Cursed Bloodline
Romantic suspense with historical elements
Is it possible that an ancient curse
cast by a powerful witch sixteen-hundred years ago could destroy families in every
generation for centuries?
Dark family secrets
separated Sofia and Daniel when they were children, but fate brought them together
years later.
When Sofia’s
brother finds a leather book in his grandmother's secret room that was written
in 426 by a shaman, dark memories of their childhood start to surface.
Reading the ancient
runes, they learn about their family's curse. If it remains unbroken, the curse
will bring tragedy and ruin their lives as it destroyed many of their ancestors'
lives. Could they find the way to break the ancient curse?
“This is the curse of an evil deed that incites and must
bring forth more evil.” ~Johann Friedrich Von
Prologue
Present day
“Wow!” Sofia blurted as they entered the secret room. “You
were right, there are lots of treasures
in here.”
“I looked only in this trunk but look at the shelves.”
Sofia walked to the shelves and touched the carved, wooden
and stone statues one by one. “Look,” she said, “the Sacred Turul. This wood
carving is a masterpiece!”
“Yes, I estimate it to be at least a thousand years old.
Look at this horse.” He pointed at the black onyx statue.
“Magnificent!” Sofia marveled.
“We can look at those later,” Jayden mentioned to Sofia.
“Let’s see if we can find more writing in the trunk.”
“Okay…” Sofia hesitantly replied. She was having a hard time
averting her eyes from rows after rows of statues, jewelry, headdresses adorned
with beads, gold chalices and bowls.
Jayden opened the wooden trunk and started taking out the
items that were wrapped in leather. He pulled the coverings open which revealed
swords, knives, handmade leather shoes, and carefully-wrapped scrolls.
“Jay, look!” Sofia pointed at the inside of the trunk lid.
“There’s an envelope and it doesn’t seem old.”
Jayden grabbed the corner of the white envelope but couldn’t
pull it away. “It seems to be glued to the top,” he stated as he carefully
lifted the corner with a knife and pried it away from the wood without ripping
the paper.
As he turned it he saw writing on the envelope. “For Sofia
and Jayden,” he read out loud. “It’s Grandma’s handwriting and it’s for us.” He
sat down on a box, opened the envelope and pulled out the folded letter. He
started reading it out loud.
Dearest Sofia and
Jayden,
You’re reading this
letter, which means I’m gone. I swore to your mother that I would never tell
you about the family curse, but I cannot take it to my grave. Although your
mother always strongly believed that it is merely a stupid legend and refused
to listen to me, I must let you know somehow. Jayden, your life in danger…
The year 426 in the
Carpathian Basin
As they got close to the trees and peeked out, they saw
disheveled men sitting on the ground around fires. Their savage laughs, as they
were eating and drinking, cut through to their hearts. Elana gasped when she
saw the lifeless bodies of her neighbors thrown to the ground. Zala turned to
Elana and raised his eyebrow, silently asking if she was ready. Her eyes shone
with anger. She nodded and placed an arrow on her bow and pulled the string,
aiming at the head of the loudest bandit who seemed to be the horde’s leader.
Zala whispered, “You have lost the most. You have the right
to revenge.”
Elana let the arrow fly, and it pierced the bandit’s
forehead between his eyes, coming out at the back of his head halfway. His body fell backward, limp and lifeless.
Zala looked at the waiting wolves and motioned them to go
forward. The bandits scrambled to their feet in horror as their leader fell,
and the wolves attacked them. Zala and Elana started riding around them in
circles, aiming and shooting as the men tried to flee. A few slumped to the
ground pierced by arrows, others screamed as the wolves chomped at their hands.
Elana spotted the alpha as he clamped his powerful jaw over
a man’s wrist and with a jerk of his head, bit the hand off. And then Elana froze when she saw her mirror image
looking at her with crazed eyes.
“Tuana!” Elana yelled and urged her horse toward the
disheveled young woman.
Tuana turned her horse and kicked its side, urging the horse
to a gallop. Within seconds they collided. The horses neighed in terror as the
women were thrown off their backs by the
impact. Both women jumped to their feet and faced each other. Elana gave out
the warriors’ battle cry, raised her sword, and thrust it toward Tuana. Elana’s
move was swift, but Tuana was fast as well and leaned out of the way of the
deadly blow. As Tuana jumped back, she looked down with terror in her eyes. A gray wolf standing next to her growled and
dropped Tuana’s hand on the ground; it was still clutching the sword. The wolf
shook the blood from his muzzle, turned,
and ran toward the bushes. Tuana stared at her stump
as it spurted blood on her legs.
Tuana howled like a wounded animal and then gave out an insane
laugh as she held the stump of her arm close to her chest and started backing
away. “I curse you and your descendants! Every woman in your bloodline will
have a daughter like me who will be thrown away like garbage. The daughters
will kill their brothers and leave their sister alive to carry the bloodline.
All mothers for eternity will pay for what your mother did to me.”
