The Shadow Box: Paranormal Suspense and Dark Fantasy Thriller Novels

by Travis Luedke

  His scream ended when he vomited. He threw up directly into the bloody brown water in the utility sink. Once that was over, the burning reduced to a mild sear and the spinning abated. He cleared the tears from his eyes with the back of his hand.

  He looked around the room until he found a roll of duct tape. After rinsing the shirt through running water, he folded it flat, dabbed more iodine on it, then pressed it to, and partially into the wound. The sting was harsh, but bearable. He ran the duct tape around his body and affixed the shirt like gauze. The shaking made it difficult, especially when mixed with the burn of fresh iodine. Max wasn’t sure if that was from the cold, the pain, or shock. Maybe all three.

  He pulled his leather jacket on and grabbed a flashlight. Using the wall as a brace, he made his way back to the slope where Boone had ambushed him. He almost fell twice, but kept going, knowing if he hit the ground now he’d never get up again. This time he checked to make sure there weren’t any surprises, then made his way to the bottom of the ramp.

  His back was encased in darkness and the flashlight provided only a faint beam. At the bottom of the ramp, he found a locked door. He didn’t have a key, but he had a gun. Unfortunately, fragmenting bullets don’t work so well on solid objects like padlocks. He didn’t want to risk using the shotgun so close to the target for fear of a piece of lead shot penetrating and hitting what he thought might be on the other side.

  Using the butt of the shogun as a hammer, he began pounding away at the lock. It probably would have worked if he weren’t so weak and pain ridden. He did this for a few tries until the burning pain in his side drove him to his knees.

  “Let me,” came a voice from behind. Max spun with the shotgun out. His flashlight hit Dwayne’s face. The vampire lifted his hand to shield his eyes. Max lowered the flashlight. Dwayne made short work of the door with a solid kick. It was little more than a slab of particleboard. Now it was two slabs. He helped Max get up.

  “Thanks,” he said, nodding. Dwayne patted him on the back and supported Max with his arm.

  In the room, Max found four children curled together under a filthy blanket. He pulled it away and looked at their faces. They were all so pale and their little eyes were sunk into their skulls. They’d only been here a short while, but the vampires had been feeding on them to weaken their will. They looked at Max like he was a monster they couldn’t escape. It was not an unjustified assumption. Max was bruised and covered with blood, though not all of it his. They were right to be afraid of him, though he meant them no harm.

  “They been charmed,” Dwayne said with a small voice, “And… fed on.” Max thought maybe he sounded disgusted by it. He looked up at the vampire and saw him look away.

  “She’s not here,” Max said after taking the photograph of Penny from his coat pocket. None of the children even looked like her, though he was sure the repeated feeding and starvation would have altered their appearance. Penny had blonde hair and shiny blue eyes, unlike these four children.

  “We found a little body in the Grendel’s shack,” said Dwayne. Max held up the photograph and he took a look. He shook his head and looked down.

  “Yeah…” Max rose, or tried to. He fell, but Dwayne caught him. He was being held up when his phone buzzed. He drew it from his pocket and checked the text message. It was from James.

  “The cops are in Hagshead,” he said, looking at Dwayne as he sent a text message back. “James said they’ll start searching the woods in about twenty minutes.”

  “I know. Paul got the truck. The skinheads had a back way out of here, we’ll meet him there.”

  “How’d he get past the cops?”

  “He’s a vampire.”

  Max nodded.

  “What do we do about them?” Dwayne asked as Max sent a text to James.

  “Leave them here. I told James where they are, he’ll make sure the deputies find them.”

  Max couldn’t stand to look back at them as he left. The nightmare wasn’t quite over for them. None of these children had families anymore. Their entire existence had been wiped from their parent’s minds. They’d be put in the system and, hopefully, find new homes. But they’d be scarred by what happened here. The memories and nightmares would last a while. That was something Max knew about. Then there were the health risks from living so close to a meth lab. Ironically, it was possible that repeated feeding by vampires might have helped prevent too much blood poisoning from the fumes.

  As bad as what was coming for them was, Max knew it was better than what they would have gone through if he had done nothing. There was that.

  “You’re pretty badly cut,” Dwayne said as they stepped through the broken wall.

  “I’ve survived worse.”

  “You…you want me to lick that for you?”

  “No. No I do not. Thank you.”

  “Seemed the polite thing to ask—”

  “Yeah, stop.”

  They walked along the narrow trail to the back of the forest. Max heard police radios in the distance. The deputies were starting to move into the woods. If they’d known about this back trail, they’d probably have come that way, too. It looked pretty new, likely cut into the woods by skinheads with chainsaws. It was only wide enough to get an ATV or dirt bike though, which was probably exactly what they used it for.

  The trail ended in a field. The SUV was waiting for them. Kearny opened the door and helped Max get into a seat.

  “What about Grendel?” Max asked as he began writing another text. He was telling Sadie to meet him at his place. It would be safe again.

  “We took care of Grendel,” Kearny answered as he climbed into the seat across from him.

  “Sorry about your friend.” Max really wasn’t, but it seemed like the thing to say.

  Kearny snickered. “I hated that guy!”

  He and Max chuckled at that. Dwayne got into the passenger seat. Paul was driving. Once everyone was aboard, they pulled out of the field onto a dirt road. The bumping and shaking made his wound sting, but it still hurt less than having to walk with it. Max let his head fall back against the seat and closed his eyes.

  Dwayne snapped him back to attention, “Hey, don’t go to sleep there, dawg. You want us to drop you at the hospital?”

  Max opened his eyes and shook his head. “Home.” Dwayne gave him a look that asked ‘are you sure?’ Max nodded.

  “You did good in there,” Kearny said. Max gave him a thank you smile.

  “Real good. That vamp was over a hundred years old, and you iced him like a bitch,” Dwayne added.

  “It was harder than it looked, and he had enough life left in him to get away.” He met Dwayne’s eyes. “You knew she wasn’t in there.” He looked away. “You had to know. You got the Shays to tell you everything they knew, and they knew she wasn’t there. So, you knew she wasn’t there.”

  Kearny looked at his knees. It was Dwayne who answered, “How long did it take you to figure that out?”

  “I knew all along.” Max shrugged, eliciting a wince from the stinging wound and throbbing back. “I hoped I was wrong, but wasn’t surprised when I wasn’t.”

  Seeming a bit confused, Kearny asked, “Why’d you go in? If the one you wanted wasn’t there, why risk your life to help us?”

  Max didn’t answer. He just stared out the window. They were back in town now, passing Maiden Lane on Seventh Street. The city was awake and full of spinning lights and teenagers in fancy cars. Max closed his eyes and put it out of his mind.

  “He didn’t do it for us,” said Dwayne. Max felt his eyes on him. “You’re a good man, Max.”

  That didn’t really mean a lot coming from him, but Max nodded all the same.

  Chapter Forty-One

  They dropped Max off, literally, on the sidewalk in front of his duplex. Sadie and Frank ran down the steps and met him before he could fall to his knees. He really wanted to sleep, but he knew he couldn’t. Not yet.

  “Jesus Christ,” Frank gasped. “You look like a zombie!”


  “Oh, God!” Sadie tried to help Frank support his body, but Max shook his head.

  “He’s got me. I need you to call someone.”

  “What? You need to go to a hospital—”

  “I can’t go to a hospital.” He handed her his phone. He’d scrolled through the address book and found a name and number. “Call her.”

  She looked at the phone and her eyes widened. “Are you for real?”

  “Sadie… please!”

  They carried him into the house and up to the bathroom. He didn’t want to lie on the bed or else he’d stain it with blood. Instead, he asked Frank to put him in the bathtub and he and Sadie stripped him. At his request, they brought a space heater and a bottle of orange juice. Max struggled to stay awake as Sadie left to make the call.

  When Lisa arrived, she gasped and put her hand to her mouth.

  “Oh my God, Max! You need a hospital.”

  “I can’t go to the hospital. Would I have called you if I could go to a hospital?” He felt, and probably looked, drunk. The wound had saturated the shirt-gauze and was pooling lightly around his body. He gave her a weary look. “Can you stitch me up?”

  Lisa put her hands on her hips. “I have to know what happened to you before I can do anything.”

  “I got stabbed.”

  Her eyes widened in shock. “You got stabbed? Why did you get stabbed? How did you get stabbed?”

  “I got into a knife fight with a vampire. I won.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Fine, don’t tell me.” She knelt by the side of the tub and started feeling around his wound. He was too numb to really notice. “Duct tape? Really?”

  “It has a million uses.”

  “Yeah, and lucky for you it’s airtight.” She took off a backpack and unzipped it.

  “I have some hydro for the pain.” Sadie leaned on the door and watched nervously. “He looks like he’s in a lot of pain.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “No good anyway,” replied Lisa. She took a pair of angled scissors from her bag and sat them next to a bottle of rubbing alcohol. “He’s lost a lot of blood, it might kill him.” She looked at Max. “This isn’t going to be any kind of fun.”

  “I’ll live.”

  “Maybe.” Lisa sat a package of sterile suture next to the bottle. “Sadie, does he have a dog?”

  “What?” She actually sounded offended by the question.

  “Does he have a dog? Or maybe a cat?”

  Max answered her drolly, “No. I’m still awake, you can ask me questions. I know you two hate each other for some damn reason—”

  “Why do you want to know if he has a dog?”

  Lisa gave Sadie a serious look. “If he has a chew toy or something, we can put it in his mouth for him to bite down on. It might help. If not, get a belt.”

  “Um… I think I have something. Just a sec.” Sadie disappeared. A minute or so later she returned and handed a rubber ball with leather straps dangling from metal rings to Lisa. Max got a look at it when she held it up.

  “Oh… God.” Lisa winced and handed the well-used ball gag to Max.

  Her reaction made him smile. He put it in his mouth, connected the straps behind his head, and bit down. It wasn’t sized for his mouth so it fit awkwardly, but it would get the job done. Lisa cut away the bloody tape.

  “All right, I’ll sew this up after I know it’s clean,” she said, pulling back the makeshift gauze. The sight of the wound made her wince. Sadie saw it and almost fell down. “Well, it could be worse. Your MacGyver first-aid kit probably saved your life. Why’d you use iodine? You just like pain?”

  “It was handy,” his voice was muffled by the rubber ball.

  “Mmm… well do you have any antibiotics lying around? Like from the last time you had strep or something?”

  Max nodded.

  “Take them. Take them all. Not at once but… you know, just take them.” She ripped open a package containing sterile gauze and poured alcohol on it. “It looks like the iodine you used wasn’t exactly medical grade, so there is some burning around the laceration. That’s good though, it killed any infection, and it’ll make it heal faster.”

  She pressed the alcohol soaked gauze to his wound. Max hissed and shook, but calmed slowly as she gently wiped away the dried flakes of blood and iodine. A trickle of fresh blood ran from the seam of his cut. Lisa pressed the gauze to it and told him to apply pressure. Sadie moved in before he could and did it for him. It was probably better that way, since he was so weak. Lisa thanked her with a nod.

  “I’ll tell you, Max,” Lisa shook her head and pulled the curved flesh needle and suture from the package. “If you survive this, you’re going to have one hell of a scar.”

  Max pulled the ball from his mouth and gave Sadie a weary smile. “Hear that, sweetie?” She gave him a concerned look and didn’t smile. Max looked at Lisa. “She thinks scars are sexy.”

  “Not this one,” Sadie said, in almost a whisper. The sound of her voice made it hard to look at her. Max pulled the ball to his mouth and bit down.

  Frank came into the room a few seconds later with a pan of steaming water. “Where do you—?”

  Cutting him off, Lisa replied, “Next to me is fine. I need to reach it.” Lisa looked at Max. “Are you ready for this? You’re going to be awake the whole time. I can’t give you a local or anything, I’m not an anesthesiologist….”

  “I’ll be fine,” he muttered through the ball. He was saying it to Sadie as much as to her.

  Lisa nodded and looked at Sadie. “Okay, move your hand please.”

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Max didn’t dream, and he didn’t wake up screaming. He was thirsty, but not hot. Warm, but not sweaty, though his skin felt as though it were covered with salt. He opened his eyes to the dim orange glow of sunlight filtering through red curtains. He had a headache, but it wasn’t bad. Still, he didn’t quite feel like sitting up.

  It took him a moment to figure out where he was. He didn’t often wake up in his bedroom room when the sun was out. Slowly, he turned his head. Muscles popped as he did. Suddenly he felt a little drunk. His jaw felt like it had been welded shut. He found Sadie sitting in a dish chair, reading on her little eBook gizmo. The sound of the bed creaking with his movement drew her attention. She looked up at him with a smile.

  “Welcome back,” she said, in almost a whisper. She put down the gizmo and came to his side. She wasn’t wearing any makeup. That was unusual for her. Other than the piercings, she looked normal, but pretty. Max didn’t mind. He thought she looked nice no matter what she did.

  “Hey,” he muttered. His words were scratchy. He made a popping sound with his lips. Sadie grabbed a bottle of water from beside the bed and held it for him as he sat up. Pain shot through his side, and he felt drunk again. The blankets fell off, and he saw the bandage on his side. It was clean. Someone must have changed it recently.

  “Lisa said the antibiotics would make you thirsty,” she said as he sucked down the water. It was like drinking water for the first time in his life. “You’ve only drank a little since we got you in here.”

  “What time is it?”

  “Ten thirty.”

  “I expected it to be later…”

  “It’s Tuesday, baby.” Max shook as though he’d been startled. “It’s okay, I called in for you.”

  “I’ve been asleep for three days?”

  She put her hand on his face and smiled. “Not the whole time. You don’t remember after Lisa stitched you up?” He shook his head.

  “I remember you giving me a sponge bath.” He grinned.

  “Yeah, under better circumstances that would have been a lot more fun.” She gave him a playful look. “We aren’t supposed to get the stitches wet, so I cleaned you and then Frank and I brought you to bed.”

  “I think I remember that.” Max rubbed his temple. It felt like there was a worm living in his vein. “I don’t remember anything after that.”

  “You got
up twice to go to the bathroom. I woke you a few times to give you a drink or some of the antibiotics. You were all zombie those times, so I didn’t figure you’d remember.” She slid close to Max and lowered him to the bed. “Did you dream?”

  He shook his head. “Why?”

  “You said a name a few times. A girl’s name.”

  Max closed his eyes. “When?”

  “When you had a fever.” She put her hand on his forehead. “That was most of Saturday and part of Sunday. You were shaking so much, I almost called an ambulance.” She pressed her lips to his head. “You were quiet after that.”

  “What was the name?” He opened his eyes when she didn’t answer right away. She was looking away.

  “Meg.”

  “Meg? Garrett’s Meg?”

  She shrugged and nodded.

  “I guess that makes sense, since it was Lisa who stitched me up, and we met Lisa through Meg.” He rubbed his head.

  Sadie pulled back the covers and slipped into bed with him. It was hard for him to move over much, so she curled up on her side and put her head on the pillow next to him. Max tried to turn on his side to face her, but she stopped him when he started groaning. She kissed him on the cheek and put her hand on his chest. He turned his head to face her.

  “Is it over?” she asked at length.

  “Not yet.”

  She closed her eyes and tilted her head forward. Max lifted her chin until she was facing him again. She opened her eyes. They were filling with tears.

  “Soon. Very soon. The bad parts are over.” He curled up his lips. “Well, the bad parts for me anyway.”

  She nodded but didn’t speak. They laid in silence for a while until he managed to bring his face to her and give her a kiss. “I love you.”

  Sadie smiled. “I know. I love you, too.” He took her hand. His fingers were blue and swollen. It hurt to squeeze her hand, so instead he just rested it on hers. They listened to cars pass outside and the space heater tick on and off. After a while she opened her eyes and asked if he was hungry.