Hunted

Chapter 2

-Chapter 2-

A figure walked out, hood over his head, two long swords attached to his back. The tops of each could be seen from over his shoulders dried blood covering them both. This was our guy. "Hunted," He began in a mysterious, dark voice, his face hidden in shadow, despite the blinding blue light shooting out of the tree at every angle. "You've found your way, I see." The man finished. I nodded. "We have," I told him softly.

Darian stepped towards the man. "I'm Darian. This is Nikolai, Jessica, Randy and Alana. We are the Hunted." He said wearily. The man chuckled a sarcastic chuckle. "I know who you are," The hooded man told Darian sternly. "If you weren't who you said, you wouldn't have been able to find your way, would you have? I have common sense." He added in a harsh growl.

The man took his hood off and looked us each over. "My name's Cade." He told us all, meeting my eyes for a while, then going on to scan everyone else's. His hair was black, his features hardened in a, well, attractive way, and his eyes a blue unlike any others. They practically glowed. I looked over at Nik. He stood in a strong stance, his eyes narrowed, and his arms crossed. He didn't like the guy, and I knew it.

Cade walked to the tree, pressing his hand to it. As he did so, the crystals popped out, and the light stopped. "Could anyone else see that light?" Alana asked, curiously. Cade shook his head once. "No. Only the Hunted and, of course, the Vengeance can see the light." He replied knowingly. "Well, Them and the Bloodthirsty." He whispered. Everyone's eyes widened as he said so, and a few of us cringed. 'The Bloodthirsty,' Randy mouthed, then shook his head.

I met Cade's eyes once more, and noticed they were no longer glowing. I raised a brow at this and decided to keep the thought banked in my mind.

"Why don't you take those with you," He told us, nodding to the crystals. Nikolai walked over, taking them into his hands, then slipping them into his pockets. "Good. Now come with me." Cade ordered, and we all obediently started off in the direction he led us, through the forest. I walked behind everyone, keeping a watchful eye from the back. I watched Alana look up at Randy, and whisper that she was scared. Randy wrapped a careful, comforting arm around her, kissing her forehead then telling her it was alright. That we could trust Cade.

Darian walked to me, and smirked. "You as scared as Alana? Do I need to comfort you too?" he asked. I groaned. "No, so don't even think about it." I snapped, and he put his hands up in surrender before walking back to Nikolai. We were led through the forest, then to a gate near small town. Cade nodded to Nik. "Hand me a crystal," He ordered, and Nik did so without so much as a word. Cade slipped the crystal into a slot shaped as it, and the gate opened. He smirked, and led us though. "Welcome to Aloe," He told us with a nod.

Eventually, we were brought to our final destination. It was a two story building near a training building. Cade smiled. "Welcome to your home for now. We need to keep you protected until your training is over and you can fend for yourselves better. We decided to do this because we heard about Abby and Jakob... Also, The Vengeance will be looking for more recruits soon. Maybe, if you're lucky, we'll recruit you in a few years." He told us. Then shrugged. "If you're lucky." He repeated, then led us into the building, showing us our rooms. There were two large rooms. One for the girls, another for the boys. He showed us around the rest of the house, then before leaving, told us to meet him for breakfast in the training centre.

We watched him leave, then I said goodnight to the boys and headed to our room with Alana. She sat down on the top bunk, and brushed her long blonde hair as she spoke to me. "Jess, This is all so different.... I'm kinda scared." She whispered. I nodded, letting my long auburn hair from it's pony tail and sitting beside her, green eyes glistening sympathetically. I pulled her into a hug. After Abby, Alana's twin sister, had been captured and killed along with Jakob, the group of us (known as Clan one of the Hunted) had been on high alert, and a little scared. We had received a letter from Vengeance, stating that if we followed what they said for ten months, they'd train us with all we needed to know to keep from being hunted and captured further. But I understood her pain.