Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Trigger Warning
Dedication
Epigraph
Also by Jacklyn Daher
Prologue
Chapter One: Cold Comfort
Chapter Two: Ominous Signs Ahead
Chapter Three: Hello Again My Friend
Chapter Four: Rebirth
Chapter Five: Shopping With Motives
Chapter Six: Underground Secrets
Chapter Seven: Burn the Ugly Soul
Chapter Eight: Surprise Finds
Chapter Nine: Hell-ish Dinner
Chapter Ten: Apples & Skittles
Chapter Eleven: Strike It Out
Chapter Twelve: Mis-Matched
Chapter Thirteen: Welcome to this World
Chapter Fourteen: Question Answered
Chapter Fifteen: Bloody Connection
Chapter Sixteen: Deep Seeded Issues
Chapter Seventeen: Loony Bin Break-Out
Chapter Eighteen: The Realm of Possibilities
Chapter Nineteen: Repeated Broken Plans
Chapter Twenty: Winter Wonderland
Chapter Twenty-One: Fractured Friendships
Chapter Twenty-Two: Deal Takers and their Master
Chapter Twenty-Three: Lured by the Sea
Chapter Twenty-Four: Dark Trap
Chapter Twenty-Five: Blast from the Past
Chapter Twenty-Six: A Land of Grey
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Huggle Therapy
Chapter Twenty-Eight: A Promise to Keep
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Hope in the Dark Times
Chapter Thirty: Forbidden Kiss
Chapter Thirty-One: Not So Heavenly Creatures
Chapter Thirty-Two: Eyes Wide Open
Chapter Thirty-Three: Twilight
Chapter Thirty-Four: Game On
Chapter Thirty-Five: Sinful Sanctum
Chapter Thirty-Six: Child of a Demon
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Choices
Chapter Thirty-Eight: Sacrifices
Chapter Thirty-Nine: Toxic Affections
Chapter Forty: Brace for the End
Chapter Forty-One: Holy Hell
Chapter Forty-Two: Battered by Betrayal
Chapter Forty-Three: A Reunion to Forget
Chapter Forty-Four: Darkest Day
Chapter Forty-Five: A Star is Born
Ackowledgements
Connect with Jacklyn
Copyright Jacklyn Daher 2020
All rights reserved no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems without written permission from the author, except for the brief use of quotations in a book review. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the authors imagination or are used factiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is completely coincidental.
ASIN: B08HTWJBY3
Trigger Warning
This book contains sensitive subjects such as sexual assault, issues associated with suicide, and drug use.
For my boys. You are my heart, soul, and everything. Everything I do, it’s for you!
“Innocence, once lost, can never be regained. Darkness, once gazed upon, can never be lost.”
John Milton
Paradise Lost
Unveiled (The Chronicles of Luxor Everstone Book One)
Deer Park, Victoria
Astrid stood in the deserted cul-de-sac, resting her weary head against the trunk of a towering oak tree, and dug her fingernails into the bark for support. A small, cotton, lilac satchel—her only possession—hung across her protruding belly. The baby continued to kick much faster and stronger as the cramping intensified. Lifting herself gently off the tree, she travelled forward.
Across the road, enveloped by a white picket fence, a quaint cottage-style house, appeared derelict. No lights were on, but Astrid knew someone was home. It was familiar, a bundle of memories created under that roof, yet it was strange to be back. She hadn’t visited for so long, and the homesickness pained her. Hesitation settled in deep within, her hands shook with a slight but rapid motion, and she was afraid to return home.
What if I was rejected?
The swirling of the wind started up and whipped her platinum hair across her face. It was a typical winter’s night. The trees bent over backwards, their lush foliage no longer alluring, instead in the blanket of blackness, they were menacing and their fury displayed the rage. She struggled to run towards security, to flee their fury, but it was all in vain.
A searing pain seized her, and when she stroked the front of her white dress, crimson blood smeared across, the stickiness sticking to her fingers. She gnawed her lip to minimise the discomfort, but simply elicited further blood.
Not long now, baby.
In circular motions, she caressed her belly as if it were a Buddha, lending her strength and good luck. Tonight, she would need both.
Wet asphalt pricked underneath her naked feet, she had abandoned her shoes long ago. Blood squished between her toes and spread across her feet, and blisters were on their way to forming.
Fire and ice flashed simultaneously throughout Astrid. The excruciating pain weakening her resolve and severe enough that she wanted to give up, but she couldn’t. Not yet. The only thing which scared her the most was not the pain, but the knowledge of what was about to occur.
She would die tonight.
Astrid lost track of how long she’d been walking. It had been pitch dark when she snuck out. She needed to get away from him, and this was her last chance. She tilted her head to the sky, and judging by the way the sun peeked out from beyond the fog, it was near dawn. She felt as if she had been walking for an eternity, despite it only being close to an hour. Even so, each footstep caused her anguish.
Even in the dim light, the house was in disrepair. The usually manicured lawn had grown to ankle length, and weeds overtook the prized gardenias. The chipped gate swung on its hinges and emitted a loud creak. She made her way down the all too familiar pathway where she used to rollerblade up and down when she was a child. Those days were long gone, and this would be the last time she would make this trip.
As Astrid neared the house, she shivered and rubbed her arms up and down, warming her skin to rid the goose bumps that had formed. Beside the door, she looked at her reflection through the window, although her features could never fully convey her true fear. She had become emaciated, merely flesh and bone, with black circles marring underneath her eyes, while her lips were tinged blue from the chill. Hot tears travelled down her sullen cheekbones, and Astrid wiped them away with the pad of her thumb.
She tucked her long hair behind her ears; it had become matted and tangled, the stringy locks blinding her vision. She needed a minute before reality became too real, but she couldn’t hold it off any longer. Inhaling deeply, she faced her fate and rapped on the door.
Knock. Knock. Knock!!
Astrid swore she would never return, but she needed someone, anyone to answer. She winced, cowering over at the pain, and breathed faster to decrease the pain of the contractions. A warm gush of fluid flowed down her legs and saturated her inner thighs. Bowing her head, she noticed blood seeping through the front of her dress.
Astrid bit her lip hard, and more blood trickled down the side of her mouth and chin. She placed her head against the door and started clawing at the wood. There was no answer, so she pounded again, but now harder and with more urgency until her hand ached.
Please, oh God, please answe
r.
The door creaked open slightly, and when Astrid set her eyes on the dishevelled woman in front of her, she no longer recognised her sister.
Astrid had disappeared for a year, but in that time Meredith’s lovely face had morphed into an unrecognisable woman who was no longer healthy, glowing and full of life, but instead into a gaunt, haggard woman who had aged beyond her twenty-nine years. Deep lines etched around her eyes, and her mousy brown hair was unkempt, evidence of the pain of what Astrid had put her through. Astrid, being nineteen, selfishly didn’t consider to inform Meredith of her whereabouts, instead she was savouring the rewards of her newfound love.
But it wasn’t her fault.
He made sure she was isolated.
Meredith gasped. “Astrid?” she asked, and stilled, her complexion paling to resemble snow. Astrid extended an arm and reached out, the other cradling her stomach. Meredith ushered her inside by the elbow as if she were as fragile as an egg. “Where have you been?”
Astrid hobbled forward and doubled over the sofa, her knees on the shaggy carpet.
“How can this be?” Meredith quivered and scrambled to Astrid’s side to rub her lower back.
Astrid had no answers to the simple question. One day she was blissfully happy with her love, and then had fallen pregnant. Three months later she had ballooned to the point where she no longer could see her toes, and the baby inside grew at a rapid pace, each week the bump considerably larger than normal. The reason how it could be possible was always a question she never received an answer for. Despite this, she loved the baby like no other, a part of her soul intertwined with this bundle of joy who brought lightness when the darkness of the situation hit hard. She was forbidden to go to the doctors, and so she also never found out the sex, but she felt it was a girl. No, she continually dreamt she would have a daughter. A beautiful daughter with long platinum hair like hers, and the unusual blue eyes, which at times looked aqua, like her father.
Time crawled as the pain sharpened, the agony too much to bear. Astrid squeezed Meredith’s hand as the pain of a searing hot knife bore down on her lower back, and gutted her through to her stomach, as if she was being ripped apart from the inside out.
“Help me please!” she screamed through a contraction, and clamped her eyes shut. “I beg you!”
Plunged into a dire circumstance, Meredith was out of her depth and helpless. Astrid’s tremors had began as the devastating fears trickled in. Death was on its way. Hot, salty tears welled up in her eyes and threatened to fall, but she quickly kept them at bay in a show of strength. But it took all of her effort.
Meredith laid Astrid down against the sofa, placing plump cushions behind her head. It throbbed like the beat of a drum, as the soft carpet underneath provided minor comfort for her weary bones.
Fast and erratic breaths passed through Astrid’s chapped lips, and she tried to steady them but failed. She coughed, choking on a ball of saliva, and swallowed hard.
Meredith retrieved the folded towels from that the edge of the plaid, brown couch, there was every chance they would be vital. “What’s this?” She lifted Astrid’s dress over her knees. A pool of blood blotched on the front and between her thighs travelled all the way down to her ankles.
“A little blood, very normal,” Astrid murmured.
“No, it’s not normal. Your dress is saturated in blood!” Meredith shrieked, trying to keep the tears at bay. “Astrid, please, don’t be stupid, let me get help. I’ll call an ambulance.”
“No, there’s no time. She’s coming,” Astrid grunted, gritting her teeth. “No doctors. Y…you must deliver her,” she cried out as another contraction wracked her body.
“I’ve never delivered a baby. I can’t do this alone,” Meredith sobbed, wiping away tears with the back of her arm.
“I believe in you Meri,” she breathed out.
Astrid crushed Meredith’s fingers within her grasp, to reassure her it was what she wanted. She trusted her, knowing she could look after her baby as if it were her own once she had gone. Ongoing thoughts continued to plague her as she recollected the events that caused her to leave.
“This baby is special.” Her love had kneeled on the linoleum floor of the kitchen and cradled her belly.
Within her mind, before he had turned erratic, Astrid always smiled adoringly at him and glanced down at his handsome face. He was perfect; completely and utterly flawless. With his tanned complexion gleaming and penetrating, and ever-changing blue eyes. She loved the feel of his full cupid’s bow lips on hers, and running her fingers through his silky, ebony hair. She was irrevocably transfixed by his appearance.
“All babies are special,” she cooed, her petite hands over his.
He smiled wickedly. “No, this one will be different, and all mine.”
“You mean ours.”
“Oh, how I wish, but you will never meet it, for her life will bring you death.” He eyed the shimmering butchers' knife that set on the kitchen bench as if he contemplated the unthinkable. With lightning-quick reflexes, he swiped the knife and held it against her stomach as if to slice the baby out.
Astrid’s eyes widened removing his hands from her stomach and stepped away. Shivers crept down her spine. He was insane, she thought, and gripped onto the counter for support.
“Do you know why I chose you?” He grasped her upper arm, his fingernails digging into her tender flesh.
“Why you chose me?” she stuttered.
“It was to have my baby. The moment I saw you, I knew you were the one.” He cupped her chin harshly in the palm of his hand and gripped it upright. “You have a fiery passion Astrid, absolutely stunning and innocent. I hope she inherits that from you.”
“What if it’s a boy?” she quivered.
“Then that would be a double shame indeed,” he sneered with malice.
The sting of the slaps on her cheeks woke Astrid out of her haze. Her vision blurred, and the only images she could see were outlines. “She’s special,” she slurred. “My baby will be different.”
Meredith sobbed, holding onto Astrid’s knees. “Stay with me, the baby is almost here. She’s crowning, I can see the head. You have to push.”
Flashes of red and white streamed across her subconsciousness as a girl’s name appeared. The same strange name that infused her dreams every night. Distorted images of wings caught in an inferno of a blazing fire with a mirage of reds, yellows, and oranges scorched in a complete fireball until they were charcoal black.
Astrid leaned back on her elbows and propped herself up digging her fingernails into Meredith’s arm to transfer some pain. Tears streamed down her sweaty cheeks, the images still in her mind. Astrid swayed as if drunk and unlatched the satchel over her head and kissed the purple bag. She had written her baby a letter and given her a necklace to remember her by. It wasn’t enough, but it was all she had.
How am I supposed to say goodbye when I will never have the chance to say hello?
“When she is ready, give this to her. Look after my angel. Tell her I love her, and I’m sorry,” Astrid choked out, her breathing shallow as she gasped for air. Kissing the bag again, she passed it over to Meredith.
Meredith stared at the bag, clutching it in her fist. She shook her head as recognition seemed to filter in. “Where are you going? Stay with me. Please don’t leave me again.” She released a strangled cry as tears pooled down her cheeks.
Silence filled the room as Astrid lay down and blocked out her surroundings. The images disappeared, replaced by a subliminal baby pink glow and the most beautiful ethereal humming.
With a deep breath, she unleashed an ear-piecing scream from the inner depths of her soul, followed by her daughter’s name for all to hear.
The next thing she saw was a blinding white light.
Luxor kneeled on the scorched concrete curb and stared at death. She hovered her hand over the patchy grass near the burial plot where her mother lain, careful not to make contact with the consecrated ground.
“It’s the worst thing for a mother to lose a child,” Meredith said. “Even worse when it’s the child’s loss.”
Luxor didn’t agree. All death was horrid, no matter the circumstances.
Unless they deserved it, she thought to herself of the Habiti.
It had been two weeks since the images of them had entered her mind. She had kept busy doing the most mundane of things and connecting with Meredith. After the showdown with Cane, Meredith had decided a well-earned weekend away was just the thing they needed. It had come out of the blue and Luxor didn’t have to question her decision. Even though she didn’t see Castor and Theo use their gifts, they were the only ones who could manipulate the mind without repercussions. A weekend away had turned into two weeks and Luxor didn’t even want to imagine what awaited her when she returned. And she wasn’t even thinking of the possibility of the Habiti or Cane.
Homework, homework, and more homework. The upside was Pandora, her once adorable kitten, had become a welcomed fixture in her life. The elaborate story given for her to stay in a human form was she was an exchange student from Kenya. Pandora had chosen the country to honour the first letter of the name Luxor originally called her. What made it easier was only one African country had the letter ‘K.’ Luxor genuinely believed Meredith was ecstatic to have some cultural fusion in the house and even baked Kenyan cuisine, or attempted at least. Every meal, Pandora and Luxor would exchange glances, and forked the meals around the plate, unsure of the ingredients which resembled mainly vegetables, and others they couldn’t pronounce.
“Do you want to place the flowers?” Meredith asked, laying a gentle hand on Luxor’s shoulder.
She bowed and shook her head. As much as she wanted to be near her mother, it simply wasn’t feasible without the infliction of pain.
Meredith stepped forward, kneeled on the grass, and replaced the older lilies which had only began to wilt with new vibrant pink ones. She wiped away dust residue from the plaque with a damp cloth, and then closed her eyes and began to murmur a prayer.
Betrayed: The Chronicles of Luxor Everstone Book Two Page 1