Scapulimancist (Seven Forbidden Arts Book 7)

by Charmaine Pauls

“Walk.” He nudged her between the shoulder blades.

  “Where are you taking me?” she said, her words blurring together in a strange echo in her mind.

  “I’ve got a score to settle with you, bitch. Then I’m collecting my money. I know exactly how much you’re worth.”

  In the truck, he tied her wrists and feet with rope and sealed her mouth with duct tape. She could still escape, if only the drugs wore off in time.

  * * * *

  After leaving Bella and Dumile with Christian, Wayne borrowed Christian’s truck and drove back to the police station to get Sara. There was no time to go back to the cabin for his rifle. Christian had offered his, but he wasn’t going to implicate his only buddy in his war by using his firearm. He’d take on Mulder with his bare hands if he had to. Odier was on his way, but it might be too late.

  Arriving at the police station, he was met with chaos. Police vehicles and an ambulance barricaded the entrance to the parking lot. Officers swarmed the building. What the fuck was happening? His gut twisting into a knot, he parked on the curb in the street and rushed to the station. He was just in time to see Mulder’s mangled body being carried on a stretcher out of the building. There was blood everywhere. Looked like his throat had been ripped out. A paramedic zipped a body bag up over the corpse. Another body on the pavement, covered with a white sheet, made him want to go into fight mode. Where was Sara?

  He fought his way through a group of policemen toward the entrance, but an officer he knew from the bar, a man called Dave, stopped him before he reached the door.

  “You can’t enter. This is a murder scene.”

  “Who were killed?”

  “Can’t say anything.”

  “A woman…” He dragged his hands through his hair. “Is one of them a woman?”

  Dave pursed his lips. “Can’t say.”

  “My…” What was Sara? “My woman’s in there, for God’s sake. I need to fucking know!”

  Dave exhaled loudly. “The victims’s identities haven’t been confirmed.”

  “Brown hair, green eyes, tattoos.”

  Dave shook his head.

  Fuck that. He ran to the first gurney on which the body from the pavement had been placed and lifted the sheet. It wasn’t Sara. It was … not human.

  “Hey!” Dave said. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  Relief replaced some of his panic, but not all. “Who is he?”

  “Get out of here,” the medic said.

  He turned to the officer. “There was a woman inside. Where is she?”

  Dave rested a hand on his pistol holster. “If you don’t remove yourself, I’ll do it with force.”

  “Just tell me if she’s all right. Mulder locked her in the archive room.”

  “I said–”

  “She’s my fucking woman, Dave!”

  The officer stilled. His stance relaxed slightly. “There was no one inside.” He cocked his head. “Where were you during the last hour?”

  “With my lawyer and friends.”

  “I’ll need that in a statement.” He smoothed his hair back. “Go home, West, and stay off the booze.”

  Wayne watched the ambulance pull off with a sinking feeling. Someone killed Mulder and whoever that creature was. That same someone took Sara. Of that he was sure. He didn’t even know where to start looking. All he knew was that time was running out. He needed eyes and ears on the ground. The only people who he could ask for help, were his people. He got into his truck and drove to the Xhosa settlement.

  Zandi exited her hut with Khwezi when he parked, her eyes wary. “Where’s Nkosi?”

  “At Christian’s place. Don’t worry. He’s safe.”

  She clasped a hand over her mouth. “Thank you, God. Thank you. Mulder just came and took him.”

  “It’s my fault.” Khwezi looked at the ground. “Mulder said he’d let Nkosi go if we told the truth, so I only told him what I knew.”

  “Look at me, boy.” He waited for Khwezi to comply. “What do you know?”

  Khwezi wrung his hands together. “She’s sangoma, West. I saw her, when she came here.”

  “Tell me what you saw.”

  Khwezi glanced at Zandi, but the woman’s face was unreadable.

  “She opened her bag,” Khwezi said, “and a snake crawled out.”

  “What kind of snake?” Wayne said.

  “A Cape Cobra.”

  “Then what?”

  “She opened her bag before she left, over there, by her Jeep, and the snake sailed back in.” He cast fearful eyes at Wayne. “It wasn’t Nkosi. He didn’t do it.”

  Wayne sighed and ruffled the boy’s hair. “It wasn’t Sara, either. I don’t know who was behind this, but I’ll find out.” He went down on his haunches in front of the boy. “It’s not your fault.”

  Khwezi only averted his eyes again.

  “Say it, Khwezi,” Wayne said.

  The boy gave him an uncertain stare.

  “Let me hear you,” Wayne prompted.

  “It’s not my fault.”

  “Don’t you ever forget that.” He turned to Zandi. “I need help. Sara’s missing. Mulder locked her up, but there was an attack on the police station.” He lowered his voice. “Mulder’s dead.”

  She stared at him, the whites of her eyes huge. “You haven’t heard, then.”

  “Heard what?”

  “Another one of the hunters… He’s dead.”

  As he processed the information, he couldn’t find his voice. He already knew the answer, but he had to ask. “How?”

  She glanced at Khwezi before answering. “Snake bite. We just got word from one of the rangers who works at the big house.”

  “Damn.” He wiped a hand over his face. This wasn’t looking good for Sara. “She’s innocent, Zandi. I have to help her.”

  “Our people don’t want to get involved.”

  “Does anyone know something? Anything that can help?”

  “West, I appreciate what you’ve done for Nkosi, but I don’t need trouble.”

  “I loved Mariana. You know that. I love this woman, too. If she’s gone, I won’t have a reason to carry on. I’ll have nothing left. You understand that, don’t you?”

  She sighed, turning her eyes toward the forest. Finally, she gave a low whistle. Men and boys advanced from the dense vegetation.

  “We need to help West find Sara,” she said. “Someone took her from the police station.”

  The men were good trackers. On top of that, locals who wouldn’t talk to strangers or the police would talk to them.

  “Please,” Wayne said, “anything you hear or see, let me know. You have a phone, Zandi?”

  “I’ll call you.”

  “Thank you.” He turned to face the men. “I’ll start at Clive Theron’s farm.” He needed to question the hunters. If he could find out who was behind the attacks, it could lead him to Sara. When Sara was safe, he’d have a word with Clive about the fire.

  “I need men around the police station,” he continued, “and some in town. We have to check the airport, and the area around Woodcutters, just in case she got away and is hiding in the forest. Anything you find out, call me or Zandi.”

  The men dispersed one by one, their bare feet falling silently on the soil. Putting his emotions aside, he drove to Clive’s place. He had to keep a clear head, or he’d be worthless to the woman who’d stolen her way into his heart. He prayed it wasn’t too late. He couldn’t live with it. Not this time.

  * * * *

  Thinus dragged Sara from the truck up the steps of the house. With her feet tied, she couldn’t walk. The duct tape made it difficult to breathe. She inhaled and exhaled through her nose, trying not to hyperventilate in her panic. Her mind was clear enough to process what was happening, but it was as if she didn’t have control over her thoughts. She saw monkeys bouncing through a minefield of knives protruding from the ground. It wasn’t real. She pinched her eyes shut for a moment and held onto the knowledge. Not real.
>
  Clive exited onto the porch, a pipe in his mouth. “What in God’s name are you doing, boy?”

  “Makin’ us some money.”

  He lowered his voice. “Get her back into the Land Rover.” He threw his pipe down on the veranda table. “Your mother is in the house, for God’s sake.”

  They bundled her back into the vehicle. Clive got into the passenger seat while Thinus took the wheel.

  “Drive to the barn.”

  Thinus complied broodingly, watching her from time to time in the rearview mirror. Once he’d parked behind a big, wooden building, they dragged her from the Land Rover and half-shoved, half-carried her inside. There was a smell of hay in the air. Bales of sorghum were stacked up on the one side. The area was deserted with no one there but them.

  Clive lowered his head and stared into her eyes. “Is she drugged?”

  “Figured it out,” Thinus said proudly. “If she’s fucked, she can’t control no animals.”

  “What’s she doing fucked on my property?”

  “After plantin’ that snake in Manfred’s bed, the town started crawlin’ with feds. I heard Mulder talkin’ to one of them, sayin’ he’d made a deal to sell her out to some weird-ass shifter. The fed said she was worth a few million, ten maybe, so I figured we might as well get the ten mil. Mulder said he’d keep her in jail until the shifter showed up to collect his prize. I waited for the shifter to show and killed the asshole. Easy as pie. That stupid lizard thought I had peanuts for brain cells, but he got a dose of his own medicine.” Thinus gave her a shove. “Not so powerful now, are you?”

  Her knees caved in. She barely managed to drop down on the bale behind her instead of hitting the floor.

  “Are you out of your mind?” Clive pressed a finger against his temple. “What do you have in that skull of yours? Pumpkin pips?”

  Thinus stiffened. “It’s ten mil.”

  “Do you think we need the money? This farm is worth ten times that. What if you sell her, and she manages to escape? She’ll come back for revenge. Have you thought about that? Do you think a man willing to buy a woman is going to leave us around as evidence?” His voice raised in volume. “I don’t fucking think so, and that lizard or snake or what the hell ever you killed, he’ll have friends. Don’t you know nothing about nature? You kill a snake, and his mate comes crawling out of its hole. It won’t stop until it’s bitten you in the heel, like the sly bastards they are. Where exactly did you whack him?”

  Thinus’s moustache trembled as he clenched his jaw. “At the station.”

  “The police fucking station?”

  “Yeah. So what?”

  “Did anyone see you?”

  Thinus pulled himself to his full height. “I’m not stupid. Mulder was out dead like a candle. There was no one in the parking. The police will think she did it.” He kicked at her ankles with his boot. “I made it look like she escaped. If they find the venom in the dead fucker’s system, they’ll think she sent another snake to bite him.”

  “Did you leave fingerprints?”

  “Nah. I didn’t touch him. Not directly, in any case.”

  “Did you tell anyone else about the snake man?”

  “Only she knows.”

  Clive took a snuffbox from his pocket and inserted a pinch of tobacco in each nostril. He sniffed, studying her. “You really are a dumb son of a bitch, you know that? You should’ve just planted the snake in Manfred’s bed like I told you and left the scheming up to me. I had her and West and those damn Xhosas exactly where we wanted them. I should’ve had Nelis as a son, not a halfwit like you.” His voice rose steadily. “At least he managed to burn down that whore’s house without disobeying my orders!”

  She went colder than what she already was. Clive and Thinus were responsible for Manfred’s death, and they set fire to someone’s house. They were going to kill her.

  “West and the sangoma walked free, so your plan was a dumb move,” Thinus said with a challenge in his voice.

  Clive grabbed a fistful of Thinus’s shirt collar. “Don’t you talk down to me, boy. Don’t you forget your place, now. I’m still your old man, and you’re still a half-brained monkey! My plan worked exactly the way I wanted. West had to sell out to make bail. That last piece of land he managed to hold onto is ours.”

  Wayne did what? She nearly swallowed her tongue.

  “With the talk about witchdoctor magic,” Clive continued, “the town council was ready to approve my plea to relocate the Xhosas to a settlement on the Cape Flats, making sure they can never lay a finger on our land, no matter what they claim their birthright to be. Last but not least, we had a shifter taking care of our dirty work by getting rid of her.” He pointed a finger at Sara. “Now we’ve got to get rid of her, all because of you. She’s a witness. She saw you doing it.”

  “What about the money?”

  “It ain’t worth the risk. We own the whole valley, now. The route from here to the coast runs over our land. No one can stop us from transporting the yellowwood to the harbor, because nobody will trespass on my land. In two years, we’ll make double with the yellowwood than what we’ll make with her. If we can get our hands on that old elephant the Xhosas say still hides in the forest, we can add another million for her teeth. Now that we own the property running next to the forest, we have an open door to the wood and ivory.”

  Anger burst through her veins. Fury pulsed in her temples. Insults formed in her mind but none of the vile words found a way to her uncooperative mouth. It was as if the neurons in her brain were severed from her body. She could think, but not act. The best she could manage was a charge that took all of her willpower and energy. She kicked up some dust, but Thinus halted her with nothing more than a kick in the knee. Falling aside, she rolled around on the ground, moaning with pain.

  “What about her?” Thinus said, shooting her a disgruntled look.

  “We’re gonna make it look like an honest to God accident.” Clive’s smile slowly broadened, and then his eyes turned hard. “Have you camped off the lions for the canning like I told you to?”

  Thinus nodded. “They haven’t fed in days. Must be starvin’ by now.”

  “Put her in the Landy.” Clive pointed a finger at Thinus. “I’m sick of cleaning up behind you. This’ll be the last time.”

  This was it. She was getting murdered. Sweat broke out on her body as Thinus threw her over his shoulder and dumped her for the third time that day like a sack of potatoes into the back of the Land Rover. Clive took a rifle from the back and slung it over his shoulder. Both men got in, Thinus taking the wheel. During the ride, she tried to focus, to get her art to work, but she was too heavily drugged. She was on the verge of having another panic attack, like back there in the forest when they drugged her the first time. It would only make everything worse.

  If they were going to feed her to the lions, it would be sweet mercy to black out before. Tears she had no control over trickled down her cheeks. She’d never been more terrified in her life. Her body lifted and connected painfully with the seat each time they hit a pothole. It felt as if her skull was being split in two, and her ribs got bruised from the impact, but it was nothing compared to the terror that waited.

  Too soon, they cleared the gate on the highest part of the farm.

  “Keep your eyes open,” Clive said. “We don’t wanna get a surprise when those lions charge.”

  She pinched her eyes shut and prayed. It was all she could do.

  “There’s a female,” Thinus said.

  “Yeah. I see her. Where’s the pack?”

  “There. At the bottom of the hill.”

  “Stop here. Let me test the wind.”

  The Land Rover came to a jerky halt. Clive got out and rounded the vehicle, the rifle aimed in front of him.

  He licked his finger and stuck it in the air. “We’ll put her upwind and wait downwind.”

  “Why don’t we just leave?” Thinus said, sounding nervous.

  “Don’t have the stoma
ch for it, boy?” Clive gurgled and spat on the ground. “Never walk away if you haven’t seen with your own two eyes that the job’s done.” He put the sling of the rifle back over his shoulder. “Help me carry her.”

  Together, they lifted her from the back and carried her to a rocky outcrop. For what it was worth, she tried to kick and scream. At the same time, she didn’t want to attract the lions’s attention. She tried to shake her head, to beg, but she could only blink. They propped her up against a rock.

  “Keep an eye on that female,” Clive said, taking a whip that was tucked into the back of his waistband.

  “She’s far. She ain’t sniffin’ us yet,” Thinus whispered. “What you doin’?”

  Clive grabbed the lapels of her shirt and tore it open, buttons flying everywhere. He pushed the fabric over her shoulders and down her arms. “The smell of blood will draw her quicker.” He took a step back and lifted his arm. When he brought it down, the whip cut across her torso from her shoulder to her ribs.

  The burn was excruciating. If she could scream, she would’ve. The second lash tore through the air, the sound cutting through her even before the sting. A thin trickle of blood dripped from where the skin was broken in a large X over her upper body.

  “Hurry,” Thinus said, “the lion’s liftin’ her head. She’s gonna catch the scent.”

  “Downhill,” Clive said, “behind that boulder. The wind is going the opposite way.”

  The two men made their way down the mountain, leaving her bleeding against the rock. The lioness pricked her ears. She lifted her chin to the air. Her powerful body rose from the tall grass. She stood up straight, all of her attention focused to the outcrop. The feline hollowed her back and drew back her ears. Slowly, she stalked her way across the mountain until she was so close that Sara could see the black lines around her eyes. Her lips pulled back. Sharp canines protruded. Her nostrils flared. Her muscled body tensed. It was over. The lioness was going to pounce.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The farm was too quiet for that time of the afternoon. Not even a dog came out to greet him. Wayne parked and made his way to the house. Emily exited with red eyes and a pale face before he reached the porch.