The Shadow Box: Paranormal Suspense and Dark Fantasy Thriller Novels

by Travis Luedke

  “Why don’t you pose as another hitter?” Terry's face was aglow with a plan. He was enjoying the game.

  “Huh?”

  “Pose as another hitter. Offer to finish the job that Banshee didn’t.”

  “I’m not seeing how—” I wasn’t one hundred percent sure what he was talking about.

  He cut off my question, saying, “See, you pose as another hitter.”

  “Yeah I got that.”

  “Shut up and let me finish.” He was the second person to tell me to shut up that day.

  “As the other hitter you can try to set up a meeting with the contractor.”

  Could that work? I could set up it under the pretense that I want to meet him, since Sean ‘Banshee’ ended up dead during his attempt. “It can’t hurt to try.”

  “That, and it will keep anyone else from taking the contract,” Carmen said. I really liked that part of the plan. I had been wondering what the other guys in the second SUV were doing. Were they still going to come after me? Or were they just going home since their leader was dead?

  “Okay, it will take me a few hours to set up a new hitter ID. I can have it done by tonight, tomorrow at the latest.

  Carmen had placed her hand on mine. “We’ll figure it out.” She was trying to comfort me. See I knew she couldn’t stay mad at me.

  “Here.” Terry picked up a box that was sitting on the ground next to him. “Happy birthday.,” he said, nodding at Carmen, “from both of us.”

  “What?”

  “We saw it in your file. Your birthday was last week.”

  They had looked up my birthday.

  “Why didn’t you tell us?” Carmen asked, squeezing my hand playfully. I looked up at her with a half-smile. I was trying. I didn’t tell them because I had forgotten. My birthday hadn’t meant anything to me since I was fourteen when my social worker gave me a cake and a copy of ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’. I didn’t really like the story but it was a sweet thought. I still had the book somewhere. Carmen saw the pain in my eyes that I was trying to hide and didn’t push the matter.

  “Thank you both. You didn’t have to do anything.” No one else, that should have, ever did.

  “Of course we didn’t.” Carmen still looked down and held my hand that much harder. “But we did, so open it.”

  She let go of my hand so I could open the unwrapped white box. “I don’t do wrapping,” Terry said, chuckling.

  I opened it and there lay two blades that match my forearm knifes.

  “Silver,” they said in unison.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  The two blades were steel, with just enough silver laced into the metal to make them deadly to vampires. I loved the gifts. It was still odd to have them care about my birthday that even I’d forgotten. Most of this friendship stuff was all very new to me. I’d have to show them somehow just how much the gifts meant to me. How would I do that? I had no fucking clue.

  After returning from the city, I spent the remainder of the day in my room working on setting up a new account on the network. I had to make my new alias seem credible. So I began sending emails between different accounts to give myself a history. When I was satisfied with that, I sent a message out to whoever had put a price on my head.

  THE LEPRECHAUN DID NOT GET HIS GOLD. BUSTED BY THE CARD GAME. WANT HIS SEAT FOR THE TOURNAMENT PRIZE.

  I scrambled the message and sent it out. It had become a waiting game. After I shut the computer down, I laid out stretching across the bed. I wasn’t tired. I was just drained. I lay there dozing off, when a knock came at the door. I’d been so out of it, I didn’t feel anyone approach. My pistol was in my hand, when I heard Carmen speak. “Vince, are you in there?”

  I dropped the gun on to the bed. “Yeah, just a second.” I stood up to unlock the door. “Hey,” I said, opening the door.

  “Hey.” She just stood there in the hallway.

  “You can come in if you’d like.” I stepped aside.

  She walked in, standing with her arms crossed in front of her. “First off,” she said, and didn’t seem very happy, “you and Terry’s pissing contests need to get toned down a bit. You scared the shit out of me today, Vincent. I’ve got too much to worry about, without being afraid of one of you two taking that shit too far. You’re the only friends I have here. I don’t want to deal with the two of you fighting.” She sighed and slumped into one of the chairs.

  “I’m sorry.” I hadn’t realized I’d gone so far. Terry, after all, got a kick out of it.

  There was something else bothering her. I wasn’t sure if it was me. I didn’t want to press her ‘til she was ready to talk. So I took the chair next to her and waited. She looked embarrassed. “We can’t do this,” she finally spoke.

  “Do what, we are just sitting here?”

  “This! Us!” She was frustrated. I really had to improve the timing on my jokes. “It’s not that I don’t want you. God knows I do! But I can’t. Not now. There is too much going on… I’ve already….” She already had things, more important things, on her mind.

  “Hey, I understand.” I placed my hand on hers.

  “God, I feel so embarrassed by my actions earlier.”

  “Why?”

  “I should have thought about it first.” I thought about it before… I didn’t think that’s what she meant.

  “I had fun. I don’t see what there is to be embarrassed about.” I was beginning to feel bad about the tease jokes.

  “I don’t want to seem like I was teasing you.”

  Dammit, sometimes I hate it when I’m right. “In hindsight, those jokes I made, hell most of the jokes I make, are in bad taste.”

  “Only some, I like them most of the time. I don’t know. I’ve just felt so stressed lately.” I know how she felt. She leaned across the arm of the chair and kissed me. “All I’m asking is that we take it slow,” she said, leaning our foreheads together.

  “No worries.” She kissed me again.

  What is it about sex that adds stress to a situation? To some people it’s just fun. To others, it’s the crème de la crème of stress. I didn’t and still don’t get it. To me affection adds much more stress to a situation then sex does. But that’s just me.

  “Slow.”

  “Yeah, slow.”

  She left a short while after that. I wasn’t mad at her, frustrated at the situation maybe, but not at her. She told me what she needed to. How could I be mad at her? Sometimes being completely honest takes more guts than to run into a firefight. Besides, neither she nor I had much experience in relationships. Having a significant other in a normal life is hard enough. When it came to the type of life Carmen and I led, a relationship would be next to impossible. There would be too many secrets and too many lies. ‘I’ll be home at eight, Honey. I’ve got to go hunt some vampires tonight.’ Doesn’t really sound like it would work to me. Though I wasn’t mad at her, I couldn’t help but to feel a little rejected. I hadn’t felt that since I was in early high school. It put a bit of a damper on my otherwise good mood. No need to dwell, I thought, and left the room. I was hungry and needed a drink. I knew where I could get both.

  It was early evening when I found myself in the TV room digging through the collection of movies. I really wasn’t paying any attention to the titles. The DVDs were serving as something to stare at more than decide on. I was looking to get lost from myself for a while. I didn’t even feel like going for a drive. Drinking good, driving not so much. So there I was, with food I’d collected from the kitchen on my way down and a stiff drink in my hand trying to decide on a movie I didn’t care about watching. After what seemed like too long, I grabbed a random Al Pacino flick, ‘Donny Brasco’, normally one of my favorites.

  Only a little while into the movie, I had company. Terry joined me without a word. He walked in with a beer in hand and a smoke clenched between his lips. He slumped into another chair and watched the movie. Silently I passed him the bowl of popcorn. Neither of us was breaking the silence. It was a comfo
rtable feeling, totally understanding. Why can guys do that? When something is wrong with one of them, the other doesn’t need to say anything. They are just there. When his beer was empty, he went to the bar for another, bringing me one with him. “Thanks,” I said, as he sank back into his chair. Without turning his head, his eyes drifted sideways looking at me, questioning. “For the beer… and the blades.” He just reached his bottle out. With the clink of the glass, we were again silent.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  A few weeks passed in the same manner. We’d research; we’d speak with Amun and his people. But nothing much came from it. I had no further clue what I was. However, through my meetings with Amun, I had learned some control over my powers. Carmen and I were taking it slowly. We had a few dates, some of the first real dates I’d had since high school. We’d cuddle and kiss and sleep but never more. I knew she needed space and I didn’t want to push. Honestly the whole thing was a bit scary to me. Caring about someone? When the fuck did that start? We’d not heard anything from Edward or whoever put the mark on my head. I worried that someone else had gotten the contract, but there had been no more attempts on my life. It was always a good day when I wasn’t getting shot at.

  The phone woke me one day, and I answered, “Hello.”

  “You know for someone that doesn’t sleep much, I have a tendency to wake you.” It was Carmen.

  “Good morning to you too, sweetheart.” Sleep was taking over my voice. She laughed at me.

  “I’m sorry, would you like me to bring you some breakfast and the morning paper.”

  I recognized the sarcasm in her voice. Now would I be me if I let that go? Fuck no I wouldn’t. “No, don’t be silly… you know I don’t read the paper. Breakfast and coffee sound lovely though. The doors locked, so you’ll have to use your key.”

  It was a moment before she spoke. “Yeah… I’ve got a better idea; fuck off and get your ass downstairs, before I have Terry drag you down here.” I didn’t doubt that she would do just that.

  “Fuck off?!” I sat up. “Since you’re bringing up breakfast, you could help me with that too.”

  “How about Terry helps you with that?” She laughed again. I heard his protest in the background.

  “That’s okay. I’ll be down.” With a click, the line went dead. I groaned as I pulled myself out of bed. I felt like I was moving in slow motion, I was just too damn groggy. Oh well, like I’ve always said, ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead.’ And with that, I dressed and went down to the dining room, where it had become our tradition to meet for breakfast, lunch, whatever you’d like to call it. Terry always seemed to be there first. I’d never caught him sleeping. Carmen and I mixed it up, I’d show first or she would, sometimes we came down together, those were the mornings Terry’s jokes didn’t seem to end.

  When I entered the room, they were already eating, and I got a dirty look from Carmen, she didn’t like my comment about bringing me breakfast. Hey, she started it. I couldn’t just let it go. The dirty look faded to a smile. I knew she was happy to see me.

  “We got a call from Johnny B,” Terry said, wiping his mouth off on the crisp white linen napkin.

  “And?”

  “And, we are supposed to meet Amun at one of the vampire clubs tonight,” Carmen said. “He gave me the address.”

  “Ah.” I sat down and started to dish myself a plate. “So why are we up now?”

  “For those of us that went to bed before the sun was up, 2 p.m. isn’t early,” Carmen joked. I had been unable to sleep the night before and spent the whole night reading. My ‘gifts’ as they were being called now, still puzzled me. I had no clue where they originated or what they were, in full. I’d gone through countless books looking for answers. There were lots of ideas, but I didn’t know which one fit me. Stories of witches, necromancers, things like that, but I didn’t know enough about my ‘gifts’ or my family tree to decide where I fit. Amun had said ‘I needed to know where I came from or I’d never know where I was going.’ Poetic as it was, it was not much help. I knew next to nothing about my mother, I didn’t even know her maiden name. I couldn’t even look up their marriage certificate; I didn’t know where or when they had been married. It was offhandedly suggested that I contact my father for information, but I haven’t spoken to him in eight years, and it wasn’t because I forgot the address or the number. I was sure that he was still living in the same shit hole apartment and still drunk off his ass. There were so many questions that couldn’t be answered, unless I swallowed my pride. Someday I might be able to do it. But today wasn’t the day. Someday, maybe. “Did you find anything useful?”

  I shook my head no. “Just more tales of witches and such. Myths mostly, nothing that has been any help.” I let out a deep breath of frustration. She placed her hand on mine, yet she was the one that needed support, not me. Since finding out her father was being kept alive, she had relaxed some, still her voice had an edge of sadness and concern, but if in taking care of me, she felt better, I’d let her. “Without knowing my family’s history, I’ll never know anything for sure.” They both knew better than to suggest calling my father. They knew my attitude toward him. I’d put a sour note on our meal, and I felt like shit for it. They didn’t seem to look at it that way, the conversation turned back to our normal banter. I was too deep in thought to truly enjoy the moment.

  The day progressed as most of our days did, target practice and research, though none of us were up to sticking our noses in books for the day, so we dropped that. Without William or Edward, we couldn’t enter the secured area of the library. The deep secrets of The Guild, which we weren’t allowed to know, were kept in there. That is where we needed to be. We’d done about all we could with the rest of the books, and books wouldn’t help us figure out who sold out to the Council and betrayed William to them. So we spent most of that day shooting and joking. Over the few hours we waited, my mood improved from what it was at lunch.

  Since we were going to a vampire club, we’d better look the part. That’s right! We had to get sexy. After eating a rather late dinner, we split up to get ready for a night out on the town.

  An hour later, we reassembled and were off.

  We arrived at the address that Johnny had given Carmen. Not that we needed it, the club was a beacon of life in an otherwise dead, no pun intended, part of the river front. We were early, but we’d been told that it was important. Dessert Rose was the name of the club. The sign was aglow in bright orange that faded to red then yellow and back. The line of people waiting to get in was halfway to the next block.

  We’d all dressed up, even Terry. Carmen had opted for a long black skirt and tall black boots, a crimson leather vest showed off her graceful shoulders and arms, it left just enough stomach showing to be teasing. She looked distracting. Long slits up each side of the skirt weren’t just to show off her great legs, the slits allowed access to the pistols strapped to her thighs. The guns were small enough and the skirt moved enough, that the outlines of the guns didn’t show. Terry didn’t go so far, he’d worn a gray suit with a modern cut, and a bright green collarless shirt, with a silver clasp at the neck that offset the dull gray of the suit. He wore silver rimmed glasses, with lenses that matched the green of the shirt. His guns were in their normal places. He’d made an effort, despite how much he didn’t want to, to fit into this new world of vampires where power, image, and sex were everything. Myself, I dressed to match my name, as I liked to do. Black leather pants and boots, and over a silk shirt I wore a knee length overcoat to hide the guns under each arm and the two at the small of my back, along with the now silver blades on my forearms.

  Alexander was standing at the front doors, waiting. I didn’t think that I’d ever seen him in anything other than his uniform of blue jeans. He was wearing black this time, and a tight fitting black t-shirt. He stood there, allowing his massive physical presence to be known. He wasn’t checking Id’s, but he was watching two other vampires whom I didn’t know check them. “You’re ear
ly.” He glared at us as we approached.

  “Ah, you sound like you missed us,” Carmen said, sounding just as cute as she could manage.

  He just grunted. “He’s waiting,” he said, as he jerked a thumb through the air toward the door, turning his attention back toward his duties.

  Inside, the color scheme of the sign continued. Satin and cashmere covered everything. A couch, pillows, even drapes that made the ceiling impossible to see, what wasn’t made of fabric was made of transparent plexi-glass. It was a mixture of a modern club and the Taj Mahal. The line outside hinted at the mob of people inside. The place was packed wall to wall with people, vampires, and shape shifters. Some of them stood, while others lay on mountains of pillows on raised platforms and many others stuffed themselves onto the dance floor. If I’d wanted to, I could count each group, but I didn’t see the point. There were too many of any of them for me to be comfortable. I couldn’t feel Amun out in all this, he was shielding too much. The music pounded through the club, it was mix of techno and eastern sitar music, matching the club’s atmosphere perfectly.

  We paused just inside the doorway, looking for Amun or someone that we knew to point us in his direction. It took only a moment of searching, Tarja made herself easy to find. On the side of the dance floor closest to the wall was a stage where a group of belly dancers provided entertainment for those that didn’t want to dance. In the middle of their group was Tarja, dancing with them. The dancers were dressed in traditional looking outfits, long billowing skirts and tops covered with tassels. Hiding then exposing then again hiding teases of skin, as the fabric danced with each of their movements. Tarja wore a long green dress. The dress matched her eye coloring perfectly making them visible even from across the room, standing out against the fabric of the dress was an embroidered silver dragon. Her fluid movements made the other dancers look clumsy and awkward by comparison. I caught myself wondering if her eyes had been that vibrant in life. Pulling back into my head, I turned to the others and pointed toward the stage, “Tarja!” I yelled over the loud music and conversations. They nodded and we tried pushing our way towards her.