The Shadow Box: Paranormal Suspense and Dark Fantasy Thriller Novels

by Travis Luedke

  “A promise is a promise, Misha. I love you. I’ve always loved you. You promised me forever! No one and nothing can take you away from me! Not even Anita! You’re mine! And Justin’s become a problem too. I will deal with him very soon!”

  Her terrifying words cut me to the bone. Everyone I knew was at risk, a potential target. I broke into a cold sweat with the horrifying thought of Nadia attacking Anita or Justin in some twisted idea of possessiveness or protection. Nadia stepped up close, her hands held out for a welcoming embrace.

  “No! Stay away from me. Stay away from Anita and Justin. They haven’t done anything. Leave us all alone!” I darted to my car, started it up and reversed off the beach, spitting sand all the way to the gravel Sand Dunes Road. Nadia stood there in my headlights, a hurt, pouty look on her face. It was the first time I’d ever pushed her away.

  * * * *

  Chapter 17

  Thursday, October 28th, 12:50 a.m.

  I raced down Sand Dunes Road. My guts twisted and my hands shook with panic as my car slipped and slid on the gravelly turns. My heart pounded up in my throat as I fought with the wheel on a tight turn. Sliding out of control, I skidded to a stop at the edge of one of those pits, a forty foot drop two feet from my grill.

  “Slow down Mike, slow down.”

  I hyperventilated, looking in all directions for the elusive Nadia in pursuit. When I caught my breath, I backed up slowly from the edge and spun off down the gravel road, racing against time.

  My head ached as if the hands of God had squeezed my temples, squishing what little juice I might provide. I felt like two different Mike Evans. The skater Mike with a girlfriend and a part-time job, and the clairvoyant Mike with grisly visions of death, murderous vampires, fighting a losing battle to save my friends.

  I reeled with all the implications of Nadia’s promise to protect me, even from Anita. I had to get to Anita and Justin to warn them. I had to make them understand how dangerous this little girl-creature truly was. Anita’s house on Hill Road was closer. From there I’d go straight to Justin in Knolls Vista, Northshore Drive, five doors down from Rachelle.

  I parked across the street from Anita’s so as not to wake anyone. Peering through her bedroom window, I found her asleep, window locked. I dialed her cell and watched as it lit up on the bedside nightstand. Her phone lit up with a song by Beyoncé playing as her ringtone.

  She didn’t answer until the fourth ring. “Hello.” She sounded as groggy as she looked.

  “Hey, Anita, I’m outside right now, take a look.” She looked up in surprise and I waved to her, motioning her to the window. “Let me in, we need to talk!”

  She was still half asleep and confused. “Hunh?”

  “The window. Open the window.” I tapped on the window lightly.

  She slid out of bed and opened the window. I climbed inside to embrace her. She hugged me back, warm and inviting, whispering in my ear, “Are you okay?”

  I held her tight and buried my face in her wonderful kiwi-strawberry scented hair. She wore only a white T-shirt and black panties. Her wonderful D cup breasts pressed against my chest through the thin cotton T-shirt, no bra.

  I wanted to stand there forever, holding this beautiful, soft, half-naked girl in my arms. But time was short. “Yeah, I’m better now. I’m sorry I yelled at you, I was really upset. I needed to be alone for a while.” In an insane world of horrific girl-creatures, Anita’s warm hug was a badly-needed dose of normalcy, reality.

  “I didn’t think you cared that much about Tommy.” She held onto me, and I knew this girl was the one. She was so loving, so forgiving.

  “Well, I don’t … not really. Listen, there’s something really important I have to tell you. It’s gonna be hard to believe, but it’s true. Do you trust me to tell you the truth?”

  “Yes.” She nodded, but her eyes looked wary, expecting something bad.

  “You heard about what happened to Rachelle right?” Anita nodded again, she looked almost afraid to hear what I had to say. “I know who did it. I know who put the acid in her lotion.”

  “How did you find out?” Anita’s face held a confusion I found disconcerting.

  “Someone told me, but first, you know it wasn’t me right?

  “I know you’d never do anything like that. I wouldn’t either, though I have considered kicking Rachelle’s little blonde ass. But acid! Ooohh, that’s so gross!”

  “Nadia did it. And she did it for me.”

  “Are you sure it was her? She doesn’t even know Rachelle. What does she have against her?”

  “Yes I’m sure. She admitted it.”

  I decided against telling Anita about my visions, definitely not prepared for that confession. What I had to say would be hard enough to swallow without adding anything else to the mix.

  “Nadia is a vampire. She’s like a hundred years old, and she’s obsessed with me. She hated Rachelle for setting up that fight with Tommy. But that’s not all. Nadia caused Tommy’s accident. There was no accident. She did it. She tricked Tommy into riding his bike into that pit at high speed.” I tried to remain calm and hold eye contact the whole time. To impress my sincerity.

  Anita’s face ran through the gamut of shock, surprise, and disbelief. “That’s so wild! Do you hear what you’re saying? Do you hear how crazy that sounds?”

  “I know. I know. But you’ve gotta believe me, she has her reasons. If you understand her it almost makes sense. It’s twisted and gross, but it makes sense to her. Did you ever hear her call me Misha?”

  “Uh, yeah, she does it all the time. I thought it was funny, like a pet name or something. I’ve always thought she was stuck on you. She’s got a major crush. It’s cute. She’s definitely attached to you.” Strangely, Anita had accepted this fact.

  “Listen. It’s not cute. The girl is extremely dangerous. This guy Misha, he was someone she knew in 1917. His name was Mikhail, Misha was just a nickname. She’s convinced I’m Mikhail reincarnated. The really freaky part is that he looked exactly like me. She has an old black and white picture of him. It’s so creepy! He could be my twin.”

  “How do you know this for sure? Maybe she’s just a nutjob. How do you know she was alive in 1917? How do you know she’s a vampire? There’s all kinds of Goth chics who are into that vampire thing. They get all painted up and put fangs on. Some of them even drink a little blood.”

  “Just listen to me. I’ll explain. You have to see this picture of Mikhail. It’s really old, like one of those Wild West photos. I have seen her do things that you wouldn’t believe.”

  Time to come clean.

  I explained how we met the night Nadia was hit by a car on the highway. I told her how Nadia carried me in her arms into my own trailer after my fight with Tommy. I told her what happened at the skatepark when I caught Nadia feeding from Taylor, and how inhumanly fast she ran across the sand while I chased her down to the beach on the south end.

  “Holy shit! Are you for real? Tell me this is all a sick joke.”

  “No, Anita, it’s real. I asked if you trust me, remember?”

  “Fine! But what does all this have to do with Tommy and Rachelle? And why would she want to hurt them?”

  “Gimme a minute! I’m getting there. She thinks I’m Mikhail, and he died – well actually she killed him. It was kind of an accident. I’ll tell you more on that later. The point is, she thinks I’m her second chance with Mikhail. She’s obsessed with the idea of protecting me from harm. She went after Tommy and Rachelle because they were a threat to me.”

  “Oh gaaad, that is so creepy!”

  “I know. I haven’t told you this, but she’s been giving me money all this time. That’s how I could afford the tuxedo for homecoming. She’s … taking care of me. Do you see where this is going?”

  “Yeah, so if she’s got all that money, why is she always jackin’ stuff from Wal-Mart? She could steal the pants right off the security guard.” She had me laughing, a welcome break in the tension.

&nbs
p; “I don’t know. She’s weird like that. I don’t understand it either. Did you ever see her hypnotize that bald security guard?”

  Anita shook her head. “It’s kinda hard to believe.”

  I nodded, thinking about how I hadn’t told Anita the entire truth, how Nadia had been sleeping in my bed every night, up close and personal.

  “I’m dead serious, Anita, it’s all true. And she said something that’s really got me worried. She mentioned you and Justin. She was talking like you and Justin were a threat, like she might go after you. I think she’s psychotically possessive. She said she wasn’t jealous of you, but she acts like I belong to her, and she won’t let anyone get in her way. I’m really scared she might do something evil to you.”

  “That doesn’t make sense. I like Nadia. We’re friends. And I would never hurt you. I think I’m in love with you.” Her eyes bored into my soul with her admission, a look of expectation.

  My life was coming apart at the seams, and then Anita chose this moment to tell me how she felt. But I was glad she did. I needed to hear it. “I think I love you too.”

  As soon as the words were out she kissed me. My confession opened the way for a passionate assault. I kissed her back, and my hands were up her shirt a moment later. I loved the feel of her lush warmth in my hands. Her kisses became hot and frenzied, little moans and groans escaped her mouth as I cupped her in my hands. I needed more. More Anita.

  Kissing her was like temporary insanity.

  I devoured her mouth, a free-for-all of tongues and crushed lips. She had her hands all over my chest and back, stroking every inch of my torso, pulling my shirt off.

  I was rock hard. From zero to boner in ten seconds flat.

  I loved the feel of her hands on me while I explored her soft, golden brown curves. I kept pushing into her, trying to merge my body with hers. I pushed her against the bed, and her shirt came off too.

  I had never seen Anita’s body. She refused to wear a swimsuit or anything revealing.

  “You’re so beautiful, how could you hide this from me?”

  I drank in her beauty, intoxicated on Anita. She was all lush, tanned curves, shiny and smooth in the moonlight streaming through her bedroom window. Surprisingly, she wasn’t fat, not the way she seemed in those baggy t-shirts she wore. Anita was thick, curvy, and gorgeous in nothing but black cotton panties. I could stare at her for hours, she was so lovely.

  And she loved me as much as I loved her. She wanted me, needed me, loved me.

  Something changed when she realized I was looking at her. She became embarrassed and tried to cover herself. But there was too much beauty to hide with only two hands.

  “Anita, let me see you. I need you, all of you.” I pushed her down onto the bed, and she let go of her breasts to catch herself as she fell. I crawled up and grabbed her hands, to pull them over her head.

  Oh god her breasts got even bigger. This girl had been hiding a beautiful woman underneath those t-shirts.

  “I’m so fat, it’s gross!” She turned her head aside, unable to look me in the eyes as I appreciated her body.

  I whispered in her ear. “So what if you’re not an anorexic Victoria’s Secret model. I don’t care. I love you. I love your body. I want to see every inch of it.”

  She faced me, searching my eyes for the lie.

  I stared right back with a monster grin. How could I have missed this wonderful woman who had been there all along?

  I lay on her, released her hands, and started kissing her all over. I trickled light kisses across her breasts and down her stomach. She buried her fingers in my hair and moaned.

  I made her squirm. Oh god, it’s so wonderful to make a woman squirm. It’s like being high, high on Anita.

  I drove her wild with my hands and lips, trailing soft caresses all up and down her body.

  When I slipped my fingers into the side straps of her panties she stared at me intensely, both of us waiting for someone to cross that bridge. There I stopped, my mouth at her stomach, fingers poised to remove her underwear.

  She had me so damn hard it was painful.

  Hot, breathing heavily, ready to go like never before, we both waited. Finally Anita decided, she lifted her hips up off the bed and whispered, “Don’t stop now.”

  In seconds her panties were gone and she helped pull off my pants. I wanted to make love to her more than I ever wanted anything else in the world. I could imagine spending the rest of my life with Anita, like this, night after glorious night.

  As we looked in each other’s eyes, both knowing we were about to cross a line, forever changing our lives, a brief flash of headlights crossed the bedroom. The passing light revealed a hoodie clad girl standing in the shadows of the juniper bushes outside the bedroom window. She stared directly at us.

  “Holy Shit!”

  Anita saw her too and squealed, “Oh my god! She’s out there!”

  Oh shit!” I suddenly felt like a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar as I lay atop Anita.

  Then it clicked. “I forgot about Justin! I have to warn Justin!”

  Anita pulled her sheets up to cover us as she snapped, “Do you really think he’ll listen? He’s never even met Nadia!” She was hot, frustrated, annoyed that our moment had been ruined by that little shit of a vampire stalker.

  “I’m sorry, Anita. I gotta go.” I knew she was upset, but I had to go. It was the right thing to do, despite the fact that all I really wanted was to feel her legs wrapped around me, exploring all she had to offer. “I gotta try. You know what she did to Tommy and Rachelle. I need to talk to Justin.”

  She kissed me, that same look in her eyes, the look I wanted to see every second of every minute. Adoration. How had I ever missed this woman who looked at me with so much love and affection?

  “Be careful and remember that I love you. And we are going to finish this tomorrow?” She hugged me tighter and wrapped her golden legs around me, and I knew exactly what she wanted to finish.

  “I love you too.” God, I wanted her so bad. Then I looked back out the window, at the shadows of the Juniper, and I knew I had to go. So I kissed Anita goodbye.

  Justin better damn well appreciate my sacrifices.

  I dressed in record time and slipped out the window. Of course, the monster brat was gone. I checked around the outside of the house, but she’d disappeared. I drove off at 2:30 a.m. headed for Justin’s. Absolutely zero traffic in downtown Moses Lake at that hour on a Wednesday night. I made it there in five minutes.

  Justin’s house was dead silent. I feared the worst, that my fun with Anita may have cost Justin’s life. I couldn’t go through that again.

  Justin’s bedroom was on the second floor of their two story home, no way to climb to his window. I sent out a prayer to the powers that be that Justin would still have his cell phone turned on as I dialed his number. It rang six times then kicked over to voicemail. I hung up and redialed. Justin answered on the fourth ring.

  “Yeah! What the hell? Do you know what time it is, asshole?” He sounded half asleep, and pissed off.

  “Hey, Justin, it’s Mike. I need to talk to you about Tommy and Rachelle. I’m outside right now, come out and talk to me.”

  “Dude! Have you lost your friggin’ mind? Tommy’s dead and Rachelle looks like burnt toast, what do you want from me?” Justin always had such a way with words.

  “I’m givin’ it to you straight. I know who did it. I know who put the acid in Rachelle’s lotion, and I know some things you need to know. We gotta talk right now!”

  “I’ll give you five minutes. If you’re messing with me, I’m gonna break your board into little pieces and shove it in your gas tank!” Justin dropped the call.

  He came out the front door in shorts and a T-shirt, his hair standing on end from sleeping on it. “Talk fast.”

  “Okay, we were friends for like two years. You know me. You know I’m not a liar. So I’m asking you to trust what I’m about to say is for real.”

  “Ye
ah, yeah, whatever! Just say it already!”

  I described Nadia’s attacks on Tommy and Rachelle and her threats against both him and Anita. I could see the disbelief in his face, but I kept talking anyway. “I don’t know what she’ll do, but I’m hoping I can talk some sense into her. Maybe she’ll mellow out when she sees you and I don’t really have any problems. Now that Tommy’s gone and Rachelle’s … out of the picture, I’m thinking she’ll back off.”

  “Dude … that is the lamest shit I have ever heard in my life! I cannot believe you woke me up for this.”

  “Justin, you gotta listen. I’m serious as a heart attack. This girl does not play games. She is deadly dangerous and unpredictable. I don’t know if I can talk her down.”

  “You want me to believe some fourteen year old vampire girl did all that, and now she’s out to get me? You really gotta stop reading Twilight.” The asshole laughed at me. “Did you forget to take your meds? Are you high on crack?” Justin studied me closely, looking for signs of intoxication.

  I shook my head. There was no getting through to him, and he wouldn’t take me seriously. Then I noticed a girl in a hoodie sweatshirt walking down the sidewalk across the street. As she flowed under the streetlight, Justin saw what I was looking at. She looked up at us for a couple seconds, catching my eye.

  Nadia.

  Her look communicated a clear warning. I was pushing my luck. A sick fear settled in my gut. By warning Justin, had I made him a target?

  I snatched Justin by the collar of his t-shirt and pulled him close, whispering while I pointed at Nadia, “There she is! That’s her right there. She knows that you know, oh shit …”

  Justin yanked himself out of my grip and pushed me away. “You know what I know? This is bullshit! You’re bullshit! I think you put the acid in Rachelle’s lotion and made up this lunatic crap to cover your own ass. If I find out you had anything to do with Tommy’s accident, I’m calling the cops and having you put away for good. And I’m gonna find out the truth Mikey, so I’ll ask you this one time, what really happened? Who did it? Was it you?”