0 March Secret Agent #22

TITLE: THE EXORCIST'S ASSISTANT
GENRE: Adult Paranormal Thriller

Scarlet would have killed for a glass of merlot.

Although the day stretched long behind her, she was still in her office reviewing a status report at seven on a Friday evening. “What’s this idiot project manager doing?” She rubbed her eyes. What was the guy’s name? She didn’t know. She didn’t care.

She was composing a scathing email detailing his point-by-point failings when a breeze rushed over her face carrying the stench of burnt human flesh.

“Aw, hell, no,” she blurted to keep from gagging.

It was back.

For one stomach-clenching, head-twisting, freezing-sweat moment, Scarlet was no longer an almost-fifty vice president of technology in a large bank. Instead, she was eight years old again, shivering under bedcovers. Despite the glare of the overhead lights and the twilight glow coming through her window, midnight darkness blasted her skin with a chilly breeze.

“Go away,” she said between gritted teeth, embarrassment at addressing a disembodied presence washing away some of the terror.

The words had no effect.

Pissed off—but whether at herself or the presence, she wasn’t sure—she threw her pen across the office. It bounced against the closed door and landed in her trash can.

Well, that did a lot of good.

Scarlet stood and peered out the small frosted window along the door frame and saw what she expected: nothing. No human eyes checking if she was still at work well past when the rest of the employees had gone home. No janitorial staff whistling a tune. No one.