The Hunters (The Coven Series Book 2)

by Destiny Hawkins

  The Hunters

  (The Coven Series, Book Two)

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the author, with the exception of brief quotas used in reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It cannot be re-sold, reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without permission from the author.

  Copyright © 2018 Destiny Hawkins

  Table Of Contents

  Chapter One: Rightful Home

  Chapter Two: Traitors

  Chapter Three: Home Sweet Home

  Chapter Four: The Door

  Chapter Five: The Right Thing

  Chapter Six: Choices and Consequences

  Chapter Seven: The Magic Within

  Chapter Eight: The Execution

  Chapter Nine: Fire, Ice, and Blood

  Chapter Ten: Trunks and The Blue Monkey

  Chapter Eleven: You, Me, Her, and us.

  The Hunters

  Book Two of The Coven Series

  By

  Destiny Hawkins

  Chapter One: Rightful Home

  My parents stood in front of us, shielding us from the men in black cloaks. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I could feel a strong energy in the air, and I knew exactly where it was coming from.

  “Mommy?” I called, rubbing my eyes. It was late, and all the lights were off in the living room.

  My parents stood in the front doorway, creating a barrier between the cloaked men and us.

  My mother raised her chin while still facing away from me. “Protect your brother, sweetie.”

  I swallowed. “What…what’s happening?”

  Neither of my parents answered. They both looked down at each other’s hands before locking them together, and in an instant, there was a blinding white flash of light followed by a gust of wind.

  Protectively, I grabbed my brother’s shoulders and pulled him close. At three years old, he had no idea what was happening either, but I was sure that he sensed something was wrong. I supposed that’s why he started crying.

  “Shhh, it’ll be okay,” I whispered.

  When I looked up, no longer stood the people that I knew as my parents, but complete strangers. The man that was supposed to be my father was dressed in a black cloak, similar to the men standing outside, and he held a long black pistol at his side. The woman next to him was dressed in a purple cloak with a brown furry hood pulled over her head, and she was holding a long purple staff. Both of their energies felt different, like they were complete opposites, but somehow, combined, they created a powerful energy that forced me onto my knees.

  My little brother dropped onto the floor unconscious.

  “M…mom? D…ad?” I forced out as my vision blurred.

  The man that was once my father looked back at me. “Remember what your mother said, Beatrice. Protect your brother.” His gaze softened. “I love you, baby. I love you both.”

  “W…wait….” Crushed by their power, I fell face first onto the carpet floor. “Wait…”

  Unable to resist, I closed my eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

  ~The Hunters~

  Fluttering my eyelids open, my vision focused in and out. I wasn’t sure of when I had passed out, but it couldn’t have been for long since Willow and Ariqe were struggling to hold Ms. Jones down.

  I closed my eyes when a pounding headache submerged, then opened them to see Bradly running and sliding to his knees by my side. “Beatrice! Hey, sis, are you okay?” He whipped off his hood and shook my shoulders.

  “Hey!” I heard Willow snap. “Hood, back on! No one can see you.”

  Bradly frowned. “No one’s up here. All the other kids are scared in the basement.”

  I swallowed and sat up, then reached around Bradly’s head and pulled his hood back over his head. “She’s right. Now cover your face. Keeping our identities secret is important.” I offered him a smile. “How are we going to be able to go undercover again if our faces are all over the news, huh?”

  Bradly sighed, then his eyes widened. “Your ears!”

  I frowned when I felt a warm liquid slide down the side of my face. When I rubbed my hand against it and brought it back into view, I saw that it was blood. Triana’s piercing scream caused them to bleed. I was surprised that I could still hear.

  “I’m fine. It’s nothing,” I said as I got back to my feet. Reaching into my cloak, I pulled my black cloth back up over my mouth, and Bradly did the same. All that I could see now was his black stripe going down the center of his face and his big brown eyes.

  I nodded down to him, then turned to see Willow and Ariqe pulling Ms. Jones to her feet with her arms restrained behind her back. Her hair fell wildly down her shoulders, and her usual soft brown eyes were hard and cold. As for her black stripe, it began to fade, making her look less intimidating.

  “Even though you’re a hunter, I wouldn’t have expected this out of you, Beatrice.” Through all the anger, she still managed to speak softly to me. “You too, Bradly. After two years, you still decided to turn on me. On Felix.”

  My heart pounded. So, all this time we were living with another hunter and I had no idea about it? All I knew was that Felix was a wizard. We stuck around for two years to see if Felix would bring more witches back with him since he basically made it a sanctuary for his kind. I wondered if he ever sensed us?

  Bradly took a step forward. “We had to, Ms. Jones. It’s our duty―as hunters.”

  Ms. Jones’ eyes softened, but her jaw locked. “No…it’s not, Bradly. Just like it isn’t mine.”

  I raised my chin defiantly and took in a deep breath. I couldn’t let her get to me, or to Bradly. The hunter king let us half breeds live and gave us a home. He taught us about our hunter history and why we had to hunt witches. He gave us a purpose. No, I couldn’t betray him by letting her get to us with her false truths.

  “It was your duty,” I stated. “You just decided to betray your king and harbor our very enemies instead.”

  Ms. Jones frowned. “He isn’t my king.”

  Willow yanked her back. “I dare you to say that to his face.” She turned back to me with ice cold blue eyes, but I could tell that she was smiling underneath her cloth. “Let’s return her to her rightful home, shall we?”

  Willow and Ariqe glanced at each other with a chuckle, then disappeared in a flash.

  Bradly turned around and faced me, then took my hand. “Are you sure that this is the right thing to do? We liked her, and she took care of us.”

  I nodded, not completely sure myself, then closed my eyes.

  And then we were gone.

  Chapter Two: Traitors

  Half breeds. That’s what we were.

  I was half hunter and half witch, and because of my father’s blood coursing through me, I didn’t get the same treatment as the other witches and wizards.

  Like my mother.

  I couldn’t remember much about her since the last time I saw her was nine years ago. I was eight when she was taken away from me, and Bradly was only three. They never told me what was done with her, but I figured she suffered the same fate as the other witches. She was their enemy after all, and being married to a hunter didn’t get her any special treatment.

  My father, on the other hand, was imprisoned for being a traitor. He was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in
the king’s dungeon alone. At this point, I couldn’t even recognize him as the cloaked man from that night because he was so lifeless and pitiful. I guessed that was what losing a family could do to a man, but he had to see this coming. He was a hunter with a path to follow and duties to fulfill, but instead he let himself fall for a witch. Maybe imprisonment was what he deserved.

  After Bradly and I were split from our parents, we were raised by the hunter king himself. I wouldn’t say that he was like a father, but a very strict grandfather instead. He disciplined the both of us and taught us what it meant to be hunters. Once we finally understood the hunters’ way, we took that and made it our own way of life, swearing to never use the magic within us. Not that we knew how anyways.

  We understood why witches, wizards, and magic were all wrong, and we understood that we needed to annihilate the world’s threats. Hunters were what came of magic in the first place. Of course, it was black magic that created them, and only a part of us…

  Once upon a time, hunters used to be witches and wizards.

  The dimension in which the hunters lived in was once a dimension where all witch and wizard covens resided. It wasn’t like today, where there were separate coven dimensions for each and every coven. Those were only created to make it harder for us to find them. I doubted that after all these years the younger generation witches even knew that. History had a way of being forgotten. I’m pretty sure that Raven and Triana didn’t have a clue of where they really came from.

  Before, when all the covens lived in one large dimension, there was a wizard king with his own personal coven. They were called Coven Gold. As the story goes, the king was greedy and was in search for more power, no longer wanting to live in hiding from the humans when he could just take over the human world.

  Finally coming across ancient black magic, he consumed it and was ready to take annihilate the humans, but the other covens fought against him and won. Those left of the king’s coven tried using that same black magic to bring him back, but it turned on them and stripped them of their magic.

  They should’ve known that all black magic came with a price.

  Instead of bringing back the king, they brought back the kings will. Since he wanted to fight and destroy, his followers were given strength, teleportation, and the ability to manifest weapons. Their golden stripes turned black, symbolizing the mark of a hunter.

  Coven Gold soon came to a resolve that all magic was unacceptable. Their king wanted to use magic to take over the human world, then magic killed him, and when they tried to use magic to bring him back, it was stripped from them. They came to the conclusion that their new gifts were meant to eradicate all that used magic to prevent history from repeating itself.

  When they started hunting the other covens, the covens decided to split apart and hide in their own dimensions where they would be hidden from hunters. Yeah, that only lasted them a few centuries until we found them, but I had to admit that it was a good idea.

  Bradly and I were taught this history to understand why using magic was wrong. It was because having that sort of power could bring along greed and wrongdoings.

  We were here to prevent that.

  ~The Hunters~

  Willow, Ariqe, Bradly, and me stood in the torch lit castle facing our hunter king who sat on the black metal throne. He was nearly sixty years old now with long silver hair that he wore in a ponytail, dark brown eyes, olive skin, and a silver braided goatee that nearly touched his chest. Although an old man, he acted anything but. He was still our most powerful hunter, built with muscle and full of strength. He even wore his long black cloak with black fur around the shoulders, black pants, and a black leather top with two metal chains crossed over his chest and latched onto his pants.

  This was the man that raised me and my brother.

  Standing next to him was his Son, Cas. Like his father, he was of Persian decent. He was just the younger version with short black hair that he wore to one side of his head, while the other was shaved off. He was dressed similarly to his father, but more like us.

  Even as a prince, he wasn’t given any special treatment as a hunter. That wouldn’t happen until he was king, so until then, he didn’t get to wear any of the fancy clothes.

  “Unhood yourselves,” king Ohauris ordered.

  The four of us simultaneously pushed our hoods back and pulled down the cloths from over our faces. Once mine was off, Ohauris turned directly to me.

  “Beatrice… Bradly.” He nodded. “Good to see you’re back, but…” he looked at Ms. Jones behind us, who was being held by two guards. “Only a rogue hunter? No witches? Wizards?”

  I took in a deep breath. “Unfortunately, they got away, My King. I am truly sorry. We’ve failed our mission.”

  “Yes, you did.” King Ohauris sighed. “Nonetheless, you brought us something. Someone.”

  “Her name is Alaina Jones.” I stated. “She…was the owner of the orphanage that we were stationed in.”

  Ohauris raised his chin. “Ah, Alaina Jones. I wonder how we missed you?”

  “I was never meant to be a hunter,” Ms. Jones spat behind me.

  King Ohauris chuckled. “You’re marking says differently.” He turned back to us. “Good job on capturing her Willow and Ariqe. The death of your comrades will be avenged with hers.”

  My eyes widened, and Bradly stiffened.

  Willow nodded. “Thank you, king Ohauris.” She tucked a strand of her long brown hair behind her ear and glanced at me with a slight smile on her face. I figured she thought I’d smile back. We were friends after all, but I didn’t have the energy.

  “D―death?” Bradly blurted.

  King Ohauris frowned down at him. “Were you expecting me to set her free?”

  Cas rested his hand on his father’s shoulder. “He did have to live with the woman for two years, Father. This would be a shock to anyone in this situation.”

  King Ohauris sighed and rested back in his throne. “Of course, it would be. Still, Bradly, you understand that she is the enemy. She must pay for her crimes with death.”

  I balled my fists at my sides. I knew that he was right, so why did his words sound so wrong? “We understand, My King.”

  King Ohauris nodded. “Good. You two aren’t traitors like your father, so I’m sure you both understand well.” His cold eyes lingered on mine before directing them back to Ms. Jones. “Take her away men.”

  ~The Hunters~

  For the first time in two years, I stood outside my father’s cell bars. I didn’t know what I would find once I entered the dungeon, so I made Bradly wait for me in the hall. He was most likely out there annoying the guard since annoying people was what he did best. As long as he didn’t enter the dungeon to see what was left of our so-called father, then I didn’t care what he did.

  “Hey,” I said sternly.

  My father sat on the stone floor dressed in only a dirty wool cloth wrapped around his waist while facing the wall. His black hair was longer than when I last came to see him, and it was sprinkled with gray. I also noticed the ripples and indents in his back, like he had been working out.

  “It’s Beatrice. I’m back home.”

  There was no response from him.

  “Face me,” I ordered, but he didn’t respond, nor did he listen. Clenching my teeth, I took in a deep breath. “This is your own fault, you know.” He didn’t even shift. “You should’ve known better than to fall for a witch. You were a hunter―You still are.” I grabbed onto the bars, remembering what it felt like for him to smile at me, but as soon as the memory came, it disappeared. That only pissed me off more. “Screw this,” I growled. “I don’t even know why I even came to see you. You never say anything to me. I’m leaving.”

  When I turned to leave, I had hoped that he would say something, or do something, but he did nothing. It was as if he were nothing but a shell.

  I sighed, defeated. “Bye, Dad.”

  I walked off, up the stairs, and into the hall where Bradly wa
s mooning the guard. My eyes widened at the sight of his pale ass bouncing up and down with his cloak pulled high over his waist.

  Bradly laughed, not realizing that I was watching him. “You gonna say something now?”

  The guard sighed and slowly turned his head to face me. Half of his face was covered, but I could see the annoyance in his green eyes. I would’ve burst out laughing if I hadn’t just seen my father.

  Bradly sighed and pulled up his pants, then spun around. “Oh, come on. Say something you freaking robo―” His mouth hung open at the sight of me standing there, then an embarrassed smile pulled up on his lips. “Oh, hey sis.”

  My eyebrows furrowed, and I shook my head. “I’m not even going to say anything,” I said walking past him.

  “What?” Bradly laughed as he followed behind me. “This baby got back.”

  I raised a brow. “You mean, this baby got fat?”

  “Really, B.? A fat joke? Some women like a little extra meat.”

  I chuckled. “A little?”

  “B.!”

  I laughed. “Stop setting yourself up. You forget, I have jokes for days.”

  “Yeah, whatever.” He sighed. “So, how’s dad?”

  I didn’t know how to answer that question, so I didn’t.

  “Um, hello? Should I just go and see for myself?”

  I stopped abruptly, causing Bradly to walk right into me. When I turned to face him, his eyes widened, and he stepped back, then he raised his hands like I had a gun pointed at him.

  “No.” I said. “You never go see him without me, or without my permission.”

  When Bradly nodded, I turned around and started walking away.

  “But, just to be clear,” Bradly started. “What’s the point of asking for your permission if I can’t even see him without you?”

  “Bradly!” I snapped.

  “Okay, okay, I’m shutting up. Just try making sense next time.”

  Chapter Three: Home Sweet Home