Demon in Town (Book 2)

Chapter 17

“Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright, in the forests of the night, what immortal hand or eye, could frame thy fearful symmetry?”-William Blake.

Chapter 17

-Karen-

“Who is this?” Chloe asked me, with her eyes still wandering on Victor. Her smile had turned dreamy. Victor had this effect on girls. That didn’t mean I drooled at his sight.

“Allow me to introduce myself, Karen.” Victor stopped me before I could explain. “My name is Victor Devries.”

“That’s a nice name.” Chloe nodded her head, not taking her eyes off him.

I grabbed his arm. Victor shifted his stare from Chloe to me and lifted his right eyebrow. I rolled my eyes at the amusement I saw on his face.

“Can I talk to him for a while?” I asked Chloe.

“Yeah, yeah people are talking to their girlfriends and boyfriends, whereas I’m working on this stupid graduation party.” Chloe waved us off. “If you don’t come back in ten minutes, I’ll tell Mrs. Jackson.”

“Are you serious?” I asked.

“Of course not,” She sighed. “Go, scram.”

See, what I said about Chloe Frank. She is the best.

“What are you doing here?” I asked through my gritted teeth. “This isn’t my home. I could have been in some class.”

“You’re on detention.” Victor didn’t look at me. He stared over my shoulder. At Chloe.

“Can you stop ogling her?” I whispered. “And how do you know I got detention?”

Victor stopped looking at Chloe and turned his attention to me. His grey eyes moved on my hair and a thin smile appeared on his lips. That smile meant trouble.

“I have my sources.” He paused and then c****d his head. “I can ogle you instead if you’d like.”

“I’d rather die than be ogled by you.” I crossed my arms in front of my chest. “That doesn’t answer my question. What are you doing here?”

A moment passed.

“Are you going to speak or not?” I asked.

“Umm...I’m here to check Jon’s condition,” He grinned. “I want to keep others safe. His little mind can snap at anyone at any time. So, I’m making sure that he doesn’t turn out to be a threat to others.”

“I thought you didn’t care about other people.” I furrowed my brow.

I care about you.

“Yeah, sure you do,” I muttered.

“What?” Victor asked.

“You said you care about me.” I shrugged. “I don’t think that’s true.”

He stared at me, without saying anything.

“Karen, I didn’t say anything.” He shook his head slowly. “Do you think you heard my…thoughts somehow?”

“Don’t mess up with my head. My hair turned green and that’s too much to take.” I sighed loudly, irritated at Victor. “If I’m going to read thoughts now, I’ll become completely mad. Spare me some sanity if you can.”

“You belong to a very powerful line of witches. You can’t complain.” He smiled. Oh, it felt good to see him smile. I hated his cocky smirk. A smile was way better than his smirk. “So, graduation has a dance?”

“Yep, Chloe thinks it’s a nice idea.”

“And you?”

“I hate it.” I held my hands up. “It’s like the worst idea ever. I don’t have any date.”

“Or maybe you can take,” A look of amusement crossed his face. “Nathan.”

For a wild second, I thought he would take his own name.

Suddenly the room spun around me. I felt a jerk in my heart, an abrupt pain. Feeling dizzy, I closed my eyes. It didn’t take a second more for strong arms to come around me.

“Are you alright?” Victor asked. “Heck, you’re falling in my arms, which certainly means you aren’t.”

“I…don’t feel…good,” I said. I was falling.

Victor hugged me tightly. He could take my weight when I was falling. Thoughts were so incoherent right now. Will Chloe be watching us? The gym room was filled with kids. All of them would be watching us. Did I care? No, I was too weak to care.

“Hey,” Victor touched my forehead and brushed my hair away from my eyes. “Karen,”

“I need…to…go out.” I blabbered. I needed fresh air. It was suffocating in the room. The gym seemed to shrink.

“Jon,” Victor called out. His chest buzzed. I could hear his heart beating slowly. “I need to take Karen out of here. She is feeling sick here.”

“You aren’t going anywhere with her without taking me.” I heard Jon say. “I’ll ask Chloe.”

“You’ll be fine,” Victor whispered to me. “Just keep taking deep breaths.”

Jon walked beside me as Victor carried me out of the school.

“Are you okay now?” Jon placed his warm hands on my cheek.

I exhaled. It was good to be outside.

I heard whispers.

“Kill him,”

“No.”

Everything shifted all of sudden. Adrenaline burned through my body. The weakness turned into my strength. Energy pulsated in my veins, healing me. I opened my eyes and pushed Victor away. I’d never thought my push could even move him an inch but he moved meters away from me. The surprise and worry were clear on his face.

“Her eyes are green!” Jon exclaimed.

“Karen,” Victor whispered calmly. He held his hands in front of him, making a gesture. “Take it easy.”

I couldn’t take it easy. I did what my instincts told me.

I ran.

“Do whatever I say.”

I ran past countless people, trees, and vehicles as fast as I could. They all were a blur to me. I knew Jon and Victor were following me but I was too fast for them to catch up with. My shoes burned in my feet, the heat rose to my knees, hurting me.

I couldn’t stop. There was no way I could stop until I revealed the mystery of the whispers. They were not just whispers in my head. I wasn’t going crazy. They were real. And they were not commanding me to do anything. They were commanding someone else.

I stopped running and looked around myself, breathing heavily.

I was in the Wolf Woods.

I had never run this far in my life. You see, I am not a very athletic person.

The leaves crunched under my weight. The ground was damp and slippery. It was a miracle that I hadn’t slipped while running. I looked up at the tall trees that surrounded me. The whispers were coming from here. I knew it. I just needed to find the responsible person.

“Hel—” A voice groaned in pain.

I turned to my right and ran in the direction.

A guy was lying on the ground, twisting and turning in immense pain. His T-shirt was soaked in blood. His blond hair fell against his terrified eyes. He was young, maybe younger than me.

There was so much blood that my stomach lurched. He was crying out, holding his neck that was wounded. His skin had already turned pale and white from the blood loss. I looked up from him and met cold green eyes.

Oh my God.

Nate.

He was different. A predator. Blood dripped from his mouth, his shirt was covered in blood and his eyes had that killer’s look I always feared. There was something odd. He looked at me as if he didn’t know me. At all.

He attacked me.

In a quick motion, Victor was between us. He pressed his hands on Nate’s chest and pushed him with all his strength. Nate went flying across and hit a tree. Victor was fast with his actions; he ran and caught Nate by his neck.

Nate struggled. His fangs bared, threatening to bite Victor. Victor punched him on his stomach, making him lung forward. I wanted to stop him but my mouth hung open. Nothing came out.

And then he snapped Nate’s neck.

“No!” I screamed.

“What the hell, man!” I didn’t even notice Jon standing beside me.

Victor didn’t say anything. He lowered himself on the ground near the wounded guy and bit his own wrist. Thick blood poured out. He placed his wrist on the mouth of the guy and I watched as the color began to rise in his skin. His breathing returned to normal.

Victor helped him rise up to his feet and stared into his eyes. “You had an accident. You don’t remember anything that happened here. You don’t remember any of us.”

Under compulsion, the guy nodded his head.

“Now, run out of this place,” Victor said.

He didn’t have to say that again. The guy ran as his life depended on it. That sounded ironic…

I looked at the limp body of Nate, lying on the ground. I was afraid to go near him, thinking he may get up and attack me again. Though I could save myself with my powers, I was worried about him. I didn’t want to hurt him.

“You killed your brother!” Jon said in pure disgust.

 “He’ll be fine,” Victor announced. “Guys, we’re vampires. We’ve risen from dead. A neck snap wouldn’t kill him.”

“Why did he do that?” I asked, trembling.

“I don’t know. Bloodlust?” Victor turned his gaze to Nate. He turned the tables on me. “How did you know something was going on here?”

“I heard voices in my head or ears, I’m not sure.” I narrowed my eyes at Nate. “Why isn’t he waking up?”

Victor cursed under his breath and sat down on the ground. He peeped and took a locket out of Nate’s shirt which he was wearing around his neck. The green coloured stone sparkled as Victor inspected it. He stared at Nate for a long time and then spoke.

“Wake up, the monster of the night,” He slapped him lightly on the cheek. “Rise and shine.”

After what it seemed like hundreds of slaps, Nate woke up.

“Where am I?” His voice cracked.

“You’re in deep s**t, boy.” Victor snorted. He got up on his feet. “What the hell were you thinking when you nearly killed that kid?”

“What kid?” He rubbed his eyes then looked up at us. “What are we doing here?”

Suddenly, it struck me.

“You don’t remember anything, Nate?” I asked cautiously.

“Oh, vampires have a good memory.” Victor held Nate’s collar and pulled him up to stand. “I’m sure you have reasons for what you did, Nathaniel.”

“I don’t understand,” Genuine confusion took up his face. He looked down at his blood-drenched shirt and confusion on his face was overtaken by horror. “What happened here?”

“You tell us,” Jon said.

“Yeah, you tell us,” Victor said without humor. “Sucking the blood of an innocent kid, you attacking Karen and me snapping your neck, ring a bell?”

“I don’t understand,” Nate repeated.

“Do I need to snap your neck again? You seem to be in a daze.” Victor raised his hands to Nate’s neck.

“Victor, stop.” I took a step ahead. “He doesn’t remember anything. Why would he lie if he did?”

“I was outside Karen’s school. Where you left me,” Nate pointed at Victor. “I remember standing there, waiting for you to come out…nothing after that. What happened here?”

“You sucked the blood of a kid from our school,” Jon said. “If you’d to feed, you should have left him alive after sucking blood outta him. You freaking drained him, bloodsucker.”

Nate looked down at his feet.

“I never drink from the veins.” He whispered.

“That’s exactly what puzzles me. You were supposed to be standing there, doing nothing. You weren’t supposed to lure some kid out into the woods and suck him dry.” Victor growled. “You could have told me if those blood bags weren’t working for you.”

“I think it’s not his fault,” I said to Victor. “Is there a possibility that he was hypnotised?”

Victor angrily looked at Nate. His expressions changed.

“You’re right. His mind is clear. There is no memory of what happened here.” His forehead creased. “He was under compulsion.”

“Vampires can be hypnotised?” Jon asked suspiciously.

“Only those vampires who are weak and good for nothing,” Victor replied, taunting Nate. Nate looked away. “But it had to be a strong compulsion because he is still wearing that locket around his neck. That kinda negates the powers of other vampire’s compulsion.”

“Then who could have done this?” I asked.

“That,” Victor took a long breath, “is what we have to find out.”