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About the book:
A young girl is brutally murdered. Two rival crime bosses fight for dominance on the streets of South Africa’s capital city.
The city’s underground film industry is set ablaze.
An angry spirit bent on revenge is on a murder spree. And Alice, a university student, is caught in the middle of a bloody battle for survival.
Their fates all intertwine in this tale of vengeance and fury.
Excerpt:
Alice listened at the door.
Their whole story sounded completely ridiculous. Ghosts! How many drugs had these guys consumed? She’d thought Ivan would have been the voice of reason, but when he bought into their shared delusion she couldn’t take it anymore and decided she needed that bath after all. She needed to wash the smell of him off.
She hated the fact that she’d enjoyed having him inside her. She hated that his touch exhilarated her. She didn’t want to want him. She wanted to loath him and hated that she didn’t. He’d saved her from a bloody and painful end. He’d saved her from ending up like that girl they now thought was haunting them. It was all complete and utter madness.
Thankfully the en-suite bathroom didn’t sport the hunting motif found all over the rest of the house. The bath tub was big enough for two and had those amazing massage jets she’d always dreamed of having in a bath when she was older. She’d never imagined she’d be soaking in some killer’s bathtub waiting for a Bulgarian mob boss to join her, though. It was all very surreal.
Alice sunk back into the hot water. The foam bubbles tickled her chin. The water jets pummelled her sore muscles. She’d forgotten how much of a workout sex could be. She’d never been a fan of exercise or sweating, but she had a feeling if she didn’t keep her figure looking good, Ivan would lose interest and she’d end up in one of those films.
‘Fuck,’ she mumbled as she sunk under the water to wet her hair and just enjoy the soothing warmth of the water.
The pressure on her chest was gradual.
She didn’t think anything of it at first. It was only when she tried to surface that things got strange. She was pushed back down and held under. The water obscured her vision and panic set in. Water splashed out of the bath as she struggled. Her lungs screamed for oxygen. Alice battled the panic that numbed her senses.
A part of her fear stricken mind gained control of her foot.
She tried to push the heel of her foot down on the plug, to try and get it to pop up. But the plug wouldn’t budge. No matter how hard she banged her foot down on it. The pop-up mechanism wouldn’t work. She missed the old type of plug her parents had in their place – the kind with a chain.
She peered up through the water. A hazy figure loomed over her. Alice tried to grip whatever was on her chest. It felt like a thin, bony arm, but there wasn’t a hand, just a stump where the hand should have been.
It pushed down on her sternum. Her lungs were desperate for air as she tried to push up against what was holding her down. She thrashed and kicked against the bathtub. Yet more water flooded out onto the floor. But still she was pushed down and couldn’t come up.
The more she fought the more air she needed. Panic gripped her. She couldn’t hold her breath any longer, and opened her mouth. She breathed in water. Whoever said drowning was the most pleasant way to go was a lying bastard who had clearly never experienced the sensation.
She coughed up the water she’d swallowed only to breathe in more through her nose. Her oxygen-deprived and panic-ridden brain started to shut down. Her vision got hazy. She stopped fighting. The pressure disappeared. She floated out of the water.
‘Breathe!’ Ivan screamed at her as he pounded on her chest.
She felt his lips and then there was air, sweet air, filling her lungs. Ivan pounded on her chest again and again. She spewed bath water all over him. She rolled over on the cold tiled floor. Her chest and ribs felt as though she’d been pushed through a compressor.
‘That is my girl. Just breathe,’ Ivan said while rubbing her back. ‘What were you trying to do? Were you trying to kill yourself?’ he asked once she had coughed up the last of the water.
‘No, of course not,’ Alice said between gasps for air. ‘Someone was in here holding me down… At least I think someone was here. I don’t know. It was all so… I don’t know what just happened.’
‘There is much I need to tell you. I thought you would be safe from her, but it would seem her anger is also aimed at you, which I do not understand. You have not done anything to deserve her anger,’ Ivan said.
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