Changed (The Hunters #1) (8 page)

Rosa
pointed her forefinger angrily at him. “If you say 'provoke' again,
I’ll kill you. And don’t call me Ice Princess, either.” Actually,
she didn’t mind the nickname, but she did not want
him
to use
it.

Jason leaned back, “You don’t like
it?”

“
No.”

“
Then it
stays,
Ice Princess
.”

“
You’re an arrogant,
narcissistic, sarcastic, and rude Nephilim,” Rosa said.

“
Wow, you’re the first to
describe me with just four words. Congratulations,” he said. “But
that’s not correct with the Nephilim, honey.”

Rosa laughed. “I know you’re a
Nephilim. I can see your eyes through the contact
lenses.”

Jason’s mouth twitched as he tried to
hide his irritation at being caught.

“
Would you like to be
friends with me, even though I’m a Nephilim?”

“
No.”

Jason sighed. “Well, you’ve caught me.
I should really work on my disguise.”

Rosa shot him a look. “You only
changed your eye color—that’s not much of a disguise. Not to
mention, you picked the worst eye color possible. Who doesn’t know
that bright colors don´t cover anything properly? You ought to get
dark colors.”

“
Wow, thank you for the
introduction to disguise 101,” Jason replied. “I’ll take your
suggestions to heart.”

Rosa smiled. “You do that.”

They spent the rest of the break in
silence. Continually, girls come to talk and flirt with him. Rosa
tried to ignore then. However, it was hard to ignore Jason and the
girls if they were directly in front of her.

The bell rang signaling the next
class. “What’s the next lesson?” Jason asked, and stood
up.

“
Sports,” Rosa replied.
She stood up, too.

“
Ah, my favorite subject,”
Jason said.

“
Why?”

Jason grinned. “Well, I’m invincible
in sport thanks to my angel powers.” Even though they were
half-angels, Nephilim had angelic forces. They were weaker than the
archangels were, but stronger than humans.

“
I would like to know if
you’re invincible without these forces,” Rosa said.

Jason looked at her. “You think that
I’m not strong without the forces?”

“
I don’t think so, but I
want to know.”

Jason
smiled. “Of course I am. I didn
’
t have these muscles when I was
born. I´ve worked for them.”

Jason
was
muscular
. If
she looked close, she could see his muscles under his tight
T-shirt. It was clear to her that he had spent several hours in the
gym.

“
I’m skeptical,” Rosa
said.

He laughed. “No surprise.”

They walked through the main hall of
the school, which was full of students. It was loud and Rosa did
not like her school. It was old and dirty. The color of the walls
was once white, but now the walls were full of graffiti and
dirt.

Rosa and Jason walked out of the
building and headed toward the gym, which was right next to the
school.

“
I’ll be right back,” she
said to Jason as she walked over to a girl named Ellen. She was
standing with another girl in front of the gym. When they saw Rosa
coming they immediately stopped talking.

“
Hey, Ellen, can I have a
word with you?” she asked Ellen.

Ellen smiled weakly and nodded.
“Yeah.”

Together they moved away from the
others. Rosa could feel Ellen’s fear. She knew Ellen was not afraid
because Rosa was a hunter—not completely at least—but because Ellen
was a witch. Ellen knew as a hunter, Rosa’s job was to track down
shadow creatures that the archangels had created.

Archangel punished their
inhabitants who did something forbidden, not always with death, but
they turned them to any kind shadow creatures. To live as a half
demon or a werewolf were—for an archangel at least—much worse than
death.

What was worse than having to live as
a creature that you did not want to be?

Ellen was born as a witch,
and Rosa’s job wasn’t to hunt shadow creatures that were born with
supernatural forces—something that she had explained to Ellen
several times, though it was clear the girl still feared
her.

“
Listen, Ellen, you have
to conjure me a fingerless glove,” Rosa told her.

“
Why?”

“
Don’t ask. Conjure
it.”

“
Yeah, okay.”

Ellen nodded. She began to mutter
something softly until a fingerless glove appeared in her hand.
Rosa was always amazed at how something could come out of nothing.
Sometimes she wished she could be a witch—then maybe her life would
be easier.

“
Here,” Ellen said,
handing her the glove.

“
Thank you, Ellen. I owe
you one.”

She smiled. “Nah, you
don’t.”

“
Okay, thank you again for
the glove,” Rosa said. Then she went back to Jason.

Her gym teacher Mr. Michael and they
walked into the gym. After she dressed, she put on the glove. Her
mark was covered.

She took her clothes and left the
toilet. She put the things on the bench and tied up her
hair.

“
Why are you wearing a
glove?” Jason asked when she met him in the hallway.

“
Oh, I’m having problems
with my palm. The skin is very sensitive, and I have to use a
special cream. The glove helps to protect my skin,” Rosa said. She
was surprised how easy it was to lie. Actually, she didn’t lie
often, because she was very bad at lying. When Rosa would lie, her
neck would become red, and spread to her face.

Like she knew it was now, but she was
lucky that the hallway was dark and Jason did not see
it.

Matt and Philipp were already in the
gym. Like the other students, they wore the uniform provided by the
school. Rosa liked the uniform—the black sweatpants and black
T-shirt were clothes she already had in her wardrobe.

Rosa sat down next to Matt as Jason
walked toward the girls, who were giggling and flipping their
hair.

Matt looked at her glove and raised
his eyebrows in question.

“
Mark,” she whispered to
him. He smiled and nodded.

Rosa saw a blonde girl entering the
gym. She was tall and had the figure of a model. Her long platinum
blonde hair fell down her back in a curtain of shine. Her face,
lightly made up with natural make-up, she looked like an
angel.

Well,
she was
not
an
angel. She was more like the devil in human form. Behind her
innocent look lay so much meanness and evilness Rosa
didn
’
t think it
possible for any one human to have.

Madison was the typical popular rich
girl that made fun of those who did not spend their life savings on
a pair of ripped jeans. She had the boys at her feet and was able
to get anyone she wanted. She reminded Rosa of Shane—they would
make a perfect couple.

Madison headed straight to Jason,
swaying her hips. Rosa was already aware of what she wanted from
Jason. Go out with him and then have sex with him.

“
Hey, Jason,” she said and
smiled at him seductively.

Jason looked at her. “Oh, Madison, you
look awesome.”

She smiled. “Thank you. You look good
too. May I sit?”

“
Sure.” Jason slid over to
Matt, and Madison sat down next to him.

“
It makes me want to
puke,” Rosa whispered to Matt.

“
You can’t say that out
loud,” he replied.

“
Jason’s a player. He
takes any girl he wants,” Philip explained.

Rosa grimaced. “I hate those girls and
boys. That’s so crude and uncouth.”

“
Right,” Philip agreed
with her.

“
Jason,” Madison purred.
“Would you like to do something with me?” As she spoke, her hand
wandered along Jason’s chest.

“
It would be an honor for
me to go out with you, Madison,” Jason replied.

She giggled. “You’re so sweet,
Jason.”

“
Call me Jase.”

She smiled, “Sure, Jase.”

Philip
hid his face in his hands. “Oh, I can
’
t watch this
anymore.”

Rosa smiled. “I feel sorry for
you.”

“
I feel sorry for me,
too,” he mumbled into his hands.

Coach Michael came into the gym and
whistled. Everybody stood up immediately. Coach Michael was a
feared teacher, and was very strict. He did not accept no for an
answer. His appearance underlined his strict character. He had a
shaved head and cold black eyes. His features were hard and he was
very muscular.

“
Move your ass up! We are
here in sports and not at a tea party!” Coach Michael shouted at
some students, who were sitting on the bench.

“
As we all know, next
month is your graduation at this school. Life is waiting out there
for you. Some of you will go to college, some will go into the
professional life, but for all, it will be a new experience. Life
will not be easy out there. Life is not easy. You will notice it
quickly. And you have to be strong enough for life! So run fifteen
minutes. Go!” he called and whistled.

Everyone started to run. Coach Michael
often made speeches about the future. Actually, he did this during
every PE lesson. Rosa could not hear them anymore. She was glad
that next month school would be over for her forever.

“
Does your coach always
orate?” Philip asked Rosa and Matt while they were running. Jason
was somewhere behind them with Madison.

“
Yes,” Rosa sighed. “He
started making speeches about the future every damn lesson when
graduation was six months away.”

“
Our old sports teacher
was the same,” Philip said.

“
Why did you and Jason
move to Boston?” Matt asked. Rosa was hoping that this time nobody
would interrupted Philip.

“
We ...”

“
Well, did you miss me?”
Jason asked, now jogging beside them.

Rosa wanted nothing more than to kill
Jason.

“
No, not really,” Rosa
replied surely.

“
I didn’t ask
you.”

Rosa snorted
contemptuously.

“
Jason, why are you
flirting with that bitch?” Philip asked him.

He shrugged. “She’s just a toy for
me,” he said coolly.

The coldness in his voice shocked
Rosa. Everyone knew people were just toys for angels, but it
shocked her anyway to hear it.

“
Then take another. I
don’t like her,” Philip replied.

Jason raised his eyebrows. “Since when
did you choose my lovers for me?”

Philip tilted his head. “I live with
you. I catch all your love affairs with the girls. Please spare me
this.”

Matt and Rosa laughed.

“
Then move out, if you
don’t like it,” Jason replied simply.

“
Just a
short note on the edge,” Matt tampered. “Madison
’
s really a bitch. She was used more
than Google. That’s saying something.”

Jason’s lips twitched slightly. “She
is the perfect toy.”

“
Dude, if you meet with
her, not at home, okay?” Philip asked his friend. Jason just
nodded.

“
Run! No talking!” Coach
Michael shouted to them.

“
They´re cool,” Matt told
her. Rosa looked at him.

“
They
’
re
Nephilim. How can you find them cool?”

“
Just because they are
your enemies, doesn’t mean that they aren’t cool.”

Rosa looked at him. “Since when do you
like them?”