Out of the Shadows

By Michael Ignacio Jr.

Vanessa McMasters is not a super villain like the rest of her family. Whereas they brought devastation and chaos to the Kazon District within Sagen City, she plans to bring order and peace... one death at a time. In her quest to right her family’s wrongs, she discovers not everything is as it seems. Vanessa discovers firsthand that the “heroes” she admired so much are more insidious than she thought, and the family she hated for a decade was nobler than she could have ever dreamed. Where will Vanessa, aka Phobia, stand when the line between good and evil blurs?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael Ignacio Jr.
• Release date: Jan 6, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311156990

Michael Ignacio Jr.

Kapuha Press LLC is a small publishing press that produces exceptional fantasy, sci-fi, and dark-fantasy/horror novels, anthologies, and audio dramas. Michael Ignacio Jr. is the creative director and owner of the company, and he leads his team of authors, writers, voice actors/ actresses, and professional staff to provide high-quality literature/entertainment for your enjoyment. Kapuha Press LLC's vision is to inspire and cultivate our readers' imaginations through unique, original stories. Our mission is to publish fantasy, sci-fi, and/or horror stories as paperbacks, e-books, and audio dramas. Kapuha Press LLC will debut new authors and story tellers by publishing their works in fantasy, sci-fi, and/or horror anthologies. We will also create high quality audio dramas by using compelling story lines, hire talented voice actors/actresses, and use dynamic background music.

Book preview

DEDICATION

OTHER BOOKS BY MICHAEL IGNACIO JR.

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

EPILOGUE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to the brave men and women who dedicate their lives in order to try and make things better for other people. Thank you to the police officers, the military officials, the teachers, the social workers, the firefighters, the TRIO professionals, and anyone else who commits their livelihoods for the public good. You all are superheroes, and you don’t receive enough thanks. You make society better through your sacrifice, your innovation, and your dedication. Don’t give up, and don’t lose heart. Even if people don’t understand the necessity of what you do, please don’t lose hope. Please keep fighting. People are relying on you.

I also want to say thank you to the following people. Without you, I would not have been able to produce this novel: To God for granting me a creative soul, to Daniel Wilkens for being my editor, to Enggar Adirasa for doing my cover art, to Stephen Heathman for being a great beta reader, and to Pink Ink Designs for doing my formatting.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and places are works of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to any places or persons, living, dead, or fictional is entirely coincidental. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any matter whatsoever without the expressed written permission of the publisher, except for use of brief quotations in a book review.

ISBN #—978–0692608517

Printed in the United States of America

Kapuha Press

Copyright 2016 by Michael Ignacio Jr. All rights reserved.

Edited by Daniel Wilkens

Cover art by Enggar Adirasa

Cover Design and Formatting by Pink Ink Designs

Other Books by Michael Ignacio Jr.

The Wrath of the Forgotten, Book 1 of the Korrinian Chronicles—Released in Oct 2015

What has been forgotten can destroy you and everything you hold dear. Daisko Nori learns that lesson first hand as he goes about fulfilling his duty as an imperial bodyguard. Nori is sent to the city of Jadai to protect the youngest daughter of the Empress. What starts off as an easy, boring assignment will quickly escalate to an epic quest, filled with terrible monsters, questionable characters, and a race against time. Will Nori and his friends be able to get to the capital before the will of the Celestial Ones comes to pass?

The Witch’s Theft—Released in Dec 2015

What do an obsessive witch, a kidnapped prince, and a warrior princess have in common? All three are forced to take matters into their own hands to protect what they love. Aya uses her witchcraft to abduct Prince Minoru and saves him from an assassination attempt. Princess Kio embarks on a quest to rescue him to avoid war between their two countries. While in the witch’s custody, Prince Minoru questions the noble responsibilities thrust upon him. Meanwhile, a dark political plot emerges, which could easily tear the lands apart. With growing threats all around them, Aya, Minoru, and Kio find love in unexpected places. Will true love survive the menacing evil that approaches them swiftly?

For more great content from Michael Ignacio Jr., please go to www.michaelignacio.com

AN EXPLOSION SHATTERED the solitude of the night with a thunderous roar. The entire building rumbled violently as smoke filled the corridors. Lights flickered on and off for a few seconds. Mark rose from his chair and grabbed his scoped high powered energy rifle from the empty chair beside him. Tension pressed in on the sides of his forehead. His stomach radiated with nuclear powered anxiety.

Mark stepped into the hallway with his gun raised.

The smoke burned his eyes as he stared down the length of the corridor. Shapes moved toward him. His gut screamed at him to shoot. Mark waited. As the figures approached, he noticed bright white clothes with ID’s hanging from their shirt collars. Just behind them were other guards like himself. They all had gaunt faces, as if the blood had been drained from their skin. The guards carried rifles too. Something terrible was happening.

Mark let the others pass him by, but he stopped one of the other guards.

Hey, Watson, Mark said. What’s going on?

A scream resonated out. Mark and Watson stared down the hall where the researchers sprinted from. Thick smoke hung in the air. A guard flew through the air and collided with the side of a wall. As the guard tried to push himself up, something bizarre pounced on him.

The lights flickered again. The creature had slick black skin and was the size of one of those wild cats in the zoo. A long tail whipped about as the creature bit into the man’s chest. He screamed out again, but it was a short cry. Gigantic claws jutted from the creature’s paws. It kept digging into the body until the guard stopped moving altogether.

Mark raised his gun, but Watson batted it away.

Watson said Don’t even think about it man, you’ll only piss him off.

Him? Mark asked.

The creature ripped out the man’s throat, and then turned its feline head toward Mark and Watson. Slowly, the creature skulked down the corridor. The slick black skin became Caucasian white colored, although in the dark it appeared slightly tanned. It rose to stand on two feet and became human.

Oh shit . . . Mark’s gun wobbled in his grasp. Tell me that’s not . . .

Yep, Watson said. It’s The Phantasm.

Mark took a back step and tried to turn away from the approaching renegade.

People screamed out. Towards the end of the other hallway, the group of scientists and researchers stopped. The lights still worked, yet dark shadows covered the walls like paint. They swirled with an unnatural grace.

Sweat rolled down Mark’s back and thighs. The glistening moisture trailing down his leg made his back quiver continuously. He watched the shadows with unyielding focus. Mark had heard about the living shadows often found around The Phantasm. Only The Shadow Queen could create such horrors.

Shadows peeled off of the walls and reached toward the scientists and researchers. They remained utterly still. Dark black tendrils formed from the shadows. The tendrils weaved through the air like snakes, getting ever closer to the researchers. At first, they moved slowly with menacing grace. After several ominous seconds, the tendrils shot forward at lightning speed and wrapped around limbs or necks. The shadows lifted each of the researchers off the ground. Spikes grew up from each of the tendrils and curved toward the researchers’ skin. The tendrils pressed into the researchers’ bodies at first, but then they pierced their flesh.

Screams of agony harmonized with each other to form a terrible aria of death.

Mark turned back around.

The Phantasm stood beside him with his giant arms crossed over his barrel chest. His voice sounded like truck tires spinning down a gravel road. Stop playing around and kill him already.

Watson smiled. This time, he spoke in a feminine voice. Yes, Daddy.

Mark’s skin crawled under his uniform. Slowly, he turned to face his co-worker. A dark glimmer sparkled in Watson’s eyes. The smile grew wider. Watson placed the barrel of his rifle at the base of Mark’s chin. A bright flash blinded him. His skin exploded and pain engulfed him.

Ten Years Later

THE SUBWAY TRAIN rumbled as it flew through the dark tunnel. An unsteady silence lingered above the rhythm of the train rocking to and fro. The outside walls zipped by in a blur. Vanessa sat in the middle of the train car, all alone. She had tucked her feet beside her and placed her hands in her lap. Every now and then, Vanessa glanced back and forth to each of the doors leading to other train cars.

Her pulse raced in her ears. She tried deep breathing, but it didn’t work. She tried counting to herself; that failed too. She even tried imagining herself in a happy place. Vanessa still trembled.

She fumbled with her fingers as she started to bite into her bottom lip. Just imagining someone joining her sent jolts up her spine.

Vanessa glanced up at the top of the train car and peered into the mirror panels that ran along the ceiling. A scared young girl, just beyond her eighteenth birthday, stared back at her. Vanessa’s thick black hair hung freely. Her green eyes looked so tired. Her thin frame appeared haggard and her small shoulders slumped. Vanessa’s slightly olive colored skin also looked a little worn out, but then again, she had been traveling non-stop for the past several days.

A robotic voice called over the speakers, Next stop, Kazon District Platform 3C.

Vanessa steeled herself as the train started to decelerate. Her body lurched to the side when it finally did. The subway doors opened, and she stepped off of the train and onto the dark platform. A sense of emptiness lingered across the station, and yet, unseen eyes bored into her. The air felt stagnant and energized.

Back in Droxy, travelers claimed that the Kazon District of Sagen City had fallen on very rough times. She never wanted to believe the stories, but she couldn’t deny what she saw before her. Graffiti adorned the walls and the posters like works of art. Many of the trash cans had been knocked over and dented in so badly that no one could use them. Large chunks of the stone pillars and walls had been broken off. The air smelled stale and odorous, as if someone had defecated in some dark shadowy corner. Would the rest of the district be like this?

The subway train doors slammed behind her. The thunderous noise made her wince. Her spine wiggled within her back as the sound reverberated to the unseen depths of the station. The subway train squeaked back to life and retreated into another tunnel. Darkness swallowed the fading red tail lights. A chill wrapped around her.

Several lights flickered in the area, but the poor illumination cast eerie shadows on the floors and walls. Was she scared? The mere concept seemed ironic to her. For a long while, Vanessa just stood there, regarding the empty station around her. There was no turning back now. She had to go forward. After all, she had made a promise.

Vanessa took several steps away from the edge, but then stopped.

Three lone figures waited at the far end of the station. Each of the people had remained deathly still, and had they not been blocking the stairs, Vanessa might not have noticed them at all.

A depraved hunger sparkled in their eyes, but the men had blank, unreadable expressions.

Vanessa stiffened up, and they smiled. United as one, they moved closer to her. Each of their movements appeared jerky and mechanical. They all carried some kind of weapon.

One of the men licked his lips as he studied her with more than just a lewd expression. Vanessa’s insides squirmed as she took a step back. Vanessa’s heart thumped in her ears. She brushed her hair out of her face, but knew it would fall back in place if something unsettling happened.

Her voice sounded a little shaky. Please excuse me. It’s very late and I have somewhere I need to be.

One of the men spoke. You’re a pretty one, aren’t you? We might be willing to let you walk away if you give us all of your credits and any valuables you might have.

Vanessa fingers twitched as she ran her thumbs along the insides of them. Please don’t do this. You’ll make me do something I regret.

The men all laughed.

Hear that, boys? She’ll do something she regrets, another man said.

The men scuttled closer. Vanessa’s throat closed up a little. She took a deep breath and collected some of her power into her hands.

I’m warning you, Vanessa said. I won’t be your little victim tonight. You might as well go away and save yourself the trouble of getting you’re a-ass kicked.

The third drugged-out man scoffed. His voice cracked with each word. She sure is mouthy. Let’s put her mouth to good use before we slit her pretty little throat.

The other men agreed and stepped closer.

Vanessa winced and tightened her muscles. She had no other choice. She had to do it.

"And so it begins. Here goes nothing," Vanessa thought. She pushed the energy into her finger tips.

One of the men leapt forward with his blade pointed toward Vanessa’s face. She leaned back and blasted her collected energies at him. From her fingertips, tendrils of blue energy rushed out and slithered into the man’s skin. He shivered as he came to a complete stop. His eyes opened wide and glazed over.

The other men stopped and gaped at their friend, frozen like a statue. They couldn’t see what their friend saw, but Vanessa could. With a calm expression, Vanessa drew in a deep breath. A dark blue fog seeped out of the man’s orifices and floated into Vanessa’s open mouth. She sucked it into herself and absorbed the powerful energy that the man’s terror had created. That power tasted so good!

The thug locked in horror screamed out loudly.

One of the unaffected thugs started to retreat. Oh shit, she has powers!

Vanessa channeled the man’s fear into a glowing blue orb within her palm. Her skin shivered as if she held a snowball with her bare hand.

A broken down vending machine sat against the wall. From the looks of it, it hadn’t been used in ages. The bags and packaging had faded with time. Vanessa pointed her hand at the machine.

A bright blue beam of energy blasted towards it. The vending machine exploded in a shower of metal shrapnel and glass. A loud boom echoed within the empty chasm of the subway station. Vanessa winced.

She said Okay, I lied before. This is your last warning. Do you want me to blast you next?

N-no, we’re, we’re sorry, one of the men bellowed.

She pointed to the stairs. Take your friend and go. And if I see you on the streets again trying to hurt someone, I’ll . . . She swallowed hard. . . . melt your faces! Her voice shook slightly.

The unaffected pair of thugs grabbed their friend’s arms and pulled him along. Before they got very far, one of the men glanced back at her. W-who are you anyway? Are you a ren-renegade or a g-guardian?

Vanessa collected the last bit of fear she had absorbed and blasted another energy beam over their heads. A small hanging light shattered and sent sparks showered everywhere. The men crouched down a little, and even whimpered.

You can call me Phobia, she said. Now get out of here.

The men dragged their friend away, leaving Vanessa alone in the darkness. Slowly, the man’s protests diminished until it vanished altogether. Vanessa’s pulse slowed to a regular rhythm. Her hands still shook. Vanessa’s stomach bubbled with nausea.

She hadn’t been in the Kazon District for a full five minutes before someone tried to rob and kill her. If things were this bad in the dark and secluded parts of the district, how much worse were things in the greater majority?

So it seems we really are needed here, Vanessa whispered to herself. I hope you’re ready Phobia. We’re going to have to get serious from now on. Her eyes watered a little.

A deep weight of exhaustion and frustration settled on her. Vanessa opened her small purse and regarded the items inside. A small computer pad, a debit card, and a little folded up piece of paper. The purse wasn’t even that nice. She closed her purse and took cautious steps over to the bottom of the stairs. Vanessa gazed up the next floor and listened carefully.

Absolute silence.

Vanessa channeled more energy into her hands as she started up the stairs. Her stomach increased in weight with each step. Every nerve tingled with wild electricity. Her senses sharpened a hundred fold. Every little sound made her stop and study her surroundings.

"It’s going to be okay, you scared them off," She told herself. Tension crept up her insides. Her breathing became more rapid.

When she got to the top of the staircase, she peered down the long, dark corridor. Little built in storefronts with broken windows and bashed-in doorways stared back at her. A few lights dangled at various points in the tunnel. She stopped under each of the lights and peeked into each of the doorways.

A scuttling sound echoed softly around her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as she slowly turned around. Something small moved in the doorway of one of the long abandoned stores. Vanessa back-stepped away from the shadow, and yet, it moved out of the store and approached her.

Vanessa thrust her hand forward. Terror-inducing tendrils floated on the air and collided with the very large rat. The rat froze in place and gaped at Vanessa in utmost fright. It scurried away as it screeched out in panic. Her pulse raced again as she watched the rodent disappear back into the depths of the store.

Stay calm. No one is going to get you, She told herself.

She increased her speed, moving down the corridor with a little more reckless abandon. Her energy still crackled beneath her skin, but would that be enough?

When Vanessa finally came to the end of the tunnel where another staircase ascended, she glanced over her shoulder back the way she came. Nothing moved. No sounds echoed out. Everything appeared deceptively peaceful. A great sense of urgency swirled within her. She ran up the stairs with considerable haste.

A black sky hung well above the tops of sky scrapers, and the entire street area around the subway entrance looked deserted. Vanessa eased herself out into the open and moved closer to one of the many hover cars that sat parked alongside the street. No one else moved along the street, not in sight anyway.

Vanessa checked the time on her computer pad.

2:15 AM.

She had expected the Kazon District to be a little livelier, considering that it belonged to a major city. Then again, the rumors described the Kazon District as a ruined place of ill repute. She placed her back to one of the buildings and gazed around cautiously. Everything remained deathly still.

Vanessa brought up the net browser on her computer pad and did a general search for lodging close to her location. Several places came up on her search list, but the closest and most affordable place caught her eye.

The Dusty Country Lodge, Vanessa whispered to herself.

Curiosity stabbed at her, so Vanessa checked some of the comments regarding the place in question. She cringed, but then weariness crept on her like a fungus. She desperately needed to rest. According to the information, the Dusty Country Lodge was only four blocks away. With no better leads, Vanessa walked down the cracked sidewalks. Her eyes constantly darted to every alley way she passed.

Images of sex-crazed psychos lurking about floated in the darkness.

A discordant trembling took hold of her, but she pushed the unease away. The echoes of a promise kept playing in her head. She couldn’t run away. Vanessa had to step up. No matter what it took, Vanessa had to step up.

For far too long, the Kazon District remained infected with corruption. The evil intentions of depraved people ravaged the community like a disease. She had to do something. Soon, she would debut herself as a champion of the people, but not tonight. Tonight, she needed rest. With each step, Vanessa felt even wearier.

Tall, poorly-maintained buildings loomed over her as she meandered down the broken sidewalk. Just like the subway platform, graffiti covered the outside walls. Some of the hover cars had shattered windshields or windows. More than a few of the radios had been torn out.

Several loud booms echoed in the night, breaking the once-deafening silence. Vanessa crouched down and placed her back against one of the unyielding buildings. The gunshots sounded distant, but Vanessa’s insides still felt slick as if coated in oil. Just because they were distant didn’t mean they weren’t coming this way. Her hands shook slightly, despite the energy pulsating within them.

A void of silence followed the gunshots. Vanessa’s skin crawled. Had the police given up on the district too? If the rumors were true, the guardians never came here either. Were the poor people living here destined to be swallowed by the dark intentions of others?

Vanessa started walking down the street again. After a short while, she finally came upon the Dusty Country Lodge. A shiver danced up her spine. Several of the letters had burned out, specifically the ‘o,’ the ‘r’ and the ‘y.’ Dirt and grime covered the walls. Overturned trash cans lay in the parking lot, and garbage sat in the empty parking spots like garnish on a dinner plate. Vanessa’s stomach bubbled wildly. Her weariness pressed on her shoulders.

As she moved up to the lobby door, the acidity in her stomach climbed into her throat. She opened the door and walked inside. The lobby stank of cat piss and musty