Chapter 25: Chapter-22

-Previously in DiT-

“You underestimate humans a lot. Crying doesn’t make anyone weak,” I protested. Then a question struck. “Can you at least tell me, why did you kill Kaitlin?”

Victor didn’t say anything for a while.

“I didn’t kill her.”

“You killed her.” Although I tried to sound soft, it clearly came out as an accusation. “Stop lying, Victor.”

“No,” He shook his head slowly. “I didn’t kill Kaitlin. I didn’t kill her. She’s alive.”

Silence enveloped us. I just stood there, staring into his eyes.

***

“I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.”- Mother Teresa

Chapter-22

-Karen-

A second passed. Then it turned into a minute. But before it could turn into a whole hour, I spoke.

“Were you the one who hypnotized Nate to kill that guy in the woods?” I grew suspicious.

“I swear that it wasn’t me.”

“Then who was it?”

“I don’t know.” Victor held his hands up. “I don’t know who made him do that. In fact I’m trying to find out the person who did this to him.”

“Have you found him or her yet?”

“Stop playing a detective, Karen.” He let out a tired sigh. “It wasn’t me. And no, I haven’t found him or her yet.”

I looked at him and rubbed my temple.

“I don’t know what to believe,” I said, my voice wavering. “Nate told me you burned Kaitlin alive inside her house and now you’re telling me that she is alive, and you didn’t kill her. Who is lying to me?”

Victor groaned and licked his lips. He really looked uncomfortable and annoyed.

“Nobody is lying to you, Karen.” He said.

“Whoa! That’s what you have to say?” I asked. “That’s the only explanation I get for the secret that you are keeping?”

“You’re exaggerating it,” He rolled his eyes at me. I gave him a deathly glare. “Or maybe you’re not. See, it’s a long story.”

Will he scream if I kick him in a nice place? Will his scream wake up my parents?

“Then let’s hear the story. We’ve all night for this.” I maintained my calm.

He ran a hand through his hair to swipe away the hair falling on his forehead. I took his hand and pulled him with me to sit on the bed. I was so ready to hear the story. I wasn’t sleepy anymore and the headache was gone.

“I took her memories away and I asked Valerie to make her an immortal drink, which she has to drink every month to keep the results,” Victor said as he sat on the bed. I began to interrupt but he stopped me. “No, don’t ask me why I did this. I just can’t tell you.”

“Why? Why can’t you tell me?” I started to consider the kicking option again. You know the feeling, right? I was getting angrier by every passing second. “Why did you keep her alive? I mean, I’m thankful that you didn’t kill her but you know what I mean. Why did you act as if you killed her? Nate hates you for this. Why didn’t you tell him?”

I didn’t feel any jealousy for Nate. Nada. Instead I was happy for him. It was surprising and shocking at the same time. I always thought I liked him but I don’t know why I didn’t start envying Kaitlin. I had seen Nate filled with hate and sadness, maybe now it’ll be peaceful for him.

Victor exhaled loudly.

“Neither can I tell you why I didn’t tell him nor can I tell you why I kept her alive.” He replied. “I wish I could include you in all this. I don’t want you to get into more trouble than you already are in.”

“Yeah, my troubles started when I ended up in that stupid dimension of yours!” I said.

“That wasn’t my fault.” He shot back.

“Does Nate know she is alive?” I asked. I knew when the time would come he was going to tell me everything. I just had to keep this conversation going. “Did you tell him now?”

“He knows she is alive and he hates me more now,” He tilted his head briefly. “Because she doesn’t remember him.”

God! This vampire had a wicked way of doing things. He messed up simple matters.

“You could have kept her away from him. Why did you have to be a sadist and take away her memories?” I kept my voice forcefully low because I could burst out anytime. “Memories mean something to people. You left a void in her brain, jerk.”

“I did what I had to.” He replied simply.

“And what did Nate say to you about this?”

“He hates me, okay?” He said. “He hates me more than he ever did.”

“Of course, now he’ll think that you have hots for his girlfriend and that’s why you erased him out of her memories, so that you can have way your with her.” I paused and revised my sentence. My face grew hot. Ew…whatever, this was relevant. “Do you have hots for her?”

That made Victor chuckle.

“Well, she is beautiful,” He nodded. Okay. “But I only have eyes for a particular girl.”

I didn’t see that coming. He was staring at me…in a weird way. I felt the heaviness in my head and a little nervousness in my heart. I think it skipped a beat. That only happened to me once and it was when I saw Jon without his shirt. Two years ago. In the locker room.

But that was because I had a crush on him. Had.

“Victor, we have talked about this.” I closed my eyes. I didn’t want him to use any vampire compulsion tricks on me. “You have to stop. Don’t try to control my mind.”

“My powers won’t work on you anymore as you’re a powerful witch.” He admitted. “I really wish you didn’t have the power to block me out.”

“I don’t know how I’m doing this but I am happy that you can’t use compulsion on me.” I passed him a quick smile. “It’s spooky to do whatever people say to you when you don’t want to do it.”

“You know, my hypnotizing powers may not work on you, but there is something that may still work,” He moved closer to me and whispered. “I can hear your heart beating crazily in your chest when I’m this close to you. You can’t cover that.”

“Maybe you should cover your ears.” I gulped.

“You’re always feisty, Karen.” The sad Victor was suddenly replaced by the same old sicko one. Boy, he sure did know how to switch his feelings. Anyhow, I was really pleased. “I love it.”

What—before I could reply, he gently kissed me on my cheek.

“Ha! You missed!!!” I let out a soft laugh. I wasn’t sure if it was a nervous laugh or not. “I’m glad it’s dark here in my room.”

“I’m a vampire, sweetheart. I can see in dark better than anyone.” Victor laughed too. “I didn’t miss. I just wanted to hear your heart jump a little.”

I got up from the bed and hurried towards the window. Oh, my heart was jumping. A lot. It seemed like it wanted to jump right through my mouth to the floor. That sounded gross.

What the hell was happening to me?

“So what do we do with your jumpy heart?” Victor’s hushed voice spoke in my ear. He was standing behind me. I knew he was leaning down on my shoulder, his chin lightly touching my neck. “Know ways to hold it down?”

“My heart is not jumpy.” I managed to breathe out. “You’re hearing things.”

I gasped as I felt his lips on my neck. Was he going to freaking bite me?

“Mmhm, your body says otherwise.”

“You don’t know anything about my body.” I said quickly.

Uh-oh, wrong comeback. For the love of cute yellow minions, what the hell did I just say?

“That,” He sniffed. “Sounds pretty much like an invitation. Tell me I’m not being delusional.”

“Did you just sniff my hair?” I asked, turning around.

He was so close to me that I could feel his radiant smile. I met his stare. The pale moonlight from the window fell on his face, making his grey eyes gorgeous. I was expecting his eyes to be filled with their usual wickedness, humor and ego but they were filled with…love?

“Oh, just kiss me already, Karen.” He laughed inaudibly.

“Like that will ever happen!”

“Ever is now,” He smirked.

That was it.

I closed my eyes and kissed him.

His cold lips sent a shiver down my body. There was no moment of hesitation as he kissed me back. My heart was racing and gravity was pulling me down like never before. It didn’t matter if his lips were cold, for they were delicate and soft. Why hadn’t I noticed this earlier when I had kissed him?

This was right. He was the right person. God, why did it take me hundreds of kisses with other people to finally realize this? Okay, not hundred.

I slid my fingers through his hair and tugged him down to me. I wanted to forget all that had happened tonight. I wanted to be selfish, happy and stress-free. I wanted to forget myself, even if it was for a while.

He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer, deeper into the kiss. The longingness and fervor took control of our kisses. Victor lifted me up slightly and I snaked my hands around his neck.

“Karen, I—” He said between the kiss.

Was he going to say it? My back thudded on the wall behind. Adrenaline rushed through my body as our kisses became more desperate. The kisses broke now and then when we come up for air, but I don’t think Victor even needed that.

He kissed me like his whole world depended on it. Like there was no tomorrow and we were going to be sucked into a time swirl forever. Like this was our last kiss. There was desire, pain and…fear.

He pulled me tightly towards him and his lips moved vigorously against mine. I gave in. Feeling his touch, his taste and his cold. His hand crept under my T-shirt, his thumb caressing the skin on my stomach. Considering his freezing hand I had to be the one to react but it was him who was trembling.

I titled my head backwards as he began to trail those cold kisses down my neck. My nails dug into his cloth material. I lost the track of time and space. I surely had let out some unintelligent words because I felt him smile.

The perfect moment was broken when I felt his fangs stinging on my neck. It took me a minute to gain my composure and pour the words out of my mouth.

“What the hell!” I pushed him away. “Why are your fangs out?”

His face had gone really pale and the white of the eye had become slightly red. Victor made a face and tried to retract his sharp fangs back. I had to admit, it was kind of funny when he forcefully made his teeth go back to normal. The faces he made were hilarious.

“Damn! Not everyone has had their dinner, lady.” He spoke when he was normal again.

“So you were going to drain blood out of the girl whom you were kissing so lovingly a second ago?” I narrowed my eyes at him. “I can’t believe I just kissed you.”

“I’m sorry I ruined this.” He shook his head slowly. “I should have fed.”

“Didn’t you get any girl to feed from?” I raised my eyebrow. “Or is your charm slowly dying?”

“I came to the town straight after talking to Nathan.”

“What if I offer you my blood?” I asked, amused by his tension.

He moved swiftly and held my face in his hands.

“Don’t.” He said. “No matter what happens, keep this as a fact, ‘I’ll never drink from you’.”

Suddenly, I was upset. He could drink from all the girls in this world but not from me. Did I have any blood defect? Not that I really wanted him to drain me or anything, I just felt rejected.

“Why, my blood isn’t good enough for you?” I teased, masking the hurt in my voice.

“No, it’s too good for me.” He smiled. “I don’t want you to become my drug. Drugs aren’t good. They are intoxicating at first, and they give all the bliss but with time, they ruin you. And Karen Michaels, you aren’t my devastation. You are my salvation.”

For minutes we didn’t speak. We just stared at each other.

“That was cheesy,” I commented, laughing. “Never took you for a guy who could speak these cheesy lines.”

“I don’t know why people compare the person whom they love to drugs. Aren’t drugs illegal or something?” He frowned.

“Ah—I think you should go now.” I rolled my eyes. “I have school tomorrow and I don’t want to wake up late. What time is it?” I looked at the wall clock and nearly chocked on my saliva. “You need to get out of my room. It’s freaking 3 o’clock! I need to sleep.”

I started pushing him out of the window.

“Sweetheart, I’ll break my bones.” Victor blabbered.

“Just jump.”

“You are first girl who wants me dead.” He chuckled.

“You’re the undead, remember?” I pushed him hard.

“Wait, I’ll just make the portal.” He took out the locket out of the shirt and shook it in front of my face.

“Okay,” I nodded and stepped away from him. “Leave before your hunger takes over your pea sized brain.”

A/N The story was going all depressive and humourless. So, I thought of adding some ‘nice’ moments between the leads. Gah! I SHIP THEM!!! *Hides behind laptop* I said it, didn’t I?

>_< This book has more than 45k reads and 3k votes! What did I do to deserve such love, guys?

Anyways, I’m so happy to announce that:

1. This book is going to end soon. Like real soon.

2. The third (last) book in the series will start after it.

3. I know you’ll not leave me until the end. :)

Take care, my cuties. I’m really lucky to have you as my readers.

-M_m

Note: Idk why I chose the music for the chapter!