KILLER INSIDE ME

Prologue

Winter 2013

It was an ordinary night for Sloane Norris. She finished her last counseling session with a patient whose problem was rather easy to solve and headed home to her new boyfriend. She'd only been dating him for a few months and the fact that he was already staying in her penthouse, spoke wonders about Sloane. She hated being without anyone. Her luxurious penthouse seemed empty when it was just her and so did her heart. While she was alone, she was forced to face the darkness, the dead silence that came over her and her residence. Although she preached to her patients about facing that silence, she couldn't bring herself to do it. Some would say she was a hypocrite and others would say she was human. Whatever the case was, she was still brilliant at what she did. God gave her the gift to read people and bring the best out of a situation even when it seemed like nothing good could come of it.

The heat in her Ferrari made it muggy and impossible for her to take in a clean breath. She rolled her window down slightly and the cold Philadelphia chill that came over her, made her body shudder. She took in a quick deep breath before rolling the window back up and turning the heat off. She laid her head back against the headrest for comfort and cruised the highway at the minimum speed. Her mind began to wander back to a man, not her boyfriend but a different man. A man who she was attracted to like a moth to a burning flame. He was one of her patients and his mysteriousness lured her in. He was like no other man she had ever met. One day, he was the sweetest and shiest person you could ever meet. The next day, he was a sexual being that could kill a woman's nectar just by simply making eye contact while he flashed his signature smirk.

The way he read Sloane like an open book during their counseling sessions, turned her on like never before. Usually, no one could read her. Outside of her workplace, she was quiet and observant. Her tough poker face was on everywhere she went but somehow, Zavian Alston broke through her tough exterior and had her wrapped around his finger. He knew it and she did as well.

The very thought of him made her sweat feverishly and her lower parts throb and long for the touch of his gentle caress, the stroke of his warm tongue and the feel of his long shaft filling her up. Her heart raced and the pulsating in her womanhood grew more intense as flashes of their past passionate encounters came across her head. Her mind was so focused on the mind fuck, that she didn't even realize she was swerving into another lane. The loud sound of the horns honking around her and the groans of the people in the cars, spurred her out of her lustful trip down memory lane.

Sloane sat up straight in her seat and regained full control of the car before she rolled the window all the way down and turned her radio on full blast. The familiar preacher boomed through her speakers with power in his voice. He demanded her full attention. The words he was saying, immediately sent chills to her and stopped her lower lips from throbbing. It was as if God himself was speaking to her.

"The devil comes in many forms, oh yes he does saints! But none of those forms are the generic red pointy horns and red cape!" Reverend Nathaniel Goodman preached to his large congregation at Full Gospel Tabernacle and the patrons listening via radio. "The devil comes in the form of what you want or shall I say who you want! You lusting after these men and women on the TV and the magazines. You want a man and woman that looks like they're straight off a runway! The devil knows as well as God! So God says, "Since you're so focused on your selfish, lustful wants and not mine or anyone else's then I'm going to give you what you want. I'm going to send you that man. That woman. And that man, that woman, is going to give you exactly what you want. And once you have it, it meaning exactly what you wanted, it's going to be so beautiful for a split second" He let out a loud mocking laugh into the mic. "Then it's going to turn on you in the blink of an eye and it's going to be so ugly. Why? Because that is the devil! He's beautiful one second and ugly the next! Why? To lure you in and trap you in his chains. Your lustful self fell for that beautiful man, that beautiful woman and now you have to reap what you sow!"