In Vendetta House (The Vendetta Series #1)

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Panicked murmurs begin to rise in the room. I watch Miss Deviathan dig out a cellphone, her face attempting to hide shock and dread upon seeing the invaders. I guess she's calling Aunt Nelly. Earlier, I had learnt the 'phones' each adult has are more like walkie-talkies. They can only connect to each other and not the outside.

She snaps incoherently into the speaker, her hands gesturing wildly.

On the other side of the window, Nephilum have climbed over the fence and are walking diligently towards the front door. The sight is almost amusing, that they had orchestrated such an fierce attack to get over and are now using a civilized approach to get into the House itself.

One boy has balanced himself onto the very top of the fence, teetering dangerously, then taking a giant leap down and landing on both his feet.

"How do they do that?" I mutter under my breath.

"Natural battle complex," Jesse says, overhearing my question and spotting my questioning gaze on the boy who landed perfectly.

"When Nephilum engage in combat, they lose a small sense of morality." He points at one girl who has a blood-thirsty look on her face. "They'll do anything to win the fight and beat down the opponent. Along with their euphoric need for victory, it also gives them enough unnatural adrenaline to become practically invincible."

"Wow." I try ignore the girl behind me who was seething delirious notions of being too young to be killed. If she swings her arms any higher, she is going to hit me. "How come we don't get that?"

The crowd shifts a little as Miss Deviathan pushes her way to the front for another look, relaying what she sees into the phone. We move to the side to make space, while Jesse answers, "We take after the beings we descended from. Angels are warriors, beings of justice and victory. Demons are tricksters, they play mind games, create unexplainable phenomenon and hide in the shadows."

Before I can comment more on this, alarms blare throughout the House; the same noise Aunt Nelly executed in the cafeteria yesterday, but this one keeps going on and on in a continuous siren.

"Children!" Miss Deviathan yells over the noise, putting her phone away, "Follow attack procedures and go to the East Wing basement in an orderly fashion please. I repeat, the EAST wing basement. Do NOT go anywhere NEAR the front door. Dr White will deal with this."

People begin to run out despite the orderly fashion warning. Many shove at each other to move faster and some cling to their friends in fear.

I peer back out the window, strangely unworried. What is the difference between being in a classroom and a basement?

Miss Deviathan calls for us to hurry and get out. I spot Vee in crowd giving Courtney, who is also still staring outside, a worried glance before being pushed out. Funny, I hadn't even noticed Vee is in this class. I turn to follow the mess of arms and legs moving out, but nails tighten around my wrist, stopping me.

I whirl around.

"This is all your fault!" Courtney screams at me over the alarm. Something is honestly wrong with this girl to blame everything that happens on me.

I whack her grip off my wrist. "What the flying fudge is wrong with you? You can't possibly pin a Nephilum attack on me!"

"Why not?" she barks, her voice starting to take on an edge of hysteria, "Everything has gone wrong since you arrived, every bit of normalcy I had is beginning to tip thanks to you!"

Jesse tries to step in between us. Key word: tries. We're almost nose to nose screaming.

"Can you two continue this fight some other time?" he yells, "There's a very good possibility we're going to get slaughtered if the Nephilum break in through the windows."