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Damned by the Ancients
Nemesis of the Gods #3
by Catherine Cavendish
Genre: Horror
Pub Date: 10/23/18
Infinity In Death
Vienna, 1908
Gabriele Ziegler is a young
art student who becomes infatuated with
charismatic archeologist Dr. Emeryk Quintillus. Only too late does
she realize his true designs on her. He is obsessed with resurrecting
Cleopatra and has retained the famed artist Gustav Klimt to render
Gabriele as the Queen of the Nile, using ashes from Cleopatra’s
mummy mixed with the paint. The result is a lifelike portrait
emitting an aura of unholy evil . . .
art student who becomes infatuated with
charismatic archeologist Dr. Emeryk Quintillus. Only too late does
she realize his true designs on her. He is obsessed with resurrecting
Cleopatra and has retained the famed artist Gustav Klimt to render
Gabriele as the Queen of the Nile, using ashes from Cleopatra’s
mummy mixed with the paint. The result is a lifelike portrait
emitting an aura of unholy evil . . .
Vienna, 2018
The Mortimer family has
moved into Quintillus’s former home, Villa
Dürnstein. In its basement they find an original Klimt masterpiece—a
portrait of Cleopatra art scholars never knew existed. But that’s
not all that resides within the villa’s vault. Nine-year-old Heidi
Mortimer tells her parents that a strange man lives there.
moved into Quintillus’s former home, Villa
Dürnstein. In its basement they find an original Klimt masterpiece—a
portrait of Cleopatra art scholars never knew existed. But that’s
not all that resides within the villa’s vault. Nine-year-old Heidi
Mortimer tells her parents that a strange man lives there.
Quintillus’s desire to be with
Cleopatra transcends death. His spirit will not
rest until he has brought her back from the netherworld. Even if he
has to sacrifice the soul of a child . . .
Cleopatra transcends death. His spirit will not
rest until he has brought her back from the netherworld. Even if he
has to sacrifice the soul of a child . . .
Waking the Ancients
Nemesis of the Gods
#2
#2
Egypt, 1908
University student Lizzie
Charters accompanies her mentor, Dr. Emeryk
Quintillus, on the archeological dig to uncover Cleopatra’s tomb.
Her presence is required for a ceremony conducted by the renowned
professor to resurrect Cleopatra’s spirit—inside Lizzie’s body.
Quintillus’s success is short-lived, as the Queen of the Nile dies
soon after inhabiting her host, leaving Lizzie’s soul adrift . . .
Charters accompanies her mentor, Dr. Emeryk
Quintillus, on the archeological dig to uncover Cleopatra’s tomb.
Her presence is required for a ceremony conducted by the renowned
professor to resurrect Cleopatra’s spirit—inside Lizzie’s body.
Quintillus’s success is short-lived, as the Queen of the Nile dies
soon after inhabiting her host, leaving Lizzie’s soul adrift . . .
Vienna, 2018
Paula Bancroft’s husband
just leased Villa Dürnstein, an estate once
owned by Dr. Quintillus. Within the mansion are several paintings and
numerous volumes dedicated to Cleopatra. But the archeologist’s
interest in the Egyptian empress deviated from scholarly into
supernatural, infusing the very foundations of his home with his dark
fanaticism. And as inexplicable manifestations rattle Paula’s
senses, threatening her very sanity, she uncovers the link between
the villa, Quintillus, and a woman named Lizzie Charters.
just leased Villa Dürnstein, an estate once
owned by Dr. Quintillus. Within the mansion are several paintings and
numerous volumes dedicated to Cleopatra. But the archeologist’s
interest in the Egyptian empress deviated from scholarly into
supernatural, infusing the very foundations of his home with his dark
fanaticism. And as inexplicable manifestations rattle Paula’s
senses, threatening her very sanity, she uncovers the link between
the villa, Quintillus, and a woman named Lizzie Charters.
And a ritual of dark magic that will consume her soul . . .
Goodreads
Wrath of the Ancients
Nemesis of the Gods
#1
#1
DESTINY IN DEATH
Egypt, 1908
Eminent archeologist Dr. Emeryk Quintillus has unearthed the burial chamber
of Cleopatra. But this tomb raider’s obsession with the Queen of
the Nile has nothing to do with preserving history. Stealing sacred
and priceless relics, he murders his expedition crew, and
flees—escaping the quake that swallows the site beneath the desert
sands . . .
Vienna, 1913
Young widow Adeline Ogilvy has accepted employment at the mansion of Dr.
Quintillus, transcribing the late professor’s memoirs. Within the
pages of his journals, she discovers the ravings of a madman
convinced he possessed the ability to reincarnate Cleopatra. Within
the walls of his home, she is assailed by unexplained phenomena:
strange sounds, shadowy figures, and apparitions of
hieroglyphics.
Something pursued Dr. Quintillus from Egypt. Something dark, something
hungry.
Something tied to the fate and future of Adeline Ogilvy . . .
Goodreads
Following a varied career in
sales, advertising and career guidance, Catherine
Cavendish is now the full-time author of a number of
paranormal, ghostly and Gothic horror novels, novellas and short
stories. She was the 2013 joint winner of the Samhain Gothic Horror
Anthology Competition, with Linden Manor, which was
featured in the anthology What Waits in the Shadows.
Cat’s novels include The Pendle Curse, Saving Grace Devine,
and Dark Avenging Angel. She lives with her
long-suffering husband and black (trainee) cat. They divide their
time between Liverpool and a 260-year-old haunted apartment in North Wales.
sales, advertising and career guidance, Catherine
Cavendish is now the full-time author of a number of
paranormal, ghostly and Gothic horror novels, novellas and short
stories. She was the 2013 joint winner of the Samhain Gothic Horror
Anthology Competition, with Linden Manor, which was
featured in the anthology What Waits in the Shadows.
Cat’s novels include The Pendle Curse, Saving Grace Devine,
and Dark Avenging Angel. She lives with her
long-suffering husband and black (trainee) cat. They divide their
time between Liverpool and a 260-year-old haunted apartment in North Wales.
Prologue
Is this what dying feels like?
Phil Bancroft ran his tongue over his dry lips. Where did that thought come from? He watched Dee, the
woman he loved, touch the tip of the gleaming gold dagger. This was not the homecoming he had
expected. He had only just returned from New York and they should be in each other’s arms. Dee had
told him Paula took the pills and now she was dead. Poor Paula. Phil wished he could feel remorse for
his dead wife. Guilt. Anything. After all, she was an innocent obstacle who had been murdered at his
lover’s hands. Her only crime was to have been sole inheritor of her father’s fortune. If that man had not
cut his younger daughter—Dee—out of his will, Paula would still be alive today. They could have
divorced and gone their separate ways. It was his fault she had to be killed.
Everything they had wanted was now theirs, but Dee seemed different somehow. Distant. A smile
played on her lips, but not her usual lighthearted smile. No, this one was almost…cruel.
“What are you doing with that, Dee?” he asked, nodding at the dagger.
She shook her head. “Not Dee. She is gone.”
Phil held out his hand to take the weapon from her and wondered why his fingers trembled. “Don’t
mess around. Give me the dagger before one of us gets hurt.”
Her smile twisted into a snarl. Surely her eyes weren’t that color? Dark blue. No, violet. Dee has brown
eyes.
The library door burst open and a familiar figure strode in. Stefan Bloch—the estate agent in whose
hands the owners of the magnificent Villa Dürnstein had placed responsibility for administering the
lease. But he had no business here today.
“What are you doing here?” The words died on Phil’s lips. The estate agent ignored him, made straight
for Dee, and took her in his arms. “What the hell?” Phil lurched forward and grabbed Stefan’s arms. He
tried to drag him off the woman who was responding all too passionately.
Stefan let Dee go and wheeled round, landing a stinging blow to the side of Phil’s head. He staggered
and fell hard against the library desk.
The man and the woman towered over him as he lay sprawled on the floor, his hand checking his jaw for
damage.
Phil stared at them. He no longer knew these people. Oh, they looked the same, but their eyes told a
different tale. Dee and Stefan were no longer there. So who were they?As if she had read his thoughts, the woman spoke. “You are right to cower before us. The woman you
knew as Dee is no longer here. Her spirit has passed over. I, Arsinoe, Queen of Egypt and the Nile,
inhabit her body.” She indicated Stefan. “The man who inhabited this body is also gone. My lover,
Nebunaten, has been reborn in him, but this body is dying. He needs a healthy host.”
He heard the words, but they couldn’t be true. Someone was playing a cruel joke. Maybe Paula wasn’t
dead after all. Yes, that was it, she must be behind all this. He scrambled to his feet. “Stop this right now.
I don’t know what the hell’s going on here, but if you seriously expect me to believe anything you’ve just
told me, you are mistaken. Dee—”
He watched incredulously as the woman he loved threw back her head and laughed. A horrible, hollow
sound. “Still you will not believe. You think your lover killed your wife with pills. She did not. She killed
her with this.” She waved the dagger. “And that was the last memory your Dee took with her into the
afterlife. With the god Set and goddess Sekhmet to aid me, I took her body, just as Nebunaten took the
man’s. Now it is your turn to surrender your earthly form.”
The blade flashed once. Twice. Blood spurted from two deep wounds in his chest. His limbs grew
heavier, as if someone had attached lead weights to them. Everything slowed as he sank to his knees,
blood pouring through his hands as he desperately fought, in vain, to stanch the flow. A low growl
echoed through his brain. The figure of a cat stood on its hind legs, changing to a half-human form
before his rapidly dimming eyes. The woman spoke in a foreign tongue and the man took hold of Phil’s
shoulders. Something tugged at his spirit, dragging it out of his body as a dark cloud descended on his
mind.
This is what dying feels like.
And then he knew no more.
Is this what dying feels like?
Phil Bancroft ran his tongue over his dry lips. Where did that thought come from? He watched Dee, the
woman he loved, touch the tip of the gleaming gold dagger. This was not the homecoming he had
expected. He had only just returned from New York and they should be in each other’s arms. Dee had
told him Paula took the pills and now she was dead. Poor Paula. Phil wished he could feel remorse for
his dead wife. Guilt. Anything. After all, she was an innocent obstacle who had been murdered at his
lover’s hands. Her only crime was to have been sole inheritor of her father’s fortune. If that man had not
cut his younger daughter—Dee—out of his will, Paula would still be alive today. They could have
divorced and gone their separate ways. It was his fault she had to be killed.
Everything they had wanted was now theirs, but Dee seemed different somehow. Distant. A smile
played on her lips, but not her usual lighthearted smile. No, this one was almost…cruel.
“What are you doing with that, Dee?” he asked, nodding at the dagger.
She shook her head. “Not Dee. She is gone.”
Phil held out his hand to take the weapon from her and wondered why his fingers trembled. “Don’t
mess around. Give me the dagger before one of us gets hurt.”
Her smile twisted into a snarl. Surely her eyes weren’t that color? Dark blue. No, violet. Dee has brown
eyes.
The library door burst open and a familiar figure strode in. Stefan Bloch—the estate agent in whose
hands the owners of the magnificent Villa Dürnstein had placed responsibility for administering the
lease. But he had no business here today.
“What are you doing here?” The words died on Phil’s lips. The estate agent ignored him, made straight
for Dee, and took her in his arms. “What the hell?” Phil lurched forward and grabbed Stefan’s arms. He
tried to drag him off the woman who was responding all too passionately.
Stefan let Dee go and wheeled round, landing a stinging blow to the side of Phil’s head. He staggered
and fell hard against the library desk.
The man and the woman towered over him as he lay sprawled on the floor, his hand checking his jaw for
damage.
Phil stared at them. He no longer knew these people. Oh, they looked the same, but their eyes told a
different tale. Dee and Stefan were no longer there. So who were they?As if she had read his thoughts, the woman spoke. “You are right to cower before us. The woman you
knew as Dee is no longer here. Her spirit has passed over. I, Arsinoe, Queen of Egypt and the Nile,
inhabit her body.” She indicated Stefan. “The man who inhabited this body is also gone. My lover,
Nebunaten, has been reborn in him, but this body is dying. He needs a healthy host.”
He heard the words, but they couldn’t be true. Someone was playing a cruel joke. Maybe Paula wasn’t
dead after all. Yes, that was it, she must be behind all this. He scrambled to his feet. “Stop this right now.
I don’t know what the hell’s going on here, but if you seriously expect me to believe anything you’ve just
told me, you are mistaken. Dee—”
He watched incredulously as the woman he loved threw back her head and laughed. A horrible, hollow
sound. “Still you will not believe. You think your lover killed your wife with pills. She did not. She killed
her with this.” She waved the dagger. “And that was the last memory your Dee took with her into the
afterlife. With the god Set and goddess Sekhmet to aid me, I took her body, just as Nebunaten took the
man’s. Now it is your turn to surrender your earthly form.”
The blade flashed once. Twice. Blood spurted from two deep wounds in his chest. His limbs grew
heavier, as if someone had attached lead weights to them. Everything slowed as he sank to his knees,
blood pouring through his hands as he desperately fought, in vain, to stanch the flow. A low growl
echoed through his brain. The figure of a cat stood on its hind legs, changing to a half-human form
before his rapidly dimming eyes. The woman spoke in a foreign tongue and the man took hold of Phil’s
shoulders. Something tugged at his spirit, dragging it out of his body as a dark cloud descended on his
mind.
This is what dying feels like.
And then he knew no more.
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