Changed (The Hunters #1)

by Rose J. Bell

  She looked at Jason. “Did you stay here with me the entire?”

  Jason nodded. “Yes.”

  “And why?” She couldn’t figure out why he was with her the whole time. That just did not fit her image of the Nephilim.

  Jason didn’t answer directly. Then he stood up, pacing the room.

  “I’m not as cruel as you think, Ice Princess,” he answered simply, and left the room.

  Rosa was so confused. Could it be angels weren’t totally cruel and violent?

  No, it could not! An archangel has killed your father, Rosa, she reminded herself.

  After she took her clothes, Rosa hopped on one leg back to her bed and sat down. Getting dressed, she attached her belt to her waist. Fortunately, there weren’t any daggers in it.

  Then she made her way into the bathroom. The girl in the mirror was pale, and eyes bloodshot. Her left eye was swollen and her bottom lip busted.

  Yeah, she looked like crap.

  To freshen up, Rosa splashed cold water on her face, and tied her hair back. Then she left the bathroom, looking again around the room to make sure she was not forgetting something, and then she left.

  Jason was standing with a nurse a few feet away. He flirted heavily with her.

  This boy learns nothing!

  “Jason!” called an irritated Rosa. “Come on!”

  He gestured to the nurse to call him then he came back to Rosa.

  “Here. So you can go,” he said as he handed her a pair of crutches.

  “Why do you flirt so much?” she asked as they walked to the exit. “Haven’t you learned your lesson?”

  He grinned at her. “Apparently not.”

  She raised one of her crutches to him. “Next time I won’t save your butt.”

  “I don’t know if I can believe that.”

  “You better believe it.”

  As they arrived at the stairs, Rosa tried to go down with the crutches. Cursing, she slowly took a step. How much she hated to be injured!

  “Come. I’ll carry you,” said Jason. Before Rosa could argue, he took her crutches and lifted her in his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck to hold herself.

  “I could go down the stairs on my own,” she said, looking at his handsome face.

  Jason nodded. “Sure, but that would take too long.”

  She never thought in her life she would be carried out of a hospital in arms of her enemy. She had not even considered talking with them, or especially saving their lives before.

  Yes, life can be funny. Really funny.

  Without realizing it, she rested her head on his chest. He was wearing one of those green surgical gowns. She felt Jason’s eyes on her, but she didn’t say or do anything.

  Rosa still felt tired. She’d love to sleep and never wake up, to close her eyes to the world.

  But she couldn’t. She had duties.

  “You told me that it takes a lot more than a bleeding leg to get you to carry me,” she remembered. “So why are you carrying me?”

  Jason smiled at her, “Because no man can resist the chance to carry a beautiful woman in his arms.” At the end, his voice sounded caressing.

  Rosa looked at him. She could find no hint that he was teasing her, and somehow she felt flattered.

  “So, I should thank my beauty that you’re carrying me?” she joked, trying to hide her true feeling of flattery.

  His eyes locked with hers. “I would always carry you, Ice Princess. No matter how you look.”

  Before Rosa could reply, Jason set Rosa down on the ground. He handed her the crutches, so she could stand up with them.

  “Jason, can I ask you something?” Rosa asked.

  “Sure.” He searched for her car keys in his pockets.

  “What would you do if someone was in love with you, but you didn’t love them in return? Would you tell him?”

  Jason found the car keys and opened the car. He didn’t answer right away.

  “Yes, I would tell him. So he didn’t get his hopes up,” he answered finally, turning toward her.

  “And what would you do if the person could die if he loved you?”

  Jason furrowed his brow at the question, but answered it. “I would protect him so his love for me doesn’t kill him.”

  Rosa nodded slowly. Jason was right. She had to tell Matt she did not love him, and that they can’t be together.

  These thoughts left a pain in her chest. She knew this would hurt Matt.

  Rosa didn’t know if Matt would want to remain friends with her when she told him. She did not love him in that way, but she hoped they could remain friends.

  “Come. Get in the car,” Jason said softly.

  She looked at him. She was certain he knew what was going on in her mind. She could see it in his eyes.

  “Were you ever in this situation?” she asked him quietly.

  Jason looked at her, but his eyes seemed to go through her. Something about his expression changed. Rosa wasn’t sure, but she thought she saw sadness in his eyes.

  “You could say that,” he replied, reaching for her hand.

  “Okay, Ice Princess. It’s almost midnight, and tomorrow we have to go to school. So, let’s go home.”

  Rosa smiled. This Jason was likeable, but she knew he would not always be this way.

  Angel’s were not kind or empathetic.

  Jason helped her get into her car. “Thank you,” she said.

  He smiled as he closed the door. As he headed down the road, Rosa said, “It seems you and my car have become mighty close.”

  “Yes, we have. While you were asleep we had a lovely tea party,” Jason said, grinning.

  “And what has she told you?” said Rosa, drawing her eyebrows up.

  “You call your car ‘she’?” he asked as he glanced over at her.

  “Should I call her ‘he’ or what? My car certainly isn’t a male.”

  Jason laughed. “You’re the first girl I’ve ever met who thinks her car is female.”

  Rosa shrugged. “At least I have a car, unlike you”

  “Who said I don’t have a car? I have one. And besides, I don’t need a car. I can fly.”

  “Whatever.” Then, looking out the window, she asked, “Where are you going? You don’t know where I live.”

  He smiled at her. “I thought you would tell me.”

  “I’ll show you the way. Drive straight ahead.”

  Jason nodded. Rosa leaned her head against the seat and closed her eyes.

  “Why are you actually here?” she asked.

  “My father sent us here,” said Jason.

  Rosa did not open her eyes, but all her senses were awake. She did not want to miss a single word that Jason told her.

  “And why? That’s the area of the hunters.”

  She could feel Jason’s gaze upon her. She kept her eyes closed, waiting for his answer.

  “I can’t tell you. It’s a top secret thing,” he replied. Her suspicion was confirmed. They are here for a reason. But what reason?

  Rosa sighed deeply. “Your life must surely be easy as a Nephilim.”

  Jason snorted. “Yes, very easy,” he said bitterly.

  Rosa opened one eye and looked at him.

  “Why not? You are strong, beautiful, and you can fly. You get everyone you want.”

  “There isn’t always a good side ...”

  “... But a dark side. Yes, I know,” she finished his sentence.

  “How do you know?” he asked.

  She leaned forward and smiled. “Because my life has a dark side, too.”

  “Ah, what’s your dark side?”

  She leaned back. “Let that be my little secret.”

  Suddenly the light went on. An explosion of white sun popped toward her, as she staggered backwards. Narrowing her eyes, tears ran uncontrollably down her cheeks. It felt like the light was bombarding her retina.

  She dropped to her knees and pressed her hands over her eyes. For a very long time she had not seen light.
Her eyes had become accustomed to the darkness. Now seeing the light hurt her eyes.

  She wanted the light to disappear.

  She wanted to plunge into the darkness again.

  In the following hours, she slowly began to loosen her hands from her face and blinked several times, allowing her eyes to adjust.

  She sat down on the floor, as the voice of a man sent shock waves through her body.

  “Hello, Jasmine,” said the man’s voice. “Today is the sixth of June. You’ve been sitting here now for six months.”

  Oh God! Six months! Had it really been that long?

  “And now, we’re going to give you a gift, Jasmine,” the voice continued.

  She was freezing, and every word sickening to her. She wanted to hold her hands over her ears, but she needed to hear what the voice was going to say.

  “Your gift is that we keep the lights on, and you will get a blanket to sleep. To receive these things, you need to answer me a question, Jasmine. Why do you think we kidnapped you, and imprisoned you in this dungeon? Why, Jasmine?”

  “Oh no,” she moaned, holding her hands over her face. She could not believe it. “Please! If you want to kill me, then do it.”

  “We do not want to kill you, Jasmine,” the man’s voice said quietly, almost gently.

  “What do you want then?” she cried.

  “The answer to my question.”

  Why? Why? Why? The question whirled around in her mind. She knew she had been kidnapped by the hunters. But what could be their motive?

  “Revenge,” she finally answered, and stared at the light. “You want revenge.”

  “Good, Jasmine. Very good,” the voice praised her. “And now the next question.”

  She looked puzzled at the light. “What? But you said only one question!”

  The voice laughed. It was cold and distorted. “My love, the first question was for the blanket. So that the light stays on, you have to answer another question.”

  These damn bastards were playing with her.

  “The second question is: Why do we want revenge, Jasmine? Why?”

  She swallowed. She had no idea. “I ... I don’t know,” she stammered. “Maybe because we’re fighting the hunters.”

  “You answered the question incorrectly, Jasmine. Unfortunately, I must punish you.” The voice was even colder and harder.

  “Oh god! No, please don’t!” she sobbed and fell to her knees. “Please! Give me another chance! Please!”

  She did not want to be punished! She did not want to go back into the darkness!

  “I’ll ask the same question in six months, Jasmine. As long as you answer this question incorrectly, you will sit here and be punished.”

  She heard a loud rustling, and then the voice was gone.

  The door opened.

  She stared anxiously at the shadow that stood in the door. As the shadow came closer, she stepped back.

  “Please don’t!” she pleaded, feeling the wall against her back. Her whole body was shaking. The last time she was punished, was when they had plunged her in the dungeon the first time.

  She had been punished with a whip.

  Hands suddenly grabbed her by the arms, and dragged her away from the wall.

  She resisted. “Please! Don’t do that! I beg you.”

  But they showed no mercy. Her shirt was torn from her. The cold seeping into her body.

  Trembling, she closed her eyes and began to cry.

  What had she done to deserve this torture? What had she done wrong?

  The first punch hit her strong in the back. She cried out and tears streamed down her face. The pain was unbearable.

  Dear God, please let it end soon. Please, she begged silently. She had no recollection of how long they beat her with the whip, finally the pain pulling her into a deep hole.

  Today, Rosa arrived at school on time, although she went on crutches. She wasn’t able to sleep the night before.

  First, she was in severe pain, and second, she had thought about Matt all the night. She just did not know how she could tell him how she felt. She needed to be careful, as she didn’t want to lose his friendship. She had thought of more than a hundred possibilities, but none seemed right. She would surely think of something when she stood before him.

  Matt was waiting for her, like every morning, at the door of the school building. Rosa was having trouble getting up the stairs with her crutches, so he quickly came to her aid.

  “What happened?” he asked as he helped her up the stairs. He looked at her face, noticing her swollen eye and swollen lip.

  “A shadow creature. During the fight it stabbed me in the thigh with a knife,” she answered, not looking him in the eye.

  Matt stared at her incredulously. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”

  She shook her head. “No.” She couldn’t bring herself to tell him about killing Madison.

  Instead, she said, “Matt, I have to talk to you.”

  “Now?”

  “No, after school.”

  He nodded. “Okay. Today is our Videogame day anyway. Then you can talk to me.” Videogame day was something Rosa and Matt had been doing together for more than five years. Every Tuesday, Rosa went to Matt’s house to play video games, and to forget her dark life, even if for only a moment.

  Matt was an enthusiastic video game player. He loved to play, and Rosa had been infected with his video game obsession, too. She liked video games. It was much easier to knock out a man in the game, than in real life. Actually, everything was easier in the virtual life than in the real one.

  Rosa smiled. “Okay.”

  He let go of her as she stood at the top of the stairs, before wandering to their classes. Like the day before, they had English with Ms. Franklin.

  Rosa sighed. She hated school. She did not understand why she had to go, when she already knew she would become a hunter.

  She had asked Sergei many times, and his response would always be, “Rosa, you shall behave like a normal girl, and normal girls go to school. You do not want anyone to figure out who you really are, do you?”

  Rosa had only nodded, because as always, Sergei was right. She had to be like everyone else so nobody could figure out her true identity.

  Rosa and Matt went into the classroom. Philip was already there, and Jason was nowhere to be seen.

  “What happened to your leg and your face?” Philip asked.

  “I had a little accident,” Rosa said.

  He looked at her skeptically. He didn’t seem convinced, but he nodded.

  “Where’s Jason?” Matt asked.

  Philip shrugged. “No clue. Don’t ask me. He sometimes just disappears. It’s just the way he is.”

  “How long have you known each other?” Rosa asked and sat down.

  “Since birth,” he replied.

  “Is he always such an asshole?”

  Philip smiled at her. “It sounds funny now, but Jason’s actually a really nice guy. He only behaves in front of others like an asshole.”

  Rosa snorted. “I can’t believe that.”

  Actually, she did. After talking to Jason in the parking lot, she noticed he could be different; a nice, sensitive young man who had surprised her. Her picture of a Nephilim was that they were arrogant and narcissistic. Jason had disturbed her picture yesterday. Philip also behaved differently than expected.

  “Who pretends to be an asshole?” Jason asked and plopped down on the chair next to Matt. Today he wore dark sunglasses. His face was tense, and seemed strained.

  “Is everything okay with you?” Rosa asked him. The dark glasses turned to her. Rosa couldn’t see his eyes.

  “Why shouldn’t I be?” he asked. His voice was tense.

  She shrugged. “I’m just asking.”

  He nodded then turned away. She felt something was off, something was just not right with him.

  But I don’t care. His problems do not interest me. I just need to figure out their plan.

  Rosa sighed. She d
idn’t know how she was going to do it. She desperately needed a plan, though.

  Ms. Franklin entered the classroom and slammed her books on the desk. Instantly everyone stop talking.

  “Good morning, students! Please sit down and listen. I have great news,” she said, and stood in front of the class.

  “Well, as you all know, next month is graduation. I am sure we won’t see many of you after graduation. So we will all be taking a trip to Vancouver,” she told the class.

  The students groaned. “Why Vancouver?” one student asked.

  “Why not?” Ms. Franklin replied. “I was there last summer and it was very nice.”

  “Can’t we go to the south, where it’s warmer?” another student asked.

  Ms. Franklin smiled. “Of course, you can go there. Alone.”

  The student sighed. Ms. Franklin clapped her hands.

  “We will fly out on Friday to Vancouver, and staying until Saturday afternoon.”

  “You have already reserved the flight for all of us, or what?” Matt asked.

  “Yes, Mr. Blair. I have.”

  “And how do you know everyone will be able to go? And how much is this fun going to cost?”

  Ms. Franklin smiled. “This trip is a must, and you don’t need to pay anything. This ride is sponsored by the hunter clan.”

  Some students groaned. Rosa frowned.

  Why did Sergei want to send all of them to Vancouver, the city of the archangel?

  Ms. Franklin tried to cheer them up. “It won’t be that bad. You will see. Vancouver is a beautiful city.”

  Philip leaned over to Rosa. His arm touched hers. Thankfully, she had taken another sip of the magic potion.

  “Rosa, is there is a chance to escape from this trip?” he asked.

  “Why? Don’t you want to come with us?”

  “No. I don’t like journeys like this.”

  Rosa nodded. “Ah, okay. I think you have to come. Only if you had a very good reason, like if…”

  “… like if I’m not interested?” Philip smiled.

  Rosa smiled back. “Uh…more like, if you were dead.”

  He sighed. “Man, your school sucks.”

  “Yes, I know.”

  “What sucks?” Jason asked, turning round.

  “You,” said Philip.

  “Bite me.”

  Philip rolled his eyes and Rosa smiled.