Free Along Came a Demon by Linda Welch

supplied.
    I eyed them. They did not look any happier than I. They looked nervous. But then, they always look nervous.
    I backed to one of the narrow windows either side of the front door and peeped out.
    Holy… ! He leaned on the wall in profile, but there was no mistaking Caesar, his long sheet of golden hair pushed back over his shoulders, slightly iridescent golden skin. He stood with hands in the pockets of a tan, calf-length, butter-soft leather duster, with a pale-tan silk shirt beneath and brown suede pants which couldn’t get any tighter if they tried. The shirt opened at the neck and gold glinted at his throat. Gold in his ears too: a long earring in the shape of a feather almost touched his shoulder. He turned his head to me and smiled, his blue sapphire eyes gleaming beneath thin golden eyebrows.
    He was something to behold.
    I heard him through the thick walls and storm windows, clear as if he stood next to me. “Come out, come out, wherever you are!” he sing-songed.
    I backed from the glass and there he was looking through it.
    “ Please,” he said, and his voice whispered through my bones.
    Spirits, demons - could no one wait till I had my morning coffee?
    I stalked back to the kitchen and turned on the radio, loud. KXGB cooperated by blasting out Metallica’s Sandman. Oldie but goodie . I hiked the volume up louder and flipped on the coffeemaker.
    Jack and Mel stood side by side next the backdoor. “What are you going to do?” Jack asked.
    I pulled a clean mug from the cupboard. “I have absolutely no idea.” I paused. “Amend that. I’m going to call the cops. I found a stranger on my porch. I told him to leave but he refused. I’m afraid to go outside and confront him. If I call the cops, there’ll be half a dozen squad cars here in less than ten minutes.”
    “ The way he can move, he’ll be gone before they pull up,” Jack said.
    I thought it over. True. Plus, maybe he didn’t care if he stirred up trouble. Maybe he’d hurt them. His pal seemed to enjoy hurting me.
    So, calling the cops was not one of my better ideas.
    Figuring if I could hear him, he could hear me, I turned down the radio, plucked up the phone, dialed the time and temp line and made my report to the tinny voice.
    I went back to the front door and yelled through it. “I just called the police.”
    He appeared at the narrow glass pane again. “I only want to talk.”
    “ Yeah, well, make an appointment.”
    Never taking his eyes off me, he lifted his hands to shoulder height, backed across the porch and down the steps. He smiled, just slightly. I watched him till he passed the Henderson’s place and disappeared from sight.
    I opened the door and walked onto the porch.
    I knew demons could really move, but not how fast. Pressing his body against mine, he pinned me to the wall. His braced his left arm on the wall above my shoulder, his right snaked around my waist. He dipped his head, his face in my neck. His breath wafted up my neck to my ear. My legs turned weak and the only thing holding me up was his arm.
    “ Tiffany,” his breath said in my ear.
    “ I hate that name,” I groaned.
    “ Where is Lawrence Marchant?”
    So they did not have Lawrence, but were after the boy.
    His pointed tongue traced the shell of my ear. Heat washed through my body in a delicious wave, coiling inside me, seeping through my pores, thrilling over my skin. My groin tingled and I gasped aloud.
    He stilled, then stepped back, releasing my waist, looking down at the barrel of the Ruger where it dug in his belly. “You would not.”
    I gasped again, this time in relief, as he eased farther back from me. “I would. I will. Get off my property. You were not invited.”
    He hissed, lips peeling back to show his teeth. “I am not a vampire. I do not need an invitation.”
    “ Gleaming eyes, pointy teeth; you could have fooled me,” I told him sweetly.
    He tucked his chin in his neck, frowned, and a look of deep concentration came over