series, #1.5)
    Sacred Atonement: A Novelette (The Birthrite Series, #1.5)
    Ebook99 pages1 hour

    Sacred Atonement: A Novelette (The Birthrite Series, #1.5)

    By Tiffany Apan

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    About this ebook

    The summer of 1932 is one Linda never dreamed she would ever have. As a single mother raising her and Jimmy's infant daughter in a world she never would have thought existed, she tries forgetting the boy she once planned to spend her life with while plagued by the occasional dream of him being tortured inside the fiery pit she lost him in. While she takes some comfort in knowing that Carl and Dorothy are right down the hall, her two newly married friends are occupied with trials of their own.
    As Linda tries to make the best life she can for her daughter, a disfigured young man from her past watches her from inside the shadows. A man who also uncovered truths about his own self, and wishes for a second chance.
    Sacred Atonement is a novella taking place between the events of Descent, #1 and Kindred, #2. It is a story of redemption and uncovering truths. A story of second chances.

    Bonus material at the end of this book, including an excerpt from Kindred (The Birthrite Series, #2) and an outtake from Descent.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTiffany Apan
    Release dateJan 26, 2015
    ISBN9781310944253
    Sacred Atonement: A Novelette (The Birthrite Series, #1.5)
    Author

    Tiffany Apan

    As a time-traveling, classically trained soprano with a vocal range that spans four octaves and an award-winning songstress and writer, Tiffany started honing her creativity in the thick forests of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Her grandparents were among her first musical influences as she developed a keen interest in history and mythology at a very young age (opting to write poems of Viking sea adventures in her fifth grade writing class!). Such interests carried over into works she continues to create today.Her music and stories have garnered critical and audience acclaim as her debut album, Poet, has been hailed as 'music of a very high standard' with 'phenomenal classically trained vocals.' Ethereal Gothic and Celtic undertones among the Symphonic Folk Rock have also been noted.In addition to her own projects, Tiffany serves as a vocalist and percussionist in the Traditional Folk Music group, Wayward Companions and often sits in as a guest vocalist with the Pittsburgh Historical Music Society Orchestra and other musical acts, ranging from Metal to Classical genres.Not limiting herself to music and writing, Tiffany has worked in theatre (favorite roles include Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof, Maria in The Sound of Music, and Sally in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown) and a variety of film projects.With a passion for the past, she is also making a mark in the Living History world, serving as an executive site director at a historical landmark museum and appearing with her French Unit at French and Indian War reenactment events. Such endeavors now add to the inspiration behind the works she continues to create.When she's not writing music and stories about the distant past and other worlds, some of her outside interests include fitness, holistic health, antiquing, and making her home look like a vintage/antiquity paradise.Through music and writing, she enjoys merging the past with the present and is looking forward to releasing new music that will combine history, fantasy, and gothic elements, while serving as a backdrop for her book series, The Birthrite.You can also get five days of free music and stories by going on a five day journey through time:https://tiffanyapancelticgothicrock.mailchimpsites.com/

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      Book preview

      Sacred Atonement - Tiffany Apan

      Sacred Atonement: A Novelette (The Birthrite Series, #1.5)

      Copyright 2014 Tiffany Apan, Poets Labyrinth

      All rights reserved.

      Smashwords Edition

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means mechanical, electronic, or otherwise, without first obtaining the written permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for a newspaper, magazine, website, etc.

      This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away. If you would like to share this book, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with.

      Cover Design and Art by Rowen Poole, Tiffany Apan, and Dreamstime

      DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. All incidents, dialogue, location, and characters, with the exception of some well-known historical public figures, locations, or events, are products from the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Where real-life historical events or public figures appear, the situations, incidents, and dialogues concerning those persons and events are utilized fictitiously and are not to depict actual events or change the fictional nature of the work. In all other respects, any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

      May you no one ever be forgotten in time…

      PROLOGUE

      In the woods near Hunters Highway,

      the road that joins the towns of Stone Creek

      and Pinewoods in Northeastern Pennsylvania

      Winter Solstice of 1931

      She concentrated, feeling every ounce of his agony. His tormented screams could be heard within the dark, fiery pit among the damned. While all was not lost for him, time was running out. If he was to be saved, she had to move quickly.

      Elements and energies of the many worlds swirled around her aged frame as she reached out to the angels and spirits of the past. His screams reverberated throughout her being and she cried out upon feeling another sharp, searing slice in his already burned flesh. His plea for a death that would never come threatened to rip her core to shreds. She was in danger, danger of being drained of precious energy or even torn apart. But she refused to back down. It was not supposed to end for him, not like this.

      Though part of him came from those that inflicted centuries of suffering upon her people, his lineage was also her lineage. He was her family, and she could not lose him. Not as she had lost her mother and sister.

      And as she had almost lost her father.

      PART 1:

      PURGATORY

      The Shrouded Vale, A Realm Outside of

      the World Most of Us Know

      1932

      CHAPTER 1

      September 20, 1932

      He saw her, standing at the cliff’s edge and staring out to the ocean. The wind carried strands of her cornsilk hair as the distant voice of a crying child could be heard. He ached to look into the young woman's blue eyes and touch her creamy fair skin. This time he would reach her.

      As he drew nearer to her, the baby's cries grew louder. Linda... he uttered, reaching out to touch her shoulder.

      When she turned to face him, he was horrified to see the flesh rotting and peeling off her face. The sky suddenly darkened, and a bolt of lightning struck the incoming tides...

      …Jimmy's eyes opened, his throat releasing a groan as severe pain racked his body. He was all alone inside the dark bedroom of the chateau that, for the past seven months, had been his sanctuary. His being sank when an image of Linda Parker entered his mind. At this time last year, he was planning on proposing marriage to the love of his life, a girl now lost to him.

      His wanting to hold her close again was almost unbearable, especially when he knew that it could never be. He had betrayed her in the worst way a man could betray his love, allowing himself to be tempted and manipulated. The emotional torment and sorrow of this reality was far greater than any endured physical pain and deformities. He was a shadow of his former self, the star athlete of the Plains High School football team who listened to jazz music, had many friends, and was to inherit his father's mechanic business after wedding the most beautiful girl he knew. All of it became a shattered dream.

      Excruciating throbbing stabbed the nerve endings in his left thigh where flesh and muscle had been ripped open and nearly shredded. A massive scar served as a reminder, along with a patchwork of many lacerations and burns covering his once flawless light brown skin. The scars marked where demons had clawed into him, and fire and brimstone seared him. On his left hand, two small stubs indicated where his index and middle fingers once were. During the day, he wore an eyepatch to cover the now empty socket, as his left eye was gauged from his skull. The patch lay on the table beside his bed, and his walking stick was against the wall, just within reach.

      His constant night terrors of Hell were thankfully now fewer and farther between, but he knew the suffocating fire and terrifying mocking of hideous demons tearing into his flesh would never completely leave. For as long as his remaining years were going to be, the hopeless agony released by the voices of the damned would always haunt him.

      As his eyesight adjusted to the dark, he grasped onto the image of Linda, trying to erase how she looked in the dream. She's still hurting over what I did...

      Guilt rampaged his core as he whispered her name, recalling the night he lost her. The young man struggled to a seated position, wincing and letting out a guttural groan as he moved against the pain in his body. He was healing, physically at least. According to the nurses here, he was almost unrecognizable when he was found and brought to the chateau in this place many referred to as The Shrouded Vale.

      He had no recollection of being rescued. For those first three months, whether awake or asleep, Hell was all he could see. Until two months ago, he was bedridden, unable to move or even bathe himself. For a good while, he was also dealt the humbling circumstance of being incontinent. But now he had regained much of that independence and was able to get along on his own with the aid of a walking stick. There was a promise of him one day no longer needing it, though his days as a football running back were clearly over. Growing a new eye to replace the one lost was also a possibility, though more of his tissue would need to be regenerated before any type of procedure could be done.

      In this moment, Jimmy tried hanging onto what little hope was left.

      Reaching for his cane, he braced himself and slowly rose to stand. Locks of dark hair brushed his cheekbones as he made his way over to the window. Staring out at the starry sky, he was able to conjure an image of Linda. She was asleep in her bedroom at a chateau within the vale, not too far from where he

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