Predator | 12

Darkness covered the room around April, when she suddenly jolted awake from her restless slumber. She felt her heart thudding within her in a frightening pace. It almost startled her, that she could hear the audible thump in her chest.

Thin sheets of sweats covered her whole body and she quickly wiped her forehead with the back of her hand.

April quickly untangled herself from the heavy weight of sheets on her body, before pushing herself off the bed. With careful steps, she was steadying herself by leaning her uninjured arm against the wall next to her as she slowly stumbled into her bathroom.

It almost startled her how pale she looked. She splashed her face with a handful of water and leaned against the sink in front of her.

Great. The last thing she needed was to get sick.

Annoyed with the course of recent events, she pushed herself off the sink and began to take off her clothes, before getting into the bathtub.

April leaned her head against the wall behind her and begun to relax. Her injured arm was tiredly hanging over the ceramic surface of the bathtub, carefully avoiding splash's of water getting the bandage wet.

Warm water filled the bathtub and slowly, her tense body relaxing under the water. April's mind wavered to the recent event. Everything that had happened so far in the last few days, caused her a lot of stress.

Not even back at home she had to endure this kind of pressure. Not even with her parents constantly nagging non-stop.

And with everything that happened, she still couldn't decide whether the trip of Rosewood was a big mistake or not. But it bothered her to no end, that Eric truly believed he could hide a secret like this, even though it almost worked.

Deep down, April knew that this small town was full of freaks. She knew that something was off about the people, even though she coudn't put a finger on it a few days back.

She just believed that the suffocating and boring small-town was to blame for the odd behaviour of some people, but now that she knew the truth, she couldn't stop the frightening shiver running down her back.

When her mind wandered back to the first day, she found herself wondering if the men back at the pub were also inhuman.

The turns of her thoughts were almost ridiculous, but it wasn't exactly impossible. After all, she knew that Shawn and the other beasts she saw on the road weren't the only ones.

April didn't need her brother, or whoever, to confirm her thoughts. She was damn sure that Rosewood was a secret wolf's den. And that was what frightened her.

She thought about Shawn. He didn't frighten her, but she wasn't so sure if she would be still thinking that after witnessing him turning into .. something else.

Then there was Nikolaj, who was, judging by his personality, odd enough to be not entirely human.

Unsure whether it was caused by her thoughts or the already cold water she was laying in, she noticed goosebumps forming all over her flesh.

April shivered visibly. At least thirty minutes must have passed, judging by the temperature of the water. Not wanting to doze off in the bathtub, she carefully pushed herself up and grabbed the towel, drying her body.

She hated how disabled she got the moment she got the injury. She wasn't even able to move a finger without a jolt of pain rushing through her whole arm. It annoyed her how simple things like that could be so difficult to manage.

When April finally dried herself and managed to put on some clothes, an audible sigh of relief fell from her lips. She wasn't feeling tired and sick anymore.

April strolled into her bedroom and pushed the curtains aside. Soft streams of the brisk morning sun were falling into her dim bedroom. She quickly averted her eyes from the burning light.

With her wet hair falling all over her shoulders, she went downstairs into the kitchen. Expecting to see her brother sitting at the table and drinking coffee, she was welcomed with nothing more than utter silence.

Rubbing her eyes in a tiredly manner, she grabbed a bowl and filled it with cereals and milk. April waltzed to the table and took a seat.

Her injured arm laid stupidly next to her bowl and she wondered how long it took until she could move her arm-or even one single finger-without getting hurt in the process.

"Want me to change it?"

April nearly jumped out of her skin from the sudden voice. "Eric, what the hell?" She screeched. "You scared me." She breathed out.

"Sorry," he shrugged nonchalantly and made himself a mug of coffee very quick. "I was just wondering if you wanted your bandage changed. You were glaring at it," he continued as he hastily ate his sandwich.

"No need, thank you. Shawn already changed it yesterday. I'm good for now," she spoke and frowned. "Besides, aren't you running late for work?" She questioned him.

Eric nodded briefly. "What made you think that?" He asked, not denying it.

"Wasn't hard to guess. You seem to be really... hectic this morning," April explained snickered audibly, her fingers scratching the soft material of the bandage.

Eric snorted in response and put his jacket on. "I don't know when I'll return. You find something to eat in the microwave or just order something," he spoke hastily.

April just nodded and watched her brother leaving. With nothing else to do, she went into the living room and sank into the couch, switching the TV on.

April was switching through the endless channels on TV and after long minutes finally settling on some TV show she used to watch occasionally back at home.

She wasn't really in the mood to watch TV, but didn't want to be in bed the whole day either. April leaned her head against the couch beneath her, slowly scratching her arm.

Just when she was about to relax, she heard someone knocking against the front door. She gritted her teeth. April was tired of the unexpected visits she got.

She quickly hurried to the door and expected Shawn, just like yesterday, coolly leaning against the door frame. But it wasn't him, surprisingly.

Instead of the red head bartender slash police officer, was no other than Nikolaj. He gazed down at her, his face being expressionless like always, unsurprisingly.

For the first time, he wore his clothes very neat and clean. He was handsome, she decided. He always was a fine looking man, but today his clothes gave him a quite different look, she admitted.

"Uhm," she began, unsure how to begin. "What do you want?" She wanted to know, ridden by curiosity.

Nikolaj remained silent for brief moments and April feared that he refused to talk, like he usually does. But when he used his voice, she was taken aback and visibly surprised.

"Let me in," he ordered. His voice was smooth - just like she remembered it - but still very firm. His Russian accent was clear to hear in every word that fell from his lips.

April stared at him for a few seconds, before stepping to the side and letting him in. She silently closed the door behind her before turning around to face him again.

"What do you want?" She asked again, doubting that he would answer her. "Why are you here?" April questioned.

When he still wasn't answering, she sighed in annoyance and confusing. She wondered if anyone was able to understand this man, because she clearly wasn't. He irritated her to no end.

"Look," she began, trying hard not to sound too rude, thought she failed to hide the annoyance in her voice. "I don't know why you're doing here. Maybe you just got lost on your way to Shawn, who by the way lives just next door, but I want you to leave now. You don't even seem to know why you're here," she spoke and scratched her arm.

Nikolaj remained silent, but his attention fell to her arm and instead of answering her questions, he closed his green eyes and took a deep breath.

April frowned at him. Not that his overall behavior was odd enough, but he was sniffing the air.

When he opened his eyes again, they were narrowed into slits. Nikolaj silently stalked towards her and grabbed her arm. A hiss of pain fell from her lips when his fingers brushed over the bandage. Her injury was still very sensible.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? Are you fücking stupid?" April asked when he unwrapped the bandage on her arm. "Stop! It took hours to clean and bandage it!" She tried to push his hands away, without luck.

Of course, he didn't listen to hear and she clearly didn't even expected him to do so. He let the bandage slip to the ground.

April wasn't sure was startled her the most- the closeness to him, that she could even feel his breathe against her face, or her flesh that had mixed colors of yellow and green.

She caught an oddly reeking scent coming from her wound and scrunched her nose in a desperate attempt to keep herself from smelling the weird smell.

"What is this?" She asked in a whisper, though she knew what it meant. She wasn't stupid, she listened to what Shawn told her about the bite of a werewolf, after all. Though it wasn't a real bite, only scratched by it's teeth, it still had the same effect.

"Your arm is rotting," he spoke after long minutes of remaining silent. It almost startled her how deep his voice was.

April's gaze met his eyes again. While she was a nervous and scared wreck, Nikolaj seemed to be more relaxed. Not that she was expecting to see fear, or even any kind of emotions crossing his face, but she hoped that he would at least be worried about her well-being.

Nikolaj's fingers quickly let go of her injured arm and took her by the other arm instead, dragging her to the bathroom.

"What are you doing now?" She screeched, her voice laced with slight fear.

He quickly threw her arm into the sink, carefully. When the first drops of water came in contact with her bare flesh, her eyes widened and a scream of pain fell from her lips.

A dangerous jolt of pain rushed through her. April forcefully bit her lips to prevent another scream falling from her lips. The bite was hard enough to draw her own blood into her mouth.

Nikolaj was scratching of the yellowish and green substance on her flesh. It took her long moments to realize that it was in fact her skin what he was scratching off her arm. Her rotten skin.

Another scream fell from her lips when his rough fingers were digging too deep into her injured flesh. Tears of pain blurred her vision. She quickly averted her eyes from her wound, too disgusted by just looking at it.

The pain was endless and her knees were about to give in to the pain. It was unbearable.

When Nikolaj finally stopped cleaning her wound, it felt like hours went by. She covered her mouth with her hand to avoid another scream, when he was about to dry her arm with a towel.

Nikolaj's arm went around her waist, steadying her before her knees gave in. He slowly walked into the living room with her and placed her softly on the couch.

His fingers roughly brushed the tears from under her eyes away. She wasn't even aware that she let tears escape her eyes.

His hand was digging into the pocket of his jeans and he pulled out a very small bottle between his thump and forefinger. An odd red liquid was inside the three centimeter long bottle.

Nikolaj opened the bottle, holding it in front of April's face.

She frowned, clearly irritated. She didn't know what he wanted from her. The pain from before was still clouding her mind, making it difficult to think straight.

"Drink," he finally spoke when she did nothing more than staring at the small bottle between his fingertips.

"What is this?" She asked after long moments. It almost startled her how croaky and foreign her voice sounded.

When she caught a rusty smell, she quickly pulled her head away from the bottle. Blood. It was blood. The rusty and disgusting smell gave it away.

"No," she whispered. "I'm not drinking it. It's blood, isn't it?" She asked and lifted her gaze. "I'm not drinking this, let me tell you," she warned and pushed his hand with the bottle between his fingers aside.

Nikolaj was watching her silently. "Drink it," he ordered once again, only firmer this time. His patience with her was clearly thinning, she noticed. But there was no way that she would be drinking the blood willingly.

April shook her head. She wasn't drinking blood from god knows who. Or from what. Her stomach knotted violently inside her at the thought of it. It disgusted her.

A heavy breathe of annoyance fell from Nikolaj's lips when she still didn't make any attempt to drink it. With a very quick motion, he grabbed her uninjured arm and pulled her off the couch, taking her by surprise.

He turned her around, keeping her back very closely pressed against his chest. His hold was very firm and every try to struggle and break free was as good as useless.

"What are you doing? Let go," she spoke in a croaky voice and tried to push him off her, but he was quick to grab her arm and keeping her from struggling.

April's eyes widened when he held the bottle in front of her face once again. She turned her head aside, still refusing to drink it.

"We can play this game all day, April," he warned and pushed her chest against the wall. With his body firmly pressed against her back, it was now impossible to escape. Not that it was possible seconds ago, though.

With his other hand he grabbed her chin, only this time she pressed her lips tightly together. Nikolaj growled dangerously behind her.

"Very sly," he mocked, but it sounded like a dangerous warning.

Nikolaj pushed his finger inside her mouth, opening it forcefully and before April could process what was happening, she tasted the blood on the tip of her tongue.

She was about to spit it out, but Nikolaj put his strong hand over her mouth, as if he knew exactly what she was about to do.

"Swallow," he spoke into her ear.

April kept being stubborn and refused to swallow it, even though it was very stupid. The taste began to burn her slowly and it was getting harder and harder not to swallow it.

"Swallow," he ordered once again and softly pinched the side of her stomach.

Having no other choice, she did as he said and swallowed it. The blood burned her throat and she began coughing violently.

She felt Nikolaj's arm around her waist once again as he slowly helped her to the couch. He left her for brief moments, before returning with a glass of water.

He held the glass in front of her lips and helped her drinking it. Nikolaj was slowly stroking her head as she drank the whole glass. She didn't realize how thirsty she was until this moment.

"What happened?" She asked in a low tone. With her hand she rubbed her neck in a soothingly way. Her throat wasn't burning anymore, but it was still sore. Speaking never felt so uncomfortable.

April's eyes briefly fell on Nikolaj's exposed neck. The skin on his neck looked darker than the rest of his skin. It looked like it was burned, but after seconds of watching it closely, she noticed that it wasn't exactly a burn. It looked like a unique tattoo symbol.

"Lycanblood," he responded curtly. "It burns, but it heals." he explained and covered his neck with the collar of his shirt.

April just nodded and averted her eyes from his neck when he caught her staring.

She couldn't believe she drank blood from a beast. A beast, like the one who gave her the injury. It was almost unbelievable that the blood was some kind of antidote. "Is that why you came? To force me to drink this?" She asked warily.

Though she was thankful for what he did, the least he could do was warn her beforehand. She wouldn't have been struggling with all she got when she knew from the beginning that it was just some kind of antidote that could heal her.

"No," he answered her and pulled out an envelope, holding it in front of her.

April frowned and hesitantly reached out for the envelope, where her name was written with a really unique and neat handwriting.

Nikolaj twirled a strand of her hair around his finger, pushing her head forward. His face was merely a few inches away from her.

"Keep it a secret," he whispered with his accented voice into her ear as he traced his finger over throat.

She knew that a threat was laying beneath his words. She wasn't allowed to speak about what happened and in all honestly, she didn't even want to, even though she didn't know why he wanted her to keep silent about it. He had saved her, after all. There was nothing wrong with that.

He slowly withdrew his hand from her hair and nodded once, before leaving her alone with nothing more than silence around her.

When she heard the front door being shut closed, her attention fell back to the envelope in her hand. Almost hesitantly, she opened it and pulled out a black card.

A nervous sigh fell from her lips when she finished reading it. That Nikolaj came to give her the card was already unexpected enough, but what was written on it was truly surprising her. It made her speechless, almost.

It was an invitation from Viktor.

____________________

If you haven't noticed, I updated yesterday night but unpublished the chapter again because it didn't show up for some weird reason. Vote & comment if you liked this chapter! Thanks for reading.