~Faye
Everyone felt Time’s presence right after the few words he spoke.
Yazzmine was the first to react. She backed away, nothing but utter fear expanding in her eyes. If anyone knows the full extent of Time’s power, it’s a Gaze Reader. They can look right into someone’s soul, and see the future, and their past. And the immortal who controls that, is Time.
Everyone watches her reach her desk, which is covered in jars and glasses from full to empty. She digs her hands between them, looking for something.
“Oh quit your fussing would you?” Time mutters, dismissing the frantic Gaze Reader, who seems to struggle in finding what she is looking for. She grimaces, visibly trying to ignore him. “You’re hardly the topic of discussion.”
My voice is shaky. “Yazzmine, get out of here.”
“I will not fear the most evil in this world. I will do everything to protect those who have done nothing, and are still punished by immortals like you,” she snaps, hands still prowling through the glasses.
“I get it, I don’t happen to have the best reputation with Gaze Readers. Doesn’t mean I care,” Time says sourly.
He takes a few taunting steps toward Yazzmine, knowing it would frighten her. He may still be in T’s body, but there’s a presence about him that chills the blood. Everyone in here feels it. The woman sitting on the chair in front of me seems oddly calm, although I can see her slightly trembling.
“Get away from me,” Yazzmine growls. She plucks a jar from the middle of the table. A strange plant seems to be growing there. One I’ve never seen before. “This herb will destroy your very being.”
“It’s amusing that you think a mortal herb will kill me,” Time exclaims, taking the jar from the Gaze Reader’s hand. “Please, I would think you would know better than that.”
Yazzmine begins changting in a dialect I don’t understand.
“I’m bored with you,” Time suddenly sighs.
Without warning, he takes a step forward, grabs her, and snaps her neck in a motion that is almost too easy. She crumples to the floor, dead without a chance of revival. And the immortal who did that turns, looks unaffected by his action. It’s painted although my mates face. One the face Time stole.
“No!” I scream. “You can’t just do that.”
Yazzmine had crossed me many times. She was about to do it again. But she didn’t deserve death. And I had just watched her die. It makes me want to vomit across the floor, but I steady myself, trying not to look at the body that flips my stomach over.
“Oh but darling, I did,” he says warmly, as if killing the innocent Gaze Reader just breathes life into him. He takes a few steps toward me. I remain where i stand, refusing to seem even hardly bothered by him. “Hmm. You’re T’s little mate. How fun. I’ll spare you since he is being such a lovely host for my excursions.”
I can’t help but ask. “What excursions?”
“Why don’t we have this conversation after I deal with this one, right here?” Time questions, pointing back to the woman in the chair. Her name still hasn’t been spoken, and by the look on Time’s face when he addresses her, he would never utter it.
She stands, knowing she has no other choice but to face the immortal. Otherwise she might be left with a Fate similar to Yazzmine’s.
“What are you doing here? Everyone said you went missing,” she questions at Time.
“Immortals don’t just go missing. There’s always a reason,” Time says pointedly, taking a few steps toward her. “Tell me, what is an immortal like you doing here trying to build a Pack in a mortal world?”
The woman doesn’t look afraid. She simply stares back at him. “Being a lowly servant in your territory didn’t suit me. I decided I wanted something more.”
“You don’t get to leave my territory like that,” Time mutters. His tone has been removed all amusement and cockiness. Instead, it’s replaced by something more sinister. He’s serious, and for whatever reason, is angered by her absence from his territory. “And I’m fairly certain you know that. How did you get down here in the first place?”
“I have my ways.”
“Good. Then you’ll contact them and head home. Immortals don’t walk these grounds. Get out,” he growls, turning to point to the door. He points right through me, as if I don’t exist. I’m unsure if I should even be standing here right now.
She looks beyond disgusted by that. “I can’t go back. It’s anarchy. You should be the one going back to fix it.”
“You know, I can kill you. And your family. And your friends. If you don’t go back now, alive, then I’ll send you back dead. Now go,” Time demands.
His back is turned to me, so I can’t see the look that is given to her. Whatever it is, it’s enough to scare her into submission. She grits her death, brushes past him, and me, and rushes out the door. Just like that. I turn to watch her leave, hoping it would be the last time I saw her.
When I turn back around, Time is standing right in front of me, staring down at me with golden eyes of menace.
“I didn’t do that for you, by the way. So don’t get your hopes up,” Time says flatly. I could almost roll my eyes at him, but who knows where that would land me.
“I know you didn’t. How did you know she was immortal. And from your territory?” I question.
Time sighs deeply, walking past me. Is he leaving? Just like that? He exist the house, out onto the porch, and down the stairs. I follow him. All I want is to have T back. Why is Time even here?
“I can tell. She seemed cold enough, stubborn enough. But at the end of the day, I just know my territory members quite well.
“She said you were missing,” I recall.
“She was wrong. I just don’t communicate with them all that often. Plus, I’ve been taking residence elsewhere. If you know what I mean,” Time tells me, walking back down the road T and I had come from. I skip after him, trying to keep by his side, despite his large steps.
“When are you going to be done with T?” I ask. “Where are we going?”
Time looks down at me, but there isn’t a hitch in his step. “You’re going home. I’m off to do something else. I’ll return T to you later.”
“Where are you going?” I repeat.
Time suddenly pulls to a stop, right outside the entrance to the village. He looks at me, clearly annoyed that I am still following, and still demanding for questions. But i’m not about to let him walk off in my mates body. Not when I don’t know if I would get him back again.
“Listen, Faye. You’re smart, and I know you know, that you should turn around and go home. Nothing will happen to T. He will be back by tomorrow,” Time tells me. He doesn’t even try sound reassuring. He points back toward my estate, clearly not planning on letting me follow.
Assuming I understood, he returns to his walking. However, I haven’t gotten enough answers from him yet.
“I just need him safe, okay?” I tell him, jogging behind him.
He waves his hand up in dismissal. “Got it.”
“You really don’t need to do this...Whatever you’re planning. I may not know what it is, but I have a bad enough feeling about it to at least try convince you out of it,” I explain. It’s my one last chance before I allowing my mate to be walked off into something I don’t know about. Time could be planning to kill him for all I know.
Time comes to a stop again, turning back to me. “It’s foolish of you to even try. And you know that.”
“Well I’m sorry you have no soul,” I snap. I’m grasping at straws at this point.
He sighs through his nose, before he steps forward, reaching for me. I take a few stumbling steps back, but it’s pointless. He grabs my arm, holding me too him. And then he grabs my neck.
“What are you doing?” I question, trying to pull him off me. “That hurts, get off me.”
“Don’t struggle.”
“What are you doing?” I ask.
His hand on my neck does not mean to take my life. At least not through strangulation. The sparks that I typically feel from T’s touch have vanished. Instead, I feel an intense burning coming from his fingers. It’s a pain I’ve never felt in my life.
“I’m branding you,” he murmurs, concentrating on whatever he is doing to my neck. “To me.