Dark Waters - Chapter 2A - Alexon

Amanda ran through the rain, letting it drench her hair and clothes, but more importantly letting it hide the tears that ran down her cheeks. It was silent crying, the kind of crying that happens when your so drained emotionally that you can’t do anything but let the tears run like a river. She didn’t feel the same and words were whispering through her mind, so quickly she couldn’t make sense of them. Her head was hurting from all the voices and sounds. She ran where she was being pulled, not thinking of anything but the voices in her head.
Suddenly the voices stopped and she stopped running, looking up from the ground into the black and silver colored eyes of a leopard, though she couldn’t see him she could feel his breath on her face with him standing on top of a pillar only three inches away from her face. The jaguar’s eyes flashed and his lips pulled back in a way that made it seem to be smiling.
Amanda let out a hoarse cry and turned around, bolting toward the streets on the other side of the huge trees in the park. Suddenly something crashed into her back and she heard snarling and fur against her skin. She closed her eyes, though everything stayed just as black as normal, and waited for whatever was to happen.
"Stop!" the cry rang out, a woman’s voice. Kim’s voice Amanda realized with a jolt of surprise.

Hunter stood over Amanda in panther form, his lips pulled back in a snarl as he faced Alexon who was in his leopard form. Kim had leapt down from on top of a building, landing softly in front of Alexon and she pulled out a knife very quietly.
"Get Amanda out of here panther," Kim said, her voice stern and grim as she stared Alexon down.
Alexon looked startled and confused as he looked at Kim. His golden eyes watched her cautiously, confused but wary. For one moment Kim’s eyes looked over at Hunter to see if he was taking Amanda away and Alexon took the opportunity to pounce, his incredible weight knocking Kim to the ground and crashing her head against the root of a tree protruding from the ground.
Hunter was prepared to attack Alexon and then get Kim to the hospital for medical treatment from claw marks until he realized that Alexon had retracted his claws just before he hit her. Alexon turned away from the unconscious Kim and Hunter saw a possessive light in his eyes as he snarled at Hunter, slowly moving toward him and Amanda.
Hunter shifted to human form, cursing that he had chosen to wear a black Armani suit as he lifted Amanda into his arms. Alexon extended his claws and was about to pounce on Hunter and Amanda until Kim suddenly lurched forward and landed on top of him, yelling to Hunter,
"Now you idiot!" she said, struggling to hold a roaring Alexon down.

Hunter didn’t want to leave Kim but he turned and bolted toward the college. Just as Hunter left Alexon threw Kim off his back, shifting into human form and turning to face Kim who was bruised and cut up from her landing on some branches on the ground. Alexon growled at her, deep in his throat not threatening but something totally different, before starting to walk toward Kim, his strides long and powerful. Even as Kim knew he was going to kill her she couldn’t help but wonder at how gorgeous he was.
Alexon came over and picked her up, holding her close as he smelled her hair.
"What is your name traqueur?" he asked. Kim was startled by the way he was treating her and wondered if he did this to all the people he killed,
"Kim. But it doesn’t matter. You’ll never see me again," Kim said, closing her eyes and pulling the trigger on her gun. Alexon collapsed onto Kim’s shoulder and his hand moved to the dart in his stomach. He sighed, realizing she hadn’t had the mercy to just kill him.
"Why didn’t you just kill me?" he whispered in her ear before the darkness overtook him.

Kim stood there, Alexon slumped onto her shoulder. She had planned on just turning him in to Le Conseil and having it over with. She pulled out her phone and spoke to the woman who answered,
"We have a rogue shape shifter leopard on the loose. Alexon Leoqar. I tried catching him to turn him in but he got away from me."

Hunter had only just laid Amanda down in her bed and left the college as Kim appeared out of the shadows.
"He got away. I would have gone after him but I can’t… You knew that Amanda was awake this whole time… right?" Kim asks, startling Hunter.
"What!?" Hunter roars, knowing that this time for sure Amanda would realize that he was a monster and she would stay away from him. Kim rolled her eyes at him,
"You idiot. If your worried she’ll hate you then you have another thing coming. Heck she’s been tracking you down for the last two years because she *knows* you’re a shape shifter but doesn’t think of you as a monster. So you can stop hating yourself now," Kim laughs.

Hunter stares at Kim, suddenly frowning as he realizes she knows everything about him,
"So you’re my tracker aren’t you… But why are you following Amanda around?" Hunter says, his eyes narrowing.
"She’s a watcher, Hunter. And possibly has other abilities. Of course Le Conseil wants her," Kim says, watching Hunter carefully.

Hunter felt like he wanted to be sick. Amanda was a watcher… one of the most valuable powers to Le Conseil. They could feel everything supernatural and usually came with other strong abilities. Amanda knew what he was. She would soon be part of Le Conseil, one of the top members. One of the people who were forbidden from developing feelings for anyone. No! his mind screamed at him until suddenly everything around him went silent except for a voice saying his name, calling him back from the red void of rage threatening to envelope him and turn him rogue.
"Hunter?" Amanda’s voice came from the shadows of the doorway as she stepped out. Hunter looked toward where Kim had been but she had disappeared.
"I’m here, Amanda," Hunter murmured, standing right where he was to listen to what she had to say because he knew she had to have something to say.
"I know you’re a shape shifter, Hunter… but it doesn’t matter. We can still be friends. You don’t have to run and be afraid that I’m going to turn you in or something," Amanda says, standing in the doorway still.

She thought he was afraid of her? How absurd. But he wouldn’t argue if she let them at least be friends. It wasn’t what Hunter wanted but it was more than he expected or had hoped for.
"I won’t run away, Amanda," he murmured, walking over to her and gently touching a bruise on her left cheekbone.

Amanda felt Hunter’s fingers on her cheek and felt a brief pain before Hunter’s deep and soothing tenor voice spoke again, "Does it hurt?" he asked, sounding like he was not… satisfied.
"Not a lot. Just very faintly when you press on it," She says, smiling just a bit, "but that’s ok considering everything I just went through. I mean who gets attacked by a leopard and only gets a few bruises? And I owe it all to you," Amanda says, lifting her hand to find Hunter’s cheek before she stands up on her tip toes and gently kisses him on the cheek,
"Thank you," Amanda says. For a few moments there was total silence.
"Your welcome," Hunter says, his voice sounding strained, like he was trying to hide something in it, "and goodnight, Amanda. You need to get your rest," Hunter says, removing his hand from her cheek and backing away.

Hunter backed away from Amanda slightly, feeling strange after she had kissed him on the cheek. Now he really was afraid, but of the fact that with that one kiss and the sound of her voice she had made everything go black for him for just one moment. He was about to turn and run until Amanda spoke,
"Will I see you tomorrow?" she asked, looking sad and wistful.
"Yes. I’ll see you tomorrow if I can," Hunter says, just to remove the sad look on her face before turning and slowly walking away from her as she also turned and walked back up into her room.