Hunting Shadows

by Rain Oxford

  “We need to search for any evidence that might indicate your daughter’s whereabouts.”

  “The police already did that.”

  “Federal agents are more thorough.”

  “This really isn’t a good time; I just got the kids to bed.”

  “Good; that means they won’t get in our way,” Logan said, completely unconcerned.

  “What he means is that we will be quiet. We understand that this is a bad time for you, but the sooner we find your daughter, the more likely it is we’ll find her safe, and the sooner you can get back to your regular life.”

  She nodded and stepped out of the way. “Okay, but please don’t disturb the kids.”

  Logan and I entered into the living room. The furniture was rough and the room was cluttered with toys and clothes. There were two doors and a hallway. Deimos and Phobos waited on the porch for an invitation. “Phobos, perimeter. Ma’am, if you don’t mind, the dogs are highly trained and can pick up a scent.”

  “Um… okay,” she agreed reluctantly.

  “Deimos, don’t disturb the kids.” Deimos came in and started sniffing everything. Ms. Sherwood took us into one of the three bedrooms, where a little girl was sleeping in the big bed.

  The girl woke when Ms. Sherwood turned on the light. I automatically flinched as it took a second for my eyes to adjust. “Jenna, go sleep in Monica and Sam’s room,” Ms. Sherwood said.

  “What’s going on, Mommy? Did they find Andrea?”

  “Not yet.” The little girl left.

  Logan searched the rest of the house while I searched the room. Once again, I didn’t find any sign of witchcraft. Instead, I found something more disturbing; there were crosses and angel stuff all over the room, as well as a bible next to the bed with sticky notes in it.

  “Did Officer Lewis find any evidence at all that Andrea actually ran away?”

  “No, he only said that she did because another kid at her school did. They weren’t even friends.”

  “Did she have any reason to run away?”

  “No. I mean, it’s been really hard on us lately. My husband died a year ago and Andrea, being the oldest, took up a lot of the slack. She’s very responsible.”

  “That sounds like a good reason for her to leave,” Logan said from the doorway of the room.”

  The woman’s face fell and I could smell her regret. “Logan, go wait in the car.”

  “We walked here.” He checked the window, which was locked, and then the closet. “I don’t sense anything in the closet.” He picked up the bible and scowled at it. “There aren’t any religious artifacts in the rest of the house. Was Andrea obsessive about religion?” he asked.

  “She recently joined a Christian group at the school. She… never mind.”

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “I don’t think you would understand.”

  I stifled a sigh. “Logan, go wait outside.” Personally, I liked Logan’s nonchalance, but it wasn’t going to help us get answers from this particular grief-stricken mother.

  It looked like he was going to argue, but Deimos bit into Logan’s coat and started pulling him out of the room. When they both left, I motioned for Ms. Sherwood to sit on the bed. After a moment of hesitation, she sat. “I didn’t believe her, but I know she didn’t just run away.”

  “What did she say?”

  “She said that someone was following her. It started with a few nightmares and just got worse. She was constantly afraid. When I told her it was just nightmares, she joined the Christian group.”

  “Did she disappear while you were asleep?”

  “No. She was supposed to spend the night with her friend, but they called me when she missed the bus and she never made it to her friend’s house.” She started crying. “I should have listened to her. Please find her.”

  “We’ll find your daughter.” Although I may have been giving her false hope, it was better than assuming the kid was dead.

  I left and found Logan sitting on the steps of the porch, deep in a conversation with Deimos and Phobos. He was completely different with the dogs than he was with other people.

  “We should head back to the motel,” he said as he stood and checked his watch. “It’s too late to talk to anyone else tonight, and since you can’t be out in daylight, I will see you tomorrow at sunset. I’m going to find out who else is missing and check Lilly’s place again.”

  “I can check Lilly’s house while her parents are out,” I offered.

  “That’s not a good idea. I would know if something is off, so it’s better if I do it.”

  “Fine. If there’s nothing for me to do, I’m going to take the boys to get something to eat.”

  “Oh, then you do feed them.” He patted Phobos’s muscular neck. “Skinny here told me he was starving.”

  I scoffed. “If he’s got a problem with it, he can buy his own food.” Phobos whined and licked my arm. “Andrea joined a Christian group. Maybe the others did as well.”

  Logan laughed. “Lilly didn’t join a religious group.”

  We walked in silence for a few minutes. “I’ve told you about me, so tell me something about you.”

  “What do you want to know?”

  “I don’t know. What were you like when you were in high school? Were you a good student? Did you have any hobbies?”

  “I was an excellent student. I received perfect grades and all of the teachers loved me.”

  “Really?”

  “No, of course not. I was suspended within the first month of my junior year for organizing a cult. I was also a bit of a prankster. When I returned, some of the students thought I would be an easy target to take their frustrations out on. I corrected them by locking them in a storage closet. After two days, I released them.”

  “What about food and water?”

  “I left them a few jugs of water and two candy bars to fight over.”

  “You were a sadistic shit when you were a kid.”

  “Yes, Ms. Ares, I was.”

  At that point, we reached the motel and found the passenger window of Logan’s car busted out. “I guess this isn’t a very safe town after all.”

  Logan leaned in through the broken window, opened the glove box, rifled around, and shut it.

  “Is there something missing?”

  “The coin.”

  * * *

  He left and I took the boys for a walk to find them some food. Although it was in the middle of winter, the cold didn’t bother me, for it was a lot warmer than the weather at home. Soon, we found a twenty-four hour diner. It was a quaint little place with a few booths and tables. In the center, there was a six-foot tall, revolving display case of pies and cakes. The only customers were two nurses chatting in one corner and a young couple half asleep in a seat by the window.

  A young waitress greeted me at the door. She was slender and busty with tight jeans and a well-fitted baby-blue t-shirt. Her natural, strawberry-blond hair was done with a Farrah Fawcett style. She was cute.

  “I’m sorry, but your dogs can’t---”

  “I know,” I interrupted. “Boys, wait outside.” Phobos whined quietly as he followed his brother out. “I need two steaks, rare, to go.”

  “What size?”

  “Your largest size.”

  “Anything else?”

  “That’ll do it.”

  “Okay. Would you like anything to drink while you wait?”

  “No, thanks.” She left then, so I found a seat at a table and I pulled out my phone. I had no messages or missed calls. I knew it was going to take longer to get a response, I was just impatient. Patience never did me any good anyway.

  I Googled the name of the town with “disappearance” and “strange” keywords and was actually surprised. There were over a thousand results for one tiny town. I searched for strange deaths in the area and came up with similar results. The really weird part was that there were no reports at all in the last five years. I opened one of the more reliable-looking arti
cles to read right before my phone suddenly died. My first thought was that an angry wizard was nearby.

  Then the lights started flickering.

  I glanced around, surprised that the other customers weren’t bothered. In fact, they didn’t seem to notice it. Maybe that’s normal for this place. However, the low growling I heard and soft breeze right behind me definitely wasn’t ordinary. I was sitting in front of a closed window and no one had opened the door, yet the temperature dropped a few degrees. Why isn’t anyone noticing this?

  I knew one thing; it sure as hell wasn’t a poltergeist. The growling became louder and was joined by scratching in the walls and ceiling.

  “It shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes,” the waitress said, suddenly right beside me. The scratching, growling, flickering, and cold draft all vanished, and it was abruptly normal. I had been so focused on the strangeness that I hadn’t even noticed the waitress’s approach.

  My first reaction was to reason that the incident was just a vivid daydream, but I knew better. It had to be a hallucination of some sort. Since I didn’t get sick and I had never had psychological problems, the only explanation was magic.

  When the waitress turned to walk away, I caught a scent I recognized. It wasn’t a strong scent; it wasn’t her own. “Who did you lose?” I asked, putting my phone away and making my voice as sympathetic as possible.

  She gaped. “What? How did you…?”

  “It’s written all over your face. A kid, right?” There was a slight trace of Kenneth on her.

  She looked confused and shocked. “No. I mean, he wasn’t my child. He was my nephew.” I patted the table and after a moment of hesitation, she sat. “We were really close, though.” There was something very defensive in her voice.

  “Closer than his mother and him?”

  She swallowed and glanced around before leaning forward to speak quietly. “Close enough to be the only one who believed him.”

  “What did he need you to believe?”

  “You really don’t want to know.”

  “I really do. You may be the only one who believed him, but it sounds like you need someone to talk to.”

  “That’s what his mother thought, too. She made him talk to the school counselor. He said there was… something… after him. Even the counselor didn’t believe him, and now he’s gone.”

  “What kind of something? Bad men with guns?”

  “The kind of something that can make the lights flicker and can pass through walls.” She sat back. “See? You don’t believe, either.”

  “Oh, on the contrary. I believe in all kinds of monsters and magic.”

  “You do?”

  “I have to.” What I didn’t say was that the worst monsters I had ever encountered were human. “How long was he seeing the counselor before he went missing?”

  “Two weeks. But he knew something was after him for three weeks.”

  I wonder why it took so long. “Did he have any method to protect himself?”

  “Protect himself from magic? Like magical protection? No way.” At that point, a bell rang in the kitchen and the waitress ran off to get my order. She returned a moment later.

  “What is the counselor’s name?” I asked as I paid.

  “Dr. Brian.”

  Chapter 4

  When we got back to the motel room, I popped open the food containers and left them on the table, then got a bottle of blood out of the fridge. The boys devoured their steaks like they were starving. “I’ll be back by sunrise.”

  I left them, used my phone to find the school, jogged leisurely, and made it to the school in about twenty minutes. I tried the front door, which was locked as I had expected. Knowing that it was likely alarmed, I contemplated my options. If I waited for someone to show up, it would have been too late. I didn’t know if the alarm would go off just by opening the door or not. Ultimately, I decided it didn’t matter. If it did go off, the worst thing that could happen would be the police showing up, in which case I could use my thrall.

  Instead of breaking the lock, which would have been the easiest solution, I picked it. A lot of vampires thought it was beneath them to learn, but I saw a definite advantage in a stealthy approach, so I learned as a child and carried lock picking tools with me when I left my bar.

  Nevertheless, picking the lock took a few minutes. To my surprise, the alarm didn’t go off when I got the door open. Right next to the door was a white number pad with a digital screen, which read, “Disarmed.”

  I rolled my eyes and started my search for the counselor’s office. When I was passing the window of the main office, I saw something move inside. I reached for the door to check it out, right as my phone went off in my pocket. With a sigh, I answered it.

  “Hey,” Brandy said.

  “Hey, what do you need?”

  “A few vampires are here looking for you, and they’re not part of Stephen’s coven. Although they won’t tell me anything, I’m pretty sure they’re not rogues.” Rogue vampires were allowed to spend time in a coven master’s territory, but they had to follow the coven master’s rules. It was not normal for any rogue to live in coven territory for long periods, though. Vampires who were part of a coven had to have permission to even pass through the territory of another coven.

  “Are they causing problems?” I asked. She started to answer, only to be drowned out by static. “Brandy? I didn’t hear---” the line cut out. In the next few seconds, the temperature dropped about ten degrees. “Damn it.” I pulled my dagger out of my boot.

  The window to the office cracked in a spider web pattern and the scent of death filled the air, which, contrary to what humans seemed to believe, was not attractive to vampires. A hand grabbed my shoulder roughly and I turned, my dagger aimed to kill, only to see Logan.

  “Fuck, Logan! I could have stabbed you! How the hell do you keep sneaking up on me?”

  “You were distracted.” He tapped the cracked window with his knuckle. “Did you see something?”

  Obviously, it wasn’t just a hallucination. “I thought…” If Logan could sense the magic in Kenneth’s closet, he should be able to sense it here. Suspicious and a bit unsettled, I shook my head. “No. I guess not. What are you doing here?”

  He pointed to the office. “I am looking through attendance to see what children have missed at least five days of school.”

  “Why five days?”

  “If Lilly was the last child to go missing, it makes the most sense. Furthermore, I checked the turnout sheets of the Christian group. Andrea was the only missing child who attended the group. Why are you here?”

  “I found out Kenneth was seeing the school counselor, Dr. Brian, and I thought maybe he told the counselor something about who was after him. I’m looking for Dr. Brian’s office. How did you get in? Did you turn off the alarm?”

  “You need to hurry.”

  I wanted to argue, but he was right; the sun was going to rise soon. Without a word, I turned and continued looking for the office. I figured Logan probably took care of the surveillance cameras. If not, it wasn’t a big deal. Since the door wasn’t broken and the alarm didn’t go off, I doubted anyone would check them.

  At the end of the hall, I found a door with a window on it. Blinds prevented me from seeing in, but the counselor’s name was etched into the glass in gold letters. I turned the knob, expecting to have to break it, and was surprised to find it wasn’t locked.

  The office was a decent size with a large desk, a computer, a couch, a bookshelf, and a metal filing cabinet. I knew this could be a waste of time, because Kenneth probably didn’t tell the counselor anything, but it was one of the few leads I had.

  The filing cabinet was locked. Instead of just breaking it, I searched the desk for a key. I didn’t want it to be obvious someone had been in the office in case I needed to return for more information later.

  I found a key in the first drawer I tried. As I slid the drawer closed, something rattled. There was nothing but a few
sticky notes and a couple of pens, yet I heard something rattling against glass. I pulled the contents out and prodded the bottom of the drawer. It wiggled. It only took me a few seconds to pull it up without breaking it. I gaped at what I saw— a book titled, Initiation Into Hermetics, by Franz Bardon, a jar of tiny bones, and a small pouch of gems.

  Dr. Brian had magic.

  I unlocked the file cabinet and found Kenneth Oak’s file easily. Why didn’t the police take this? I sat down on the couch and started going over it. The kid used to do very well in school, and although he didn’t have lots of friends, he never made enemies. The first time the counselor had talked to him was when his parents told him they used a surrogate. Dr. Brian said Kenneth was taking it exceptionally well. Since it wasn’t exactly adoption, I could understand why the kid was okay.

  It was two weeks later that Kenneth’s mother made him talk to the counselor about his nightmares. He insisted it wasn’t a dream. There was nothing incriminating in the file, nor was there an alibi.

  I got up, returned the file, started to close the cabinet, and hesitated. When I flipped through the names and found files for all three of the missing children, I wasn’t surprised.

  A quiet sound outside caused me to groan. The light in the hallway came on. I rushed to put the files back and lock the cabinet, but by then, someone was opening the door, so I dived behind the couch. Although it was a tight fit, it was still more comfortable than my trunk.

  Dr. Brian entered, turned on the lights, and sat down in his seat.

  Fuck.

  * * *

  After about an hour, I knew he wasn’t just dropping in for a moment. I pulled my phone out of my pocket, muted it, and texted the only person (who wasn’t a vampire) that I really trusted.

  I’m stuck in a therapist’s office.

  That’s awesome! I was hoping you would talk to someone.

  I rolled my eyes. Brandy couldn’t have helped anyway. Since the sun was out, she couldn’t even send a vampire to help. I considered texting Logan, but I didn’t have his number. I’m stuck here for the day. I might as well sleep.