Devil's Nightmare: Premonitions (Devil's Nightmare, Book 2)

by Robert Pruneda

  “Nothing, really. Just feeling like crap all day.”

  “Uh-huh. But you’re feeling better now, right?”

  Cody nodded and drank some more tea while maintaining eye contact.

  “What did you do today? Besides skipping school.”

  “Slept mostly.”

  “And how did you sleep?”

  “Fine, I guess,” he mumbled.

  “Hey, babe,” Aaron rested his head back and looked towards the kitchen. “Would you hand me that Moscato, please?”

  Maria opened one of the cupboards. “Want it in a glass?”

  “No, I’ll drink it straight out of the bottle.” He rested his arm on the couch behind Cody. “So, Sergeant Henderson and I paid your pal Peter Slavic a visit this afternoon.”

  “For what?” Cody stared at the television screen. The Atlanta Braves and the St. Louis Cardinals had five runs each in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Cardinals were at bat. “What did he say about me?”

  “That’s not why we were there.” Aaron lowered the volume on the television.

  “Hey, I’m watching that.”

  “You won’t miss a thing.” Aaron pressed the DVR record button on the remote. “I want to talk to you about how things are at school.”

  Maria handed Aaron his small bottle of wine and headed down the kids’ bedroom hallway. Cody rolled his eyes at the sound of Samantha’s flute, and set his mug of tea on the coffee table. “Do we have to talk about this right now? If the Braves win this game, they go to the World Series.”

  “Tell me what happened at school today.”

  “I didn’t go to school today.” Cody pushed himself off the couch, grabbed his mug of tea, and went to the kitchen. “Maria was with me all day. She didn’t tell you?”

  “Yeah, she did, but we both know that isn’t true. Tell me what happened between you and Chris Hollingsworth?”

  Cody emptied the rest of the tea into the sink. “You mean that rich snob that’s always bragging about being the Mayor’s son? That Chris?”

  “Yeah, him. What happened?”

  Cody placed the mug in the dishwasher and returned to the living room. “I guess I bashed his head into a locker. And now Principal Newman wants to suspend me.” He sat back on the couch with one leg tucked underneath him. He focused on the baseball game. “She’ll be doing me a favor. Less time I have to put up with that fat slob Peter.”

  “Bailing from her office was a bad idea, Cody. How did you get home? Did you call Maria to pick you up?”

  The Cardinals left fielder connected with a fastball down the middle of the plate. The Braves center fielder jumped in an attempt to rob the Cardinals of their ninth inning victory, but the ball was out of reach. Cody huffed in disappointment and grabbed the remote control. He turned off the television.

  “I asked you a question, Cody.”

  “I already told you. I was home all day.”

  Aaron shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck. “Come on, cut the bull—“

  “You don’t know what I’m going through.” He glanced at Aaron. “You have no idea.”

  “We’ve been through hell and back together. Tell me what’s going on.” Aaron scooted closer on the couch. “Is it Peter? Is he still bothering you? Because, if he is, I’ll put a stop to it.”

  Cody placed his elbow on the edge of the couch and rested his head in his hand. “Yeah, like before? A lot of good that did. He doesn’t care. He’ll just get away with it, like he always does.”

  “So he did hurt you again.”

  Cody heaved a sigh, but didn’t say anything.

  “I’ll take that as a yes. What did he do this time?”

  Cody pressed his lips and wiped one of his eyes. He didn’t say anything for a long minute before finally explaining what happened in the school bathroom. He told Aaron about the knife, Peter punching him between the legs, and kicking him several times in the stomach. He left out the part about Peter threatening to kill him. “I wish it was him instead of Randy.”

  “What was him?”

  He stared at the hardwood floor. “I wish Peter died instead. Randy tried to help me. If anyone deserved to die, it was Peter.”

  Aaron drank half the bottle of Moscato and set it on the coffee table, giving him a little bit of time to process that statement. “No one deserves to die, Cody. You don’t mean that.”

  “I’m just saying, if Peter got killed instead of Randy, then…” He took a deep breath and exhaled through nose. “I don’t know what I’m saying. It doesn’t matter, anyway. I’m not going back to school.”

  “Well, that’s not an option. And we’ve got to clear up this whole thing about the Mayor’s son. I’m taking you to see Principal

  Newman first thing tomorrow.”

  “I’m not going.”

  “Yeah, you are.”

  The music from Samantha’s room ended, and a moment later, Maria and her daughter entered the living room. Samantha held her flute with a proud smile on her face. “I finally got the hang of this thing. Want me to play something for you?”

  “No,” Cody said and got up from the couch. “I’ve heard enough already.”

  “Well, I wasn’t talking to you anyway, Mr. Grouch. I was talking to Aaron.”

  He marched towards his bedroom. “Whatever.”

  Maria started going after Cody, but Aaron shook his head. He smiled at Samantha. “I would love to hear you play.” It was a lie, but a few minutes of off-key notes from an overpriced flute would get his mind off his issues with Cody for the time being. Aaron took another swig of his six-ounce bottle of wine. Maybe he should have gone with something that had a bit more octane.

  †

  After listening to half an hour of Samantha’s attempt at playing the flute, Aaron smoked a cigarette on the front porch. Crickets chirped and frogs croaked under a cloudless star-filled sky. The sounds of nature were occasionally drowned out by the hum of vehicles traveling down the highway.

  Maria stepped outside and rubbed the tension from her husband’s shoulders.

  “Why did you cover for Cody?”

  Maria stopped rubbing, but kept her hands on Aaron’s shoulders.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m talking about Cody staying home from school.” Aaron snuffed his cigarette out on an ashtray set on the front deck railing. “Did you assume the school would call you instead and I wouldn’t find out about what happened?”

  “What are you talking about? I told you why he didn’t go to school today. Why would I lie about something like that?”

  “Well, somebody is, because—”

  She stepped away from him. “Call my boss if you think I’m lying. I took the day off to take care of Cody, so I don’t know what else to tell you. And frankly, I’m not going to put up with—”

  “Okay, okay. I’m sorry. I don’t want to fight.”

  “Then tell me what’s bothering you.” She stood in front of him. “What’s going on, honey?”

  Aaron held the back of his neck with both hands and stretched. “It’s Cody. We moved out here for him, to start a new life, and… I don’t know… Sometimes I regret moving.”

  “That’s what’s bothering you? Aaron, we’ve all pulled through this together as a family. Where we live doesn’t matter. It’s how we live that does.”

  “So, if I said we should ditch this place and move back to Austin, you’d be okay with it?”

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

  Maria stepped behind Aaron and rubbed his shoulders again. “I know you’ve been a cop for a long time, but maybe you should think about retiring. For good, this time.”

  “It’s not the job. There’s just something about Cody lately that…”

  “What?” Maria stopped rubbing his shoulders. “What about him?”

  “Something’s not right. He’s acting different.”

  “After what he’s been through, we can’t expect him to
be like other kids. You know that.” She continued massaging. “And after what happened to that kid at his school, can you blame him? Give him some space. Be patient with him. Before you know it, he’ll be that sweet kid we both fell in love with.”

  “Between you and me, he’s always been a pain in the ass.” Aaron looked over his shoulder and grinned.

  Maria laughed. “By your own admission, you just aren’t that good with kids.” She gave Aaron’s shoulders a tight squeeze. “Now let’s go to bed. Lost Maples needs you well-rested to catch the bad guys.”

  “You make it sound so casual.”

  “Just trying not to dwell on the negative side of things. That’s all. You should try it sometime.”

  Aaron formed half a smile and followed his wife inside the house. After the massage she gave him, sleeping was the last thing on his mind.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Shallow Grave

  Aaron opened his eyes with the vivid images of another nightmare still fresh on his mind. The clock on his nightstand flickered, the numbers alternating between three-fifteen, three eights, and three sixes. He was about to slap the top of the clock when he felt something shuffling at the foot of his bed. Aaron sat up and switched on the lamp.

  It was Cody. He had a blank stare on his face and was wearing a black muscle shirt and black sweat pants. When did he start wearing all black? Aaron lowered the lamp to its dimmest setting. “What’s wrong?” he whispered. “Can’t sleep?”

  Cody didn’t answer.

  “Okay. The silent treatment again.” Aaron glanced at Maria, pulled the covers off himself, and got out of bed. “Go on back to your room. Or if you want to talk, I’ll meet you in the living room in a few minutes.”

  As soon as Cody left the bedroom, Aaron went to the bathroom. After washing his hands, he started towards the bedroom doorway and stopped. There was an old medieval crossbow on his pillow, loaded, cocked, and ready to fire. The dangerous end was pointed at Maria’s head. It resembled the weapon that he and Cody had found when they were digging around in the shed on moving day. But that crossbow had been damaged with a broken bowstring and dismantled prod.

  “Aaron,” Maria mumbled. “Turn off the light.”

  He carefully removed the bolt and lifted the crossbow from the pillow, disabling the firing mechanism with a firm pull of the string away from the latch. As soon as he had the weapon returned to its idle position, he switched off the lamp and headed to the living room. Cody wasn’t there. Aaron found him lying face down in his bed with his arms tucked underneath his pillow. His breathing was slow and heavy, almost a snore.

  Aaron flipped the light switch on, closed the door, and dropped the crossbow onto the hardwood floor. The impact jolted Cody awake. He caught himself before rolling off the side of the bed. He shielded his eyes from the overhead light with his hand. “What the heck was that?”

  Cody was wearing a white tee-shirt and blue sweatpants. Why the hell had he changed clothes? It didn’t matter. Aaron pointed at the crossbow on the floor. “You want to explain that? Is this some kind of joke?

  Cody rubbed his eyes and squinted at the floor, his eyes still adjusting to the light. He wrinkled his eyebrows together and tilted his back. “What?”

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” Aaron picked up the archery weapon and tossed it on Cody’s bed. “Why did you put that thing on my pillow? It was loaded with this bolt and aimed at Maria’s head.” He showed Cody the crossbow bolt and dropped it on the bed next to him.

  “What? I didn’t do that.”

  “Right. I guess I imagined the whole thing. And that crossbow isn’t real either.” Aaron pressed his hand against his forehead and closed his eyes. He took in a breath and stared into Cody’s eyes. “Were you sleep walking, or what?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Then why did you put that thing on my bed?”

  “I told you, I didn’t do it.”

  They locked eyes for a minute before a knock on the door distracted them. The door opened and Samantha poked her head inside. “What’s going on?”

  Aaron stood in front of the bed, shielding the weapon from his stepdaughter’s view. “Nothing, Sam. Go back to bed.”

  “Then why were you talking so loud? It sounded like you were arguing about something.”

  “It’s fine, Sam. Now go back to your room, okay?” Aaron ushered her back to her bedroom and apologized for waking her. After he got Samantha back in her bed, he returned to Cody’s room, but the door was closed, the crossbow leaning against the wall next to it.

  Aaron grabbed the knob and twisted it, but it was locked. “Cody, unlock the door.” He waited a moment and knocked on the door. “Open the door.” Cody didn’t respond. “All right, fine. But we’re not done here. And I’m still taking you to school later to talk to your principal.”

  “I’m not going.”

  “Yes, you are.”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “Yes, you…” Aaron grunted in frustration and snatched the crossbow, acting as if he wanted to toss it against the door. Instead, he resisted and set it back down. He ran his hand over the top of the door frame and found a master key. Even after unlocking the door with the key, the door handle wouldn’t turn freely. “Let go of the handle, Cody.”

  “Just leave me alone.”

  Aaron put both hands on the door handle and turned it, overpowering Cody’s ability to keep the doorknob from twisting open. Aaron pushed forward, knocking Cody off-balance. He frowned at Aaron and sat in his desk chair.

  Aaron shut the door. “What are you keeping from me? And I’m not leaving this room until you tell me what it is.”

  “Then I guess you’re never leaving, because I don’t have anything to tell you.”

  “Damn it, Cody. Why are you shutting me out like this?” Aaron sat on the edge of the bed and grabbed Cody’s Bible off his desk. “And when did you start reading this? I figured after Saint Hedwig you’d be done with religion.”

  “Just because I don’t like going to church, doesn’t mean I don’t believe in God.”

  Aaron flipped through the pages of the Bible. “You went to church on Sunday. Why the sudden change of heart?”

  “I wanted to talk to the priest.”

  “About what?”

  Cody glanced away for a moment and bit down on the side of his lower lip.

  “Was it about the nightmares?” He nodded. “And what exactly did you tell him?”

  “That a demon is oppressing me.”

  Aaron raised his eyebrows. “You told him that?”

  “Yeah, but I didn’t say anything about the chimera or Saint Hedwig. Not that he would believe me anyway.”

  “But demon oppression he had no problem with?”

  Cody cocked his head. “He’s a priest. Of course not.”

  “And what about the nightmares? What did you tell him?”

  “Just that I’ve been having a lot of bad nightmares. I asked if he would pray for me.”

  “You told me you weren’t having nightmares. Why did you lie to me?”

  “I didn’t want to—”

  “’Their children also shall be dashed into pieces before their eyes,’” Aaron read from Cody’s Bible. Isaiah 13:16 was highlighted in yellow. “’Their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.’” He stood and tossed the Bible onto Cody’s desk. “Why did you highlight that scripture?”

  Cody glanced at the Bible and shrugged.

  “That’s it? You don’t know?” Aaron knelt in front of Cody and grabbed the back of the chair. “Somebody wrote that exact scripture reference in blood on the back of a photo. I found it at the park where we found your friend Randall Cunningham stuffed in a barrel.”

  “He wasn’t my friend.”

  “That’s not the point, Cody. Did you see it happen? Did you see it in a dream?”

  Cody didn’t answer. He shut the Bible and stared out into the darkness through his bedroom window. Aaron got back up, opened the Bible, an
d flipped the pages until he reached the twenty-second chapter in the book of Genesis. The second verse was also highlighted in yellow. It was the scripture about God’s command to sacrifice his son Isaac. Aaron closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

  He placed his hands on Cody’s shoulders. “You don’t have to keep this from me. If you’re having these dreams, you have to let me know, so we can figure out how to stop this thing. So, I’m going to ask you again. Did you see Randall’s death in your nightmares, or not? Did you have a premonition about it?”

  Cody placed one hand over Aaron’s and lowered his head. The reflection in the window showed the emotional pain as he cried.

  “It’s okay, son.” Aaron squeezed Cody’s shoulders. “You just answered my question. He closed the Bible and opened the top desk drawer. “I think we’ve about had enough scripture reading for now.”

  As he was about to stuff the Bible in the drawer, he gazed at a Houston Astros keychain. There was also a newspaper clipping and photograph underneath the keys and several candy bars. Aaron grabbed the key ring with the tips of his fingers and rested the keys on the table. He also removed the newspaper clipping. It had an old thumbnail picture of him from when he was a traffic cop in Austin. The headline read: Austin Police Officer Charged with Assault on Pregnant Wife. He glanced at the photo still in the desk drawer. It was a picture of someone holding a baby, but the candy bars obscured the face of the woman. He started to reach for the photo, but closed the drawer.

  “Where did you get these keys?”

  Cody glanced at the newspaper article in Aaron’s hand with reddened eyes. He lay on his bed and pulled the covers to his shoulders, rolling over with his back towards Aaron.

  “No-no-no. I don’t think so. You’re not giving me the silent treatment.” Aaron set the article on the desk next to the keys and sat on the bed. He had one arm draped over Cody. “Where did you get those keys? You need to tell me.”

  “Did you love her?” Cody mumbled.

  “What? Did I love who?”

  “Your wife. The one from the newspaper.”