by Joanna White
Hours ticked by like minutes and minutes ticked by like hours. Hindah ordered them to go back and search the ice-caves for the others. I could only hope that they got away. Every time I was about to pass out, whether from exhaustion or pain, or both, Zagerah would get into my thoughts, refusing to let me sleep.
Fatigue and exhaustion slammed me so hard I couldn’t keep my eyes open as I started shaking. I hadn’t eaten in a while and I was losing blood from the cuts on my neck and chest. Finally, even Zagerah couldn’t keep me from passing out.
I woke up to Zagerah telling Hindah it was time. They unlocked the cage and my chains. Malik picked me up and threw me roughly on the ground where I stayed. I didn’t have the strength to stand up.
“See these silver lines in my skin? You think they’re veins, as most do when they see me, but they’re not. No, my veins are still normal. These are similar to Hindah’s tattoos, except instead of causing you pain when they attach to you—when they attach to your head it will make you mine. I will control every action your body makes, and you will not be able to resist. It only works on Hunters, however. You will be conscious throughout the whole thing. I am going to send you to Averella, and you will fight her, hurt her, and bring her to me alive, but just barely.” Zagerah stepped toward me, his purple skin having a gray hue to it from the moon. His silver veins rippled and moved, dancing up his arms.
I had no idea where it came from, but strength suddenly flowed through my body. Rising to my feet, I dodged his first attempt at sending the silver lines to touch me. I grabbed a dagger off the ground and charged toward him again. Suddenly, my vision completely faded to black. Panic settled inside my chest at not being able to see.
When I could see again at last, I was on my knees and Zagerah towered in front of me. I realized he had sent me thoughts of blackness so that it would blind me enough for him to reach me. The silver lines touched the back of my neck and pressed into me, going into my skin, making me scream. He dug into my mind, pulling at my thoughts, forcing me to relive the things that haunted me, the prisoners I had killed, the things I had done. Last, he showed me Gabriel right before he grabbed my greatest fear that was about to come true: that Averella would die by my hand.
He would make me bring her to him alive, to tease and toy with her, and then he would force me to be the one to kill her. He no longer cared how much potential she had.
“No,” I screamed. “P—Please, no! Don’t make me do this!” I knew he would ignore my pleas, but desperation and panic seized hold of me.
The silver lines still embedded inside of the back of my neck, reaching inside of me, going through me…
“No!”
I could see my face mirrored in his eyes. The silver went through me, draining who I was and pulling out this thing, this person that wasn’t me. It pulled forward the Hunter I was supposed to be and I could see in his mind that my eyes were being drained of their color, turning silver, just like the rest of my body was... All of me being encased in silver.
I was a Hunter.
The Hunter in me had thoughts of his own and I fought to get control, but I couldn’t, every part of me was his.
I was Zagerah’s.
I stood to my feet, looking at this man that the Hunter in me called Master.
“What is it you want me to do, Zagerah?” my voice asked, but it wasn’t my voice and it wasn’t me saying the words.
“Go find Averella. Fight her, hurt her as much as you want, but do not kill her. Bring her back here to me, Jared. Alive.” He smiled. The Hunter in me relished at the thought of killing her, but I dreaded and feared it.
My body nodded. I tried to stop it, but I couldn’t move anything on my own. All the movements, all the things I did and said were controlled by the Hunter; it wasn’t me. He—I—grabbed my Inquiri blade and ran off at full speed, feeling for Averella, and somehow, I knew exactly where she was at.
I screamed at myself to stop, but I couldn’t. I loved her, and I couldn’t hurt her, I couldn’t do what Zagerah wanted me to.
No.
I was a Hunter and I was going to hunt.
Chapter 16
AVERELLA
So many emotions had come and gone. Horror at realizing that Jared was a Hunter, and not only that, but he had killed my brother.
Relief, at realizing that Zagerah and the others had turned him into a Hunter. It was their fault that my brother died. Not Jared’s.
I didn’t notice that Lehlax and Sine had followed me.
“I need to take you back to the others and we need to get out of here,” Lehlax said.
“What about Jared?” Sine asked.
“Just leave him to the Hunters. We need to get to safety. I need to take you to the others.” Lehlax gently grasped my arm and started pulling me toward the entrance.
Something snapped in me then, pulling me back to reality, and I realized I had to help Jared. I couldn’t lose the only person I had left that I loved with all my heart. I wouldn’t.
“I have to help him! I won’t leave him!” I jerked my arm out of his and turned back the other way.
Lehlax grabbed my arm again, holding me in place. “You can’t.”
“I have to make sure they won’t kill him.” Tears glistened in my eyes, but I blinked them back. They couldn’t kill him… I couldn’t lose anyone else. Not him. Not Jared.
“They won’t. You heard what he said. They want to torture him by killing all of us. But if you come with me and we run, and stay alive, we will be helping out Jared, too.” Sine shifted to stand in front of me and met my gaze.
Lehlax clenched his jaw.
I knew Sine was right, but, still, I shook my head. “I have to make sure.”
“I’ll track them and try to find out what happens. I’ll come back with word later. Where do I meet you, Lehlax?” Sine turned to look at Lehlax.
“South, past the rock forest where you can see the volcanoes in the horizon. We’ll be at the burrow there.” Lehlax’s tone was strictly business.
Sine nodded and took off running through the ice-caves. He was going to have to run fast if he was going to catch up with the Hunters.
“Come on, Averella,” Lehlax murmured.
Feeling like I was leaving my heart behind, I followed him back to the others.
It only took us about an hour and a half before we were out of the ice-caves, met with Quinn and Axe, and were on our way to the place where we would meet Sine. I wasn’t sure where it was specifically, but the rock forest was south, and we headed that direction. We traveled for hours, and even when we ate, we didn’t take a break. There was no time for rest—the Hunters wouldn’t be far behind.
We walked until the trees disappeared, and huge rocks with sharp points at the top and circular bases took their place. Each rock was the same thickness and size as the trees and was spaced evenly apart like the trees in the forest had been. Off in the distance, the sun bounced on something and the reflection hurt my eyes.
Lehlax, seeing my eyes squint, looked at me. “That’s the glass pyramid. It’s huge and can only be seen from afar when the sunlight reflects on it.”
I was glad the sun was up, even if it did hurt my eyes. After so long in the caves, it seemed like the sun was so far away. So distant. I thought of Jared and wondered what he must be going through.
“God will get us through this. Somehow,” Lehlax murmured, placing a hand on my shoulder.
I nodded, but looked away from his face, blinking my eyes to force back tears.
“We should be through here and able to make camp after about another hour and a half,” Lehlax said.
Sighing in relief, I nodded. I was so tired. We all were.
Suddenly, Jared appeared right in front of me.
“Wha—?” I started but cut off short when he smiled. But this wasn’t his smile, no…. This was the smile of a Hunter.
“Jared, what’s going—?”
Jared interrupted Quinn. “Hello, Averella. I think it’s time you and I
had a little… chat.” He grabbed me by my throat.
I gasped and struggled to get out of his grip.
“Jared, what are you doing?” Quinn unsheathed his sword, followed by Lehlax. Without hesitation, he lunged for Jared’s back.
Jared saw him coming and moved so fast I didn’t know what was happening. When he stopped, he was still grasping my neck and had moved us both several yards away from the others. He smiled that twisted smile at me.
I grabbed his wrists where they held my neck, squeezing harder and I tried prying his hands off, but it was no use.
“Jared, stop. I don’t want to hurt you.” Quinn raised his sword and took a hesitant step toward us.
Jared laughed. It made me wince.
Lehlax went to swing his sword, aiming for Jared’s side, but in a millisecond, Jared had thrown me, and I slammed against one of the rocks, landing on my left side.
Pain flared in my side, making me groan. At the same time, Jared had grabbed Lehlax’s hand and had darted behind him so fast I didn’t see him until he was already there. He twisted Lehlax’s arm behind his back, yanking his sword, and flung it so far, I didn’t see where it landed. He kicked Lehlax in the back and he landed hard on the ground.
Quinn came up behind Jared to attack, but Jared ducked and moved his arm out straight to pound his fist into Quinn’s stomach before he could do anything. Jared clenched Quinn’s arm above his elbow and jerked it, so his sword came loose and fell to the ground. He roughly pushed Quinn back to slam against one of the rocks.
Axe, who had gone on ahead a little to scout, dashed forward so that he stood there facing Jared’s back.
I pushed myself painfully to my feet and stood beside Axe.
“Jared, what did they do to you?” I slowly took a step toward him with my hands near my sword… ready.
He scoffed. “What? Now that you’ve seen the real me and not the me that I lied to you about, you’ve decided you hate me?” With a smirk, he glanced at me over his shoulder.
“I still love you, but I know…. I know that this is not you!” I said, desperate to reach him.
Axe twirled his ax in his hand and glared at Jared. “I’m not letting you hurt anyone.” Axe’s voice was deep with warning.
Jared laughed. “I guess we will see.” He zipped past us and stopped behind Axe. Axe turned around quickly enough to swing his weapon up, forcing Jared to unsheathe his sword to meet his attack.
“How did you get your blade back?” Axe asked him.
“Hindah gave it back to me. He said it was a welcome home present.” Jared sneered, but it twisted his features.
Something about this wasn’t right. The last I saw him and the Hunters, they were hurting and taunting him. Why would they suddenly treat him like one of them?
I didn’t want to think about the obvious: unless it all had been an act.
Axe swung at Jared again and Jared blocked it. He parried it to the side and slashed at Axe’s chest, but Axe leapt backward and ducked beneath Jared’s sword slicing toward his face. Briefly, Jared met my eyes and stared at me, as if trying to read me. I realized he must have been trying to pick up my thoughts. His silver eyes glared into mine and I gasped. Silver. Red-gold eyes meant Jared was normal… or at least the normal that he showed us. Black happened when he snapped…So, what did silver mean?
“Enough of this!” Jared pushed his sword against the handle of Axe’s weapon so hard that Axe stumbled backward. That gave Jared the opportunity he wanted. He kicked Axe so quickly that Axe couldn’t react. The kick was so hard that it threw Axe to the ground.
Jared stood over Axe, sword in hand. Jared hadn’t even broken a sweat as his gaze slid to mine.
I unsheathed my sword, but deep inside, I didn’t think I had it in me to fight him. Maybe I can knock him down long enough to blind him, so we could at least talk to him without him trying to kill us. It wasn’t a very good plan, but it was all I had.
I swallowed deeply and froze as he stepped closer to me.
“I gotta say, I’m going to enjoy this.” He grinned, and something about it sent shivers down my spine.
“Enjoy what? Jared, you’re not going to hurt me.” My voice was firm; my eyes determined.
He laughed. “Oh really? Well, what makes you so sure of that, girl?” As he stepped into my face, he slid his hands to cup my cheeks.
When Lehlax tried pushing himself up and winced, I met his eyes and lightly shook my head, making it seem like I was trying to jerk out of Jared’s hands, hoping that Lehlax understood. Don’t fight him.
Lehlax nodded and stayed where he was, looking at me with concern in his eyes.
“Because I know you,” I answered Jared. Copying his movement, I slipped my hands on either side of his face, making him jerk out of them as he stared at me. His eyes flashed, not in color, but with something that seemed to spark there...
Lust.
He charged toward me and slammed me against a rock, as he leaned against me and kissed me harshly.
This isn’t him. It can’t be, I thought.
Shoving against him, I pounded my fists against him, but to no avail. He simply grabbed my hands and pinned them at my sides. Growling, whether in fury, rage, or something else, his hands grasped my waist and then threw me to the ground. Pain flared, making my ribs burn as I gasped for air. As I turned over, my spotty vision barely saw him walking over to dig his knee into my chest.
“I lied to you.” He spat on me, kicking my chest.
Air… It refused to come, and my breathing came in short, harsh gasps.
Lehlax suddenly lunged for him, but he knocked Lehlax out of the way, making Lehlax land on the ground with a loud crack.
Picking me up by my neck, he slammed his lips against mine. In fury, I bit his lip, making him laugh as he slammed my back against a rock. Air whooshed out of my lungs, and refused to return, especially as he kneed me in the stomach.
He paused, meeting my gaze with his silver eyes.
“I am a Hunter. I always will be.”
My chest twisted in pain and I couldn’t hold back a sob, especially as he laughed at me. “No.” Blinking back tears, I shook my head. I didn’t know if I was trying to reassure him, or myself.
“Yes!” he shouted as he threw me down. “You stupid girl! I used you! I couldn’t wait until the moment when I finally told you that I was the one who killed your brother! I couldn’t wait to see the hurt in your eyes!”
I froze where I was on my knees, trying to stand up. He dashed toward me and punched my jaw so hard I fell flat on my back. He grabbed my hair and picked me up, forcing me to my feet as black spots danced in my vision.
This isn’t Jared, I tried to tell myself.
“I heard Hindah. They planned it. You didn’t do it on your own,” I whispered.
He shook me roughly.
“You stupid, stupid girl!” he hissed. He slammed my head against the rock, grasping my jaw tightly in his hands as he squeezed them. Pain exploded in my head as the world spun around me. “That was all a lie! I sliced your brother’s throat wide open and I enjoyed watching him drown in his own blood.” His voice changed, no longer from the Jared I had known, but the cold and cruel voice of a true Hunter.
Tears escaped my eyes, no matter how much I tried to push them back. Agony flared inside my chest, but it wasn’t physical from the fight. It was a deeper pain, caused by every word uttered from his mouth.
“Yes! Cry! Bawl your little eyes out for what little good it will do you! Cry, so I can enjoy this even more.”
I trembled whether out of fear, grief, horror, or all three, I wasn’t sure.
I briefly met Quinn’s eyes who had a piece of cloth ready.
As Jared once again pressed his lips against mine, I returned the kiss. Just like I had wanted, his left hand loosened on mine to grab my waist as he kept kissing me. I grabbed a dagger in my belt and, before Jared could sense anything, I stabbed his arm in his bicep. He growled at me in anger and didn’t sense Quinn as
he put the cloth over Jared’s eyes and tied it as tightly as it could. Jared fell to his knees, yanking the dagger out of his arm violently. Axe hit him over the head with his ax handle, so Jared collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
“What was that?” Quinn gaped at me.
Lehlax glanced at Jared. “He’s a Hunter! It’s what he does!”
“Did you hear him? They didn’t do that to him. It was all a lie. Everything else that we saw was just an act. He wanted to give us enough time to get away, so he could enjoy the thrill of hunting us.” Axe glared down at him in disgust.
“No.” I didn’t know if I was saying that because I was disagreeing with Axe, or because I didn’t want to face the truth I already knew.
“I know you don’t want to believe it, Averella but—"
“You heard what he said,” Axe interrupted Lehlax.
Lehlax glared at Jared as if he wanted to stab him right here and now.
“So, that’s it? You’re all just giving up on him?” Quinn murmured. When none of us said anything, he continued. “You all heard the Hunters. You heard the one they called Zagerah. They were going to make him watch as they killed us off one by one. Not send him to do it himself, even if there was a way they could force him into it. And did any of you notice his eyes? They were silver,” he said.
“What does silver mean? I mean we know when he’s angry, well angry about something to do with you, they change to black and normally they’re always red and gold,” Axe said.
“I don’t know.” Quinn shook his head, creasing his eyebrows.
“Maybe silver is the real him,” I whispered, feeling tears stream down my face uncontrollably.
“Should we take him with us?” Quinn glanced at him, before looking up to meet Lehlax’s gaze.
“No! He could figure out a way out of the blindfold and then we’re all done for. We should just leave him here.” Lehlax glared at Jared, with clenched fists. “Or kill him while we have the chance.”
“We can’t stoop to their level, Lehlax.” Quinn shook his head. “I know you’re both hurting because you’ve lost people—”
Lehlax’s face reddened. “He killed my son! And he killed Averella’s brother, in cold blood! That’s what he is—a vicious, murdering machine and we have to stop him!”