Devada (Angels & Demons Book 1)

by Tich Brewster

  She marched right up to him and dropped her books on the desktop. “This is my seat, bud. Move it.”

  He stood up, looked down at the seat, bent down to examine under the desk, and lifted her books to look at the desktop. “Sorry, baby. I don’t see a name anywhere.”

  Her mouth dropped open, shocked by his rudeness. Slowly, redness crept up her neck and face. That comment rubbed Hannah the wrong way. Now she was so mad she could spit nails at him.

  She opened her mouth to speak but he smirked and handed her the books. “Today this is my seat.”

  Looking down at her books that were being shoved at her, she quickly jerked them out of his hands and moved to the seat directly behind him. He chuckled lightly and she kicked the back of his seat. “Oh I’m sorry. I must have had a spasm or something.” She smiled pleased with herself.

  “A spasm?” he asked with a laugh before turning around to look at her. “Are you sure you didn’t kick my chair to get my attention? I know I’m the best looking guy in this school. Maybe you just wanted another look at this handsome face.” He winked before turning back around.

  Hannah wanted to scream. He was so cocky and sure of himself.

  “Sorry, my brother is a butt most of the time.” Hannah turned her attention to the guy sitting to her right. His radiant brown eyes locked with hers and he extended his hand. “I’m Josh Cordeiro, and that,” he nodded toward the guy that had taken her seat, “is Raum.”

  Smiling, she took his extended hand in her own. The instant their hands touched a jolt of electricity went through her palm. She pulled away rubbing her hand on her jean covered thigh. “I…I…” How embarrassing, she had never stuttered a day in her life. She cleared her throat. “I’m Hannah.”

  Josh’s eyes lit up the instant Hannah had touched him. The jolt was completely unmistakable, she was the one. That shock he felt was exactly what he had been looking for. She was the very reason he and Raum were in Morris, Oklahoma.

  Raum scanned the cafeteria until his eyes landed on his brother in the far corner. He strolled over to the table and sat down next to Josh. Setting his Coke down, he reached over to snatch the slice of pizza from his brother’s tray. “So what’s the news?”

  Josh shot daggers at his brother with his eyes. “Dude, if you’re hungry get your own cotton-pickin’ food.” He slid his tray closer to his body and pointed his finger gun at Raum, firing imaginary bullets, and then blew the nonexistent smoke from his fingertip.

  Raum rolled his eyes. “Yeah, you wish.” He bit into the thick slice of triple meat pizza and moaned dramatically knowing it would irk his brother just a little bit more.

  “You’re a creep.” To return the favor Josh snatched Raum’s soda and took a big long drink. Before Raum could say a word, Josh pointed across the cafeteria at Hannah. She sat at a small round table with a guy Josh could only assume was her boyfriend. She twirled the ends of her blonde hair around her finger. “That’s her.”

  Raum looked in the direction his brother indicated. “Who, the hot chick from English Lit?” Josh nodded. Raum took another bite of the pizza. “She should be fun. She’s like a little firecracker.”

  Josh laughed but Raum was right. She was on the spunky side.

  They sat back and watched Hannah. She seemed so happy, and so oblivious to what she was destined for. The way she smiled and talked to her friend or boyfriend, whichever he was, she didn’t have a care in the world. Josh felt for her, if only her life wasn’t about to have such a dramatic change.

  Hannah finished the last of her soda while Chris gathered all of their trash and headed to the trashcan. Chris had been Hannah’s friend since they were in middle school. Their parents always teased that they would end up falling in love and get married. Thanks but no thanks. Chris wasn’t bad looking he was actually a gorgeous guy. There just wasn’t any chemistry between them.

  She bent over to pick her purse up off the floor and caught Josh’s brown-eyed stare. He and his brother sat across the cafeteria looking right at her. She found it odd that they were sitting there, leaned back with their arms crossed, and staring at her.

  She shook her head. Those two were odd. They always had their heads together and spoke in code.

  Josh smiled at her. She waived at him, totally ignoring Raum altogether, before standing and joining Chris.

  “Who’s that?” Chris asked once Hannah reached his side.

  “Josh and his brother, they’re new.”

  Chris smiled and looked back toward the brothers. He didn’t know which one was Josh and which was the brother but they looked friendly enough. Both of the brothers nodded in acknowledgement at Chris. He nodded back and held the door open for Hannah. As she stepped into the hall he said, “You should invite them to the movies with us.”

  Hannah just looked at Chris with her mouth hanging open. “What? Nuh-uh, Raum is a total pain in the butt.” She shook her head. “No, I’d rather eat nails than have to sit anywhere near that DarDar.”

  Chris chuckled. He loved her ridiculous phrases. “DarDar huh? Wow, he must have really irked your nerves if you’ve graced him with that nickname.” He looked back once more before letting the doors close. Raum must be the blonde wearing the leather bikers jacket that sat back smirking in their direction.

  “Irk my nerves doesn’t even begin to describe it. He is such a…a…I just don’t like him.” She bumped her shoulder into his then headed down the hallway.

  The rest of her classes passed rather quickly. Unfortunately, Raum was in every single one of them. It wouldn’t have bothered her so much if he would have taken an empty seat and paid attention to his schoolwork but he didn’t. Just like their first class together, he took her seat every freaking time. On top of that, any time she dared a look over in his direction she found him staring at her. Really, what was his problem anyway?

  “Don’t lean on my baby. You know I hate scratches.” Hannah jumped when Chris poked her with his truck key.

  She stepped away from the truck, hands in the air in surrender. “Don’t shoot. I’m not armed.”

  He laughed at her silliness. This was the reason he enjoyed her company. She’s about as witty as they come. “You’re pretty awesome, Han.” She flashed her pearly whites with a wink of her eye. Maybe she was a little conceited as well. “Listen, I have to stay late. The coach called us into a meeting.”

  Hannah slung her book bag over her shoulder. She didn’t live far away, just about four blocks. She could walk home. “Oh, okay.”

  He twirled his keys around his finger for a moment then handed them to her. “Here, take the truck. I’ll just walk to your house when I’m done.”

  Drive his truck? He was actually offering her to drive his truck? Nobody drove his truck, not even his dad.

  She stood there for a moment, staring at the offered keys with her mouth wide open. Sure she wanted to drive it — bad. Who in their right mind wouldn’t want to drive a brand new truck? She closed her mouth and bit her bottom lip. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.” He dropped the keys in her hand and turned toward the football field. “If you hurt my baby in any way, I will murder you. Understand?” he called over his shoulder.

  Hannah nodded. After realizing he couldn’t see her she yelled, “Yes, I understand.” She had the biggest smile on her face. Deep down her inner person was jumping for joy. She pressed the unlock button and climbed into the truck.

  She put the key in the ignition and the truck purred to life instantly. Leaning back she rubbed her hands along the steering wheel. Her old 1992 Cavaliar didn’t sound this good, it sputtered and shook so much that Chris always teased her that it would one day give her whiplash.

  She shifted into reverse and pulled out of the parking lot. As she turned onto the street she caught Raum’s stare. Again she wandered what his deal was. There hadn’t been a minute all day that he wasn’t staring her down. It was a little too creepy and stalker-like for her taste.

  She shook her head and continued driving
down Sixth Street toward home. As she drove past the elementary school playground a shadow caught her eye. She turned in her seat to look at the figure but nothing was there. Hannah shrugged her shoulders, figuring it was just her imagination.

  The house was strangely quiet when she got home. Normally her mother would be in the kitchen singing while making candles for her online candle store. Today not a single sound could be heard.

  Hannah walked into the kitchen and checked the refrigerator door for any messages her mother might have left. One note was held into place with a magnet.

  Hannah honey, Dad and I will be out of town for the weekend for your Dad’s conference. I will call you later with the number to the hotel we will be at but you can always call our cells. Love you bunches, Mom.

  The conference, she had completely forgotten all about that. Well, I guess that means I have the house all to myself. She picked up her cell to send a quick text to Chris to let him know she made it without scratching his truck.

  As she turned around she saw something moving around the corner, toward the hallway. “Hello?” No one answered. “Hello?”

  Cautiously she tiptoed toward the doorway, her cell phone lifted above her head. She looked up at her cell phone wondering what she thought she might do with it if there happened to be a thief in the house. Maybe poke his eye with the corner of the phone. She shook her head at her own stupidity.

  Inching closer to the doorway, she slowly poked her head around the corner. Nothing was there.

  She jumped and yelped when someone knocked on the front door. Sweat began to bead on her forehead and she wiped it with the back of her hand. “Come on, Hannah-Banana,” Chris yelled.

  She ran to the door, unlocking it at lightning speed. “Oh thank heavens. I think someone is in the house.”

  Immediately, Chris pushed her behind him and motioned for her to have 911 ready on her phone. Keeping her behind him, he inched to the fireplace and picked up the poker. He handed it to Hannah and pointed to the far corner. “Hide behind that chair and do not make a sound. If I scream hit send, understand?” he whispered.

  She nodded and tiptoed to the corner, hiding behind her father’s chair. Once she was hidden from view, Chris picked up the other poker and continued down the hallway in search of the intruder.

  “You’re sure no one is in the house?” Hannah asked, handing Chris the fire poker with shaky hands.

  “I’m positive. All the windows and doors are still locked. Are you sure you saw someone?” Chris set the poker back in its rack, next to the fireplace. He hadn’t seen any evidence of there being anyone in the house. No doors had been forced open. All the windows were still closed and locked. As far as he could tell, nothing inside had been moved.

  “Yes. Something definitely moved in front of the kitchen doorway.” She swatted at his chest. “Stop looking at me like I’ve lost my last brain cell. I saw a shadow, there had to have been a person walking by.”

  She wasn’t crazy. A shadow had definitely caught her eye. An adult sized shadow had been moving in front of the kitchen doorway. She wasn’t seeing things. Then again, she thought that she saw someone on the side of the road when she passed the elementary school this afternoon but when she turned around there wasn’t anything there.

  Great, her life was such a mess lately. First, she was having nightmares like a small child and now she was seeing things. She really hoped and prayed that she didn’t drive herself loony and end up at the funny farm wearing a straightjacket.

  Chris pinched the bridge of his nose. A headache was beginning to form right at the front of his head. “Okay, so you saw a shadow? Maybe it was just your eyes adjusting to the lighting in here.” He rubbed at his skull, trying to ease the thumping ache. “You said that everything is as it should be right? Nothing has been moved around or gone missing?”

  Hannah twirled her hair. She looked around once more. Her mother was a neat freak. Everything went in a certain place. Sally was very orderly. “Yes. Everything is as it should be.”

  Maybe she was just tired. She had heard that your eyes can play tricks on your mind when you’re tired. So that had to be it. It had to be, because she refused to believe that she was losing her ever-loving mind.

  She followed Chris to the kitchen. He wasn’t looking so hot and his cheeks were flushed.

  He sat down at the dining room table, well flopped down might have been a better term for what he did. Now his thumping headache had increased to a jackhammer trying to bust through his skull. He placed his palms on either side of his head and squeezed, rubbing in slow circles.

  Hannah poured him a glass of tea and grabbed the Ibuprofen from the cabinet above the sink. She shook out two. “Open.” He did and she placed them in his mouth. She guided his hand to the glass.

  He took a sip, swallowed the pills, and then tipped the glass for one more drink. When he held the glass out to her, she set it on the table and pulled him to his feet. Guiding him like the blind, she led him to her bedroom.

  “What are we doing?” he asked, his eyes still shut tight.

  “I’m putting you to bed.” She pulled the blankets back. “Here, lay down.”

  He cracked his eyes open just long enough to crawl into bed. Once he stretched out she untied his shoes and tossed them in the corner of the room.

  Still not feeling completely at ease, she checked all of the windows and locked her bedroom door. At least this way if someone tried to get in she would hear the door rattle first.

  It didn’t take him long to give in, by the time she finished locking the door he was sound asleep. She felt sorry for him. She had a migraine once and it made her so sick that she vomited.

  She carefully slid into the bed beside him. She stilled when he shifted. Once his breathing steadied, she relaxed. Placing her hands on the sides of his face, she used her two middle fingers to gently rub circles on his temples. Her mother had taught her this trick a couple years ago. Every time she had a headache she rubbed circles on her temples and the ache eased, sometimes vanishing all together.

  She continued to rub his head until her palms started to cramp. Reaching over to the bedside table, she picked up her kindle. He obviously needed the rest so she may as well get in some reading time.

  The novel came highly recommended from her English Lit teacher. Initially she didn’t think she’d like it. Because, what teenager is going to enjoy the same kind of fiction as a middle age English teacher. As she read the first chapter she found herself being sucked right into the story.

  After a few pages her eyes grew heavy.

  Hannah stood in her English Lit class. Not a single person was in sight. She looked at the clock on the wall. The class should be full of students, yet there wasn’t any to be found.

  She walked up to the teacher’s desk, maybe there was a note somewhere explaining where everyone was. Piles of ungraded papers covered the desktop. She sifted through them until she reached the very bottom of the pile. One paper remained, and it terrified her.

  She picked it up with shaky hands and read it. Hannah, we know who you are and we’re coming for you, my sweet Devada!

  Her own heartbeat echoed in the empty room. She had so many questions. First, what was a Devada? Second, who in the world was coming for her?

  “Mmm, I can smell you from here,” she heard the gravelly voice in her head.

  She took one more look around the room, it was still empty. Now her heart beat so hard and fast that it hurt her chest.

  “The blood of the divine,” she could hear him inhale and smack his lips, “is so sweet and so filling.”

  Hannah bolted upright, screaming. It took her a second to take in her surroundings. This was her bedroom. She was in her bed. Relaxing, she slumped back against the headboard. This was getting old, real quick. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had a peaceful night’s sleep. Every time she drifted off she had nightmares. She was seventeen years old for crying out loud.

  A thud startled her and she peer
ed over the edge of the mattress. She had totally forgotten that Chris was here, in her bed. Boy, if only her parents could see them now. She’d be grounded until pigs could fly.

  Chris was so startled that when he jerked awake, he fell off of the bed with a loud thud. He looked up at Hannah’s frightened face and jumped to his feet. Immediately, he grabbed the nearest weapon — a laptop, and held it up over his head.

  Hannah’s heart nearly leapt out of her chest. She had worked very hard to buy that laptop. “Put the computer down. Gently,” she ordered.

  He blinked a few times, clearing his foggy brain, before finally registering that there were no trespassers. “Why in the world did you scream?” He placed her laptop back on the desk where he had found it.

  “I…It was just a bad dream.” Wiping the beads of sweat from her forehead, she stood. “I’ve been having weird dreams all week. I’m fine.”

  “Are you sure,” he asked. She nodded. “Han, are you sure everything’s fine?”

  “Yeah, I’ve just been having these strange nightmares. Like something from one of those really weird demonic horror movies. It’s probably because it’s almost Halloween and all these scary movies are on back to back.”

  “Alright then. Maybe you should lay off the horror flicks,” he teased.

  “Ha-ha.” She pulled her cell phone out of her jeans pocket to check the time. “Wow. I didn’t mean to fall asleep. The movie starts in half an hour.” If they hurried they could make it to the theater before the movie started.

  He stretched then cracked his knuckles. He was very thankful for the long nap, his headache was completely gone. “Well, do what you need to do and then we’ll leave.” He walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.

  The movie theater was in the next town, twelve minutes away. They arrived with only one minute to spare. The latest superhero movie was playing tonight and they both looked forward to watching it. Hannah reached into her back pocket and pulled out the money her father had given her earlier that morning.