by Rose J. Bell
Jason stroked a strand of her hair behind her ear. Her body trembled at his touch and her emotions were running wild.
“I love you,” he whispered and kissed her on the cheek. “My heart wants no one else except you. My heart wants to connect with you and never let go.”
That was the most romantic thing a boy had ever said to her. She didn’t know what to say.
Rosa stepped away from his arms. “Do you have a plan on how to rescue your sister?”
He shook his head. “No, not yet.”
“Then we have to find one,” she said, and her mind began to work.
Rosa was never good at coming up with plans. She was too impatient for it, and probably too lazy to use her brain.
Accordingly, it took her a long time until something occurred to her, but she had something!
“I have a plan,” said Rosa.
Jason raised his eyebrows expectantly. “What plan?”
“You’re going to attack the hunter clan in the pretext to retrieve the book that I’ve stolen from you. Meanwhile, we’ll free your sister. In the whole mess that’ll prevail, the risk wouldn’t be as great because everyone will be preoccupied.”
His eyes lit up. “This is a brilliant plan, Ice Princess.”
She shrugged one shoulder. “Well, from a brilliant person comes a brilliant plan.”
Jason grinned. “And you call me arrogant.”
Rosa didn’t listen to him. Suddenly she felt the excitement, like a drug, make its way through her body.
“When will we rescue her?” Rosa asked.
“Tonight.”
“Oh.” She didn’t expect it so early.
Jason took notice of her hesitation and sat next to her.
“Don’t you be afraid, Ice Princess. I’m not going to let anybody find out that you helped me. I promise.”
Rosa crossed her arms over her chest, and looked at him coolly. “Who told you that I was scared?”
A small smile played across his lips. “I know you’re not scared. It’s one of the reasons why I fell in love with you.”
Rosa smiled but said nothing. Even if she was happy now, she knew that she had to leave Jason eventually.
“Jason ...” she started saying but stopped. Jason grimaced.
“Are you okay?”
He didn’t answer. “Jason?” Rosa was just going to shake his shoulders when he blinked and looked at her.
“I have to go.” His face was now hard and serious.
“Where?”
“Dad. He called me.”
Rosa frowned. “Huh? How?”
He smiled. “Mind speaking,” he reminded her.
“Oh, yes. I had forgotten. Okay, see you later?”
“I’ll come visit you again to discuss the details.” He went to the door with Rosa at his heels.
At the door, he turned around and kissed her again. Fireworks exploded in her body. She kissed him back hungrily.
Breathing heavily, they broke away from each other. “We must reduce our consumption of kissing a little bit,” said Rosa still feeling his lips on hers.
He smiled. “I don’t mind it, honey.”
Rosa rolled her eyes. Jason put his glasses on and opened the door.
“See you later.”
Then he disappeared.
The Fire Lord looked at Gabriel and Jason angrily.
He was a tall man with brown eyes and a shaven head, and his features were hardened.
“How are you going to explain killing two of my men?” he asked gruffly.
They all sat at a table. When Jason arrived at home, Gabriel had him immediately brought to the Fire Lord.
“Fire Lord, we could not know that they were fire users,” Gabriel tried to explain to him.
“I do not care,” he applied. “You should have known it. I do not tolerate the murders of my men!”
“I know, Fire Lord. I’m really sorry. Maybe we can—”
The Fire Lord cut him off. “Your excuses do not bring my men back.” His gaze was harder and colder. “I am cancelling my agreement with you.”
Gabriel threw an icy glance in Jason’s direction. Jason just shrugged. He knew that it wasn’t his fault. He couldn’t have known it.
“Please, Fire lord. Give us another chance.” Jason had never seen his father beg. He wouldn’t be surprised if Gabriel were to kneel down before the Fire Lord to get what he wanted.
The Fire Lord shook his head and stood up. “No, I will not give you a chance. I would like to have the book again.” He stretched out his hand.
Gabriel surrendered. He sighed and stood up.
“Jason, bring him the book,” he ordered with a tired voice.
Jason squirmed. How could he tell them that it was stolen?
The book was very important for the fire users. By giving it to the angels, the contract between the fire user and angels were made and showed that the fire users trusted the angels. The book contained very important information about the fire users, the history, and their future.
“Jason, the book,” Gabriel said impatiently and reached out his hand.
“Well, the book—” Jason ran his fingers through his hair. “It was stolen.”
“What?” Gabriel and the Fire Lord asked simultaneously.
He raised his hand. “But I know who stole it, and I’ll get it back today.”
The fire lord stared at Jason in shock, “How dare you to lose the book, Nephilim?” He almost cried.
“I will get it back today,” Jason reassured him.
Fire appeared around his hands. “If the book is not in my hands tomorrow, then you will be my enemy!”
With this, the Fire Lord rushed out of the room angrily, slamming the door behind him.
Gabriel looked at his son. “Why did you let someone steal the book?”
“I didn’t know, father. I couldn’t take the book everywhere,” he said.
“But that’s what you had to do! You are an irresponsible son. I am disappointed once again.”
Jason stood up. “I’m irresponsible? Who has been searching for Jasmine for months? Me or you?”
“Do not twist the facts, Jason,” Gabriel growled.
“I twist nothing! I am telling you the truth! For months, I bust my ass to find Jasmine. And what are you doing? Nothing.”
“Watch your tone!”
“And what if I don’t? Will you tell my secret to Archangel Michael, or what?” Jason stepped back, stretching his arms. “Okay, do it. I’m tired of you pushing me around and treating me like dirt. Damn, I’m your son!” The last words Jason cried out. He simply had enough of it. His body trembled with rage.
Gabriel face was hard. “Maybe I should do it, so you would learn something.”
Jason looked at him with pure hatred. He took a deep breath to control his anger.
“Then wait for it,” Jason replied bitterly. “I still have to free Jasmine.”
“Have you any clues?”
“I know where she is.”
Gabriel’s eyes widened. “Where? Where is she?”
“She’s imprisoned in Boston, and I’ll free her today.”
“How?”
Jason told him the idea Rosa had.
Gabriel nodded thoughtfully. “That’s not a bad idea.”
He would like to say that it wasn’t his idea, but Rosa’s, but then Gabriel would ask who Rosa was, and Jason had no desire to tell him that.
Gabriel folded his arms across his wide chest. “Are you sure that Jasmine is really there?”
All he had to go on was what Milena had told him.
“Yes, I’m sure,” Jason lied. He had to bring Gabriel to believe and help him.
Gabriel looked at him a while through narrowed eyes. The distrust was written all over his face.
Jason couldn’t blame him for not trusting him. After all, he had made several mistakes and disappointed his father.
“Okay,” Gabriel said. Jason breathed a sigh of relief. His father had agreed to he
lp him.
Now nothing stood in his way to free his sister.
“When do we start?” Gabriel asked.
“Tonight.”
“If you continue not to train, you’ll never be a good huntress.”
“Maybe I don’t want to be one!”
Rosa looked at Tamara coolly who only glared back at her.
After Jason left, Rosa had made her way to the Academy to begin training with Tamara. Rosa wanted to finish this as fast as possible.
As if it wasn’t bad enough that Rosa had to train Tamara. Tamara was stubborn, and didn’t obey instructions.
So far, Rosa kept a cool head, but soon her temper would take control of her.
“Well, you’re here now and have to be a huntress,” said Rosa. “Make life easier for both of us and do what I tell you.”
Tamara looked defiantly at her.
“And if don’t?”
She just wants to provoke me, Rosa thought. Do not go there. You are older and wiser than she is. Do not stoop to her level.
“Then Lord Constantine will punish you,” Rosa answered and notice a change in her face.
Tamara was afraid of Lord Constantine. Who wasn’t?
“Would he really punish me?” she asked meekly. All her stubbornness had dissipated.
Rosa snorted. “Of course! He has punished me by sticking me in a forest where I was chased by a man with a knife.”
Tamara’s eyes grew wide and fearful.
“Oh God,” she breathed.
“So if you don’t want that happen to you, do what he wants of you.”
Tamara sighed deeply. “How did I get in this shit?”
“Don’t know. How did he find you?”
“I was with my friend outside.” Sadness crossed her face, tears glistening in her eyes. Rosa guessed what was coming.
In a choked voice, she said. “We were walking. Then we were attacked. They killed Ren ... and then brought me here.”
“More you don’t know? Why does he want you to be a huntress?”
She shook her head.
Rosa nodded and then said, “Sorry about your friend.”
Tamara breathed deeply in and out. “Me too.” Then she looked at Rosa. “Are you really satisfied with your life as a huntress?”
Lately, not really. But Rosa wouldn’t say it. Tamara already had a negative attitude toward the hunter’s life; Rosa didn’t want to encourage it.
“Yes, I am,” she lied. Her neck blushed.
“A life full of killing, death, and the fear that you can be killed, could not be good.”
“It depends on the viewer. I like my life like it is.”
Rosa loved to have action in her life, to feel the adrenalin in her body, but most of the people didn’t understand this.
To change the subject, Rosa said, “Come, I’ll show you something.”
She grabbed Tamara’s arm and led her out of the room.
“I thought we were supposed to train,” Tamara interjected.
“First, I want to show you something.” Rosa led Tamara up the stairs to the entrance. Then they headed to the entrance of the dungeon.
Rosa pushed the door open. A guard was always on duty at the entrance to the dungeons. First, they had to pass him.
“Stop,” said the guard, and stood before them. Rosa knew him, but she never had anything to do with him.
“What are you doing here?” he asked sternly.
Rosa pointed to Tamara. “She’s new here, and I have to show her the dungeons. You know, scare her a little, and all that stuff.”
Rosa hoped that he bought her lie. Apparently he did, because he nodded.
“Okay, but don’t stay down there long.”
“Do not worry; we’ll be in and out in a flash.”
Rosa smiled at him, and then she went down the stairs with Tamara. The farther they went down, the darker it became.
There were two floors with twenty cells on each floor. Rosa was remembering the night when she was in the dungeon and the image of the man with the red eyes.
Don’t think about it.
“Where are you leading me?” Tamara asked anxiously.
They were now on the first floor. It was quiet. Most prisoners only stayed for one or two days, then they were taken to headquarters in Los Angeles where they would receive their final punishment. Because of the assault on the hunter clan, most prisoners were dead or taken to another dungeon.
Rosa turned to Tamara. In the darkness, she couldn’t see her face.
“Tamara, listen to me now. I need your help. I’m looking for a girl in these cells, and I want you to help me.”
“Yeah, okay. I’ll help you,” she said.
“Thank you, Tamara. I owe you one.” Maybe she wasn’t as bad as Rosa thought.
“Why are you looking for the girl?” Tamara’s voice echoed in the dark corridor.
“It’s just to help a friend,” was Rosa’s answer. The less Tamara knew, the better it was for her.
Rosa walked down the floor. She knew that not all prisoners were gone. She stopped in front of a stone wall.
“What now?” Tamara asked her.
Instead of answering, Rosa put her hands on the wall and pushed. The wall didn’t move. She clenched her teeth, pressed harder and harder, until finally the walls gave way beneath her hands—but only slightly.
“Tamara, I need your help,” Rosa said. Tamara stepped beside her. “Push the wall with your hands as hard as you can.”
“Okay,” Tamara replied even though she sounded wary.
Together they pushed the wall, until an opening appeared on the edge
“Come,” Rosa said and slipped through the opening. Tamara followed her.
This corridor was dark, but not as dark as the other corridor. A little lamp hung from the ceiling. The doors of the cells consisted of heavy metal doors. Nobody without the keys could open these doors.
“Knock on every door in and ask if she’s Jasmine. Quick!”
Tamara nodded and walked to the cells on the left. Rosa worked through the cell on the right side. They knocked, but no sound was heard.
Rosa almost lost hope, when somebody answered her.
Thanks to her Nephilim forces, she healed quickly, but she couldn’t do anything against loneliness.
For days, no one had been here. She only got her meal, but the voice never spoke to her.
Loneliness was one of the bad things that could happen to you. If you have people around, then you wish they would leave so you could have some privacy. Though, those who have the privacy want nothing more than to be with people.
She was lying on her blanket when she suddenly heard a knock at the door. At first, she thought she only imagined it, but when she heard it a second time, she was sure that the sound was real.
With difficulty, she scrambled to her feet. She blinked several times and crawled to the door.
“Is anyone there?” The voice came weakly over to her.
“Yes,” she croaked. Her voice was a harsh whisper. She hammered her fists on the door.
“Yes, I’m in here!” Oh God! Had the time finally come for her to be saved?
“Is your name Jasmine?” asked the voice.
Her heart started to beat fast. “Yes, yes! I’m Jasmine. Please let me out of here! Please!” Tears welled up in her eyes.
“Calm down,” said the voice, which belonged to a girl. “I’ll get you out of here. Have a little patience.”
“Oh god,” she breathed. She couldn’t breathe for the joy. The tears flowed like a waterfall down her cheeks. Finally, she was rescued.
“Your brother Jason has been searching for you for months. We’ll get you out of here, but you have to wait until tonight,” the girl informed her.
When she heard the name of her brother, she cried even harder. Jason was looking for her! He hadn’t given up on her.
“Thanks,” she sobbed. “Thank you so much!”
“Thank me when you’re out of here. I promis
e nothing, but I’ll do anything to get you out of here.”
She whisked the tears with her hand away.
“Okay. I’ll wait.”
“When someone comes to you, don’t let them know anything, okay? Have a little patience.” At the end, the voice was soft and comforting.
She wanted to know whose voice she was hearing.
“Who are you?” she said.
“Only a girl that wants to help your brother. I have to go now.”
She heard the footsteps going away.
All those months she had hoped and dreamed that she would get out of here.
Finally, her hope was being fulfilled.
It gave her new strength.
And with this new strength, she would get out of here.
Rosa had heard the desperation in Jasmine’s voice and felt pity for her. She didn’t want to imagine how it was to be captured for months in a dungeon.
Rosa knew she was doing the right thing—even if it meant betraying the hunter clan.
She examined the lock. It was built of massive steel with two locks. The only way to open the lock was with the key or a gun.
And how would she get the key?
Rosa turned to Tamara. “We can go now.”
She nodded and followed Rosa. They closed the door by pushing it from the other side.
“Do you have any ideas on how to steal a key from a guard?” Rosa asked Tamara. She didn’t answer directly. “Why don’t you beat him up until he’s unconscious, and then give him a drink to help him sleep for several hours. While he’s unconscious you free your friend and put the key back.”
Rosa looked at her amazed. “Wow. That’s a great idea.”
Tamara smiled. “Thank you.”
They walked past the guard, smiling. He nodded to them.
“Tamara you can go to your room. I’ll get the magic potion.”
She nodded. “Okay. Bye.”
After Tamara walked to her room, Rosa went to Andrea’s room, but she was nowhere to be found. Nonetheless, Rosa quietly slipped into the room and closed the door behind her. She stopped before the shelf with the magic potions.
With her finger, she searched the bottles for the right magic potion. Finally, Rosa found what she was looking for. She took it from the shelf and put it in her pocket.
Rosa had a guilty conscience for stealing from Andrea, but she would bring it back, after it had fulfilled its purpose.