The Shadow Box: Paranormal Suspense and Dark Fantasy Thriller Novels

by Travis Luedke

  “The Council does not know you are here.”

  His laughing stopped. “You are sure?”

  “Yes,” Amun said. “The Council has allowed me to run this business and many others like it without their interference. They would not send you to stop me.”

  I yawned perhaps a little over dramatically. His attention turned from them to me. His shit-eating faded.

  “Who is this?! Who shows such disrespect for his betters?!” he was pushing power into his voice; he was nothing to write home about. No more powerful than many of the vampires I’d seen there among Amun’s followers, but he had control. Control can go a long way.

  But, I assumed the question was not actually directed towards me so… I had to answer. “I’m the guy you are boring the shit out of.” His face curled into a discussed sneer I’d pissed him off. When you’re good at something you might as well keep it up. Again he tried pushing me with his power. I felt his energy like a weight on my chest. I reacted just like my instincts told me to; I fucking pushed back, hard. I really didn’t think and would happen but much to me and my human friends’ surprise our new buddy stumbled back a step. If this came as a shock to my vampire they didn’t let it show. Our advisory however did, his look of disdain grew into greedy lust. He seemed to have found himself another prize.

  “I think they will also be pleased to hear of your new found friends.”

  “That won’t happen,” Seth said. The sides of the attacking vampire’s mouth began to turn upwards as his wicked smile turned slowly into a grimace of pain and then to panic. His stance changed, he was no longer cocky and sure of himself, he’d gone into the mindset of self-preservation, fight or flight. He began frantically grasping for human, well human-ish, shields. Every time he would reach for a bystander, a sudden gash would appear in his shirt, blood oozing from the wound. There was an invisible power that was attacking him. It wasn’t from me and it wasn’t from Amun. Seth. Seth was doing something that was causing this pain in the vampire. Once he’d let go of the other vampire, the pain that had made his arm spasm speared to other parts of his body. His legs started shaking and his face contorted in the struggle to keep control of his own body. The vampire dropped. “I said that you would never be a master,” he spoke, as he walked toward the vampire now on his knees. “With time, you may have been able to gain the control needed. But time is now something that you do not have. You are going to die here tonight. I will kill you. Do you understand that?”

  “Yes.” His power was being crushed in on him. His grand power that had once filled the club had become no more powerful than that of a normal human.

  “Why have you come?”

  “To take the Council Amun’s fangs, proving that he is nothing but a menace and that I belong among them.”

  “Not a wise thing to attempt.” Seth raised his arm palm open toward the fallen vamp. The pain in his face changed to complete agony before he burst into a blue inferno. “Not a wise thing at all,” he said, turning back to us.

  Amun nodded to him then made his way to the stage where the dancers stood motionless watching the show as two other security vampires carried off their still comrade passed out limp in their arms. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is what happens when the peace is disturbed. You will be punished. This is a place where vampires and people exist together.” He raised his arms and spread them wide. “Now,” the power flared in his voice, “let us forget these troubled moments. We are here for a good time.” Like magic, the music started again and the humans went back to their drinks. The youngest of the vampires acted just like the humans, the older the vamps were the less they were affected, though none were totally immune, even the oldest returned to what they’d been doing with a look of utter confusion on their faces, as if time had skipped a beat. Only a handfull of us would remember the events of those few moments. He came back to us. “I don’t think the firearms are needed any longer.” I looked down at my hand still clutching my pistols.

  “I guess not,” I said, as I returned the guns to their holsters, hidden under my jacket.

  “Let us return to the privet room. I think we’ve given enough of a show tonight.” We did as was suggested and returned to the room we’d been talking in before the disturbance.

  Alexander was still there with Tarja. She was bitter and annoyed at both being left out of the fun and at Alexander for his display of weakness. “And what would you have done if Amun had not been there to ride to your rescue?” she said, pacing around him as he slumped on one of the chairs. He didn’t look any happier than she did. His teeth were grinding together. He looked as though he wanted to say something but knew better.

  When we entered, they both snapped to their feet and faced the door. “My lord, I’m sorry that I failed you,” Alexander said, offering his neck to Amun.

  “No, I think that you have lost enough blood for one night. Go now and feed. Return to the keep and wait for me there once you have your strength back.” Amun’s voice was very somber. It didn’t hold the same anger that it had earlier. “Thank you for caring for him, Tarja.” She didn’t look pleased with Amun’s gratitude. I could understand where she was coming from, if I’d been second-in-command of an army of undead, I would hate playing nursemaid to a pinhead of a vampire that stepped up to a bigger dog and got bit. “Now please let us continue our night.”

  I had some things I wanted answers to before we got back into story time. “May I ask a few things first?”

  “Of course.”

  “Seth, how did you do what you did to that vampire downstairs?”

  “I’ve never seen a vampire trick like that,” Terry said.

  Seth looked pleased with himself. “It was not a vampire trick. Actually it is a talent that I believe our own Mr. Black could master.”

  “Huh?” Terry and I said in unison.

  “The power you are asking about is the power to move auras, a person or thing’s energy force. With practice one can take their own and use it as a weapon.”

  Tarja, who’d taken her place on the floor leaning against Amun’s leg, let out a full-hearted laugh at us. I wondered how dumbfounded we looked as Seth was trying to explain what he meant. “When you reached out with your mind to look into mine, you were actually reaching out with your aura,” Amun said, offering an answer. “It can be lashed out at someone and be more dangerous than even your prized silver bullets.”

  “I understand how you caused his pain, but how did you kill him off with just your aura?” Carmen asked, who’d also found a seat, while Terry and I still stood there looking like idiots.

  “Actually, Miss Piper, it was his aura.” Her head cocked to the side just a bit, questioning. “I was controlling his aura. I was manipulating it to cause his pain and then his death. You see, the aura is a very important part of a person’s life. To put it as simply as I can, I crushed his heart with his own aura. When his heart could take no more of the pressure, it ignited, and with it the rest of him burned.”

  “That is the first time I’ve heard of a vampire dying of a broken heart.” I thought it was funny when I said it. Tarja was the only one I got a laugh out of; however, I think it was at me and not with me.

  “My point is that the power to control aura energy is not the power of a vampire. Truth-be-told, very few vampires have the ability.”

  “Not even I have that power,” Amun interrupted.

  “A reason I am one of Amun’s assassins and not higher in the coven’s council. I had the power when I was human. I believe this is why Amun wished us to meet, Mr. Black. I too did not know where my power originated. Not until after I was turned into a vampire did I return home and track down what I had been. I’m a witch, by the name you would know, with the immortality of a vampire. Still, without knowing where you come from, I can only offer what I know. Some of it may help. Some of it you will not be able to accomplish. But I offer you everything that I know about magic.”

  I nodded my head. “Thank you.”

  “Very well
then,” Amun said, again breaking into the conversation, “now let us have no more talk on the matters of death; let us enjoy each other’s company.”

  And so we were back to stories from the vampires. Amun and Seth anyway; they were natural story tellers. However, Tarja remained silent, her eyes searching the three humans in the room. Not out of hunger, but curiosity. The two of us locked eyes for a moment; we were thinking and wondering about the other. I wanted her story. But I would never be so bold as to ask for it. Maybe one day if I lived long enough in this world, she’d tell me, but then again maybe not. She smiled at me, it wasn’t the evil smile I’d seen from her before, and then turned her attentions elsewhere. The night quickly passed for us as we listened to tales of a world long forgotten by humans except in our history books.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  I lay in bed that morning with Carmen in my arms, nearly overcome with a sense of relief. Seth would become the teacher that I needed, or at least a type thereof. He had dealt with the same issue when he was human that I was faced with now. I truly hoped that he’d be able to show me at least how to better use and control my powers, or gifts as Amun so liked to put it. I also hoped there would be time to learn from him before I was face to face with a Council member. That thought filled me with dread. I was no fool. I didn’t think that I would be able to take on a single member of that damn Council of blood sucking fucks. With my head swimming with the hope that I’d be able to learn more about what it was that I was, sleep quickly embraced me. The sleep that should have been so peaceful, was not. The dreams were back. Those goddamn dreams that seemed too real. It was the same as it had been before, a friend lay dead at my feet, I was still chained to that wall and the killer stood over the body of my fallen friend. I could still not make out any faces. I still have no clue who was dead and who the murderer was. He laughed at me as I was screaming and pulling at the chains trying to free myself. I cursed. I spat. I struggled. I could do nothing. Again, I woke just as he was reaching for me. And I again shot upright in bed, my body covered in a cold sweet.

  Carmen was already awake. She had my gun in her hand. “I didn’t want you to grab it and shoot someone,” she said, as she tried to laugh a little, “least of all me.” But the laugh didn’t last. Her face turned very serious. “Bad dreams again?” She asked, offering me my gun.

  “Yeah,” I said, taking the pistol back from her.

  “You want to talk about it?”

  Did I? I wasn’t sure. I didn’t see how it would help. I didn’t talk about what bothered me. I took everything and shoved it away. I buried it deep inside where no one could see it. “I don’t know,” I said, setting the gun on the nightstand and lying back down.

  “I won’t push,” she said, curling back into me, “but if you want, I’m here.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Do you want me to stay?” Something in her voice was telling me that she needed me as much as I did her. “I’ll leave if you want to be alone.”

  “No,” I said, wrapping my arms around her holding her tightly. “Please stay.”

  “As long as you want me to.”

  That got a small laugh out of me. She looked at me expecting an explanation. “As long as I want?” I asked.

  “That’s what I said.”

  I shook my head in agreement. “What if I never want you to leave?”

  Even with no light in the room, I knew she was smiling. It was the smile that I only saw when the two of us were alone. The smile was her truly happy smile. I wondered if I’d get to see more of it once she didn’t have her father to worry about. When he was back safely with us, would she relax? I wished that she would. We’ll talk about forever later. For now, we both need sleep.

  The dreams did not bother me any longer that night. I slept soundly with Carmen in my arms.

  When we woke, Carmen stretched, wiping the sleep from her eyes. “I need a shower,” she said, as she leaned in to kiss me.

  “Me too. Did you want some company?” She gave me a little grin for the remark.

  “Maybe another time.” She kissed me again and crawled out of the bed.

  “Any more dreams?”

  “None,” I said, sitting up in bed.

  “Good,” she replied, as she made her way to the bathroom. “If you do want to talk about them….” She paused turning around to look at me, leaning against the door frame.

  “I know.” I let out a slow sigh. “Thank you.”

  She just smiled sweetly at me, but her eyes held sadness in them. She seemed to know something was truly wrong and she wanted to help. I wasn’t sure if talking would help me or not. However, I did not want to share such disturbing images with someone that I cared about. I knew she could handle it. I knew that she was tough enough for the horrors that we were faced with in our lives. But I did not want to be the one to show her more than she already had to see. No, I didn’t want to be the bearer of such things.

  After a few moments of losing myself in thoughts of Carmen, I dragged my ass out of bed and went to the computer lying open on the desk. I wanted to check on the Network. I needed to see if any messages had been left. For weeks there had been no word from whoever had placed the price on my head. Perhaps someone else had taken the job, or maybe the offer had been revoked. I had no way of knowing unless we received a message.

  I heard the shower shut off only a few moments later. I was still sitting at the desk when Carmen came out of the bathroom. Her hair piled under a towel wrapped around her head and her bathrobe was the only clothes she had on. Goddamn, she was distracting. I was waiting for the computer to connect to the system. I must have been staring at her a little too hard. She was blushing. “What?” She asked.

  “Huh?” How fucking classy of me. A beautiful young woman asks me a question and my response is ‘huh?’

  She laughed a little at me. She had the right to. “What the fuck are you staring at?”

  Damn, another question! She wanted me to be able to think, when she looked like that? Thinking, yes that’s a good thing, right? “Anything I damn well please.”

  That got a raised eyebrow. “Now, how about a real answer?” She crossed her arms in front of her and leaned on the bedpost.

  “You.”

  “Why?”

  “You’re beautiful.” Aw, ain’t that just the cutest fucking thing, a hit man with a crush.

  She just rolled her eyes the way she always did when I made comments like that. She stood back up and walked toward me. “What are you doing?” she asked me, pointing at the computer.

  Oh yeah, I was doing something. “The Network. I’m just checking to see if we’d heard back from whoever I pissed off.”

  “Now that is a short list isn’t it?” If she hadn’t laughed when she said it, I may have been insulted by the sarcasm.

  “What are you trying to say?” Oh, I knew what she was trying to say.

  “Trying?”

  “Point taken.”

  She laughed again. “So, anything to report?”

  I turned back to the screen. “I don’t know yet. Someone distracted me.”

  “Me?” Her face held the perfected ‘did I do that?’ look.

  “Yeah, you.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said, putting her arms around my shoulders. “It was totally unintentional.”

  My ass. She knew what she was doing. Women always know what they are doing when they pull that kind of shit. And God did I love them for it. “I’m sure.”

  With my attention back on the screen, well most of my attention, my eyes scanned my false account. There was a new message. I didn’t even need to open the file. I knew it was from them. They were the only contact I had made on the new profile. I was impatient while I waited for the system to unscramble the message. I was drumming my fingers on the desk, counting the seconds in my head. Carmen reached out and took a hold of my nervous hand. “Breaking your fingers will not make the system go any faster.” She leaned down and kissed me deeply, passionately. My free hand
found the side of her face and neck, firmly holding the kiss. The towel around her head fell to the floor. She didn’t seem to care. When her wet hair fell around my face, I wanted more. I moved the chair away from the desk and pulled her onto my lap. A gasp escaped her as I pulled her down to me. Her robe was tied tight enough that nothing was revealed as her legs spread around me, nothing but those long beautiful legs. I was only wearing the shorts I’d slept in the night before. The touch of her skin drove me crazy while my hand began to explore her body. Beep. The computer signaled the message ready. “See,” she said, giggling as she stood up. “There are other ways to distract you from the time you must wait.” Okay, she was good in more than just distracting me. But I do have to say that this taking it slow shit was really starting to get to me. “Now what’s the message say, Hun?”

  Horny and unfulfilled, I turned back to the computer screen. Not at all what I wanted to be doing, but I didn’t want to push her. I knew she needed space and that’s what I’d give her. When the fuck did I turn into a nice guy? You know if nice guys finish last, the rest of the world better watch out. One day we might just shoot you in the back. I scrolled the cursor across the screen and selected the unread message. Like always the letters began to rearrange themselves to expose the text hidden in the jumble of crap.

  PRIZE STILL AVAILABLE INTERESTED IN THE SEAT

  It was simple, to the point. I relayed to Carmen what I had read. “I guess no one else had taken the contract,” I said.

  “It would look like that.” She returned to sitting on my thigh. “What are you going to reply with?”

  “I’m not sure.” I’d never tried to learn who I’d worked for, or with, before and I didn’t know where to start. I couldn’t afford to raise any suspicions. I needed to meet them. I didn’t want to blow my only possible chance, especially if the price on my head was somehow linked to the abduction of William. “Any thoughts?” I asked her.

  Her eyes filled with thought. Her hands were around my neck and her fingers where running through my hair. She was not helping me think at all. Her motions were at the same time relaxing and exciting. She baffled the hell out of me. Suddenly her hand stopped moving. “The only thing I can think of is to blame the meeting on the press that Sean’s death stirred up.”