Chapter-23 (Part 2)

-Previously in DiR-

"Can you both stop fighting for a while?" I asked. "Why is it always like this? Why are you both trying to rip each other's throats when you're in the same room?"

"I don't want to rip her throat." Victor stared at her with a look that I would obviously call dirty.

"See, why he disgusts me." Karen held her hands up. "When I leave this place, he'll be the happiest person."

"Yeah, you're doing a good deed by leaving." He said. "When is the great day you're leaving?"

Karen turned to me for the answer. I hadn't told her everything but I had to. She needed to know what was going to happen in the next days of her life.

"You're going to leave tomorrow." I said.

I saw Victor tense.

"Victor is going to bring that boy with him from the other dimension." I stated.

"You mean, Jon?" She asked.

"Yes." I whispered. "Jon."

***

"You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life."-Albert Camus

Chapter-23 (Part 2)

-Karen-

"You are the descendent of the most powerful witch of all time. Her name was Valerie. She was the one who put me into sleep to save my life. Although, she couldn't predict the time I was going to wake up, so she told us that the only cure was to feed her daughter's or son's blood to me for me to wake up." Nate described. "You were supposed to be dragged into this supernatural world by someone but it was miracle that you found the portal yourself."

"It was an accident." I scoffed. "If I knew what was behind that door, I would have stopped Jon from opening it, let alone get into the room like a brave person."

Nate smiled and I saw how handsome he looked. I had to stop commenting on his looks.

"It's was your fate. You couldn't have changed it." He said. "Are you still feeling bad that you came here?"

I shook my head.

Nate had promised me to send me back today. He was going to call Jon here and send us back together. I wasn't sad now. Even though I wanted to go back, there were some people I was going to miss here.

I was really going to miss Nate.

And Victor.

I hated to say that. It sounded so weird in my head. Was I really going to miss Victor?

The answer was sadly yes. It wasn't something I could choose. I was going to miss him for the rubbish talks he did and the way he jumped into the crowd of crazy vampires to save us. But I was never gonna forgive him for stealing my first kiss.

Okay, not first exactly. I had kissed a guy in ninth grade just to make some point. What can I say, I was stupid.

The point was that I was not a tomboy but a normal girl. Most of the school population called me a tomboy back then. The history of becoming a tomboy began when I kicked a boy. I had kicked a guy back in my Kindergarten days as a bet with some bullies to save a thin guys life. And the guy was Jon. No, not the one I kicked. The one I saved. Boys became pretty scared of me since then.

Jon used to be thin and scared little boy before becoming athletic and handsome. He was this boy who would start crying because his toy car broke down.

If you think there are no bullies in kindergarten, you're absolutely wrong. I had to fight many of them to get the tomboy status on me.

It was just simple; I didn't want boys to save me. I could do it myself.

"Jon will arrive with Victor in evening." Nate took a long breath. "Tell me, Karen, are you excited?"

Was I excited?

"I don't know. Maybe yes," I said.

I had these butterflies in my tummy.

"Would you ever like to come back here?" He asked with his eyes wandering on the floor. He looked so...sad.

"Uh, maybe."

"Every reply of yours includes 'maybe'." He smiled.

"Maybe," I slapped my forehead and we both chuckled.

***

"My son has made a decision and as he is the rightful king, I have no choice but to follow his orders." Lady Adeline said. Of course, she seemed very unhappy. "I would never want you to leave the mansion ever."

That didn't make me feel special.

"Umm, what am I going to do with these freaky powers?" I didn't have to explain it to her. She could read my mind.

I still asked her because it was creepy to ask mentally and get the answers from her. Double creepy when her green eyes were fixed on me.

"You're not going to use them in the human world. Or the hunters will track you down and hunt you." She answered. "You should never tell anybody about your powers."

As if I wanted to be called a freak.

"Sure they all will call you freak. Witches were considered freaks and dangerous in old times. And the times have changed but the thoughts about them remains the same." She walked close to me and whispered. "My son wants to protect you, for he doesn't know that the biggest danger out there is you. You're the one you must be scared of."

I gulped. My heart was beating so fast and loudly that I could clearly hear it. I wasn't a walking nuclear bomb, was I?

"There are things you don't know. Some secrets are better left untouched, my dear." She smiled. The smile wasn't sweet or anything. It was cruel. "You're powerful and your blood is even more powerful. Any vampire who drinks it will become potent enough to rule the race."

Did she mean I was about to die anyway?

"No, no one would want you dead, don't worry." She went back to her chair. "Everybody wants you alive, Karen."

She laughed and I didn't know if it was really a joke.

"Mother, I would like to have a conversation with you." I heard Victor.

I turned around.

Victor was standing there with a signature grin on his face. He nodded to address me. I tried to ignore him which made his grin wider. He walked near me and bowed in front of Lady Adeline. And me. I narrowed my eyes at his gesture. He was a bad news.

"I'll be happy to hear you, Victor." She said. "You may speak."

"This girl here has to be gone in order for me to talk." He said.

This made me angry. I wasn't here because I wanted to be. Lady Adeline had called me for the unwelcomed farewell.

"You should never talk like this in front of a guest." Lady Adeline frowned. "That's not what I taught you."

Well, as if she didn't know what a kind gentleman Victor was...

"I apologize." He said. "Can I talk to you?"

There was unmasked annoyance in his voice.

"Karen, do you have to ask anything or tell anything?" Lady Adeline asked. She wanted me to leave. "My son wants to talk to me."

"Oh, yeah." I felt like a fool. "Have the talk. I'm just leaving."

She nodded and Victor smiled at me.

I left the room for the son and mother to talk.

***

It was afternoon. I packed my things. Actually I came here with my camera and phone and of course my clothes which had turned into dirty pile.

I was so not going to wear them if Jon was going to see me.

But on the next thought, I had to wear them. I couldn't wear gown like dress to my home. I had to take my clothes back.

"Karen," I heard. "I'm going to miss you."

"And here I thought you'd be happy to have me vanished out of your life." I said without looking at him.

"You know that's not entirely true." Victor said. "You're something to be missed."

I looked at him and believed for a second that he was really sad at my departure. His handsome face was full of remorse. His grey eyes were greyer and had a strange shine.

"No, I'm not going to kiss you." I said. "If that's why you are trying to make a face like that."

He chuckled.

"You'll never forgive me for that, huh?"

"Never," I agreed.

"Hey, I'm sorry, okay?" Why was he saying this? "I had been really bad to you, haven't I?"

Not really. He had saved our lives by coming to the nest of vampires at the club. He could have left me and Nate to die if he didn't care about us. He didn't because he somewhere cared about me and his brother.

Victor was a person who didn't show his emotions to the outside world.

"You're thinking a lot about me," He smiled in triumph. "Now that's something."

Damn! I blushed. He could also read minds like his mother. How could I be so stupid to forget this?

"Simple, you're always so stupid."

I tried to punch him on his face but he was too fast for me. He caught my hand.

"Nah, nah you wouldn't punch this face you think is handsome." He raised his eyebrow and smiled. "Wouldn't want to ruin it, right?"

"You're so full of yourself." I gritted my teeth and tried to take my hands away from his.

"At least I'm not full of crap."

"It's the same thing."

"Karen," His hand covered mine and I shivered. He was so cold. "Can we talk without fighting for a while?"

I looked into his demanding eyes and nodded.

He took my hand between his two cold hands and smiled. There was a change in his behaviour. And it made me think that I could deal with the mad Victor but dealing with this Victor was quite out of my hands.

"As you're leaving today, I wanted to tell you that I'll be watching over you."

"That's creepy, you know." I whispered.

"Shhh...you won't speak until I'm finished." He rubbed my hand. "I'll always be watching over you. You won't be in danger or anything when I'm with you. I'll be travelling a lot to your world and I promise whenever I'll be there, I'll come to you. Maybe I'll just watch you from a distance. Maybe I'll come to you and you won't even recognise me."

"Why wouldn't I recognise you?" I asked in confusion.

"You'll see that yourself. But whatever happens I'm there for you." He said. "Karen, the portal we are sending you through can make you forget all of this."

There was pain in his eyes.

"You mean you'll remove my memories?" I snatched my hand back. "You have no right to steal someone's memories from them."

"Karen," He moved closer to me and touched my cheek. "There's only possibility. It is not essential for you to forget. There's a chance you and that boy may forget everything but there is another chances too. And I think whatever will happen, will happen for your own good."

"But I'm not going to forget this." I said shaking my head.

Even if I wanted to leave this dimension and go to my own world, I didn't want my memories to be taken away from me. I wanted to live with the feeling that Nate would be here, ruling over the vampires and witches. Victor would be here, traveling within dimensions and watching over me. I didn't want to forget them.

"Hey, I said there is a mere chance this would happen. We aren't sure what would happen." Victor said convincingly. "There can be other consequences too."

"Consequences like?"

"You'll find out yourself." He said.

So many secrets.

"You ready to leave?" He asked suddenly.

"Uh?" I snapped my head. "Is it time?"

He pressed his lips in a thin line.

"Can you stand up so that I can give you a hug?" He asked.

Now, my heart went 'aww so cute'. He smiled knowingly. I didn't mind him reading my head.

I stood up as he did too. As we moved closer to hug each other, we heard someone cough.

I turned around to see a Nate who was down.

"Looks like there's no hug," Victor muttered.

"Nate," I walked up to him. "What happened?"

"It's time for Victor to find Jon and bring him here so that you can leave with him." He said.

"Yeah, working time." Victor passed me and walked out of the room. "I'll be right back."

"Thanks for doing this for me, Nate." I smiled.

"It's nothing." He smiled back.

But there was sadness behind his sweet smile.

***

"This is the same room where you appeared with that boy," Nate said.

Yup. The room was still the same. Nothing had changed but the fact that I was going back rather than appearing here. Tell you what; I was never ever going to explore anymore old houses. Even if Jon called me a coward.

"Why did you decide to call Jon here?" I asked.

"I want you to be safe," He said. "Victor doesn't want to go with you for some reason he isn't keen to tell me and I can't travel now. And I don't want you to go alone."

"When is the—" I started but was interrupted when a portal formed on the wall.

Two people appeared out of it.

Victor looked as glorious and arrogant as he always did when he jumped out of the portal while Jon looked a little green. I took in the features of the boy I had crush on forever.

He was the same Jonathan Carlton. Blue eyes, nicely built and...

Our eyes met and he rushed towards me. Hugging me tightly, he raised me in the air. He was just so bigger and taller than me. I returned his hug and we both laughed. I was sure Nate and Victor would be feeling little odd but for us nothing like this was odd. We were always close.

He put me on the ground and tears rolled down our eyes.

"I knew you were coming back." He said. "I told them everything but they never believed me. They thought it was post-traumatic stress that was making me imagine things."

"I understand." I nodded with happiness.

"When you called, I was overjoyed." He cupped my face in his palms. "I knew you were coming back."

"You just repeated the sentence." I laughed.

We laughed like mad people.

"Quite a reunion we're watching, aren't we, Nathan?" Victor said bored.

I felt Jon stiffen; he turned around on the heel of his shoes and walked to the vampire prince. He did something really scary. He held him by his collar and screamed at him.

"You and your brother are going to pay for keeping her here." He screamed at him.

"Isn't that what you said when I came to pick you up?" Victor asked. "Or was it 'Why are you here now?'"

"You think this isn't serious," Jon scoffed. "There are ways of killing vampires and I'm going learn them all."

Hearing this changed Victor's expressions. He was fast to make the move on Jon. He removed his hand and his fangs came out in a second.

"Victor..." I screamed.

"Don't you provoke me, boy," Victor said. "I can finish you this instant. I care about her that's why I brought you here alive. Take her home safe with you and stop talking. You talks might end you up dead."

My heart leapt into my throat. Victor was scarier than his brother.

"Victor, let him go." Nate said softly. "He is angry with us for Karen."

Victor pushed Jon away and moved swiftly into the corner of the room.

"We should waste no time, Karen." Jon said to me. He was glaring at Victor. "We should get the hell out of here."

I looked at Nate. He smiled at me.

I went near him and hugged him. He returned my hug immediately.

"Take care, Lady Karen." He moved closer and kissed my forehead.

I chuckled and remembered our first meeting. No, not the biting one but the talking one.

Victor created the swirling portal.

"Get in with me." He said. "I'll leave you at your place."

I went ahead and held his hand. Jon glared at him once more and held my hand.

"Goodbye, Karen," Nate said.

"Time to go," Victor avoided looking at me.

We entered into the portal and this time everything went black.

***

I woke up on something comfortable. It felt like my...bed. I narrowed my eyes and tried to adjust in the darkness. As I failed to do so, I turned on the table lamp. My hands knew where the lamp was. It was a habit of mine to switch it on and off until I fell asleep. Many a times the bulb a fussed because of this habit. Some habits are really costly.

Victor should have left me here.

Thank God, I hadn't forgotten anyone's name or what had happened with me in these past months.

I jumped out of my skin as a knock on the window came.

I slowly rose on my feet and walked towards the window. The feeling of Déjà vu filled my head. It seemed like something was happening again that had already happened before. Then that's what Déjà vu is all about, right?

"Hey," Jon whispered, his face sticking on the window glass.

I slide the window open and let him fall in. He did this most of the times. He wanted adventure in everything. So, he entered my room with the help of a garden ladder that dad kept in the shed.

"Happy birthday," He said. "Time to explore the Escoffier Mansion."

"What?"

"Backing out already?" He asked smirking.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Then it came hitting to me. We were back in time. That was the 'consequence' Victor was talking about. Everything was happening in the same way.

I looked at the clothes we were wearing. Yes, they were the same we wore that day.

"Karen, you look scared like I came into your room to say 'Karen Michaels, you have failed this city'." Jon chuckled.

"Is it really my birthday?" I asked.

"Then whose birthday is it?" He asked me back, giving me a look. "You seem weird. What's going on?"

I froze on my place.

Was it possible to go back in time?

"Karen, are you coming or not?" He tapped his feet.

"No," I whispered—screamed. "I'm not going to that mansion ever."

"Hey, calm down." He said in a worried tone. "Why are you so jumpy tonight? Must be a turning eighteen thing. I ate the whole cake when I turned eighteen. I guess turning eighteen turns you kind of crazy."

"We can't go back to that mansion again, Jon." I said. "Do you understand?"

"Again?" He asked.

"Yes, we just can't." I forced every word out of my mouth.

"I know, Karen." He smiled mysteriously.

Maybe he had his memories and he was joking around. Jon was great at acting.

"What do you know?" I asked.

There was silence. Then he spoke.

"That you're the biggest scaredy cat ever to walk this Earth." He laughed.

I exhaled. He didn't remember.