Changed (The Hunters #1) (4 page)

“
Yes, an idiot that finds
you hot!” he shouted after her.

Rosa felt happier as she emerged into
the fresh air, leaving the jerk and everyone else behind her. The
academy was far from any town, in the middle of a forest. Unlike
some of the others, Rosa no longer lived in the academy. Her
apartment was in the middle of the city, a little over a half an
hour away.

She looked at her watch and saw that
it was already eleven at night. She had to hurry if she wanted to
be able to get home, take a quick shower, and go to bed. Tomorrow,
Rosa had to go to school like any other teenager in order for her
to integrate into society, and not to draw attention to
herself.

Rosa jumped in her car and drove off.
There was little traffic in the usually busy streets of Boston, so
she was able to arrive home quickly. She parked her car outside of
her apartment and got out. She jogged up the stairs to the second
floor and opened her apartment door.

Rosa lived in a three-bedroom
apartment. The hunter clan funded the apartment, so she was
equipped with all technological innovations, like a modern kitchen
and television.

Rosa kept the apartment in black and
white. The walls were white and the curtains were black. Colin and
Valerie found her apartment naked, but she felt at home here. She
did not need colorful furnishings.

In her apartment, there were no
flowers or photographs, only self-painted images. Rosa loved to
paint pictures and was very good at it.

She’d discovered her
artistic talent in kindergarten. She’d always painted better
pictures than her peers had; and when Rosa got older, the pictures
became more beautiful, and more realistic. At school, she was the
best in her art class. Her art teacher, Mrs. Doran, had offered a
scholarship to her to attend a high art school, but Rosa graciously
refused. Rosa knew her future had already been planned, and it did
not include art studies.

Rosa headed straight to the bathroom.
After she had showered thoroughly, she slipped into her pajamas
that Colin had once bought her. It was made of cotton and there
were little princesses on it. Rosa loved the pajamas.

She
stepped in her large bedroom and lay on her bed. She snuggled into
her warm blanket, and before her head touched the pillow, she was
already asleep
.

“
Where is my
sister?”

“
I-I don’t know.” The
young hunter trembled with fear. He had given up defending himself
against Jason. He quickly understood that he had no chance against
a Nephilim.

“
Don’t lie!” Jason
grumbled as he tightened his grip around the throat of the
hunter.

The young hunter choked and whimpered
under his grasp, tugging at his hand. “I really do not know!” he
said, barely able to speak.

Jason gritted his teeth as he leaned
forward. His patience was running thin. In the dim glow of the
lantern, he could see the anxious face of the young
hunter.

“
Your friend told me you
know where my sister is.” Jason released his grip a
little.

The hunter was breathing deeply. “Who
said that?” he asked.

Jason reinforced his hold. “Answer
me!”

“
Okay, okay!” said the
young hunter. “I just know that she was brought to Boston. Nothing
more.”

Jason’s heart beat faster. Finally, he
had received useful information.

“
Where exactly in Boston?”
he asked.

“
I don’t know. They didn’t
tell me.” The young hunter looked at him pleadingly. “Please, let
me go.”

Anger welled up within
Jason.

“
Shit,” he swore. He was
glad to get this information, but the hunter’s statement destroyed
all hopes of finding his sister’s whereabouts.

He slammed the hunter against the wall
and smiled sadistically as he heard bones break. The hunter did not
have a chance to scream before Jason snapped his neck with one fast
movement.

He let his victim fall to the ground
and stepped back. He could still feel the infinite rage and the
pain that he had not found his sister. Jason took several deep
breaths in and out.

Get a rip,
Jason.

After he
calmed down, he threw the corpse into a dumpster as
he
’
d with the
other hunters he had killed. Jason turned and left the alley. It
was three o’clock in the morning and the streets were deserted. A
light drizzle had started and the cool, wet conditions helped clear
his head.

With each unsuccessful day at locating
his sister, his anxiety grew. He was afraid he would have to live
with the guilt of never finding his sister.

Jason sighed deeply. How long had he
been searching for her? Five, six months? Or was it seven? He
didn’t know. What he did know was he was running out of time. The
longer the search took the less chance he had at seeing his sister
alive again.

A sharp gust of wind drove a rush of
cold drops into his face. The rain had become stronger and heavier.
It would be an uncomfortable night again.

Jason gritted his teeth and went on
his way to his apartment.

He was sure that the hunter had
abducted his sister. Who else would kidnap her?

The hunters—his enemies—used every
means to fight the archangels. Jason hated the war that existed
between the hunter and archangels.

Both rulers wanted power and had been
fighting for it for several years. No one knew who would win the
war.

Jason sighed in frustration. How had
his sister been kidnapped?

He just hoped that Jasmine—his twin
sister—was alive. Would he notice when she was no longer alive?
Twins did have a special connection to each other, but Jason did
not know what to think. The only emotion he felt were pain and
guilt as he thought of Jasmine.

For months, heVd been
attempting to make contact with his sister, but he had failed. It
was like Jasmine’s ability to speak through their minds had
disappeared, but Jason was sure that the hunters had done something
to her that restricted her ability.

Jason had failed as a brother. He was
unable to protect her, and now Jasmine was gone.

He would
find her, though. He
had
promised his father and himself. Moreover, he had
promised Jasmine.

Dead or alive, Jason would find his
sister.

When he arrived at home and walked in,
he was soaked. His father had gotten him the apartment after Jason
had learned that there was a track in Boston.

The apartment was luxuriously
furnished, but Jason never felt comfortable without jasmine. A huge
hole manifested in his life after Jasmine disappeared, and only she
could fill it.

His best friend, Philip, who supported
him in his quest, slept soundly in his room.

Jason quietly went to his room and
closed the door behind him. He took off his wet clothes and went to
bed wearing only his boxers. He pulled the blanket up to his chin
and closed his eyes.

He knew he would get no sleep
again.

Other
than sleep, he could do nothing for the moment
.

Impenetrable
darkness.

She scratched her bloody
fingertips on the smooth steel door, pounding her fists against the
door until she did not have any more feeling in her hands.
Repeatedly, she tried to open the steel door, but each time she
failed.

Panting, she fell on the
icy ground—her heart nearly exploded in her chest. The darkness
crushed her, seeming to take the air out of her.

She wanted to scream, but
no sound came out of her mouth.

How long did they want to
keep her trapped in the darkness? How long had she been sitting
there already?

She was being held
captive, but why? What had she done to them?

She did not know the
answers to the questions. Her head throbbed and her body
ached.

She laid her head back and
felt the fresh air that flowed down from the ceiling. She had tried
to jump out several times, but failed. Due to the torture and lack
of nutrition, she was weak.

She
would be strong. She wouldn
’
t surrender. She would fight and
get out.

On all fours, she crawled
back to her corner. She pulled her knees up to her chest and
wrapped her arms around her legs.

Slowly she swayed back and
forth, assuring herself that everything would be fine.

Someone would get out her.
She would not be locked up here forever.

She began to suck on her
bloody fingers, the metallic taste of blood spreading in her
mouth.

Then she stood still. She
wanted to cry, to scream, but could not do both.

She felt like a big black
hole.

Empty.

She would not do her
captors any favors and give up.

They could not break her
spirit—never.

Eventually she would escape them
.

Rosa ran the empty hallway of her
school. Like every day, she was late. Her alarm had rang, but she
was just too tired to get up

Rosa ran up the stairs and stopped in
front of the classroom. She had English, with Ms. Franklin, who was
very strict about punctuality.

Her relationship with Ms.
Franklin was horrible, because Rosa often came too late. Every
conversation between the two ended in an argument.

Rosa knocked at the door and went
inside slowly. She stopped just within the entrance as she noticed
two new male students standing in front of the class beside Ms.
Franklin. All eyes, even the eyes of the new students, were on her.
As their gazes fell upon Rosa, her breath caught in her
throat.

They were Nephilim—her
enemies.

Even if
they had hidden their gold eyes behind blue contact lenses, Rosa
could
feel
them.
Her years of training and her gift to fight had led her to be able
to sense the presence of her enemies, even if she couldn’t visually
see them. Immediately she hid her mark on her wrist, which showed
that she was a member of the hunter clan.