The Butcher Box Set Read online

  Contents

  The Butcher Books

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  Also by the Author

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Kallista

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty One

  Epilogue

  Sylvana

  Acknowledgements

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twleve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Epilogue

  Also by the Author

  About the Author

  Review a Book

  The Butcher Books

  A Complete Collection

  By

  Sian B. Claven

  Tatum

  By

  Sian B. Claven

  COPYRIGHT 2017 Sian B. Claven

  All characters; events and establishments in this publication,

  other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious

  and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely

  coincidental.

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be

  reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any

  form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing

  of the author.

  Cover Design by Raven Designs

  Editing by Redwing Productions

  Boxset Cover by Alternative Author Designs

  Dedicated to Jackie, I will always choose you.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  The reason Tatum is here is because I have amazing people in my life who help me always.

  First and foremost a huge thank you to Poppet - without the cover I would never have come up with Tatum.

  To my mom, thank you for being the best mom I could ask for and for always encouraging me when I am down.

  To Jackie, thank you for listening to my endless plotting of Tatum and for always being excited that it’s almost done. It’s done. You can have a copy now.

  To Darren; Kayla, Caitlin and Kels, thank you for being my inspiration and being the light in my life. Although we might be separated in space, you are always in my heart.

  To Danielle Swanepoel, thanks for being that amazing friend who reminds me when I actually need to take time out for the people who contribute so much to my life. I am forever grateful for you.

  To TCC, you know who you are girls. Thanks for those endless whatsapp chats and for always listening to my spooky voice notes late at night.

  To my “wife” Toni, who sat with me on countless evenings helping me write, nap, eat, take care of myself, write some more and then do marketing. You are forever my #AuthorBestie.

  To my “husband” Darren Cox, thank you for always making sure we eat, and that we have coffee, and at least one good giggle and a hug whenever I see you. And for carrying heavy things. And for fixing the broken things. And well, for everything.

  To Ashleigh Giannoccaro, the book mama, for always being willing to help us out and for spending time with us to ensure that we are the best authors we can be. We appreciate your help so much.

  To Andrew Christie, I don’t know how you can be friends with such a stubborn hard headed person, but I am so happy you are. You help me be the better version of myself always.

  To my beta team! To Karen, Juliet, Lisa, Robyn, Ona and Brandi who took the time to read Tatum when it was just a word vomit and enjoyed it anyway. I love working with you ladies!

  Finally to all the authors, readers, bloggers and general members of Books & Everything. Thank you for always standing by me (in the interwebs) and giving me invaluable advice, great criticism and awesome books to read. We really are the best book group ever and our fearless leader has done an amazing job.

  Without further ado … the story …

  Other Books by this Author

  HORROR TITLES

  The Kiara Books

  Ensnared

  Liberation

  The Butcher Books

  Tatum

  Kallista

  Sylvana

  The Asylum Series

  Asylum I

  Asylum II

  The Watcher Series

  Watcher

  The Watched - Coming Soon

  To Watch - Coming Soon

  The Demon Cat Khristmas Specials

  Killer Kitteh Khristmas

  Merry Meow - Coming soon

  Jingle Fur - Coming soon

  Stand Alones

  The Culling

  #RIPJohn - Coming Soon

  Belladonna - Coming Soon

  Buried - Coming Soon

  Hex - Coming Soon

  Shh… - Coming Soon

  The Priestess - Coming Soon

  The Reaper- Coming Soon

  The Witch in the Woods - Coming Soon

  FANTASY TITLES

  A Spacehiker Adventure

  Unlikely Hero

  Hidden in Plain Sight - Coming Soon

  Homeward Bound - Coming Soon

  MURDER MYSTERY TITLES

  Bullseye - Coming Soon

  Stones - Coming Soon

  GENERAL FICTION TITLES

  Balancer Books

  Neutral Ground - Coming Soon

  Holy Demons - Coming Soon

  Prologue

  Tatum was in the house again. It wasn’t the one she lived in with her family, but it looked similar, which meant it might have been from the same neighbourhood. She was standing downstairs, near the entrance.

  It was the same as always. The door opened and he walked in; she couldn’t quite make out who he was because the house was dark, but from the silhouette, it seemed as if he wore a suit. He set a hard bag down with a sigh, before starting towards the staircase.

  As usual, Tatum had no control over her actions, so she followed as he walked slowly up the stairs. He paused halfway up - he always paused halfway - and Tatum didn’t want to look up, but she did.

  At the top of the stairs was a young woman, and the man looked up at her and his body stiffened. They knew each other; Tatum didn’t know how she knew they were married.

  Then it happened.

  Blood started to pour from between the wife’s legs. It gushed as though a tap had been turned on, and a steady stream of blood began to flow down the stairs. The man couldn’t move; he just stood there, watching his wife. Her stomach swelled, as though she was going through pregnancy on fast forward, and blood erupted
onto her belly, as though someone had cut her open Then the slit appeared; it started from the right side of her neck, her throat gradually splitting open as an invisible knife cut towards the left side of her neck. More blood streamed out before she slumped onto the stairs.

  Tatum shook as she tried to turn away, but the dream would not let her. Tears streamed over her face at the dull thud of the wife’s body hitting the floor. The sound echoed in the otherwise silent house.

  Standing in the dead woman’s place was a new woman. A young blonde, a girl, with short hair gelled back, her face painted like a skeleton, her stockings ripped, and wearing a black leotard, stared down at them. She opened her mouth, but there was no tongue and she could not speak. She lifted a hand holding a large knife and pointed it at the man.

  As she looked at Tatum, the skeleton girl rushed towards them … and Tatum woke up, sitting up in her bed with tears flowing.

  Chapter One

  “And then she just slumped down the stairs,” Tatum told her mother, finishing the recollection of the nightmare that had woken her in the middle of the night.

  Her mother, Luell, put a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon in front of her sixteen year old daughter and said, “That would have freaked me out as well. I told you not to eat so much chocolate before going to bed, Tatum.”

  “Yeah, Tatum, mama told you not …” her fourteen year old sister started to tease, but was silenced by her mother’s reproachful look.

  Luell flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder and out of the way. “Where is Sylva? She’s going to be late for school.”

  Tatum shrugged and looked at Kalli glued to her phone, spooning cereal into her mouth without missing as she scrolled through all her social media posts for the morning.

  “Sylvana, you need to come have breakfast, honey!” Luell’s soft voice sang out.

  Footsteps padded down the stairs and eleven year old Sylvana, the youngest of the three sisters, skipped into the kitchen and sat at the table. “Sorry, mama,” she said, pushing her hair out of her face so she could start on her eggs and bacon.

  Tatum twirled her red hair between her fingers.

  Hair was a funny thing in their family. Their mother and father had been blonde, but Tatum had long red hair, her sister Kallista had long brown hair and Sylvana had a mop of black. They often joked that they were adopted because they all looked so different. Tatum was short for her age, with round green eyes and freckles dotted across her face. Kalli was taller than Tatum, with dark grey-blue eyes, and she appeared a bit fuller in size too. Sylva was still growing, but already had the spray of freckles across her face and was clearly going to be tall.

  The three girls had once been thick as thieves, but after their father passed away after a mining accident the year before, they had drifted apart. Tatum became more withdrawn, while Kalli spent most of her time out socialising with friends. Sylva simply lived in a dream world and was always forgetting to do things; her teachers often complained that she didn’t pay enough attention to anything.

  Tatum finished her breakfast and took her plate to the sink to rinse it off. “I’ll see you all later,” she said as she dried her hands and scooped up her backpack. “I don’t want to be late.”

  Kissing her mother’s cheek, she walked out of the house to various half-hearted goodbyes from her sisters.

  Once outside, Tatum swung her backpack onto her back, looping her arms through the handles, and turned left to head to school. She didn’t pay attention to anything or anyone while she walked, uninterested in the goings on around her. Her thoughts kept drifting back to the nightmare. It had seemed so real, and it wasn’t the first time she had experienced it. It was really starting to freak her out.

  Engrossed in her thoughts, she didn’t notice that someone had fallen into step with her until it was too late. A sharp poke in the ribs on either side, along with a loud “BOO” from her friend Jacqui, made Tatum shriek in terror and nearly wet herself.

  Jacqui burst out laughing. “Oh, you should have seen your face, Tat!” She danced away from her best friend as Tatum tried to slap her arm. “You went ghost white.”

  Tatum crossed her arms. “You’re such a little witch, Jacqui! You know I hate it when you make me jump.” She stomped her way towards the school.

  Jacqui let out an evil cackle and stomped alongside her. “I know you hate it, that’s why I do it. That’s what best friends do!” When Tatum didn’t respond she moved forward and turned so that she was facing Tatum, walking backwards. “Aw, you love me and you know it.”

  Tatum cocked an eyebrow. “Perhaps I do, perhaps I don’t.”

  Jacqui smiled and fell back in step, hooking their arms together. “Did you get all that bull homework done last night?”

  Tatum nodded. “Yeah, I did, although I don’t know what I’m doing with accounting, so I’m probably going to fail that.”

  They chatted about how terrible their accounting teacher was before drifting to more social topics as they approached the building.

  “So there’s a party this Friday …” Jacqui mentioned casually. “And Roger is going to be there.”

  Roger, the boy Tatum had had a crush on since preschool, but never spoke to. Sometimes they would smile at each other in the cafeteria or in study hall.

  Tatum could feel the blush creeping up her cheeks. “Well, I hope you enjoy it, you know how I feel about parties.”

  Jacqui let Tatum go through the doors first before following. She took her friend’s hand and pulled her to one side. “Come on, Tat, you never go out. You always use some lame excuse to get out of socialising, and you need to get out there or you’ll end up becoming one of those lonely cat ladies when you’re old.”

  Tatum could feel sweat on her palms as she thought about it. “I hate parties. Everyone gets drunk and noisy and horrible …”

  Her best friend rolled her eyes. “How would you know? You haven’t been to a party all year! We should be out enjoying our youth!”

  Tatum gave an almighty sigh, pushing past Jacqui so she could make her way through the throng of students to get to her locker.

  Jacqui wasn’t giving up that easily. “I’m not asking you to lay your virginity out on a silver platter,” she hissed as Tatum opened her locker. “I’m just saying live a little. Just for an hour. Pleeeaaasssseee.”

  Shutting her locker, Tatum looked at Jacquie, whose bottom lip pretended to quiver, her eyes all big and round. “Fine,” she groaned. “Just stop making that stupid face. One hour! That’s all I’m coming out for, okay?”

  Jacqui squealed delight and gave Tatum a hug before they moved to her locker to offload her books. Their first class was the same, so they headed towards Maths, Jacqui excitedly telling Tatum what she should wear on Friday.

  The day could have ended sooner. With a double lesson of accounting at the very end, Tatum couldn’t wait to get out of school and go home to relax for a bit. She shut her locker, and left the building.

  Jacqui had cheerleading practice, so she decided to go straight home instead of waiting around for her to finish. The streets around the school were busy and alive as she walked with her head down towards her side of town. She ignored the chit-chat of her schoolmates and the shrieks of girls being asked out by boys as she pulled her backpack into a more comfortable position.

  It was just another average day in her quiet little town. The further she was away from school, the less populated the streets were, until she was about two roads away from home, and the only person around.

  The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and a chill passed through her. Someone had walked on her grave, which was the sort of silly superstition her mom would bring up.

  She glanced around her, but nothing was out of place and there was no one in sight. She couldn’t shake the creepy feeling that she was being watched. She looked around once more for good measure before walking down the road again, a bit faster than normal.

  Once she went around the last corner and could see her
house, she ran as fast as possible, knowing she was being silly because there was no one about, but also knowing she wouldn’t be happy until she was safe inside her home.

  She slammed the door open, threw herself in and kicked it shut again.

  “What’s with you then?” Kalli asked, standing on the stairs staring at her winded sister.

  Tatum shook her head, too out of breath to explain. She kicked her shoes off in the direction of the downstairs closet and went past Kalli up the stairs.

  She got into her room and threw her backpack in the corner before collapsing on her bed. She blamed Jacqui for making her jumpy. That stupid friend of hers was always finding ways to scare her and now it was clearly becoming an issue for her. She would have to speak to Jacqui about cutting it out.

  Once she had calmed down, Tatum got off her bed and changed into comfortable pants and a t-shirt. She wasn’t really hungry and decided to get her homework out of the way. She grabbed her backpack and took out everything she needed.

  Her desk was in front of her window, so there was a nice breeze coming in. Unfortunately, it didn’t come with a view; her window was opposite their neighbours’ house and all she could see was a wall and windows.

  She sat down and started her accounting work first, wanting to get the worst of her homework done and dusted. She worked steadily for an hour before taking a break and stretching. Out of habit, she leaned out of her window. Mr Wild had just gotten home from work and was in his garden. He pruned plants while humming a morbid tune.

  All three sisters agreed that Mr Wild was a creepy old man, which was ironic, because his son Mr Barker Wild was a teacher at Tatum’s school and was the coolest teacher they had. His father was always grumpy and to Tatum he seemed rather OCD. He worked in his garden at the exact same time every day. Bored one summer and because their houses were opposite, Tatum did an exercise, noting that he always woke up at the same time, ate at the same time, and pretty much followed the same routine every day.