Changed (The Hunters #1) (21 page)

She could still not
believe all this was really happening. She felt like she was in a
nightmare that was never going to end.

How long would they keep
her here? Would they really keep her until she answered the
question correctly? And would she always be punished?

Tears welled in her eyes.
She was punished for something that was not her fault.

She had not started the
war between the hunters and the archangels. Why was she the one
being punished?

Suddenly the door opened
and two men entered her cell.

Immediately, she was alert
and crept into her corner.

“
Leave me alone,” she
screamed and struggled, as strong hands grabbed her arms and
twisted behind her back.

She was too weak to defend
herself.

“
Please! No.” In the
shadow cast by the outside light, she saw the tip of a
syringe.

Oh no! They were going to
inject her with something that would paralyze all of her Nephilim
abilities.

“
No!” she screamed and
rose up against them, but a hand slapped her face and pushed her
onto the floor.

Then she felt the burning
sting in her neck. It spread out into her body, so that her whole
body felt as though it were on fire.

The hands let go of her,
and as quickly as they came, she was alone in the dark.

With tears rolling down
her face, she curled herself into a ball and shut her eyes. The
pain would be over soon, but until then it would be
torturous.

Slowly, the burning
sensation passed away and she began to breathe more
calmly.

Her thoughts wandered to
Jason. How much she missed her brother! Was he looking for her? Did
he miss her, too? Did he know that they had paralyzed her skills,
so she could not talk with him through their minds?

Until now, she had never
been separated from her brother for so long. It hurt. She hoped
that he had not given up the search for her.

“
Get me
out of here, Jason,” she whispered. “
Please
, get me out of
here.”

Jason opened the door very quietly to
Michele’s room and slipped inside. The room was painted in a bright
pink and the curtains were white. It was a little dark in the room,
and it was comfortably cool.

Jason headed for the crib that stood
in the middle of the room. He stopped next to it, looking down at
Michele, who was sleeping peacefully in her bed.

She was lying on her side as she
sucked on her thumb. Her blond hair fell into her brown eyes. Jason
leaned forward and gently pushed her hair aside, and pressed a
gentle kiss to her cheek.

Michelle was a year old and was just
like Philip abandoned by her parents. Aunt Sarah had taken her in
to care for her.

Michele suddenly opened her eyes and
rolled over on her back. She looked at Jason with her big brown
eyes. A pain jerked Jason suddenly. Jasmine loved Michele, and she
had always worried about her.

He pushed away the painful thought and
smiled. “Good morning, sweetheart. Did I wake you?” he asked. She
still stared at him.

“
Ah yes, you cannot
speak.” He took her in his arms.

“
Let’s go find Aunt Sarah,
so she can give you something to eat, or whatever else you need,”
said Jason, and left the room. Michele began to scratch his face
with her little finger.

“
Hey, Michele. Don’t
scratch my face,” he said, and pushed her fingers gently away.
Michele clapped her hands and said, “Mama.” Her pacifier fell on
the floor. Jason picked it up.

“
Ma! Ma! Ma!” Michele said
and began to scratch his face again.

“
Sorry, Michele, but I
don’t talk baby language.” He put her pacifier in her mouth, but
she spat it out again and began to cry.

Jason picked up the pacifier and tried
to calm her down.

“
Shhh! It’s all right. You
don’t need to cry.” But she didn’t listen to him and cried even
louder.

“
Why are you crying,
Michele? Do you want to scratch my face? Here,” he said, holding
her fingers to his face. She continued to cry.

Jason went down the stairs, then into
the kitchen, in hopes Aunt Sarah would be there, but she
wasn’t.

“
Don’t cry,
Michele.”

He left
the kitchen.
Where is Aunt Sarah?
He went into the garden, but she wasn’t
there.

“
Do you need help?” a
voice asked behind him. He turned and saw Madeleine, who smiled at
him. Her platinum blonde hair was shining in the sunlight. She
looked like an angel.

He smiled. “Yes, that would be nice.
Can you make her stop crying?” Jason asked

“
Give her to me,” said
Madeleine, and stretched out her arms. Jason gave Michelle to
her.

Madeleine took her in her arms and
began to swing her.

“
Are you hungry?” she
asked Michele. Michele stopped crying and whimpering a little.
Madeleine continued to swing her.

Jason watched her. “Where did you
learn to deal with small children?” he asked.

She looked at him. “When you grow up
with three younger brothers and sisters, you learn, in time, how to
deal with them.” Michele stopped crying

“
How did you do that?”
Jason asked amazed.

She smiled. “She likes me.”

He snorted. “Then Michele is probably
the only one who doesn’t like me.”

Madeleine laughed. “I see, and all the
others like you?”

He
nodded. “You could say that.”
Except
Rosa.

“
And how do you know I
like you?”

“
I assume it.”

“
You’re quite arrogant you
know that?”

“
Yes, I hear that
often.”

Michelle began to cry again. Madeleine
tried to calm her, but she didn’t stop.

“
I think she’s hungry,”
Madeleine said.

“
Let’s go to the kitchen,”
said Jason. They both entered into the kitchen, only to find Aunt
Sarah.

“
Where were you, Aunt
Sarah, when I had needed you?” Jason asked her. “If I don’t need
you, you’re here.”

Aunt Sarah turned and smiled at him.
“I gave you a chance to deal with the situation alone.”

“
Yeah, sure. I would say
that, too,” Jason replied, folding his arms across his
chest.

“
What’s going on, my
sweet?” Aunt Sarah asked Michele, as she took her from Madeleine.
Then she looked at Jason, her face serious.

“
Gabriel asks why you are
not at work.”

His mood worsened immediately. “Yes,
I’m going.”

“
Where are you going?”
Madeleine asked him.

He waved his hand. “I have to do
something for my father. You should come, too.”

“
Do we have to kill a few
humans?” she asked.

Jason looked at her. “Yes. How do you
know?”

“
I’ve done it in Germany,
too. I know the drill.”

“
Who’s your
father?”

A shadow flashed over her face. “I
don’t know.”

“
Oh, I’m sorry. I
shouldn’t have asked.”

“
No, you don’t need to be
sorry. I accepted that I don’t have parents.”

Jason looked at Madeleine.
She smiled at him. Somehow, he trusted her even though he only knew
Madeleine for a short time. Her smile was honest and friendly. She
did not look like a girl that had evil thoughts hidden behind a
nice smile.

He smiled. “I have a father, but wish
I didn’t.”

Madeleine frowned. “You shouldn’t say
that, Jason. You should be happy to have a father.”

“
If you knew Gabriel, you
wouldn’t say that.” Then he sighed. “Whatever. I have to find Marco
and Philip. They’ll help us.” She nodded.

He went down to the gym, followed by
Madeleine. Marco was Jason’s age and one of his best friends.
Philip was already there.

“
Hey, Marco. How are you?”
Jason asked him, as he and Madeleine entered the room.

Marco turned around. He smiled
broadly.

“
Oh, hey, Jase. Fine,
you?” he said.

“
Haven’t seen you for long
time, bro,” Jason said and embraced his friend.

Marco was very tall and stocky. He had
short brown hair and golden eyes. He would seem extremely
frightening because of his size and muscle, if it weren’t for his
gentle smile and kind eyes. Marco was a quiet guy, someone you
couldn’t provoke easily, but when he was provoked, he could kill in
seconds without hesitation.

“
Marco, this is Madeleine.
She’s from Germany and will be helping us in our jobs,” Jason
introduced her to Marco. “And this is Marco, my best
buddy.”

She smiled. “Nice to meet
you.”

“
Likewise,” he replied and
shook her hand.

“
Guys, there is something
we have to do,” Jason declared to Marco and Philip.

Marco groaned. “Not again. How many
humans do we have to kill? And why doesn’t he do it?” Rage sparkled
in his eyes.

Jason shrugged. “He doesn’t want to do
the dirty work. The dirty jobs are always for the
Nephilim.”

“
Is it the same Germany?”
Marco asked Madeleine.

She nodded. “Sure. I think it’s the
same everywhere.”

The three boys nodded. “Then let’s go
and get our hands dirty,” Jason said bitterly.

“
Jason, sorry, but your
father is an asshole,” Marco said.

“
Tell me something I don’t
already know.”

Rosa knocked at the door and waited.
After a few seconds, the door opened and Matt stood before her. The
urge to talk with Matt was just too huge to ignore it. So Rosa went
to him, even though she knew their relationship was not the same
anymore.

She smiled weakly. “Hi,
Matt.”

He said nothing, but stepped aside and
gave Rosa room to step by. When she faced him, the look etched into
his features made it hard to bear. She needed him to say
something.

“
Matt, please say
something,” Rosa nearly begged.

He looked at her with his blue eyes.
Something was different in his eyes. Rosa didn’t know what it
was.

“
What do you want me to
say?” asked Matt. His voice was soft and fragile.

Rosa didn’t know herself, what she
wanted to hear from him.

She shrugged slightly. “Perhaps you
tell me that we are still friends?” she suggested.

Matt took a deep breath. Then he went
out and closed the door behind him.

“
Do you have a key?” Rosa
asked him.

“
Mason’s at home,” he
replied, and guided Rosa to the corner where the dustbins
stood.

Not a
particularly pleasant place to talk
, Rosa
thought.