The Shadow Box: Paranormal Suspense and Dark Fantasy Thriller Novels

by Travis Luedke

  “You’ve been called,” he hissed through his lipless mouth. If he hadn’t been so disgustingly freaky looking, I would have found his attempt to speak fucking hilarious. But now wasn’t the time for me to laugh at it, him, whatever, thingy. He held one of my friends dead. I didn’t want to laugh. I wanted to kill.

  I couldn’t wait any longer. “Who is that?” It began laughing again and dropped the limp body of Terry on the floor. I was beyond screams or curses. I was beyond anger. I was in a cold outrage. I was silent. After a soft, “Oh god… Terry,” Carmen made up for my lack of colorful comments. In all the time I’d known her, I think I heard more “fucks” “bastards” and random other demeaning incoherent comments fly from her mouth in those few moments. “Take us where we have been called.” My voice filled with bitter hatred. The jaws of the monster snapped shut ending its laughter, and a look of confusion came from its large black eyes. I had one thing to my advantage, I was more powerful than the beast. I pushed power into my voice. “Did you not hear me? Unbind us.” Violently, the thing shook its head side-to-side trying to rid itself of my voice. “Now.” I still kept my voice at a low volume of tone and power. It wouldn’t take much to overpower this thing’s broken mind. The beast listened and let us out of our chains. Carmen checked Terry. Her eyes were not filled with tears but rage and hate when she looked up at me and shook her head. I felt a little of that hatred was focused at me. That was fine, enough of my own rage and hatred was already directed toward myself, why not add hers.

  One shining light came to us. Our weapons were lying on a table within the dungeon room. What good they would do us, I had no idea, but it was something. We replaced our guns and knives back into the holsters we still wore. Before leaving the room, I looked at Terry’s body again. He was dead and it was my fault. I didn’t wonder how hard he’d fought until the last breath of him. I knew him, he wouldn’t go without a fight. His hands were covered in blood, some his, some not his. I hoped he took a few with him. No matter if he did or not, he was still dead. No last epic speech, just dead. My friend, my fault. “Take us now.” I took Carmen’s hand and followed our beastly guide out of the dungeon.

  Up and up flights of stairs we climbed. Every once in awhile the beast would turn to make sure we were still following him. I didn’t know what we were going to do once we’d reached whomever we were going to see. All I knew was I was going to kill something. We were still underground when we reached a set of doors. I knew trouble lay on the other side. “This is it. Are you ready for this? I can go in alone, give you time to get away.”

  I got slapped. She slapped me! It didn’t feel good. I began rubbing my jaw. “Don’t you dare play the hero here, Black. He was my friend first, and we still haven’t found my father.” She grabbed my head and pulled me down into a deep kiss. “You’re lucky I didn’t slug you. I’ve got a hell of a right hook.” She drew her pistols. I nodded at the door once my guns were at the ready. Beastie began opening the large double doors. “Love ya, Vince.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah, don’t make a big deal about it. I only said it because we’re about to die.”

  “Love you, too.” The heavy doors creaked on their hinges as they were slowly pushed open.

  The room was massive, built to look like the throne room of a medieval castle, it reminded me of Amun’s underground building, but at the same time not. This place seemed so much crueler, there were bodies hanging along the walls, some dead, some almost dead. Michael, Johnny, and Seth were among them. Where was Amun? I thought to myself. My friends bound by silver, looked up at Carmen and me proudly as we walked into the room, guns drawn staring down the mass of vampires. Our hosts didn’t look so happy to see us. Steven sat to the right of an obviously more important vampire at a large oak table. My guess, it was his master, as Amun was Tarja’s master. The head vamp stood as we made our approach to the table. He wore a golden headdress along with the traditional tunic of an Egyptian God. Needless to say, he looked a bit out of place among the European architecture and modern suits of his followers. Our monster bowed to the table of high ranks. I’d completely rolled his mind; he thought he’d properly done the bidding of his master.

  “Who is this? Who brings these guns into my camber?” His voice was powerful, not only in the mystical sense but also in the he speaks people listen kinda way. “Who is this whom controls my pet as if it were his? WHO IS THIS?!” His last question rumbled the whole room.

  “This,” Steven stood next to his master, “is Vincent Black, a hunter of The Guild and of no concern to you, my Master. I will have him and his bitch dispatched at once.”

  “Steven,” he said in a soft voice, “have you not realized by now?” Steven was tossed across the room by an invisible force. “Everything in my house is my concern. The vampire race is not the glory it once was.” Carmen and I still stood back to back now encircled by forty or so vampires, none of which were friendly. “Now, Mr. Black, Mrs. Piper, you were intended as a meal, but this turn of events is most… interesting. What do you want coming here like this? Why approach me, Khnum a high master of The Council, when you could so easily have escaped?”

  “We just want our friends,” I said. I think I did a good job of not sounding like I was going to shit my pants. “Give them back to us and we’ll be on our way.”A burst of laughter filled the room and my head. It was his horde that filled the room and him that filled my head. “Do you really think you have a chance to fight your way out of here?” He was cocky, and probably had reason to be such. His laughter again filled my head. It reminded me of the feeling of being connected with Amun the night he and I attacked the mercenaries who’d taken the bounty on my head. I used everything I had to push him out. I didn’t want him in my head. When I pushed, he backed off. I had an idea. “What are you?” A delightful curiosity filled his eyes.

  “No, I don’t think we can fight our way out,” I answered his first question. “How about a trade?”

  He smiled, interested. Good. “What do you propose?” This was going to get me killed or save everyone, or both.

  “Release all my companions, set them free and let them leave here, hunt them no more and you get me.” He looked puzzled. “You asked what I was. I, Khnum, am the last of the necromancers. I have no children, and when I die, the power of our blood dies. You let my people go and you will have a lifelong fountain of the most powerful blood to walk the earth.”

  “Vincent, No!” Seth cried out. He was struck by one of the guards for the outburst.

  “What are you doing, Vince?” Carmen asked between her teeth but keeping her eyes on the vampires surrounding us.

  “Saving you.”

  “I said don’t play the hero!”

  She didn’t get a response. “So,” I asked, “do we have a deal?”

  “What’s to stop me from just taking you?” He returned to his seat.

  “Simple,” I was bluffing, “you know that with a single thought I could destroy half, if not more, of your court. Where would that leave you?”

  “Why not do it then?” This wasn’t working. “Why don’t you just kill my court with the power of your mind, take your friends and leave?”

  “Too many have died because of me already.” Good save. “I would not trade another of my friends’ lives for a member of yours.” I had to end this quickly.

  “And once they are gone and safe, what’s to stop you from committing that act then?” Goddamn, he wasn’t so easy.

  “I don’t imagine you’d let me stay that strong.” That’s right play to his pride. God I hoped this got us somewhere; I was really getting tired of talking.

  “Very well, you can be my new little pet.” He gave me a smug look that made me think he didn’t just have food on the brain. I didn’t want to be a bad vampire’s boy toy. This would work or I’d die trying. “Now come here, I want a taste of this powerful blood.”

  “Not ‘til I see all of my people unbound and the body of Terry Goodspeed here so they can take
his remains with them. So where is Amun, and where is William Piper.”

  “Very well, I will give you the body of your friend, as well as the traitor; however, I cannot help you with William Piper.”

  Carmen spun to point both of her pistols at Khnum. “Why the fuck not?”

  “Your anger is misdirected, Miss Piper. I had nothing to do with his death. It was your Edward who killed him, only hours before he’d met you in London.” He spoke so calmly, as if he’d forgotten what it was like to care for someone else. “You may have his body as well, if you’d like.”

  In a trembling voice, Carmen responded, “Yes.”

  “Very well,” he said, as he waved his hand in the air. A dozen of the vampires left the room, while another set unchained the three on the wall. “You may put your weapons down now.”

  “I may, but I won’t not until—”

  He cut me off, God I hated when people did that. “Yes, yes, until you see your friends free, it makes no difference to me.” He was beginning to sound bored. That was good. If he was bored, he’d be off guard.

  By this point, Steven had picked himself off the floor and had stood silently behind the chair of his master. Silent until his stupidity shown. “Master, do you think this wise?” He again was tossed like a rag doll into the wall.

  “You are beginning to pester me,” his master responded, without as much as a glance toward Steven.

  Johnny was rubbing his wrists as he, along with Seth and Michael, joined us in the center of the room. “You don’t know what you are getting yourself into, Vincent,” Michael said to me. All three of them looked like they each took a hell of a beating. Bites and cuts covered their exposed skin.

  “Ain’t that half the fun?” I asked, grinning.

  “You are a stupid man.” Michael spoke solemnly. “Very stupid.”

  “I know. Just make sure everyone gets out, okay.”

  “You shouldn’t be doing this,” Seth said to me.

  I handed one of my pistols to Johnny and placed my free hand on Seth’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, my friend. We, you, Amun, and I, will always be connected. Our friendship has made us one.” What a tearful goodbye, if this was a movie of the week, I’d have an Emmy for sure! I hope he got what I was trying to tell him. Just then the vampires returned, most of them carrying a silver coffin followed by one carrying the bodies of our fallen comrades. “Michael, would you please carry the bodies out for the others?”

  He nodded as they released Amun from his silver prison. He didn’t look too weakened by the experience. When he began to walk toward us, I handed my other gun to Johnny and made my way toward the table. “What’s happening here?” Amun asked, as I brushed by him. “Vincent?”

  “He’s mine now. He was so very noble trading his life for yours. Now take your dead and go.” He paused, and I could feel the confusion of my companions. “Wait!” He stood raising his hand toward them.

  What the hell was this? This wasn’t part of the plan! “They are to go free. That was the deal.”

  “I know what our terms were, pet.” He gave me a fang filled grin. “I only want them to watch my first of many feasts. I want Amun and Seth to feel my power grow as I drink from you.”

  “Dear God. What have you done, Vincent?” Amun’s voice so filled with sorrow.

  My back was still toward him, when I responded, “I’ve done the one good thing I ever have. Now,” my attention turned to that cock fuck stick that was about to open one of my veins, “let’s do this damn thing.” The room was silent as I approached Khnum. When the room is filled with that many dead people, silence is an eerie thing.

  The chair where Steven had once sat was now empty. I pushed it out of the way and knelt next to the vampire. Moving my hair out of the way, I leaned forward and offered my neck. “This is really going to hurt,” he whispered, his nasty breath against my skin.

  “Just fucking do it.” He let out a chuckle before he bit. Jesus Fucking Christ, he wasn’t lying. He was not trying to be gentle at all. If I could have thought, I would have figured that he was making this as bad as he could. When I grunted in pain, he laughed again. Think, think! I screamed to myself. What the hell was the plan?

  I couldn’t think through the pain. The pain the pain the pain! Pain! That was it! He’d not bound my hands; my wristknives were free and he was distracted. He, along with the rest of the vampires, didn’t notice when I pulled the knife from my right forearm.

  However, he did notice when I drove it under his ribs searching for his heart. He growled in pain as I dug the knife deeper and deeper, twisting, looking for my target. He fought through the pain of it and bit harder. I released a scream of pain; the surrounding vampires couldn’t see a damn thing that was happening under the table with my knife. When I let out that admittance of pain, they all cheered. I had something for them to cheer for. I pulled out the knife and plunged it deeper and lower in his torso. He could have killed me at any moment, but he wanted me in pain as long as he could. At the second stabbing, I knew he was distracted mentally enough for the plan to work. I opened myself. I was open, my energy mixed with his, but more importantly, it mixed with Amun and Seth. Now was the time. Guns started blazing. I could hear wolves growling and ripping at flesh. I could tell where everyone was. For the moment they were safe. They were fighting the fight. I had my own battle. It was mine that would kill us or save us.

  With Amun and Seth connected with me and being submerged in his energy, I could find what I was looking for. His heart! The center of his power, I could see it glowing in red light deep inside his aura. I could see it and I took it. I took all of our energies, even his own, and crushed it in on that crimson beacon.

  The pain in my neck exploded into agony, but he’d let go. I used the moment to push everything at him. All that I had left shot at the heart, like a hundred thousand knives of pure silver. That did it. I was too weak, between the blood loss and the expelling of my power, I was beginning to slip away. Everything was spinning. I had one last thought of success, the inferno, that blue inferno that takes the vampires in their last moment felt cold. We’d done it. I thought to myself, We killed him. I hope Carmen’s okay. Then I only felt cold, then darkness, then nothing.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  So this is death, this is what it feels like to be dead. I’ve got to tell you, it’s boring, nothing but blackness, an abyss of utter nothingness. I’d rather be in Delaware. Okay, maybe that’s a little extreme.

  In the darkness I felt nothing, no body, no time, not even any train of thought. I just kept slipping form realizing I existed to even more nothing then the nothingness.

  Time had no meaning at all. I didn’t know how long the moments of awareness lasted, hell it could have been a million years, or it could have been fifteen seconds. Hell, now that was an idea. If there was a hell, I knew I belonged there. So maybe this is it an eternity of boredom. That would be just fan-fucking-tastic. Slowly, after a million years or so, my thoughts became more defined. Instead of just images and feeling, I remembered words. I could form a clear thought. ‘I hope Carmen’s okay.’

  In another million years give or take, remember I am without a watch in my little black hell, lights started showing up. Voices, sometimes accompanied the lights, though I couldn’t make out what they were saying. But just as the feeling of awareness would come and go, so would the light. Sometimes the light was so bright that the black nothing would become a glowing white nothing. If the difference between heaven and hell was the color of the nothingness, I’d take the blackness of hell, heaven just ended up giving me a fucking headache. Yes, it did take me another millennia to put together that if I had a headache, I must therefore have a head. Somewhere. Logic would, at this point, enter my mind that having a head must mean I had other parts. So I set out in search of my other parts. In doing so, I rediscovered pain. When I found my body, in its whole and entire state, it hurt.

  So I was dead, drifting between light and dark, aware and unaware, in a painful exi
stence. Being dead sucked. I did continue to hear voices, but I could never make out what they were saying. It would seem that I’d be so close to understanding them, just before I slipped back into the unaware state of death. I thought about my friends. Thinking to myself that they, even the immortal vampires, must after all this time, be in their own empty death nothingness.

  I was becoming so frustrated with the nothingness, I let out scream of annoyance. And much to my surprise, I could hear myself out loud. As soon as I let out that cry, the light came back with a shit ton of voices clamoring about. I felt something cold on my chest and shook to get it off. Whatever it was wouldn’t go away! I was being tugged and pulled on from every which way. Amid my fight to remain comfortable in the nothingness, my eyes, which I didn’t know were shut, flew open.

  I wasn’t dead, or at least not dead anymore. I was lying in a hospital bed. Surrounded by doctors and techs, I kind of freaked out a little and hit some guy across the face.

  “Mr. Black!” the doctor, trying to hold my arm down, barked. “Calm down before we put you back into a coma!” Hey, can you blame me for thinking I was dead?

  “Vince?” It was Carmen. She’d made it out alive. “Vince, it’s me.” I never really understood that. The ‘it’s me’ is a reminder for someone who has forgotten right? How would leaving out your name help the said forgetful person? No matter.