Shadow Walker

by Tina Proffitt

  “Blood was found on it as well, Shadow,” the president of the school said. Almost pleadingly he held up his hands in front of him. “Don't worry, you don't have to go down to the station. They already have your fingerprints from the license office. Besides that, you're not a suspect.”

  “That's very comforting,” Shadow said dryly, “But I don't have an alibi, and we both know it.” Shadow's steely glare bore into the man in front of him. Whoever did commit the crime had obviously gone out of their way to make it look like he did it, planting the evidence.

  “What about the young woman you have living with you,” the man said, foolishly waiting for Shadow to divulge something of his private affairs. When Shadow's gaze remained unwavering, he gave up and continued. “Do you have any reason to believe anyone would want to harm her?”

  “No.” Shadow shook his head. Bethanie did not have a single enemy that Shadow had ever heard about. He could not see an innocent like her making any.

  “I guess you're unaware that she was involved in her mother's murder trial three years ago. The main witness for the prosecution. This would have been just before she started school here. Her mother was accused of killing her father and is currently serving a life sentence for it. Bethanie's testimony is what put her mother there.”

  Testifying against your own mother in your father's murder trial would earn you a lot of enemies. He chuckled to himself, and not because any of it was remotely amusing, but because she surprised him. She was certainly a far cry from the princesses that typically graced the grounds of Ferra College. She had guts. And she cared about God's creatures, placing a higher value on them than on whom she was dating like her peers. It must have taken a hell of a lot of courage to stand up to her family the way she had. He admired her for that.

  “Don't you worry about her. I can handle Bethanie's safety,” Shadow said.

  “Don't be a hero, Shadow.”

  “If I'm no longer your employee, then it doesn't concern you.”

  “It's just a suspension. Let's just allow things to settle down. See what happens when all of this blows over.”

  Shadow wanted to laugh out loud at the words, just a suspension. This school had been his home for so long, he had not fully realized its worth until now. And just like always, he was the outsider. No matter where he went, he would be an outsider looking in. He cursed.

  “Listen, Mr. Walker. Shadow. I didn't sleep at all last night, knowing what I had to do to you today. I know for a fact that you had nothing to do with this. This campus is as much yours as it is mine. I promise, this will all be over and forgotten in no time.”

  No matter what President Bord said, he knew now just how tenuous a position he had held at this school. No, the administration would never come right out and accuse him, they respected him too much for that, but they would send him packing to protect their own asses.

  Before going home, he decided to drive his truck over to his barn. He had some questions he needed answers to. And since he did not have a job at the moment, he would not have to answer for anything he did. At least that was the way he chose to see it. Nothing about the way this had played out made sense. And now, being put on administrative leave? It raised more questions than it answered.

  Inside of the barn, even with this new light shed on the situation, no answers were forthcoming. Everything looked the same as he had left it. Nothing looked rifled through, not even a bag of fertilizer was out of place.

  As he drove home, it occurred to him that he needed to shop for groceries. Although he had offered Bethanie a few meager meals, she had not asked for a thing, and in the light of their conversation the other night, that pissed him off. Here she was a guest in his home, and she did not even expect anything. He pressed hard on the accelerator until he reached the mom and pop grocery on State Route 602, his truck tires spewing gravel as he pulled into the small parking lot. A few minutes later, he left with two overflowing paper bags of groceries. Once he had the bags of food settled, his gray eyes scanned the bed of his truck. Something bothered him about the hunting knife President Bord had mentioned. The last time he had seen it was the day that President Bord asked him to chop down a tree. The strange thing that stood out in his mind had been that President Bord had asked himself like it was a personal favor. Trees on campus were never cut down without a very good reason. And he had given no reason. Shadow remembered having taken his knife and hatchet with him that day. And he remembered thinking at the time that the reason for chopping the tree down must have been because it was a wild cherry tree, and wild cherries are prone to disease. That could have been the only possible explanation good enough on a campus that was as dedicated to preserving nature as this one was. There had to be more to it, the missing hatchet that suddenly turns up in the bed of his truck and the suspicion surrounding him now had to somehow be related. But because he had more pressing things on his mind right now, like Bethanie's safety, he would not be able to make any sense of it until he had more time to think.

  Chapter 5

  She stepped inside the cabin through the back screen door into the kitchen where Shadow, wearing a white t-shirt tucked into a pair of jeans, stood before the stove. As soon as he had told her that morning that he was leaving for a meeting with the president of the school she had taken the opportunity to go to her owls. The mother and father were hunting for their adolescent owls, despite the fact that they were old enough to catch their own voles. It was as if they needed to continue caring for their older children, to make up for the loss of their younger ones.

  The sound of a pan hitting the stovetop brought her back out of her thoughts and into the kitchen filled with the heavenly aroma of sweet onions frying in the pan. She had not had an appetite since her owls had been murdered. She still did not believe that the teenage owls could have done something like that. She considered going upstairs to her room to lie down. But the food smelled so good.

  “Is there anything I can do to help?” Bethanie asked as Shadow turned to her from the stove.

  She looked so beautiful that he almost forgot her question. “How are you at making rice?”

  “Where's your sauce pot?” she shot back.

  Shadow reached into the lower cabinet at his feet and brought out a stainless steel pot, settling it on one of the gas burners. “I don't know how much rice we'll need. I'm used to cooking for one.”

  Bethanie was a little dubious about that, considering his reputation, but she hoped it was true. She disliked the idea of Shadow cooking for another woman. “I think I've got it.” Her cooking may not taste like much, but she knew her way around a stove. Because after all, cooking, preparing meals, washing and drying clothes, sweeping, dusting, vacuuming, polishing windows, scrubbing pots, mending her own clothes, and mopping floors were the things she had been groomed for, to be a good wife. Her mother had been the one to make sure of it. And if she did not do any job right, her mother had made her get the old horsewhip from the laundry room, the reason Bethanie had so many scars on her back.

  “Okay.” Shadow tried not to let his grin show. “There's salt in the cupboard above your head. Yeah, that's it,” he said as Bethanie reached into the cabinet, causing her shapely leg muscles to flex beneath a pair of navy blue shorts he had yet to see her wear before today. “And the rice is in that Mason jar.”

  “How did your meeting go?” Bethanie asked when she had her ingredients lined up in front of her.

  Shadow did not answer. Instead, he changed the subject. “I hope you like Chinese Chicken and Broccoli. Because it's the best thing I make.”

  Bethanie immediately regretted prying into his business like that. What was she thinking? He had been kind enough to put a roof over her head. She did not have to try to get personal just because of it though. “I love Chinese.”

  “Good. Should be ready as soon as the rice is done.” Shadow tossed a wet dishtowel onto the counter and leaned against the cabinets, watching her move about so efficiently in his kitchen. It scared him ho
w cozy the whole scene felt to him.

  When she finally set the timer for twenty minutes, Shadow pulled out a chair at the old, wooden kitchen table. “Sit down,” he said, sitting down on a chair opposite her. “Let’s talk.”

  Bethanie sat, folding her hands in front of her on the found table's worn top to keep from fidgeting. In her experience, when a man sat her down to talk to her, it was never a good thing.

  “I had talk with the president of the school today.”

  Bethanie nodded, waiting for him to go on.

  Shadow’s brow knit together. “Is there anything you want to tell me?”

  Bethanie frowned, slowly pointing a finger at herself. “Me? About what?” She could not imagine what he was implying. She had been a perfect houseguest so far, not asking for a thing.

  “About yourself. Your past.” Shadow waited. And when Bethanie was not forthcoming, he continued. “The president of the school, Dr. Bord, thinks you may have made some enemies. Maybe even just one in particular. That would be enough to cause concern.”

  “Concern for what? What did he say?” Then surprise showed in her expression as realization struck her. “He knows that I'm here with you?”

  Shadow’s expression softened. “Yes, honey. But believe me, I didn't tell him. He already knew.”

  “How? Does he have spies working for him?”

  “Is he right to think it? Does someone want to hurt you?” Shadow asked patiently.

  “Do you?” Bethanie asked, suddenly unnerved by his question.

  “These attacks could be somehow tied to you, but I doubt it. Sociopaths kill small animals for amusement. And that seems to be all there is to this.”

  Bethanie took a deep, steadying breath, just like her therapist had shown her. “I... don't have any enemies.” She sounded uncertain. “I just... No. No one.”

  “President Bord told me about your mother.”

  Bethanie stood up quickly, sending her chair sliding out from behind her. “He had no right to tell you.” She had to take another deep breath to fight against the rising heaviness in her chest.

  “Honey, it's okay. He only did what he thought was best.” He stood up and went to her, taking her by the arm to guide her back to her chair. “You can be sure your secret is safe with me.” He crouched down beside her and lightly traced her furrowed brow with his thumb, interrupting a chain reaction of fear that had been set off inside her mind. Finally, she took a comfortable gulp of air that came in like a hiccup.

  “If anyone knew about my mother, they'd think that I'm responsible for what happened, they'd think that I'm a murderer.”

  He crouched down even closer to her, stopping just short of touching her. “No one does know.”

  “You do,” she said, glancing quickly up into his steel gray eyes as they bored into her.

  “And it stays with me,” he said, pointing to his chest then reaching both of his hands into her hair, he brought her face up to meet his. He held her still there, like a captured animal caught in his gaze, helpless to free herself.

  The timer on the stove began its relentless beeping until Shadow cursed under his breath and reluctantly moved to shut it off while Bethanie quickly got up from her chair.

  She went to the open shelving in the cupboard behind the table, at a safe distance from Shadow, where she found two dinner plates and set them on the counter at his elbow.

  When Shadow was finished preparing their plates, Bethanie sat waiting for him at the table with forks and glasses neatly laid out. He heaved a heavy sigh of disappointment that the moment had passed. He enjoyed being able to comfort her. “Let's eat,” he said. “We don't want this getting cold on us.” Although, the idea of food held no more appeal for him now that he had had his hands in the softest hair he had ever touched. His body stiffened at the thought. No matter what had happened to her in the past, she was safe with him. He was strong enough for the both of them. Because she had no one else.

  As the two of them enjoyed their dinner of tender chicken from the market and broccoli from the school's garden, all the while Bethanie could not get over that this was the first time that a man had cooked for her. She had always fantasized that her dream man would, but that had always been just a dream. And she believed that dreams did not come true, especially in her case. All of this seemed to be to Shadow as natural as breathing. He seemed to think nothing of it. And somehow, he seemed much more attractive to her. She watched him eat. Too bad that she was just one in a long line of women he had cooked for. And she was truly sorry, because he actually seemed a lot manlier in the kitchen, less intimidating. A man truly comfortable in the kitchen, with woman's work, impressed her. She imagined herself living this way, even if not forever, just for a while until the threat of the skinwalker was gone.

  That night as Bethanie lay in her bed, heartsick for her family and desperate to be back in familiar territory, her dorm room, the only home she had called her own since being removed from her family home over three years ago. It seemed a million miles away. She had become used to Shadow over the past several days. Which made what she knew she had to do all the harder. She waited until he was asleep, then removing her night shirt, she put on a thick sweatshirt and a pair of jeans. Lacing up her tennis shoes, she tiptoed past Shadow's room and down the stairs, all the while congratulating herself on not making a single sound.

  Unfortunately, Shadow was a light sleeper and the sound of her footsteps in the hall awakened him. But it was the sound of the lock being sprung on the office window downstairs told him that he needed to get up. By the time he reached the office, he found only the open window. A quick peek upstairs told him that there was no intruder in the house to worry about. As he suspected, his beautiful houseguest had just escaped.

  Without wasting a second, risking Bethanie being alone in the woods, he threw on his blue jeans and boots, which he pulled on as he simultaneously hopped to the front door, forgoing a shirt.

  Bethanie arrived at the edge of the woods that separated Shadow's cabin from the dormitories on campus, altogether about a mile apart from one another. She paused there to catch her breath from running this far.

  When he spotted her in the dark, he could just make out her outline. Over her head flew the ghostly image of a white barn owl, dipping and soaring over her head and making its tell-tale hissing sound that sent chills into even the most seasoned outdoorsman.

  She pleaded with the owl to be quiet. “You'll wake him up.”

  “He's already awake,” a deep, male voice called from behind.

  Her heart nearly stopped. She had not heard a sound before that moment, no footsteps on broken branches, no twigs snapping beneath his feet. She cursed him for being some kind of evil spirit who could hover above the ground. She had heard of such demons, but never thought she would meet one that was quite so good looking. Then she remembered something her preacher had said once about the devil using the disguise of a beautiful temptress. And he had tempted her. She had thought about lying beneath him, having his hands in her hair, his lips on hers, feeling his touch on her body. If that wasn't the devil tempting her to sin, then she didn't know what it was. And that was why she needed to leave. Not only had the danger surrounding her increased since the death of her owls, but now she was afraid that if she stayed with him any longer, she would give in. She would sin.

  From behind her, his hand was on her shoulder, turning her around to face him. “No. Let me go,” she demanded, trying to wriggle free from his grip. Strong arms wound around her small waist, holding her in a vice grip and pinning her face against his bare chest.

  “I'll turn you loose when you're safe and sound back inside the cabin. The woods are no place to be at night.” The sound of his voice vibrated in his chest, and into hers. She wanted to give in and sink into him, but she could not.

  “Your safety is my responsibility. And whether you or I like it or not, you can't leave. Not yet. You don't understand these kinds of things right now, but when you're older, you'll und
erstand about responsibility.”

  She wanted to scream at him for misunderstanding why she needed to leave. Not because of his responsibility, but because of her own responsibility to herself. If she threw herself away on him, a man who did not lover her, she would be throwing away her chance of ever finding someone who really did love her. Her virginity was her most precious gift.

  “Let's go,” Shadow said and she nodded. But when she felt his grasp of her arm loosen, she ran. She ran hard and she ran fast. Blindly dodging trees, her heart pounding, her feet taking her she did not know where, she ran. She ran towards her freedom. Away from him. Away from any chance that she would ruin the rest of her life by loving a man who did not return her love. She ran.

  Her owl followed her above the tree line, swooping out in the open field ahead of her as if diving for prey. But tonight, the owl was not hunting for food. Its mission seemed to be tracking Bethanie.

  “Stop!” Shadow shouted. “Don't take another step!”

  She did not dare take a chance on stopping. She would barricade herself in her dorm room if she had to, but she would not stop. His footsteps were getting closer and closer. They were heavy behind her as if he could reach out and grab her. That was when like a wild banshee, she heard herself screaming. If she could make it past the clearing, she could possibly lose him in the thick trees that led into the valley.

  As the clearing appeared ahead, he was closing in fast. She could hear his breath going in and out of his lungs. Grass lay ahead and beyond that, more trees. Only about fifty yards to the next tree line, she told herself. Her feet hit the smooth grass and in the next instant, her foot missed a step and she felt her ankle being taken out from underneath her. She hit the ground hard; her breath was knocked from her. The next thing she knew, Shadow was on top of her, rolling her onto her back, holding both of her hands bound up into his much larger ones and pressed between her own body and his strong chest. His legs wrapped around her legs and like a snake, he held onto her.