Changed (The Hunters #1) (15 page)

Jason nodded. “I trashed your old
ones. Then I bought new ones.”

Black pants, a black T-shirt, and her
old black leather jacket. Rosa always wore black. She liked this
color.

She looked at Jason. “Did you stay
here with me the entire?”

Jason nodded. “Yes.”

“
And
why?” She couldn
’
t figure out why he was with her the whole time. That just
did not fit her image of the Nephilim.

Jason didn’t answer directly. Then he
stood up, pacing the room.

“
I’m not as cruel as you
think, Ice Princess,” he answered simply, and left the
room.

Rosa was
so confused. Could it be angels weren
’
t totally cruel and
violent?

No, it
could not
!
An
archangel has killed your father, Rosa
,
she reminded herself.

After she took her clothes, Rosa
hopped on one leg back to her bed and sat down. Getting dressed,
she attached her belt to her waist. Fortunately, there weren’t any
daggers in it.

Then she made her way into the
bathroom. The girl in the mirror was pale, and eyes bloodshot. Her
left eye was swollen and her bottom lip busted.

Yeah, she looked like crap.

To freshen up, Rosa splashed cold
water on her face, and tied her hair back. Then she left the
bathroom, looking again around the room to make sure she was not
forgetting something, and then she left.

Jason was standing with a nurse a few
feet away. He flirted heavily with her.

This boy learns
nothing!

“
Jason!” called an
irritated Rosa. “Come on!”

He gestured to the nurse to call him
then he came back to Rosa.

“
Here. So you can go,” he
said as he handed her a pair of crutches.

“
Why do you flirt so
much?” she asked as they walked to the exit. “Haven’t you learned
your lesson?”

He grinned at her. “Apparently
not.”

She raised one of her crutches to him.
“Next time I won’t save your butt.”

“
I
don
’
t know if I
can believe that.”

“
You better believe
it.”

As they arrived at the stairs, Rosa
tried to go down with the crutches. Cursing, she slowly took a
step. How much she hated to be injured!

“
Come. I’ll carry you,”
said Jason. Before Rosa could argue, he took her crutches and
lifted her in his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck to
hold herself.

“
I could go down the
stairs on my own,” she said, looking at his handsome
face.

Jason nodded. “Sure, but that would
take too long.”

She never thought in her life she
would be carried out of a hospital in arms of her enemy. She had
not even considered talking with them, or especially saving their
lives before.

Yes,
life can be funn
y.
Really funny.

Without realizing it, she rested her
head on his chest. He was wearing one of those green surgical
gowns. She felt Jason’s eyes on her, but she didn’t say or do
anything.

Rosa
still felt tired. She
’
d love to sleep and never wake up, to close her eyes to the
world.

But she couldn’t. She had
duties.

“
You told me that it takes
a lot more than a bleeding leg to get you to carry me,” she
remembered. “So why are you carrying me?”

Jason smiled at her, “Because no man
can resist the chance to carry a beautiful woman in his arms.” At
the end, his voice sounded caressing.

Rosa looked at him. She could find no
hint that he was teasing her, and somehow she felt
flattered.

“
So, I should thank my
beauty that you’re carrying me?” she joked, trying to hide her true
feeling of flattery.

His eyes locked with hers. “I would
always carry you, Ice Princess. No matter how you look.”

Before Rosa could reply, Jason set
Rosa down on the ground. He handed her the crutches, so she could
stand up with them.

“
Jason, can I ask you
something?” Rosa asked.

“
Sure.” He searched for
her car keys in his pockets.

“
What would you do if
someone was in love with you, but you didn’t love them in return?
Would you tell him?”

Jason
found the car keys and opened the car. He didn
’
t answer right
away.

“
Yes, I would tell him. So
he didn’t get his hopes up,” he answered finally, turning toward
her.

“
And what would you do if
the person could die if he loved you?”

Jason furrowed his brow at the
question, but answered it. “I would protect him so his love for me
doesn’t kill him.”

Rosa nodded slowly. Jason
was right. She had to tell Matt she did not love him, and that they
can’t be together.

These thoughts left a pain in her
chest. She knew this would hurt Matt.

Rosa didn’t know if Matt would want to
remain friends with her when she told him. She did not love him in
that way, but she hoped they could remain friends.

“
Come. Get in the car,”
Jason said softly.

She looked at him. She was certain he
knew what was going on in her mind. She could see it in his
eyes.

“
Were you ever in this
situation?” she asked him quietly.

Jason looked at her, but his eyes
seemed to go through her. Something about his expression changed.
Rosa wasn’t sure, but she thought she saw sadness in his
eyes.

“
You could say that,” he
replied, reaching for her hand.

“
Okay, Ice Princess. It’s
almost midnight, and tomorrow we have to go to school. So, let’s go
home.”

Rosa smiled. This Jason was likeable,
but she knew he would not always be this way.

Angel’s were not kind or
empathetic.

Jason helped her get into her car.
“Thank you,” she said.

He smiled as he closed the door. As he
headed down the road, Rosa said, “It seems you and my car have
become mighty close.”

“
Yes, we have. While you
were asleep we had a lovely tea party,” Jason said,
grinning.

“
And what has she told
you?” said Rosa, drawing her eyebrows up.

“
You call your car ‘she’?”
he asked as he glanced over at her.

“
Should I call her ‘he’ or
what? My car certainly isn’t a male.”

Jason laughed. “You’re the first girl
I’ve ever met who thinks her car is female.”

Rosa shrugged. “At least I have a car,
unlike you”

“
Who said I don’t have a
car? I have one. And besides, I don’t need a car. I can
fly.”

“
Whatever.” Then, looking
out the window, she asked, “Where are you going? You don’t know
where I live.”

He smiled at her. “I thought you would
tell me.”

“
I’ll show you the way.
Drive straight ahead.”

Jason nodded. Rosa leaned her head
against the seat and closed her eyes.

“
Why are you actually
here?” she asked.

“
My father sent us here,”
said Jason.

Rosa did not open her eyes, but all
her senses were awake. She did not want to miss a single word that
Jason told her.

“
And why? That’s the area
of the hunters.”

She could feel Jason’s gaze upon her.
She kept her eyes closed, waiting for his answer.

“
I can’t
tell you. It’s a top secret thing,” he replied. Her suspicion was
confirmed.
They are here for a
reason
. But what reason?

Rosa sighed deeply. “Your
life must surely be easy as a Nephilim.”

Jason snorted. “Yes, very easy,” he
said bitterly.

Rosa opened one eye and looked at
him.

“
Why not? You are strong,
beautiful, and you can fly. You get everyone you want.”

“
There isn’t always a good
side ...”

“
... But a dark side. Yes,
I know,” she finished his sentence.

“
How do you know?” he
asked.

She leaned forward and smiled.
“Because my life has a dark side, too.”

“
Ah, what’s your dark
side?”

She leaned back. “Let that be my
little secret.”

Suddenly the light went on.
An explosion of white sun popped toward her, as she staggered
backwards. Narrowing her eyes, tears ran uncontrollably down her
cheeks. It felt like the light was bombarding her
retina.

She dropped to her knees
and pressed her hands over her eyes. For a very long time she had
not seen light. Her eyes had become accustomed to the darkness. Now
seeing the light hurt her eyes.

She wanted the light to
disappear.

She wanted to plunge into
the darkness again.

In the following hours,
she slowly began to loosen her hands from her face and blinked
several times, allowing her eyes to adjust.

She sat down on the floor,
as the voice of a man sent shock waves through her body.

“
Hello, Jasmine,” said the
man’s voice. “Today is the sixth of June. You’ve been sitting here
now for six months.”

Oh God! Six months! Had it
really been that long?

“
And now, we’re going to
give you a gift, Jasmine,” the voice continued.

She was freezing, and
every word sickening to her. She wanted to hold her hands over her
ears, but she needed to hear what the voice was going to
say.

“
Your gift is that we keep
the lights on, and you will get a blanket to sleep. To receive
these things, you need to answer me a question, Jasmine. Why do you
think we kidnapped you, and imprisoned you in this dungeon? Why,
Jasmine?”

“
Oh no,” she moaned,
holding her hands over her face. She could not believe it. “Please!
If you want to kill me, then do it.”

“
We do not want to kill
you, Jasmine,” the man’s voice said quietly, almost
gently.

“
What do you want then?”
she cried.

“
The answer to my
question.”

Why? Why? Why? The
question whirled around in her mind. She knew she had been
kidnapped by the hunters. But what could be their
motive?

“
Revenge,” she finally
answered, and stared at the light. “You want revenge.”

“
Good, Jasmine. Very
good,” the voice praised her. “And now the next
question.”

She looked puzzled at the
light. “What? But you said only one question!”

The voice laughed. It was
cold and distorted. “My love, the first question was for the
blanket. So that the light stays on, you have to answer another
question.”

These damn bastards were
playing with her.

“
The second question is:
Why do we want revenge, Jasmine? Why?”

She swallowed. She had no
idea. “I ... I don’t know,” she stammered. “Maybe because we’re
fighting the hunters.”

“
You answered the question
incorrectly, Jasmine. Unfortunately, I must punish you.” The voice
was even colder and harder.

“
Oh god! No, please
don’t!” she sobbed and fell to her knees. “Please! Give me another
chance! Please!”

She did not want to be
punished! She did not want to go back into the darkness!

“
I’ll ask the same
question in six months, Jasmine. As long as you answer this
question incorrectly, you will sit here and be
punished.”

She heard a loud rustling,
and then the voice was gone.

The door
opened.