The Shadow Box: Paranormal Suspense and Dark Fantasy Thriller Novels

by Travis Luedke

  “Enough!” Amun barked. We both quickly dropped our mental attacks. “Alexander." As Amun rose from his chair gently gliding toward the vampire, the power around Amun grew. Had he been holding back? I thought to myself. His eyes stuck fast to his target. “You were told that they were not to be harmed nor toyed with. You knew they were to be shown the respect that you would show a visiting master.” I could see that Alex wanted to protest he hadn’t harmed me, but he hadn’t respected me. But, deeper still, I could see the fear of his master in his eyes. “Now leave us." He didn’t hesitate or argue. He turned and went out the door.

  Amun followed Alex to the door gently shutting it. With a click the latch found its home and we were again alone in the room, but only for a brief second before the second vampire entered through the stairway. “Tarja, I’d like to present Miss Carmen Piper and Mr. Vincent Black. Miss Piper, Mr. Black, allow me to present Tarja, my second in command. ” I was already watching the stairs, Carmen turned to follow suit. She made absolutely no noise as she wound her way down the sharp spiral staircase. I could see that she wore a long crimson velvet jacket that would’ve reached her ankles had she been on flat ground. The jacket was lined high around the neck and edged with deep black fur, which matched her long curling hair. It was difficult to define where her hair stopped and the lining started.

  As she rounded the stairs, her face came into the soft light. The hair and lining framed her pale skin. She had strong features, high cheekbones an angled jaw line but not masculine, on the contrary she was quite beautiful. She had startling green eyes, like none I’d ever seen before or since. She tried to not look directly at me or Carmen with those eyes. She was being careful, not wanting to offend Amun or to frighten us. But when I caught her gaze, a small smile crept to the corner of her mouth and she gave the slightest nod. I recognized her from photos and comments in Amun’s target file. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she stood for a moment in silence observing us, she did not try to access our minds or read our thoughts. She simply observed. When she seemed satisfied with what she saw, she walked across the room, her long red jacket gracefully dancing behind her as she made her way towards a chair.

  “I must apologize.” It was Amun who spoke, as he made his way back to the table “Alexander, head of the guards, likes to show off and cause fear in humans.” This seemed to amuse Tarja as she smiled widely showing off her fangs at the comment. “But he is a trustworthy and loyal servant. He has fought alongside me for centuries, as Tarja has.”

  She still had not said a word since entering the room. She seemed to still be trying to take us in, figure us out without invading our minds. She sat across from us looking as innocent and harmless as a porcelain China doll, but underneath those pools of jade was a cunning, dangerous, deadly powerful vampire. She was one vampire which I would want to fuck with even less than the large brute of a man who had just tried to invade my mind. She sat with her chin resting daintily on one of her elegant hands, her eyes slowly passing from Carmen to me and back.

  “So where does this leave us?” Carmen asked impatiently.

  “Leave us?” a soft voice spoke out. Realizing it was from Tarja, I noticed how the voice matched the woman, soft and delicate, but not weak. Her voice held an accent that I could not place. “I didn’t realize there was an ‘us’, yet.” A look of confusion crossed Carmen’s face only for the briefest of moments before she concealed it. “I'm sorry, sweetheart. I do not rise as early as my master,” she said, referring to Amun. “I'm not aware of all the happenings in the daylight hours. I meant no disrespect.” She said it cold, but sincere. She did not mean to insult Carmen. Perhaps remind Carmen of both of their places, but not to insult. Carmen, with a slight nod of her head, gave Tarja a polite professional smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. I didn’t think that two of them were gonna like each other much. Perhaps there was too much strength and not enough understanding between them. But, hell I’ve been wrong before.

  “I believe that our guests can see the mutual benefit of our alliance,” Amun spoke to Tarja, not disrespectfully but unkindly. It seemed to me that the vampires were masters of insulting without doing so directly. Tarja’s eyes closed and she turned her head exposing the vein on her neck. It was a sign of respect and of obedience. She knew she had come dangerously close to overstepping her bounds. After an uncertain moment, Amun kissed the offered neck of Tarja. It wasn’t a sexual kiss, just a light touch, more of an ‘I could bite you if I chose’ kind of motion.

  His attention turned to Carmen. “I don’t know where that leaves us, Miss Piper. I believe that rests on you and Mr. Black. I don’t expect any answers right now. I understand that this situation is as new for you as it is for us. However, time is not on our side.” He sat with his fingers intertwined and resting on the table in front of him, deep in thought. “There’s much to be planned and many preparations to be made if we are to help one another. Mr. Black,” he said, and turned to look at me, “your talents are amazing but rough. They must be mastered in the short time that we have. I believe you will be one of the greatest weapons in this fight.” He paused for another moment to think. Thinking before you speak, a talent I know I don’t have. “Forgive my assumption. You haven’t been around my kind much have you?”

  I believed I knew what he was getting at. “No I haven’t.” When I said it, he didn’t look at all surprised. “Only in the past few weeks have I known anything outside of the normal world, if you can call the world normal.” I feared giving too much away, but if we were to work together and fight alongside each other, he would have to know my strengths and weaknesses. Perhaps in educating him, he could educate me. I had a million questions burning in my brain.

  He must have felt my questions. “I don’t have any definite answers for you, only ideas and theories. Your powers resemble ours. I hope that will aid us in our search for answers. Tell me what you know, please.” I divulged all the abilities I could think of from my intuition and foresight to being able to accurately shoot without aiming, even the way I could draw a weapon before any danger presented itself. He sat intently listening to me, never interrupting or seeming uninterested in any point I had made, as did Carmen and Tarja. Though she was interested in what I had to say, Tarja had an annoyed look on her face. I broke off my dictation and looked at her, trying to figure out what I had done or said that gave her the look of annoyance.

  “Please continue, Mr. Black,” she said.

  “In due time, may I ask you something before I continue?”

  For the briefest of seconds she looked surprised, but quickly hid it. “Of course.”

  “What have I said to upset you?”

  “What do you mean?” She knew just what I meant, but didn’t want to say.

  I knew that she didn’t want to risk the wrath of Amun by speaking ill to us again. But I wanted to know what was on her mind. Amun stared at her, also wanting to know what she had to say. “You look a bit annoyed. I’d like to know why?” She didn’t answer me right away.

  She was trying to think of how to say what she was thinking without offending me. “It is not my place.”

  “Tarja, it takes a lot to upset me. Please, you are Amun’s second in command and he trusts you, I’d like to know your opinion as well.” See, I can be tactful and diplomatic too.

  Again she took a moment, not to collect thoughts but to gain Amun’s permission. After he gave an approving nod, she began to speak, “I see you as a fledgling with the powers of a young master. Not a situation to be taken lightly.” I understood where the concern came from but not the annoyance. “Even before I entered this room I could feel your power. To say the least it excited me. Amun had told me about you, how you held his gaze without as much as a hint of fear, he couldn’t seize your mind. I was, as he is, curious to learn more. When you caught and held my eyes, I knew what he was talking about. And now after hearing your admittance to ignorance, I fear your gifts, as wonderful as they may be, will be of little help in the t
ime we have been given.” She waited for me to give some type of response. At that moment I had none. “I only fear for our people.” I could understand why Amun chose her as his second. She was intelligent, and she cared for those under her. She had many of the same qualities that Amun had shown. I wasn’t mad or upset by her thoughts. She spoke truthfully and had valid points. I couldn’t fault her for that. Too bad I liked to fault people, damn.

  Amun spoke before I had a chance to respond. “We share your concern, which is why we are discussing the subject. I do not see why you are stating the obvious.”

  I thought the best course of action was to be diplomatic. “I asked.” Apparently no one was expecting me to defend her from Amun. I received startled looks from everyone at the table. “I asked for her opinion and she gave it honestly. I could ask for no more. If this is to work, our alliance,” I said waving my hand to indicate everyone sitting at the table, “we must be honest with one another.” Carmen and Amun’s startled looks faded but Tarja’s did not. She still stared at me, baffled.

  “You are right, Mr. Black,” Amun said, regaining his composer. “Our customs do not allow for such blunt remarks.” I still didn’t agree that her comment was blunt, I had asked after all. But I didn’t think I’d press the matter. “I believe there is going to be a bit of a learning curve for all of us. The night runs late. We should continue this conversation, and continue it soon. For now though we should continue our search for information. Please, if you are able, return tomorrow. I understand that Mr. Goodspeed is no longer in England?”

  “No,” Carmen said. “He’s been placed on assignment. I don’t know when he will return.”

  “A shame. We could use him. No matter, I do pray that he joins us in our struggle upon his return.” Amun had mentioned praying a few times, I wondered who he prayed to.

  “I’ll speak with him when he returns.” She suddenly stopped, something clicked in her mind. “If we are around when he gets back.” We all knew what she meant. There was no need to ask. We were entering a dangerous and uncertain situation and none of us had any delusions that we’d all come out of this alive. But William was missing and we needed Amun’s help to get him back, just as they needed our help with the Council. So here we were vampires and humans, locked to one another. Looking around the room I could see that everyone else felt the same. I think I was taking it better than the rest. I hadn’t been part of this world for more than a few weeks. They had all fought each other for years. I was new enough that I just didn’t care.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Back at the compound we didn’t receive any trouble from Edward. I was thankful for that. I wasn’t exactly in a bad mood, but I was on edge enough. I probably would have shot him on sight. I just had too much on my mind for people like him. I hadn’t killed anything in weeks and it was starting to get to me. It was easy to tell that Carmen had a lot on her mind as well. The car ride was just as silent as the vampires in their daytime comas. The only time we spoke was stopping for fast food. It wasn’t uncomfortable, we both appreciated the silence. With a quick ‘goodnight’ we went our separate ways, each with our head full of questions and our hands full of fast food bags.

  In my room, I ate, distracted from my food by the thoughts in my head. The number of possibilities to each situation was endless. Where did I gain the abilities? Was Tarja right, was I going to be a hindrance because of my ignorance? There was really no other way to describe it. I was ignorant. Fuck, I hated that! God dammit! I hated being a weak link. Just fucking hated it. What pissed me off more is that I wasn’t only ignorant to my own ‘gifts’ as Tarja had put it, but I also had no clue who could have or would have betrayed The Guild.

  We needed more help than we had available. Carmen might be able to help guide us with the mole, but I feared her mind wasn’t all there. She was too distracted by her father’s absence. We were fucked.

  After I managed to get all my food down, I tried to sleep, but I knew it wouldn’t come. I lay there in that large bed, and just as I thought, no sleep came to me. I tossed and turned trying to find a comfortable position but there was none to find. I was too distracted to relax. I had to do something. Reluctantly I got out of bed and found my way to the library. After my time spent here, I no longer became lost. I’m sure I didn’t know where everything was, it would take a very long time to know every in and out of this labyrinth of a building. I didn’t know what I’d find there, or even what I was looking for amidst those books. And so I wandered along the tall elegant bookcases waiting for something to jump out at me. Waiting, waiting, waiting, fuck I hated waiting.

  Just as I was becoming frustrated, something, or I should say someone, did take my attention. I felt her sitting in the reading room before I ever saw her. Rounding the corner there was Carmen, curled up in a large recliner reading. I leaned against the door frame watching her. She seemed so deep into her book I didn’t want to disturb her. Her hair was pulled into a rough ponytail and she wore dark rimmed reading glasses. Slowly she turned the pages of the book clutched in her lap as she snuggled in a flannel night robe. It was cute to say the least, but it wasn’t her. Too dainty. Then I noticed her pistol resting on the arm of the chair. Yep, that was more Carmen. I could just see her walking from down the halls, messy hair, big robe, with a book in one hand and a gun in the other. I must have let out a small laugh at the thought of it. I startled her. The pistol that was resting so peaceful next to her a moment ago was now clutched in her hands aimed at me.

  “For Christ sake, Vin, you scared the shit out of me.” She sighed, setting the gun in her lap and the book on the table next to her. “Can’t sleep?”

  “Nope,” I said, pushing myself off the wall. “you?”

  She shook her head adjusting her glasses. “There is just too much to think about. I mean,” she let out a huff, “what the fuck are we supposed to do?” She was asking me? Hell, I was aimlessly walking around the library in the middle of the night. “The company situation, uncertainties.” She spoke very generally, never too specific, I figured the place was monitored for sound. “So many questions with no answers.”

  I slumped into the chair next to her. “I don’t know, doll.” Running both hands through my hair. “I was hoping I could find some type of reading that would shed some light on our current situation.” I looked over at the book she had been so engulfed in. It was bound in leather and old, and from where I was sitting I couldn’t see the title. “What are you reading?”

  She picked the book off the table. “You mean what had me so distracted I didn’t know you were watching me?” I nodded. She was running her hand over the worn leather cover. “Poe. You a fan?”

  Honestly, I didn’t read for pleasure much. As she had just proven, it can be too distracting. I like to be focused. “Unless it’s a file on a mark, I don’t read too much.”

  She looked puzzled. “Really? Don’t take this wrong, but you seem more intelligent than that.”

  “Thanks, I think.”

  “It’s an escape.” She was looking into my eyes as she spoke. “Believe me, people like us need an escape.”

  “I don’t like to lose my focus.” Though, the way she was looking at me it was hard to keep it. “I feel if I relax too much, I’m betraying my responsibilities.”

  She nodded breaking the eye contact. “I can understand that. But think about this. If you spend all your energy on worrying about things, how can you ever solve anything? If you allow time for you, even just for a bit, you’ll come back to your troubles with a clearer head. Then perhaps see something that you couldn’t behind the cloud of stress.” She had a point. She was smart, strong, very impressive.

  “I still think it’s too distracting. I did sneak up on you without meaning to.”

  “Hum… yes you did. But I know I’m safe here. There are so many guards it seems more like a prison at times. It’s okay to let someone else watch your back every now and then.” Her eyes danced to her gun. “And that, that is more of a safety blanket.
”

  I let out an uncontrolled laugh. She looked like she wanted an explanation. I hated to bring up William but I couldn’t see any way around it and still explain the laughter. “The morning your father came to my house, he asked why I needed the gun during our meeting. I told him it was a safety blanket.” And though she smiled there was sadness in her eyes.

  Her gaze had returned back to the book in her hands. “So you’ve never read any Poe?” I’d let her change the subject. I’m sure she needed it.

  “Years ago. I wasn’t always so…” I had to search for the right word, “uptight.”

  There must have been something in my voice. She looked over at me with sadness in her eyes. “I believe there is a story behind that remark. Someday I’d like to hear it.”

  I grinned, that stupid grin that she had the talent of bringing out of me. “Someday.”

  “Someday,” she said, as she opened the book.

  As she flipped pages, I spoke. “I’ll leave you to your book.” Then I began to stand.

  Suddenly she grabbed my arm. “Sit.” I hesitated. “Sit or I’ll put one in your knee cap.” Then she smiled at me so sweetly, seeming a bit evil after that comment. But I did what she asked. “We’re going to teach you to relax and enjoy the things in life you so long ago forgot about.” Then she began to read aloud. ‘A Cask of Amontillado’, I’d remembered the story from high school, I did enjoy it all those years ago, but not as much as I did then. As she read I tried to think back upon my life. This was the first time anyone had ever read aloud to me. My mother may have but I was too young to remember. It was endearing, what Carmen was doing. Her voice was unbelievably comforting, even reading such a grim tale as a man getting buried alive. The words drifted effortlessly from her. I think that she had the whole story memorized. As she read I couldn’t help but smile. It was a smile that she returned, her eyes dancing back and forth between me and the pages. The story ended too quickly, I had enjoyed it and relaxed because of it. Dammit, she was right. She dropped the book into my lap. I let out a small grunt, too relaxed, and the book was heavier then it looked. “Your turn.”