-Previously in DiT-
"What's wrong?" Jon asked him.
"This is not her," He replied darkly.
"Nate..."
"This is not Kaitlin."
"Then who is she?" I was confused.
He opened his mouth to reply but didn't utter a word. Suddenly, he fell on his knees.
"I don't know. I don't know."
***
"There are powers inside of you which, if you could discover and use, would make of you everything you ever dreamed or imagined you could become."-Orison Swett Marden
EPILOGUE
-Karen-
"You brought me a frigging dead body six days ago," Crane accused Nate in an angry manner. "This shop is what, a forensic lab?"
We stood at Crane's cupcakes, the shop that sold cupcakes in daylight and weapons in dark night. Crane looked furious. Actually, he had every right to be furious. Six days ago, when Victor had gone crazy and had dropped a dead body in the woods for us to investigate; Nate had to make a portal to Crane's shop, knowing that Crane was the only true friend Victor ever had in centuries.
In those six days, neither did I sleep nor did I eat well.
My parents were worried if I was slipping into depression because of the final exams; which was truly the last thing I was worried about. I studied six days straight, without sleeping. Yeah, whenever mom or dad came to check on me, I pretended to close my eyes and sleep. Studying really helped me.
It was the only way to ignore the supernatural problems and guess what, being a witch helped me a lot in generating energy to stay awake. And the other reason helped me to not sleep was; Victor's blood smeared smiling face.
Chemistry exam went by so suddenly that I was not even sure if I had written anything.
My life was a disaster.
As the next exam was three days away, Jon and I accompanied Nate to Crane's shop. We were afraid Victor would prove his words right and come back for me. Whatever he meant by that.
I had found some strange connections between the behaviors of Victor and Nate-when he was hypnotized some weeks ago.
So, I apparently figured out that Victor was certainly hypnotized by some other vampire. How else were we supposed to make an explanation? The Victor we had confronted in the woods was nothing like our Victor. He was a killing machine who was only interested in slaying us. Even his voice was sinister.
Nate and Jon were still not content with my theory. They strictly thought it was Victor's plan to kidnap me and threaten Nate with a dead body. While Nate strongly believed that Victor had gone crazy due to bloodlust, and there was no way back; Jon suggested we should start buying gears for vampire safety.
Nate made the portal to Crane's shop and three of us landed here in his shop to get our answers. Jon went out several times to check the surroundings for any sign of werewolves, but there were none. We were secure for now.
"You sell cupcakes?" Jon asked looking around.
"Mister whoever-you-are, didn't you read the sign board outside? I sell all varieties of cupcakes," Crane narrowed his eyes at Jon and then turned to look at me. Something in his eyes changed. "Victor sent you here?"
"I told you," Nate sighed. "He disappeared in the portal. I'm unable to find him."
"We're here to ask you if you know where he is," I frowned. "Do you have any idea who was the girl he killed?"
"Nope," Crane shook his head. "But I found a lot of vampire venom in her body."
"She was a donor?" Nate moved beside me.
"I don't know...even if Victor drank her dry, he couldn't have left this much of venom in her body." Crane licked his lips. "She was turning, you know."
"Do you mean she is becoming a vampire?" Jon asked quickly.
"But there is too much venom. It is weird."
"What's so weird?"
"It seems like she had been attacked by too many vampires at the same time," Crane rubbed his temples as if he had a headache. "The transformation was too painful for her and it wasn't normal. So, we had to kill her. Again."
I trembled. Now, she was dead forever.
"Victor had come to meet me before all this happened," Crane said slowly.
"Why?" Nate asked angrily. "Did you know every plan of his?"
Now it was hard to trust Crane too. They were good friends and he could be involved in Victor's plans. Being a vampire elder didn't make him trustworthy.
"He started the conversation with confessions. I had known Victor for years but he had never told me anything about what was going in his personal life. I didn't know he was going to hurt you, Nathan." Crane looked eerily calm. "He said he had changed and it wasn't the time to focus on him. He believed there was something else worse than him, waiting for your team to fall apart and find a way to destroy you all."
After what Victor had done to us, I wasn't going to believe any of this crap. Crane was seriously defending him.
"You gotta be kidding me," Jon groaned. "The guy is so good at creating distractions. Worse than him? What can possibly be worse than him?"
"He left a note for you, Karen." Crane ignored him. "He wanted me to give it to you if you came here."
My heart took a break from beating. I just kept staring at Crane as if he had said something in a language I couldn't understand. I heard Nate sigh loudly in weariness.
He had left me a note. Why?
"He knew we would come here," Jon breathed. "Is this a freaking trap?"
Nate moved swiftly around the counter and grabbed Crane's collar.
"Where is Victor?" He hissed with his fangs out.
"Nathan, I'm a vampire elder, and this is my area." Crane said. "Think before you take a step further. I told you, he came here before whatever happened with you. Now, let go of me."
Nate glared at him for another second and let his hands drop from Crane's collar.
"I want to see the note." I declared.
"This is why I prefer witches over vampires," Crane straightened his shirt, giving Nate a furious look. "At least they think rationally before they act."
"Give her the note," Nate demanded.
"You say it like I carry it in my pocket all day," His hand went to his pants pocket. His eyebrows twitched together. "Oh, well, it is in my pocket. I forgot to take it out. Don't worry, I didn't read it. Victor made me promise that I won't."
He took out a piece of white paper and handed it to me. Jon and Nate stood silently as I opened the folded paper with my quivering hands. I took a long breath as I saw the messy handwriting inside. Why, of course, Victor didn't have beautiful calligraphy.
"What does it say?" Jon asked.
"If you are reading this, it is clear I'm not with you. I just want you to be careful, Karen. There is someone who is watching our every move. I'll try my best to find whoever it is," I read out loud.
This had to be a lie. He wanted to influence us with his note. I had an urge to tear this note into pieces but I was curious to read ahead. So, I continued.
"But I'm afraid the price of truth will be higher than we all are willing to pay." I let out a huffed sarcastic laugh as I read the next sentence. "Just do me one favor, darling."
I was going to read the next line too but I stopped. I blinked twice to make sure I had read it right.
"What favor does he want?" Nate asked.
I read the last line.
"When you find me, kill me."
A/N Ahem! DO NOT KILL ME!
Happy Halloween!!! What would you like to dress up as on this Halloween? Vampire? Zombie? Tinkerbell? Minion?
Okay, so DiT is officially over (ha, now I can rest). I'll declare the date for the sequel in the next chapter where I'll answer some of the casual questions you people asked me.
If you have more questions, just comment here.
NO HATE PLEASE. :'(
I love you all.
-M_M