Demon in Town (Book 2)

Chapter 19

“I can control my destiny, but not my fate. Destiny means there are opportunities to turn right or left, but fate is a one-way street. I believe we all have the choice as to whether we fulfil our destiny, but our fate is sealed.”-Paulo Coelho.

Chapter 19

-Karen-

When Jon and I were small, he used to be at my house all the time. We were inseparable and couldn’t live without each other. We fought like cat and dog but couldn’t go on without talking for ten minutes. Some people even used to think that he was my brother.

Well, I should have taken the hint.

Those days were crazy. So, I called Jon home to spend some time with me to relive the experience after so many days.

“Sometimes I don’t like the way Victor looks at you,” Jon said, opening my laptop.

My throat tightened. I swallowed slowly before looking at him. Were his big brother responsibilities surfacing when he thought about me and Victor?

“Uh—does he have that killer look?” I wiggled my eyebrows. “Does he look at me with the look which says girl-you’re-my-next-meal?”

Jon’s lips twitched upwards just a little. He tapped his fingers on the keyboard with a nice speed and pressed Enter after a dramatic pause. His eyes narrowed at the screen as I heard the error sound.

“You changed your password?” He asked.

“I hate it when people ignore the real question and put another question to cover it,” I sat next to him on the bed. “I changed it because the last one was incredibly long.”

“I don’t understand why you even need a password. There is no one to invade your privacy which apparently consists of some animated movies and few Marvel stuff.” Jon made a face. “I’m pretty sure nobody will ever want to steal these unwanted—”

“Stop it!” I glared at him. “You don’t get to insult my collection without any proof that you have a better one. It’s totally offensive.”

“I told Maya everything.”

“You told her that I keep animated movies and comics in my laptop hard drive?” I held my hands up. “Congratulations, you win the most moronic act of the century award.”

Jon let out a sigh.

“I told her, there is a world beyond her imagination that includes creatures like vampire, werewolves, and witches.” He explained almost inaudibly.

Surprisingly, I didn’t go out of control in my anger because it took a whole minute for me to process what he had said. I looked at him with my mouth wide open and I was completely aware of the fact that he was waiting for my reaction.

“What the hell did you just say?” I was never more appalled.

“I said, I told Maya about the other dimension,” Jon said casually as if it meant nothing. “I told her that you are a witch.”

Another long pause followed.

“Don’t be all quiet,” He whispered.

“I can’t decide right now, whether to slap you or to kill you,” I said through my gritted teeth. “Can you please help me decide?”

“Karen, rest the sarcasm,” He shrugged, trying another password on the laptop. “I can’t keep these secrets from her. If I’m going to turn into a werewolf someday, she has to know, right?”

“Why the hell would you do such a stupid thing?” I still couldn’t understand.

There was anger in me for the stupidest thing he had done but there were speckles of jealousy too. Had he grown too close to Maya that he couldn’t keep a small secret from her? Not so small, I guess but that’s not the point.

It was a Best Friend Jealousy Syndrome (BFJS). It happens when your best friend starts sharing secrets with other people who you kind of hate already because they are close.

“She will not tell anybody.” He assured with his eyes on the laptop screen.

“But you don’t know, Jon!” I yelled at him. “We are the middle of a war which is hidden from ordinary people. According to Victor, the werewolves and hunters may attack anytime. Telling Maya has put her at great risk.”

“Jesus! What’s the risk?” Jon asked lamely.

“Anything can happen, you moron.” I ran a hand through my hair. “Why did you do that? You know her for like, what, two weeks?”

“I know her—Karen, in the other timeline when you were gone for three or four months, I was all broken. I went in that cursed mansion every night to find some clue or the damned portal again to get to you. I was turning crazy and I didn’t know what to do. Everyone was searching for you but no one believed what I said. They thought I was some crazy supernatural maniac. Even my parents were talking about sending me to the asylum for all the talking I did.” Jon desperately said. “I was thrown out of the basketball team, I was failing in-class tests and I was devastated. That’s when I met Maya White. She supported me when I needed someone.”

“But she can’t remember any of this.” I slowly concluded. “We are the only two who remember what happened in those months. For everyone else that ‘timeline’ was erased when I travelled the time portal.”

“That’s what I’m saying, Karen. Maya doesn’t remember, but I do. I know that she is an amazing girl and has a golden heart.” He smiled dreamily. “I had to woo her again after we went back in past. This time it was easier because you were here, I was happy and I knew what her likes and dislikes were.” 

My BFJS was at the peak position. Help me.

“That doesn’t mean you can run around telling people about vampires and werewolves. They will actually put you in an asylum. And I will not consider erasing this timeline.” I rolled my eyes. “You and Maya are star-couples of our school; I really don’t want you two to be called freak-couples anytime soon. Oh God, did she even believe your story?”

Jon frowned and looked at me quietly. I coughed.

“She didn’t believe me at first. She thought I was being my funny self.” He lifted his shoulders, “When she stopped laughing and realised that I wasn’t laughing at all, she made me swear to God I wasn’t kidding.”

“That’s kinda funny.” I snorted.

“She wants to meet you.” He said, out of the blue.

“Why?” I retorted. “I’m not doing magic tricks for her to believe in witches.”

“I promise she won’t ask you to do magic tricks.” He replied wryly. “She just needs to know that I’m not lying to her.”

“Why is it really important for you to make her believe?”

“She means everything to me, Karen.” He asked. He sounded genuine. “A relationship can’t stand without trust. I want to keep that trust.”

“This sounds sweet and all,” I said, suppressing a yawn as I talked. “I don’t know how Victor and Nate will react when I’ll tell them regarding your confession to your girlfriend.”

Jon raised his eyebrows and grinned. I knew what he was going to say but my mind was too tired to think of a reply before he said what he was going to.

I had to stop thinking too much maybe.

 “Whom do you like by the way?” He couldn’t stop grinning. Amusement drenched his voice.

“What are you talking about?” I played dumb. I considered changing the subject instead. “I hope Beth’s date with Xavier is going nice.”

Eventually, Xavier had agreed on going on a date with Beth. I was happy for them.

“Do you like Mr. I-don’t-want-to-suck-blood-but-I-have-no-control-over-it or Mr. I’m-not-a-bad-boy-but-I’ll-play-bad-boy-because-girls-dig-bad-boys?” Jon spoke so quickly. “Who do you really like?”

“Seriously?” I made a face. I looked out of the window. It was getting really dark outside. I wondered if Nate was okay and Victor had found out who was behind Nate’s behavior that day. “It’s hard to tell.”

“C’mon, the girl I knew could make a decision in one second.” Jon sounded completely deflated. “What’s the problem?”

“I’m afraid.”

“You’re afraid that one of them will suck you dry?” He asked.

“As if I’d let him!” I yelled.

We laughed.

“What exactly are you afraid of?” Jon asked, whispering. “Won’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know…I…there are many things I’m afraid of,” I took a long breath and added. “I’m afraid the person he seems to be might not be who he really is. There are people and they have secrets.”

“They do,” He smiled. “Karen, what is a person without secrets? You can’t expect anybody to not have any secrets. If he is willing to tell you all details of what he is hiding, he really loves you. I speak by experience.”

“What if he hasn’t told me anything yet?”

“Then you haven’t made a real move to tell him that you have feelings for him too. How is a guy supposed to know you like him until you tell him? Unless he can read minds…” Jon scratched his head. “Can our subject read minds?”

“I think my witch powers are extremely influential. Nobody can read my mind now,” I replied. “Or that’s what I think. I can’t explain what happened to me that day when I started running without even knowing where I was heading to. A voice called me, made me run and when I came to my senses I was there in the Wolf Woods. Maybe that was my intuition talking to me.”

“That’s creepy,” He said quickly.

“Creepy things happen when you’re a witch.” I nodded in response.

“So, you’re saying that our subject can’t read your mind. Then how the hell is he supposed to know what you think of him?” Jon cried out. “Lady, you need to know that boys aren’t aliens who can glance in your head and know if you like them.”

“Aliens can do that?”

“I’m just giving an example.” He said. “What’s the next reason for your fear?”

“I don’t think he might be a very good guy.” I shrugged. “Vampires are born to suck blood, aren’t they?”

“Not everything is black and white,” Jon mumbled. “Even vampires aren’t all bad.”

“You are saying that?” My eyes widened in surprise.

He sighed loudly and flopped on the bed. I breathed in relief as his head nearly missed hitting the headboard. He crossed his arms on his broad chest and looked at the ceiling.

“I’m not saying they are harmless but everyone has a monster inside them. No one can ever be alive without impurities in them,” Jon continued, “People can only try to change their ways for you if they want to be with you. They can’t transform themselves into someone they are not. It’s impossible. A vampire can’t change into a werewolf or vice versa.”

“I don’t want him to change for me. I just want to know the real him, not the one who he disguises himself as,” I tried to make him understand.

“Hold on, who are we talking about here actually?” He asked.

My phone buzzed loudly.

“I’ve to get it.” I grinned.

“Yeah, yeah,” Jon mumbled, closing his eyes.

The screen displayed Beth’s picture with her cute Poodle.

I didn’t know she would ever call me on her date. She avoided using the phone on her dates. She always said it was a bad habit when someone was with you on a special occasion and the way she was into Xavier, I thought she wouldn’t take her phone with her.

“Hey, did you guys make out?” I asked unenthusiastically.

Jon opened his eyes and raised his eyebrow.

“Karen…please…I need your help.”

Her voice was drained and she sniffed several times. Her voice wasn’t even clear. Many voices were coming from her side of the line. I heard police sirens too. That alarmed me. 

“Beth, is everything okay?” I asked, “Why are you crying and where are you?”

I waited for her answer.

Jon, sensing there was something wrong, sprang on his feet.

“We…are...Karen, be here fast. I’m on the— right side road near the Wolf Woods. The place which…is just some yards away from the Gale Restaurant.” She sobbed.

“What’s going on?” I got up from the bed too. 

“Please, come.” She begged. “Xavier…he is…he is hurt.”

“Jon is with me,” I replied. “Don’t worry; we’ll be there in minutes. Stop crying, Beth. We’re coming for you.”

The call disconnected. My heartbeats grew uncontrollably fast.

“What’s it?” Jon asked.

“I think Beth is in great trouble,” I replied, regaining my composure. “We’ve to get to her, right now.”

“Right now?” He looked taken aback.

“Yes, doofus.”