Valcour- Enchanted by a Demon (Hunted by Hellfie- Book 1) by Libby Sparks Read Free Book Online Page B

half-walls around them, and a sink and a baby-changing station. Looking quickly around her she found what she was looking for and stepped into the stall on the left. It was the one underneath the window.
    Putting her sneakers on the black plastic seat she straddled the bowl and pushed herself up. The window was recessed, frosted, and hinged so that it would swing outward. And it wasn’t locked; just secured with a sliding latch.
    It was no easy task pulling herself up quietly and shimmying through the elongated rectangle of the window, but she managed it. Suddenly she was through it and dropping the eight feet to the ground, landing badly on her left wrist. She heard and felt a small pop as that hand took her weight. The pain started instantly. It was a nasty pain that burned and itched at the same time, and she was afraid that it might be broken. However, it didn’t matter at the moment; she was out and away from Jake.
    Time to run for it.

Chapter 6
    Full night had fallen. The streetlights and the lights from inside the homes she passed gave her plenty of light to see by. Her hotel was on the main drive through Blue Earth, Route 169, so Brianna just kept going straight down whatever street this was until she saw the divided highway ahead. Traffic was steady at this hour, even though there were few people out and about. Once she’d found the highway it was just a matter of making a left turn and following the road up.
    Her wrist was really throbbing now. It was swelling, too. She cradled it against her body as she went. Calling for an ambulance, or the police even, would be the smart thing to do, but her cell phone was still back in her hotel room. The businesses she saw were all closed. So she kept walking.
    Two blocks up she found an all-night gas station. Six pumps out front stood silent under bright fluorescent lights. The small store was painted a garish purple with brown stripes. Neon signs for beer and lottery tickets flashed in the windows.
    It was the same station she had stopped at on her way into Blue Earth.
    She could see there was no one inside the store except for the lone worker behind the counter. The man was wearing the same ugly brown shirt. His stringy hair hung down over his face as he peered out the window, straight at her.
    Damn it.
    Gritting her teeth, she pushed her way through the door. She needed help and she couldn’t be picky just because it was the same creepy guy from before.
    “Excuse me, please,” she said to him. “I need to use your phone.”
    The man stared at her. Then he smiled slowly. “You’re hurt.”
    His voice was raspy with phlegm and full of soft menace. She rubbed her wrist self-consciously. “Yes, I am. I need help.”
    Her voice sounded small in her own ears. Everything that had happened to her today was finally catching up to her. She was tired, and hurt, and scared, and she just needed someone to help.
    He chuckled. “I told you to stay away from him.”
    Brianna’s eyes widened. Did he just say what she thought he did? “Stay away? From who?”
    “I told you not to trust him.”
    Jake. He was talking about Jake. Those were the words she had heard over the phone in her hotel room. The words she had heard through the static, which she had convinced herself weren’t really there to be heard. But it had been real. She knew that now, staring at this man’s leering grin.
    And if that had been real…
    Demons. Jake had told her there were demons after him.
    Brianna took a step back. The guy leered at her still. She felt like running. Running, and hiding again.
    But then she stopped. She swallowed back the lump in her throat and forced herself to stand her ground. She didn’t know what was going on here, and she didn’t care because right now she couldn’t afford to back down. She had lived her life backing down to what other people wanted or thought or did, but not now. She had to be strong.
    “Look,” she said, hardening her voice, “I need help. I’m hurt.