Changed (The Hunters #1) (10 page)

He nodded. “And did you kill them?” he
asked.

Rosa swallowed. She wasn’t usually
afraid of anything, but Sergei had shown his wrath enough that it
made her fear him. He could be charming and nice, but also angry
and violent.

“
I haven’t done it,
because ...”

Sergei’s face darkened and he didn’t
give her the opportunity to finish. He stepped in front of her and
grabbed her arm. His black eyes eyed her darkly.

“
Rosa, do you really know
what your job is?” he cut her off in a calm voice. No matter how
angry he was, his voice was always calm—a calm that frightened her
even more.

Rosa
nodded. Her arm hurt like hell, but she did not fight against him –
didn
’
t
dare
to fight against
him.

“
You are a hunter. This
mark,” he took her wrist and pointed on it, “This mark shows you
that you are a born hunter. Tell me why you did not kill our
enemies immediately, though it’s your job?”

“
Let me explain it, Uncle
Sergei,” Rosa said to him, looking at him pleading. Her heart was
pounding against her chest.

He watched her for a while in silence,
then he let go of her arm and sat on his chair. His face was still
angry. Rosa rubbed her arm lightly.

“
Talk,” he
ordered.

“
I think they have a
plan.”

Sergei frowned. “Why do you think
so?”

“
Uncle Sergei, think about
it. Who would be stupid enough to run into the fire? They must have
their reasons. If they have reasons, then they have a plan,” Rosa
explained.

“
And what do you think
their plan is?”

“
I don’t know. I have to
find out, so I don't kill them, Uncle Sergei. I need to figure out
what they are planning, so I need them alive.“

He was silent again for a while. Rosa
was waiting for his answer. She hoped that he was satisfied with
her reason for not killing the Nephilim.

Sergei sighed deeply. “You’re right,
Rosa. This is a very good idea. They might really be up to
something to try to harm us. I want you to find out what they
intend.” Then he smiled at her.

“
You are really the best
hunter, Rosa. I’m very proud of you.”

She returned his smile. “Thank you,
Uncle Sergei. That means a lot to me.”

He nodded and crossed his legs. “Okay.
What is your plan than?”

“
The two are friends. I’ll
try to make friends with them, and after that I’ll find out their
plan,” she explained.

“
So they don’t know that
you’re a hunter?”

She shook her head. “No, they don’t
know. I hid my mark from them.”

“
Good.”

Then they were silent for a while.
Rosa had to create a plan on how she could get both to tell her why
they were in Boston. She already knew that it would be very
difficult to convince Jason. He was unlike his friend, so Rosa had
to persuade Philip to tell her.

She would need to befriend Philip to
gain any information. Rosa sighed inwardly. Hopefully, it would
work.

“
Certainly Mikhail would
be very proud of you,” Sergei broke the silence and tore Rosa from
her thoughts.

At the mention of her
father's name, Rosa winced. The name had good and bad memories. Bad
memories overpowered the good memories, as sadness, grief and anger
rose in her. She felt her panic attack coming on as his name echoed
in her head.

“
You miss him, don’t you?”
Sergei asked gently.

Rosa
felt a burn behind her eyes.
No, I will
not cry,
she told herself. She had cried
enough.

“
I miss him, too,” Sergei
went on, without noticing what it did to Rosa. “He was a good
person. He did not deserve a death like that.”

The burn
behind her eyes increased. Rosa’s head throbbed, her shoulders were
tense, and she tried to breathe slowly, but she
didn
’
t succeed.
She had to distract herself. She looked at her uncle, who was
staring at her now, worried. Her throat constricted and a
tremendous pressure weighed on her chest. Gray dots danced before
her eyes.

Not
again
, Rosa groaned inwardly. Fear and
horror struck over her as high waves of nausea ran through
her.

She stood up abruptly. She had to get
out of there, away from the pictures that appeared in front of her
eyes.

“
Uncle Sergei, I have to
go,” said Rosa breathlessly. Without waiting for his answer, she
rushed from the room. She ran down the stairs to the
garden.

She hadn’t had a panic attack in ten
years.

Now, she gasped for air and ran out.
Rosa stopped in front of a tree and clung to it. She felt dizzy so
she held on tighter.

Calm down, Rosa! Breathe
slowly!

A slight
breeze blew and dried the beads of sweat on her forehead. The fresh
air helped her to calm down as gradually she began to see clearly.
Her chest was still hurting, but she had relaxed. Angry with
herself, she sat down on the ground and sighed.
Why do I let myself lose control? It is just a
name!

But Rosa knew better. It was more than
a name. It was her father's name, who she had lost.

For a while, she just sat under the
tree and listened to her now quiet breathing and the wind. She
would have liked to fall asleep there, but she knew better, she did
not have the time for sleep.

She sighed and stood. She knew what
she had to do.

Rosa set off to Andrea, the
alchemists.

“
I hate you, Jason,”
Philip said to Jason, and threw his school bag in the
corner.

“
Why?” Jason replied, and
slumped down on the couch.

“
Why do we need to go to
school?” Philip asked and sat down across from him.

Jason leaned back and turned on the
TV. He yawned. “We can get information.”

“
How do you get
information in a school?”

Jason looked at his friend. “It could
be that one of the students is a hunter and he or she might know
something about Jasmine,” he said with a tone that said Philip
should have known this already.

Philip leaned back. He had put on his
grim face. “But I hate being the nice guy.”

He and Jason had agreed that they
would behave differently from their actual personalities. Philip
could be very… mean.

“
Do you think I like how
I’m acting?” Joan asked.

Philip smirked. “As if you don’t enjoy
girls throwing themselves around your neck.”

“
I do,” Jason
chuckled.

“
I think this Russian
girl—Rosa—could be a hunter. She realized immediately that we’re
Nephilim,” Philip interposed.

Jason nodded. He had also suspected
this, but he wasn’t sure.

“
We must look if she has a
mark. Maybe she has information about Jasmine.”

Jason found it difficult to pronounce
the name of his sister. Immediately, a deep sense of guilt and pain
overcame him. Jason just missed his twin sister so much.

His eyes went to Jasmine’s photo on
the dresser. The photo was from a few weeks before her abduction.
She smiled at the camera—the smile that he always loved about
her.

Jason was still amazed at how similar
they were, though it really shouldn’t have since they were
twins.

Sometimes it was a little scary. The
golden eye color was something all Nephilim had, but they both had
black curly hair. Jasmines’ hair felt like silk going down her
back, and Jason had cut his short, but it was still clear his hair
was curly. Then they shared the same high cheekbones and
lips.

The difference between them as twins,
were their characters. Jason and Jasmine were as different as they
could be. Jasmine was reasonable, and took her job very seriously
as a Nephilim. She never went against their father, doing
everything he said. What Jason could not understand was how Jasmine
was nice to humans. She respected them and treated them as if they
were equal with the Nephilim.

Jason would never treat a human as he
treated a Nephilim. Humans were nothing to him. They were on the
earth to obey the archangels.

Jasmine was not like him,
and he loved that about her—even if he couldn’t quite understand
why she respected humans.

Philip noticed that his friend’s
thoughts had wandered to his sister.

“
Jason,”
he said, looking at him. “We
will
find Jasmine. We have a lead that she´s here in
Boston. We will search every corner of this city, and will not stop
until we have found her. I’m here and will be until the
end.”

Jason smiled gratefully at his friend.
Although most of the time Philip was mean, he had a big heart and
would do anything for his friends.

“
I know, brother,” Jason
replied.

Then he stood up. “I have to go out,
Phil. I have to clear my head.”

Philip nodded. “Okay, but don’t bring
a girl back home with you. It’s really disgusting to listen how you
make out.”

Jason grinned. “Well, we just make
out. What would you do if I had sex with a girl?”

Philip moaned. “I would burst into
your room and interrupt your sex.”

“
How?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t
know. Maybe I throw myself on you.”

Jason laughed. “You’re aware that
three of us wouldn’t fit in my bed.”

Philip
smirked. “That’s fine. I’ll throw the girl out of bed, so you can’t
have sex with each other.” Then his face brightened. “Or I’ll
throw
you
out of
bed and enjoy myself with your girlfriend. Oh yes, that would be a
good revenge!”

Jason held out his middle finger.
Philip laughed as Jason left the apartment and jogged down the
stairs. He was glad Philip was with him. He helped him think about
things other than Jasmine.

His mind drifted back to Rosa. If she
were a hunter, perhaps she would know something about
Jasmine.

Jason knew it would be hard to make
her talk because she wasn’t like any other. Yes, she was pretty,
and certainly smart, but she had something else in her. He noticed
when he first saw her. She was dangerous. She could—Jason believed—
hinder his plans to find Jasmine.

He had to be careful and learn whether
Rosa was a hunter—or not.

Jason
sighed and climbed into his car. He had much to
do
.

“
Hi, Andrea,” Rosa said as
she entered the room. Andrea, as always, was engrossed in her
books. Andrea had long, straight hair that she always wore in a
ponytail. She had a round, sweet face with big brown eyes. She was
a little overweight, but that did not harm her beauty.

She turned around and smiled. “Oh,
Rosa, it’s good to see you,” Andrea said as she slammed her book.
Andrea worked for the hunter clan as an alchemist. She mixed all
the potions used by the hunters—like the powder that made a human
body vanish.