Page 76 of Shrouded in the Dark
I’d even started to bite at my thumb nail. This was a bad habit I had kicked years ago. I sighed softly after what had to be my two hundredth sweep of the house. They’d only been gone an hour, it wouldn’t do anyone any good if I made myself sick with worry.
Deciding that I would watch TV, I relaxed against the couch. My left foot began to tap as I surfed through the local channels, but I tried to ignore it. When I stopped on the news, I put the remote down and away from me so I wouldn’t keep flipping through the channels.
Nothing on the news indicated that the police had been able to find the killer of the body from the other day. They were advising everyone to stop going on hikes, or if they do, to make sure they had protection and went with someone else.
I snorted at that. None of that would stop that monster. He’d just have a second meal if there were two people. A cold chill ran down my spine as goose bumps ran over my arms. I knew it wasn’t cold in the house. I looked around but everything was in its place. I ignored it, pulling the throw on the back of the couch over my shoulders.
Several minutes later, the doorbell rang. At first, I thought it had been the TV, but it rang again a minute later. What the hell? Maybe someone was lost? Remembering Gary’s words and Seth’s, I approached the door and looked through the peephole that was designed so the person outside didn’t know it was there.
“Hello? Who is it?”
A man stood on the stoop, his hands were in his front pockets. He was bulky, he made me think of a body builder, but it wasn’t a good look on him. He looked ordinary enough, a square jaw with a little scruff, black hair sprinkled with grey. He wore sunglasses.
“Hi. I’m a little lost. I was trying to get to Winter Park? My GPS keeps running me in circles. I saw the lights were on outside, I thought I’d see if anyone was home to give me better directions.” His words were muffled and low.
My stomach twisted. That was plausible. GPS, unless it was satellite, around these parts did tend to freak out. I tapped my fingers against the door as I thought. I wasn’t going to invite him in. I wasn’t that stupid. Even if this whole fiasco hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t. I was alone here and he was a lot bigger than I was.
“Hello?” he called out again.
“Yeah. Still here. I can give you directions. Do you have a pen and paper?”
The man shook his head. “No, I don’t. I could type it on my phone?” He pulled a phone from his pocket but his lips turned downward. “Damn it. I’m on three percent battery life.”
I sighed, this time in annoyance. Who let their cell phone get that low? He didn’t have a charger in his car?
“Stay there. I’ll write down the directions and give them to you.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
I was still wary about this guy, but it wasn’t like I could just let him keep going around lost. Not with that asshole out there. It took less than a minute to write up directions from here through Tabernash to Winter Park.
Now, the question was how I was going to get this to him. I wasn’t going to open the door. I might be able to get the paper to go under the door. I’d have to lift the security door a little to do that, but it would have to do.
“If you’ll step back a little, I’m going to slide the paper under the door for you,” I called out as I pressed the button to move the security door a few inches.
I’d folded the paper in half so it should have been easy to slip under the teeny crack between the floor and door, but it wouldn’t fit. Even when I flattened it out again, it wouldn’t budge.
“Sorry, I don’t see it.” His tone sounded annoyed but more muffled.
Damnit. I was going to have to open the door a centimeter to get this out to him.
“One second.” I set the security door to shut after five seconds. That would give me enough time to open the door, shove the paper out and close it before it started to close up again. Easy. The guys were going to kill me.
As soon as the security door was up enough to open it, I unlocked it, cracked it open, and basically flicked the paper out. Just as soon as I tugged the door to close it, the handle was ripped from my hand. In less than the five seconds I had set, the door was ripped off its hinges.
Horror had my throat closing up. The man took off his glasses after he brushed his hands together. He threw the glasses to the ground revealing eyes that were white save a slit of black for his pupils. His smirk transformed his ordinary face into something evil and disgusting. His muscles were moving under his clothes. He rolled his neck.
“That was a nuisance. You’ve made my revenge more complicated since you came here without the Venandi.”
I scrambled backward, my eyes looking at the security panel next to the door. There was no way that I’d be able to activate the noise alarm with him next to it. I was one second from a panic attack that would get me killed.
“Yes. Run, little human. Let me taste your fear.” His sneer made my body freeze on instinct. “Did the Venandi tell you what they did to me?” He took a look at the panel. “You know you can run out the door if you want. I’ll even give you a head start.”
If I ran out of the house, there would be no chance I’d survive. There really wasn’t a big chance I’d survive anyway, but at least in the house, I had the emergency lock down room Gary showed me in the bathroom. I just had to figure out how to get there without dying first.
“Not a talkative prey, are you? That’s alright. You know, you’re the first one in years who's been able to hurt me enough that I had to leave to heal. Clever, using the lighter and aerosol can to make a flame torch.”
He pulled back his arm as he slammed his fist into the security panel. When he yanked his arm out of the wall, he dragged out wires, dropping them at his feet.
