Free Devil Inside by Brandy Isaacs

focus on anything.  The speed at which Levi was driving made her vision problems worse.  Everything blurred past the windows and she couldn’t figure out where they were or where they were going.  She could hear the muted grinding of the tires on the pavement and the sound vibrated through the car making the numbness that she felt even worse.  She slowly looked at Levi, trying to make sense of him even being there.
    Levi was dressed all in black—black cargo pants and black military boots.  His black shirt was long-sleeved and form fitting.  She could see the black straps of the holster that held the huge knife at his back, they wrapped around his shoulders like gun holsters in the movies.  He wore black leather gloves and she could hear them creak as he flexed his grip against the steering wheel.  She could see that they were slightly discolored and refused to think about what was staining them.  Feeling her eyes on him, he glanced her way.  The look in his eyes was one of regret and sadness and anger but he didn’t speak and for that she was grateful.
    Harley looked out the window again, trying to figure out where they were going.  Police .  Reason tried to force its way into her brain.  But instincts slammed that door quickly shut.  Going there would require thinking about what had happened.  On some level her brain knew that she couldn’t handle that yet.  She kept trying to make out the street signs as they sped past them.  She desperately wanted to know where they were.  The roads were familiar but they weren’t clicking into place.  Each time her mind was getting a grip on the street they would be too far away for her brain to finish before it tried to focus on the next street.  Unable to bare the street signs any longer closed her eyes.  But they snapped open again when she felt something on her arm.  It was sticky and clung to her.   She knew what the red stuff was, but her mind again slammed that door shut before finishing the thought as well.  She began counting the street signs to distract herself from trying to figure out their names.  Eventually, the street signs grew farther and farther apart and the trees grew thicker.  As they passed large sprawling fields she realized that they were driving away from Lexington.  They were most likely going east because they had not gone through the downtown area to reach the farms to the west of the city.
    It felt like they had been driving for hours when Levi finally slowed the truck down and turned into the driveway of a small white house.  They were well away from the city and she hadn’t seen any other houses for several miles.  There were too many trees, clumped too close together for them to still be amidst the sprawling, pastured horse farms.  Instead, they were surrounded by a natural forest, approaching a house that looked as if it was someone’s weekend getaway.  They hadn’t spoken for the entire ride and the sounds of the engine and the road had filled up the silence.  Levi had left her to process the events in her own way while he kept his attention on the road and made sure that no one followed them. 
    As they approached the quaint house Levi drove around a path to the back and parked so that the vehicle wouldn’t be seen from the road.   Without saying a word he shut the engine off and climbed out of the truck.  He quickly walked to her side of the SUV; Harley’s eyes followed his every movement.  She was in awe of him at the moment.  She had known that he was involved in security, but on some level she pictured that as being the guy in a uniform hanging out at the front of a store.   But the way that he was dressed, the way that he handled that guy—the fight—she was now picturing something much more military—something more lethal.
    Levi opened her door and held out his hand silently.  Harley looked at the outstretched hand for a moment and when she saw that he had taken off the gloves she reached out to