Hunted

Chapter 1

Hunted

Chapter 1

I looked around anxiously. Where was he? We had been walking for hours.... Well, long enough for prissy little Alana to give up on walking and make Randy carry her. "I thought we were keeping them away from each other," Darian muttered in my ear. I shrugged. "Let it be. Unless you'd rather carry her," I began. He vigorously shook his head, and I let a small smile creep onto my face.

Randy stopped as we neared a forest. He turned to look at us. "Through here, Jess?" He asked me. I started around the perimeter until I found it. A pretty, blue crystal, with the word 'Vengeance' engraved in a strange script. This was the one. I nodded. "Yeah," I told Randy, and he set off between the trees and into the dark, murky depths of the forest. "Darian, you take lead," I ordered him. Though he was three years older than me, he didn't dare argue. He knew I was in charge. I was always in charge.

I looked over at Nikolai and groaned. He never put down that damned knife, and probably wouldn't, even if his life depended on it. He was busy carving a piece of wood into.... into..... uh.... I wasn't sure. "Nik, put it down and focus, or you're going to get hurt!" I told him. He raised a brow. "Why would you care, Jessica? You're younger than me, you don't need to act like my mother." He replied, glancing at me, with those beautiful.... shockingly light blue eyes.... I shook my head and took my focus off of him.

What he had said was right. I was younger than him, only 16, and I didn't need to try and protect him. He was a month from 18, he didn't need me telling him what to do, and I didn't know why I tried. I looked at the two younger ones; Randy and Alana. Alana was the youngest, only 14, but she had killing skills like woah, and then there was Randy. He was 15, and had taken a certain... 'liking' to Alana. As had Alana to him. It was something we tried to prevent, but it wasn't easy. Our attempt at stopping them only gave them the typical teenage desire to be together more.

Darian looked back at me, pretending to be watching the others, but he wasn't. He then looked back ahead, and kept walking, running a hand through his blonde hair. He stood 6'4, well muscled, perfect body, and soft, brown eyes. Ironic how soft his features were considering what we did. He was 19 as of the same day I turned 16. Three years exactly.... and he liked me. I didn't know why I had no want to be with him, he was, according to every other woman, perfect.

I felt my eyes move to Nikolai. His brown hair was a perfect length, and his cheeks and bridge of his nose lightly dotted with cute brown freckles, hi----- STOP IT! I yelled at my self. I couldn't be falling for Nik! I wasn't falling for Nik.... was I? 'No', I denied, then focused my eyes ahead of me.

We reached a small clearing, a big, sketchy, evilly beautiful tree standing in the middle. It was huge and so.... amazing. Yes, amazing. That sounds right. Nikolai put his knife back in it's holder, and sauntered around the tree, until he found another one of the strange Vengeance crystals. He took that one, then stole the other off of Darian. Nik searched high and low before he found them. Two slots, shaped just as the rocks were. He slid them in, and smirked.

"Now what?" Alana asked, wriggling from Randy's grasp. Nikolai opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, drawing a blank. "Uh, I don't know." He answered with a chuckle. That's when there was a loud 'Boom' and the ground around us shook, electric blue light appearing around us and around the tree, seemingly emanating from the crystals. Each of us looked around at one another, scared, speechless and astonished all at the same time.