Demon Hunted

by H. M. Sandlin

  DEMON HUNTED

  H.M. SANDLIN

  Copyright © 2021 H.M. SANDLIN

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN:9798711574224

  I’m not really crazy, am I?

  I thought about telling Beth what was actually wrong with me, but I knew what she would say. Worse, I knew the look she would get. It’s that look people use when they feel sorry for you; when they think you might be crazy.

  I understood why she might feel that way. After all, how do I explain that my dreams wake me up screaming and shaking in terror; that monsters are chasing me down alleyways coated in blood and filled with the awful stench of burning flesh. And while I’m running, hundreds of eyes are watching me, hidden in the shadows, waiting for me to fall.

  I glanced at Beth as she continued talking about some new club she wanted to take me to.

  No, I couldn’t tell her. I didn’t want to see that look. Again. Besides, I would be leaving soon. Weird things were starting to happen around me. It was time to move on. Some people called it running away, but I preferred to look at it as starting over. Normally I wouldn’t agree to go to a club, they were too crowded, but tonight I didn’t want to be alone.

  Beth ran out the front door of my apartment to go grab coffees at the cafe down the street, while I jumped in the shower. It wouldn’t take her long. I threw my long black hair into a ponytail, so I wouldn’t get it wet. Beth wanted to leave in twenty minutes, and it took twice that long just to dry my hair.

  Finishing my shower, I stepped onto my old green bath mat and saw something move from the corner of my eye. When I whirled around to see what it was, nothing was there. I would have sworn I saw something. It was just a shadow. There’s nothing there. I told myself, trying to calm my racing heart. It was a trick of my mind.

  Or was it? There, next to my ratty, green rug in front of the shower were two tiny red drops. I would have missed them if I hadn’t been looking so closely. I reached down to touch them but pulled my fingers back quickly. It looked like blood.

  I searched my body, making sure I hadn’t cut myself, but I couldn’t find a single cut. I looked at the drops again. They were fresh. I could still see the light glistening off them. I spun around, searching the bathroom. There was nothing else to make me think someone or something had been in here. I looked at the blood; except those two drops.

  Carefully, I eased my way out of the bathroom and into my bedroom. The door was still shut, and nothing was out of place. I went to my dresser and pulled open the top drawer, barely making a noise. Inside was my .38 special.

  I grabbed the gun and walked toward the door, my heart beating loud enough that if anyone was in the apartment, they would hear it. As I started to open the door, I heard a thump in the living room. Shit. Someone’s out there. I moved away from the door and silently debated with myself. Should I go out? What could it be? I shuddered. Whatever it was, it had been in my bathroom while I showered.

  Taking a deep breath, I moved toward the door again and began making my way silently down the hall, gun shaking in one hand while the other held my towel up. I could hear something moving around the far side of the living room. It kept making a sniffing noise, almost like an animal but not quite.

  As I turned the corner, gun drawn, the front door slammed open.

  “Serena. Are you ready yet?” Beth yelled, walking into the living room. She shrieked when she saw me dripping all over the carpet, a gun pointed at the couch. “What’s going on? What are you doing?”

  “I thought I heard something,” I said, trying to defend myself. She looked at me oddly and then scanned the living room.

  “There’s nothing here.”

  She was right. My apartment was pretty small, so there weren’t a lot of places to hide. The kitchen was open to the dining area and living room, and besides a few boxes pushed against the side of the couch, there wasn’t much else.

  I had only been living here for a few months and there wasn’t any point in decorating. I knew eventually I would have to move anyway. I walked into the room and slowly moved closer to the couch. I hesitantly walked around it, but there was nothing there. Where had the thing gone?

  “Are you sure you’re ok?” Beth asked me again.

  “Of course,” I lied. Sadly, this kind of thing happened a lot. I knew if I walked back into the bathroom, the blood wouldn’t be there anymore.

  I was starting to worry that I was completely losing it. I wasn’t going to tell Beth that though. So far, she stuck with me, but I knew if I talked about it a lot or did more crazy things like tonight, she would be out of here. She had that look in her eyes. It’s not that she didn’t want to remain friends, but it’s hard when one of your friends is nuts.

  I had been through this before, too many times to count. I learned back in high school that I was different. A monster was hunting me, and no one believed me. No matter how many times I moved or tried to ignore it, it always found me.

  Beth was my roommate in college for a while. Until I left. I hadn’t told her I was leaving college, so when I called her a few months ago to say I was moving to the same town she was working in, she was excited to hang out. She always kept in touch, and wanted me to visit her, so when I felt the need to move again I came here.

  I wanted to stay. Beth was the only person I kept in contact with, and it was nice to have a friend nearby. My whole life was spent moving from one foster family to another. No one wanted to keep the crazy girl who woke up screaming that monsters were going to kill her.

  It didn’t help that after the dreams, weird things would happen; a house fire in my first foster home, my second one had the roof collapse, and the third was a complete disaster. A sinkhole opened up below it and destroyed almost two-thirds of the house.

  No one was hurt, but every time the dreams came, bad things started happening. Eventually, I learned to cause enough trouble for my foster families that I would get kicked out every year before the dreams began. I didn’t want anyone getting hurt because of the monster after me, but no one believed me when I told them the reason for all the problems at my foster houses. I finally stopped trying.

  Beth was the first person to stick by me when we dormed together in college. She tried to comfort me after the nightmares, and we formed a friendship that I didn’t want to ruin. I sighed, thinking about whether she would stick by me if I told her the truth about the blood drops today.

  “You don’t have to come out with me if you don’t want to, Serena,” Beth said. She was finished yelling at me for scaring her with a gun.

  “I do want to come out with you. I don’t know what I was thinking. It was probably a car backfiring that I heard.”

  She laughed, relaxing as I put the gun back in my top drawer. “Or those noisy neighbors upstairs. They’re always banging on something or screaming at each other.”

  I laughed too. “I’m sure that’s what it was,” I told her, even though I knew it wasn’t. Quickly, I went to my bedroom and started to dry off. Beth walked in and headed straight for my closet.

  “Here, let me pick something out for you. Otherwise, you’ll decide to wear your black jeans and a black shirt. You need more color in here.”

  She handed me one of my only skirts. It was a soft gray color and a little too short for decency. I don’t know why I even bought it. It was on sale a few weeks ago, and I couldn’t keep my eyes off it. I had to have it, but it’s been sitting in the closet with the tags still on since that day.

  I was going to return it. Ok, maybe I wasn’t, but I should. It came a few inches above my knees in the front and then swooped below my knees in the back.

  “I don’t know about that skirt,” I told Beth as I pulled on a black lace bra.

  “It’s perfect,” she answered, handing m
e a dark red scoop neck sweater.

  “This sweater isn’t mine,” I said, my heart beating faster as thoughts of someone leaving clothes in my closet assaulted me.

  “I know. I brought it with me in case you decided to come out.”

  I took a deep breath as she handed me the sweater. I needed to get ahold of myself. I pulled the sweater over my head. It clung to every part of my body. I was pretty sure if I moved wrong, the shirt would slide even lower and reveal my chest.

  Beth saw my uncomfortable expression and smiled. “Trust me, this outfit will have the guys falling all over each other trying to buy you a drink.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

  I exhaled, knowing there was no use in arguing with her. If she wanted me to wear this, then that’s what I was going to wear. Otherwise, I would have to hear about what a great outfit it would have been all night. Besides, it couldn’t hurt to get dressed up this once.

  My hair slipped out of my clip as I turned and faced the mirror. It fell in long black waves almost down to my waist. I shook it out and decided to let it stay loose. I took out my make-up and put on a touch of gold eyeshadow and mascara. I pursed my lips before dabbing a bit of lipgloss on them.

  “Is that all you’re going to do?” Beth asked. “You look great,” she amended when I raised my eyebrow.

  As I looked in the mirror, my eyes changed. Light purple eyes stared back at me. Usually, a bright green, they sometimes changed to a gray or blue color, but never purple. I moved closer to the mirror to see them better, but they were already back to green. What the hell was going on with me? I stepped away from the mirror.

  “Maybe I shouldn’t go tonight.”

  “No backing out now. You look gorgeous, and this is what you need to get your mind off things. It will be fun. I promise.”

  I nodded, already regretting my choice, but I wanted to have fun before I left town.

  I grabbed my purse as we headed to Beth’s car, making sure to lock the door on my way out.

  “Tell me more about this club you’re taking me to.”

  “It’s a new dance club that opened up a few weeks ago,” she said excitedly. “A couple of the girls I work with went and said it was amazing.”

  “Beth, you know I don’t like dance clubs,” I said, frowning.

  She cut me off. “It’s not that kind of club. Well, maybe a little, but it’s supposed to be more sophisticated, less cramped, no idiots out on the dance floor trying to grope anything they can. Give it a try. If you don’t like it, we can always go somewhere else.”

  “Fine, but if I say let’s leave, then we go. Deal?”

  “Deal.”

  I slid into her car, and she started driving uptown, telling me about everything that happened in the past week at her office.

  “I swear, every time a new girl starts, he has to go flirt with her, and that’s not even what bothers me. It’s the way he treats poor Julia. Everyone knows they had a thing going on, and now all of a sudden they aren’t together anymore, and he wants this new girl. I don’t think Julia is going to stay around though. I saw her looking through the employment ads at lunch today.”

  I nodded along with Beth, not really paying attention.

  I glanced in the side mirror and tensed up. The same car was still behind us. It had been there since we started driving. I was about to ask Beth to stop somewhere to see if they would continue following us when they turned down a side street.

  I let out a small sigh. I really hated going out, especially at night. I always tried to work during the day so I could be home, locked inside before it got dark. Bad stuff always happened at night. I was waiting for a sign that something bad was about to happen.

  Usually my skin starts crawling right before things get weird, but not always. I didn’t have any weird feelings before seeing the blood droplets. I hadn’t figured out the odd sensation yet, but I had an idea. Whenever I had that feeling, something really bad would happen, something that could hurt me.

  That feeling had saved my life. Each time I got it, I would run as far and as fast as I could, trying to escape whatever was coming. It seemed to work. After I felt safe, I would look up that area of the country, and each time, something awful had happened, like the fire at my foster home and the sinkhole.

  “He’s such a sleazeball,” Beth said, dragging me out of my own thoughts.

  “I don’t know why you work for him if you hate him so much,” I replied. She always called her boss a sleazeball, so I knew who she was talking about right away. Beth gave me a look. “I’m just saying. You’re good at your job. I’m sure you can find work somewhere else.”

  “I’ve looked, but none of the other companies in town will hire anyone who works for Mr. Blake. Nobody crosses him, and that includes hiring his employees. It’s like they’re afraid of him or something. I would have to change my whole career if I wanted to get a different job, or I would have to move,” Beth admitted reluctantly.

  “Who is this guy you work for, Beth? I know you’ve mentioned that he’s an asshole, but you never made it seem like anything that bad. What exactly does Mr. Blake do?”

  “He’s just an idiot,” Beth said, looking anywhere but at me.

  “Beth. Did he do something to you? What is it you don’t want to tell me?”

  “Nothing. Let’s drop it, ok? This is ruining my night, and we haven’t even gotten there yet.”

  I considered pursuing it but decided to try and get some answers later after Beth had a little fun and a drink or two. I didn’t want to ruin her night. I was sure she would fess up by the time we got home. If not, I would look into it myself before I left to make sure she wasn’t in any trouble.

  “Ok. What exactly do you have planned for the night? You’re not going to find some gorgeous man and leave me to hitch a ride home, are you?” I asked teasingly, trying to make her laugh.

  “Haha. That was over a year ago, and I left you my keys so you could get back to the campus.” Beth slowed down and pulled into a parking lot. Two of the four street lights were broken, casting shadows throughout the area. Trash littered the ground as we pulled into a spot under one of the lights.

  “What is this place? It looks like a dump.” There wasn’t a sign anywhere on the building, yet I saw a nicely dressed couple walk in the side door.

  “I told you, it’s a new place that opened up, and it’s supposed to be very nice.” She glanced around nervously.

  “It doesn’t look nice. I don’t know how I feel about this. Who told you about this place?” I asked again.

  Something about the club was bothering me. I didn’t get a crawling sensation from it, but it wasn’t normal either.

  “One of the girls at work said it was amazing. Let’s give it a try. If we don’t like it, we’ll leave right away,” Beth said, getting out of the car.

  I took a deep breath as I stepped onto the pavement, breathing in the scent of the night. It was crisp and almost soothing. I could smell the lavender coming from a flower shop a few doors down and a little farther a Mexican restaurant.

  Whenever I was in a city, I had to take a few days to adjust to all the new smells and sounds. It could be overwhelming at first, but once I got used to it, I was able to appreciate everything. I still preferred to be in the country, immersed in nature, but I knew I had to be in the city if I wanted a job.

  “Serena, let’s go. We can’t stand out here all night.”

  We walked to the side door where we saw the couple go. When we reached it, someone opened it partway. We couldn’t see who. It was extremely dark, and the person was off to the side of the door, standing in the shadows.

  “Names.”

  I took a few steps closer. The voice was quiet, more of a whisper, but I couldn’t see the man. And it was definitely a man’s voice. The sound traveled straight through my bones. It touched every nerve, and my heart stopped for a second. I glanced at Beth. She didn’t seem affected at all.

  I heard her offering our names
as I tried to slow my breathing. I suddenly feared for our lives. I wanted to go, but as I was reaching out to pull Beth away from the door, the man stepped aside and opened it all the way.

  “Come in and welcome to The GS,” he said quietly.

  “I wonder what the GS stands for?” Beth whispered to me.

  “No idea,” I replied. “I think we should go. Why did he need our names? You didn’t have to make some sort of reservation, did you?”

  “No reservations. Maybe they want to know who’s coming and how people hear about the place.”

  But he didn’t ask how we found out about the place, I thought to myself. No reason to scare Beth yet. Beth started walking down the hallway even though it was dark, and we could barely see light up ahead. I felt the man move behind me.

  “Go down the hall and turn right at the first door you see.”

  “What kind of club is this?” I asked and started to turn around.

  “You’ll see soon,” he replied as I faced him. I still couldn’t really see him, so I stepped closer and asked again.

  “Go,” he whispered, his eyes swirling a silvery gray. He stepped back, and the shadows swallowed him up. I started to step into the shadows, but I felt Beth tugging on my arm, urging me forward. I turned toward her, my anxiety growing.

  “Isn’t this cool? The suspense they build up must be part of what makes people keep coming back. It’s like a secret society.”

  Beth didn’t seem the least bit worried, unlike me. I could hear music pumping as we walked down the hallway. Beth opened the door, and we stepped into the pulsing music. Everywhere we looked, people were rubbing their bodies against each other in time with the music, which was cranked up so high you couldn’t even think, let alone talk to someone.

  I motioned to Beth to make our way toward the bar on the other side of the room, farther from the speakers. Quickly, I wound my way through the crowd, sidestepping people who tried to pull me onto the dance floor.

  Reaching behind me, I grabbed Beth’s hand and pulled her with me. The farther we got from the entrance, the quieter the music became. We hadn’t crossed more than three-quarters of the room when the music became almost a whisper.