Darkly Devoted (Book 1, 2, 3)

DD Chapter 7 - The Queen Demon Hunter

Chapter 7

THE FIRST DAY OF school was never easy for anyone. However, starting a new school where everyone knew each other already was far harder. Registration took less time than expected. Vivienne's parents registered her by her old name — Vivienne Minthe. Vivienne forced herself to remember that, for the time being, it was back to being the Minthes.

Blake must have liked that name. No wonder the mail to her father from Remin referred to her family under that name. Since it had been a decade since her family went under it, there was no danger in rehashing it.

Vivienne's parents replaced her missing cell phone without a single complaint. They had money to spare now. They even offered to take her shopping for new clothes. Vivienne adamantly refused. She wasn't going to spend any more of that awful money.

Remin was a provincial town far from Manna City, both in distance and in culture. Vivienne didn't see a single newspaper except the local paper, which had headlines about the local farmer's market offering fresh apple cider and grilled corn. It was like the town had been frozen in time — they even had ancient desktop computers and landline phones. There was a cellular signal, but it frequently failed.

It was quaint in a way. Remin didn't care about the celebrities and the politics that dominated the papers in the more affluent towns. They had their own little world to focus on. There was almost an eerie quality to the town's isolation. It was as though the people who lived here actively worked to shut themselves off from the outside world.

By 8:30 AM, Vivienne was already placed in her first class of the day — AP Biology. Schoolwork was never hard for Vivienne, though having missed several weeks of classes, she had a ton of catching up to do. It had been summer when she had been picked. Now she was starting her Senior year later than everyone else.

As the teacher drones on about photosynthesis and how the sun's energy was trapped by chlorophyll, Vivienne felt her attention wane. As the teacher drew green cells on the blackboard, her eyes drifted around the room. Vivienne noticed a mousy girl sitting three seats away with kittens embroidered onto her sleeve. She had a magazine of prom dresses open on her lap. Vivienne wondered if the girl was preparing for the autumn ball that she had seen fliers for as she entered the school that morning.

In her third-period gym class, as Vivienne looked for an empty locker to put her gym clothes in, she was suddenly elbowed up against a wall.

"Excuse me?" Vivienne asked, barely able to recover herself. Her sneakers and gym bag were scattered across the floor. Somewhere in the distance, she heard several other girls giggle at her dismay.

*Excuse you, you mean," a voluptuous brunette replied as she smacked a piece of chewing gum between her teeth. "Little thief. Why are you in my locker?"

"I'm sorry," Vivienne said, apologizing profusely as she tried to reach for her gym bag. "I'm new here. I was just looking for an empty locker."

"Sure, you are," the brunette said and kicked Vivienne's bag across the locker floor. "Check her bag, Sam, make sure she didn't take anything."

Sam was a pretty blonde girl with large bug-like eyes. She began rummaging through Vivienne's gym bag. She wrinkled her nose at Vivienne's sweatpants, which barely fit two years ago, and ratty old t-shirt. "Nothing but garbage in here, Zissa, babe." Sam's gigantic eyes then landed on Vivienne's necklace. "Pretty nice piece of jewelry for a poor girl, don't you think?"

"Jewelry?" Zissa suddenly demanded. "Where's my ring?"

"Give me back my bag," Vivienne hissed with her most authoritative voice. "Give it back, or you will regret it."

Sam laughed and threw Vivienne's bag on the floor. "Let's go, Zissa, before she starts crying."

"No," Zissa said, her black dagger-like eyes not leaving Vivienne for a second. "Not until I find my ring."

Vivienne wasn't sure what exactly happened next. As Zissa reached for her bag, Vivienne jumped back. She didn't mean to touch Zissa at all, but because she was by far the taller one. But Zissa was wearing sky-high heels. Vivienne's hand went right smack into her cheek. Zissa lost her balance and went face down onto the trash-littered locker floor.

"Ow!" Zissa shrieked as she pressed her palm into her rapidly reddening face. "She hit me! The little creepy-eyed freak!"

There was a crowd gathering. Vivienne had a feeling she had done something horribly wrong.

"I didn't," Vivienne whispered. There wasn't a single sympathetic face to be found. She had a sudden feeling that she was now not just facing one mean girl but a mob of them. Vivienne grabbed her gym bag off the floor and ran for the hallway. She ran out the nearest exit and hid behind a row of garbage cans. She just wanted to go home to Lewisville.

Vivienne wasn't sure how long she remained outside. Footsteps approached. She sat up to attention, ready for a fight. A small figure came around the corner.

"There you are," the girl said. It was the mousy girl sitting in front of her in AP Biology — the one with the kittens on her sweater. In her arms, she was cradling Vivienne's sneakers. "You forgot something back there. You are the new girl, right?"

Vivienne nodded, trying hard to disguise the fact that she had been crying. She had recently fought off monsters far worse than a group of high school mean-girls.

"Let's go back," the girl said, taking Vivienne's hand like she was a little kid. "My name is Nicole, by the way. Don't worry about Zissa. She's so gifted, but she's under a lot of stress lately."

"Gifted? As in beautiful and rich?" Vivienne asked, absently.

"No. You're really not from around here, are you?" Nicole laughed. "She's a gifted demon hunter."