Demon in Love (Book 3)

Chapter 5

“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”-Lord Acton.

Chapter 5

-Karen-

“So Victor was here?” Jon frowned, scratching his head. “I thought—”

“You thought I’m insane; that I’m losing my mind,” I said in an obvious tone. “Now that two people are saying the same thing, you’re beginning to believe me. Here I was expecting you to have a little trust in me.”

Guilt took over Jon’s expressions. “Hey, I knew you were depressed because of this whole Victor thing,” His voice turned soft, “And you had this terrible dream about Victor biting you.”

“Being depressed doesn’t mean I would start hallucinating,” I pressed, rolling my eyes. “You know me better than that.”

“Karen, I’m concerned about you. Have you seen yourself?” Jon raised his voice, gesturing at me with his hands. “I noticed the kaleidoscope of emotions on your face when looked past me in the shop. For a second, I thought you were going to have a seizure, dammit. If you were in my shoes, you’d have done the same.”

Well, I could lie and say no but that would be so wrong. He was really concerned about me, just like my parents were. I had literally sprinted across the shop without regarding anyone around me. I hadn’t stopped when Maya and Jon had tried to stop me. Not to mention the strong coffee I had wasted. That was unforgivable. Coffee is life.

Unsurprisingly enough, yes, I’d have done the same if I were in his position.

I sighed loudly, “I’m sorry I freaked out. I was hoping to stop him but he just disappeared.” I pulled my attention back to Nate, “How did you get here?”

“I was searching for Victor in the woods,” Nate replied. “I had this feeling that he was there and it turned out to be right. He was there, hiding from me. I called him several times to get out of hiding and face me. That’s when he challenged me to catch him. But he was too fast.”

“He talked to you?” I asked sullenly.

“I felt his presence everywhere from where I stood. When he talked, it seemed like a mere whisper right here in my head,” He jabbed his index finger on his temple. “He is extremely powerful, Karen. Even at this time of day.”

“I don’t get it,” Jon said immediately. “You have the same enchanted locket too and that’s why you’re standing here, unaffected by the sunlight. Isn’t it the same with Victor too? What’s the big deal?”

“Didn’t you hear me? He spoke in my head and he ran faster than I’ve ever seen him,” Nate explained. Then he saw our uncertain expressions. “It’s not easy for a vampire to use telepathy. It drains out so much power.”

“For power, you need lots of blood,” I said deadpanned. So it was obvious Victor was camping in the woods to drink blood and kill people. This was gonna attract the attention of VES in no time. Victor was playing with fire.

Nate nodded, “I followed his scent because it was nearly impossible to see him.”

“His scent led you here?” Jon asked anxiously.

“Yes, it did. I was running, and I wasn’t paying attention to anything,” Nate answered. “That was when I heard Karen screaming, and I saw you standing here. I thought Victor had hurt her.”

“Can we still try to catch him?”

“Seems like we’ve lost him,” Nate glanced ahead on the street and then looked back at me. Boy, he seemed tired. “But we know one thing for sure; he hasn’t left the town. And his powerful nature points at the deaths of those kids. I’m afraid it was Victor who killed them. What else can describe his sudden strength outbursts?”

I saw Jon staring at me from my peripheral vision. I couldn’t deny the impeccable logic of Victor being behind the deaths anymore. It was like denying the existence of gravity when it was what holding you down.

“If he is in the town, he would have gone to meet his friend,” Jon said. I knew where this was going. “I have a deep feeling that Zayasu knows what Victor is up to. I mean, why would he tell us even if he does? He doesn’t owe us an explanation.”

Maybe he was right. According to Crane, Zayasu Ukyo was one of Victor’s most trusted friends. We had a firm reason to be skeptical about him. There was a pretty good chance that he knew everything. He had said he wanted to help us, but what if he actually wanted to spy on us for his friend.

To be honest, nothing made sense. Why couldn’t Victor just face us and end this all? What was this hide-and-seek game he was playing? I couldn’t tell if he was the victim or we were. I wished we could somehow catch him and make him blurt out the secrets.

“I think we should pay Zayasu a visit,” I said finally. “Let’s see what he has to say in his defence.”

Jon glanced at his wristwatch, “Wouldn’t he be in college right now?”

“It’ll be good if he is in college because if he is not, he will be giving us more reasons to doubt him,” I gulped. “Let’s go.”

We got into Jon’s car. Nate and I took the back seat. With Nate slumping on the seat with a loud sigh, I closed my eyes as well. I wanted to have a normal conversation with these people in the car. I could only imagine how it would feel like to talk about things other than death and insane Victor. Heck, even the conversation about the dance was better than talking about Victor.

And on contrary, to worsen the matters, I kind of wished Victor was present here with us to make sarcastic comments and tell tales from the past. I hated to admit to myself, but I missed him. I missed his voice, mainly his sarcasm directed towards his brother.

How could I possibly hate him when it hurt so much?

“Are you really a vampire?” Maya’s fangirling voice made me open my eyes. She had turned slightly in the passenger seat to look at Nate.

I raised my eyebrows.

Nate was caught off-guard. For a moment I thought he was going to scream at her because of the seriousness of the situation we were in. Instead, he tilted his head with a look of confusion on his face. Studying the blonde for a second, a small smile formed on his lips.

“Don’t I look like one?” He asked, amused. “How shall I prove it to you?”

“Well, you don’t sparkle in the sunlight. And you look too human to me,” Maya clicked her tongue. “Do you have fangs?”

“Sparkle in sunlight? What, he is a vampire, not a faery,” Jon chuckled while driving. “No offence to those who sparkle though.”

“I know whom you are referring to,” I rolled my eyes, leaning back in the seat.

“I don’t know where you got the concept of sparkling, but I do not sparkle. It’d be strange, if I did,” Nate muttered with a frown. “Here are the fangs if you want to see them,” He opened his mouth slightly to reveal the set of fangs hanging above his bottom lip.

“Holy s**t!” Maya yelled, making me a jerk. “You are real!”

“You didn’t believe me when I told you?” Jon asked.

“I kind of did, but I need to see things myself to be sure,” Maya shrugged. “And it serves you right for you didn’t believe Karen when she was literally screaming that she saw Nate’s brother.”

“I’m glad you’re on my side,” I smiled at her.

“Always,” She raised her hand for a high-five. I went for it quickly. “Never consider yourself alone between these narcissist boys.”

“Hey, I’m not a narcissist,” Jon protested.

We chattered on our way to Zayasu’s house. Maya was one of those people who could start a conversation on any topic and would never get tired of talking. It was fun to see Nate participating in between our banter. I seriously wanted to thank Maya for keeping the atmosphere in the car bright. Although the light moments wouldn’t last forever, I wasn’t restless as before. My heart and head were calm and synchronized.

When Jon stopped the car in front of Zayasu’s house, I was the first one to jump out of the car. I couldn’t wait to question him.

“Is he home?” Nate asked, getting out of the car as well.

I glanced at the closed garage door and sighed.

“Let’s break-in and find out what he is hiding,” Jon suggested. “I’m damn sure Victor and he has signed some blood oath to stick together at the time of crises. Who knows, we might get unlucky and find Victor hiding in his basement.”

“I suspect, this house has a basement,” Maya mumbled.

“There has to be a backdoor, right?” Nate asked.

“We can break it.”

“Are you guys seriously considering the idea of barging in during daylight?” Maya asked, unimpressed. “People are walking by us.”

I gazed at the curtained window of the house, focusing on it, expecting the blinds to shift and let me have a look inside. It was a weird feeling in my head, but somehow I knew that he was inside the house. Oh frigging awesome, now I was probably using my powers without knowing I was.

“People will be minding their own business when we will break the window and get in?” Maya asked Jon. I had missed what Jon said, but I knew it had to be something very stupid, and Maya was obviously quoting him. “Where do you get these smart ideas from?”

“We can just look for the backdoor then,” Jon started walking towards the garage. “Nate, would you mind coming with me? I don’t want Zayasu and Victor to murder me and bury me in the backyard.”

“Wait up!” I said. “You don’t have to go anywhere. He is home.”

“How can you be so sure?”

I didn’t reply. I silently walked up to the front door, with three of them following behind me. I knocked twice on the door and waited for the footsteps. To my relief, I was right. It didn’t take more than 30 seconds for Zayasu to open the door. Yep, I was counting.

He frowned in confusion and looked at the others standing behind me.

Before he could open his mouth, Nate swiftly walked past me, grabbing Zayasu by the collar; he dragged him inside the house. Jon followed him in his course. I didn’t stop them. I just walked in slowly. Isn’t this what we were expecting from him? I was tired of taking matters into my hands.

Jon and Nate looked extremely familiar to the bullies in high school who cornered a student to beat them up. However, the student—Zayasu didn’t appear to be faintly scared of them.

“Why the hell are you not in college?” Jon asked.

“What?” Zayasu asked back.

I saw Zayasu look genuinely confused at Jon’s question. There was only confusion on his face. No fear. No anger. Just confusion. He glanced at me and then back at the vampire who was holding him against the wall. I crossed my arms in front of my chest and shifted my weight on one leg.

The investigation had begun.

“I took a day off because I had already missed two classes today,” Zayasu replied.

“What were you doing so important to miss those classes?”

“Did you wake up late because you stayed up late?”

I was regretting my decision to let them handle this.

“What?” Zayasu yelped.

Maya moved closer to me and whispered, “Now, I’m feeling ashamed of having him as my boyfriend. He doesn’t even know what questions to ask. This is downright embarrassing.”

She was right.

“Did Victor come here?” Nate asked intimidatingly. “Do you know where he is?”

“What?” Zayasu repeated. “I don’t know what you mean.”

I exhaled in defeat. This was going nowhere. But one thing was for certain; Jon and Nate were the creators of worst questions, and they didn’t know how to start a conversation without confusing the person they were talking to. The next moment, I was afraid they would start giving Zayasu multiple choices to choose from.

I stepped ahead and said, “Nate, let go of his collar. We can have a civilized conversation here without grabbing collars and stupid questionnaire.”

Zayasu straightened his shirt after Nate let him go, “I wasn’t expecting you to do that. I’m always here to answer your questions but don’t do that ever again.”

“I saw Victor today,” I said, coming straight to the point. “He vanished when I tried to follow him. Did he come here to meet you?”

Zayasu rubbed his eyes and shook his head, “He didn’t come here.”

“Oh, right, and we will believe you because?” Jon glared at him blatantly.

“I don’t know,” Zayasu made a face, “Because I said so?”

“Drop the act and just tell us where Victor is,” Jon said, clearly annoyed.

“I told you, he didn’t come here,” Zayasu’s voice matched the annoyance. “What makes you think he would visit me?”

“I don’t know,” Jon replied sarcastically, mocking him, “Because he is your best friend?”

“Listen carefully, guys,” Zayasu spoke but stopped when he saw Maya standing next to me. His mouth dropped open in surprise. “Who is she?”

“Err…Hi?” Maya waved. “I’m Maya; Jon’s girlfriend.”

Zayasu looked at me. “How many people are there in your team? Have you called for assistance or something?”

“Just answer my question,” I demanded.

“Or we won’t leave,” Maya added.

“I told you already. Victor didn’t come here,” Zayasu held his hands up. “Use your powers and read my brain.”

“I can’t do that,” Nate said quickly. “I’m not that powerful.”

“I wasn’t talking to you, Nathan.” Zayasu pointed at me. “I’m talking to you, Karen. If you want to know I’m telling the truth, just go ahead and read my head. There is no other way I can prove it to you.”

I laughed out loud bitterly in response to his plea.

What was he saying? Read his head? Was he kidding me? I couldn’t read anyone’s head. Victor was the one who always read my mind in the beginning. He had this bad habit of invading my privacy, driving me mad at him in the process. It was only some time ago when he couldn’t read my mind anymore. He had told me that he had tried but the only explanation he could think of it was; my powers weren’t letting him get inside my head.

“We can torture you and make you spill out the truth,” Jon suggested. “Nate, get ready to drink some kicking wizard blood.”

“Karen, I’m not lying,” Zayasu ignored him. “Use your powers and let them know the truth.”

“You can read minds?” I asked instead.

“Of course, I can, when I focus on a person. It’s one of the best powers you can have as a supernatural. It really helps me during exams,” Zayasu said, backing away from Nate. “Now, tell them…wait, you aren’t there yet?”

I stared at him, completely befuddled. So Zayasu Ukyo could read minds with his great powers. Crane had told us that Zayasu was a trained wizard and that’s why Victor wanted me to meet him. I had a lot of things to learn from him. What else was he capable of? And why wasn’t he defending him or attacking us when we had literally made a villainous entry into his house?

I had powers but I didn’t know how to use them. Other than freezing time and fighting werewolves once, I hadn’t really explored the limits. Yup, I had never given a thought to test my powers. There was only one way to learn how my powers worked.

I moistened my lips.

“What else can you do?” I asked.