Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Vengeance
    Vengeance
    Vengeance
    Ebook65 pages1 hour

    Vengeance

    By Steven Starklight

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Life for the Jews of 1983 Lodz is difficult and dangerous, but when Katrina finds a book hidden deep within an ancient temple, she discovers the words of magic that bring forth the Golem to protect her.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSteven Starklight
    Release dateJul 30, 2012
    ISBN9781476253084
    Vengeance
    Author

    Steven Starklight

    Steven Starklight is a twenty year veteran of law enforcement, with extensive experience spanning coast to coast and overseas. He has served as a police officer, deputy sheriff, police legal adviser, assistant district attorney and most recently, as a special agent of the FBI. He is a recognized expert and has provided instruction in the fields of Criminal Law, Evidence, and Police Ethics. He has spoken at numerous venues regarding various law enforcement matters and has earned numerous accolades for his work. Steven has advanced degrees in Philosophy and Law and has written several books on law enforcement and several fictional titles being prepared for publication. His writings have been published in at least one law review and cited by many others. Mr. Starklight has settled on the west coast and is married with two children. He enjoys spending time with his family, writing, and putting perps in jail.

    Related to Vengeance

    Related ebooks

    Thrillers For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Wayétu Moore

      Jun 15, 2018

      Lai was hidden in the middle of forests when the Vai people found it. There was evidence of earlier townsmen there, as ends of stoneware and crushed diamonds were found scattered on hilltops in the unexpected company of domestic cats. But when the Va

      29 min read

    • Article

      Ursula K. Le Guin

      Jun 15, 2018

      He was thinking of Lookfar, abandoned long ago, beached on the sands of Selidor. Little of her would be left by now, a plank or two down in the sand maybe, a bit of driftwood on the western sea. As he drifted near sleep he began to remember sailing t

      15 min read

    • Article

      The Last Lady of California

      Apr 6, 2021

      The Last Lady of California
      16 min read

    • Article

      DULCE DOMUM From The Wind In The Willows

      Nov 1, 2022

      DULCE DOMUM From The Wind In The Willows
      11 min read

    • Article

      Equinox

      May 18, 2022

      In this strange world, where identities change with the rising and setting of the sun, supernatural forces are at work – and they’re causing trouble… St Leonars prison was an appropriately imposing building. It rose out of the surrounding shacks and

      5 min read

    • Article

      Intarsia

      Feb 6, 2020

      Intarsia
      6 min read

    • Article

      Idolatry

      Sep 1, 2022

      My grandfather Dave Pinsky’s disregard for the practice of Judaism as a religion was so calm and perfect that he didn’t seem to express his feelings about piety and rabbi-craft except implicitly, by living his profane life. Without warning, Zaydee Po

      14 min read

    • Article

      Secrets From The Past

      May 18, 2022

      Secrets From The Past
      8 min read

    • Article

      A Parsonage in New Hope

      Dec 4, 2023

      A Parsonage in New Hope
      12 min read

    • Article

      Saint Cuthbert’s Incorruptible Body

      Sep 8, 2020

      In the year of our Lord 687, in cause of an early, wet spring, the body of Saint Cuthbert was laid in the ground to rest. On the tomb were figured angels and seraphim of plain but wonderful design. And among these flitted cherubs, like apricots set i

      19 min read

    • Article

      Katharine Kilalea

      Dec 15, 2017

      Katharine Kilalea
      37 min read

    • Article

      The Art of Poetry No. 116

      Mar 19, 2024

      The Art of Poetry No. 116
      32 min read

    • Article

      Brontez Purnell, Fiction

      Mar 21, 2018

      Brontez Purnell, Fiction
      3 min read

    • Article

      Quantum Radio

      Feb 22, 2023

      Quantum Radio
      5 min read

    • Article

      Notes from St. John the Divine

      Oct 3, 2022

      I wondered whether Joan would have been pleased by any of this. The post Notes from St. John the Divine appeared first on The Millions.

      6 min read

    • Article

      Peace Comes With A Smile

      Nov 11, 2019

      Peace Comes With A Smile
      8 min read

    • Article

      Lucky Were the Bodies

      May 3, 2022

      Lucky Were the Bodies
      8 min read

    • Article

      Secrets From The Past

      May 18, 2022

      Secrets From The Past
      8 min read

    • Article

      Elsi, The Strange Maid

      Aug 29, 2018

      Elsi, The Strange Maid
      17 min read

    • Article

      Venice Peach

      Oct 2, 2023

      1. THE DRESSMAKER AND THE HIDDEN SOLDIER by Doug Gold (A&U) WWII thriller about Kiwi soldier and Greek dressmaker 2. SUMMER FAVOURITES by Vanya Insull (A&U) Recipes from @vj_cooks 3. TE REO KAPEKAPE: Māori Wit and Humour by Hona Black (Oratia) Having

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Witch Finders

      Jul 16, 2020

      Beth pulled her cloak tightly around her. It was the very last day of October and the air was damp and chill. Dead autumn leaves lay in deep piles in the woods and smoke curled into the night air from her cottage. Not far to go now. She bent her head

      4 min read

    • Article

      Angel Lust

      Jan 25, 2022

      Angel Lust
      8 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Vengeance

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Vengeance - Steven Starklight

      נקמה

      Vengeance:

      A Short Tale of the Golem

      By Steven Starklight

      A Smashwords Edition

      Copyright 2012 Steven Starklight

      Discover Other Titles by Steven Starklight at Smashwords.com.

      PROLOGUE

      Deep within the dark forests of Lodz, beneath the detritus of springs and summers past, below the snow banks and ice, within the frozen breast of Poland itself, lay a relic, a sleeping tool of righteous vengeance, made of the same earth in which it lies, forgotten by time. Formed from ancient prayers and pure despair, made only of those ingredients found in plenty by those with nothing, he was given life once, clenching his fists and opening a mouth of clay as if to scream, but made only of clay, his scream was silent. Golem.

      CHAPTER 1

      December 1944. Lodz, Poland

      Tzippi knelt in the snow cradling what remained of her husband’s head. She had to wait until she was certain that the Gestapo had left before sneaking out from their small apartment across from the temple where he had held services just hours before. Now, shivering in the icy cold darkness of a Polish winter, she held her husband as he took his last few short, rattling breaths, and then it was only her, alone, clutching the corpse of the town’s only rabbi.

      She had heard the commotion outside and came running to the window in time to see them drag him out of the temple and toss him into the street. Then the beating started with a flurry of boots, sticks, and fists. They used a boot knife to saw at his peyas, tossing them into the snow. She wanted to scream but knew what would happen if they heard her. Tzippi waited for them to leave, seeing their icy, bluish tinged faces under the cold streetlights, taking a step back behind the gauzy drapes when one glanced up to her window as if hearing her thoughts. Their children stood, terrified, behind her, afraid to go near the window; however, they all hear the final shot of the Luger. When they finally gathered the courage to approach the glass, they all saw the pink and white heap in the middle of the street, a sprinkling of snow collecting in places.

      Most of their small congregation had also watched the ordeal from the tenement in which most of them lived. No Jews slept at night in Poland; a knock at their door was enough to cause a heart attack or nervous breakdown. But they had all watched the Rabbi tortured and murdered, unable to turn away, silent witness to the atrocities of the Nazis. As Tzippi kneeled at his body, covered in his blood, they crept out into the street to lift him up and carry him into the temple. No-one said a word. The Nazis never cleaned up after themselves; they left their messes for the Jews to clean up. She remained in the bloody snow a moment longer, then looked up to their little apartment window, seeing her children watching their little faces expressionless in their shock.

      The next morning, Tzippi tended to her children, and then did her wifely duty of burying her husband. She then went through the motions of tending to his flock. She watched the clock, and as the hours passed, so too did her resolve. Jews do not suffer their dead to remain long above the earth, and by nightfall he was resting in Poland’s soil. Death had become so commonplace for the Jews of Poland that by the next day he was forgotten by most, or at least put out of their mind. He was not forgotten by Tzippi. She left her children with some close friends later that evening, and she walked across the street toward the temple.

      The temple was in an ancient part of their ancient town, a rough hewn tribute to the work of stonemasons long dead. It had been there for centuries. Tzippi unlocked the great doors and entered the old, chilly foyer, past the mezuzah. Kissing her hand and resting it on the little cylinder on her way in, she walked briskly past the foyer and toward a recessed door in the back. This door she also un-locked, then paused to light a match, then a candle. There were no bulbs, no electricity in this part of the building. The candle cast the stairs leading down in a macabre glow. The temple had been destroyed twice by fire and rebuilt, but the foundation and most of this basement was part of the original structure from the 1600’s. Tzippi reflected briefly upon the temple history’s similarity to that of Solomon’s great temple, re-claimed long ago by the earth. She finally arrived at another door, in the very back of this basement. This door was smaller than the others, perhaps three quarters the size of a normal door, and made from ancient wood of unknown origin, roughly cut, but strong. The door was unlocked.

      Tzippi opened the door. Beyond was

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1