The Demon's Obsession

Episode 4

Steadying my shoulders with his hands, I realized that the brick wall wasn’t actually a wall at all but instead, a very large man.

Standing over six-foot-three, Elijah was a local firefighter at the nearby firehouse. He’d welcomed me to town the first week I opened the shop when I accidentally set off the fire alarms when I tried to sage the place.

Gorgeous and fit, he appeared to be more brawn than brain, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Getting to know him in the short time we’d known each other, I realized how intelligent he truly was. He liked to read mystery and thriller novels and I still keep a copy of his favorite author’s new releases for him.

It didn’t hurt that he had dirty blonde hair and eyes like an expensive blue sapphire. He wasn’t oblivious to the fact that he was gorgeous, but he was humble about it. That’s why every woman in town—from puberty to elderly—was smitten with him. Let’s just say that he did a lot of helping people cross the street or carry groceries when they could appear helpless enough for his assistance.

Old lady Gardner was the worst of them.

I would laugh if I wasn’t in the midst of being thoroughly f*****g terrified.

Since then, he’d been someone I thought of as a close friend and that said a lot considering I was very closed off and didn’t let anyone see the real me. I even allowed myself to be somewhat vulnerable towards him and occasionally asked him for help with small maintenance things around the bookstore. It was hard for me to ask others for help at all.

It was in helping me one of those times that he caught me sorting through a large stack of books while cross-referencing my e-reader. When he asked me what I was doing, I explained that I intended to read all of those books in the coming month. Astonished by the sheer volume of pages I planned to read, Elijah stuck me with the fond nickname Nerd. Oddly enough, it made me feel welcomed to town, and he was my first real friend made outside the bookstore.

Once I was back to being balanced on both feet, I still clung to Elijah with terror-wide eyes and heavy, ragged breaths. I glanced back at the dimly lit bookstore and, of course, there was nothing and no one chasing me.

At least that I could see.

However, I still felt like whatever had been up in the loft was still there with me somehow.

“Whoa!” Elijah’s voice rose in worry as he noted my disheveled appearance and the way I clung to him with one hand and my purse with the other. I had dropped random things from my bag along the way, but I didn’t care. As long as I had my car keys, I would make do.

I began to ramble on incoherently and Elijah tried desperately to calm me down enough that I’d make sense.

“Breathe…” He coaxed, and I tried to steady my breaths so that my words were understandable.

“I…” Sentences refused to form as a dozen thoughts rushed to my mind at once.

What the f**k was that?

What was I supposed to do now?

How could I ever go back into my own f*****g store?

Was I cursed?

One of my only friends must think I’m absolutely insane.

Forcing myself to breathe slowly, I was able to finally formulate my thoughts into words.

“I…” I stuttered. “I’m sorry…”

“Sorry?” Elijah stared down at my much shorter self, his light brown eyes narrowed in genuine concern. His long, dark hair fell haphazardly into his face, but he ignored it and focused only on me.

For the first time since I noted that it was Elijah I ran into, I looked around at the surrounding street. Save for a few pedestrians across the road and a single jogger who had already passed by, Elijah and I were seemingly alone.

“I… I didn’t mean to freak you out.” I told him as I finally removed my hand from him.

The only bright side that I could think of was at that moment, there with Elijah, I felt safe. In the stark contrast of what I just went through, it was a welcome revelation.

“Yeah, I’d say I’m pretty freaked out. "You’re scaring me. "What happened?” Elijah scoffed, keeping his hands on my shoulders as if afraid I would fall apart if he didn’t.

Hell, I just might.

“Uh…nothing…” I continued to stutter unconvincingly. "I just got spooked in the store, that is all." I thought I heard someone else in there after I closed up.

The lie was harmless enough. I sure as hell didn’t know what I had experienced in the loft, but I had no doubt that I was in danger. The last thing I wanted to do was put Elijah in danger, too.

Raising his eyebrow at me in skepticism, Elijah pushed me back gently to examine me head to toe. “Spooked, huh?”

I nodded.

“Alright, then. Let me go take a look.”

“No!”

Elijah looked at me as if I were hiding something—which, I guess I sort of was. But, I sure as hell wasn’t going to tell him the truth and risk him thinking I was certifiable. I didn’t need him to stage an intervention in the nuthouse.

“I mean, no, that’s not necessary,” I added. “I was just on my way out.”

I turned towards where my car was parked, but Elijah wasn’t letting me go.

“Ellie,” he said gently, “you look like you’ve seen a ghost. You bolted out of here like a bat out of hell—and look, you left a trail of trinkets behind you. You didn’t even lock up.”

I knew that he was right, but I desperately wanted to get the hell out of there and I didn’t want either of us going back inside.

“I’ll just lock it up.”

“I’ll lock it up. Stay here and I’ll take care of it.”

Fuck, why did he have to be so damn thoughtful?

Opening my mouth to protest, Elijah wasn’t having it, and he held out his hand for the store keys. Handing them over, he sat me down on a nearby bench as he ventured into the bookstore.

Watching Elijah disappear through the front door made my heart rate spike all over again. I was anxious and on edge once I couldn’t see him any longer. It took him forever to come back out and when he finally did, I was relieved that he seemed unfazed.

“All clear.” He smiled—that small dimple in his left cheek deepening the way it did when his smile was genuine.

Focus, Ellie.

Elijah handed me back the keys, “I checked everywhere, but there was no one inside. The back door was still locked from the inside.”

He was thorough, and I was beyond grateful even though I knew it made no real difference. The intruder I was being stalked by wouldn’t likely be seen or accosted by Elijah. No, the entity or whatever it was, was hunting only me, and it did so from the darkened shadows.

“Thank you,” I smiled at him, trying to hide the fear and unease that remained.

“You’re welcome.” He replied, still surveying the look on my face as if he wasn’t quite sold that everything was okay. “Are you hungry?”

I appreciated that he cared, but the last thing I wanted to do just then was sit through a pity dinner while he babysat me.

“I actually have to get going,” I said, avoiding eye contact because I was a terrible liar. “I swear, I have more than just one reason for rushing out of there—I’m actually really late. And then I got spooked—bad combo.”

Not looking at him to see if he had bought my story, I collected the nearby things that I dropped and the rest that Elijah fetched while he was locking up.

“Okay,” he said simply, and I was still not sure if he believed me or not.

Regardless, I had to stick to my story and leave quickly.

“Thanks again!” I said a little too enthusiastically.

Act normal, Ellie.

“If you ever need anything, I owe you one.”

“Friends don’t keep score, Nerd,” Elijah teased, and he walked me to my car. “Let me know if you need anything, okay?" I mean it. You have my number.”

I nodded, and his sincerity warmed my heart. Elijah really was one of the good ones, and he was certainly easy as f**k on the eyes. Add his badass line of work, and it was no wonder nearly every woman in town had the hots for him. Aside from a few dates here and there, he never really had anything serious, according to the town gossip I was gifted when I moved in.

“You’re aces, Eli.” I smiled as I rolled into my car and drove off.