Page 87 of Sinful Lord

Before I can take another step, though, a big hulking van peels onto the street, racing past me so fast I barely have time to react.

I watch its taillights disappear. It feels like I’m losing my mind.

“Come on, grab hold of yourself,” I whisper to myself. If my hands and cheeks weren’t already numb, I might give them a slap. Anything to jolt some sense into my overwhelmed mind.

“How about I grab you instead?”

The voice comes out of nowhere, crawling over my back like nails on a chalkboard.

My eyes go bug-wide.

Somehow, I know it’s the figure who was watching me through my window.

I don’t bother to figure out where the voice came from. I just run. But there’s so much ice on the ground that every frantic step I take nearly sends me to the pavement.

“Leave me alone,” I pant, desperation clogging my throat. “Please.”

“Never,” the voice hisses.

It doesn’t sound like it’s gotten any further away. Cold tears start to well up in my eyes. When I reach an empty intersection, I don’t stop to figure out which way to go, I just keep running.

That’s a mistake.

Because the next block turns directly into a dead end.

“No,” I choke, sliding to a stop.

Immediately, I understand that my only option is to turn around and head back to the intersection. The idea is so terrifying I want to cry.

“Tytus,” I hear myself whisper. “Where are you?”

My hand digs into my jacket pocket, searching for my cell phone. I haven’t heard the ping of him answering my email, but it’s possible I just missed in my panic.

Yet the deeper I dig into the big jacket pocket, the deeper the hole in my chest becomes. There’s no phone.

Did I forget it at the apartment? Did it drop from my pocket while I ran?

I don’t know. All I know is that I can’t stay here.

Closing my eyes, I turn around and start to run back in the direction I came. But the blindness doesn’t do me any favors. When I nearly face plant after tripping on a curb, I’m forced to open my eyes and face the terror that follows me.

But the street ahead is empty.

I whip around, fully expecting the shadow to be standing mere inches away.

The street behind me is empty too.

What’s happening to me? I want to sob. Am I losing my mind?

For a split-second, that almost seems like the most likely answer. Then, I turn back to face the street that leads to the intersection, and I’m reminded of just how real my nightmare is.

Because, there, standing at the exact corner I need to turn down, is the devil himself.

I can’t tell if it’s a trick of the night or if I’m just losing control of my senses, but it looks like a chunk of him has been eaten by the darkness. The form is hardly human.

But it is full of evil.

“No,” I whimper, backing up. “No. Leave me alone. Please!” With that final cry, I turn and run back the way I came, even though I know it’s a dead end.