Page 10 of Demons & Damnation

Kyla took a step back and had to consciously stop herself from recoiling her top lip. “I’m fine. I’ve cleaned everything, checked for stragglers, and turned everything off.”

“Oh you are a love,” Keith said, reaching a hand out towards her arm. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

As Keith’s podgy fingers clamped down around Kyla’s left forearm, she found herself in an immediate battle between being polite or snapping every damn one of his disgusting sausage like digits. His need to touch some part of her every time he saw her was starting to wear more than a bit thin. Revulsion and rage ignited inside her and for a brief moment, she could understand how killers lost their control and did things they could never take back.

“I’m just doing my job,” she replied, moving her arm back, trying to release his grip.

“Were you on your way home?” he asked, squeezing her arm tighter and taking a step forward.

“You don’t need me anymore tonight?”

“No, no, no. You go home and get some rest. Unless of course, you’re a little bit too shaken to be on your own. You’re more than welcome to stay on my sofa. Or I can have the sofa and you have my bed.”

With it being past eleven p.m., the only illumination pouring in down the dark, narrow passageway came from slivers of moonlight sneaking through the open back door. Kyla flickered her eyes up from Keith, staring straight over his fat, bald head at her exit route.

Hundreds of black and orange embers floated in the air, swirling around completely carefree, nothing but ashes in the spring breeze. A few voices muttered inaudible words from outside and a couple of firemen were still walking the grounds, checking everything had been dealt with.

“I’m fine. Thank you, though,” she replied, looking back at him.

“Are you sure? I don’t mind. I’ll even change the sheets for you,” Keith said.

Even through the poor light, the glisten in his predatory eyes was hard to miss as he said this, leaving Kyla with a cold chill.

“I’m good, Keith, thank you. I just want to go home.”

“Or maybe you want some company at yours?” he asked, tapping his index finger against her skin.

Kyla bit her lip, struggling to hold back the torrent of abuse that danced around on the tip of her tongue. I need to pay my mortgage. I need to pay my mortgage, she reminded herself, over and over. “Keith,” she said, her voice loud and her tone full of authority. “I’m fine. I just want to go home if I’m no longer needed here.”

“Ok, ok. Very well,” he said, finally releasing his hold on her. He turned to the side, which didn’t open up anymore room than when he faced her. “Squeeze past me then and off you pop.”

Nausea and distaste clashed together inside Kyla’s stomach. She knew exactly what he was playing at. “I’ll back up,” she said, already taking steps back before he could protest.

Kyla walked backwards, taking long strides to keep the creep as far away from her as possible. When she made it back out into the bar area, she hopped to the side and waited for him to emerge. He pushed himself through the small opening, his hands grabbing either side of the doorway, like an octopus forcing itself through a hole half the size of its body.

“You didn’t need to do that, dear,” Keith said, wiping his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand.

Kyla said nothing, instead offering him a thin smile, before rushing towards the exit. She stepped outside and breathed in a lungful of fresh air. As the wandering firemen gave the thumbs up to their colleagues and headed back towards their truck, Kyla fished her car keys from her pocket and made her way around the front to the car park.

The small car park at the front of the pub now only held her car, which meant she wouldn’t have to manoeuvre a twenty-point turn because some ass in a huge truck parked too close, as was usually the case.

With two old stable blocks flanking both the left and right-hand boundary lines of the pub’s land, and a neat little fence marking the edges of the car park, it meant that, unfortunately, there was only one way in and one way out which was by a ten-foot gap at the bottom right hand corner.

Unlocking her car, Kyla collapsed in the driver’s seat, switched the engine on, and pressed the brake pedal. Ten seconds later, the clunk of the locks battening down had her breathe a sigh of relief.

A final shudder shot down her spine at the thought of Keith having touched her. Deciding she needed a shower, she shoved the car in reverse and turned to face the exit. Realising she’d forgotten to turn her lights on, she flicked the switch. The bright beams of light cut through the darkness, showing her the way out.

And the solid silhouettes of two men blocking the exit.

Was this the cute fireman? she wondered. Had he brought a wingman with him?

She smirked to herself and drove over, stopping just a few feet short of hitting them. As she came closer, she could tell it wasn’t the fireman. The athletic, defined shape of both of these shadows combined with their six-foot plus height immediately knocked out any man she knew. Then when she saw a hint of golden hair gleaming in the edges of her lights, curiosity killed the cat.

Opening the car door, she stepped out with one foot, using the door as a shield. “Hey, could you move please? You’re kinda in the way of me getting home.”

The guy on the left, the one with the golden hair, flashed her a smile. For the first time in a long time, Kyla found herself a little unnerved. It wasn’t a warm, friendly smile or a sadistic, serial killer smile either. It was just...cold. No emotion attached to it at all, just a motion to perform.

He took a few steps towards her, skirting around the edges of her lights, making sure he stayed in the shadows. When he came level with her front wheel, he stopped. Jade green eyes sparkled at her like gems under moonlight. As she took in the depth of colours glimmering through his eyes, she sucked in a sharp breath. The colours were so deep and mesmerising, it seemed as if the iris was actually moving and the colour within it shimmering as a result.

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