The Gem Collector

By EVILyn Reigns

Forgetting her past isn't as simple as she thought...

 

Sapphire thought she fled from her turbulent childhood in a fiery escape. On the run, injured with nowhere to turn, she finds safety in an old woman's empty nest and an unlikely career on stage.

Thinking she left her past behind her, Sapphire begins to le

• Language: English
• Publisher: Redwood Shadows Publishing
• Release date: Aug 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9781088213865

Book preview

The Gem Collector

Copyright 2023 © EVILyn Reigns

The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is a crime punishable by law. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded to, or downloaded from file sharing sites or distributed in any other way via the internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publisher’s permission. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976.No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of EVILyn Reigns.

Editing and Formatting: Beth A. Freely

Cover Design: Dark Water Covers

Author’s Note

When I first began this project, I did not have the idea of Sapphire receiving her own story. However, sometimes the characters take over our minds and we lose all control of our creative geniuses. This book can be a standalone, but it is the second book in this world.

Pick up Little Black Book if you dare.

PS I do not hold the same values or beliefs that are expressed in this book.

Enjoy!

WARNING!

Trigger warnings include but not limited to…

Religion

Cult

Abuse

Drug use

Sexual Assault

Bloody Gory murders

Stalking

Lots and lots of sex

Did I mention sex?

Other Books by EVILyn Reigns

Abnormal Carnage

Little Black Book

Prologue 1

Sapphira, age 16

Sapphira snuck into the kitchen of the large farmhouse, desperate hunger the persuasion she needed to break out of her room for scavenging, risking torture for the slightest crumb to soothe the pains that were ravaging her belly. She was small for her age, a lifetime of starvation in the name of her family’s religion stunting her growth. The pious group that she and her mother were currently housed with forced them to show their love for their deity with fasting, caning, and penances with rice kneeling. Sapphira could tolerate the pain. She had the ability to remove her mind from the strikes bestowed onto her pale sensitive skin. She also would meticulously count in her head as the minutes passed, the dry rice digging into her bony knees. What she couldn’t handle was forced starvation.

Unfortunately, the Arch Lecter learned early on where Sapphira’s weakness lay: food. Forced starvation was the only punishment that now kept her in line. Not tonight, though. When the Arch Lecter called for Sapphira’s mother, demanding her to prove her loyalty with her body, Sapphira saw her chance to find something to eat.

Soft light spilled into the dark kitchen when she opened the refrigerator door. Her exhausted sigh of delight as she saw the cheese on the shelf was an overwhelming sound that echoed in her ears. Sapphira looked around her surroundings again as she jerked the cheese from the refrigerator and quickly closed the door, suffocating the light and plunging her into darkness once more. She didn’t mind the darkness. Sapphira was able to hide best in the darkest places.

She took a bite of the bitter cheese, her mouth twisted with the sour taste. She now realized it was probably old, molded, but her stomach didn’t care. She kept eating, praying that she could keep this sustenance down. Last time she threw up, the Arch Lecter forced her to clean it with her mouth, citing that wasting food was a sin. She would do anything to avoid that incident again.

The mother’s whore, stealing from the church, just like her namesake. You, Sapphira, daughter of the whore, Ruth, you shall be punished with strikes against your skin for thievery.

Sapphira dropped her cheese and jerked around, surprised to see the Arch Lecter standing over her in the dark kitchen. She looked past his shoulder to her mother as she stood meekly behind the man that was now yelling in her face. Sapphira’s mother stood at an awkward angle, holding on to the kitchen wall for support. Her long dark hair was now shorn near bald, and cuts marred her once porcelain skin. Blood dripped from slices on her wrists and from between her thighs. She saw death in her mother’s eyes.

Her attention snapped back to the Arch Lecter as he grabbed her arms and shook her so hard, her teeth rattled.

Daughter of the whore, Ruth, do you not listen to me? I am trying to save your soul! Thieving daughter of a whore. You will be punished for your sins.

Sapphira clasped her mouth closed to prevent the scream from traveling up out of her throat as he pulled her to the basement. She learned that her punishments were always worse when she screamed and cried. The door to the basement was opened, the harsh florescent light blinding Sapphira as she blinked to clear her vision. She felt the Arch Lecter kick her in the back and air blew past her face as she fell down the flight of stairs. She groaned as she tried to lift herself up from the dusty concrete floor, coughing as dust particles flew through the air with every heavy breath she took.  Sapphire felt a rough hand grasp her hair and she winced as he pulled her from where she fell to the caning bench.

Tears sprang to her eyes as she was dragged closer to her punishment. The caning bench had pounds of rice glued to the wood. Its purpose was to use her own body weight against her, the rice digging into her tender flesh, leaving behind blood and marks that have forever scarred her chest. She felt the Arch Lecter rip the ragged shirt from her skin and push her down onto the bench. She winced as she fell against the hard bench. She looked up and met the empty eyes of her mother as the haggard woman kneeled down in front of her and took Sapphira’s hands into her own.

Hold down that ‘kleptes’ while I bestow her the strikes for her thievery. Sapphira closed her eyes, refusing to allow her mother or the Arch Lecter to see her pain, hear her cries. She pulled her lip into her mouth as the whistling sound from the cane preceded the first strike against her back. Fire spread along her skin where she felt the cane meet her flesh. Sapphira lost count of the strikes. Only the fire and the blood dripping down her back, tickling her skin, was left behind when she opened her eyes. Her vision wavered near blackness from the pain that completely enveloped her entire body. Tears leaked from her eyes as she tried to move from the bench, only to collapse back onto the painful rice.

The devil tempts me with her body. I must assuage my temptation. I must prepare you for the Kingdom of Heaven. Do you accept Jesus? The Arch Lecter announced, his booming voice making her jump in fear. She nodded as softly as she could, the pain spreading through every nerve ending on her back. She winced as he yanked her head back by her hair and a buzzing sound pierced the quiet room. Tufts of long black hair fell all around her as the Arch Lecter began to shave her head bald.

Sapphira stared into her mother’s dead eyes, silently begging her for help, knowing the action was fruitless. She lost her mother years ago. Only a shell of a woman was left behind. She silently cried and bit into her restrained arm as he shaved her head bald.

I must purify you, she thought she heard him say as she felt cold