Changed (The Hunters #1) (6 page)

“
Are you from Russia?”
Philip asked Rosa and tore her from her thoughts.

“
I’m sorry, what?” Rosa
said.

“
I was wondering whether
you came from Russia.”

“
What makes you think
that?”

He
shrugged. “Your name
’
s Russian. Petrova. And you have a slight Russian
accent.”

“
Yeah, my family came from
Russia. I was born there.”

Philip looked at her. If Rosa really
looked into his eyes, she could see the glimmer of gold behind the
contacts.

“
You don’t look
Russian.”

Rosa smiled weakly. “Yes, I often hear
that.”

Her hair was short and
red in color. She had ice blue eyes and soft tan skin. She did not
know herself why she did not look like a Russian. Her father came
from Russia and he had brown hair, blue eyes and was light-skinned.
Rosa had never known her mother, and therefore, did not know if she
was a Russian woman or not.

“
Are you
somehow a fighter, or something?” Philip asked. Alarm bells rang
loudly in Rosa’s head.
Did he guess I was
a hunter?
She hoped not.

“
Why are you asking?” Rosa
asked.

He
pointed at her body. “Your body
’
s muscular.”

“
Your body is muscular,
too,” Rosa said.

Philip nodded. “Yes, but I’m a boy. It
isn’t typical for a girl to be so muscular.”

Rosa leaned forward and looked at him.
“You’re a Nephilim, right?” she asked softly.

He seemed to stiffen, and then he
laughed. “What makes you think that?” he asked. Rosa could see his
uncertainty.

She shrugged. “Nobody looks like you.”
She gestured with her hand to his perfect body. “Only a
Nephilim.”

He seemed not to know what to say. He
bit his lip as Rosa smiled at him kindly.

“
You don’t need to worry.
Your secret is safe with me,” she reassured him.

Philip frowned. “I didn’t tell you
that you were right.”

She waved a hand. “I can see that
you’re a Nephilim. Boston’s actually ruled by the hunters. Why are
you here? Isn’t it dangerous for you to be here?”

He opened his mouth to say something,
but Mr. Black interrupted.

“
Miss Petrova, first you
come late and then you distract your classmate. Stop talking and
pay attention to the lesson!” Mr. Black railed.

Rosa growled. She was about to learn
it and bang, Mr. Black ruined everything.

She stood up, “Mr. Black why should I
pay attention? Next month is our graduation and we have all written
our exams. So, why shouldn’t I talk?” Rosa asked
angrily.

Mr. Black looked at her through his
glasses. His eyes narrowed, which meant he was furious. He took off
his glasses as he continued to stare at her.

“
Do you think so, Miss
Petrova?”

Rosa sighed. “Listen, Mr. Black. I
didn’t mean to say that.”

“
That’s exactly was what
you meant to say. Get out of the classroom and go to the
director.”

Philip stood up now. “Mr. Black, I
only asked Rosa something and she told me. It was not her fault.
“

Rosa turned her head toward him. She
would not have expected that a Nephilim would stand up for someone.
Nephilim were considered very arrogant and egotistical. They stood
out from everyone because they were stronger. They treated people
like how they wanted, and were sometimes quite brutal towards
people. The fact that Philip took the blame, of course, surprised
Rosa.

“
You mustn’t take the
blame upon yourself. It is Miss Petrova’s guilt,” said Mr. Black to
Philip.

“
Let it go, Philip,” Rosa
said to him. “I’m going. It’s not the first time.”

Rosa grabbed her bag and went to pass
him, but then Philip grabbed her arm. Rosa felt his skin on her.
She froze.

Oh, no. This is not good.
Not good!

She felt the electric tingle spread in
her body. Her mark began to glow. Rosa dropped her bag and ran out
of the classroom.

She had to get out of there—away from
people.

Rosa thought she heard her name, but
was not sure. Her feet drummed on the floor. The electrical
tingling was getting stronger as her gift took control of her
body.

Rosa pushed the door open and ran into
the forest that was directly behind the school. She ran deep into
the woods before she finally stopped, panting beside a
tree.

Her muscles were shaking violently as
she went to her knees, her hands digging deep into the grass. She
gritted her teeth as the pain became greater and greater. When Rosa
did not use her gift it caused her pain, but she had to get through
this without killing anybody.

Rosa could feel the pain
begin to lessen, slowly easing away the bloodlust, but then she
heard a familiar voice.

“
Rosa?”

Matt slowly approached her. After Rosa
had stormed out of the classroom, Matt followed her. He knew
exactly what was wrong with her. Her gift triggered when Philip had
touched her.

It was dangerous to follow Rosa in
this situation, but he could not leave her alone. Matt wanted to be
with her, even if it was dangerous.

Matt took a step closer. Rosa sat on
her knees on the ground, her fingers embedded in the dirt; her face
distorted with pain. He could see her mark glow like a burning
flame.

“
Rosa,” Matt said again,
louder this time.

“
Go away,” Rosa gasped,
refusing to look at him.

Matt stepped a little closer. It broke
his heart to see Rosa like that—full of pain. He wanted to help
her.

“
Rosa, you have to stick
it out,” he said.

“
Matt,” she croaked and
grimaced. “Get away from me.”

He shook his head. “No. Do you think I
would leave you here alone?”

Rosa stood up suddenly and was quickly
in front of him. She grabbed him by the neck and pushed him against
a tree.

Pain shot through him as his back
collided with the tree trunk. Her hand was around his throat and
she squeezed roughly. He looked at her in fear.

He could tell by looking at her this
was not the Rosa he knew; her face raged, and her ice blue eyes
told him that she wanted to kill him. He tried to catch his
breath.

“
Rosa,” he gasped. “Don’t
let your gift have the control over your body. Fight against
it.”

“
That was a mistake to
follow me, Matt. A big mistake,” she growled. Her voice was cold
and angry.

Matt consumed less and less air. He
could already feel the pressure in his head. He raised his hand,
and put it on Rosa’s cheek. It felt hot.

“
Rosa, don’t do it,” he
croaked. “I know that you can defeat it.”

A shock ran through Rosa as he touched
her cheek. His touch broke into her like something she had never
felt before. A warm tingle spread from her cheek, feeling the
tingle throughout her body. She felt the pain subside, but the
bloodlust was still there. Rosa knew who stood before her—it was
her best friend, Matt.

Then she saw her hand around his neck.
A shock ran through her a second time. She could not kill Matt, her
best friend. She tried to pull her hand, but it would not
obey.

Matt put his other hand on Rosa’s
cheek.

“
Rosa, you can do it. Come
on,” Matt gasped.

Rosa
shook her head.
No,
she could not fight against it. It was just too
strong.

“
I
can
’
t,” she
said.

“
You can! Don’t let it
win.” Matt’s voice was so soft that Rosa’s eyes filled with
tears.

“
Come on,
Rosa.”

Rosa blinked, but she could not halt
the burning sensation. A pair of tears, hot and unwanted, slid down
her cheeks.

Matt’s eyes widened. Rosa never cried,
not when anyone could witness it.

A thick lump formed in Rosa’s throat.
The bloodlust went by slowly. Rosa noted that she had defeated her
gift. She had survived it without hurting anyone here—with the help
of Matt. She was happy and this filled her eyes with more
tears.

Matt could feel her grip loosen around
his neck. Rosa began to cry. She let her hands drop. Her shoulders
shook. Matt filled his lungs with air and the pressure in his head
diminished.

Rosa sobbed loudly. She couldn’t stand
on her feet and so she let herself slide onto the ground as she
buried her face into her hands.

Matt sat on the ground beside her, and
pulled her into his arms. Rosa’s hands gripped him tightly as she
shook, sobbing into his chest.

He stroked her hair, whispering
soothing words to her as he cradled her in his arms.

After a while, Rosa slid out of Matt’s
arms and wiped the tears from her cheeks. She hated to cry in front
of anyone. She felt weak and vulnerable.

But you
are, Rosa
, said a voice in her
head.

“
Ah, shut up,” Rosa
whispered back at the voice.

“
What?” Matt asked
her.

Rosa looked at him as he sat in front
of her. His blue eyes were gentle and his curly, brown hair that
shimmered gold under the sun framed his face. His hair was always
so ruffled. Rosa had once asked him why his hair was so messy. His
reply was, “I wish I knew the answer to that, Rosa. I think my hair
just has a character all its own, and will do what it wants to
do.”

Matt was six feet tall, and his body
was lean and strong. He really was a sweet boy

Her eyes wandered to his neck where
some places were red. Suddenly she realized what she had done. She
had almost killed him.

I am
really a bad friend,
Rosa
thought.

She sighed. “Matt, I’m so sorry for
what I did. I didn’t want to do that.”

Matt smiled at her. “Rosa, you don’t
need to apologize. I know that you didn’t want that and that it
wasn’t you.”

His smile, for her, was like a little
ray of sunshine in her dark world. It did not make the dark
disappear completely, but let the light in it for a moment, so her
world was a little brighter.

Rosa sighed with relief. She was glad
Matt was not angry with her.

“
I’m certain I look like
crap,” Rosa said.

“
You always look
beautiful, Rosa,” Matt said.

Rosa
paused in her movement, gazing at Matt. The way he said it was
somehow ... different. And the way he was staring at her was
different, too. His gaze was intense, but something else shadowed
in his eyes, something Rosa couldn’t interpret. She
didn
’
t know for a
moment what to say, so she simply said, “Thank you. You look good,
too.”