My Reading of an Excerpt of Who Let the Demon Out
Excerpt:
One minute I was
surrounded by white light and the scent of lavender. The next minute I was on
my back in the dirt with a guy straddling me and pounding my chest.
“You awake? You
alive? Shit.”
Hard to see much
in the dark, but the full moon shining through the oak trees showed me his
brown eyes, open wide and filled with fear.
“You’re alive.
Jeez, woman.” He took his hands away and leaned back on his heels.
He smelled like
garlic and motor oil, and he needed to get the hell off of me because a violent
churning in my stomach meant ...
“Move.” I shoved
him and rolled to my side.
He did, fast
enough to get out of the way while I hurled the contents of my stomach onto the
ground. I made my way to my hands and knees and retched a little more.
“Here.” The guy
tapped my shoulder. “Water.”
I took the
bottle he offered, rinsed and spit, then drank. A chunk of something went down
my throat and I almost puked again. Rinse, spit, rinse, spit. Hope he didn’t want
the bottle back.
A loud pop like
a gunshot and a flash of light to my left made me swivel my head and instantly
regret the move as my gut reacted by gurgling another warning.
The man looked
in that direction too. “What was that? Are you alone out here?” he asked.
“As far as I
know. Did you see something?”
“I don’t know.”
He assumed a fighting stance, legs slightly spread, hands curled in fists at
his side, then turned in a slow circle, studying the woods around us.
We both stayed
silent for a moment as he continued to scan the area. I pulled in deep breaths,
trying to convince my gut to settle down.
“An animal,” the
man said and turned back to me. “Are you all right?”
No. Duh. He’d
just pulled me out of a running car filled with carbon monoxide.
“Why the hell
did you do that?” I asked.
“Do what?”
“Stick your nose
in my business.” I stood, wobbled a little, but I could stay upright and
possibly walk.
“You about died.
I saved you,” he said.
“I about died
because I wanted to.” I moved toward my car. “Pretty damn obvious, dude. What
are you doing out here in these woods anyway?”
I’d chosen this
parking area that accessed a hiking trail on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North
Carolina because no one came here at night. No one was supposed to, anyway.
It would have
been easier to fill up a garage with carbon monoxide, but I lived in an
apartment and didn’t have one. I thought about using a friend’s place or
renting a storage unit, but that meant someone would be in for a super-crappy
day when they found my dead body in the morning. I didn’t want to be the cause
of someone having a super-crappy day.
“I come here
between calls,” he said. “You need to get medical attention.”
I walked back to
my car, and he didn’t follow, which was good because I was likely to punch him.
It’d taken every ounce of courage I could muster to set this up, and he’d
ruined it. Now my car had holes in the exhaust system and floor, my stomach was
about to turn inside out and my head hurt like a son of a bitch.
And I was still
alive.
“Get the hell
out of here and leave me alone.” I reached my car and leaned on it. He’d turned
off the ignition and left the door open, but it still stank like poison.
“I’ll take you
to the hospital. Come on.” He gestured with his hand.
I reached into
the glove box, pulled out the Glock 19 I’d stolen/borrowed from my dad in case
I needed a plan B (Dad had a buttload of firearms; he’d never miss this one),
and pointed it at the guy. My arm shook, but I held it steady enough. “I said
get out of here. Now.”
He raised his
hands. “Okay. Take it easy. I’m going. You can keep the water.”
His hands
remained in the air as he backed up slowly. Good. He wasn’t an idiot hero type.
Just a knight in a stained T-shirt instead of shining armor, trying to rescue
the girl. Except this girl didn’t need rescuing.
I didn’t lower
the gun until the red glow of his truck taillights disappeared. When I did let
my arm fall, it shook. I sat back down in the car. Okay, no biggie. Shut the
doors, crank it up, finish the job. I could do it. That was the only way. Who
was I kidding? There was no plan B. I totally couldn’t put a gun in my mouth.
The knight wouldn’t come back again and stop me. Would he?
An owl hooted,
and the wind blew a scent of wet leaves my way, the smell of strolls with
Jasper, the world’s weirdest cat, who liked to go for walks on a leash in the
woods.
“Step out of the
car, would you please?”
Holy crap! I
about broke my neck swiveling toward a voice that came from the entrance to the
parking area. A man stood far enough away I couldn’t see him clearly, just an
outline. I slid all the way inside, shut my car door and locked it. He stepped
closer.
Not the same
dude that screwed up my plan. This guy was tall, blond, wearing tight black
jeans and a long-sleeve black shirt. I didn’t see another vehicle. Where the
hell did he come from?
“Get away. I’m
calling the police,” I yelled through the closed window. I reached for my
phone. Oh yeah. I didn’t have a phone. Since I’d planned to die that night, I’d
canceled my contract and told my carrier to stick their overpriced rates up
their butts.
One of the best
moments I’d had while preparing for my death.
