Demon in Town (Book 2)

Chapter 7

“If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.”-Nelson Mandela.

Chapter 7

-Nathaniel-

She looked up and her eyes met mine.

“Kaitlin,” I whispered.

We stared at each other. None of us said anything. I couldn’t find words because I was sure that I was imagining things after Karen was gone. I had not drunk blood for some days. I was trying to get to the extreme limits of the blood avoided state. It made me weak but I was still alive. That’s why I knew I was imagining Kaitlin in front of my eyes.

“I’m here to see Victor.” The image spoke. The same voice I could die to hear. Surely, it wasn’t just an optical illusion. “Please call him.”

“Kaitlin, it’s me.” I walked towards her. She flinched and stepped back as if she was scared of me. “Don’t you recognise me?”

“How do you know my name?” She looked at me for a long time, trying to scratch a memory back in her head.

“I’ve always known you.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know you. I have to see Victor. It’s urgent.” She said, her voice turning desperate. “Does he live here?”

“Kate, look at me.” I pleaded. “Don’t you remember your Nathaniel? I’m the same Nathaniel that you…how are you alive?”

How was she alive? And even if she was alive how hadn’t she aged a single day? She wasn’t an immortal vampire. Of course, werewolves had slow aging but they weren’t immortal. There had to be some mistake.

“You’re confusing me, sir.” She said softly. “I don’t know anyone here. Victor is the only one I seek to meet. There is something I need to tell him.”

I sighed and looked down at the mansion’s floor. Maybe she wasn’t my Kaitlin. It had to be some other girl who looked, sounded, and was named like her. I knew it wasn’t possible but somehow the living example was standing right ahead of me, facing me.

Only one person could tell me what was going on.

Victor.

“I don’t know where he is,” I said in a firm voice. “But you can rest while you wait for him.”

I pointed at the chair in the hall and she hesitated.

“I’m his brother, Nathaniel.” My heart hurt when I introduced myself. I never thought it would come to this. “Victor will be here soon. Don’t worry.”

She smiled a little and nodded. She sat on the chair carefully. It showed that she really didn’t know me. She was afraid of me first but when I had told her that I was Victor’s brother, she had eased up. This had to be a nightmare.

I needed to find Victor.

***

“We’re here, lovebirds,” Victor announced.

I opened my eyes. I had fought back the tears. The memory was too much to take. I hated Victor for what he had done to me. To Kaitlin.

We were back in Karen’s room. Karen looked around smiling. Then she went near the study table and picked up the calling device in her hand and did a few swipes on it. Her face lightened up with the small light coming from the screen of the calling device.

I noticed her. She had nice features. Her cute brown eyes were an amusement to watch. A dark brown strand of hair escaped her ponytail and she tucked it back behind her ear. I knew from the beginning when I had seen her that she reminded me of Kaitlin. She could never take the place Kaitlin had in my heart but she definitely had made her own.

“No one is home.” She said happily. “There are no miscalls from dad or mom. I can’t believe that my mom has gone shopping for so long. I think she must have stopped at her friend’s house or something.”

Victor walked near her and snatched the calling device from her hand. His eyes flickered on the screen. My hate for him was growing every second. I hated it when he was near her. I wanted her to understand what kind of person he was. Behind the façade of a handsome guy, he was the worst brother anyone could have.

But I didn’t need to tell Karen this. She was intelligent enough to understand the difference between good and bad. So, I would let her decide.

“Your brother has called you several times,” Victor said.

My head snapped to Karen. She had a brother?

“Stop calling him my brother.” She said annoyed. “Jon is my best friend.”

“No matter whatever you call that guy, he is going to consider you his sister,” Victor replied. I knew Karen liked Jon more than a friend but what was with the brother thing? “The awkward moment when your crush calls you his sister.”

“Shut the hell up,” Karen insisted angrily.

“He called you his sister?” I asked, enjoying the situation. I never really liked that guy for Karen. “I thought he liked you.”

Karen opened her mouth wide but didn’t say anything. She dropped down on her bed and looked back and forth at Victor and me. She was really angry.

“Stop talking about my love life.” She said.

“This isn’t your love life anymore.” Victor teased. “Come on, he is your brother, Karen.”

“Argh! You’re so irritating!” She screamed. “How do you know he said that to me?”

“I have ears to hear.” Victor shrugged and chuckled. “It was the most pleasing thing to hear.”

“It is alright, Karen.” I touched her shoulder. “Sometimes we can’t have the people that we love. They are just not made for us.”

She looked up at me.

“We’ve to go, Nathan,” Victor spoke clumsily. “We’ve other things to do.”

“Yeah,” I said to him and turned to Karen. “I’ll see you later. Be ready to come with us soon.”

She nodded.

“Take care, sweetheart,” Victor said to her.

I wished I could be like him for some minutes. He could say everything so easily off his tongue. I, being shy as always couldn’t call her anything else than Karen.

“What are you dreaming of?” Victor patted me on the shoulder. “Get into the portal. You don’t want it to close, right?”

“Take care, Karen.” I smiled at her.

“Take care,” She smiled back.

The portal was made on the wall near the table in Karen’s room. I didn’t know anything about our destination and nor had Victor told me anything. I wanted to ask him but my anger for him increased every time I looked at his face. There was no remorse. Not even a fake one.

I got into the portal, closing my eyes.

I felt like flying for a moment. The eerie silence in the portal and constant swirling made me wobbly. When it stopped I opened my eyes to an unfamiliar place. It was a very untidy room with clothes and empty bottles of alcohol lying everywhere.

“This is where I live in this world,” Victor smirked and opened the door…of a weird thing that had bottles in it. He took out a bottle. “This is a fridge. It keeps things cool.”

“We need to talk,” I said. I was not flattered by whatever the fudge was.

“It’s a fridge.” Victor rolled his eyes. “And what makes you think that I’ll be interested in your ‘talk’?”

I moved fast enough for him to be surprised and held his collar.

“You played with my life. You lied that she wasn’t alive anymore. Why?” I clenched my jaw until it hurt. “You made me the monster I am and you’re gonna pay.”

“You’re one tortured soul,” He didn’t look fazed. “Why don’t we just talk? Please no throat grabs or anything.”

“It’ll be your neck next time.”

“Wonderful,”

I let him go even though I didn’t want to. He walked away from me to stop beside the table. He took the wine glass in his hand and poured the liquid from the bottle. This irritated me. He managed to look calm when I was here with a great desire to kill him.

“She was the only thing keeping you from the war against the werewolves. She was an enemy and she had to be finished.” He said, taking a sip from the shiny glass. “But when I reached her house to kill her, I couldn’t. She was so innocent.”

“You just made her forget everything?” I asked frowning. “You could’ve let her go safely.”

“Oh, she is safe. She is immortal. What else would have you wished for her?” He shrugged. “She drank the immortal drink that witches made for her. That’s why she is still alive, in flesh and bones. I’m the reason why you were still able to meet her after so many decades.”

“What are you planning, Victor?” I glared at him. “Something tells me that there’s a sinister idea of yours behind all this. I hate that you have the power to shield your mind. I wish I could read it.”

Yes, I couldn’t read his damn mind. He was shielding it most of the time. Whenever I tried to get inside his mind, I only got myself a headache. I needed to know what he was thinking. He wasn’t going to tell me anything ever.

“Kaitlin was not meant to be with you. She only made you weak.” He swayed the glass in his hand. “You should be obliged to me.”

“Taking someone’s real life and giving them a false one doesn’t make me obliged to you,” I said and he ignored me. He was too busy drinking his liquor.

I walked near him and took the glass from his hand. I threw it on the wall. The glass shattered into pieces and the contents spilled on the floor. Victor lifted his head up and glared at me. He got up from the couch with a blink of an eye and bared his fangs, snarling at me.

“You wanna fight me?” He…smiled.

“I want to kill you for what you have done but that won’t bring her memories back,” I said. My fangs were out too. “You have to bring them back.”

“Are you jealous because she doesn’t want to see you any longer?” He asked shoving me on the chest. “Are you dying here because she doesn’t want you anymore?” He shoved me again.

Now, he had crossed the line.

I could take it no more. I moved fast and punched him on his face. He let out a small gasp and staggered back. He opened his mouth, showing off the sharp canines to me. He moved, faster than me.

I felt his fist connecting with my face. The powerful impact sent me sprawling on the floor. I shook my head slowly and watched him gesture me to get up. I touched my bottom lip where the blood had started dripping from.  I hadn’t fed for more than two days. This was turning risky.

I got up and punched him on his stomach. He was stunned by the sudden attack. He surely didn’t expect me to get up ever. I took the opportunity to catch him by the neck and then threw him on the wall like I had thrown the wine glass some minutes ago. His back collided with the wall behind him and he fell down on the table, breaking it. He groaned. The wall was dented now.

“You’re ruining my house, vampire.” He hissed at me.

He recovered as fast as he could and threw himself at me. We initially flew to the wall behind me. The pain travelled all above my spine and I cried out, pushing him back.

We struggled, trying to bite each other’s heads off.

With a powerful kick, Victor sent me flying to the broken table. I looked up at him. He was panting hard; his grey eyes were shining with fury.

“Give up already.” He huffed. “You ain’t gonna win this.”

I smiled and rushed towards him.

I buried the wooden pointy piece into the side of Victor’s stomach. I had taken it from the floor where the table had broken. The piece of wood had been broken to become an imitation of a stake.

This was definitely going to work.

Victor groaned in pain, dropping on his knees to the floor.

“This isn’t over yet,” I whispered to him.