Posted:
Note: Thank you so much for appreciating the last chapter despite it being the shortest one ever since now. I know I left lots of things hanging in the last one but they will clear off very soon. Anyways, the good news is that I am half way through this story (although it was a very slow ride). 😉 Thanks for reading, though! 😊
Chapter V
Dehradun, 3012
Piya stared at the geyser of water that shot through the air and then showered on the rooftop of the Dobriyal mansion. She was bemused but her sister who seemed in perfect state seemed more perturbed and angrier than ever. When another set of sprinkles landed on the two, she yelled at Misha to stop her crap. The latter replied back telling her to fly back into her pigeonhole. Piya stared on.
"I don't believe this..." Panchi muttered when her younger sister started hollering and chirping like a sparrow. She turned to Piya who stood slightly embarrassed and confused at what she was seeing but was nonetheless pleased to find Panchi in much better state. Her happiness was short lived when she threw a very rude remark at her.
"Did you start selling your body too along with your blood?" The chirping and imitation paused briefly before starting again. "Or have you simply started your stupid sympathy gaining act with the best vampire in town to climb up the social ladder?"
"Panchi..." she gasped, her brown orbs criticizing her silently. "I would never..."
"Birdie! Birdie! Squeak 'Queak'!" The hollering grew as Misha got closer until she was finally standing beside Panchi who only glared at the girl before her. She frowned at Piya. "So you've decided to come back just when Panchi is fine? Just what is your problem, you loser?"
"Misha, she's not yours to deal with." Panchi grasped her bad arm where Madam Brook had stabbed the injection. Unfortunately Abhay had been too worried to heal her pain from there and as she winced, she noticed that it was slightly bleeding from the penetration of her nails. "Papa will clear this nonsense once and for all!"
Mrs. Dobriyal dropped the newspaper and the cup of coffee when she spotted Piya being dragged inside by Panchi followed by an equally inquisitive Misha. Madhu herself had thanked God for the blessing he had bestowed upon her family when Piya had not come home for days but it had always kept Arnab worried. He tried keeping close tabs on her but his human investigators would always inform him that she would mingle near vampires.
"Panchi. Misha. Just what is going on?" she asked, ignoring the girl who was calling her out. "What is she doing here all of a sudden? And why are you so drenched, Misha?" she added, showing more care for her own daughter compared to the girl who stood openly bleeding.
"Piya!" Arnab came racing down the stairs, the newspaper in his hand left deserted on the last step. "Where have you been, dear? You had us all so worried!" Madhu scoffed while Panchi rolled her eyes. Misha stood gaping.
"Enough with the pleasantries, Papa! We all know how self involved you were lately," she pushed Piya into the center where four eyes openly stared at her. "Your daughter here has left no stone unturned to diminish the family reputation! Guess who I saw her with?"
Arnab sighed and ran a hand through his light, graying hair. He had been dying it for days now but the tension of Piya disappearing without a word had not been shown to his family. "Panchi, what are you talking about? And why is no one getting a goddamn first aid?" He himself ran to the drawer and got the box out but before he proceeding in aiding her, Panchi spoke.
"I saw your daughter dearest in a slightly heated position with Abhay Raichand!" She curled in her lips in disapproval and the hurt shone in her eyes. Getting over Danish was a massive jump for her and when Abhay had relieved her of all her pains, she had begun to see him as something much more. But her hopes were once again crushed even though she would never admit it.
"In what 'slightly heated position with Abhay Raichand'?" quoted Arnab dabbing a cotton ball on her arm. He realized that she held her breath and wondered if the rumors could be somewhat true. But Piya hated vampires so the whole thing was definitely a misunderstanding.
"Smooching and grinding him senseless is a slightly heated position, I presume?" Panchi claimed while Madhu gasped and Misha made a disgusted face. "Your daughter has stooped to a very low, cheap level. She doesn't need to wear short dresses or stand outside a brothel to be classified as a prostitute!"
"Panchi!" roared Arnab. There was a tense silence and then he finally rose his hand to slap Piya, her wounds and her hatred for vampires forgotten. But she was ripped away from his distance and he only smacked open air.
"Cut the crap, daddy-o. You don't have the right to slap her - but you have the full rights and responsibility to shut that little mouth of that daughter of yours." Abhay Raichand glared openly with his angry, blue eyes at Panchi. She gasped and looked away. In fact, all of them did apart from Piya. She seemed shocked at his ability to save her every now and then more than how rude and abrupt his behavior was towards her father.
He then met her gaze with the same harshness but with slightly upturned lips and care. "It was truly a mistake to save your sister. I think I would've enjoyed seeing her writhe in pain more than watching this stupid family drama. Let's go." He grabbed her wrist and pulled her behind him but stopped and turned around once again with his grey eyes coming into sight. "Just for the record, let me introduce you to my unofficial soul mate as of yet... Piya. I guess smooching and grinding me senseless is appropriate now, eh Panchi?"
Five gasps reached his ears and he rolled his eyes. Humans, so predictable, he thought, speeding away with his soul mate hoping that he would never see the Dobriyal family again. He cast one look at the girl beside him and added 'apart from her' in his previous inner statement.
***
"You have caused a lot of problems in my life, Abhay." That was her first statement, acknowledged Abhay not moving his eyes from the road. Her safety was his first priority which was why he was driving so slow.
"Hmm," he said with a bored tone. Strangely, Piya noted that he was rather witty and less dark than he usually was. She wondered if she was changing him but laughed at that thought. How could she change a headstrong vampire like him?
"Love me. Change me." He stated simply, shrugging his shoulders as if it was a small deal and easing his hold on the steering wheel. She glared at him and turned to the window avoiding anymore conversation on love. She had begun to hate the word until he decided to waltz into her life like a meteor from nowhere.
"I don't like it." Second statement, he thought amused.
Playing dumb, he innocently asked "What don't you like, Piya?"
She turned around fully in her seat, tempted to unbuckle the seat belt but she knew he would go ballistic. "I don't like you interfering in my life." Piya wanted to gauge his reaction but he kept his face blank as if he hadn't heard her.
"Our lives are interlinked. You know that."
"You're a vampire!" she retorted in an accusing tone. He stared at her slightly hurt wondering if being one was such a crime. Apparently, the way she stared at him told her that in her eyes vampires did not hold the best track record.
"You're my soul mate." That shut her up as she bared her teeth at him and turned away. He only grinned at her childish attempts and wished that they could bicker more. Before he could think more, she turned around again, granting his silent wish.
"Why did you kiss me in front of Panchi?" she asked, knowing that his personal motives were hidden behind that passion he bestowed on her. Either it was his crazed sexual desire or something else. He made a face at her trail of thoughts.
"Well, something like that. But you make it sound very cheap, Piya." She stared in response. "I kissed you because I wanted her off my back."
"What?"
Stopping the car abruptly on the curb, he unbuckled his seat and fixated himself comfortably on the seat. She felt slightly apprehensive but the confusion overtook and masked her other emotions well.
"Your loon of a sister has a crush on me. In the same week her own soul mate dies, she eyes the killer. Any background history of sexual dissatisfaction that I should know of?"
"No, you pompous jerk!" she shrieked, unbuckling her own seat belt and sitting on her knees. "My sister is not a desperate! She's just depressed - she doesn't know what she's thinking or saying!"
"How am I pompous?" He eyed his black velvet suit and stared at himself in the mirror. "My face just happens to be a source of attraction. But have I ever praised it overly? No." She gaped at him and felt like punching his ego out but knew her own hand would hurt and bruise.
"Damn right, it would. Maybe I can buy a mule for you? You can torture it, all you want."
She kicked the door open and slammed it shut. He stood in front of her on the other side but she didn't let the surprise show on her face. Her legs carried her past him down the path to their clearing where flowers had begun to die.
"Stop reading my thoughts, you pusillanimous owl!" He only chuckled at that and she wondered why she was throwing insults at him that were only for Misha. She kicked a big boulder but it didn't go anywhere far. He kicked it for her and it hit the tree and crumbled into bits and pieces. "You only kissed me in front of her because you were scared!"
"Abhay Raichand is never scared," came the indignant reply. She knew that was true for fighting a vampire in a battlefield is only a competition some are brave enough to take on. "Let alone of anyone or anything. But, you scare me Piya..."
It was her turn to laugh at the absurdity of his statement. He sounded and looked honest but something kept irking her to believe he was only trying to make her feel that the joke was on her. "I scare you, Abhay? Me, a small little human who can only fight mules scares you?"
"You do." There was a small pause. "If only you knew the power you hold over me and my heart."
In that moment, she hated him for ruining the easy going fights between them - there was tension and passion and she liked some parts of it but the idea of mating with a vampire and producing a hybrid gave her the heebie-jeebies. She didn't want to answer him back but the thrum between them did and nothing needed to be said anymore.
***
Tanushree 'T' Ambolkar glared at the girl who giggled madly at the growing tornado. Her crazy fashion seemed like a curse to all the makeup in the world and T wondered why she had befriended her in the first place. Her nails which had different colors of nail paint turned grey when dust from the tornado landed on them. The wind in the room destroyed any chances of producing fireballs or growing grass.
"Stop that shit, Ruhi!" yelled T, making a tiny fireball and throwing it at her. Before it got to her, the tornado sucked it in creating a large cloud of smoke to rise up in the air. She heaved madly and threw her hands in the air. Then an idea struck her. "Oh, Em, Gee! Look at your nails, Ruhi! Gah, they are destroyed!"
"Where?" the latter asked, letting the tornado disperse as she began to inspect her nails. Making a pout, she nodded in tears. "I know, T! Look, I got a manicure done just last evening! And already..."
"Not to worry," piped in Malika, placing her hands in her line of sight. "Look, my nails are filled with pieces of grass and mud."
She squealed and clapped her hands. Then she turned to T and inquire about her nails. When she brought them forward, they were perfectly manicured and no nail paint was chipped. "Shouldn't you also have gray ash stuck on the sides?" she asked, voicing her confusion.
"I took care of it."
"Oh," she drawled and placed a curious finger on her temple. "Hmm, I wonder what Misha will have stuck in her nails. Oh! I know, WATER!" she hollered, smiling intelligibly. T rolled her eyes while Malika shook her head in disapproval.
"I saw her practicing yesterday, T," informed Malika, reading from her notepad. "She was throwing geysers in the air at around 10 in the morning. Her sisters Panchi and Piya stood at the entrance in a rather heated conversation."
"Good tabs. Any more points?" asked T, creating a fireball and waving her hands round it to create it into a bigger one. Malika shook her head but then her face suddenly brightened.
"I saw a black Jaguar driving out minutes before the heated conversation. Oh, and Misha was yelling 'Birdie! Birdie! Squeak! Queak!' continuously. Then they went inside and I don't know what happened afterwards. I left immediately when Panchi dragged Piya inside."
"Hmm..." T drawled, throwing the fireball at the roses her admirers had sent. For her only one man deserved the attention. Abhay Raichand. "Did you see the car number or the driver?"
"Well, you know how I am with numbers," Malika said, sheepishly scratching the back of her neck. T made an instant fireball and threw it at her for the second time. She ducked but it managed to blow off some of her hair. "You stupid git! You had time to record the number! Why didn't you?"
"He was a speedy driver, T..." she whispered, on the verge of tears. "The second he threw Piya out, he ran a hand on her lips and drove off. I think it was Kabir..."
"Kabir?" Ruhi squeaked, clapping her hands. "Danish's brother, Kabir? He is such a cutie!"
"Shut up, Ruhi!" T yelled, throwing a big, hot and luminous burning fireball at her. She ducked, squeaked and ran out the room while the two sighed in relief. "Now, why would Kabir drive fast? Explain yourself."
"He's always had a passion for cars. When I went on the date with him..."
"Oh please!" T exclaimed, reaching into the drawer and pulling out a card. She threw it at Malika who caught it and stared at the doves on the front. "This was Kabir's confession to me! I know him way more than you ever will. Totes."
"Totes." Her friend approved, placing the card down. "So, you're angry at his attention towards Piya?"
Tanushree smirked in response and placed a cross on the face of Piya Dobriyal in the class photo they had last year before she was thrown out. "No, I am angry at the attention Abhay gives her."
comment:
p_commentcount