Shadows of the Past: A Supernatural Suspense Mystery (Shadow Slayers Stories Book 1)

by Nellie H. Steele

  Also by Nellie H. Steele

  Shadow Slayers Stories

  Stolen Portrait Stolen Soul

  Cate Kensie Mysteries

  The Secret of Dunhaven Castle

  Murder at Dunhaven Castle

  Holiday Heist at Dunhaven Castle

  Maggie Edwards Adventures

  Cleopatra’s Tomb

  Shadows of the Past

  A Shadow Slayers Story

  Nellie H. Steele

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2020 by Nellie H. Steele

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover design by Stephanie A. Sovak.

  Created with Vellum

  For my parents, Paul and Stephanie

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Epilogue

  A Note from the Author

  Stolen Portrait Stolen Soul Synopsis

  Stolen Portrait Stolen Soul Excerpt

  Acknowledgments

  A HUGE thank you to everyone who helped get this book published! Special shout outs to: Stephanie Sovak, Paul Sovak, Michelle Cheplic, Mark D’Angelo and Lori D’Angelo.

  Thanks to Kaddour Boukaabar who graciously agreed to review my French phrases and provide feedback and corrections. Thank you for making sure my French was correct and sounds like a native speaker!

  Finally, a HUGE thank you to you, the reader!

  Chapter 1

  Josie bolted upright from her sleep, drenched in sweat. She gasped for breath, her heart pounding. Glancing around, she recognized her surroundings. Her breath began to slow; she swallowed hard. She was at home. She had fallen asleep sitting on the couch next to her cousin, best friend and roommate. After hours of tossing and turning in her own bed, she snuck into Damien’s room to see if he was awake. Dragging him from his slumber to the living room, they lounged on the couch, talking for a few hours about anything and everything on her mind before she dozed off somewhere between solving world hunger and expressing her craving for ice cream.

  She glanced over her right shoulder. Damien was asleep on his side, facing her, left side leaning against the back of the couch, his head buried in his chest. He would likely have a stiff neck, Josie thought. He stirred a bit, groggily asking her if she was okay, still half asleep.

  “Yes, I’m fine,” she answered, standing.

  He pushed himself up, becoming more awake. “Did you have a bad dream?” He must have noticed the sweat on her brow and her elevated breathing earlier.

  “Yeah, I’m fine though, go back to sleep. I’ll tell you in the morning.”

  Damien took a deep breath, too tired to argue, and lay back on the couch. Apparently, he had no desire to go to his own room. He was asleep before she left the room. Josie returned to her own bed, feeling the cold sheets press against her as she lay down. It gave her a chill since she was still soaked with sweat.

  She laid awake, still a little riled from the bad dream. It was a recurring dream that she had several times before. In the dream, she was running through a dark cave or cavern; the walls felt cool and damp to the touch; she was out of breath, terrified, being chased by something or someone. She clutched a book in her hands; she looked back over her shoulder, hearing something behind her then pushed her tired body to run forward away from the noise. She awoke before she ever reached the end of the cave. Each time it was the same, each time she woke up in a cold sweat, and each time she had trouble sleeping afterwards. She did not understand the meaning of the dream but it was so vivid that it felt as though she were living it.

  Her friends, including her cousin, Damien, told her it must be a reaction to some stress in her life, perhaps with work or family and that she should try to relax, maybe get a massage or do some yoga. Nothing made it easier when the dream reoccurred; it was so intense that it would terrify her all over again. Even after waking up and realizing that she was in her own bed and her own home, the unsettled feeling that she had during the dream remained and she always had trouble going back to sleep afterwards.

  As usual, Josie laid in bed pondering everything about the dream and learning nothing. The next thing she knew, her alarm was screaming at her. Groggily, she pushed herself up to sitting, looking at the clock. It was 4 a.m., her normal wake-up call. Most people wouldn’t even consider getting up at this absurd hour but Josie did it daily. An avid jogger, Josie liked to pound the pavement before most other people started their day.

  She considered hitting the snooze button but decided she’d feel worse if she didn’t get up now. Sleepily, she made her way to the kitchen to make her normal breakfast of oatmeal. She put on a pot of coffee. Even though she didn’t drink coffee, she prepared the pot for Damien whenever he crawled out of bed. She noted on her way to the kitchen that he must have dragged himself back to bed during the night since the couch had been empty this morning. She also set a bowl of oatmeal in the fridge for him to eat when he got up.

  With her morning chores completed, she headed back to her bedroom and changed into her jogging clothes. She finger-combed her blonde hair back into a ponytail with the loose curls touching the nape of her neck after being pulled up. Grabbing her water bottle, she headed out the door for her run. Her head was still a mess after the sleepless night and the nightmare, she hoped the jog on the quiet road would help clear it.

  Josie loved living on a country road. At most times of the day, the road was deserted, especially this early in the morning. They lived on the outskirts of a small town. The location offered them the privacy and rural feel they had grown up with coupled with a commute of less than an hour to the city. Josie owned her own cybersecurity business and often worked from home, but she made enough trips to the city to prefer a shorter commute. Damien’s computer programming position offered flexibility to work from home also, but he often traveled to his office for coworker and client meetings.

  Before Damien was even awake, she finished her run and returned to the house. She was already changed and putting water on for a cup of tea when he staggered into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes and yawning. He headed straight for the coffee without a word.

  “Good morning to you, too,” she said jokingly.

  He took a sip of coffee. “Ugh, I don’t
know how you do it. I’m exhausted.”

  “You should have come with me for a jog, it wakes you up,” she answered.

  “I’d rather shoot myself in the foot,” he retorted. Damien did not care for anything athletic, choosing to get most of his physical activity from furious typing or video game playing. “I’m glad it’s Sunday and I don’t have to go to work.”

  “Me too!”

  “Hey, you never have to ‘go to work,’” he countered, “you work from home.”

  “I guess technically, I’m always at work then.”

  “Haha, hilarious, Josie.”

  “You have plans today?” Josie asked while pouring steaming water into her mug.

  He glanced at her. “What do you think?”

  Damien, ever the introvert, preferred his own company to most other people’s, except for Josie. They grew up together, living next door to each other for the first five years of their lives. When Damien was five years old, his parents passed away in a car accident, and Josie’s mother had insisted that she care for her sister’s only child, taking Damien in as one of her own. Growing up together, they had been inseparable and were far more like siblings than cousins. While Josie’s personality was like his in many ways, Josie was more self-assured, comfortable being alone or with others. She dragged Damien to countless social events throughout the years despite his constant protests. “It’s good for you to get out, D,” she always told him, and he always listened much to his chagrin on most occasions.

  “I think we should go see that new comedy, we could both use a break.”

  “Or we could find something on Netflix?”

  Josie rolled her blue eyes. “Come on, D, the popcorn is way better at the theater!”

  “I don’t know…”

  “Come on, D!!! I need a break, you said it yourself, and no one wants to go to the movies themselves! Come on!”

  “For you being the more independent one of us, Josephine Benson, you’re co-dependent.”

  “Is that a yes?”

  “Yes.” He rolled his eyes. “It’s a yes. Pick an early show so no one else is there,” he called as she disappeared from the kitchen to look up movie times.

  Returning with her laptop, she said, “I don’t care how early we go. I’m still eating popcorn.” Opening her laptop, she searched for show times at their closest theater. “Oh, here’s a good time, starts at one fifteen, we’d be out around three. We could have an early dinner out, hole up for the night and play video games. I promise I’ll let you pick the game this time.”

  Eating his oatmeal, he nodded in agreement. “That’s good,” he said, once his mouth was no longer full.

  “Awesome, I’m getting tickets now. There’s only like four other people in the theater, so this totally meets your ‘no people’ quota.” He stuck his tongue out at her as a response. “Just sayin’!”

  “And done! So, where do you want to eat?”

  “Might as well go to the Mexican place next door. It’s easy.”

  “Sounds good to me! Okay, I’ve got some work to do before we head out. Leave around twelve thirty?”

  “Yeah, that’s good.”

  Josie closed her laptop and, hugging it to her chest, disappeared from the room.

  A dark-haired man studied the outside of the medium-sized Craftsman style home set in the middle of a wooded lot. It was off a country road; it took some work to find it. “Just like her to pick somewhere like this,” he thought as he stared up at the light blue exterior trimmed with dark wood. He shrugged his trench coat around him tighter though he didn’t really need it; it was warmer here than where he was from. He looked at the box in his hands. It was the first step. He waited until she left the house with a man who also lived there. She looked the same as he remembered: flowing golden blonde curls, bright, sparkling blue eyes, delicate facial features with high cheekbones, and a smile that could light up a room even on the darkest of days. She had been smiling a lot, so very unlike the last time he had seen her. She seemed happy, but he could not avoid this moment. He approached the porch and set down the box outside of the door. She would find it there when she got home, and she would remember, she had to remember. They were doomed if she did not remember.

  Chapter 2

  “I thought the movie was good, what about you?” Josie asked after they were settled in a booth at the neighboring Mexican restaurant.

  “Yeah, it was okay, it was funny, I guess.” Damien answered, shrugging his shoulders in his usual manner.

  “I thought it was funny, too. It was one of the better comedies I’ve seen in a while.”

  Damien yawned widely. “Am I boring you?” Josie said, grinning teasingly.

  “No, you’re keeping me up all hours of the night is what you’re doing.”

  Josie made a face. “Sorry, I just can’t sleep, you know how I am.”

  “Yes, I do, but unlike you, I never get used to the lack of sleep. Did you say you had another one of those nightmares last night when you finally fell asleep?”

  “Ugh, yes. Same nightmare, which meant that I couldn’t sleep again after that. I’m annoyed with this dream to be honest.”

  “How many times is that this month?”

  “That I’ve had that dream? Probably six, seven times?”

  “It’s only mid-month, so that’s like every other night. What’s got you so stressed out, Jos?”

  “No idea! I can’t come up with anything. Work’s fine, I’m fine, there’s no major project deadlines looming, nothing stressful in my personal life, no major decisions hanging over my head.”

  “Possibly the break-up with Michael?”

  “Please.” Josie rolled her eyes. “That was months ago, and I was having the dream before we broke up.”

  “But not as much. Plus, it was only like two months ago.”

  “I don’t think that’s it, D, the nightmare would have started after we broke up.”

  “You didn’t seem to have a good reason. ‘Not feeling it’ doesn’t seem like a good reason, anyway. Maybe it started before because you were planning on breaking up with him?” He phrased his suspicion like a question.

  Josie rolled her eyes. “Will you let that go? First, that’s a perfectly good reason. Something was just… off. Besides, that’s not the problem. How is a dream about running through a cave holding a book related to breaking up with someone?”

  “I have no idea? Trapped feelings? A chapter in your life? How would I know? I’m just saying.”

  “Is that your professional opinion, doctor? Okay, so then answer this: why is the nightmare worse now that we broke up?”

  “Because you didn’t have a reason? And he wants to get back together with you, that could be stressing you out? Perhaps you want to get back together with him? You may have some unresolved feelings?”

  Rolling her eyes again she asked, “Can we drop this? As much as I’d like to figure out why I’m waking up in a cold sweat from the same recurring dream, I don’t want to dwell on breaking up with Michael again and to be honest, I’m tired of talking about this dream, too. Let’s just talk about something else.” She waved her hands as though to dismiss the topic by shooing it away.

  Damien shrugged his shoulders again. “Yeah, ok, fine, so what do you want to talk about?” he said, giving in to her like he usually did. They spent the rest of their meal talking about movies, work, friends, family, and whatever else that allowed them to avoid the subject.

  When they arrived home, Josie found a small box on the porch. “Were you expecting a delivery?” she asked, retrieving the box.

  “Nope, I’m not the Internet shopping queen, so my best guess is that’s yours. Look, that’s your name on the box!”

  “I didn’t order anything.”

  He raised an eyebrow at her. “I didn’t ever expect to hear those words come out of your mouth.”

  “Very funny, D, very funny.”

  “Well, let’s go inside, open it and find out what it is.”

  “I
’m not sure I want to find out.”

  “Oh, come on.” He pushed the door open and motioned for her to enter before him. “You probably ordered a dress, or a scarf, or a shirt or some article of clothing that you forgot about.”

  “I remember that stuff.”

  “You don’t! You have so many clothes you don’t even realize what you’ve got or what you’ve bought. Here give the box to me. I’ll open it.”

  Josie handed him the package, and he sliced open the tape across the top of the box. Josie peered in as though she expected a rodent to come leaping out. “What’s inside, can you see?”

  “Some packing paper, so far,” he said, carefully pulling the wrapping apart. “I see a shiny, metal-looking thing.” He kept moving the paper around until the object revealed itself.

  Josie peered in at the object. “What in the heck is that? I didn’t order that.”

  Damien reached into the box and pulled the item out. “Looks like some kind of box? Jewelry box?” They both looked at the small gold box he held in his hands. Red, green and blue jewels embellished the top. “Man, this is heavy. This must have cost a fortune, Jos.”

  “I didn’t buy it!” she insisted.

  “Yeah right. You probably bought this thing on the home shopping network during one of your sleepless nights.”