The Shadow Box: Paranormal Suspense and Dark Fantasy Thriller Novels

by Travis Luedke

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  When I was finally ready, I began to go back to the front entryway. At the top of the staircase I paused to look down at Carmen. She too had taken time to change. She wore black leather knee high boots and skirt, just above the knee, and a blood red blouse. Her long black hair was falling in waves, loose around her shoulders. She frowned at me.

  I looked down at my clothes. “What? Overdressed?”

  “No, they locked down the mansion. We’re stuck here. And here is not where I want to be.” She took a long pause. The look in her eyes let me know she was not taking William’s kidnapping very well. She needed away from here to clear her mind, but that wasn’t happening. Then she tried to push away the pain, and grinned at me. “You look nice.” I wonder if that’s why she was flirting with me. Was it an escape, or was she just returning what I was dishing out?

  “Thanks. So do you,” I responded very politely. Truth-be-told she was a knockout. But I didn’t want to be pushy.

  She gave me one of those shoulder shrugs that women love to give when they know the compliment is true but don’t want to admit it. Every woman is a master of that look. “Thank you,”she finally sighed. “If you’d still like, we can have a drink and entertain ourselves here.”

  “That would work for me.”

  She turned and began walking down another long wide hallway. “I’m sorry you had to join us at such a hectic time, Black.”

  “I liked Vinny.”

  “Excuse me?” she asked with a sideways smile, as we walked down the hall. Even with everything going on, she was still smiling.

  “I liked Vinny. Earlier you called me Vinny, I liked that.”

  “Alright, Vinny, sorry about the timing.” She let out a small laugh. “Then again I can’t recall a time that wasn’t a mess around here.”

  “I get that impression.” I was reminded about all the mystery which I was now neck deep in. I wasn’t happy about it. But, it was at least something new.

  “So, you up for that drink?” she asked me, stopping in front of a t-joint of the hallway… hallways?

  “Lead the way.”

  She opened another set of heavy oak doors, which was what all the doors were here. The doors led into an entertainment room. Big screen plasma TV, the whole nine yards, everything someone would ever want or need for a relaxing night at home. “What’ll you have?”

  “What are you pouring?” I asked her.

  “Hum…” she hesitated, deciding what she wanted, “I’m thinking a screwdriver. Yeah, after tonight, I think that will be just lovely.”

  “Eh… vodka.”

  “Not a fan of Russian water?”

  “Not in the slightest. I’ll take a captain and coke, please. If you got it?”

  “I think we can manage that.” She walked over to a bar placed against the back wall of the room. “So we’ve got a pirate in the company now? Captain Vinny? Doesn’t have a very intimidating ring to it, does it?”

  “I guess not.” What was intimidating was the amount of vodka she poured into her own glass and poured and poured. I was sure she wasn’t driving, and I couldn’t blame her for wanting to feel numb, with the shit storm that was running around the place.

  She began laughing again. “So, Captain, do you like old horror movies?”

  “Sometimes. Let me guess, your favorites are vampire movies?” It was my turn to make a joke.

  “Actually, yeah.” She smiled at me from across the bar as she poured the drinks; mine not near as strong as hers.

  “Drinks and cheesy old movies then?”

  She walked back toward me with the drinks and handed me mine. “If that’s okay with you?”

  “If it’s not?” I asked.

  Her face went dead straight. “I’d have to shoot you, Black.” She couldn’t hold back her grin. If she really laughed this much, I’d have to play cards with her. But I was still thinking that she was only trying to distract herself from work.

  After a round of laughter, we sat down on one of the soft brown leather couches. For a few moments we sat on the couch arguing over which black and white vampire movie to watch. Though the arguing did us no good; soon after the movie started Carmen’s cell phone rang. “Carmen,” she answered abruptly. “Yes? Is it William? Just tell me God damn it.” She sounded annoyed by the interruption. She made several “Yeahs” and “Uh, huhs.” Then she seemed to get pissed. “Yes of course I’m still in the mansion. But you know that I’m sure you checked the logs before you even called me.” She paused, sighing deeply through the unheard rebuttal. “The TV room.” Another pause. “He’s here with me.” She clicked the phone closed. I could see the tension building in her neck and shoulders.

  “Problems?” I asked her.

  “Just work.” She set her glass down on the end table and began to stare at the screen again.

  “Have they heard anything about William?”

  “Didn’t say. We’re to go to Edward’s office immediately.” Who the fuck was Edward? I thought to myself. She shook her head. “Fuck. We should go.”

  “Getting sent to the principal’s office on my first day at the new school.” That made her smile again.

  So we got up and left the TV room. We paused the movie of course. As soon as we were in the hallway, Goodspeed came trotting up to us. “Eddie’s looking for us.”

  “Yeah, we know.” Carmen smirked.

  “Called you, didn’t he?” Terry asked her.

  “Yep.” The anger was starting to come back to her voice.

  I decided it was time to get Edward out of the conversation before she did start shooting. “Goodspeed, do you know if there is any word on William?” Someone had to have answers.

  “Don’t know.”

  “You know,” I said, “I love how open this company is.”

  “Ain’t it great?” Carmen’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

  I can understand some secrets. Some are just needed; to protect one's self, to protect others. Some shady dealings have their place. But this place, this place had way too many for my liking. I suspected that I’d have to get used to it or get out.

  The three of us continued to the infamous Edward’s office. This mansion was truly confusing, every hallway we turned down looked just like the one beforehand. Perhaps that was the point. If someone didn’t know their way around, it would be very hard to get in or out of the house. There seemed to be security at every turn. I really did not like the leadership of The Guild, not one bit.

  Soon enough we reached our destination. Terry reached up to knock on the door. Carmen, on the other hand, wasn’t feeling quite so proper. She flung the office door open. By the look on the face of which I assumed was Edward’s, he wasn’t expecting such an entrance.

  “Edward?” Carmen snapped at him.

  “Always nice to see you back here, Miss Piper.” His voice filled with a sickening disgust.

  Piper? Was Carmen William’s kid? I thought to myself. But I didn’t think that it was the best time to ask that question.

  Carmen gave a very lady like response. She gave him the bird. Edward was a wrinkly old man, sitting in a wheel chair behind his desk. His silvery hair was well kept and he was clean-shaven. He was a high class British snob, through and through. Terry spoke up next. “Edward, this is Vincent Black,” he said, pointing at me with a tilt of his head.

  His eyes traveled up and down me, trying to decide if I was fit to be in his elite social club. After a long silence in which he judged everything about me, he spoke to me, “Are you going to be another trouble maker around here, Mr. Black?”

  I was a bit insulted by the accusation that I’d be trouble. I agreed with it but was insulted all the same. “More than likely.”

  He didn’t like that answer. His beady little eyes seemed to shrink even closer into the center of his face. “Mr. Black, you’d do well to remember you are still considered a guest here.”

  I literally had to bite my lip to not tell him what a pompous ass he was and shoo
t him right where he sat. “I called the three of you here to let you know that you will not be taking any tactical operations or trying some suicide rescue mission in an attempt to save William.” I could see the anger building up in both Carmen and Terry. “And until it is deemed safe, the gates will be locked and no one gets in or out of the compound.”

  “What the fuck?! So we are just gonna sit here and wait ‘til you tell us it’s okay to go out and play?” Terry began yelling. “We’re just gonna let him die? Edward, you know we don’t like the way things are run, but this is just ridiculous.”

  I could see that Carmen was too pissed to say a word.

  “Ridiculous or not, Mr. Goodspeed, that is the way it is.”

  “They are going to kill him.” Terry’s yelling changed into the cold lifeless voice of the savage death in him.

  “You and Miss Piper are dismissed, Mr. Goodspeed.” Edward didn’t even have enough respect to look at Terry when he spoke so condescendingly to him. He was instead looking through a file of paper. As the three of us begin to file out of the room he spoke again. “Not you, Mr. Black.” That pissed me off. But nevertheless I stayed as Carmen and Goodspeed left the room.

  “What do you want?” Not that I cared what he wanted.

  “Mr. Black,” he said, and his voice had changed to something that resembled civil, “I apologize for the display of disrespect earlier. Your reputation precedes you. William spoke a long time about taking you on in The Guild. After reviewing your file,” he said, tossing the paper he’d been thumbing through on the desk, “I can see why he pushed so hard for your admittance.”

  Okay, enough with the faltering, I thought to myself. “Stop kissing my ass and tell me what the fuck you want to say to me.” He could be civil, but I wasn’t feeling up to it.

  “Right to the point then.”

  “Yeah, if you don’t mind.”

  “I don’t want you mixed up with the other hunters.” He paused for a moment. “The hunters believe, as you Americans put it, that they run the show around here. Let’s have one thing understood right now. You hunters are our soldiers. You take orders from those who are above you.”

  I didn’t like this guy, not at all. He didn’t just annoy me. He straight pissed me off. “Okay, I understand this vampire against humans is like a holy war to you people. But you need to understand one thing, Eddy baby. I don’t give a flying fuck. You pay me and I kill. That’s what the fuck I do.” He was dumbfounded. Maybe it took most people time to let him know they hated him. Not me! “I’m not a soldier and I’m not your prisoner. If I want to leave, I will. And if anyone tries to stop me, I will fucking shoot them.” For a brief moment I stared at him to let the intimidation sink in a bit. “Including you.” I had nothing more to say, and I think if he tried to speak, he’d have shit himself.

  Since I had nothing more, I left the room. Terry and Carmen were waiting for me in the hallway. Both were grinning ear to ear. “It’s rude to eavesdrop you know,” I said straight-faced.

  “You don’t like authority very much do you?” Goodspeed asked, trying to hold back laughter.

  “Do any of us?” I responded.

  They both began to laugh. “Good point,” Carmen said.

  None of our kind does. We do things our way and we don’t like to be told what, how and when.

  I turned to Carmen. “Are you William’s daughter?” I asked her.

  She just nodded yes.

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “Don’t be.” She crossed her arms in front of herself. She took a deep breath. “He knows the life we live.”

  “We’ll get him back.” Terry reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. “I don’t care what those fucks upstairs say.”

  I nodded in agreement. “I’m in. Your pop annoys me, but I like him and I’m more than willing to help out.”

  She smiled at me, but her eyes were filled with tears. “Thanks. Both of you.”

  “I can’t believe that they would just sit back and let him go!” I was pissed.

  “They’d rather use his death to make him a martyr than try and save him,” Carmen said, choking down the tears that wanted to break free of her toughness.

  I’ve never been a team player, and I didn’t know how I would fit in here. Terry and Carmen, I could work with them. But I didn’t know about the others. The three of us finished the night together, drinking, talking, having a good time, things I hadn’t done in I don’t know how long. About the time the sun began illuminating the sky, we went our separate ways to sleep away the first few hours of daylight. It would soon be another day, and I would have the opportunity to piss more people off.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  The next day I was awoken around noon by the phone. Groggily, I lifted the old style receiver. “Hello?” I said in a very tired voice.

  “Black.” It was Terry. “Did I wake you?”

  “No.”

  “Liar,” he chuckled. “Get your ass outta bed. We’re going into town.”

  “But—” I tried to ask him something, but he’d already hung up. I thought that the compound was under lockdown. The king size bed was just too damn comfortable and I didn’t want to get out of it. I lay there for several more minutes not wanting to get up. Then there came a loud knock on my door. Persistent bastards aren’t they? “What?” I tried to yell, but was just too sleepy to get any volume.

  “Vinny,” Carmen said making her apperance. “Vinny?”

  “Huh?”

  “Are you up yet?”

  “No.”

  She didn’t like that answer. Next thing I knew she was opening the door and coming inside my room. “And why not?”

  I ignored the question. The look on my face should have been enough of an answer. “You know,” I said sitting up in the bed, “it’s a good thing that I don’t sleep naked anymore.”

  “Damn,” she said, “and that’s what I was hoping for.” She gave a small laugh. Then went for my bags.

  “You just gonna go through my shit?” I asked her. For some reason it didn’t bother me. I was kind of getting used to not having to hide who and what I was from people.

  “Yep.” She turned to look at me and raised an eyebrow. “You gonna shoot me?”

  I laughed. “Thinking about it.”

  “Gun under the pillow?” She asked. I slid my hand under the pillow and drew out the gun that was there, gently resting it in my lap.

  “You do the same, huh?” Of course she did.

  She nodded. “Yep. Well I have a holster on the head board.”

  “I got the one at home.”

  She found some clothes for me after digging for a moment, tossing me a black tee shirt and a pair of blue jeans. “Here.”

  I stared at her for a moment. “You just gonna sit there while I get dressed?”

  “No.” She stood up from kneeling, walked across the room and sat on one of the chairs facing away from the bed and me. “I’m going to sit here while you get dressed.” I was expecting one of her smiles but she stayed straight-faced, at least for a moment, then the smile finally slipped through.

  Okay, if she didn’t have a problem with it, I guess I didn’t either. I stood up and slipped on the jeans. “Is it okay if I use the bathroom, or do you want to come there too?” I meant it as a joke.

  “That’s okay,” she said, and gave me an odd look.

  “I was only kidding.”

  “I know.” Good I didn’t want her thinking I was some freak.

  “Good,” I said, walking into the bathroom. A few moments later I walked out fresh and almost ready to go. “How’d you sleep?”

  “Good,” she lied, “you?”

  “Wonderfully.” I sat down next to her to put my socks on. Thank God I’d just clipped my toenails the day before. That would have been embarrassing. “Well I was sleeping wonderfully ‘til someone had to wake me up.” I playfully smacked her shin with one of the socks.

  “Really? That was rude of someone,” she said. “You want me t
o yell at Terry for you?” I guess it was him that did the waking.

  “How are you holding up?” I asked. I was still very concerned about how she was taking it all.

  She just shrugged her shoulders. “I’m breathing.”

  “Why do you call him William?”

  “Here,” she waved over her head implying The Guild, “he’s William. Everywhere else he’s just plain Dad.” She sighed heavy. I thought that I should give her a hug or something. But I didn’t know how appropriate that would be. So instead I tried getting her mind off her dad.

  “I thought they didn’t want us leaving the compound?” I was wondering what had changed.

  “Well thanks to your little display last night. Edward gave day passes. We can leave the compound during daylight.” She sighed. “So, Terry and I are going into the city. We figured we’d bring the new kid in class with us.”

  Wow, that was something that was new to me. Someone wanting to spend time with me, weird. For a very long time the only people that contacted me was for something work related. Mostly people that call me want me to kill someone; they don’t want me for company. I guess I was making friends. Odd. “Why, thank you.”

  She winked. “No problem. Now let’s go. I want to spend as much time as I can away from here today.”

  “Alright, let’s go.” We stood up, I collected my last few things, wallet, watch, guns. Then we left the room to meet Terry.

  Terry was already outside standing in front of a silver Mercedes sedan smoking. “What the fuck took ya’ll so long?” he tossed the cigarette butt on the ground. Carmen flipped him off as we walked up to the car. “Always such a lady.”

  “Don’t you know it?” She said, blowing him a kiss.

  “Morning, Black.”

  “Goodspeed.” A patrol of guards were walking by whispering something to each other and staring at me. “What’s all that about?” I asked Terry.

  “Seems that you are already a legend around here. You know the way you took on two century old vamps with just handguns and a knife. I even heard you weren’t using silver shot.” Terry answered me. And I didn’t know how to respond to it.