Faceless Instincts

Midnight

"Kiara." A whisper woke me up. I turned a little and felt a gentle hand on my shoulder, "Kiara?"

I opened my eyes lazily and mumbled, "what happened?"

"Uh.. wake up, we need to leave." Nikolai was slightly leaning towards me.

My eyes widened, "what?"

"Yeah," he pulled back a little, "we won't wait till evening, we'll leave in an hour."

"What time is it?" I asked propping on my elbow.

"It's three in the morning."

I shook my head in disbelief, "are you stupid?" I said without thinking and he raised a brow, "why do you want to leave right now?"

"Because that's safe?" He came closer and made me sit up.

"Safe from what?" I rubbed my eyes but winced when I used my injured hands.

He clicked his tongue, "careful." He held my hand and looked at me, "same people - who knew you were meeting Marsh - know you are leaving tonight. They have harmed you once they can try again, and I am not taking any risks."

"You are overthinking this Nikolai," I said trying to pull up the quilt but, God he was strong.

He closed his eyes and seemed like he counted till ten before opening them again with a sigh, "Of course I am." He stood up and extended his hand, "how can I not when it involves you."

I rolled my eyes and pulled myself out of the bed, "but what will I wear?" I asked and looked at him.

"What you are wearing is fine." I opened my mouth to protest and he held his hand up for me to stop, "don't waste your breath." He walked me towards the bathroom, "I have packed everything that I brought here, I asked Lucy to do the same with your stuff back at B&B. Will will bring it here in a few minutes. I also packed the things that you brought here. So all you have to do is freshen up and we are ready to go."

I sighed heavily and rolled my eyes at the same time and he opened the door for me. I walked in without a word. There was no use in arguing with him.

I was brushing my teeth when I heard his suppressed voice from behind the door. I opened the door slightly to listen and luckily he came into view.

"oh for God's sake..." He ran his hand through his hair in frustration, "Fine... No...No I won't... Keep that bastard in custody and don't let anyone talk to him."

He paused and clutched the edge of the chair and his knuckles turned white, "Of course yes she is here with me, what do your thing I'll. let her roam around in the open?" My ears perked up, "I am not letting her go anywhere alone... We'll leave in an hour..." I noticed a pack of cigarettes in his hand and my brows furrowed "I... I.. it's not that" he sighed deeply. There was a certain pain on his face which I couldn't quite understand, "are you stupid? If we work with the time frame I'll have to let her go alone... I can do that, I won't be able to.." he whispered yet painfully, "so shut your mouth and do as I say." He turned to look at the bathroom and I immediately hid behind the door, "bring in Marsh and the priest to the precinct, I'll question them myself."

My hand stopped moving at his last words and I stared at my reflection in the mirror for a hot second. What was going on?

I struggled with my hair so I decided that I will leave it down and came out of the bathroom. Nikolai was all set, he had all the bags ready and was sitting at the edge of the bed fidgeting with his phone.

He looked up when I entered the room and stood up, "you are going to leave your hair open?" He said covering the distance.

"I can't ask Lucy to do my hair in the middle of the night and my hand isn't cooperating much either," I said sarcastically and tried to walk past him.

"But you can't leave that open, a strand of hair can cause real pain if it gets slit through the cut on your neck."

He was not wrong, I had experienced it and it was painful. I single strand slashing through a wound is a more brutal pain than getting wounded itself. However, I had no choice.

"Come here?" He said and I looked at him utterly confused.

"What?" I asked but he simply took my hand and walked me back to the bathroom.

"Don't ask questions because that will make me regret it and I dare you if you ever in your life mentioned anything about this to anyone." He whisked me through the door and made me stand in front of the mirror, "please don't tell anyone about it."

Before I could even try to figure out what he was talking about, he grabbed a brush and ran it gently through my hair. Leaving me astounded and wide-eyed he started parting my hair, "are.. are you?" I stuttered in astonishment.

"Don't make that face." He warned.

"But... You're... doing my hair." I gasped and covered my mouth and he rolled his eyes.

"So what?" He shrugged, "everyone knows how to do it. I wanted to tell him that no... Not all men know how to do it.

"You... You know how to...?" I asked smiling widely.

He pouted a little, "yes I do." He didn't look at me the whole time. He brilliantly took parted hair from the front and made two flawless thin braids and tucked them in a single one at the back. His hands worked so gently that it felt like he had a good practice of doing it. He was precise and my hair ended up looking way more beautiful than I had ever made myself.

"I never could have imagined that you had a soft-"

"...shh... Don't finish that sentence." He placed his hands on my shoulder, "now never speak of it." He said and turned around to leave, "come on, it's a long drive."

I admired myself in the mirror for a long moment. Nikolai Ashford just braided my hair.  I shook my head. I shouldn't feel like this. I was here for Dorian but lately, Nikolai had been my centre. I was revolving more around what he was going through rather than trying to find out what happened to Dorian.

I shrugged the feeling off but it was hard. I realised I didn't want to.

After Nikolai loaded our stuff, I looked at the house one last time, it was huge and daunting and I somehow didn't want to leave. I glance towards the shed and Amy's image flashed in front of my eyes making me shiver.

I felt a gentle touch on my arm, "don't worry, we'll be back." He said and opened the door for me. I sat in the passenger seat and he started the ignition.

"Why are we leaving like this?" I asked staring up ahead.

"Like I said, sticking to the schedule that everyone knows is a stupid and dangerous idea." He took a turn and spared a glance at me, "by the I charged your phone a little, it was dead.". He said and pointed towards my phone that was sitting on the dashboard.

"I ... Thanks." I picked up my phone and turned it on. Several messages and missed calls popped on the screen and I scanned it.

They were all from Olivia and they were all the same.

Where's Tanner?