Changed (The Hunters #1) (2 page)

I will
do this task easily
, she thought as she
continued to edge into the passageway.

Rosa crept to the light and laughter.
She held for only a moment longer before the door, and took a deep
breath.

She could do it, Rosa knew.
She had already received several similar tasks, and each time she
had completed them successfully. This time would be no
different.

She pulled her mask over
her face, and turned the corner.

The humans knew the hunter clan, but
the members should remain unknown to prevent the humans or the
angels from taking revenge on the hunters. The mask was black,
hiding her face except for her eyes.

Rosa peered into the room.

In the dungeon were three half-demons—
two men and one woman. The men sat with their backs turned to Rosa,
not noticing her.

Only the woman, who sat across from
the men, saw Rosa and cried out. Her eyes widened in fear. Rosa
realized she was not a half-demon; she was human.

Wasting no time, Rosa pried her sharp
dagger from her belt and headed straight toward the men. One of the
men, who sat with his back to Rosa, reacted too late. Rosa stabbed
him with the knife in the back, deep into the heart. The man
screamed, and fell lifeless to the ground. Rosa yanked her dagger
out of his back as he proceeded to fall to ashes, before heading
straight for the other man.

Her body was full of adrenaline. She
loved to fight, and to win.

“
What do you want from
us?” the man asked.

Always being asked the same question,
and to her the answer was obvious! Rosa wanted to kill them, so she
could finally find her place in the hunter clan.

She threw her dagger up, catching it
as it fell. Blood dripped from the knife as Rosa looked at the
half-demon and the woman with a cool look.

“
What do you think I want
from you?” she asked with a calm voice.

Rosa could see the fear in their eyes.
The man began to turn into his demon form with his human skin
turning brownish green, while his muscles became bigger, stronger.
His teeth turned into fangs, and eyes glowing red, while long,
razor-sharp claws emerged from his hands.

Rosa looked at him with a
bored look. His appearance might be scary, but she knew that he was
not a big risk for her. Half-demons were only half as strong as
actual demons. Since Rosa had already killed several demons, a
half-demon was no problem for her–as to fight was not only about
strength, but also about technique. Demons were usually stronger
than humans were, but they did not have the proper technique when
they were fighting. Their only goal was to kill the victim, so they
fought wildly.

Rosa, a trained fighter, knew how to
use her attacks, and always aimed for the demon’s weakest
points.

The half-demon was coming
toward her with its teeth bared, and claws extended. Rosa held her
dagger and dodged the punch of the half-demon effortlessly. He
tried to grab her, but she quickly pulled her arm away. Rosa
slammed her fist into the face of the half-demon. His head jerked
backward. His chest, now unprotected, Rosa aimed her dagger
straight at his heart–but she was not in time.

A sharp pain shot through her torso.
Looking down, the half-demon had caught her with his razor-sharp
claws. Her clothes were torn, and blood oozed from the wounds. The
half-demon watched her reaction, amused.

She hated being injured.

She wanted to be the one that
inflicted the injuries.

Blind rage seized her.

Rosa jumped with an angry cry at the
half-demon. They landed on the floor. The claws of the half-demon
scratched at her face and arms, but Rosa did not care. She wanted
to kill the monster. The half-demon tried to grasp her arms, but
she punched her elbow into its’ ugly face. He groaned. Rosa’s anger
was growing.

She hit him repeatedly in the face as
he scratched her with his claws. Rosa clutched her dagger and
waited for an appropriate time to ram it into his heart. She struck
him in the face as hard as she could with her fist. He groaned
again. She used the opportunity to lift her dagger and stab it into
the half-demon. He shouted in pain as his whole body began to
shake. Rosa stood to her full height as the half-demon began to
tremble more violently. The blood from his heart flowed red and
blue—the red showing his human heritage, and the blue revealing the
demon half. As the red and blue liquid soaked the stone ground, its
body began to shrink, until all that remained was ash.

For a while, Rosa only
stared, breathing heavily as she stood over the ashes. She felt
satisfied that she had killed him. She glared at what was left of
the half-demon, void of any kind of pity—she never felt
pity.

The wounds on Rosa’s chest, face, and
arms began to pound violently, but she still had someone else she
needed to kill. She turned for her next target, but the woman was
no longer in the dungeon.

“
Damn!” Rosa said, cursing
the woman. Explicitly, the master ordered her to kill them all. If
she didn’t kill all of them, she’d fail her exam.

The hunter clan knew exactly how many
people were down here. They had figured it out to ensure Rosa
killed everyone in the dungeon.

Now she had to find the
woman.

Rosa ran out of the dungeon, and up
the stairs. Her breathing was heavy. The wounds hurt like hell, but
she gritted her teeth, and called upon all her strength to make her
legs run faster.

She came out into the fresh air. It
was dark, the sky clear and starry. A vast forest surrounded Rosa.
She looked everywhere, but couldn’t see anything.

Damn it! Where is that
woman?

Rosa turned to her left, seeing a
shadow running farther and farther away. Only a few meters away at
first, but as the form ran deeper into the forest, the distance
quickly grew. Rosa ran after the shadow, her feet pounding on the
forest floor. She was a fast runner, reaching the shadowed person
in mere moments.

Rosa grabbed her arm and yanked her
around violently. The woman screamed, falling to the ground. She
began to whimper, crouching low on the forest floor. Rosa snorted.
She despised people who were fragile, who could not defend
themselves. Instead of fighting, they huddled somewhere, and simply
whimpered. Just like this woman.

“
Please.”

Rosa heard a voice so quiet, she
wasn’t sure she had really heard it.

“
Please don’t hurt
me.”

The voice sounded like a child, quiet
and timid. Rosa realized the voice belonged to the woman. The woman
looked at her now. It was dark, but the moonlight was enough for
Rosa to see the naked fear in her face. Her eyes were wide. Tears
ran down her cheeks. It all left Rosa cold. She had a job to
do.

“
Why are you doing this?”
the woman asked.

Rosa found it increasingly difficult
to breathe, the pain in her chest unbearable. She had to leave
soon.

Rosa threw the woman a cool look. “Why
are we doing this? Because these creatures belong to the
archangels, they don’t belong in our world.”

The woman shook her head saying, “You
are all murderers.”

“
Murderers? Archangels are
our enemies. We don’t want to have those shadow creatures in our
city.”

“
Don’t you feel guilty
killing innocent people?”

“
No,” Rosa replied and
grabbed the woman by the arm. This case had already lasted longer
than it should have. She pulled out her dagger as the woman became
hateful, vile.

“
You will end up in hell,”
the woman sputtered.

Rosa smiled wickedly. “Maybe I’ll see
you there,” she said just before stabbing her dagger into the
woman’s heart. The woman’s eyes widened, then her body fell
lifeless on the ground. Rosa removed her dagger, putting it back
into her belt. She took out a small bottle, whose contents she
shook over the woman’s body. Yellow mist rose and the woman
disappeared.

Rosa didn’t know what was in the
powder, and she didn’t care. It was mixed for her by Andrea, the
alchemist, and for her it was important that the powder did the
trick.

When killed, the bodies of creatures
vanished, but this was not the case with humans. Only used on
humans, who were killed during the hunt, the powder ensured the
bodies would vanish.

Placing the powder back into her belt,
Rosa headed out to meet the others and the Master.

Every breath caused her more pain.
Little blood oozed from the wounds, but the pain increased. Rosa
was accustomed to pain. She suffered pain every day by training or
by hunting. Pain was a way of life.

In the beginning, as she joined the
hunter clan, she was hardly able to stand the pain from the wounds
she would receive.

Now Rosa had grown used to
it.

As she came out of the woods, waiting
for her were the Master, her mentor, Christian and her friend,
Colin. Colin approached her. He was in her group and had his exam
the week before, of which he had passed.

Rosa pulled her mask from over her
face, wiping sweat from her forehead. She was tired. She longed for
a hot shower and her warm bed. Colin stood in front of her, his
eyes falling on her injured chest.

“
Are you okay?” he asked,
worried.

Rosa could see his concern in the
moonlight. Colin was always worrying about Rosa, not only because
she hunted dangerous creatures, but also because she often got
herself into trouble. She had a mind of her own. If she wanted to
do something, she did it; nobody could change her mind.

Colin was always worried about Rosa,
which sometimes annoyed her. It was a bit sweet, but she did
not need anyone to worry about her. She was able to take care of
herself. She had done so all of her life.

“
Isn’t that bad,” she
replied in short supply.

Colin gave her a look, but said
nothing. Then he stepped back as the Master came to stand before
Rosa. She straightened herself and looked to the Master, her eyes
full of respect.

The Master turned is black eyes on
Rosa, staring down at her. He was in his mid-forties, but looked to
be thirty. He was tall, with large muscles and a clean-shaven face.
He never showed any kind of emotion. Whenever the Master was not in
a fight himself, he would wear an expensive suit, making him look
like any other ordinary businessman. Rosa knew the truth, though.
She had seen how dangerous the Master could truly be.

“
Huntress, you have done
your job quite well,” the Master said. He never called his students
by name while on the hunt.

“
I’ve watched everything.
You have passed your exam,” he continued, as he offered his hand to
Rosa. She didn’t know how much of the chase her Master had watched;
that would always be a mystery to her. Rosa accepted her Master’s
hand, shaking it slowly.

“
Thank you, Master,” she
said. No honor, no ceremony. Just a handshake that showed Rosa has
passed her test. The Master withdrew his hand and then went back a
few steps. Christian, Rosa’s mentor, hugged her, smiling. Rosa
groaned slightly as his chest touched her own. He broke away from
her.

“
Does it hurt?” he asked.
Rosa shook her head, although the wound hurt very much. She refused
to show any weakness.

Christian was her third mentor. She
had two others before him, but her relationship with them had been
a bad one. Both had ended with the mentor’s hospitalized after Rosa
had released her anger upon them. Luckily, she had become close
with Christian, and they got along well.

Christian smiled at her,
“Congratulations. I knew that you would succeed.”

Rosa smiled back. “Well, I had a good
mentor,” she said. His smile widened.

“
We better go now. It’s
late,” said the Master.

“
Besides, your injuries
have to be stitched.”

Rosa nodded. “Okay,
Sir.”

Then all got into the car, getting
themselves back on track.