The Shadow Box: Paranormal Suspense and Dark Fantasy Thriller Novels

by Travis Luedke

  Slowly the day passed for me, time stubbornly ticked away. Dusk came, and with it Willy arrived just as he promised. I heard the drive gates open and went to the front window. A white Rolls Royce pulled onto my estate’s driveway. Sir Willy and another man whom I didn’t know stepped out of the back of the car. Will was dressed in another tweed suit, tan with a bright red tie and white shirt, the other man in his mid thirties dressed a bit more American: gray suit, blue shirt, and a striped blue tie.

  I was glad they were also wearing suits, or else I would have felt over dressed. Honestly, what do you wear to your very first vampire hunt? Guns! Lots of fucking guns, more for the men I didn’t know than the vampires I didn’t think existed. Under normal circumstances I’d venture a guess that he was another hitter, but these were not normal circumstances. So I figured him to be another member of The Guild, more than likely a vampire hunter. The way he moved, his eyes danced back and forth taking in everything about his surroundings. His instinct made him observant; he needed to know his outs, where any attacks might come from. I knew his body language. It was that of a predator. I knew it because I have it. It’s not one of those things that can be turned off like a light switch, it’s always there.

  After a quick moment of looking around, his gaze landed on me at the window. I knew he was looking at me, even behind his Oakley sunglasses. He grinned and nodded at me. I wonder if he realized I could have dropped him before he’d even gotten out of the car. He probably did, or else he wasn’t as good as I was giving him credit for. Maybe he just didn’t see me as a threat at that point? They made their way to the front door. Apparently Willy wasn’t so observant as his friend, he rang the bell. I guess he didn’t feel he could just walk into my house any more. Kudos for him! Perhaps I should have just left them at the door, but I’d leave rude for later, for now I wanted answers.

  And the only way to those answers was to open that fucking door.

  “Mr. Black, how are you?” Lord Willy was the first to speak.

  “Alright,” I said, and they just stood there waiting, “please come in.” Okay, we were being proper and polite.

  “Thank you,” he said, as he stepped inside closely followed by the gunman. “Mr. Black, please allow me to introduce one of my associates, Mr. Terry Goodspeed.” Mr. Goodspeed, hum a gentle name for a not so gentle person. Terry just nodded, a man of few words. Good, we might get along. Most of us, hitters that is, were more reserved. People that kill all the time, I guess just don’t get along with the living. One problem is people that don’t talk much you can’t get to know, don’t know um can’t trust um. However, people that don’t talk, listen. That’s me, I like to listen.

  “So what is the plan?” It doesn’t help to listen when no one is talking.

  “William told us you wanted proof,” Goodspeed spoke, “we’re gonna give it to ya.” His voice was deep and rough, American.

  “Well unless you have a vampire here, shouldn’t we get going?”

  “Right to business, Black?” amazing Willy was staying quiet.

  “That is what this whole thing is about isn’t it?”

  He just smiled and nodded. Apparently I gained some approval, yippy fucking skippy. I never cared about impressing anyone, Goodspeed wasn’t any different.

  “Yes, we should go. It’s going to be a long night.” Willy spoke with an excitement that annoyed me. He was enjoying himself just a bit too much for my taste. Maybe after we took care of business then we’d all go out for a beer and have a good ol’ time of it, but just then I wanted to get the night underway. I was still looking for answers.

  I grabbed my suit jacket and we were out the door. I was dressed to match my name. Black suit and shirt and a blood red tie. My hair pulled back into a tight ponytail; never know if I’ll need it to stay out of my face. By the time we were piled into the car the sun was completely down. Goodspeed took off his sunglasses for the first time. His eyes had been hardened by years of killing, but still held life. He loved what he did. I haven’t seen that look in my eyes in a very long time. He was still on fire; he still had the passion for killing that I had lost so long ago.

  I knew from the moment he stepped onto my drive that he was well armed. He carried a pistol under each arm, one at his ankle, and the last at the small of his back. I began to wonder how often he went through all the bullets in all those guns in a firefight. I’ve been in my share, and the less time you spend reloading the better. I think that Willy was the only one in the car without a gun. Even the driver, whose name I didn’t catch, had a shoulder holster on. I didn’t peg him as needing it very much. His movements were just too clumsy with the gun strapped on. Willy didn’t even try, no gun, nothing, idiot.

  It was a long time in the car before anyone spoke. Goodspeed sat facing me with his back to the driver. “What are you carrying?” Referring to my guns. I was glad he’d chosen that seat. I didn’t want my back to anyone that early in the game. I’m sure he’d taken that into consideration.

  “Why?”

  “So I can load you up.” He grinned again. “You’ll need special shot for what we’re hunting.”

  I didn’t like that I was going to have to take bullets from someone I didn’t know or trust. “A forty cal.”

  I didn’t think he’d buy it. Nope he didn’t go for it.

  “And a .22.”

  “Just one Glock tonight?” Damn they even knew what make of guns I carried. He raised an eyebrow and stared at me for a moment.

  Of course not just one. “Nope.” I returned his stare. “I’d like to keep at least one of my guns filled with my own rounds.”

  “Why?” Willy spoke up. I liked him so much better when he didn’t speak. When he didn’t say anything, he didn’t seem like so much of an idiot.

  “He doesn’t trust us.”

  It was my turn to grin.

  “Mr. Black, I assure you. You can trust us,” Willy spoke, as he turned to look at me.

  “You can assure him all you want to, William.” He paused to light up a cowboy killer. “He won’t trust us until we’ve proven ourselves.”

  I was still just grinning. Hum… maybe I would like this guy. “He’s right you know.” Goodspeed let out a small grin. It was a silent understanding between two vicious assassins.

  Willy’s mind stumbled over a few arguments but came up with nothing. The only thing he could manage was, “You know I hate you smoking in company property, Terry.”

  I debated lighting up myself but decided against it. I didn’t want to be too much of a dick on a job interview. After all, that’s what we were doing, they were checking me out and I was checking them out. Testing the water and all that shit. So I sat there and took in what I could. Maybe this was the change I was looking for. Maybe this was that kick ass hand that comes along and turns around a shitty run. This Brit and this hit man and all the others they worked with might have been my ticket out of the mundane life I’d been stuck in. I needed something. And, the whole situation had me intrigued.

  We drove over an hour out of the city to some hole in the wall town. It was one of those run down towns where no one in their right mind would want to go. Hell, the car we rode in probably was worth more than the property value of the whole damn place. We turned down the main street. At least, I assumed it was the main street, it was the only one without trailer parks on either side. It seemed that the bars were the only places open there. The neon signs flickered on and off. The car slowed down; gravel crunched under the tires as we came to a stop in front of a bar, “Shags”.

  “Classy place y’all picked.” I let out a small chuckle. “You should have told me, I would have brought more ones.” Goodspeed returned a wholehearted laugh. Willy didn’t get it. “Vampires hang out in run down strip clubs?” I continued.

  “Some do,” Goodspeed spoke up, as he checked his guns. “Willy, we’ll call you in a while. You ready, Black?”

  “Yep.” I stepped out of the car, followed by Goodspeed. The music was already loud, eve
n from the street corner.

  Willy slid over the seat to the open door. “I hope this night goes well, Mr. Black. We could use you at The Guild.”

  “We’ll see, Willy.” I adjusted my tie. “Right now I still don’t believe you.” With that, I closed the door and turned around. The bouncer was already staring at us. I let out a long sigh. “Shall we?”

  Goodspeed flicked his cigarette to the ground. “Let’s do this.”

  “Good evening, gentlemen.” The bouncer spoke to us in a deep robust voice. He looked his part, big muscle bound black man, tall even standing next to me. He was dressed in jeans, black boots, and a black t-shirt stretched tight over his well-built physique. He wanted people to know if they stepped out of line, he’d be there to kick their ass. “Are either of you two cops?”

  I for one was not, but didn’t know if I should claim to be. I’d let Goodspeed take care of this one. “No, no. We aren’t cops,” Goodspeed said jumping right in queue, “just looking for a friend.”

  The bouncer looked Goodspeed up and down, and then did the same to me. If he didn’t know we were armed, he was an idiot. “I don’t want any trouble here tonight.”

  “Don’t worry,” Goodspeed said, and put on his most innocent smile, “you won’t get any trouble from us.” He paused for another moment before pushing the door open for us. “Thanks,” Goodspeed said, as he walked past him. I just gave a professional nod and smile.

  The music that was loud outside was deafening inside the club. The music along with the flashing neon lights and the overwhelming stench of cigarette smoke and beer was horrible. Plus the leopard print fabric on everything didn’t help. Between all that and the lights, it made the whole place look like disco fever meets jungle fever. I didn’t want to be in that club anymore. But I signed up for this, so I guess I was stuck there. I thought about asking Goodspeed what we were doing here, but I didn’t think that he would even be able to hear me over the god-forsaken music. I didn’t have to wait long to find out what to do. Terry began to walk in between tables toward a waitress. I didn’t know if I should follow or not. I chose to stop by the bar and get a beer. If we were trying to blend in, then shouldn’t we have drinks? I pretended to watch one of the girls on stage, but truthfully my eyes were scanning the room, even though I didn’t know what I was looking for. Maybe it would be easy and the vampires would be wearing tuxedos and big black capes like Bela Lugosi did in Dracula, wouldn’t that have been nice? I was also keeping an eye on my guide of the evening. Goodspeed spent the next few moments talking with the waitress. Anyone walking by would think he was flirting with her. He was getting information. I wondered to myself whether she was another Guild member or just some kind of an informant. I’d find out soon enough.

  Goodspeed made his way back to me, winding though the chairs and tables. When he got to the bar, he flagged the bartender for a beer. “Girlfriend of yours?”

  He let out a small chuckle. “Don’t I wish? Na, she's too young for me.” She waved at us. He waved back. I just smiled and lifted my beer and toasted the air. I saw what he meant, she definitely was a good looking girl, tall, slender, long legs, pretty face; she looked like she should have been in the movies, not working at some hole in the wall strip club. “No, she’s in the company.” I assumed that meant she was part of The Guild. I nodded, showing my understanding.

  “So.” I pulled out a smoke. “When’s the big show?” I lit the cigarette.

  “Soon.” He followed my lead and lit up. “Soon.”

  We sat there at the bar. Making small talk about shit neither of us cared about, just to give the image that we were buddies just out for a good time, randomly interrupted by strippers asking if we wanted a private dance. In a place like that you never know what a “private dance” really meant. During one of these interruptions, Goodspeed motioned toward the door. Immediately, we stood and pushed past the girls to get to the door. “Fags!” one of the girls cried out after us. I had something to yell back but thought it best not to start any shit with the girls. I remembered how big that bouncer was.

  We didn’t go out the front door but instead made our way out the back. The warm night air felt nice compared to the stuffy smoke filled air of the club.

  Once outside, Goodspeed pulled out two of his pistols. “This is gonna get weird.”

  I pulled out my Glocks. One loaded with my own ammo, the other with Terry’s. We walked about ten feet away from the door. I was wondering what we were out here to shoot, when the door we’d just came out of flew open. Goodspeed and I both had our guns pointed at whatever was coming out of that door. Out stepped the waitress that Goodspeed had talked to, followed by a fat biker. He wasn’t just big, this guy was fat. I’d seen him sitting by one of the stages. I didn’t like the feeling of this guy. I couldn’t explain why but something was off, it was that same feeling I get down inside when I meet people. But with this guy it almost seemed physical; I could feel it inside me. I didn’t care to even look at him. He was dirty and he stank, the only way he could get a girl to touch him was with payment. Good thing he lives in Nevada. He was startled to see the two of us out there already. His eyes darted between our guns and us. “What?” His voice was raspy and rough. “You two her fucking pimps?”

  “Na.” Goodspeed let off a shot taking him in the gut. The biker doubled over in pain.

  Still holding his stomach, his head quickly raised, glaring at Goodspeed. “Silver! You’ve got fucking silver?!” When he spoke, I saw what they wanted me to see, fangs. He began to charge Goodspeed. It was a dumb thing to do. We both lit him up, the four guns blazing. He was fast, amazingly fast. He finally dropped at our feet, good thing too, our guns had clicked empty.

  Once he lay still on the ground, Goodspeed pulled out another magazine, slid it into place, then emptied all the shots into the vampire’s heart. By the time Terry was done, I could see the cement stained red with blood through the hole in his back. “This is where it gets weird,” Goodspeed said, as he stepped back.

  This is where it gets weird? And I thought that the fangs were the weird part. Nearly at once the body started to make a high pitched sizzling sound then ignited into flames. It only took a few seconds for the body to turn to ash and blow away in the wind. Nothing was left, even the blood stains had burned away. Yep, it just got weird.

  I’ve seen some crazy shit in my time, but that was new. Suddenly I believed in vampires. God, it had been an odd day. “Black, this is Carmen,” Goodspeed spoke again. “She’s another hunter.”

  “Though I feel more like bait most of the time,” she laughed, “it’s nice to meet you, Mr. Black.” I was still staring at the spot on the cement where I’d just seen a body completely burn to ash in a matter of seconds, so it took a moment for me to realize that she had her hand out to shake.

  I snapped back to reality. “Nice to meet you as well,” I said taking her offered hand.

  “Well, I’d better get back inside before they start looking for me.” She shook Terry’s hand then patted me on the shoulder. “Nice to meet you, hope to see you again. Terry, I’ll see ya later.” She turned and walked into the club.

  “Well?” Goodspeed asked me.

  “Okay, so there are vampires.” I know when to admit I was wrong. “They aren’t all this easy to kill are they?”

  “Nope.”

  “Didn’t think so.”

  “You want to go get a drink?” he asked, and pulled out his cell phone.

  “Yeah, I think that would be a good idea.”

  A few minutes later William’s car pulled up to the side street. As soon as we climbed in the car, Willy bombarded us with questions. I was just too dumbfounded to answer any of them. So we drove back to town in silence. This time, I did light up a cigarette and got no argument from William.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The drive was long and silent. The whole way, I stared out the window rolling the night over in my head. Did I really see a three hundred pound man ignite? Vampires! Fucking vampires! I h
ad no idea what to make of it all. What was I supposed to do with this new information? It’s not really one of those things you just kind of forget and go about your life as normal, but does that mean that I have to help these people? I didn’t know what to do!

  The car pulled on through a large set of wrought iron gates, on to a very large estate. Teams of well-armed guards patrolled up and down the well-kept lawn, along the high fence. This place made my house look like it belonged in a trailer park.

  “Your place, Willy?” I asked, never taking my eyes off the window.

  “No, Mr. Black, this is the Las Vegas office.”

  I raised my eyebrows and nodded. “Did you still want that drink, Black?”

  “Yeah, that’d be good.”

  “Well then,” William said, opening his door. “Shall we?”

  So we all shuffled out of the car and headed for the door. After waiting for Lord Dumb-Ass to open the most secure house door I’d ever seen, I was ushered past four more armed guards, two on either side of the door. Ear pieces, machine guns, cheap suits, the whole nine yards. They looked like they should have all been in the secret service or something. Past the entry hall we went into the poolroom, though I’m sure it’s called the billiards room with Willy here. It was a beautiful room. Bookshelves stained a deep cherry, lined two of the walls. The far wall was a bar, the wood matched that of the bookshelves and an antique pool table centered within the room. “You play, Black?” Goodspeed spoke, leaning on the table.

  “Every now and then. I’m not very good.”

  He began to rack the table. “Me neither.”

  “And what can I get you to drink, Mr. Black?” William was standing by the bar.

  “Hum?” I said, debating what I wanted while I picked a queue from off the wall, “Rum and coke, please.”