Changed (The Hunters #1) (16 page)

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 didn’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.

“
Are you going on this
trip?” Jason asked Rosa.

“
I have no
choice.”

Matt turned around. “Guys, I don’t
want to go on this trip.”

“
Then we’re two,” said
Philip.

“
Ah, why are you
complaining about that? This trip is paid for us. In the afternoon
we just have to see the sights, and in the evening we can do
whatever we want,” said Jason.

“
Do you have something
else other than parties in mind?” Rosa asked.

He grinned broadly. “Of course I
do.”

“
Let me guess. You have
girls on the brain.”

He nodded. “But when I see
you, I forget all the others around me, and just want you.” The
sarcasm in his voice was unmistakable

Philip rolled his eyes. Matt looked at
Jason, unsure of what to think about their conversation.

Rosa snorted. This behavior
corresponded with her image of a Nephilim.

He gave her cocky smirk, and then
turned around. Matt looked at Rosa. His eyes asked Rosa what that
was about. Rosa only shrugged.

She could tell by the glint in his
eyes he was jealous, and she just could not bear his gaze right
now, so she looked away.

The rest of the classes they spent
talking about the trip. Rosa didn’t want to go to Vancouver, but it
would be a nice change from Boston. School passed quickly, and Rosa
was glad to finally be out, but she had to tell Matt that it would
not work out between them.

Matt and Rosa went to her car. “What
was that with Jason?” Matt asked her, as he got in the
car.

“
Jealous, Blair?” Rosa
teased, and closed her door.

“
Why do you flirt with
him?”

“
I didn’t flirt with him,
Matt.”

“
Do you find him
cute?”

Rosa
snorted. “Matt, I think you forget that he is my
enemy
. I certainly don’t
find my enemy cute.”

He arched his eyebrows. “But you could
still find him cute.”

She sighed. “Even if I think he’s
cute, doesn’t mean I’m going to make out with him or
something.”

“
So you admit you find him
cute!” Matt pointed his finger at her.

Rosa drove the car out of the parking
lot.

“
Matt, leave me alone. I
don’t want to talk about it.”

She felt him watching her, until he
finally turned away, just staring out the window. The entire drive
Matt was silent. Rosa parked her car in Matt’s driveway, and they
headed into the house.

“
Matt?” Rosa heard a voice
from the kitchen.

“
Yes, Brenda!” Matt
shouted back and threw his bag into the corner. “Come,” he said to
Rosa.

They walked into the kitchen. Brenda,
Matt’s foster mother, stood at the stove cooking. She turned,
seeing Rosa, and a wide smile spread across her face. She wiped her
hands and stepped towards her.

“
Hello, sweetheart. Glad
to see you,” Brenda said, hugging her.

Rosa returned the embrace. “Hi,
Brenda. Nice to see you, too.”

Brenda broke away from her and looked
her over. Brenda was mid-forties, with long platinum blonde hair
and bright blue eyes. She did not look like a woman in her
mid-forties because of her athletic figure. Only the little
wrinkles on her mouth and on the corner of her eyes revealed she
might be older.

For eight years, she had been Matt’s
foster mother, and not just his. Brenda and her husband, Jeffrey,
were unable to have children of their own, so they adopted
children.

Matt was only eight-years-old when
they adopted him. They didn’t want a baby so they choose Matt.
Brenda and her husband loved Matt like their own son, even though
Matt never addressed them as mom or dad.

Brenda was a very nice person. You
could say she was like the mother Rosa never had. She cared about
Rosa as her own child, but she didn’t know Rosa was a hunter. Which
was good, as that would change everything, as she would not even be
allowed in their house.