MOON SHADOW

  by

  J.R. RAIN

  Vampire for Hire®

  Book #11

  Other Books by J.R. Rain

  STANDALONE NOVELS

  The Pale Cold Light

  All the Way Back Home

  Winter Wind

  Silent Echo

  The Body Departed

  The Grail Quest

  Elvis Has Not Left the Building

  The Lost Ark

  Broken Ice (with Matthew S. Cox)

  The Spear (with Randy Keys)

  Ice Wolf (with H.P. Mallory)

  The Journey (with Piers Anthony)

  The Worm Returns (with Piers Anthony)

  Lavabull (with Piers Anthony)

  Jack and the Giants (with Piers Anthony)

  Dolfin Tayle (with Piers Anthony)

  Dragon Assassin (with Piers Anthony)

  Lost Eden (with Elizabeth Basque)

  Judas Silver (with Elizabeth Basque)

  The Vampire Club (with Scott Nicholson)

  Cursed (with Scott Nicholson)

  Ghost College (with Scott Nicholson)

  The Black Fang Betrayal (with multiple authors)

  VAMPIRE FOR HIRE®

  Moon Dance

  Vampire Moon

  American Vampire

  Moon Child

  Christmas Moon (novella)

  Vampire Dawn

  Vampire Games

  Moon Island

  Moon River

  Vampire Sun

  Moon Dragon

  Moon Shadow

  Vampire Fire

  Midnight Moon

  Moon Angel

  Vampire Sire

  Moon Master

  Dead Moon

  Lost Moon

  Vampire Destiny

  Infinite Moon

  Vampire Empress

  Moon Elder

  Wicked Moon

  Winter Moon

  Moon Blade

  Sasquatch Moon

  Wild Moon

  Moon Magic

  Moon World

  Vampire Deep

  Moon Matador

  Sun Dance

  SAMANTHA MOON CASE FILES

  Moon Bayou (with Rod Kierkegaard)

  Blood Moon (with Matthew S. Cox)

  Parallel Moon (with Kris Carey)

  SAMANTHA MOON ORIGINS

  with Matthew S. Cox

  New Moon Rising

  Moon Mourning

  Haunted Moon

  SAMANTHA MOON ADVENTURES

  with Matthew S. Cox

  Banshee Moon

  Moon Monster

  Moon Ripper

  Witch Moon

  Moon Goddess

  Moon Blaze

  Golem Moon

  Moon Maidens

  VAMPIRE FOR HIRE SHORT STORIES

  Teeth

  Vampire Nights

  Vampire Blues

  Vampire Dreams

  Halloween Moon

  Vampire Gold

  Blue Moon

  Dark Side of the Moon

  Vampire Requiem

  Moon Love

  Moon Musings

  Moon Beast

  Vampire Widow

  VAMPIRE FOR HIRE

  COLLECTED SHORT TALES

  Moon Tales

  Moon Shots

  Vampire Vacation (coming soon)

  VAMPIRE FOR HIRE EXTRAS

  Vampire Alley (poem)

  Moon Extras (Bonus Scenes)

  Moon Dance (Deluxe Edition)

  JIM KNIGHTHORSE SERIES

  Dark Horse

  The Mummy Case

  Hail Mary

  Clean Slate

  THE WITCHES SERIES

  The Witch and the Gentleman

  The Witch and the Englishman

  The Witch and the Huntsman (with Rod Kierkegaard)

  The Witch and the Wolfman (with Rod Kierkegaard)

  The Witch and the Hangman (coming soon)

  NICK CAINE SERIES

  with Aiden James

  Temple of the Jaguar

  Treasure of the Deep

  Pyramid of the Gods

  THE WATSON FILES

  with Chanel Smith

  Sherlock Holmes and the Missing Shakespeare

  Sherlock Holmes and the Lost Da Vinci

  Sherlock Holmes and the Werewolf of West End

  WINTER SOLTSICE SERIES

  with Matthew S. Cox

  Convergence

  Containment

  Catalyst

  Catacombs

  ALEXIS SILVER SERIES

  with Matthew S. Cox

  Silver Light

  Deep Silver

  Silver Quarrel

  Silver Cauldron

  MADDY WIMSEY SERIES

  with Matthew S. Cox

  The Devil’s Eye

  The Drifting Gloom

  Dark Mercy

  DEAD DETECTIVE SERIES

  with Rod Kierkegaard

  The Dead Detective

  Deadbeat Dad

  THE PSI QUARTET

  with A.K. Alexander

  Hear No Evil

  See No Evil

  Speak No Evil

  Touch No Evil

  THE SPINOZA TRILOGY

  The Vampire With the Dragon Tattoo

  The Vampire Who Played Dead

  The Vampire in the Iron Mask

  FOUR ELEMENTS TRILOGY

  with Matthew S. Cox

  The Elementalist

  The Black Rose

  The Wakefield Curse

  THE ALADDIN TRILOGY

  with Piers Anthony

  Aladdin Relighted

  Aladdin Sins Bad

  Aladdin and the Flying Dutchman

  THE WALKING PLAGUE TRILOGY

  with Elizabeth Basque

  Zombie Patrol

  Zombie Rage

  Zombie Mountain

  THE SPIDER TRILOGY

  with Scott Nicholson and H.T. Night

  Bad Blood

  Spider Web

  Spider Bite

  TEAM QUANTUM TRILOGY

  The Accidental Superheroine (with Kris Carey)

  My Big Fat Accidental Superheroine Wedding (with Kris Carey)

  Accidental No More (with Matthew S. Cox)

  SHORT STORIES

  The Vampire on the Train

  Easy Rider

  Skeleton Jim

  The Bleeder

  SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS

  Dark Rain: Stories

  Blood Rain: Stories

  Black Rain: Stories

  Red Rain: Forty-One Stories

  Moonlight & Monsters: Ten Vampires Tales

  For Young Readers

  STANDALONE NOVELS

  The Enchantress (with Randy Keys)

  Spirit Mountain (with Alexandra Swan)

  The Emerald River

  Forever Silent

  The Angel and the Gift

  YOUR CHOICE BOOKS

  Deep Sea Danger

  The Legend of Eagle Eye Mountain

  Playoff Pressure

  THE ROBOT TWINS

  The Mystery of the Walking Statue

  The Secret of Stonehead Island (with Randy Keys)

  KIDQUEST ADVENTURES

  The Secret of the Sphinx

  THE DISTANT WORLD TRILOGY

  Dare to Enter a Distant World

  Moon Shadow

  Published by Rain Press

  Copyright © 2016 by J.R. Rain

  All rights reserved.

  Ebook Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Dedication

  To Jason and Alberto.

  You two clowns make life interesting.

  Acknowledgment

  A special thank you to Mariah! Welcome aboard!

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-one

  Chapter Forty-two

  Chapter Forty-three

  Chapter Forty-four

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  Chapter Forty-five

  Chapter Forty-six

  Chapter Forty-seven

  Chapter Forty-eight

  Chapter Forty-nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter Fifty-one

  Chapter Fifty-two

  Chapter Fifty-three

  Chapter Fifty-four

  Chapter Fifty-five

  Chapter Fifty-six

  Chapter Fifty-seven

  Chapter Fifty-eight

  Chapter Fifty-nine

  Chapter Sixty

  Chapter Sixty-one

  Chapter Sixty-two

  Chapter Sixty-three

  Chapter Sixty-four

  Chapter Sixty-five

  Chapter Sixty-six

  Chapter Sixty-seven

  Chapter Sixty-eight

  Reading Sample: All the Way Back Home

  Reading Sample: Winter Wind

  About the Author

  Moon Shadow

  Chapter One

  I was missing Judge Judy, and I wasn’t happy about it.

  Instead, I was being treated to a ninety-nine-cent cup of coffee at a McDonald’s in a city called Lake Elsinore, which boasts the biggest natural lake in Southern California. The problem with Lake Elsinore is that it’s in Lake Elsinore. One has to drive out of Orange County (where I happily live) through 60 miles of desert (where I had no business living), and there, shimmering like a mirage, is an honest-to-God lake. It sits at the foot of a mountain chain called, inexplicably, the Cleveland National Forest.

  The city of Lake Elsinore is rough around the edges. It sports a downtown that feels forgotten and dismal. It also sports a lot of homes that have beautiful views of the lake, homes that look just as dismal and forgotten. Which is strange. In Southern California, any home with any sort of water view, be it a beach, lake, pond, inlet, outlet, river, stream or reservoir, is worth, exactly, ten million dollars. Give or take.

  But not here. In Lake Elsinore, homes with a lake view seem to be an afterthought. In fact, one gets the impression that the residents of Lake Elsinore don’t fully appreciate the beauty of the lake—or the sheer unlikeliness that such a body of water would be out here anyway. Had this lake been in, say, Orange County, lakeside restaurants with shaded patios would abound, and so would storefronts boasting designer doggie treats. In no time flat, had this lake been in Orange County, few people would actually have access to the lake... unless they paid for it.

  The man sitting across from me was Roy Azul. He was the owner and operator of a group of vacation cabins along the west side of the lake. He was also friends with Detective Sherbet. When I asked how he knew Sherbet, Roy explained that he and the detective were part of a model aircraft flying club. I made a mental note to ridicule Sherbet about that. Then added a follow-up note to make sure I did so to no end.

  “Sherbet said you could help me.”

  “Sherbet is paid to say that—in greasy pink donuts, no less.”

  “He also said you could be sassy, and that you would mention the pink donuts.”

  “Maybe Sherbet is a mentalist,” I said. “Whatever that is.”

  Roy was dressed in cargo shorts and a black t-shirt, wearing one of those old-school paperboy, duck-billed caps that I think are actually cute. Roy looked good in the hat. Then again, most everyone did. In particular, Roy looked relaxed, calm, and excited to talk about whatever was on his mind. Sherbet wouldn’t tell me details. Sherbet had called yesterday and said he had a job for me, if I wanted it. He only told me that it wasn’t another cheating spouse case and that I should get a kick out of it. Sure, I could have plumbed Sherbet’s mind—even through a phone line—but I let him have his fun and his little secret.

  So here I was, in the back of beyond, sitting across from a lake no one seemed to care about. His “fun” had cost me my afternoon and a half-tank of gas. Not to mention, I had to make arrangements with Mary Lou to pick up my kids. That is, if Tammy even finished school today. These days, she missed more classes than she attended, and was proving to be a major pain in my ass.

  “Thank you for meeting me,” he said. “I know you came from Orange County, but Sherbet thought it would be important for you to see the scene of the crime, so to speak.”

  “Sherbet seems to have this all figured out.”

  “Not exactly. When I told him about it, he only laughed. Most people laugh, which is why I quit talking about it. Except now, I’ve seen it twice—and both times after I’d seen it, someone in town went missing.”

  “Okay,” I said. “This just got a little more interesting.”

  “Sherbet says that you sort of specialize in the strange and the unusual. The Queen of Strange, he called you, actually.”

  “Did he now?”

  “I don’t think he meant any harm by it. He said it sort of, I dunno, endearingly.”

  “Well, as long as it was said endearingly. So how can I help you, Mr. Azul?”

  “Please, call me Roy.”

  Yes, I could have dipped into his mind, but I decided not to. At least, not yet. These days, I dip into minds when needed, and, in turn, kept mine mostly locked up. No more accidental telepathy for me, thank you very much. In fact, the less often I used my powers, and the more often I embraced my humanity, the more the demon within me lay dormant. No, she wasn’t really a demon—more of a highly evolved dark master who’d been banished from Earth by forces much greater than her. Or me. Except she—and others like her—had figured out a loophole back into Earth. The loophole? The possession of others. And possession by such powerful forces led to vampirism, lycanthropy, and other supernatural oddities.

  And, yes, I was a supernatural oddity.

  Anyway, she liked for me to read the thoughts of others; she liked for me to control others, to use my great strength, to hurt and kill and destroy. Mostly, she liked when I fed on others. Oh, yes. She really, really liked when I fed on others. Human blood gave her strength and boldness. It gave her, in fact, the ability to control me, too. But no more. Now, I’d learned to use my powers sparingly. To fly sparingly. To use my telepathy sparingly.

  But most of all—which frustrated her to no end—I quit feeding on humans. Live humans, dead humans. Any human.

  All of which had weakened her and reduced her to nothing more than a very bad memory. But she was still there, waiting in the shadows of my mind, waiting for me to screw things up, waiting for me to let her in through that cracked door. What happened once she got in, I didn’t know. But Samantha Moon, as I know her to be, as I know myself to be, might just cease to exist altogether.

  “How can I help you, Roy?”

  He looked at me. I looked at him. He seemed about to speak, thought better of it, then shut his mouth. I nearly gave him a telepathic prompt to start speaking, but I waited. Patience was good for the soul.

  He nodded to himself, clearly conflicted, then steeled himself, looked at me, and said, “Do you believe in monsters, Ms. Moon?”

  Chapter Two

  “Call me Sam, and why do you ask?”

  His hesitancy returned. I might have shot him a “Go on” prompt, but I’d never admit to it. Finally, he said, “Well, if you laugh at me, you wouldn’t be the first. Even Sherbet had a chuckle or two. Or five.”

  I waited. McDonald’s smelled like McDonald’s: grease and potatoes and frying meat, coffee and recently mopped floors. Two kids were running in circles around their mother. One of the kids stopped and stared at me, then continued running, although flashing me furtive glances. I get that sometimes: kids who just somehow know.

  “Okay, here goes,” said Roy.

  “The anticipation is killing me,” I said.

  “Really?”

  “No. Spill the beans, unless you want me to wrestle it out of you. Be warned, I give wicked noogies.”

  He chuckled. “You’re right. I’m making it bigger than it is, I guess. Weirder than it has to be. Okay, here goes: I’m pretty sure—no, damn sure—that I saw a lake monster. Twice.”

  “Now,” I said, “that is pretty big and weird.”

  “I knew it!”

  “So to clarify, you did say lake monster and not late mobster. As in the ghost of Al Capone?”

  “Correct, lake monsters. As in Loch Ness, I guess.”

  “I think I would have preferred you’d seen Al Capone.”