The Shadow Box: Paranormal Suspense and Dark Fantasy Thriller Novels

by Travis Luedke

  She climbed on top of me, tightly holding my wrists to the floor. I could have moved had I wanted to, but I didn’t. She laughed at me when I tried, playfully, to push her up. The laugh wasn’t her normal flirty laugh. It was sexy, seducing. Her evil little laugh continued as she leaned over my body and began kissing and biting my neck and ears. My breathing quickened, but as she started to grind against me, my heavy breathing turned into gasps and moans.

  She was right; she was so fucking good. I was still only wearing a pair of boxers; it was easy enough for her to tell that I loved the moment. “Oh God,” escaped me, when her grinding sped up and deepened.

  “Goddess,” she corrected. “But, my knees can’t take much more of this wood floor.” I feared the moment was over when she stood up. “Come on,” she said, as she offered me a hand. Though I didn’t need the help I took it. My back was facing the bed when she again pushed me back. “Sit,” she ordered.

  I’d never been with a woman like that; no one had ever… pushed me around like she did. To be honest, I liked it. Dangerous.

  I began to reach for the lowest button of my dress shirt she’d borrowed, but she pushed my hand away before I could undo them. “I didn’t say that you could do that.” But I wanted to. I wanted to so badly, I wanted to see her skin, to touch it, caress it, kiss it. But she was teasing. She began where I’d left off. Slowly she unbuttoned one after the other until her body was both hidden and exposed by the shirt. Her tanned body was exquisite against the deep red of the shirt, her breasts were mostly covered by the draping of crimson silk. A pair of black lace boy-shorts, as she called them, hid the rest of what I wanted to see.

  Again she straddled me.

  Again she started to grind on me.

  She used her weight to slowly lower me to the mattress. The tips of her breasts grazed my chest so slightly it sent a shiver up my spine.

  Her kissing didn’t stop at my neck. She kept working her way lower and lower on my body. Using her tongue, lips, and teeth, she seemed to know where every nerve was. Pausing for a moment she played with my nipples in her mouth, which for all the ladies out there, guys love it, I loved it. Along with her mouth, she ground with her hips and scratched with her nails. Flawlessly she kept everything on the right side of pain were it was still such lovely pleasure.

  Her lips were just reaching my hip line when the worst thing that could have happened did. A knock on the door “It’s almost time to go,” Terry’s voice called from the other side of the door.

  “Can I kill him?” I whispered.

  “No.” She stood up. “I want to.”

  “Fine. We’ll be down in a minute,” she called to Terry.

  She gathered her things up, muttering to herself. “Time to work,” was the only thing I could make out from her rant. I was still propped on the edge of the bed feeling extremely frustrated. I reached out for her hand as she walked past me.

  Taking my hand I pulled her closer. “Are we gonna continue this later?” I tried not to put too much hope in my voice.

  She laughed at me but didn’t answer. Just that sweet laugh and a hug. “Time for work, Vince.” Then she kissed me. I tried to pull her back to the bed but she wouldn’t budge. “No, there is not time,” she said, half laughing half speaking.

  I grunted as she walked to the door. Terry was still standing on the other side when she opened it.

  His head peaked around the corner. His eyes grew huge with the sight of the ruined linen. “Damn,” was all he said, as Carmen pushed her way into the hall. Once she’d disappeared down the hallway, he stepped into my room and leaned against the door frame. “So,” he scratched his head with a shit-eating grin across his face as he spoke, “how’d that go?”

  “We were just getting started.” My voice held no joy that the statement was true.

  He let out a deep rolling chuckle. “Really, it seems like you’ve been at it for a while.”

  I stood up and walked toward the closet. “Thank God for thick walls. Now you’ll never know.” It wasn’t his fault that he walked in just at the wrong moment. No reason to be mad at him, right?

  “Rendezvous at Amun’s in an hour,” he said with a sigh.

  I was thumbing through my suits when he turned to leave.

  “Terry,” I stopped him, “are we doing the right thing?”

  “What do you mean?” He closed the door and returned to leaning on the wall.

  “I am just not sure if this is the smartest thing to do.”

  “We’ve been over this. If there is some type of connection between the contract on your head and Williams abduction, you can’t go in alone. And if there is nothing between the two, then we’re just playing it safe. What has you so uneasy about this anyway? I know that you’ve been in tougher situations than this, what’s going on?”

  He was right; I had been in tougher situations, a lot tougher. So why was I freaking out so much? Two very simple reasons, first I wasn’t the only in danger, there were other people fighting with me and not all of them by choice, second those damn dreams. They were just dreams though. Without telling him the details of those horrid visions, there was no way he could understand where I was coming from with my concerns.

  I just stood there staring into the closet rolling the whole thing over in my head. What would be so wrong with telling him? I thought to myself. Would he believe me? If he didn’t, no big deal, but if he did, if he could see the horror in my eyes when I told him, where would that leave us?

  I’m not sure which argument won me over, but I took a seat on the couch and told him everything, every detail I could remember. He’d sat down on the adjacent chair as he listened to my rant.

  “So that’s what happened to the sheets?”

  “Yep,” I said, lighting a cigarette.

  “Too bad for you. I figured….” he let the sentence trail off into nothing. We both knew what he’d figured, there was no need for him to finish the remark.

  “So?” A simple question for him.

  “So, I don’t have the first clue of what to make of you, Vince, at all. Let alone try to understand your dreams, visions, whatever the fuck they are.” He lit his own smoke. “I don’t know what it could mean, and neither do you. It may have nothing to do with the meeting at hand.”

  I let out a long breath. “What about the body at my feet, what if I—”

  He cut me off. I didn’t care. “Can I pass on some advice?” I inclined my head asking him to continue. “I’ve watched her go on missions I wish she wouldn’t, but there’s no stopping her.”

  “She not the only one I’m afraid for.”

  He stood up chuckling a bit. “You’d better be talking about yourself then. I ain’t planning on dying tonight, my friend. Get a shower, and get your head together. We’ve got to be leaving soon.” Then he left me in utter silence. If he was worried, he didn’t let it show. I wasn’t sure which would have bothered me more, if he wasn’t freaked out, or if he wasn’t showing it, since I was having such trouble hiding my fears.

  He made a very good point, I needed my head together for tonight. Also I needed a shower, badly.

  The water was hot and felt wonderful, calming, relaxing. I couldn’t afford a long shower. They were waiting for me and I’d already wasted too much time whining and bitching.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Carmen did sleep in my room that night. It was a comfort to have her there, but not enough. I spent most of the morning gazing at the ceiling. I was worried. Before I’d gotten involved with the world of the undead and the furry, I didn’t have anyone to fret over. I only worried about myself, which this may be a bit shocking, I didn’t do so much. I knew how to keep myself alive, that was enough for me. Now, fuck, now I had friends and, I use the term loosely, subordinates. I didn’t view them as such, but my view on the matter held the weight of helium.

  The thoughts that other’s lives were being put at risk for a jackass like me weighed heavy on me. But the sleep that had eluded me so strongly final
ly submitted, for a time.

  I dreamed again.

  To say I dreamed again may be putting it a little light. I had another goddamn nightmare. I was back in the moldy stinking dungeon. It was the same again, always the same. A friend lay dead at my feet as I fought against a beast of a man that I did not know. I was so helpless; there was precisely dick I could do.

  I screamed.

  I fought.

  I failed.

  Then I woke, still screaming. I was awake but I was still trapped. I couldn’t get lose; I tore at my restraints, cursing, yelling, fury and fear poured out of me. I had to get out. I had to get free. Someone other than me was yelling. I couldn’t make it out nor did I care. I was trapped and the approaching touch of that monster from my nightmare was still creeping closer and closer. His laugh was still in my head. So I fought on.

  The fighting paid off. I was free and on my feet. I’d stopped yelling. I was trying to make sense of where I was and what had happened. I didn’t even recognize my own room. My heart still raced with fear. I stood there mostly naked, dripping with sweat trying to catch my breath. My lungs burned at the effort.

  Carmen was still there, she was the voice I’d heard screaming. She was also off the bed. A good thing that she was, the satin sheets where torn, violently, and the blankets had been tossed across the room during my fit. She was holding a gun and it wasn’t mine.

  My eyes traveled from the pistol up her arm and to her eyes. “Are you gonna kill me?” My voice was still trembling and heavy, my lungs still short on air.

  Her eyes were wet, tears welled in them, but I knew she wouldn’t break down. “No,” she said, “I thought you were going to kill me.”

  I didn’t know what I was doing. What had I done to make her think that I would kill her? Even try to? Or want to?

  “Why—” But I didn’t finish.

  The fear in her eyes was just too damn much for me, my knees buckled from under me. With a thump I was on my ass, clutching my legs to my chest.

  “The dreams?” The fear was not only in her eyes, but also still in her voice.

  I didn’t trust mine. I nodded. Yes, the dreams.

  Was this nightmare about to come true? I knew that the meeting, even with the vamps and lycans, would not be the safest undertaking. But God, if it was going to lead us to such an end, was it worth it?

  I stopped hugging my legs and let my face fall into my hands. She approached me, very slowly. I could hear her feet shuffling across the hardwood floor as she crept toward me. Kneeling, she began to reach for me. I shied my head away from her hand. Quickly she recoiled.

  I raised my head. When my eyes met hers, I asked, “Would you have killed me?” I knew the answer; I didn’t know why I had to ask. But I did.

  She didn’t answer, she didn’t have to. She just swallowed hard.

  “Maybe you should have.” Again she reached out for me. And again I turned away. I wanted nothing more than her touch. I longed for it. But I denied myself. I didn’t deserve it. If I’d scared her so much that she would draw against me, I didn’t fucking deserve the comfort of her touch.

  “Why?” She asked, her voice still shook, but it held a hint of anger.

  She didn’t understand why I wouldn’t let her touch me. It wasn’t her I was upset with. It was me. But I knew that I could not make her understand that. Perhaps it was self-deprecating to make myself suffer when she was offering me the comfort that I needed. But did I give a fuck? No. “Perhaps it would have been better for all of us,” I took a deep breath, “if you had.” She looked so shocked at my statement. “Carmen,” I continued, “I am bringing nothing but a shit storm of hell to everyone here. I’m not even sure if by coming here I didn’t have something to do with your father’s abduction.”

  She completely ignored the comment about her father. “Please, Vinny, tell me about the dream, please.” Her voice was so soft, comforting, no more anger.

  “I can’t.” No lies, I couldn’t.

  “Can’t or won’t?”

  A little from column ‘A’ a little from column ‘B’. “Both.” She didn’t look like she understood me. “I’m sorry,” I said, “but, it’s just… I can’t bring myself to talk about it. I don’t want you, or anyone else, to suffer those horrors.”

  She reached again. I could never say she wasn’t persistent. That time she didn’t let me back away. “You can’t protect everyone, Vincent.” I heard what she was saying, but all I could think about was the soothing feeling of her touch.

  Why did she make me feel that way?

  “How do you do that?” I asked. I didn’t mean for it to be out loud.

  Her lips curled into a grin. And I realized that I too was smiling. “Do what?”

  “Calm me with just a touch?”

  She shrugged as her grin turned into a smile. “I, my dear Mr. Black, am just that fucking good.”

  I let out an evil little chuckle. “Oh, my dear Mrs. Piper, how I would love to know how fucking good you really are.”

  My chuckle and comment was answered with a blushed giggle. “Wouldn’t you just?” Her smile turned from playful to seductive as she leaned in and kissed me, softly at first, then deeper. She pulled back from the kiss. “Wouldn’t you just.” Forcefully pushing me onto my back.

  I wanted to ask what she was doing, but I didn’t dare say anything to ruin the moment. Experience had shown me that no matter how well things were going with her, she’d pull back. I didn’t want that.

  She climbed on top of me, tightly holding my wrists to the floor. I could have moved had I wanted to, but I didn’t. She laughed at me when I tried, playfully, to push her up. The laugh wasn’t her normal flirty laugh. It was sexy, seducing. Her evil little laugh continued as she leaned over my body and began kissing and biting my neck and ears. My breathing quickened, but as she started to grind against me, my heavy breathing turned into gasps and moans.

  She was right; she was so fucking good. I was still only wearing a pair of boxers; it was easy enough for her to tell that I loved the moment. “Oh God,” escaped me, when her grinding sped up and deepened.

  “Goddess,” she corrected. “But, my knees can’t take much more of this wood floor.” I feared the moment was over when she stood up. “Come on,” she said, as she offered me a hand. Though I didn’t need the help I took it. My back was facing the bed when she again pushed me back. “Sit,” she ordered.

  I’d never been with a woman like that; no one had ever… pushed me around like she did. To be honest, I liked it. Dangerous.

  I began to reach for the lowest button of my dress shirt she’d borrowed, but she pushed my hand away before I could undo them. “I didn’t say that you could do that.” But I wanted to. I wanted to so badly, I wanted to see her skin, to touch it, caress it, kiss it. But she was teasing. She began where I’d left off. Slowly she unbuttoned one after the other until her body was both hidden and exposed by the shirt. Her tanned body was exquisite against the deep red of the shirt, her breasts were mostly covered by the draping of crimson silk. A pair of black lace boy-shorts, as she called them, hid the rest of what I wanted to see.

  Again she straddled me.

  Again she started to grind on me.

  She used her weight to slowly lower me to the mattress. The tips of her breasts grazed my chest so slightly it sent a shiver up my spine.

  Her kissing didn’t stop at my neck. She kept working her way lower and lower on my body. Using her tongue, lips, and teeth, she seemed to know where every nerve was. Pausing for a moment she played with my nipples in her mouth, which for all the ladies out there, guys love it, I loved it. Along with her mouth, she ground with her hips and scratched with her nails. Flawlessly she kept everything on the right side of pain were it was still such lovely pleasure.

  Her lips were just reaching my hip line when the worst thing that could have happened did. A knock on the door “It’s almost time to go,” Terry’s voice called from the other side of the door.

  “Can I k
ill him?” I whispered.

  “No.” She stood up. “I want to.”

  “Fine. We’ll be down in a minute,” she called to Terry.

  She gathered her things up, muttering to herself. “Time to work,” was the only thing I could make out from her rant. I was still propped on the edge of the bed feeling extremely frustrated. I reached out for her hand as she walked past me.

  Taking my hand I pulled her closer. “Are we gonna continue this later?” I tried not to put too much hope in my voice.

  She laughed at me but didn’t answer. Just that sweet laugh and a hug. “Time for work, Vince.” Then she kissed me. I tried to pull her back to the bed but she wouldn’t budge. “No, there is not time,” she said, half laughing half speaking.

  I grunted as she walked to the door. Terry was still standing on the other side when she opened it.

  His head peaked around the corner. His eyes grew huge with the sight of the ruined linen. “Damn,” was all he said, as Carmen pushed her way into the hall. Once she’d disappeared down the hallway, he stepped into my room and leaned against the door frame. “So,” he scratched his head with a shit-eating grin across his face as he spoke, “how’d that go?”

  “We were just getting started.” My voice held no joy that the statement was true.

  He let out a deep rolling chuckle. “Really, it seems like you’ve been at it for a while.”

  I stood up and walked toward the closet. “Thank God for thick walls. Now you’ll never know.” It wasn’t his fault that he walked in just at the wrong moment. No reason to be mad at him, right?

  “Rendezvous at Amun’s in an hour,” he said with a sigh.

  I was thumbing through my suits when he turned to leave.

  “Terry,” I stopped him, “are we doing the right thing?”

  “What do you mean?” He closed the door and returned to leaning on the wall.

  “I am just not sure if this is the smartest thing to do.”

  “We’ve been over this. If there is some type of connection between the contract on your head and Williams abduction, you can’t go in alone. And if there is nothing between the two, then we’re just playing it safe. What has you so uneasy about this anyway? I know that you’ve been in tougher situations than this, what’s going on?”