Diana Rowland - Secrets of the Demon

I let out a shocked yelp and sat upright in my bed, heart pounding. My bedroom was dark but enough moonlight filtered through the blinds that I could see it was empty. I put my hand to my face as I struggled to breathe normally. What the fuck? My cheek tingled oddly, though there was no pain—

I froze at a dull thump of sound in the hallway, cold shock knifing through me. There’s someone in my house.

Moving as silently as possible, I slid off the bed on the side away from the door, then tugged the nightstand drawer open and retrieved my gun. I stayed crouched behind the bed as I strained to hear any breath of noise over the mad pounding of my heart. How can someone be in here? I have wards and aversions. Nothing living could possibly get through.

The dull thump repeated itself, and with it a sickly familiar wash of arcane resonance. Footsteps. Slow and steady. Something heavy. Nothing living. Fuck. Careless is right. The thought sent a dark chill through me as I curled both hands around the butt of the gun. I wasn’t exactly in a fantastic hiding place, but I had no idea what sort of intelligence the golem had, or how hard it was to destroy. But I did know how strong it was. Strong enough to squeeze someone’s neck into a pulp. And I’d seen how fast it could be.

I heard the steps pause outside my door. Shit. I scanned the room quickly in an effort to find more weapons, but the desperately needed submachine guns failed to materialize. However, there was a window. It would be moronic to stay and fight. I shot to my feet and tugged at the window, almost shocked when it slid open with the barest whisper of effort . Ha! If this had been the movies it would have stayed stuck until the monster was in the room with me! I popped the screen out and shimmied out the window, then hopped down to the ground and ran in a low crouch toward my car. Rounding the corner of the house, I could hear a low thumping from the direction of my bedroom. Okay, it’s going to be following me out real soon now. But my car was right in front of me. I grinned and resisted the urge to slide across the hood in another movie move, and instead ran to the door properly and slid in behind the wheel, glad that I was in the terrible habit of forgetting to lock it at night.

A split second later my grin disappeared. “Shit,” I breathed. Yeah, I’d forgotten to lock it, but my keys were in my bag, which was inside the house. And this isn’t the movies, where the car keys are hidden under the visor or some crap like that.

I heard a sound of something heavy falling on the side on the house. It was out of the window, I realized. No time to think about this much more. I dove out of the car and took off toward the front steps at a hard sprint, seeing the hulking creature round the corner of the house as I reached the door. The jamb was shattered, but at that moment I could only be thrilled shitless that it was, since otherwise I’d have been locked out of my own house. And I wasn’t athletic enough to be able to leap back up through my open bedroom window. Barreling through the door, I snatched up my bag. I heard the clomping on the front steps and took off down the hallway to the back door. Please let there be only one! And please let this one be really stupid!

I reached the back door and glanced back in time to see a hulking humanoid creature fill the front doorway. This one seemed bigger than the one I’d seen at the concert, or maybe that was simply my terror talking. Its features were far from sophisticated—dull pits for eyes and crudely shaped features that would never be able to pass for a human. Its mouth opened in a silent snarl—far more unnerving than if it had actually been able to make sound. It started to run toward me, hands outstretched and crude thick fingers grasping in my direction. I had sixteen rounds in my Glock, and I didn’t think that would be anywhere near enough.

But I just needed to slow it down at this point. I took aim at its lower half and started firing as fast as I could pull the trigger. Dust flew from its legs as several rounds found their mark, and it stumbled against the wall, leaving an ugly dent in my drywall. I snarled and took better aim, this time concentrating my fire on one leg. The slide locked back on the Glock, telling me I was out of ammo. The thing took another step toward me, but the leg crumbled as the golem set weight on it and the creature tumbled to the floor.

My hopes that it would give up were dashed in the next instant as it pushed itself up and continued to clump toward me, this time on one knee and the other now-truncated leg.

I turned and yanked the back door open, then jumped down the back stairs. Let that slow it down! I prayed to whoever might want to listen to me. I ran around the house as I dug in the bag for the keys, vaguely relieved to hear the thumping continuing toward the back. At least it wasn’t smart enough to double back. The car door was still open and I threw my bag and myself into the car in one motion, yanking the keys out while I slammed the door and locked it with the other hand. I could see the creature shambling around the house as I jammed the key into the ignition. Even on its knees it was still damn near my height and moved more quickly than I was happy with.

The engine cranked first try, and I jammed it into drive and stomped on the accelerator. The golem was still coming at me, and I made a split-second decision—based on movie-influenced instinct—and aimed the car right at the thing.

The car struck the golem with an impact that felt like hitting a tree. And, just as if I’d struck a tree, the airbag exploded in my face, nearly knocking the wind out of me and completely obscuring my view.

“Shit!” I shrieked as I fought to get the bag down to where I could see. An acrid smell and a thin smoke filled the inside of the car; however, I could see a lump on the ground about ten feet in front of the car. It was down, at least. But a heartbeat later I could see the limbs move as it tried to right itself.

“Oh, no, you fucker!” Thankfully the car was still running, though it had an unpleasant rattle that hadn’t been there before. I threw the stupid car into reverse, nearly careening into an actual tree, then shoved it into drive—this time going around the slowly standing golem—spitting gravel and dust at it as I sped down my driveway. Glancing quickly in my rearview mirror, I could see it break into an ungainly lope, following my car. I reached the end of the driveway, gave the briefest of glances to make sure an oncoming car wasn’t about to plow into me, and then I hit the smooth asphalt and left my house and the golem far behind.

I clenched the ragged steering wheel tightly in an effort to keep my hands from shaking. If Rhyzkahl hadn’t woken me, I’d have been killed in my sleep. I didn’t bother worrying about how the demonic lord had known I was in danger. He’d saved my life, no doubt about it.

I didn’t even know where I was going, where I was driving. I glanced down and groaned. And wearing nothing but a T-shirt and undies. Niiiice. And my phone ... I groaned again. Still plugged into the charger by my bed. Oh, extra nice.

And, because bad things come in threes, the red coolant light flickered on as the car began to shudder. I pulled to the shoulder and turned my emergency flashers on, desperately trying to think of anything I might have in my car that was wearable. I needed a tow, and I needed a phone. Because obviously I’d stumbled onto something bad enough to make it worth sending the golem after me. And if one was sent after me, then Zack and Ryan could be targets as well.