The Inner Shadow (A Project Specter Mystery Book 3)

by Paul Seiple

  “You did the right thing,” Terrence said. “We’ve seen what this thing can do to people it touches.”

  A golden sedan pulled up beside Terrence. The passenger window rolled down.

  “Did you lose him?” Jaime asked.

  “Yeah. He took a kid’s bike,” Kim said. “I tried to keep up.”

  “Get in. He couldn’t have made it too far. We’ll find him,” Noah said.

  Kim crashed into the backseat. Catching her breath was still a bit of a struggle, but her heart no longer felt as though it was trying to escape her body. Terrence was right. She needed to be in better shape. For the moment, she was just glad she had stopped smoking.

  “OK, so are we going to talk about what just happened?” Noah asked. “I’m new to this supernatural stuff. I don’t know how it works.”

  “I’m not all that new to it, and I still don’t know how it works,” Terrence said.

  “It possessed Amber, right?” Noah asked.

  “In some way,” Jaime said. Her phone rang, interrupting her.

  “Jaime, thank God, you’re safe,” Don said. “Get back to the office. We need to regroup to deal with this thing.”

  “Tell me about. We saw it in action,” Jaime asked.

  “Did it touch any of you?” Don asked.

  “No, we’re safe.” Jaime leaned over the seat and looked at Kim. "Well, Kim could probably use some oxygen, but we’re fine.”

  Kim closed her eyes and tried to relax. She saw an old woman move in front of the car. “Watch out for that woman,” she said, lurching toward the front seat.

  Noah slammed on brakes. The car fishtailed. He regained the steering just before the sedan sideswiped a truck.

  “What woman?” Jaime asked.

  Kim looked around. No one was there. Her eyes held a hazy glow that Terrence recognized.

  “What did you see?” Terrence asked.

  “An old woman stepped out in the road,” Kim said.

  “There’s no one here,” Noah said.

  “Kim can see things we can’t,” Terrence said.

  "You’re clairvoyant?” Jaime asked.

  Kim shook her head. Something caught her attention from the corner of her eye. The old woman had her shoulder propped up against a street sign. She smiled at Kim, exposing a black hole where her mouth should be. Kim felt an intense cold hit her. Not seconds later, her body was on fire, as though she were being cooked from the inside. She convulsed. Her eyes rolled back into her head. A demon child with a black hood over its face from a previous case appeared to Kim. The child disappeared and Murmur, a seven-foot tall demon with the head of a vulture, stood in front of Kim.

  You’re not real, Kim thought. Remi took you away.

  Two small children stepped out from behind Murmur. They were shackled to the demon’s wrists. One was a boy. One was a girl. The girl spoke.

  “Darkness is very real, Kim Strode. You can never escape it.”

  “Kim, wake up.” Terrence gently shook her shoulder before running his hand across her cheek.

  “Darkness will always be with you,” the little girl said before disappearing behind Murmur. The little boy followed. Murmur flew backwards like a leaf caught in a heavy wind.

  Light formed around the edges of the darkness. It shrank into a tiny ball, which was the old lady’s mouth. She closed her lips. The sight of her shiny black pupils startled Kim.

  “Kim, wake up,” Terrence said again. He shook her a bit harder.

  Kim remained in the vision. She wasn’t scared of Murmur. Remi warned her that its residue may appear to her. Remi told her as long as she didn’t interact with the demon, it couldn’t enter this world again. She wasn’t scared of the old woman, either. Kim stood her ground as the woman came closer. A stench of rot wafted in front of the woman. It did not faze Kim. She had smelled much worse when dealing with Murmur.

  “You’re an angry woman, aren’t you?” the old lady asked.

  Kim stared at her as if she was speaking a foreign language.

  “You’ve been told not to interact with Darkness,” the old woman said. She moved in closer and sniffed Kim’s hair before continuing. “I can feel your rage, Kim Stode. You want to explode just like that woman in the diner. She tried to conceal it as well. But Darkness sees all.”

  A burning sensation tickled Kim’s toes. She wiggled them inside her boots, trying to shake it off. The burn crept up to her ankles. She almost opened her eyes to leave the vision, but Kim knew this was information needed to combat the True Self. She held strong as the burn moved over her thighs and rested in her belly. It boiled. She knew things were about to get worse.

  “You’ll feel much better when you let it out, Kim. It’s been building in you since your mother died.”

  The old woman placed her wrinkled hand, riddled with liver spots, on Kim’s hand. Kim lost control of the vision. She saw Terrence sitting beside her. Jaime was in the front passenger seat. Noah was driving. It was almost as if she had left the vision.

  “Let it out, Kim,” the old woman whispered in Kim’s ear. A coldness entered Kim’s ear canal, leaving numbness in its wake. The whisper flooded Kim’s mind with a flash bomb of violence from past cases when she was a homicide cop. With each murder she worked over the years, Kim grew angrier at the world. How could such evil exist?

  Kim watched as her hand slipped inside her blazer and took a revolver from its holster. She caressed the gun as if she were seducing a potential lover before aiming it at Noah and pulling the trigger.

  Kim opened her eyes and flung her body against the car door, smacking her head against the window.

  “It’s OK,” Terrence said. “You’re safe.”

  Kim pushed Terrence away. She eyed Noah, who was still driving. Relief washed over Kim.

  “You all right back there?” Noah asked, looking at Kim through the rearview mirror.

  “Yeah. Sorry,” Kim said. She placed her hand on Terrence’s and mouthed “Sorry.”

  Terrence nodded. “You saw something, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah,” Kim said. “I saw how this thing works. It gets inside of you and brings out things you don’t like about yourself.”

  “Is it a demon?” Terrence asked.

  “It’s pure evil,” Kim said.

  Noah slowed the car as red and blue flashing lights caught his eye.

  Thirty-One

  “Mayor Freeling, put the sword down.”

  The order was ignored. A crowd grew just beyond the police cruisers as Mayor Ralph Freeling paced back and forth while holding a sword in his left hand.

  “What the hell is wrong with him?” an officer asked. He kept the mayor in his sights. “What is he wearing?”

  Mayor Freeling was dressed in a shiny black outfit with a matching hood.

  “I think it’s called a gimp suit,” the other office said.

  “What a way to air out your kinky laundry.”

  “Yeah, right?”

  “Mayor, I’m going to ask you again. Please drop the weapon. This doesn’t have to escalade to violence.”

  Mayor Freeling faced the cops and tightened his grip on the sword.

  Noah parked behind one of the cruisers. A man dressed in all black waved a sword above his head, almost challenging the officers to shoot him.

  “I don’t have to be a psychic to figure out this has something to do with the True Self,” Terrence said.

  “A gimp with a sword. That’s a new one,” Noah said, while getting out of the car.

  “Not just any gimp,” the officer said. “That’s Mayor Freeling.”

  The mayor dropped to his knees, but held onto the sword.

  “That’s it. Now drop the sword, Mayor. Help is on the way,” the officer said.

  “Don’t you dare drop the sword. Do you hear me?”

  “Yes, mistress,” Mayor Freeling said.

  “Mistress?” the officer asked.

  “Crawl over to me.”

  “Yes, mistress,” Mayor Freeling said.<
br />
  He moved on his hands and knees away from the cops and toward a parked truck.

  “What the hell is he doing?” one officer asked.

  “Good, worthless, little worm. Now, lick the bottom of your mistress’s boot.”

  Mayor Freeling ran his tongue over the street.

  “Is he…” Jaime asked, stepping out of the car.

  “Licking the street? Yeah,” Kim said, following her.

  Only Mayor Freeling could see his mistress. She would be tall in bare feet, but with the black boots with six-inch heels she was almost as tall as the STOP sign she stood beside. She extended her left boot and said, “Clean it.”

  Mayor Freeling continued to run his tongue over the asphalt until it bled.

  “What’s happening here, Gerald?” Noah asked the officer closest to him.

  “Got a call about a man swinging a sword and screaming, ‘I am a worm.’ They failed to inform us that he was wearing a gimp suit… and that he was the mayor,” Gerald said.

  “Mayor Freeling, please stop licking the street,” the other officer pleaded.

  “Don’t you dare listen to them, worm. You only obey me,” the mistress said.

  “Yes, mistress,” Mayor Freeling said.

  “He keeps saying, 'Yes, mistress,'” Gerald said. “He has to be on drugs.”

  He’s not on drugs, Kim thought. He’s been touched by Darkness. She pulled Terrence to the side. “He’s seeing something we can’t.”

  “How do you know?” Terrence asked.

  “Whatever this thing is, it goes deep inside of you to find something you try to hide about yourself,” Kim said.

  Mayor Freeling continued to lap at the street like a thirsty dog.

  “What do we do, Noah?” Gerald asked. “I’m afraid if we get closer, we’ll have to shoot the mayor. He won't drop the sword.”

  Noah glanced at Jaime. From the look on her face, she didn’t have the answer. He turned to Kim and Terrence as they continued to chat away from everyone else. “Got any ideas?”

  Kim cut the conversation off with Terrence and motioned for Noah and Jaime to join them.

  “Can you see what he’s talking to?” Noah asked.

  “No, but I think it’s something he’s trying to keep hidden about himself,” Kim said.

  “He’s not doing a very good job of it,” Noah said.

  “Mistress? Influential men sometimes turn to dominant women to feel the other side of power,” Jaime said.

  Noah shot her a puzzled glance.

  “I watch a lot of documentaries,” Jaime said. “Maybe, the mayor likes to let go with a dominatrix.”

  The group watched the mayor continue to lick the street.

  “That makes as much sense as anything else,” Terrence said.

  “How do we get him to stop?” Noah asked.

  “We can’t. Once this thing is inside of you, it doesn’t leave,” Kim said.

  “I’m going to try to get the sword from him,” Gerald said.

  “No, wait,” Noah said. “Let me do it.”

  “Noah, you can’t,” Jaime said.

  “At least, I know a little more about what’s going on. I won’t let him touch me.”

  Noah didn’t stick around for Jaime to tell him again not to go. He walked by Gerald and toward the mayor.

  “I don’t share, worm. Stop him,” the mistress said.

  “How, mistress?” Mayor Freeling asked.

  Noah held his hands out, palms towards the mayor. “I only want to talk.” Noah kept reminding himself not to let Mayor Freeling get close enough to make contact.

  “The sword,” the mistress said.

  Mayor Freeling pressed up from all fours. Blood trickled down his chin, and he took Noah in his sights. He flexed his fingers around the sword’s handle.

  Noah was trained to notice even the slightest signs of aggression. The mayor wasn’t subtle. He planned to attack if Noah came any closer. Noah stopped about two car lengths from Mayor Freeling.

  “What’s her name?” Noah asked.

  “Don’t answer him,” the mistress said.

  Something changed in the mayor. Fear replaced pleasure. He saw the cops and a small crowd that had gathered gawking at him. He scanned himself from head to toe. Fear blended with embarrassment to create a sickening boil in his gut. He loosened his grip on the sword but couldn’t drop it.

  “Your mistress. What’s her name?” Noah asked. He did not know what the mayor was seeing, but Kim seemed to believe it, and he had no other explanation.

  “Ignore him, worm,” the mistress said.

  Mayor Freeling cut away from Noah and looked at the mistress. She stood nearly a head above him. Her wavy red hair resembled an out-of-control forest fire. Her emerald eyes pierced his soul and promised to share his dirtiest secrets with the world if he didn’t obey her.

  “Yes, mistress,” the mayor said.

  Noah took a step closer to Mayor Freeling. “It’s OK. We can get you some help. Just drop the sword.”

  “Do you wish for your wife and children to know of the depravity that fuels your True Self,” the mistress asked.

  “No, mistress,” the mayor said.

  “Put it down, Mayor Freeling,” Noah said.

  “Then take you secrets to your grave,” the mistress said.

  Mayor Freeling placed the handle of the sword against the street. He positioned the tip of the blade against his stomach.

  “He’s going to kill himself,” Kim said.

  Noah watched in horror as Mayor Freeling lengthened his arms to his sides as if was flying. The sword sank into the soft flesh of his belly. Gravity pushed his body further into the sword until it impaled the mayor.

  “Holy shit,” Gerald said. “Why would he do that?”

  Kim turned and walked toward the car. The words “Darkness will always be with you” ate at her with every step.

  “It’s not your fault,” Terrence said. “There was nothing you could do.”

  “I know,” Kim said. She took a moment to stare at Terrence. She doubted her choice to leave Homicide. Reality hit her. The only end to the war with Darkness was death. What had she gotten Terrence into?

  Thirty-Two

  Remi excused herself and walked down the hallway, stopping at a small closet used for office supplies. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths before opening the door.

  The room was small. Remi wasn’t tall, but there wasn’t room for her to lie down. That was OK. She preferred to sit when she prepared to confront a powerful negative energy. She switched the light on and moved a few things off the floor. Remi moved a vacuum cleaner to the hall and killed the light before kicking her shoes off and sitting cross-legged in the dark.

  Remi had encountered a lot of negativity energy over her thirty-plus years, but there was something about this that worried her more. The True Self had the ability to take Debbie’s sight. Most energy blocks created pain, either emotional or physical or both. But she had never heard of anything being able to rob someone of their senses.

  Maybe Debbie was wrong? Maybe it was something else other than an energy? Remi had to focus. There couldn’t be any doubt. She had to believe Debbie knew what was taking her sight. Remi needed to prepare for a battle with the negative energy. She always said a prayer before performing reiki to protect herself from connecting with the energy she was trying to unblock. It was like a parasite. It would jump from host to host, showing no loyalty. In reality, it operated like the True Self.

  Remi closed her eyes again. It made little sense. The room already appeared to be an infinite darkness. But closing her eyes helped her to focus on the task.

  “She’s going to be fine.”

  Remi opened her eyes to be greeted by a faint green glow.

  “So, the True Self is blocking the energy to Debbie’s third eye?” Remi asked.

  Aura materialized from the glow and mirrored Remi’s position. “Sort of. The shadow is using itself as somewhat of a blindfold to disto
rt Debbie’s power. Only someone as powerful as you can banish it.”

  “Will I be able to free Debbie from it?” Remi asked.

  Aura smiled. “Do you even need to ask me that question?”

  Remi reached out to Aura. Her hand held a green hue as Aura’s energy warmed her palm. A sense of peace fell over Remi. Confidence followed it. Aura was right. Remi didn’t need to ask the question. She was strong enough to give Debbie her sight back.

  Mason waved his hand in front of Debbie’s face. He did it repeatedly. The supernatural had imprinted negatively on Debbie in the past, but never to this extent. He couldn’t believe Debbie was blind.

  “Can you please stop that, Mason?” Debbie asked.

  Mason smiled. “So, you can see me.”

  “No, you’re waving your hand in front of my face so fast, I feel a breeze,” Debbie said.

  “How did you know it was me?” Mason asked.

  “There’s a strong odor of fast food around me. Don doesn’t eat that crap, and you shouldn’t either. Besides, Don is across the room being productive, researching our next steps.”

  “How do you know that if you can’t see?” Mason asked.

  “Easy. I’m always researching our next move,” Don said. “And it’s nice to see that Debbie hasn’t lost her wit.”

  Mason patted Debbie’s knee. “Yes, it is.” He took a few deep breaths to delay his next question. Mason put his faith in Debbie’s theory that negative energy was blocking her sight. “But what if it doesn’t work?” He asked.

  “Remi is the best reiki master I know. It will work,” Debbie said.

  “But… what if it isn’t energy? What if this thing has taken your sight?” Mason asked.

  “All that fast food is making you silly. Have I ever been wrong about anything like this?” Debbie asked.

  “Not that I can think of,” Mason said.

  “I know my body. Don’t worry. This will work,” Debbie said.

  The door opened slowly. Remi entered the room. Aura’s glow outlined her. Don closed a folder and pushed it away. Mason slid his chair away from Debbie.

  “Geez, guys, you act like you’ve just seen a ghost,” Remi said, punctuating the joke with a nervous laugh. “You should be used to that.”