Hunted

Chapter 3

-Chapter 3-

Alana lay in a small hospital bed. She seemed asleep... But maybe she wasn't conscious. Cade saw us walk in and walked over.

"Want the verdict?" He asked softly. All I could manage was a nod.

"It knocked her out. She's in a medically induced coma so they could see just how it knocked her out and if it caused any serious damage." He explained and I sighed, turning my gaze to the floor so I could process it.

"Hey," Cade whispered, laying a gentle hand on my shoulder. "It'll be alright." He finished, and I looked him. His features were gentle as he gave me a reassuring smile. Out the corner of my eye I could see Nik. He glared at Cade.

I stifled a chuckle, he was so damn protective over me that sometimes it was funny to watch.

Cade raised a brow in Nikolai's direction, then turned back to me.

"So Jessica... Can I talk to you in the hall for a sec? Like, just us?" He asked. A little unsure of how I should answer I eventually decided just to nod, and I followed him into the hall.

"You're an amazing fighter. Vengeance has been watching you since you were put into Hunted. So, there's a very good chance that at the end of Hunted's stay here in Vengeance quarters we might just ask you to stay." He told me. I smiled gently. I opened my mouth to speak but he smirk and cut me off.

"That also means you'll have to know how to party like us. So I guess why I really called you out here was to ask-- will you come to a Vengeance party with me tonight?" He asked, those weird yet intriguing blue eyes sparkling.

Overwhelmed with excitement, I smiled and nodded.

"Great, I'll sneak you out at 11:00... Be ready?"

"I will."

"Front door... Don't let anyone hear you."

"Got it. See ya then."

"See ya." He replied and was off. I stood there long enough to wipe the stupid smile off my face and erase the scarlet blush from my cheeks. With that, I headed back inside.

I walked back in, standing beside Nik as I looked at Alana. Randy sat at her bedside, holding her hand and gently brushing a few strands of hair from her face. His eyes were red from having shed tears.

Darian looked at Nik and I and sighed.

"We should turn in. Head back to the house." He told us, and Nik nodded.

"He's right." Nik said softly, and the two looked to me for my input. I nodded.

"Sounds good," I said softly, and the three of us walked out of Alana's room, and out of the infirmary. Out side it was dark, and few lights lit up the small streets of the strictly Vengeance town. The air was icy cold as it was winter... But a winter without snow. I shivered a little, but kept my green eyes ahead of me and my hands in the pockets of my black leather jacket. My auburn hair remained in its regular pony tail.

Nikolai glanced over at me a few times, I could see him in my peripheral vision. Darian did, too, though they stood on opposite sides of my body, built of a thin, petite frame, and no stomach.

I didn't have time for food.

It wasn't long before we reached the small, two story temporary house. Nikolai walked up, unlocked the door, and held it open for Darian and I.

A rush of warm air hit me the moment I stepped foot in the door, and caused my body to relax. I kicked off my sneakers and looked to the guys.

"Night," I said without much expression in neither my voice nor face, and walked into my room without waiting on their replies. I closed and locked my door behind me, sighing as I walked to my bed. I sat down, then my hand moved up to clutch a pendant that hung around my neck. It was a dark purple crystal with the word 'Hunted' engraved.

Each group of us had one. Ours was deep purple, Vengeance had striking blue, and the Bloodthirsty had, low and behold, blood red.

That wasn't all that hung from the string around my neck, though. Along with the Hunted crystal was a small pendant made of a metallic charcoal coloured stone, carved in the shape if a heart.

It had been a gift from Carter... And I wore it every where.

I clutched the heart, and without even noticing it, tears came to my eyes and spilled over my eye lids as I thought of him. Carter. My love. Then I thought of the Humans. Not the humans like us, no. The normal-bloods. The normal bloods that killed him. That took Abby and Jakob.

We were all humans, of course... But like Vampires, werewolves and witches, we were a different breed of human. Actually, we were the people that protected Vampires, Werewolves, Witches ect, and we still do. That's our job. We have powers, though with time gone by, we didn't need them as much. We kill, we fight, we protect.... We scare.

We make sure that the paranormal isn't found out about, and we make sure that all threats are eliminated. We aren't afraid of having Red Hands... After all, every one of us did. Killing was more of a game then an obligation in our world.

Every paranormal species knows that the Normal Bloods know that somewhere out there the paranormal exists. We can't erase all of their thoughts of us, hell, they had been imagining us for centuries. But we can stop them from finding us.

I sighed, and glanced at the time. Cade would be here in 20 minutes, so I had just enough time to get ready. I changed into a low cut concert-tee like tank top that hugged my thin body. I also wore a cute pair of skinny jeans, and who could forget my high heels?

For once in my life I put on a little makeup, and then curled my hair in cute, lose ringlets before grabbing my jacket. I slipped it on and snuck out of my room and into the front foyer. Without being noticed, I slipped right out the door.

Cade was already there, waiting to greet me.

"Jessica, glad you reme---" he stopped short and I watched him scan my body.

"This look... It's... Different..." He stammered. I raised a brow as I watched his eyes linger, and had to stifle a small chuckle.

"Don't we have places to be?" I asked with a smile. Cade let a small smile creep over his lips and nodded. With that he began leading me.

We walked through the dark, empty streets, and into the woods. Eventually I started to hear music as we arrived to a house in the middle of the forest.

"This is it." He told me, and walked me to the front porch.

"Shall we go in?"