The Shadow Box: Paranormal Suspense and Dark Fantasy Thriller Novels

by Travis Luedke

  “I could offer you so much more than this,” he said.

  “You are a nobleman?”

  “Yes, I come from royal stock.”

  “That would explain why you can sleep all through the day,” she said, allowing herself to laugh.

  “Does it bother you that I am?”

  “No, but objects of value do not interest me,” she said, her tone firm enough for him to know she meant it.

  “I could give you love.”

  “That is all I would ever want from you. Your love, and to feel safe.”

  “I can give you those things, if you wanted them from me.”

  A tear welled in her eye. “I think I do want them, yes,” she whispered.

  He kissed her again, long and slow. They fell down onto her bed, their lips moving in perfect harmony. She groaned as she felt him press against her. The feelings she had there both frightened and excited her, but nothing had ever felt as good. He kissed her with a passion he had not felt in years, the intensity between them growing ever stronger. Aching for his touch, she responded with the same vigour.

  The ache in him was even greater. He had wanted her the moment he first saw her. They kissed late into the night, the scent of her arousal touching his every nerve. He wanted so desperately to make love to her, but he would not do it, even if she allowed him to.

  He thought back to the night with the whore on the roof of the tavern. His size had inflicted terrible damage to her body. The experience had stayed with him and now, in this moment, it haunted him. He could not let Piera endure the same.

  It bothered him why this had occurred. No other woman he had been with for that purpose had suffered that way. They may have struggled at first to accommodate him, but nothing to that extent. The ones he had damaged were those he had fed on. He was afraid now to take a chance. There could only have been one reason for it, he mused. He had fed on two men immediately before having sex with her. A huge amount of blood had transfused into his body, every part of it.

  On this night, he had fed early. He had preyed on an elderly man and still thirsted. Perhaps, sex would be easier and safer tonight. He could see she was thinking along the same lines. She had never given herself to anyone, but now she felt that maybe the time had come. The prospect still terrified her, and she was building the courage to give in to what her body so badly needed.

  He put his hand on her breast for the first time. She groaned, but pulled his wrist away. Her nipple stretched at his touch, increasing the ache right through her.

  “Your body says you want me,” he whispered in her ear.

  “All that I am wants you,” she gasped. “Though I am afraid. I am still a maiden.”

  He moved his hand over her belly. Slowly, it worked its way upward again. “I promise to be gentle,” he said. “It shall mean we belong to each other for always.”

  When his hand touched on her breast again, she did not resist him. It felt incredible. Her whole body quivered with fear and excitement. It took him a while, but eventually, he removed all her clothes.

  His heart missed a beat when he looked at her. “You are so beautiful,” he gasped. “I wish only that you can be mine for all eternity.”

  She trembled all over, the cool air of the night from the window on her skin magnifying her state of arousal. No man had ever looked upon her naked form. She worried that he may not really find her beautiful, that he might have said it only to have his way with her. At the same time, he had unlocked something inside her. She loved how he made her feel, and she wanted him. She wanted him to have her and be the first to bring out the woman in her.

  Her very first time would be all for him and, she hoped, every time thereafter. “Then make it so, Vlad. Make me yours.”

  He slowly eased inside her. She stifled a cry and held onto his neck with both hands. He gently spread her thighs and pushed in deeper. She groaned louder than anyone he had ever heard. Although fragile and tight, she relaxed enough to take him whole. “Oh, dear God,” she wailed. “Oh, yes.”

  She cried out in ecstasy with his every delicate movement. Eventually, she drew her thighs in and wrapped her legs around his. She had no idea what to do or how to respond to him. It was all she could do to hold him tight and kiss him. Her body did the rest for her, reacting naturally to the things he did.

  “Do you want this for all eternity?” he gasped.

  “Yes, oh, yes. I wish for this to last forever.”

  “I can make it so. All you need do is say you want that from me.”

  Her mind was elsewhere. “Then make it so. I want to always feel this way.”

  He ran his tongue along the side of her neck. The sensation made her tingle all over. He felt the vibration of her blood through the veins beneath. It exuded the sweetest smell. He longed to taste it and show her to the wonders of his world.

  “Make me yours forever,” she gasped.

  “I want to,” he whispered softly in her ear.

  “I love you,” she groaned, her eyes still closed. “I want to always be yours.”

  “Then you shall be.”

  “Yes, yes,” she whispered. “Love me and marry…”

  Before she could finish, he plunged his teeth deep into her neck. She opened her eyes wide, and cried out. Her whole body tensed like never before. He clamped his jaw to her and sucked hard, the first of her blood transfusing into his body. It tasted so good. He felt her terror at his bite, but still he sucked. It shall not last, my love. Soon, you shall be with me for eternity.

  A terrible pain hit his stomach. He stopped and opened his eyes wide. Suddenly, his tongue and lips began to burn. It spread to his throat and all the way down through his body. She lay paralysed beneath him. He withdrew quickly, a real panic in his heart as he realised she had consecrated blood running through her veins.

  Her eyes followed him, although she did not move. Blood oozed from the wound in her neck and onto her pillow.

  He looked at her with real fear in his eyes, knowing he had made a grave mistake. “Were you once a nun?”

  She nodded her head slowly.

  He doubled over in pain. “No!” he cried, holding his stomach with both hands. How did I not sense this?

  Dracula moved farther away from her. Her blood would erode him from the inside out. He needed to act fast. If not, her blood would burn him to ash. He looked up at a wooden hatch on the sloped ceiling. Without giving Piera another thought, he rose up and smashed through it. He cried out as he flew, naked, into the night sky. Only one thing could save him, and he had to find it fast.

  The blood from Piera heated him inside, and oozed like sweat from his every pore. His heart enlarged as it tried to combat this deadly force that now attacked it. It fought to separate the good blood from the bad. More of it oozed from his nose, and burned his upper lip as though it were acid.

  Piera lay frozen on the bed. Her wound began to fester and erode as the virus from his saliva ate into her delicate flesh. When he withdrew, an infection had set in. Cramps hit her stomach. Her body needed his blood now.

  She could do nothing to ease her suffering. Her arms remained paralysed at her sides, and as the tears rolled down her cheeks, she knew at once she was going to die.

  Dracula lowered down over the rooftops, nervous as his senses began to desert him. When he needed them the most, he found himself unable to function properly. A mucky discharge leaked from his anal opening. Already, some of his inner parts had begun to dissolve. Time was against him and if he did not find a foetus soon, he would perish.

  He crashed through the roof of the nearest house. Without his acute sense of smell to guide him, he charged blindly from room to room. His actions woke everyone inside. When the man of the house rose to meet him, Dracula smashed an elbow into his face. It drove the bridge of the man’s nose up into his brain and killed him.

  The search began in earnest for the man’s wife. She screamed when he entered her bedchamber. The naked image that met her eyes as she rose from the bed fil
led her with dread. He knocked her down and, with great haste, he dived between her legs. The moment his tongue touched against her vaginal opening, he knew she was not pregnant. It was all that saved her life.

  He left her at once and, walking out of the room, he encountered her young adult daughter. They stood face-to-face for a moment. She could not move or scream, frozen by her fear of him. As soon as he gazed into her eyes, he sensed her purity. She was still a virgin.

  The first thought that entered his mind was that her virginal blood might delay his demise. He grabbed her up in his arms and wrapped them around her waist so tightly that she could not cry out. When she struggled to break free, he turned her upside down and bit into her femoral artery. She cried out finally and kicked out with both legs. He held her firm, around her knees, and continued to drink while he walked.

  Her exposed sex touched against his face. He ignored it and guzzled down her blood with real urgency. The pain in his body did not go away, but it did subside.

  He smashed through the wooden wall into the next house with the girl still upside down in his grip. His intrusion alerted the entire household as it had in the one before. The couple who lived here had two grown sons. When they emerged from their beds, he tossed the dead body of the girl at them, intent only on finding their mother.

  Their father jumped at him from the dark. With his impaired senses, Dracula did not see or hear him lurking there. He reacted quickly, though, and punched the man hard to the stomach. The blow winded him completely and lifted him off his feet. He flew backwards through the air and crashed against a wall. His head smacked hard against it before he slumped down to the floor, unconscious.

  Dracula walked straight to the bed. There, he found the man’s wife cowering in the corner behind a blanket. He grabbed her by the ankles and dragged her with force down the eider mattress.

  She cried out at his rough treatment of her. Dracula ignored her pleas of help to her husband. He eyed her stomach, and a rush of excitement passed through him. It looked swollen and heavy.

  He pulled her legs apart violently, oblivious to the pain it caused her. As she screamed, he bit hard into the soft folds of her labia, his fangs driving deep into her flesh and taking a firm hold. Right away, he picked up the scent of amniotic fluid. He took a deep breath and began to suck.

  Her two sons got past the obstacle he had thrown at them and ran into the room. Their hearts raced at the sound of their mother’s screams. They saw the faint outline of a man with his head between her legs. The eldest of them rushed over, his only thought of killing the intruder. Dracula did not even look around. He raised his leg and kicked the youth hard in the stomach with the butt of his heel.

  The blow jerked him back, and the base of his skull smashed against the forehead of his brother behind him. Both the young men fell to the floor. The second of them reeled around, unable to get to his feet. The first lay motionless where he fell. Blood oozed from the back of his head, his eyes staring up into the darkness.

  The woman screamed one last time and then passed out. Dracula sucked the whole of her womb out through her vaginal passage. The effects as it oozed down his throat were immediate.

  He fell back on the floor with his eyes closed. The consumed foetus began to work right away, and served as an antibiotic throughout his system. Almost at once, it started to replenish his damaged capillary linings and muscle tissues. He gasped in pain as he felt it filter through him.

  A battle raged within his body, and he convulsed on the floor the whole time. The jelly in his system sought out the bad blood, finally succeeding in finding and killing it. It then drove the poison out through his every orifice.

  He lay there for a time. The healing process had exhausted him. A pool of the expelled fluids surrounded his body, exuding a sharp, acrid odour.

  Slowly, his body began to cool and he felt the vitality restored to his system. His senses returned to their natural state as a long sigh of relief escaped his lips. He knew he was going to survive this near brush with permanent death.

  It was only then he realised the younger of the woman’s two sons had fled the house. The young man had run away screaming when he saw his brother was dead. From somewhere outside, Dracula heard the voices of those the young man had alerted.

  They got up from their beds to meet the alarm. To anyone who would listen, the young man told the story of what had happened in his home. Few of them believed him, and the majority thought him drunk. Some even cursed him for waking them from their sleep. Still, as friends and neighbours to his parents, they felt compelled to investigate.

  Dracula listened to the clamour as they recruited numbers from other houses. Soon, quite a mob would be hunting him. He forgot about them for a moment. They did not pose any real threat to his well-being.

  A groan from behind saw him on his feet in a flash. The man of the house was coming round. Dracula pounced on him before he opened his eyes. He drank the man dry in quick time.

  Outside, the noises increased, where a strong group had gathered in the narrow street. Dracula cared little for them. The first whiff of dawn on the horizon concerned him much more. The last thing he needed was to encounter that.

  He flew at blinding speed out of the house. The men in the street saw him as a blur as he passed over them.

  “What was that?” one of them asked.

  They all shrugged. None of them knew, but they had seen it.

  He combed the city from the air for a safe place to sleep. Dawn was close. He did not want to risk returning to his usual resting place. It was too far away and time was against him. His eyes focused on a graveyard on the outskirts of the city. That would have to do for now.

  His feet touched down in front of a mausoleum. He cursed when the cold soil singed his feet. In his urgency, he had forgotten about the hallowed ground. Instead, he headed for the sewers beneath the city.

  Dracula looked up to the heavens to address God. “You did not kill me on this occasion.”

  He found an entrance to the sewer and disappeared inside it. A thousand rats scurried away from him. Their sharp senses had alerted them to a dangerous predator. He ignored them and searched out a dry spot to rest. When he found one, he settled down to sleep.

  Chapter 13

  TUSCANY. THE SEWERS BELOW FLORENCE.

  SEPTEMBER 2, 1489.

  Dracula could not rest at any time during the day. He awoke often, and each time he could think only of Piera. All day long, he heard the rain beat down. It affected his sleep and caused his blood to feel cold. He thought of venturing out into the daylight and finding somewhere warmer and dryer. The foetus allowed him to go out as long as the sun was not shining. Dark skies hung over Tuscany all through the day. He knew he could if he chose to, but elected to remain where he was.

  He wanted to see Piera. By now she would be quite ill, if not already dead. If there was a way to save her, he had to try. But his body ached all over. He had still not healed fully, and his limbs felt weak. For that reason, he did not risk going out until dark.

  Piera had endured the most awful day. Her body pained her as badly as his had. Slowly, the infection took ahold of her and worked its way outwards from the wound in her neck. She felt it crawl like a parasite through her veins. Through this network, it spread to every part of her body. The wound itself turned black and gangrenous, dark yellow pus oozing from both puncture holes. It attracted bugs and other vermin, which crawled all over her. Some even nibbled at the infected spot.

  She still could not move. A strong paralysis gripped her, as though she were in the early hours after death. Even when the cramps hit her stomach every so often, her limbs remained useless.

  With the hours that passed, her skin turned deathly white. Her eyes sank into their sockets, and dark shadows formed around them both. A thick film of sweat coated her entire body and served to make her feel ever colder.

  She ran the events of the night before over in her mind while she waited to die. The only end to this could b
e death. She knew that much. Why did you do this to me, Vlad? I thought you loved me. I gave myself to you, and this is what you do.

  Her body grew ever weaker and, although she could not see it, her feet and hands had turned black. She could no longer feel any sensation in them. Her breathing became harder and more laboured as the hours passed. The sweat from her face trickled into her mouth. Without the ability to swallow, she feared it might choke her. A beetle followed it inside.

  It crawled onto her tongue before it fell and stuck in her throat. Panic gripped her. She tried to cough to dislodge it, but could not. A horrible sound escaped her mouth as she fought for breath. Father, why have You forsaken me?

  Then she threw up. The heave it caused in her body turned her onto her side. Vomit spewed from her mouth in waves and onto the bed. The mucous clogged in her nose, but she could still breathe through her mouth, just. She noticed the beetle on its back. It lay in the pool of her vomit, kicking out its legs.

  Something caught her eye a little farther away. Turning them to the side, she saw Dracula stood there. He had returned. She watched as he put a hand to his mouth.

  Seeing her in this condition crushed him. He had never intended to hurt her in any way. All he wanted was to take her with him. They would have spent an eternity together. But she had consecrated blood in her veins. That had put an end to everything.

  “I am so sorry,” he whispered. “I only wanted you to be with me.”

  She could not answer. To show her disgust, she turned her eyes away.

  He moved closer to the bed so she might listen to him. “You can talk to me through your thoughts,” he said. “I can read them all.”

  What?

  “Yes, I can. Try it. Talk to me.”

  What did you do to me? You bit me.

  “Yes, I did,” he said, dropping his head. “I wanted to make you as I am. So we could be together for always.”

  I thought you meant as man and wife. I would have been content with that. But you bit me! I saw you smash through my roof. What are you?