One of the 13 stories in A Friday the 13th Story #9: Cauldron of Contempt by Robert Herold
Fun Fact:
The reliquary vandalized in this story actually exists at Saint James Cathedral in Seattle and contains a bone fragment of the apostle. The object is kept in a safe and is displayed on special occasions. In Cauldron of Contempt, a witch breaks open the statue and steals the relic. She uses the relic as a lure to get the protagonists to travel to Iraq, where she intends to kill them. (No actual relics were harmed in the making of this story!) Here is a picture of the real reliquary:
About Cauldron of Contempt:
The witch, Maara Chandler, is horribly injured in a fire and plots revenge against the Metcalf family, beginning with the theft of a sacred object. Can the Metcalfs survive her brutal machinations? Award-winning series! “The must-read supernatural series of the year!” – N. N. Light’s Book Heaven
Excerpt:
Maara surveyed her burned left arm, then the other, then looked down at her torso and legs. Her clothes, except for a few burnt fragments somehow clinging to her body, no longer covered her. Her formerly pale skin now looked charred, interspersed with red, pink, yellow, and brown. Some of the flesh on her left arm appeared to have melted, hanging from her forearm like the waddle below a turkey’s beak. Small drips of flesh hung from her fingers.
Maara saw her grimoire, her book of spells, where she set it against the base of the wall in the hallway. She wanted it out of the way when she confronted the Metcalfs. Bound to her and the source of much of her power, the book was the key to her recovery from her burns.
She lurched over and grasped it with her right hand, which still worked. But as soon as she touched it, the book unaccountably burst into flames.
About the Author:
Seattleite Robert Herold is a horror writer and author of the award-winning Eidola Project novels and the Seattle Coven Tales. In addition, Mr. Herold’s work has appeared in anthologies and on the Saturday Evening Post’s website. His adaptation of Witch Ever Way You Go, recently won Best Television Pilot Script in the Dublin Movie Awards. linktr.ee/robertheroldauthor
Author Alicia Dean 