Blood Demon: Revenge

By Paul Zunckel

Pure evil that walks in the African bush. Born of blood and a desire for revenge.
An evil that devours – called up from the darkness.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Paul Zunckel
• Release date: Oct 31, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311678669

Book preview

Book Three in The Blood Trilogy

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the publisher / author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to places, events or persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

ISBN Number: 978 1311678669

© Paul Zunckel

Paul Zunckel was born in Zimbabwe, then known as Rhodesia. His family moved to South Africa where he completed his schooling in Kwa-Zulu Natal.

He started to write in August 2014, about something that is close to his heart... Africa. The mysteries, the superstitions, and all the beauty and treachery of the land. He holds his wife responsible for the road he is now traveling, as she was the driving force behind him in his Debut novel, Blood Moon over Africa. Since then, the stories line up to be told.

Paul loves to write as it takes him into another world, and he enjoys the reaction that he receives from readers.

Paul resides in the Eastern Cape, South Africa with his wife.

Review for Blood Moon Over Africa

This is a fabulously well-written story, it tells the story of the old ways, witchdoctors, medicine men, of tribal belief, the things that scare the tribes, the information is endless, you cannot help but be compelled to read on, to follow the journey to the end, keep praying for a miracle because this pair along with their friends and helpers are going to need more than help, they are going to need every ounce of their wits, their courage, their skills, and prayers to protect them!"

Review for Blood Spoor In The Dark

A very well written follow up to his Blood Moon [Over Africa]. The characters in the novel are believable and I found them growing on me. The story is fast paced with twists and turns. The use of superstition and the suspense it creates grips you as a reader and makes it a very worthwhile read.

Review for Blood Demon: Revenge

WOW! Any time a writer can make me miss dinner because I am reading, that is a huge deal, and Paul Zunckel did just that! Each scene is one of those that makes a reader squirm and the tension is fantastic. Thank you!

Review for The Devil in Eden

An evil that will not be defeated by faith or goodness, neither with inner strength, but with cunning to stay ahead of this mass murderer's game, perseverance and a good dose of sheer luck. The book is a blend of thriller and nail-biting suspense. I would recommend that you read all of this author's books, you will not be disappointed.

Dedications

This book is dedicated to all my readers. I hope you are enjoying the ride.

To my lovely wife, Lucie for all her support. My children Keli& Shane.

The Cover

Full credit for the awesome cover goes to The Book Khaleesi and I would like to thank and acknowledge Eeva as the illustrator.

Last but not least to the Lord God above for blessing me so abundantly.

Other Titles by this author

Blood Moon Over Africa

Blood Spoor In The Dark

The Devil In Eden

Mask of Deceit

Into The Darkness

Fangs Of Fury

Short Story Compilation: Smoke That Thunders

Smoke That Thunders

The Anniversary

The Cottage

BloodDemon: Revenge

Book Three in The Blood Trilogy

By

Paul Zunckel

© Paul Zunckel

Prologue

The color of the suitcase catches her eye as it moves along the conveyor belt with the others being loaded onto the connecting flight to Port Elizabeth. She looks around to see where the supervisor is, as it’s been two weeks since she last helped herself to a passenger’s luggage. And this one was very tempting as if came off an international flight.

Quickly, with practiced ease, she removes the case and slips it into a dark corner of the loading area, ready to be picked up and taken home when she goes off duty. No one will say anything as airline luggage always seems to go missing when in transit.

She boards the taxi that will take her home, clutching the case with practiced ease, giving one the impression it belonged to her to anyone that might look her way. The contents of the suitcase feel the change in temperature as she holds it against her body and moves amongst the clothes, closer to the source of heat.

Her thoughts are filled with wild imaginations of what wonderful things she’ll find in the case and she hurries home so that she can inspect her ill-gotten gains, if there is nothing in there of any value she can always sell it to a neighbor. At least the only one to lose is the passenger waiting in Port Elizabeth for their luggage to arrive.

She throws the case on her bed; the jolt causes the contents to coil in defense under the clothes. The lock is broken and the suitcase opened. She plunges her hands into the clothes, her look of greed turns to terror as pain shoots up her right arm, she pulls her hand back and screams for attached to her wrist is a 73 cm Bush Viper, its fangs buried deep into her flesh.

Maria will not be helping herself to any more luggage anytime soon, for the venom of the snake works quickly. Its work is done, the snake moves off and slowly slithers underneath the bed and coils up, at rest.

Chapter 1

Like a sauna, the Zambezi valley is hot under the African sun as Piet signals to the group following him through the bush to stop. Up ahead are what they have been looking for and the rumble from their bellies and the sound of breaking branches carry to the group. Excitement ripples through them as they have finally found a herd of elephant. Piet moves back to the group and quietly runs through the safety instructions with them once again, ensuring that they understand that these are wild animals and not some domestic dog that you can scratch behind the ear.

Slowly they move towards the herd, the group in awe at the size of the creatures just ahead of them. A young bull raises his trunk to the sky to test the air, followed by a few more of his relatives but Piet is not worried as they are approaching the herd from downwind and their eyesight is not that good either. The group gets into position and start shooting.

The soft whirl of the video camera, the click of a shutter as photo after photo of the elephants are taken, and finally when Piet feels that enough is enough he signals to them to backtrack slowly, and he leads his group back to the camp where an ice cold beer is waiting.

It was now two months since his return from the Congo and Piet had recovered from his knife wound and settled back into family life, his business is doing well and his only problem at the moment was to reject the advances of the young ladies in his group who thought a roll in the hay with the Big Game Hunter was all a part of the package.

Nee this bloody life is a joke, a man wanders around the bush without a ring on the finger and nothing, now they are like the bloody mosquitoes, and they can’t seem to get enough of me. Fok Peggy would give me a fokken snot klap, man I would rather wrestle with a croc, than tangle with her.

***

Veronica had returned to her post as H.O.D. of the Department of African Culture along with Ben, and both of them had put the Congo behind them and buried themselves back in the work they loved.

She had chalked up her missing suitcase as just another victim to fall foul to the sticky hands that handle the airline luggage and put in a claim for the missing clothes. It was not the first time that some of her luggage never reached its intended destination.

***

Piet, saved by the bell hears the sound of an approaching vehicle and quickly excuses himself from the advances and almost clutches of the three young women and walks over to greet the driver.

Shit those three give man-eating a whole new meaning. They’re like the bloody Honey Badger around the fucking honey pot.

The driver hands Piet a telegram marked urgent. He notices that it’s from the Congo.

"To Mr. Piet Van Zyl,

It is with regret that we inform you of the death of Inspector Roger McCollins. He was attacked by a lion in his room and did not survive the ordeal. The indication is that the animal gained access to his room through the door and mauled him in his bed. The inspector was found dead the next day. No sounds of any struggle were heard during the night, nor was there any indication of how the animal gained access to the compound.

For any further information regarding this unfortunate incident, please contact us on the number below.

Regards."

Chapter 2

The white man moves confidently along the corridor towards his destination, the suit that he’s wearing blends in perfectly with his surroundings of Government House. It is a far cry from the attire that he wore when he paid Inspector Roger a surprise visit in the dead of the night. He turns into an open reception area and informs the receptionists that he’s expected and has an appointment with the man inside.

He enters the spacious office to be greeted by a smile from the man behind the desk, as he rises and extends his hand in greeting. The Rolex slips on his wrist and the claw scar is visible for a second. Sean, it’s good to see you and thank you for taking care of that small problem that I had, you did very well and earned your bonus. I see from the police report as well as the papers that a lion has been credited for the killing, which is exactly the impression that I wanted to create.

It was a pleasure Sir, the claws have been fashioned and designed to give the appearance of a lion kill, plus a few hairs of the cat left on his body helped to point the authorities in the direction that we wanted them to go in. It was no problem, and he never even knew what hit him.

That’s good news Sean, you came highly recommended and I feel that it was money well spent. Now onto another small problem that I have and this problem goes by the name of Veronica Strydom. She lives in a little town called Grahamstown and is a lecturer at the university there. I need you to erase this problem for me in the same way you erased the Inspector.

That shouldn’t be a problem Sir; if I travel on a diplomatic visa I’ll be able to get the claws into South Africa without a problem and I should be able to track her down fairly easily.

That’s good to hear, your fee will be transferred to your account in the morning and your visa will be waiting for you at departures along with your air ticket. I take it that you are able to leave in the morning?

As ready as always Sir, but if you don’t mind, might I ask, what about the man, Piet Van Zyl, if I am traveling that way, why don’t we kill two birds with one stone, as they say?

"Sean, your enthusiasm for your job never ceases to amaze me, but the answer is no, I have special plans for Mr. van Zyl. I intend to make this man suffer for killing my uncle, but