The Red Hunter

C h a p t e r 2

Song: Run Boy Run Artist: Woodkid (And to those of you who were wondering, yes, this is from the Divergent soundtrack) The music especially goes well with an upcoming training scene :) Enjoy reading!!
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The void was calling me--beckoning me to fall deeper into its depths, never to surface again. Could I give in? Here I was alone--nothing could touch me. This darkness was like a blanket, shielding me from the outside world and keeping me warm so I wouldn't freeze over.

"Rose." Go away.

"Rose, wake up." Leave me alone.

"Rose . . . please, come back."

Why should I? I was done. What would I go back to? The fog from my mind was slowly lifting and the pained voice was wrenching my heart.

"Rosemary, come back to Peter and I."

Jack. I would go back for Jack and Peter.

I made my choice and the blanket of darkness was tugged away from me. All of a sudden it felt as if my mind was on a cloud, drifting around--searching until I found myself. For Jack and Peter.

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I opened my eyes slowly to find myself in dark room. Only the faint lights from under the door illuminated the room, telling me that It was at least after sunset. As I looked around the unfamiliar room, I realized that I was in a white bed with Jack softly snoring in a chair next to me.

He's safe.

A soft smile tugged at the corner of my lips as I looked over at his sleeping form. He looked so much younger as he slept, the worry lines on his face replaced with a relaxed expression. His head was tilted forward, as if he were about to fall. I noticed dark circles under his eyes and his blond hair was a mess. Apart from Jack's cute snores, there was no sound in the room.

So I wouldn't wake up Jack, I slowly sat up and immediately regretted it as sharp daggers of pain coursed through my body. I suppressed a groan as I shifted myself to the side of the bed.

Slowly, images from before flooded back into my head and I almost wished I was still unconscious so I wouldn't have to remember. Memories of the car accident, being poisoned, searching for Jack, and nearly dying from fighting Kane came back to me.

I didn't want to think about, so I forced my still injured and tired body into the bedroom's bathroom. I closed the door and turned on the lights, and once again I regretted my actions as I looked at myself in the mirror. 

The red and gold flecks encased in my brown eyes were unusually dull. Dark circles were evident on my tired face, and my long, dark hair was limp and lifeless as it fell in messy waves around my thin body. The baggy, dark blue medical gown I was wearing did nothing to help my appearance as my normally-tan skin grew paler and paler by the second.

I sighed as I let myself look over the multiple bandages covering my body. I could feel that most of them were wrapped around my torso, but there were still a good amount on my head and arms as well.

I looked so . . . broken. I scowled at the thought and banished it from my mind. I would have none of that. I was strong and independent. I told myself. Out of habit, I rubbed the tattoo I had over my heart. I had my sacred twin scythes inked onto my skin by the council's master of arms. My tattoo wasn't just any tattoo, it was enchanted.

Through the generations of Moon Slayers, a hunter that was one of the twelve would be forged a sacred weapon. Their weapon would be enchanted so that it would enhance its hunter's abilities, making them a little faster and stronger. A sacred weapon only had one hunter as its wielder and it would answer to no one else. When I had been gifted my twin scythes by the master of arms, I hadn't let go of them for a week. They were a piece of my soul and precious to me. On top of it, I had done what most Moon Slayers did when they got their sacred weapons and asked for another enchantment, my tattoo. My tattoo allowed me to be connected with my scythes so that I always could locate them if they weren't on me.