The Hunter

The Hunter - Chapter Eight

Chapter Seven

I lay on my bed pretending to stare at my laptop screen, Blake's words coursing through my ears.

Could we be the bad guys now?

"Honey?"

"What mom?"

"We need to talk."

"About?"

"This mission. Have you found anything?"

"It's the first day. So far I've found my locker, classes, and the lunch room."

"You seem different," she said.

"How so?" I asked, glancing down at the empty document on my screen.

"You haven't spoken a word to your father or I. You've been shut up in your room all night."

"Don't you ever get tired of this, mom?" I asked.

"Of what?"

"This. All of this. The hunting. The killing."

"You know my feelings on the subject," she stated flatly.

"Do I? You've never come out and said how you feel about all of this. What if things have changed?"

"What do you mean? What have you found?" She pressed on.

"I haven't found anything," I snapped. "It's something that has been weighing heavily on me for quite some time. Times have changed. Maybe the monsters we're hunting aren't the monsters anymore."

"Alyssa, I don't understand where this is coming from."

"I'm sick of letting the Guild control my life and my every move. I'm tired of just going out and killing without finding out who I am killing first, Mother."

"We're ridding the world of evil, sweetheart, like we've been doing for centuries."

"Times change."

She stood tall. Her lips pursed into a tight, thin line. Her nostrils flared and her eyes narrowed. Without another word she left letting the door slam shut behind her. I couldn't tell them yet. Not until I was sure they wouldn't kill everybody in the town. I still wasn't sure how far the monsters went. I was nervous as to how all my new friends would take me being a Hunter. Would I even have friends left? I decided doing research for my homework may take my mind off of things but it wasn't. I pulled the black duffle bag out from under my bed and got dressed. I grabbed the cross bow and a few stakes, even if I had no intention on killing anything better safe than sorry.

"Going hunting," I called as I headed out the door.

I stopped and went back in the house. Opening the closet door I dug around in the bottom of it until I found the ski mask. I slipped it on but not all the way and headed to Eden Memorial Cemetery. I hadn't been there yet but thought it may be a good idea. I started walking down the street when I saw Heradas and Derek standing in the small park. I stopped and hopped into one of the nearby trees. I leapt from tree top to tree top until I was right above them.

"Derek I heard it from my dad. There is a hunter here."

"Who is it?"

"He doesn't know but he thinks that they're looking for a monster nest," she said, shaking her head.

"You mean us?" he asked.

"Yes. All of us."

"What do we do?" he asked again.

"I don't know. There have been so many of us killed by them."

"Demi's?"

"All of us. Monster's, Demi's, everyone."