{Hide in the Lies}

[Jisanna Elizabeth Taylor]

I sit in my cell. The air I inhale burns my lungs. Out of near sightless eyes I see blurred shadows. Footsteps and voices echo and fade. Splitting headaches thrum through my skull, it just can't deal with the blurriness. Cold seeps through the worn sweater that covers me. Woollen threads aren't enough to keep the chill out of my frail body. My hands stay latched together. It feels as if all of my years of immortality have been drained out of me. My skin glings harshly to my cheekbones, my sunken eyes. Heavily lashed eyelids are dragged down, I shut out the world. A sharp pain in my chest steals the breeath from my lungs, instinctively my hand clutches at the place where my long cold heart lies under bone, skin and muscle. I hear a startled noise come from the cell next to me. It's him. He knows my name, yet I do not ask of his. I don't need it. He's on his feet in seconds and starts making as much noise as possible. He worries for me, I worry for him. However I am not fairing as well as him. My breath returns but I don't move, my mind is shocked.

Footsteps. They echo through my mind.

No matter how clouded my eyes are, I force them open- at the same time Hunters force their way into His cell. I know what will happen to him for the disruption. After all, I am the expert here. I can't let that heppen to Him. Shakily I get to my feet and look into the Hunters, with my soulless, haunted eyes.

"Stop! It's not his fault. He was just... it's my fault."

I shout at them in my raspy, slightly quivering voice. No, I'm not as strong and courageous as I used to be. Not at all. I feel eyes on me. The leader, The General turns and leaves the cell and enters my own. A smirk on his face he chuckles menacingly.

"Ah, Jisanna Elizabeth Taylor. Always the one to take the fall, eh?"

It's obvious of the confusion on my face, the General catches it within a second.

"Excuse me?"

I ask him stepping backward to be out of his close presence. He isn't someone to mess with.

"You were a Hunter were you not? Don't you think for a second we stopped watching you. You may have gone missing for a little while... but we can always find those you do not want to be found."

Well of course, everyone had to know by now. Jisa the Traitor, the Shifter. I stand in silence and try to come up with something to say. Keeping my regular cool is hard, but not quite mission impossible.

"I knew that at some point you'd find me, but you know? I didn't really care much."

The General laughs, as if he is amused. One eyebrow raised I watch him, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Everyone fell for your tough girl act, but I still don't believe it."

Ah, so this is what it's about. Of course, I don't think that my attitude is quite an act. It's a part of who I have become in five years.

"I think you'll find that it's not an act General."

He shakes his head and wags his finger at me, still enjoying a private joke. Quickly, my patience and energy is running out.

"You've killed people Shifter, as a Hunter and as a Shifter. Sure, you needed revenge either way. However, you went after the wrong people."

My confidence was short lived and I stop dead. What does he mean by that? My mind scrambles for the answers that it can't find.

"Most people I killed were on you watch General. I only did what I was ordered."

"But why did you kill that innocent Shifter boy? Only almost a year ago?"

I bristle visibly, my temper flaring. He knows he has hit a button that should never be pressed.

"He murdered my family. He deserved to die."

I spit through my teeth in anger at the General. These Hunters were so low. I don't know how I was ever one.

"Did he really Jisa?"

I am taken by surprise, I detect a smug note in his voice. I am trembling slightly now. I don't want to hear what's coming next.

"We needed a girl like you Jisa, so easily fooled. Hardened on the outside, loyal only to those close. Of course you didn't have anyone like that by the time we got to you. It was easy to pick you up. You were furious and fueled for the job."

I shake my head at him weakly.

"I don't believe you."

"But you believed us then Jisa."

My head aches, my heart swells. I can't take it. They Hunters. They killed my family. They ruined my life. They made me like this! A dam builds up behind my eyes, I'm determined to stay strong throughout this.

"Now, you've built yourself up a life and a family. We can take it all away again Jisa. All we ask is that you join us again."

"I won't!"

"I shall give you six months to figure yourself out, if you're not already dead."

I shake my head and watch as he leaves. Then I slump down in the corner of my cell. Hugging my face into my knees. I quietly sob. Crying for everything that had ever happened in my life. I feel eyes on me but I don't look up. I know it's Him.

"He lies Jisa... it's not true."

After a few moments of silence I lift my head and open my slightly reddened eyes. My haunted, misty eyes rest on his, boaring deep into his soul.

"But it is true. And I've known it all along."