Changed (The Hunters #1) (31 page)

The pain exploded. Rosa tried to push
the animal away, but it was just too strong. Saliva dripped onto
her face. She watched as the sharp teeth approached directly for
her face. Panic captured her.

Without hesitation, Rosa lunged and
punched her fist in the face of the wolf. It drew back his head and
howled. She struck again. With her other hand, she scanned the
ground for her dagger. It had fallen from her hand, as the wolf had
fallen on her.

The animal hissed angrily and dug his
teeth into her right shoulder. Rosa screamed in pain and turned to
the left and right so the wolf would roll from her, but it just
kept biting her. The pain was so intense that Rosa was on the verge
of losing consciousness.

Where is that damn
dagger?

Panicked, she sought the ground until
her hand touched something metal. The pain was ghastly, and the
wolf tore at her shoulder.

Rosa clutched the grip of the dagger
and swung it. With all her power, she thrust the knife into the
neck of the wolf. It released her shoulder immediately, and yelped.
She stabbed him repeatedly.

Rosa felt the warm blood of the wolf
on her face. It soaked her clothes. The animal gave one last
anguished howl then it fell lifeless on her. Disgusted, she pushed
the animal away from her and crawled away from the dead
animal.

“
Oh od,” Rosa gasped. She
breathed in short breaths as sweat ran down her face. Her right
shoulder screamed in pain and blood flowed continuously from the
wound.

Rosa had to stop the bleeding;
otherwise, she would die here because of blood loss. She looked at
her wound, but could not see anything because of all the blood. And
her leather jacket was in tatters.

Wincing, she pulled her left arm from
the leather jacket, then very carefully her right arm. Every
movement let a sharp pain flash through her arm.

When Rosa took off her leather jacket,
she wrapped it around her shoulder. With her left hand, she made a
knot, and then pulled it with her hand and her teeth together in a
tight knot. Then she made another knot.

So, that
should lessen or stop the bleeding
.

Rosa leaned against a tree and closed
her eyes. For some minutes, she just sat and breathed, but she
needed to find the dagger.

Opening her eyes again, Rosa grimaced
as she touched her shoulder. After the pain subsided, she took out
her compass.

Rosa had decided to go towards the
west, as she had noticed Lord Constantine had stressed it. Perhaps
this was an indication to where the dagger could be. She looked at
her compass. The arrow points to the north, so she had to go to the
right.

Rosa set off without any idea where
the catcher was, or the other hunters. She wondered how many of
them were still alive, and how many the catcher had
killed.

Rosa walked along a narrow path.
Branches crossed her road. She came upon a creek. Rosa jumped over
it. She went to look at her compass, when she suddenly saw a shadow
between the trees.

It was further away from her and it
was moving. She clutched her dagger. With her injured shoulder, she
was an easy prey to anyone. The shadow was small, so it could not
be the catcher. Rosa assumed that the shadow had to be one of the
two girls, but which of them, she did not know.

Rosa wanted to hide herself behind a
tree when someone landed smoothly on the ground before her. She
knew immediately that it was the catcher.

Without hesitation, she took out her
dagger and pointed it at the chest of the catcher, but he was
skillful and caught her left hand. Her right arm was useless. She
could not move it without excruciating pain. So she did the only
thing she could do—Rosa defended herself with her feet.

She managed a kick in his stomach and
he let out a muffled groan. Rosa got her hand free and struck his
face. He groaned and stumbled back. Grabbing her dagger, she began
to run.

Rosa couldn’t run as fast as before.
She was hungry, thirsty, tired, and probably still losing blood.
The shadow that she had seen before was gone.

Suddenly Rosa heard footsteps behind
her. Quick footsteps. The catcher.

She ran faster. Although she knew he
would not kill her, Rosa wanted to get away from him.

“
Ah!” Her cry shattered
the quiet darkness of the night. Rosa’s foot had slipped out from
under her, and she slid down a steep slope, with nothing to grab
hold.

She hit her shoulder more than once on
the ground, which increased the throbbing in her shoulder. However,
she succeeded to keep a hold of her dagger.

Rosa arrived below in a pool of water.
She struggled, but finally managed to get herself up. She stumbled
after taking a few steps and promptly fell back into the
water.

Confused, Rosa looked
around. The moon gave enough light that she could see a large area
of black, fast-flowing water masses, surrounded by the
forest.

When she looked behind her, she saw
the catcher at the top of the steep slope. Unlike her, he hadn’t
fallen down the slope.

He began to move, quickly
and carefully down the steep slope. Rosa turned to her left and saw
a dark outline on the water.

A bridge? Maybe. She had to
try.

Rosa ran, looking along the shore. The
bridge was fast approaching.

The splashing came nearer. Rosa’s
breath came in gasps and her legs were trembling with the effort.
She had to reach the bridge.

When she finally arrived at the
bridge, she grabbed the railing and hoisted herself up. Her
weakened arms trembled as she pulled herself up and over the
railing.

Rosa stumbled onto the wooden bridge
and ran straight forward on shaky legs—but she did not get far. She
collapsed in the middle of the bridge. Her legs could not carry her
any longer.

Panting, Rosa tried to get up. Her
leather jacket fell from her shoulder and new, warm blood flowed
from the open wound.

She tried to crawl on all fours, but a
hand grabbed her arm and dragged her back on her feet.

“
Fight!” the catcher
hissed in her ear and hit her in the stomach.

Rosa gasped, not knowing what to do.
She was too surprised.

“
He’s watching
us.”

She was aware of who he had meant by
“he.” Lord Constantine. This confirmed her suspicion, that the
catcher would not kill her.

“
Come on, fight now!” A
powerful punch in her face tore Rosa from her surprise. She tasted
blood in her mouth and looked at the catcher. The moonlight shone
on his face. He had to be her age with short hair and green eyes
that sparkled. His features were harsh.

“
Why are you doing this?”
Rosa asked, as she dodged his blow.

“
I have to,” was all he
said. She understood that Lord Constantine had forced him to this,
as he did to everyone else.

Without further questioning, Rosa
growled and beat him. They exchanged blows until finally the
catcher said, “You have to stab the knife into my leg to make it
look like you have defeated me,” he gasped. “You’re almost there.
Always go to the West.”

“
I won’t stab you with the
dagger,” she said and dropped her hands.

“
You must!” His voice was
firm and insistent. “Go now!”

He pressed a dagger in his hand and
looked into her eyes.

Rosa hesitated before she followed his
orders. She stuck the dagger into his leg. He groaned and fell to
the ground.

“
Go!” He shooed her away
with a little gesture.

At this moment, Rosa hated Lord
Constantine, the game—and herself—so much that it hurt

She had committed the betrayal. If it
weren’t for her, the others would not be in this
situation.

“
Go now, damn it!” the
catcher hissed.

With one last look at him, Rosa
crossed the bridge. Every step was a pain as she stumbled and fell
several times, but she struggled to her feet and ran
further.

He had said that she was almost there
and that she had to go west

Rosa ran through the trees, always
looking for the damn flag, until she finally saw something flicker
in the wind.

The flag!

As fast as her legs would
allow her, she ran to the flag. Rosa came closer and closer until
she realized that she wasn’t the only one who had found the
flag.

A girl stood in front of Rosa, staring
at her.

Rosa
clutched her dagger, ready to defend herself if the girl wanted to
attack her. But she didn
’
t move or say anything. She stood
in the shade, so Rosa couldn’t see her face. She was the same size
as the shadow Rosa had seen before the catcher had attacked
her.

Rosa took a deep breath and stepped
back. “You take the dagger,” she said.

Why she
left the girl the victory, Rosa didn’t know. All she knew was that
she felt responsible for the game, for everything, and she didn’t
want to obey Lord Constantine, even if it meant, that she rebelled
against him,
again
.

“
Why?” the girl asked and
took a step forward. Standing in the moonlight now, Rosa could see
her face. It was the girl who had a bag at the beginning of the
game. Lisa.

She had short blonde hair and blue
eyes. She looked delicate, but Rosa knew that it could be
misleading.

“
You were here before me,”
she replied to Lisa’s question.

“
But you know you’ll be
killed if you lose?”

Rosa
nodded. “Yes, I know that.”
And maybe I
deserve the death, since we played this perverted game because of
me.

“
And yet you want me to
win?”

She nodded again. “Yeah.”

Lisa frowned and didn’t seem to know
what to do next. She opened her mouth to say something then closed
it again. For a while, the two girls only looked at each other,
until Lisa broke the silence.

“
Which rule did you
break?” she asked.

“
I saved the life of a
Nephilim,” Rosa replied. She would not say more.

Lisa’s eyes widened. “Wow. That’s
gross.”

“
And you?”

Lisa’s face darkened. “I’ve
refused to kill my mother, after she’d been turned into a shadow
creature.”

“
I’m sorry,” Rosa said and
pressed her lips together.

Lisa didn’t have a choice. She
couldn’t betray the hunter clan. Who could kill their own mother?
Rosa would have done the same.

“
I would have done the
same,” said Rosa.

“
Well, look where it led
me!” Lisa said and laughed bitterly. “My refusal was for nothing.
They’ve killed her in front of my eyes and now I’ll die,
too.”

“
The hunter clan is
cruel,” Rosa said. Sometimes she could not understand why the
hunter clan was so cruel against their hunters. The hunters helped
the hunter clan and still they were punished, because they broke a
simple rule.

Sighing deeply, Lisa replied, “Oh
yeah. They’re cruel.”

“
So, take the dagger and
make it worth something that you’ve broken the rule,” Rosa said,
pointing to the flag.

“
Are you sure?”

“
Yes, I am.”

Lisa looked at her for a few seconds
before she went to the flag and dug out the dagger.

Rosa had no idea why they were looking
for a dagger, but she thought the reason was the dagger was the
actual emblem of every hunter. A hunter without a dagger could
never be found.

“
What’s your name?” Lisa
asked as she held the dagger in her hand.

“
Rosa.”

“
I’m Lisa.” She stretched
out her hand and Rosa shook it.

“
I would have liked to
meet you under other circumstances, you know,” Rosa
said.