Hunter's Curse Read online

  Ginna Moran

  HUNTER’S

  CURSE

  Briarcliffe Press

  Copyright © 2014 by Ginna Moran

  All Rights Reserved.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Moran, Ginna.

  / by Ginna Moran

  ISBN 978-1-942073-17-8 (mobi ebooks)

  ISBN 978-1-942073-18-5 (epub)

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Cover design by Silver Starlight Designs

  Cover images copyright 123RF

  For Inquiries Contact:

  Briarcliffe Press

  P.O. Box 230348

  Encinitas, CA 92023, USA

  www.briarcliffepress.com

  www.GinnaMoran.com

  For Jan Moran, my mother-in-law.

  Also by Ginna Moran:

  DESTINED FOR DREAMS

  DESTINED FOR DESPAIR

  THE NIGHTMARE INFLICTOR

  1. SAVE THE WORLD

  HUNTER

  The monster bangs on the glass, baring its blunt, rotting teeth, and I stumble and hit my back on the wall. Through the window, it snarls and glowers, threatening my life with words I barely understand. I’ve never seen a supernatural creature, or what I like to call a super, like this before and it’s unnerving that it walked among the human population, vowing to kill and torment every human it could. Luckily for me, I don’t have to worry about running into this super on the streets. An agent from the Human Preservation Agency managed to tranquilize and bring this beast to the termination facility, where it won’t ever harm another person again.

  I straighten my shoulders and cross my arms. “What the heck is it?”

  My mom taps her pen to her lips before jotting something on her clipboard. “I’m not sure. His DNA is in the same family as trolls, but he’s three times the size and much more violent.”

  The monster hits the window again. “I’m going to kill you when I get out of here!”

  My mom saunters to the door and looks the super dead in the eyes. “That’s highly unlikely, Creature 1149. Your violence and unwillingness will only get you euthanized more quickly. We have everything we need from you unless you think you can convince me otherwise.”

  The monster’s face shifts and human-like teeth slide over his rotting ones. His jaw cracks while his skin ripples and smoothes, and within a few seconds, the super takes the form of a young, twenty-something man with dark hair and eyes. The only thing I can see that distinguishes him from a human is how his ears curl into a cone shape. The feature isn’t obvious enough for humans to realize he’s a monster.

  He peers through the glass at us. “And how do I do that?”

  “Start by telling me what you are,” my mom says.

  I grin when my mom does and watch as Creature 1149 considers answering. His bushy eyebrows knit together and his mouth twists to the side. He’s eerily normal now, and if I hadn’t seen him in his true form a few minutes ago, I’d have never guessed he wasn’t human.

  The super narrows his eyes. “If I tell you what I am, you’ll release me?”

  I shift on my feet and lean against the wall. “So you can kill more people?” I mutter.

  The creature swings his eyes to mine and he snarls. Fear washes over me and I take a step to the side, keeping my back against the wall, until he can’t see me. My mom turns her head to look at me, eyebrows raised, before turning back to the monster.

  She taps her pen on her clipboard. “What are you?” She doesn’t answer the super’s question, but persists with her own.

  “I’m not saying anything until you tell me if you’ll release me if I comply.” The super’s shoulders rise and fall as he sucks in deep breaths. His jaw cracks and he looks ready to transform again.

  My mom shrugs. “I guess you’ve made your decision.” My mom reaches into her coat pocket and tugs out her cell phone. She hits a number on speed dial and says, “You may remove Creature 1149. We’ve gotten all that we could from it.”

  The monster roars and beats his fists on the door. My mom turns on her heels and click-clacks down the corridor. I don’t move from my spot, but instead just observe how violent and vile this super is. After a few minutes, heavy footsteps echo out and two agents, dressed in all black with weaponry belts draped around their waists, stroll up next to me.

  Agent Chris punches my arm. “You staying to see the show, Hunter?” He grins as he yanks his tranquilizer gun from its holster. He straightens his back with his feet in line with his shoulders and holds the tranquilizer gun up with steady hands.

  I step a few more feet away. “If you’re cool with it.”

  His partner, Agent Janie, winks at me. She slides her knife from its sheath and holds it in her left hand before touching her hand to the door to enter her pass code. Her light brown hair is rolled into a tight bun and I notice a lily flower tattooed behind her right ear.

  She turns to Agent Chris. “Ready when you are.”

  He nods without saying a word.

  Agent Janie pounds in her pass code and pushes the door hard. The super inside falls back, hitting the tiled floor with a thud, and Agent Chris shoots a dart into his shoulder. I peer into the doorway and watch the creature jerk inhumanly fast and yank Agent Chris’s legs out from under him.

  The monster snarls and pulls Agent Chris closer and I stiffen. Sweat beads on my forehead and I grip the doorframe. If these two agents can’t take this monster out, then I’ll have to get ready to run because there’s no way I can face him on my own. I haven’t had any combat training yet. That doesn’t happen until I’m accepted into the agent training program and I have to be eighteen first. Only a few months to go...

  The super shifts and hops onto Agent Chris and wraps his hands around his neck. Knots twist my stomach and I blink a few times, keeping myself together. Agent Chris’s face pales before turning red and his partner rushes to the monster and grabs him by his dark hair.

  The super releases Agent Chris and swings his arm behind him, connecting with Agent Janie’s side, knocking her away. In that split second, Agent Chris slides his knife from his weaponry belt and jams it through the creature’s heart.

  Black blood sprays across the room, coating Agent Chris’s face and blond hair. Agent Chris leans back on his elbows and shakes his head before barking a laugh.

  “Next time you’ll need two darts,” Agent Janie says, offering her hand to her partner.

  He gets to his feet and shifts his eyes to mine. “What’d ya think, Hunter? Ready to save the world?”

  I exhale a long breath and brush my dark, curly hair from my forehead. “If it means less of these guys are running around, then yes. I’m more ready than ever.”

  2. OUT FOR BLOOD

  JACQUELINE

  “Are you sure we have to go?” I swing my duffle bag over my shoulder and peer around the empty apartment.

  Dominic drapes his arm over my shoulders. “You’re already attached to this place? It’s only been three months.”

  I shrug. It’s not that I like this apartment or anything—we’ve lived in better—but I’m tired of having to move every few months. I haven’t even had time to try to make friends. The closest I’ve come was the bagger at the grocery store who knows my name from my weekly trips there.

  “Let�
�s just go,” I say after a moment.

  Dominic grins and swipes my duffle bag from me. He nudges me out of the apartment and shuts the door behind us. His golden brown eyes reflect gold specks in the sunlight and his skin, a shade darker than mine, shines with perspiration.

  I almost don’t remember a time when it wasn’t just my brother and I. He’s been my guardian for almost half my life, since he was nineteen and I was ten, when our grandmother died. I never knew my parents, but Nana always said they were good people—special like us—and that’s what got them into trouble. She said they were careless and unpredictable, and it was important for both Dominic and I to always keep our guard up and to trust no one—especially humans.

  “Want to drive?” Dominic asks. He throws me the keys to his old Mustang and I climb behind the wheel.

  I peer into the rearview mirror and watch as a woman saunters behind our car. The hairs on my arms rise when our gazes meet. Some people’s wrong-doings are noticeable to me and this woman can’t hide the evil lurking within her. Confidence masks her guilt, but I see right past her disguise. Underneath her brilliant smile and shining eyes rests the heart of a murderer. Her darkness is unmistakable.

  “Jackie?” My brother snaps in my ear. “What’re you waiting for?”

  I blink and shake my head. The woman disappears into an apartment in the building behind us and I put the car into reverse. I pull from the parking lot onto the street and drive through the rundown neighborhood to the highway.

  I glance over my shoulder as I merge onto the nearly empty stretch of road. Once our old apartment is far behind us, I say, “Don’t you ever get tired of running?”

  Dominic taps his fingers on the dashboard. “Yeah, of course I do, but we don’t have a choice. Not with your—” He snaps his mouth closed and stares out the window.

  I frown. “And what about you?”

  He sighs. “I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just—a lot of bad people gravitate toward you, Jackie. It’s different for me. I can only read souls, you can rip them free.”

  I crinkle my nose. “So what? It’s not like I go around killing every bad human I come across. You act like I take innocent lives. I’m not a monster. I help them find peace.”

  Dominic leans back in his seat, but doesn’t look at me. My chest tightens and I blink away tears. He thinks I’m a monster. I know it in my bones. Yet, he still feels like he needs to protect me. He’s given up any sort of normalcy he could have to watch out for me.

  I can’t help who I am and what I can do. I never asked to be born a sin-eater. I never wanted a life on the run from bad people I’ve never met or seen, but know are there because Nana spent all my life talking about the evil scientists of the Human Preservation Agency and how they’d kill me because I was different.

  I’ll never forget the horrified look on Nana’s face the first time it happened—the first time I redeemed someone of their wrong-doings. I was eight-years-old and playing with my next door neighbor, Ronnie, who I’d known all my life. She was a girl with golden curls that contrasted my dark ones, and she was my best friend.

  We were playing in the front yard of my house, pretending to make lunch out of the overgrown weeds Dominic hadn’t had a chance to take care of, when a woman walking her dog strolled by. Her dog, a golden retriever, pulled its leash from her hand and came barreling over to me. It wagged its tail and licked my face, and the woman strode into my yard and stood over us.

  I’ll never forget the way her bright green eyes were shadowed with a darkness I couldn’t put my finger on, and when she reached down to grab her dog’s leash, fear, anger, and uncertainty washed over me. This woman, who looked so kind and caring on the outside, had a rotten soul and it peeked through her eyes at me.

  Her dog whimpered and I ran my hand over its head, and then the woman did something I’ll never forget. She touched my shoulder. In that very moment, fire and ice crawled over my skin and I jerked up and grabbed her hand. When her eyes met mine, something deep within me awoke, and through my touch, I pulled her soul from her and into me.

  The world darkened around me and the woman’s life flashed before my eyes. Anger and violence crept into my very being and I cried out as all the pain and torment she caused her very own mother washed through me. The woman—with a soul burdened with rage, guilt, and hatred—crumpled to the ground and died at my hands.

  After my head stopped pounding and the visions faded, the woman’s soul, weighted by her ill-intentions and poor choices, felt pure and at peace within me. Then, after a few moments, it dissipated and I opened my eyes to Ronnie screaming and my sullen Nana. I never saw Ronnie again after that day, but that woman’s face still haunts me.

  I pull from my thoughts and glance at my lavender eyes in the rearview mirror. Don’t listen to Dominic. You do what you have to. People are better off in the end.

  The air is thick around us and I roll down my window and let in some cool air. I wish I could just pull over and get out for a minute, but I know we can’t stop until we reach our next destination. It’s too dangerous traveling through an unfamiliar area, and the last thing I need is to have to worry about drawing attention to myself if I accidentally redeem a soul. It’s not my fault if people unintentionally look for me to find peace.

  I watch Dominic in my peripheral vision and he leans against the door, putting as much distance as he can between us. It’s his way of giving me space when he thinks I need it, but what it really does is annoy me.

  I switch lanes. “You know, Dom, I don’t get it. If you think I’m such a monster, then why do you put up with me? I’m an adult. I can take care of myself.”

  He rubs his forehead. “Jackie...”

  I glare at the road. “Answer me.”

  “Because you’re my sister. You’re the only family I have left. I’m not going abandon you. I promised I’d always take care of you.”

  My eyes flick to Dominic’s. “Well, maybe I don’t want you to. Maybe I want to rely on myself. I’m sick of running. I’m sick of everything.”

  “Jackie!”

  I swing my gaze to the road and grip the steering wheel while stomping the brake. A thick wall of traffic lies in front of us and I swerve to the emergency lane to avoid rear-ending a minivan. The tires squeal and the smell of burning rubber wafts through the air. The Mustang jerks to a stop, the seatbelt snapping hard against my chest, and I let out a small cry of relief.

  I blow air through my lips. “Crap! That was close. You okay?”

  Dominic doesn’t respond, but continues to stare through the windshield. I follow his gaze and my eyebrows knit together. He’s concentrating on something I don’t see. It’s just rows of slow moving vehicles.

  “Get off at the next exit,” Dominic says after a moment.

  “Okay.” Imaginary bees swarm in my stomach as the worry in his voice blasts anxiety through me.

  I ease off the brakes and prepare to merge back into traffic. My fingers tremble on the steering wheel and my heart pounds in my ears. Dominic is acting more paranoid than usual and it doesn’t help that he won’t tell me what’s going on.

  “Now, Jackie. Get off the highway now!”

  I cringe as his deep voice echoes around me. Instead of merging into traffic, I accelerate and speed the mile it takes to get to the off ramp in the emergency lane. I exit the highway and race down the frontage road until we come to a traffic signal.

  I ease my foot on the brake pedal and slow the Mustang. “What’d you see, Dom? You’re freaking me out.”

  “An HPA van.”

  Fear crawls down my back. “I thought Nana made up the HPA to scare us.”

  Dominic touches my knee. “Why do you think we always move?”

  “Because of who we are,” I say.

  He shakes his head. “No, Jackie. We’re running from the people who’d give anything to see us dead. The HPA thinks we’re abominations, and if they catch us, we are dead.”

  I lick my dry lips. “But they won’t catch
us, right?”

  He shrugs. “I hope—”

  The sound of crushing metal rips through the air and I jerk hard on my seatbelt. The Mustang jolts forward and I peer in the rearview mirror at a white van. My heart beats against my ribcage, threatening to crack my bones, and my own screams echo in my ears.

  A car door slams and I meet the eyes of a woman with chin length, red hair and chocolate brown eyes. She’s dressed in all black and her hand hovers over something on her hip. Without even having to touch her, I know she’s dangerous. She’s out for blood—my blood.

  “Jackie, go!”

  I swing my gaze to Dominic’s, but I can’t move. I’m frozen amid all the cruelty and pain this woman has inflicted on this world. I can’t force myself to drive. I can’t do anything.

  All I want to do is save her.

  3. KEEPING HUMANITY SAFE

  HUNTER

  “I heard you saw a super die,” Mason says, plopping down next to me at the dining room table.

  I nod. “You should’ve seen the thing.”

  “I wish I had. I don’t get why the board won’t let me yet.”

  My mom sets down a pan of enchiladas in the middle of the table. “Because you’re not old enough. Give it a year and I’m sure they’ll offer you an intern position like they did Hunter. Don’t be in such a hurry. You have the rest of your life for this, Mason.”

  Mason rolls his eyes and I chuckle while dishing rice onto my plate. It might sound cool that I got to watch Agent Chris terminate a super, but it wasn’t as cool as I imagined. I didn’t expect to be as scared as I was. I seriously thought Agent Chris was a goner and it almost made me change my mind about enrolling in the training program. They’d think you were a coward.

  I push the thought away. I’d never let anyone suspect how much it bothered me, but I’ve never really been around death. Even if the super was a snarling monster, I didn’t think it was cool to watch it die. Killing things never settled right with me, but I’d do it if I had to. My priorities are learning how the world works and keeping humanity safe. I figured after a while, I’d become numb to all of it. It would just be my job.