Haunted by Time

Chapter 5

Nicolas POV

I felt it the second that lowlife bloodsucker sunk his fangs into her neck. The unmistakeable pull of a mate bond. I didn’t want some weak human as my mate. Granted she was beautiful, but she would never survive in my world. To top it all off she was a novice Hunter. I debated whether or not to let him have her. He went for her neck, so it was undeniable that he intended to turn her into a demon and not kill her. Turning humans required a bite to the neck to activate their dormant demon side. Most humans live full lives unaware that they have a demon in them.

When the sigh left her lips, it made my power twist out of control within me. My demon accepted the bond but there was no way in hell that I was accepting a weak human. I was a full blood demon and that meant something in my world. I could feel her life force slipping and my demon completely took over. I was stunned. This has never happened to me before and to be honest, it scared the living s**t out of me. My demon froze everything around us and forced me to go to her. The bloodsucker saw me coming and dropped her, making a run for his life. It sucked that I couldn’t freeze other demons. I could torture them with my power, but somehow, I couldn’t freeze them.

I watched my hands catch her and spoke words that didn’t come from me. I could feel my power waning already, but my demon persisted and focused it all on her instead. I could feel my power entering her blood and slowing the flow along with her organs to prevent further damage while I got her to the hospital. I tried fighting for control but it felt like I was hitting a concrete wall. My demon didn’t budge even when she was wheeled away, he kept control. He knew that I would leave in a heartbeat.

She seemed to be rational though. Maybe she would reject me and we could part ways. My demon would stop me and keep me locked away if I even thought about doing it myself. He kept me planted in the seat next to her bed even as my stomach growled and exhaustion threatened to end me right then and there. She was stable and put into a medically induced coma until her body healed up a bit. I could feel my demon release small bursts of power to help speed her healing up. He didn’t do it often for two reasons, one; he didn’t want to overwhelm her body and tire her out any further and two, I didn’t have much power left in my reserves considering I haven’t rested or eaten anything for at least 20 hours now.

I couldn’t protect her from a human let alone a demon if one were to burst through the door. The thought seemed to reach my demon and he relinquished half of the control to me with the threat of pushing me back hanging in my head between us. I sighed and got up from the seat. I could feel him stirring in my mind and rolled my eyes. If someone saw me now, I’d be locked away in an asylum. I sent him a scalding thought through our own bond and he relaxed again. We had a mutual agreement. We would wait for her to wake up and then we could decide what to do from there.

The vending machine offered stale chicken mayo toasties and a few chocolate bars. My hunger pushed me to the chocolate bars because I would rather starve to death than eat the old bread. My demon agreed and pushed me to empty an entire row of chocolates. Luckily, they were energy bars, not that they would help much with my fatigue. I ate like a starved animal and the stares from passersby had me haul my stash back to her room and finish them off there. I filled the tiny bin next to her bed and sighed as I felt another wave of power leak out of me towards her. If my demon didn’t take it easy, he might just kill himself.

The thought alone sounded so appealing right now. He sent a sharp pain through my head and curled up in my mind, probably pissed over something so small. Poor baby. He sent me a mental middle finger before retracting even more. I had my head back to myself and it felt amazing. I sighed and laid back on the uncomfortable chair, hoping sleep would claim me quick. The last thing to register in my mind was her calming breaths that lulled me into a dreamless sleep.

Kara POV

I felt better than I expected. I’ve felt worse after workouts with Cynthia than I did now. I slowly blinked my eyes open. The room was dim with only a nightlight behind my bed providing light. A hunched figure to my right caught my attention and my head snapped in its direction. A sharp pain stabbed through my head at the sudden movement. I mentally scolded myself and the part that agreed with me sent a jolt of surprise through me. I probed around my mind and found a presence there that wasn’t there before.

My attention was snapped back to the figure next to my bed when they let out a sigh. It was the demon from before. Why was he still here? Why did I feel some kind of pull in my chest when I looked at him? What the hell was going on and what is wrong with me? My chest started to hurt and I could feel my breathing speed up. Panic stuck its claws into my chest and started digging deep. I heard my heart rate spike on the machine next to me. The beeping gradually picked up speed and it did nothing to ease my panic, instead it was contributing to it.

The presence in my mind moved like a snake and it made me feel violated. The demon next to me stirred in his sleep and my attention was drawn to his face once again. He was flawless and possibly the most handsome man I’ve ever laid eyes on. It’s such a pity that he needed to die. My eyes moved up to his and I could hear my heart skip a beat on the machine when I found him staring back at me. The presence in my mind twisted around and tried to take control of my mind. The panic in me grew and I pushed down on the presence, feeling it recoil to the back of my mind. I tore my eyes away from him and tried to sit up. He was next to me in the blink of an eye, pushing me down and commanding me to take it easy.

He pulled the remote next to my bed out and adjusted the bed so that I was angled upward in a somewhat sitting position. He also pressed on the nurse button and sat back down again, watching me. I had a million questions buzzing around in my mind and just as I was about to ask one, the nurse walked into the room. She flipped the blinding light on and I flinched. I could see the demon giving her a look and kept quiet about it. I had a feeling that this was the nurse who told me to count backwards from ten when I was hardly conscious to begin with. When I got out of here, she’d be getting a shitty review.

She got my file from the foot of the bed and flipped through a few pages before looking up at me. She frowned a little then left without a word. She even forgot to put my file back into the container at the foot of my bed. The demon next to me sat up and I looked over at him with my brows furrowed. I opened my mouth to finally get some answers, but he cut me off first.

“She’s confused because you woke up two days before you were meant to.” He said and his voice was still husky from sleep.

The low rumble had my stomach doing flips and I clenched my thighs together. My reaction to this particular demon was not normal and I didn’t want to show him how badly he affected me. If I got out of this alive, I’d have to ask Cynthia or Josh about it. I’ve never read about high-class demons having this effect on Hunters, but knowing Hunters, they were probably too stubborn to admit it. His words drifted through my mind once more and I took a minute to thoroughly process them.

“Why did I wake up sooner?” I asked and my voice sounded distorted.

He stood up from his seat and poured me a cup of lukewarm water. He held the cup towards me and I hesitated to take it. If he wanted to kill me, he could have done it multiple times already. I took it and slowly sipped the water down. It was surprisingly refreshing even though it wasn’t cold. I nodded in thanks and waited for his explanation.

“I helped speed up your recovery.” He said and scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

Was he being shy? A high-classed demon blushing over helping me heal. I tried to hold the smile off my face as I looked at him squirm. He looked extra cute when he was nervous. I immediately shook my head to clear the thought. I couldn’t let my mind wander to thoughts like that about a demon. He seemed to think that my mind paused at his words because his blush faded and he looked more confident now. I let him keep his dignity for now.

“How did you speed up my recovery?” I asked instead of teasing him like I wanted to.

An image of Logan flashed through my mind and the guilt that followed sobered me up in a heartbeat. He didn’t seem to notice any change in my thoughts, but the presence within me sent a sickening feeling through me at the thought of Logan that had me confused.

“My demon can manipulate time.” He said plainly and I wanted to facepalm myself.

“How does time manipulation contribute to my healing? Wouldn’t time have just passed faster, meaning she shouldn’t have been confused?” My mind was turning to mush as I tried to figure out how this worked.

While he was talking, I might as well squeeze some info out of him for the Hunter’s records on demons. I made mental notes to give the information to Cynthia when I got discharged. This raised another question in my mind, but I patiently waited for him to give me an explanation before asking my next question.

“Don’t think about time as numbers on a clock. Everything has an expiration time. I can speed up your heart rate considering it has beats per minute. Same thing when it comes to your blood. I can speed up or slow down most things. Other demons seem to be immune to my power though. Like I can slow them down or speed them up, but I can’t seem to freeze them. Does that make sense?” He explained and I could tell that he liked the topic.

It was fascinating no doubt. My next question was out before I even had time to process what he’s been saying.

“Why are the Hunters not flooding the hospital right now? Did the doctors not contact my family or emergency contact?” I asked with confusion and couldn’t help but furrow my brows.

Logan was my emergency contact and he would surely rush down here if he heard that I was injured and in the hospital. I’m sure I haven’t been here long considering he sped up my healing.

“They couldn’t get ahold of your emergency contact.” He said as if it wasn’t such a big deal.

“How long have I been here?” I asked on the verge of a freak out.

“A few hours. It’ll be morning soon, why?” He asked with his brows dipping into a frown.

If they missed the call from the hospital because they were gaming, I was going to burn those damn consoles! My rage spiked higher than I was used to, but I was furious and there seemed to be only one thing to do.

“Do you have a car?” I asked and the calm in my voice surprised me considering I was a swirling storm inside.

“Yeah, why?” He asked and narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

“Would you mind giving me a ride somewhere, please?” I asked and started to sit up.

He got up to push me back down, but I gave him a dangerous look that made him halt. I sat up slowly and felt fine enough to try and get up. I staggered a bit and felt his arm slip around my waist to keep me up.

“Because you said please.” He teased and I had to fight the smile curling the corners of my lips.

I tried to ignore the heat that spread through my body where his rubbed against mine. Logan kept flashing through my mind and it both riddled me with guilt and angered me at the same time. I was going to skin his ass once I got home. First, I had to get out of here. A thought crossed my mind that had a light blush creeping over my cheeks.

“What’s your name?” I finally asked and felt my cheeks burn even brighter.

He turned his gaze down to meet mine and the moment felt way too intimate. I tore my gaze away and focused on the path ahead. I stood out like a sore thumb in my hospital gown. I needed a change of clothes if we were just going to walk out the front door.

“Nicolas.” He grumbled and I let it roll around my mind.

It suited him and the presence in my mind seemed to like it. I needed to ask him about that. First things first though. I saw my opportunity in the form of a janitor’s closet. I pushed him in and we stumbled a bit. He steadied me and looked down at me with furrowed brows.

“What are you doing?” He asked and went to peek out the door, but I pushed it shut and searched along the wall for the light switch.

“Shh. I need your shirt and your belt please.” I said and looked at him expectantly.

He stood frozen for a few minutes and I thought that his power had imploded before he took his jacket off. The room started to feel too hot and I couldn’t stop myself from staring at his muscular arms and broad chest. Breathing became a challenge when we made eye contact and he pulled his shirt over his head. I fought myself and tried to keep eye contact. Logan kept flashing through my mind as a reminder, but it didn’t do much for my will power. I lost the battle and let my eyes slowly drop to his chest, taking in each detail of tanned skin. I could see his stomach tighten by the way his abs flexed under my gaze.

He unbuckled his belt painfully slow and I had to clench my thighs together. I could feel my heart speeding away by the throbbing in my ears as he pulled his belt away from his jeans. I didn’t dare lower my eyes any further and blinked in surprise when he threw his shirt over my head. The spell successfully broken. He walked closer to me and I fell right back into the trance. He was way too close to me and I could feel my breathing become irregular. He dipped his head down and my heart stuttered. If I got up on my toes just a tiny fraction, our lips would meet.

He put his belt over my shoulder and stepped away, turning around and putting his jacket back on. I stared at his back dumbfounded for a second before I turned around and stripped out of the flimsy hospital gown. If he looked at me while I was naked, I couldn’t tell. I pulled his shirt over my head and resisted the sigh that wanted to escape when his scent wrapped around me. I thanked the heavens that I was allowed to keep my underwear under the hospital gown. I looped the belt around my waist and secured the shirt against my skin. It didn’t look half bad. The shirt came down to mid-thigh, so a little short for my liking but long according to these days’ fashion standards.

“Does it look okay?” I asked while pulling at the hem.

When the silence stretched a bit too long, I looked up to see if he finally decided to ditch me. What I got was worse. His eyes were fully black and he stood frozen as if he was trying to restrain himself.

“It’s fine.” He grumbled and pulled me out the door by my arm.

He didn’t touch me anywhere else and he walked like the place was on fire. I tried tugging on my arm to let him know that I couldn’t keep up with this pace much longer, but he ignored me and pulled me into