The Shadow Box: Paranormal Suspense and Dark Fantasy Thriller Novels

by Travis Luedke

  Jessie closed her eyes and pictured Alec creeping down the hall. She conjured such a vivid movie in her mind she could hear his actual footsteps in time with those in her vision.

  A loose floorboard? No. Hall had carpet. How many times had Jessie tripped over her own feet? Everyone did. Alec could, too.

  She worked at seeing him in her mind’s eyes move a foot too close to the floor, his sole catching on the carpet knap, throwing his balance, causing him to stumble, drop the gun, stagger out of the hall into view of the others in the kitchen, then flop to the floor, the gun in plain sight, everyone’s gaze jerking to the gun, then back to Alec, putting the scene together, realizing his intent, then rushing him before he could recover, tackling him, holding him down, questioning him, getting answers to…

  A strange metallic hiccup sound cut through her concentration and shattered the movie playing behind her eyelids. She opened her eyes at the second sound. The sound of something heavy thumping to the floor. Actually, two somethings, one close after the first. Then a shout. Mr. Creed?

  Another hiccup.

  Another thump to the floor.

  Then a shrieking voice. Mom. Her exact words muffled through the walls.

  Alec’s deep voice responded. More confused conversation between both of them.

  Jessie stared at the bathroom door.

  It hadn’t worked.

  Could she run for it?

  Craig was right. The Tanner thing was just dumb luck…

  Could she get out of the bathroom and through the front door before Alec shot her in the back? Or worse, shot Mom?

  …dumb luck or bad magic, fueled by blood. Am I really capable of that?

  She stood, approached the door, reached for the knob.

  The door swung open, nearly knocking Jessie across the face if she hadn’t jumped back in time. Alec stood in the hall, his gun pressed into the small of Mom’s back. He looked at the toilet seat where he’d left her, then into her eyes. “You never were one for doing what you’re told.”

  “I’m a teenager. I rebel.” Her efforts to sound glib fell flat at the first crack in her voice.

  “You’ve got bite, I’ll give you that.”

  Mom stood stiffly, offering no words of comfort or complaint. As if she had already given up.

  “Mom?”

  Her gaze, which had stared toward the floor, moved up to Jessie. “It’s okay, honey. We’ll be all right.”

  What the hell was going on with her? With Alec? Everyone she knew had gone nuts. Except Craig. Who was out in the barn with Tanner. Their only hope of getting out of this now.

  “Did you kill them?” she asked. “Mr. Creed? Rand? Rodriguez?”

  Alec shrugged. “Nothing personal.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it’s finally time for me to get back to my real life. I’m so tired of pretending I can stand the smell of you two.”

  She had never gotten along with Alec. Had told him a few times, in fits of anger, that she had hated him. But the naked animosity he now showed for her and Mom still felt like a betrayal and a loss.

  Jessie looked to Mom for some reaction. She didn’t look nearly as fazed as Jessie. “Are you listening to him? He’s been lying to us all along.”

  “It’s terrible,” her mom said without the faintest hint of emotion. “What happens now?”

  Alec pointed his gun in at Jessie. “I have to tie you two up while I take care of Mr. Lockman. Then I’m trading you to Dolan for my real family.”

  Jessie’s stomach turned. “All this time you pretended to be a husband and father to people you don’t care about to save your own family?”

  Alec waved her a hand at her. “Come on out of there. Let’s go.”

  She obeyed.

  He guided them both back into the kitchen. Jessie’s stomach twisted inside-out when she saw the three men on the floor. The puddles of blood looked like red glass in the sunlight streaming through the windows. “You didn’t have to kill them.”

  He pulled out two chairs from the table to a clear spot on the kitchen floor, away from the blood. “Both of you, sit.”

  Mom took her seat without protest. This convinced Jessie once and for all that Dolan had messed with her somehow, and she hoped Craig was getting answers, or already had them so he could get his ass back here to rescue them.

  “Sit,” Alec said to Jessie while pressing his gun barrel against the back of Mom’s skull.

  Jessie squeezed back the bawling that wanted to explode from her. She couldn’t control a few tears, but she sure as hell wouldn’t let Alec see a full-on water show.

  She took the empty seat.

  On the kitchen table sat a pair of orange, outdoor extension cords Jessie hadn’t noticed before. Alec must have found them before he started his planned attack. Which made Jessie wonder.

  “Why not just kill us?”

  Alec began wrapping her to the chair with one of the extension cords. “Is that what you want?”

  “Just doesn’t make sense. If your mission is like all the others, to get Craig to Dolan, then why bring us along? He could come in here and find you at any minute. Why waste the time tying us up?”

  “Good point,” he said and poked her in the side with his gun. “Maybe I’ll do just that.”

  “It’s too late. You already decided you wouldn’t kill us. I think I know why.”

  He yanked the cord tightly around her, fastening her to the chair back with her arms pinned uselessly to her sides. “Okay, little Miss Smarty. Why?”

  “Because after all that time, you grew to like us. You’re not a bad guy. You just want your family back.”

  He crouched in front of her to look her in the eye. “Let me make this clear. I do not like you. You disgust me. All of your kind does. But whatever you people might say, me and mine are not monsters.”

  Jessie’s heart felt like it might explode at any moment. “You’re not mortal.”

  He grinned. “No sweetheart. I’m the big bad wolf.”

  Chapter Forty-One

  Lockman paced a circle around the worktable with Tanner strapped to it. Tanner’s eyes were closed, his breathing deep and regular. But Lockman could tell he wasn’t sleeping.

  “How you feeling?”

  Tanner continued playing opossum. His skin looked like frozen milk. The wrapped stump of his arm lay above the strap that crossed his back, unlike his other arm which remained secured under the same strap.

  “You’re not fooling me. Open your eyes. I’ve got questions.”

  Tanner grunted. Eyes still closed, he asked, “You gonna take the other arm?”

  “Maybe a leg this time.”

  Tanner coughed or laughed or both. The sound echoed in the barn and grated in Lockman’s ears.

  “You surprised me. I didn’t think you had it in you.”

  “I don’t need your approval.”

  “But I’m so proud. You’re growing up. Not such a naive kid. More like your crazy real self.”

  “Tell me what Dolan did to Kate.”

  Tanner groaned. “We went through this already. He let them go.”

  “I know. She’s here with us now.”

  Tanner opened his eyes and lifted his head. He tried turning to see Lockman, but Lockman had circled around to the foot of the worktable.

  “Here? Now?”

  “Yes.”

  “Her husband make it okay, too?”

  “He’s fine. They are all fine and safe with us now. There’s no point holding out anymore.”

  This time Tanner’s laugh didn’t have to fight through a cough. “Mazel tov. Good work, Lockman.”

  “Did he drug her? That would be too common for the likes of Dolan. Unless it was some mojo concoction.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  The light sound in his voice rankled with Lockman. Tanner acted as if he really was happy Lockman had got the best of Dolan and had Kate and Jessie safe. Which only meant he knew exactly what was wrong wit
h Kate.

  He stepped around to Tanner’s side with the severed arm. He gripped the end of the stump and squeezed.

  Tanner screamed and thrashed so hard he banged his face against the table. The blow stunned him silent. He trembled.

  “What did Dolan do to Kate?”

  “Nothing. Nothing I know about anyway.”

  Lockman squeezed again. The bandages grew warm and moist against his palm.

  Tanner whimpered, no more scream left in him. His breath wheezed between his lips like an asthmatic. Tears streamed off his face and pattered on the wooden surface of the worktable.

  “Please. I don’t know.”

  Lockman let go of Tanner’s arm and looked at his own hand. Splotches of brownish-red covered his palm. He checked Tanner’s bandage and saw the blood soaking through.

  He found a clean rag from Creed’s tool bench and wiped his hands off. “Let’s assume you don’t know what’s happened to Kate. Take a guess. What might have Dolan done?”

  Tanner opened and closed his mouth like a landed trout.

  “Come on, Tanner. I don’t have a lot of time. We’re going to move on Dolan and I need to know if someone on our side is compromised.”

  Tanner closed his mouth. His pale lips curled into a smile on his chalk-white face. He looked insane. “Oh, you are so barking up the wrong tree.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Kate isn’t the issue, Craig.”

  “She hasn’t acted herself since before Dolan took her. He had to have done something to her.”

  “Just because she isn’t hot for you anymore, doesn’t mean it’s Dolan fault.”

  Craig drew his Desert Eagle and charged at Tanner. He aimed for Tanner’s smug face. “Stop fucking around.”

  “You have no idea how badly you screwed yourself. You brought him right into your own den.”

  “Who?”

  “The wolf.”

  The side door to the barn banged open behind Lockman. He spun around with his Desert Eagle. Too late.

  The last thing Lockman saw was a mass of black fur and a jaw full of sharp teeth barrel toward him.

  Then darkness.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  “I’ve told you a hundred times. This is a bad idea.”

  The ghost’s wife, who had introduced herself as Millie, glared at Charles from the passenger seat of the car he had stolen. They had driven out of Detroit into a nearby suburb called Sterling Heights. Now they were parked across the street from Millie’s house—the absolute last place they should be.

  “First,” Millie said, “you tell me we can’t call the police because the man who kidnapped me has an arrangement with the Detroit mayor. Then you tell me this is somehow related to my dead husband, but won’t tell me how.”

  “It’s the best I can do. I’m sorry. I’ve put my life on the line taking you out of there. You heard those things in the dark? They wanted to eat you.”

  Millie squeezed her eyes shut as if she had taken a bite of something cold and the chill had gone to her head. “Why is half of everything you say completely crazy?”

  “I don’t have time to explain it all. Every second we sit here is another second we risk getting caught.”

  “You really believe they’ll come after us?”

  “I know they will.” He pointed toward her house. “And this is one of the first places they are going to look for you.”

  “I won’t be bullied out of my own home.”

  Charles threw up his hands. “You sure are stubborn. Fine. You want to go home, go. I’m out of here. Maybe I’ll move to Iceland or something.”

  She hesitated a second, one hand on the door handle while she watched him.

  He looked away, uncomfortable from the scrutiny.

  “Thank you,” she said. “For helping me.”

  He looked up. “I can still help you. Come with me. We’ll find someplace safe for you.”

  “Where would I go? I have a life here. A job. Family.”

  “The police can’t protect you. Even if you get the FBI involved, they aren’t equipped to deal with the likes of Otto Dolan. No one is.”

  She shook her head as if trying to jostle the pieces together in her mind. She would never fully understand, though. Charles still didn’t grasp all the complexities of what existed beyond the veil. Or even the strange magic that existed on the mortal plane. Probably not even Mr. Dolan comprehended all that he dabbled in.

  “Take care of yourself,” she said and patted his knee. Then she got out of the car and walked up to her front porch.

  He started the engine, put the car in gear, but he couldn’t get himself to take his foot off the brake.

  Come on, Chuck. No reason to throw away your life for one old lady. You’ve done more than enough. She wants to risk her life, that’s her thing.

  He pushed the gearshift back into park and turned off the engine. He pocketed his keys and hurried after her. “Millie. Wait.”

  She had just opened the front door when Charles reached the edge of the front lawn. She turned to the sound of his voice while pushing the door the rest of the way wide. She did not see the man in black fatigues standing inside the house.

  A jag of adrenaline shot straight through Charles’s heart. He jerked to a halt and pointed. “Look out!”

  Millie turned and saw him. She opened her mouth to scream, but Dolan’s soldier grabbed her and pulled her inside before she made a sound.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Lockman came to with Tanner staring down at him. Lockman lay on his back, body held down by leather buckles to a gurney. An IV bag hung over his head, the tube snaking down and disappearing under a taped wad of gauze on the back of one hand. The room’s lighting had a strange, flickering quality that cast as much shadow as illumination.

  “Good morning,” Tanner said. “You are so damn lucky. With our positions reversed like this, I would love to take off both your arms and ram them up your asshole. I will expect an apology when you’re back to your normal self though.” He lifted his stump and gave it a small wave.

  Lockman swallowed the sand in his throat. His head throbbed. “Jessie? Kate?”

  “The wolf man must have been feeling a little soft. Can you believe he spared them? Think he’s spent too much time among mortals.”

  Something growled in the room.

  Lockman turned toward the sound and saw Alec standing by an open door. A five o’ clock shadow covered his face even though the last time Lockman saw him he was clean-shaven. “Werewolf?”

  “You killed one of my pack,” Alec said. “Back in Vegas. You remember?”

  How could he not? “Thought it took a lot more to kill your kind than a little fender bender.”

  “We bleed just like you, mortal.”

  “Good to know I can save the silver rounds for the vamps.”

  The hair on Alec’s face darkened like an actual shadow. His eyes flashed red.

  “Enough,” a familiar voice said, echoing in the room.

  Lockman looked toward the voice.

  Otto Dolan crossed his arms and smiled. He stood before a massive display of votive candles, set in tiered rows that covered an entire wall. The candles, Lockman realized, were the source of room’s odd light.

  “It’s so good to finally see you again,” Dolan said.

  “Not feeling it.”

  “Don’t worry. You will once we get the real you back.”

  “Aren’t you forgetting something? Creed has the artifact with those old memories.”

  “Creed,” Tanner said with a Christmas giddiness, “is dead.” He held up his hand which held a small, bronze cube not much larger than a toy block. Intricate patterns like hieroglyphs covered every surface of the cube. “And this is your brain. Or soul if you want to call it that.”

  “Of course it’s his soul,” Dolan said. “How else could they have turned him into such a morally bankrupted individual?”

  Lockman glared at Tanner. “I thought it was
just about the money. You sound more like a zealot.”

  Tanner lifted his stump again. “It was only about the money until you took a hacksaw to me. You think I would let something like that go?”

  Lockman gave him the smuggest of smiles he could muster. “Too bad you can’t do anything about it. Your boss won’t let you.”

  Tanner set the artifact aside and grabbed Lockman’s throat. Even with just the one hand, he had remarkable strength.

  The edges of Lockman’s vision turned fuzzy as his brain starved for oxygen.

  “You think I can’t hurt you? I could kill you if I wanted to.”

  Lockman wanted to quip back, but Tanner not only squeezed his throat, but leaned down on his esophagus. He could neither breathe nor speak.

  “What? Nothing smart to say now?”

  Dolan appeared next to Tanner. He put a hand on Tanner’s shoulder. “Stop. Now.”

  Tanner’s lips pressed together until his skin turned white around his mouth. His nostrils flared. The cold look in his eye could have kept a glacier solid in the middle of the Sahara.

  “We can conjure something to replace your arm, my friend. We cannot, however, replace Mr. Lockman.”

  Tanner released his grip and spat in Lockman’s face.

  The hot line of saliva rolled down one cheek and into Lockman’s ear. He gulped air and choked on it at first. His throat burned. Eventually, his breathing steadied.

  Tanner stalked away from the gurney.

  Dolan patted Lockman’s arm. He picked up the bronze cube from the edge of the gurney where Tanner had left it. “As you can imagine, I’m very excited. After all these years, I almost gave up on ever getting you back.”

  “I’m touched.”

  “Sure, sure. Make light. It’s okay. None of this life will matter to you once we’ve fixed you.” He licked his lips. His expression grew dark. “The thing is, you really did become a whole different person. A person I’ve come to hate very much.”

  “We have that in common, I guess.”

  Dolan waved a hand as if it didn’t matter a wit to him what Lockman thought. “The point is, Tanner and Alec here aren’t the only ones that want to do you harm. I very much want to make Craig Lockman suffer.”