The Shadow Box: Paranormal Suspense and Dark Fantasy Thriller Novels

by Travis Luedke

  “You know better than that. You gave me the silver bullets.”

  “I know that. They don’t.”

  “Let’s get the fuck outta here,” Carmen said, standing in front of the back door.

  “Yeah, please, let’s get the fuck outta here,” I seconded the motion.

  Terry hit the unlock button on the key fob. With a quick beep the doors were open.

  A stop at the gates to check out and we were off to London. As we drove past the attack site there was nothing there. Someone had already been by to haul away the remains of the wrecked car. “Quick clean up,” I said.

  “Out of the public eye,” Terry pointed out. “Everything with us must be kept a secret.”

  I understood that. Although who would ever believe in vampires anyway? “So where are we headed?” I inquired to my hosts.

  “We figured on showing you London. Since we are not supposed to do any work, we might as well have some fun.” The way Carmen said ‘supposed to do any work’ gave me the feeling that that is just what we were on our way to do.

  We found our way on to the M11. At this point we realized that the sudden grace of Edward wasn’t without limits. As soon as we entered the highway, we picked up a tail. At least they were smart enough not to follow us all the way from the compound. And so they followed us, not closely, they were just there to baby-sit us. “I knew he was up to something.” Terry sounded annoyed. “Lose um in traffic?”

  “They’d be able to track the car anyway,” I said. They both turned and gave me an odd look. “These cars are equipped with GPS tracking devices.” They still stared at me. “I’m a car junky, okay.”

  “I’ve got an idea,” Carmen said, grinning. “Just let them think we don’t know they are back there.” This is exactly what Terry did. He drove normally all the way in to downtown London. Edward’s attempt to keep tabs on us was pathetic, it may have worked on other people, but come on, we’re talking about three very skilled professional hunters here. But why was he trying to keep tabs on us? Did he expect us to do just what we were doing? Taking matters into our own hands. Damn right, that’s what we were doing! I was starting to doubt being able to work for The Guild if people like Edward ran the show. “Okay,” she said, “find us a parking garage close to an underground station and let’s lose the car for a while.”

  I think I got where she was going with this. When Terry turned into the garage the black SUV kept going. At least they were good at following. When we stepped out of the garage building and into the street, there they were, two guys dressed in street clothes, trying so very hard to blend in, leaning against the truck waiting for us.

  I slid my sunglasses up on my nose. “All right, luv.” I turned to Carmen. “You ready to do this?”

  She gave a cute little smirk. “Just try to keep up, kiddo.”

  “Oh Christ, you two are gonna make me sick,” Terry said, as he began walking toward the underground station. Carmen and I had to share a laugh over that as we trotted to catch up with Goodspeed. Just as we figured, they began following us again. They were still keeping their distance. That, we’d have to change. We needed them close to lose them, but we even had a plan for that. “Still back there?” Terry asked. I didn’t know if he was asking about the guys following us, or making a joke about Carmen and me.

  Judging from his voice, I took a gamble that he was talking about them. “Yep. Still staring at your ass.”

  “Thanks, Black.” He chuckled. “It is a nice ass, huh?”

  “I ain’t gonna look at your ass.” I tried to sound as serious as I could. “You sick fuck.”

  “I was kidding.” The serious voice worked.

  “So was I,” I said, and grinned. “But I still ain’t looking at your ass.”

  “Remind me to shoot you later, Black.”

  “Knock it off you two!” Carmen said, having had enough of our banter. “Terry you have a lovely ass. Now can we please keep our minds off his ass and on the two guys that are on our collective ass?”

  She had a point, we should have been keeping focus. We were all kinds of slacking, since we weren’t being shot at or bitten at or anything else that would cause us to become dead. To close some of the distance between us and our stalkers, we stopped at a ticket booth; to buy me an underground pass. They were closer. It’d worked. Once we were down onto the platform, they had no choice but to get close if they wanted to get into the same car as us. In the busy station, it would be cake to get them on a train car heading away from us; which was just what we were planning to do. The next train wouldn’t be coming through for several more minutes. So we had to wait and not let the bad guys know we knew they were there. For pros like us, that was no trouble. We stood at the platform making sure there were plenty of people between them and us. We made the small talk we needed to look like we hadn’t noticed our followers. When the train came out from the dark tunnel on the far track heading east, we knew we were good. The car we were going to put our friends on showed up, heading west. Along with all the people pushing and shoving to climb aboard, we entered the train. Once on the train car, we made our way next to the opposite doors. As soon as the doors began closing, we hopped off onto the other platform, much to the surprise of our shadows. As the train pulled away, we stood there as Carmen waved them off. That, they didn’t like.

  “So off to London town then?” Carmen said, as she boarded the opposite bound train.

  Terry and I nearly got left on the dock as the doors were shutting, but the three of us made it onto the train. And we were off to find out whatever we could about our friend William. I was glad that Terry and Carmen had included me in this. Friendship was a new thing to me, but I was getting used to it. Isn’t it funny how quickly people can bond under certain circumstances? We all had a common goal and common morals; it made it easy to get along. After staying on the train through several stops, we left the underground and our shadows behind. I’m not sure what part of London we were in. One of the things I didn’t have time to do is to study the layout of the city before arriving; which is something I normally do before going to a new city. I’d have time for that later, maybe, or maybe I’d be dead and it wouldn’t matter. For the time being, I followed Carmen and Terry, after all they knew where we needed to get information.

  When we emerged out of the tunnels, we seemed to be in a high traffic area. People running back and forth in their day-to-day lives, mixed in with the groups of tourists packing all the shops in the square. “Where are we?” I asked.

  “Piccadilly Circus,” Carmen said, dodging a troop of Japanese tourists armed with cameras.

  “Where are we going?”

  Once we were past the crowd, Carmen answered, “We’re headed to Johnny B, a werewolf.” Before I could ask, she sensed the question I had. “Yes, werewolf, servants to the Vampires. They are the daytime eyes and ears of blood heads.”

  “Ah, of course I forgot that from Vamp101.”

  “Took that one at community college didn’t ya?” Terry asked.

  “Yep, second semester first year, Harvard actually.” Enough jokes, we had business to take care of. “So,” I continued, “who is this Johnny B, and why would he want to or be able to help us?”

  “He’s just a little punk in the world, not big enough to matter but connected enough to help,” Terry said. “And as far as why he’ll help us,” He adjusted the sunglasses on his nose and slowly grinned, “persuasion.”

  I knew what he meant by persuasion. “How are they killed or hurt?” I asked.

  “Silver, silver will kill them if used right, or burn like a blade dipped in acid. If you shoot a wolf once, it probably won’t kill him, but he’ll heal as slow as a human,” Terry answered me.

  “Come on, we’d better get moving.” Carmen turned and began walking toward a small staircase, heading to the lower level of the buildings. Goodspeed and I quickly followed.

  We were right behind her as she opened a tattered door that was once bright green. Time and weather h
ad now faded and chipped most of that paint off. Once we were inside, I could tell that the owner didn’t care about the inside any more than the door we’d just walked through. The air hung heavy with the rank smell of weed. Everything was quiet, except for the annoying CD that was skipping on the radio. Some of that ‘my mommy and daddy didn’t love me shit’ that kids listen to. But something wasn’t right, we weren’t alone. There were others in the building. I feared a swarm of rather pissed off wolves rushing into the room. As I walked over to shut off that goddamn music, Carmen and Goodspeed made their way toward the desk where a man lie face down, passed out. Standing to either side of him, they drew their guns. Carmen tapped the man on the side of the head with the tip of her pistol. He grunted in protest. Carmen took a deep sigh and shook her head. “Time to get up, Johnny,” she said softly, right before she kicked the chair out from under him. With a loud crash, he hit the ground. Shaking off the sudden awakening, he looked up and saw the three of us, with guns drawn aimed right at him.

  Wide eyed with surprise, “Oh fuck,” was all he managed to say.

  “Hey, Johnny,” Carmen said. “How are you?”

  “Been better,” he answered, rubbing his head.

  “Yeah, us too.” Terry’s voice was cold and stern as he pulled Johnny to his feet. “Now what do you know?”

  “About what?” the look of fear left his eyes, replaced by anger, but he didn’t try to fight.

  “Don’t give me that shit, lapdog!” he growled, as he struck Johnny across the face with the butt of his pistol, something that would knock a normal person out cold or at least shatter their jaw. The cold, stern Terry was quickly turning into pissed and psycho Terry, probably not a good thing.

  I thought it best to take some control of the situation. I had much less emotions wrapped up in it than my partners. “Hey, Johnny,” I spoke, as I kneeled next to the fallen dog-man, blood oozed down the side of his face and neck. A low growl resonated from deep in his throat as he glared at Terry; it was a sound that shouldn’t have come from a human. “Have you ever seen what a silver blade can do to one of you mutts when used very, very slowly?” I spoke softly, with an evil grin pulled across my face. His gaze turned away from Goodspeed toward me.

  “Since when does The Guild run with witches?” He said, looking at me his voice hinting at fear again.

  I had no clue what the fuck he was talking about, but I couldn’t let him know that. I didn’t want to seem like an idiot. So I ran with it. “I’m new.” I drew out one of my forearm blades. I knew it wasn’t silver, Carmen and Terry knew it wasn’t silver, but he didn’t. I started to tap the flat of its blade on Johnny’s forehead. “Now we need to know what you know.” Every moment I spoke, his eyes continued to grow larger with fear. “So what do you know?” He shook his head, not trusting his voice. “I know you know something. And you know that I will do what it takes to get that information.” It surprised me that neither Terry nor Carmen had stopped me from taking over. “But what you don’t know is I really don’t care about you. I couldn’t care less if you live or die. But there are others, Johnny, others that I want to see dead, others that I want to kill.” I paused for a moment, wanting him to take in what I had just said. “There are two ways out of this situation, Johnny boy.” I continued, “One, you talk to us and we go on our way to those others that we want to kill. Number two, I take my time making you talk, then I’ll kill you, then we’ll go and take care of the rest of your shit head friends. So you tell me what your buddy Amun is up to, and why did he take William hostage? But first I want you to tell me who is in the next room.” At first he didn’t want to answer. Until I placed the edge of the blade just under his ear, then he began to answer.

  “It’s no one,” he said, trying to sound as though he weren’t lying to me. Considering the situation, he was doing a pretty damn good job.

  “Johnny?” I sighed and shook my head. “Now, Johnny, I asked you a question. And if you’re wishing me to let you go totally unharmed, I suggest that you answer all my questions to the very best of your ability. Is that too much to ask?” He shook his head. “No, that isn’t too much to ask, is it?”

  “Not too much to ask.”

  “Very good, Johnny boy. Now who is in the next room?”

  Before he could answer, I was back on my feet, gun aimed at the hallway door. Whoever was in that room was headed toward us. It was really starting to get to me how I could feel these creepy, furry, and undead, whatever the fuck they were. I didn’t have to see them. Hell, I didn’t even have to be in the same room as them, I just knew. I’d worry about that later, at that moment I was more concerned with who or whatever was headed towards us. My gun held steady at the doorway, Carmen and Terry had Johnny B covered so I didn’t have to worry about him. Whoever it was, slowly making his way down the hall, filled the whole room with his presence, he was powerful and scared the shit out of me. As soon as the figure became visible in the shadows of the hallway, I knew who it was. Amun!

  “Mr. Black, the knife is not necessary. Jonathan will give you any information you request. And will not fight you, as he has been ordered. But before the inquiry begins, please permit me to introduce myself. My name is Amun.”

  “I know who you are.” I should have shot him; I still don’t know why I didn’t. “I’ll just ask you.” I was still aiming at his head.

  “Very well, the gun is also not needed; however, I understand if you feel more comfortable with it.” He glanced at Terry and Carmen, then down at Johnny. “May he get off the floor?”

  “Carmen? Terry?” I wanted their opinions of the situation. But I wanted to keep my eyes on Amun more than to look at what they were doing.

  “I say we kill them both right now,” Terry said, still sounding very pissed off.

  “You make it sound so very easy, Mr. Goodspeed.” His voice was quite soft, but still commanded a power that left me short of words. “You know nothing of the power of an ancient vampire. Nothing that your science has shown you can explain the true power of my kind.” He went silent for a moment. “I apologize. We are going about this in the wrong way. I would very much like to talk to the three of you.” His eyes trailed back to me.

  “Don’t look into his eyes!” Carmen yelled out to me. But it was too late, I was staring right into his eyes that shown the thousands of years laying behind them, they were more alive but more dead than any eyes I’d ever seen.

  For a moment we just stared at one another. “Especially you, Mr. Black, you are most intriguing to me. How is it that you can look at me in the eyes in a way that no mortal has ever done before you?”

  “I don’t know, and I truly don’t care. Right now we’ve got someone important that needs to be found.”

  “And you know where he is, you fucking corpse!” Carmen was stalking towards him, guns out, both pointed center mass. “Where is he?”

  “I do not have your father, Miss Piper.”

  “Liar!” It was then she made the mistake of getting too close. I couldn’t even see him move. Before I realized what happened, he had snatched the guns out of her hands and had both pressed against her forehead.

  I was expecting gunfire, which wouldn’t have been Terry or I. Carmen was standing right in between him and us. No good shot. But the fire never came. There was just his voice as clear and soft as he had introduced himself. “I could kill you and both of your friends before either of them could get a single shot off.” Then came the real surprise, he ejected both the magazines and with a fancy spin, like something you’d see Doc Holliday doing; the handles of her guns were pointed back at her. “But I don’t want to.” She hesitated before taking her firearms back. “Now may we please talk without the guns and without the accusations?”

  I was the first to drop my guns. “Yeah, we can talk.” Followed by Terry, the guns were away.

  “Thank you. But I think somewhere more secure would be a good idea, if you would all please follow me. Jonathan, please put on some tea for our guests.” Without
a word Johnny scurried off and we followed Amun into the hall.

  CHAPTER NINE

  We went through another door and into a dark stairwell made even darker when the metal door shut behind us. Cinderblocks made up both the stairs and walls. It was very damp and cold. “Amun, those of us that still have a pulse can’t see in here.” Despite the dark I knew there was no one close to us. The more I was around these fucking vamps the more I could do that kind of shit.

  “My deepest apologizes. We don’t bring many humans into our homes. There are no electric lights in here, but I have something to help you.” With a sudden burst of light, there was a blue ball of flame above Amun’s outstretched hand.

  “How did you do that?” Terry sounded very surprised at that little trick.

  “The same way we can use all of our powers.”

  I would have to really learn all these powers, I thought to myself. I didn’t want to get caught by one that I didn’t know they could do. However, with Terry’s reaction to the fireball, I didn’t think that he even knew the whole range of their powers. Down the staircase we went. We must have gone at least the distance of five stories underground before we came to the bottom. As we approached a steel door, Amun stopped and turned to face us. “You all came here in peace; I ask that you leave in the same manner. You will see many vampires in their daytime slumber, and I must ask for the protection of my servants, that you allow them to rest. Do not approach them and do not try to attack them. If you break this creed, you will not leave here.”

  “Fair enough, if you give us your word, when they wake none of them will harm us,” Carmen said, which must have been quite difficult for her.

  “You know that no servant can go against his or her master. So I can assure your safety as long as you do not step over the bounds that I have set forth.”