Demon in Ruins

Chapter 8

“The greatest of follies is to sacrifice health for any other kind of happiness.”-Arthur Schopenhauer.

Chapter-8

-Karen-

“Let Jon go back into our world.”

As soon as I said this, there was confusion written all over Nate’s face. I knew what he might be thinking. Jon was the dearest to someone I could call my best friend. I had to save him.

“You want this boy to go home?” Nate asked with surprise.

“Yes,” I said. “I want him to go back home.”

“But why?”

“That wasn’t in your condition that you’d ask me the reason.” I said.

Annoyance reflected on his handsome face.  He was thinking hard about it. His hands let go of Jon and Jon relaxed before speaking up.

“Karen, are you mad?” Jon asked. “You can’t do this. I won’t leave you alone.”

“Why are you reconsidering the condition, Nate?” I asked ignoring Jon as if I hadn’t heard him. “Do what I have said.”

“As you wish,” Nate murmured.

“What?” I asked.

“Let’s get back to the mansion,” He said looking up at the sky. “Bring the dirt with us.

His soldiers took his order and the vampire Marcus was taken with us.

I looked up at the sky like Nate. The night was descending. There was a sign of sunshine; the sun was going to come up soon. The mansion was guarded by magic as Nate had told me but from outside Nate was prone to being turned into ashes as I had seen in many movies.

I didn’t want any miss happening to Nate but on the other hand, I wanted to save Jon. If he would be able to go back home, I would think my half part is saved. I can go back later. Maybe. Someday.

Lady Adeline welcomed us on the front door of the mansion.

“You must know you can’t escape,” Her voice was cold.

I hung my head down and Nate followed me to my room. I tried to ignore him but his presence was something I could never ignore. He was a kind-hearted vampire. One of a kind. I had seen the other side of him today. He had killed a person, a vampire. A very bad vampire.

“Are you sure you want this?” He asked.

I snapped out of my thoughts. He was asking me about Jon.

“Yes, I’m sure I want this.”

I sat down on my bed thinking about today’s events. How could someone be so calm after killing someone? Maybe it wasn’t a big deal for a vampire to kill someone.

Nate came and sat beside me. He turned towards me and stroked my hair with his cold hands softly. There was hesitation in his actions as I moved a little away. Afraid of him.

“You had a choice and you choose nothing but your friend’s release,” Nate whispered. “I have not seen a human who would sacrifice something like this for another one.”

I shifted.

“I love Jon.”

His eyes went a darker shade. Oh! What had I said! He was thinking I loved Jon in some other way. I loved Jon in a friend’s way.

“I mean I care about him,” I changed my words.

“You do,” He said getting up. “I can see very well.”

I looked up at him. There was sadness in his eyes. He wanted to talk to me but he was afraid of revealing himself to me.

“When will you let Jon go?” I asked.

“Tomorrow night he’ll be gone.” Nate answered.

I exhaled in relief. The thought of Jon being safe relieved me.

“You must wash away the blood, Karen.”

I looked at the bruises made by the plants and the bushes. Nate was looking at me…hungrily. Of course, how long could he control himself? Blood would make him crazy.

“I don’t want to hurt you Karen. You have to stay here.” He said running a hand through his hair. “You have to trust me.”

I nodded and went to wash away the blood.

I groaned when the cold water fell on my wounds. It prickled. I watched the blood getting mixed with the water and drain away.

When I came back to my room, Nate was gone.

I fell on the bed, exhausted. The thoughts about Jon and Nate made me tired. I closed my eyes and fell into a very dreamy sleep.

-Nate-

“She is safe,” I said to mother.

“She had to be,” She said. “Where was she going anyway?”

I took the glass which was filled with blood and raised it to my lips and stopped.

“She was running away from the mansion without any purpose of fear of getting eaten by monster walking there in the forest.” I said. “If I hadn’t reached there, she would be dead till now.”

I took a sip from the glass and spit it out, coughing hard. It tasted like mud mixed with lots of water.

“What’s this?” I asked angrily.

“What’s the matter?” Mother asked with curiosity.

“This thing tastes like mud,” I gritted my teeth and threw the glass on floor.

The servants came to pick up the glass and clean the floor once again. They were assigned to clean floors by Victor. And from the look of the floors in the mansion in which you could see you face, they were doing a great job.

“This is animal blood, Nathan.” Mother smiled. “I can see you don’t like it much.”

“Like it?” I growled. “It is the foulest thing I’ve ever tasted in my entire life.”

Mother laughed loudly. What was funny about this only she could know…

“You are still weak.” She said. Her eyes were glowing. “You must drink her blood.”

***

She was sobbing when I went into her room. Karen was looking out of the window. She was going to miss her friend. I wanted to keep him here to threaten her whenever I needed to. But I was bound to follow the condition she had put towards me.

“You are sad,” I remarked.

She turned around. She was in a mess. Her eyes were red with the crying.

“The reasons are many.” She said with anger in her voice.

I knew she hated me.

“You wanted me to send him home.” I said. “I’m doing it.”

“Thank you very much.”

There was silence in the room.

“I hope you understand my situation.” I said slowly.

“I do not.” She screamed. “And I don’t want to.”

“What do you want Karen?” I asked.

“Nothing,”

We didn’t exchange words after this.

The entire day Karen stayed locked in her room. She never came out to see Jon, which was surprising. Her lunch was sent to her room and she refused to touch it until Jon was safely sent home.

“Karen, it is time to send Jon back.” I said knocking on the door.

She opened it as soon as I started to knock again. There was determination on her face.

“I’ll accompany you to the place.” She said.

I nodded.

The room where she and Jon had first appeared was the portal to the world outside. It was a dark secret father kept from us. Only he and mother had the knowledge of the portal here. I don’t know how and when Karen found it but the story she had told me, the adventure of her to here, made it all seem like an accident.

Jon was in his weird clothes. The clothes they wore outside. I had never been out there in the alternative world but according to Victor, people were insane and killed each other for money. He liked the idea too much and thought the world had improved.

“Karen, you mustn’t have done this,” Jon said softly to Karen.

He was trying to speak softly to her but he should have known that vampires had a very supernatural power to listen even the faintest voices.

“He is going to kill you someday,” He said to her. “You can still come with me.”

Karen shook her head and I knew how much it would have hurt to do so. She was desperate to go back and I wasn’t letting her.

“I’ll take care of myself,” She said.

I looked at her in amazement. I wanted to kneel down and kiss her hand because of the courage she was carrying in her small heart. A human could be so courageous when times came.

“Karen…”

“Please don’t say anything else or I won’t be able to let you leave,” She interrupted.

This silenced the boy. It looked like they were both going to cry. She rose to her feet and kissed him on the cheek as a sign of goodbye. There was nothing romantic about the kiss but a lot of pain saying goodbye to the companion.

Jon turned his head to look at me.

“You know what Mr. Vampire, she has to come back for the people who are waiting for her.” He said with anger. “You can’t keep her here.”

I looked at Karen who was now in tears and sobbing hard. My heart melted at that sight. What had she done to deserve such a rueful life?

“You are letting go off a person who is important to keep her here.” Victor said. “She will demand for more things now.”

“I have promised her so.” I said.

“I have not seen a fool such as you.” He laughed. “She is not another Kate.”

“Don’t you dare to speak of Kate with that nasty tongue of yours.” I growled.

Victor came close and smiled his bad smile. He patted on my shoulder and let out a breath dramatically.

“She was not of our kind,” He said. “And this girl is no different.”

“Karen is different.” I said truly.

“Make yourself believe first.” Victor said before leaving my room.

The conversation came to my head, rushing like a wave. Victor had come to my room and talked to me about letting Jon go. He called me foolish and an i***t to do this. He didn’t understand the importance of a promise made to someone.

He talked about Kate. He had all the intentions of hurting me by taking her name. It all came back to me, the truce, the war and the loss of a life. I had to stop thinking to compare Kate with Karen. She could not be my Kate.

The door of the room was opened by the guards. Jon peered inside. He walked towards Karen and hugged her tightly. She returned his hug to my jealousy.

“Take care, Karen.” He said. “It’s all my fault but I promise that I’ll come back to get you.”

Karen smiled through her tears and lightly pushed Jon to the room.

“I’ll take care of her.” I said to Jon.

He had this disgusted look on his face. He hated me no matter what I would say. So, I remained silent until the guards let him inside the room.

The door was shut closed. Karen and I waited to hear Jon’s voice. He screamed after some time which made us sure that the fall had begun. The fall to the alternative world.

To his world.