You want some Shadow? You got it!

So the first draft of Penumbra is now at 53% complete, and as promised, since I reached the halfway mark I have another sneak preview for everyone. #FISTPUMP #HIPTHRUST #YAY

And because you demanded, here’s some more Shadow, who now has his own POV chapters! And yes, he’s one angry dude at the moment.

Your Exclusive Sneak Preview of Penumbra

SHADOW

*Note the following preview takes place mid chapter.*

I watched as the family left the kids’ bookstore. The boy gripped his copy of Maurice Sednak’s book in his hands, a large smile on his face. His sister followed closely behind him, pulling on his t-shirt with one hand while the other held a stuffed animal. The mother thanked the portly old man behind the counter and followed her children out the door.

“Of all the locations we could have met, why here?” I asked.

“I’m killing two birds with one stone.”

“What two birds? Meeting with me and picking up a copy of ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ after?”

Leah shook her head and pointed to the man behind the counter. His hair was brittle and grey, and his face looked worn down, like old beige leather. He was cleaning his over-sized reading glasses with the fabric of his white-buttoned shirt.

“You know how I’m good at summarizing people with one word?” Leah asked.

I nodded.

“Pedophile,” she said. “That man is one of the most predominant distributors of child pornography. I’ve been trying to nail him on charges of possession and distribution for the past year, but I’m still struggling to gather enough evidence. He covers his tracks extremely well, using an untraceable IP address to do most of his business.”

I stared at the man, who turned to us and waved, smiling at us with his large slug-like lips.

“Is there anything else you two need?” he asked, cheerfully.

Leah shook her head and gave him her best fake smile.

“We’re good, thank you. But perhaps in a minute, you can help me look for the box set of ‘Anne of Green Gables?’” she asked. “It’s a childhood favorite of mine.”

“Of course. You come see men when you’re ready,” he said, turning his attention back to a magazine he had been flipping through earlier.

“You’re having no luck getting anything on him at all?” I asked.

Leah shook her head. “He was charged once before, long ago, but the police officer who arrested him was too focused on roughing him up to read him his Miranda rights. The entire case got tossed out. He’s been extremely careful ever since. I can only imagine how many children will get exploited while I continue to try and build this case.”

“The officer made one detrimental flaw,” I stated.

“Well, of course,” Leah said. “The Miranda rights are the focal point of any arrest, giving every suspected criminal his humanly rights.”

“I’m not talking about that,” I said as I rose to my feet and walked towards the door of the book store. I flipped the sign over from ‘Opened’ to ‘Closed.’

“What are you doing?” Leah asked.

I ignored her question. “The officer should have beaten this guy to the point where even thinking about a child would hurt.”

I walked over to the counter and fixed my gaze at the fucker.

“Do you like children?” I asked. The man looked at me and smiled.

“Why yes, of course,” he said as he took off his reading glasses and laid them on the table. “That’s why I own this bookstore. I love seeing the look of excitement in their eyes as they explore wondrous new pieces of literature.”

I drilled him in the left eye with a heavy fist. “What do you see now? Stars? Good, cause you’re about to see a whole galaxy filled with them.”

The man grabbed his eye and howled in pain.

“Do you film naked children?” I asked him, calmly.

The man looked at me with his one good eye–the look of fear unmistakeable. I wondered how many times the children he exploited looked at him the same way. And then I thought of Julia and everything went red.

“Why are you doing this?” he cried.

“Because you’re a degenerate,” I said as I reached over the counter, grabbed him by the collar, and lifted him up and over. I tossed him into a book display featuring various fairy tale princesses, who smiled innocently at us.

He lay on the floor, sniveling pathetically while still clutching his left eye. I walked over and looked at him with bitterness.

In the background I heard Leah screaming at me, but I drowned her out. All that mattered was inflicting as much pain as I could on this sick fuck.

“I’m going to ask you again and I want the truth,” I said. “Do you touch little children?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the man protested.

I delivered a hard kick to his gut and took satisfaction at the sound of one of his ribs snapping.

“Do you touch little children?” I asked  him again.

This time I got the truth out of him.

“I’m sorry,” the bookstore owner shouted, his face a mess of tears and saliva. “I can’t control it. I need help. Please, that’s all I need, just some help.”

“Filming disgusting acts and selling them for money does not sound like a plea for help,” I said. “Did you have dirty thoughts about those children that were just in the store?”

“Y-y-yes.”

I punched him in the groin.

“Shadow, no more,” I heard Leah say from behind me. Once again, I ignored her.

“I want you to listen to me carefully. Starting today I will be watching you,” I said. “Every step you take, every morsel of food you place in your mouth, every single person you lay your filthy eyes on, I will know about it. If I even suspect that you’re having a dirty thought, I’m going to come out of hiding and do this to you.”

I smashed him in the groin again with a heavy fist.

“Stop, please!” he howled in pain.

“Do we have a deal then?” I asked.

By this point, the filth was sobbing uncontrollably.

“I don’t like repeating myself. I’m going to ask you one more time. Do we have a deal?”

“I d-d-don’t even know what the deal is?” he cried.

“My fist in your privates every time I think you’re considering doing something sick,” I replied. “You fuck up, I hurt you. Is that clear?”

He nodded. I let him stagger to his feet while he shielded his groin with his hands. “No more,” he begged.

I connected his jaw with the end of my fist, knocking him out cold.

I then turned to Leah.

“I bought you some time,” I said. “I doubt he’s going to look at another child again anytime soon. Meanwhile, take your sweet time and build some evidence against him.”

Leah looked at me and frowned. “There will be no case Shadow,” she said. “The second you laid your hands on him, you tossed out any valid case we could have had against him.”

“You don’t have to play your games with me,” I said.

“What do you mean?” Leah folded her arms up against her chest.

“Perhaps you still have some grass roots within the Midnight Society after all,” I smirked.

“I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about,” she replied.

“You were never going to catch this guy, were you?” I asked. “He was far out of your reach already and you couldn’t stomach it. You wanted to see him suffer for what he did, but there was no way you were going to get your own hands dirty. That’s why you had me come here, because you knew I would beat the shit right out of his colon. I was going to be your instrument for this unsanctioned beat down.”

Leah’s silence confirmed it all.

“So I guess we’re done here?” I asked. “I do have a plane to catch.”

“Despite what you think, I didn’t want this to happen,” She said, gesturing towards the unconscious pedophile sprawled on the ground.

“Manipulator,” I stated.

“What?”

“That’s the one word I have to summarize you.”

I turned and opened the door to the book store, ready to take my leave. However, just as I was ready to step out, Leah called out to me.

“Don’t do to her what you did to me,” she said. Was she referring to Aria? “The girl deserves better than that. She deserves better than you.”

#

End Preview

So after this preview, you may have a few questions, such as who is Leah? How does she fit into the story? And where the heck is Aria while Shadow lays an angry beat-down on this pedophile? And where is Shadow flying to after?

Looks like you’ll have to read Penumbra to find out!

Meanwhile, if you haven’t already, make sure you pick up your copy of Semblance, or read the sneak preview on my blog first!

[Related: Your Exclusive Sneak Preview of Semblance]

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