Changed (The Hunters #1) (52 page)

“
Don’t move!” he
warned.

Rosa rolled her eyes. “You know,
you’ve got bad timing. Where were you when I needed
you?”

The supervisor frowned in confusion.
Rosa lifted her foot and kicked him on the chest. His weapon flew
through the air and landed on the floor. He lunged at her. With
another kick to the face, he slumped to the floor.

Rosa had to kill him, even though she
didn’t want to. He’d seen that she had helped Jason. The guard
could betray her, and she couldn’t allow this.

Quickly, she killed him with her
dagger and turned to Jason. Jasmine was looking at her with wide
eyes.

“
Come,” Rosa said, shoving
the guilt to the back of her mind. She knew what Jasmine was now
thinking of her. A cold and cruel murderer.

As they walked up the stairs, the
smell of smoke hit Rosa. Thick smoke had filled the entrance hall
of the Academy. In some places fire was burning.

“
Bring Jasmine out of
here,” Rosa said.

“
But what about you? I
cannot leave you here alone.” His face was full of
concern.

She smiled at him. “I’ll be alright,
Jason. Don’t worry. They shouldn’t see us together.”

“
You’re right. Be
careful.” Then he disappeared with his sister in the
smoke.

Rosa waited a few minutes. She heard
the crackle of the fire that was eating the wood.

“
Rosa,” said a familiar
voice. She turned toward the direction where she had heard the
voice. Because of the smoke she could not see who it was, but the
voice, she knew it was Colin. Colin? What he was doing here? She
had told him not to come to the hunter clan.

His shadow ran down the stairs. At the
same moment when he stepped onto the last step, something exploded
to the left side of him.

The force of the explosion was so
powerful that it hurled Rosa. She hit the wall hard with her
back.

Dazed, she slumped to the
floor.

Where the explosion had come from, now
high flames loomed. The flame ate itself like a wild animal through
the wood.

Get up, Rosa!

With difficulty, Rosa stood up. The
smoke had become thicker, so she couldn’t see anything
anymore.

“
Colin?” Rosa called. No
answer. She moved blindly forward.

“
Colin!” she cried once
more. Still no answer.

God, please, don’t let anything happen
to him.

She touched the banister with her
hand. Colin had to be there. Meanwhile, her nose and lungs were
burning from all the smoke. Her best option was to leave and escape
the smoke, but she couldn’t leave Colin behind.

With Rosa’s next step, her foot
touched a body.

“
Colin!”

Rosa went to her knees and leaned
forward. It was Colin and he was unconscious. An open wound was on
his chest, and the blood flowed from his breast.

“
Oh God, Colin! Can you
hear me?” Rosa shook him. Nothing.

She had to get him out of
there!

Rosa removed her black training shirt.
She tore the sleeves of her shirt, and tied the rest of it around
his chest to stop the bleeding. Then she took Colin under his
shoulder and carried him to the exit. Colin was heavy, and Rosa had
to use all her strength to carry him.

Suddenly she heard a cracking sound.
Beside her was a wooden beam that supported the building. It
continued to creek as it started collapsing.

“
Shit,” Rosa cursed. She
needed to hurry up before the house collapsed.

Rosa sped up her pace, but Colin’s
weight slowed her down. More and more beams fell on the floor. Rosa
listened as the house creaked and groaned.

She didn’t have much more
time.

Rosa reached the door. Sweat trickled
down her forehead and burned in her eyes. It was stifling hot and
her lungs screamed for oxygen.

She kicked the door with her foot. The
first time the door didn’t opened, only when Rosa kicked it harder,
did the hinges give way and allow her to exit.

Fresh, cold air blew across her face.
With her last bit of strength, she heaved Colin out of the
house.

The house made a loud noise and fell
to the ground. Rosa protected Colin’s body with hers as the debris
flew about.

For several seconds, the ground shook.
Stones and shards of glass rained down on her body. The world
turned into a huge gray cloud of dust.

Then everything was quiet.

Rosa heard only heavy breathing and
the rushing of her blood in her ears.

“
Rosa!” someone called her
name, but she didn't know who it was. Feet stopped in front of her
face.

“
Rosa, are you
alright?”

When Rosa looked up, she saw the face
of Tamara. Concern was reflected in her eyes.

Rosa managed a nod. When she
straightened up, she felt a violent pain in her back.

“
Call the ambulance,” she
croaked. “Colin’s hurt.” Tamara nodded and took her cell phone from
her pocket.

Rosa was happy that nothing happened
to Tamara. She sat up. Hunters and some angels were lying on the
ground. Some of them groaned in pain, some of them were still, and
maybe dead.

Suddenly she heard voices.
She looked to her right, and saw silhouettes in the
moonlight.

“
Watch out for Colin,”
Rosa said to Tamara, and stood up. Her world was spinning, and she
waited until the dizziness disappeared.

Then, slowly and quietly, Rosa
approached the shadows. She recognized the voices. They belonged to
Jason and Lord Constantine.

Oh no!
He caught them! Damn it! I must help him. We’d come this
far
.

Rosa made a detour around the
destroyed house, so they wouldn’t see her and she could hide behind
a tree.

“
Let us go,” Jason growled
and held his sister protectively behind him.

Rosa couldn’t see their faces, but she
heard their voices clearly.

Lord Constantine laughed. “And if not,
Nephilim? Will you kill me then?”

“
Of course,” Jason said.
“I will tear you apart.”

Lord Constantine only laughed, then he
asked, “Does your sister know why she was kidnapped?” Lord
Constantine’s voice had taken something threatening in itself. If
he used that voice then it couldn’t mean anything good.

Rosa pressed against the tree. Her
heart beat wildly in her chest.

“
I don’t know it myself,”
Jason replied.

“
Really,
Nephilim?”

“
Really.”

“
Do you remember the
Thursday three years ago?”

Suddenly it became very quiet. Rosa
didn’t dare to breathe for fear they would hear it.

“
Yes.” Jason’s voice had
changed. It was dark, and something else was in it that Rosa could
not pinpoint.

“
Why should you not
remember it?” said Lord Constantine and laughed. “Your scar reminds
you daily.”

Rosa frowned. She had a feeling Jason
had met Lord Constantine. He knew of Jason’s scar. This was not
surprising. Everyone could see his scar.

But what had he meant by his last
sentence?

“
What is going on,
Nephilim? Have you lost your voice?” Lord Constantine sneered. “Or
do the memories of the day when your girlfriend had died come
back?”

Rosa caught her breath. Girlfriend?
Died? What did all this mean? And how did Lord Constantine know of
it?

“
I will avenge her death,”
Jason replied threatening. “I will take my revenge on you that
you’ve stolen her from me and defaced me.”

Rosa felt open. She forgot to breathe.
Jason and Lord Constantine knew each other, Jason having a scar
from him? How? Why? When?

Lord Constantine laughed out loud.
“It’s been three years since that. Why did you not already avenge
it?” he asked.

“
Jason, what is he talking
about?” Jasmine’s voice was so quiet that Rosa had to strain to
understand what she said.

“
Nothing important,
Jasmine,” Jason replied.

“
Of course not! Why should
she know about it? After all this was the reason behind her
abduction.” Lord Constantine sounded amused.

“
Shut up,” Jason
hissed.

“
Jasmine, my love,” Lord
Constantine turned to her. “The reason why you have been abducted
is because of the mistake that your brother had made.”

“
I said, shut up!” Jason
growled. Rosa saw that he stepped forward. “If you say one more
word, I’ll kill you.”

“
You want to kill me
anyway, so I can tell her the truth. She has the right to
know.”

“
Jason, I want to hear
what he has to say,” Jasmine said, and her voice sounded a little
louder and stronger.

“
No, you
don’t!”

Rosa could feel the tension, which
increased. She bit her lip. She also wanted to know the
reason.

“
You see,” Lord
Constantine replied. “She wants to know. Either you tell her or I
do.”

For a while, there was silence. Then
Jason said, “You won’t tell her.”

“
But I want to know,
Jason,” Jasmine said angrily. “I spent six months in this damn
dungeon, and I want to know why!” Jason mumbled something
unintelligible.

Rosa’s heart beat wildly in her chest.
She had never ever expected that Jason and Lord Constantine knew
each other.

“
Well, my dear. Your
brother will not tell you. So I am going to do it.” Lord
Constantine cleared his throat.

“
Three years ago, your
brother had fallen in love with one of my huntress’. Of course, I
do not like to see my hunters in love with the enemy, so when I had
found out, I had to punish them both, of course. I killed Tasha,
the girl, who was the love of your brother’s life, right in front
of him. To remind him that she died because of him, I have defaced
him, thus the scar. But I knew I would not let your brother go out
with just one scar. Because of him, I had lost one of my best
hunters, and he had to be punished more severally. So I kidnapped
you, because I knew you were very important to him. A good plan,
right?” Lord Constantine spoke the last words, proudly.

Rosa didn’t know what she should do.
She was horrified, shocked and so much more. To learn that Jason
had already fallen in love once with a huntress made her jealous,
and she felt like a spare part, as if Jason wanted to comfort
himself with another huntress. The thought was like claws in her
heart.

“
Jason, is this all true?”
Jasmine asked her brother.

“
Yes,” Jason said quietly.
“I’m sorry, Jasmine. I didn’t know that he would kidnap you. I ...”
He lowered his head. “I’m so sorry, Jasmine.”

“
Oh, how touching,” Lord
Constantine gushed. “It touched my heart deeply.”

Rosa despised Lord Constantine even
more now. No one could be as cruel as he, as merciless and
heartless.

“
But why did you wait so
long to take your revenge,” Jasmine wanted to know.

“
Well,” Lord Constantine
replied. “I wanted to make sure Jason felt safe, and that he did
not suspect that I was going to kidnap his sister. So, I waited
three years to do it.”

“
I will kill you!” Jason
growled and attacked him.

“
Jason, no!” Jasmine
called but Jason didn’t listen.

Rosa knew that she had to do
something. Lord Constantine was an experienced hunter. He knew
Nephilim, and their vulnerability. He could kill Jason.

Rosa couldn’t allow that happen. She
left her hiding place, when at the same moment two other Nephilim
appeared.

“
Lord Constantine,” Rosa
called in mock surprise and dismay in her voice and ran to
him.

“
Rosa,” he gasped. “Help
me, my huntress.” He fought against three Nephilim. Rosa jumped on
one of the Nephilim.

He immediately threw her from himself,
but Rosa ducked and rammed her fist into his stomach.

The Nephilim grabbed her by the throat
and pulled her up. Rosa was still holding her dagger in her hand.
She reached out and tried to stab him, but he caught hold of her
hand and squeezed his hand around her throat.

Rosa gasped and lunged at his
hand.

Even now it seemed that the Nephilim
had the upper hand in the fight, Rosa had gained the advantage to
hurt him without the Nephilim being able to defend himself. His
hands weren’t free.

With a wicked smile, she crashed her
foot hard between his legs. The Nephilim growled, and let go of her
hand. Without even a second's hesitation, Rosa’s fist crashed with
his face. Bones crunched under her fists. He screamed and staggered
back. Then she moved quickly, as she thrust the dagger into his
heart. He slumped lifelessly on the floor.