Changed (The Hunters #1) (18 page)

“
Gabriel had called,” said
Philip as Jason walked through the door. Philip stood at the
doorway and had his arms across his chest.

Jason closed the door and put the key
into his leather jacket.

“
Oh yeah? What did he
want?” he asked.

“
He wants to see
us.”

“
Since when does he want
to only see us? I’m sure there lies more to it.”

His friend shrugged. “I don’t
know.”

“
I wanted to look for
Jasmine.”

Philip sighed. “I know, but
you know we have to appear before your dad when he calls us.” He
grabbed his jacket, which lay on the ground. “We should
go.”

“
Oh yes, I forgot. Dad
esteems punctuality, only not by himself. He can come whenever he
wants,” Jason grumbled surly.

“
He’s
the Archangel Gabriel and you’re only a Nephilim.
You
’
re inferior
to him, Jason,” Philip said.

Jason
glared at him. “I
’
m not inferior to him!” he snapped. He did not like being
called inferior to anyone, certainly not his
father.

Philip looked at him with amusement.
“You don’t like him, do you, Jason?”

He growled. “Can we go?”

Philip grinned and nodded. They left
their apartment to ascend to the roof of the building. Jason would
rather they take a car, but it was a long drive to San Diego. The
sun was high in the sky as they listened to the traffic
below.

“
Ready?” his friend asked
Jason.

He nodded. “Ready when you
are.”

Jason didn’t feel anything when his
wings appeared. No pain.

Even if he didn’t like to fly, he
still loved his wings. They were a part of him. They were what made
him a Nephilim.

He flapped his wings a bit to stretch
them out, as feeling returned to them. His wings were pitch black
and glistened in the bright sunlight. The feathers of his wings
waved in the wind.

As a Nephilim grows up, his wings grow
with him until he turns eighteen. Jason was twenty-years-old and so
his wings were completely full and grown. Philip’s wings were black
and already full-grown, also.

Jason’s wings fluttered as he rose
into the air.

“
Let’s go,” said Jason,
feeling the fresh breeze on his face.

“
You mean fly,” said
Philip, as he began to levitate off the ground.

“
Flying, walking. All are
used for travel, so it doesn’t matter what I say.”

“
You’re right.”

Jason looked surprised. “Since when do
you agree with me?”

“
Oh, man! You’re right. I
never agree with you. I must be crazy!” Philip said with a grin.
Jason gave him a punch on his arm.

“
Jerk,” he replied,
grinning

Then
they flew over the rooftops of Boston. The wind blowing across his
face. Jason breathed the fresh, cold air. Even if he
didn
’
t like to
fly, he enjoyed the feeling of being free.

The only time he felt free was when he
was flying. When he was in the air, his problems were blown away.
In this moment, he had no worries or responsibilities.

Jason was free.

The flight to San Diego didn’t last
longer than an hour.

They landed in the park. The people on
the street didn’t even bother to look at them.

The people in San Diego were used to
angels. Every day, angels were flying over San Diego, living
amongst the humans.

Jason let his wings disappear. Philip
did the same as they turned around.

San Diego didn’t look like the old San
Diego anymore. There were no more beautiful houses, beaches, bars,
or palm trees. Everything had been destroyed. Everywhere you looked
was rubble and destroyed buildings. On the beaches, there were
remains of yachts and boats.

Humans were moving very slowly with
the rebuilding. Only one or two houses were built by the humans.
Living in poverty, they had no real food, because all of their
crops were destroyed. Numerous wars between the archangel and
hunters had caused the same result throughout the world.

Boston
looks better than San Diego
, Jason
thought.

Jason bet that somewhere in the world,
there was a war going on where people were killed and houses were
being destroyed.

It was pointless in his
opinion.

In this never-ending war, the
archangels and the hunters wanted power over the whole earth.
Furthermore, they were searching for the talismans that held huge
power.

Jason did not really care about the
war until his sister was captured. Then again, if they had not been
at war, she never would have disappeared to begin with.

His friend touched his arm. “It looks
worse than last week,” Philip said.

He nodded. “Yes, you’re
right.”

The archangels lived in a very
expensive apartment, with enough food and drink. They did not care
about the humans who were suffering after the war. They thought
only of themselves.

“
Time to go,” said
Philip.

Jason nodded and they went to the
apartment. His father’s apartment was at the end of the
coast.

All that was left of the previous San
Diego was its sunny weather. The sun was shining in all its glory
in the sky, brightening the blue ocean.

After they had walked through the park
for a while, they arrived at the apartment.

It was huge and painted white. It had
three floors and a front yard, which looked well maintained. Around
the house, there was a large fence, separating the apartment from
the debris that was located uptown near the beach.

Jason and Philip walked through the
iron gate to a large metal door.

Philip knocked at the door. After a
few seconds, the door opened. A woman in her mid-fifties, with long
black hair and golden eyes stood in front them.

Jason recognized her
immediately.

It was Sarah, his aunt.

A smile spread across her face when
she saw the two boys.

“
Jason! Philip! It’s so
nice to see you again,” she said happily and stretched out her
arms.

“
Aunt Sarah,” said Philip,
and fell into her arms. “I missed you.”

Like Jason and Jasmine, Aunt Sarah had
also raised Philip. Philip didn’t know his parents. Some archangels
could not stand for their children, and gave them to someone else
to raise them.

Aunt Sarah stroked Philip’s back. “I
missed you too, dear.” She pulled away and gave him a kiss on the
forehead. Then she turned to Jason.

“
Come here.” She opened
her arms.

Jason smiled and hugged her. “Glad to
see you again, Aunt Sarah.”

She held him tight. “I have missed you
both. I am so happy you are back.”

Jason broke away from her with a
smile. “Aunt Sarah, it wasn’t even a week that we’ve been gone, and
you miss us so much already?”

She smiled so that her wrinkles
deepened around her eyes. “You’re my little babies. I will miss you
no matter how long you are away.”

Aunt Sarah was the mother that he
never had. Jason and Jasmine’s mother was a mortal and because of
that, he didn’t know her. He was not allowed to meet his mortal
mother. Gabriel was overextended with the educating of Jason and
Jasmine, so he gave his children to his sister, so she was the one
who raised Jason and Jasmine.

Aunt Sarah was an
archangel, but she was not like the others. She was very concerned
about the poor humans and gave them something to eat and drink when
she could, but she could not do much more than that.

“
Come,” said Aunt Sarah
and they went inside.

The lobby was huge. The floor was
marble and glistening. The room, well lit by the huge chandelier,
had no windows.

In the middle of the room stood a
fountain. A large staircase was leading to first floor. Everything
seemed very expensive and modern.

“
And how is Boston?” Aunt
Sarah asked. “Does it look the same as here?”

Philip shook his head. “Not at all.
Boston looks much better than here. It’s a little destroyed, but
the humans don’t live on the streets like they do here,” he
replied.

“
Yes, the hunters rebuild
their cities, not like the angels. They don’t do
anything.”

“
Dad wanted to talk to
us,” Jason said. He didn’t want to stay long in this house. He
hated it here.

“
Yes, of course. He is
waiting in his room for you.”

Jason nodded and they walked up the
stairs to the first floor. The room of his father was at the end of
the corridor.

“
You knock on the door,”
said Jason, crossing his arms over his chest, as they stopped in
front of the closed door

“
And why don’t you?”
Philip asked as he arched an eyebrow.

“
Because I don’t want to
touch his door.”

“
Why do you hate him so
much?”

Jason looked away. “Because I hate
him.”

Philip frowned, but said nothing. Then
he knocked at the door and opened it.

“
Hello, Archangel
Gabriel,” Philip greeted him with a friendly smile. Jason closed
the door behind him and folded his arms across his
chest.

Gabriel, his father, rose from his
chair and shook Philip’s hand.

“
Hello, Philip, how are
you?” he asked.

Philip smiled. “I’m fine, thank you.
And you?”

“
I feel much better now
that I’ve seen you.”

Jason
snorted. He felt much better, after seeing
Philip
and not
him
, his own son.

Gabriel looked up to him. His smile
disappeared and his face was expressionless.

There stood his father, the great
Archangel Gabriel, God’s Messenger.

Jason
looked much like his father. They had the same curly black hair and
fine features. Gabriel was wearing his hair short, too, and as
always, he wore a neatly pressed white shirt and black pants. He
looked quite attractive for his more than five hundred years, but
Jason knew that this wasn
’
t Gabriel’s real
body.

Archangels were spiritual beings who
used human bodies as a shell for living in the human world. Humans
weren’t able to see the real appearance of the archangels because
they were invisible to them. Theoretically, Gabriel wasn’t his real
father. Jason’s father was the man, whose body Gabriel used as a
shell. But only theoretically.

Jason
found it funny that his father was immortal, and
couldn
’
t die.
Jason was going to die eventually, but Gabriel
wouldn
’
t.

He turned his gaze toward his father.
The tension between the two could literally be felt. There was a
long silence between them.

“
Jason,” Gabriel
said.

“
Father,” Jason replied
dryly.

“
I am glad that you came.
I didn’t expect you would.”

Jason smiled coolly. “I couldn’t miss
this.” His voice dripped with sarcasm.

Gabriel’s eyes turned cold, but he
said nothing. Instead, he sat down on his chair.

“
You’re probably wondering
why I asked you to come here,” he began.

“
Not really,” Jason
muttered. Philip punched him in the ribs. Gabriel didn’t react to
Jason’s comment, continuing on.

“
I would like to introduce
you to someone.” He stood up and smiled at them. Jason frowned and
asked himself whom would Gabriel want them to meet.

Gabriel went to the door. “She came
from Germany.” He opened the door. “Madeleine, please come
in.”