Darkness loomed inside the Park Street Cemetary as a tall silhouette of a man lurked behind one of the gigantic Banyan trees. Apart from the occasional hooting, the air was thick with a sinister ambiance. The tombstones of the ancient graves shined in the pale moonlight as an elongated shadow neared the tree.
"I knew I'll find you here!" The shadow growled as he approached near the tall Banyan tree.
"I knew you'd come to see me here." The tall silhouette emerged out from behind the tree as the scanty light from a faraway street lamp tainted his face with a shadowed crisscross.
It was CJ, the man who was partying in the basement of the famous five star city hotel in Park Street, Kolkata, just an hour ago.
"I didn't expect you to stoop so low Chandrajeet!" The man growled.
"How dare you lace the girl's drink with Vervain?"
"Barrister Anirudh Roy Chowdhury, first, call me CJ." He came infront of him, standing face to face in an intimidating disposition.
"And, second... It's not any girl... We're talking about Bondita here!"
"Don't you dare utter her name from your filthy mouth." Anirudh roared at him as the orbs in his eyes turned bright golden, shooting angry red blood veins around the eyeballs.
"Filthy? Huh!" CJ chuckled evilishly.
"We both are creatures of the dark Anirudh... We both feed on blood... And, hence, aren't we both filthy?" He scroffed at him.
Anirudh balled his fists in acute anger.
"You chose to be this CJ... You had a choice! I did not..."
"Excuses... More excuses... How long has it been Anirudh? A hundred years now? How long would you continue these excuses?" CJ chuckled at him again.
"I pity you."
Anirudh stood quiet.
"You won't mess around with her CJ... That was our only pact!"
"Pact? The pact was for Bondita... This girl doesn't even know who she is!" CJ inched forward towards Anirudh.
"I'll do whatever I like with her... I'll seduce her... Then I'll compel her... Then I'll..."
CJ couldn't complete his words as a sharp punch landed on his nose, making him disoriented for a second.
"Huh! Punch? That too just for one drop of blood!"
He laughed histericaly.
"Anirudh... You can do better than this..." CJ paused, wiping the black blood from the corner of his mouth.
"Oh... Wait... How will you do any better than this? You feed on chicken... No wait, lambs and goats?"
"Shut up!" Anirudh growled.
"You can't protect her from me with this chicken-blood strength of yours Anirudh... Look at me, I feed on humans... Alive... fresh... human blood!" He grinned remorselessly at him.
"I'm NOT like you!" Anirudh hissed.
"You didn't suffer the last hundred years like me... You chose the easy path... You chose death! And, once you were reborn, you could have had a normal human life... But instead you chose to turn, you chose this monstrosity over humanity CJ... So, don't you compare yourself with me."
CJ widened his blood-red eyes.
"And what's when your little girl sees the monster in you? How long will you hide?" CJ held Anirudh's collar firmly.
"And, once she runs from you... She is all mine to enjoy!"
"CJ!" Anirudh roared at him again.
CJ frowned at his roar. He left his collar and turned around, walking towards the Banyan tree once again.
"Go back to your safe mansion Anirudh Roy Chowdhury... And hide your little love... For once when she turns eighteen you know you won't be able to save her anymore!"
Anirudh stood there, rooted, as he saw CJ's sinister shadow merged with the darkness of the night.
His throat still burnt from the Vervain that he had swallowed from Vidhi's lips earlier that night. He slowly walked back towards the closed Cemetary door before vanishing behind the shadowed bars in a lightning speed.
..........................
Vidhita's head was hurting from the alcohol and the excitement of the night.
Anirudh had suddenly left her, creating an undeniable void. But, what surprised her more was the strangeness of his behaviour. There was something amiss... something that wasn't resonating, and Vidhi held her hurting head with her hands trying to fill in the blanks.
'Why did his eyes changed colors like that?
Why does it feels so cold to touch him.
Why doesn't he get high on alcohol?
Why did Sampurna Maa say that he had looked exactly the same ten years ago?
And, most of all... What is Vervain?'
All these questions reeled inside Vidhi's head making her restless.
Anirudh had asked her not to sleep, and she decided to not go against his words, for she didn't have the courage to face another of those horrible dreams that night.
It was four in the morning, when she finally decided to leave the bed. It's difficult to sit up staring at the window into the concrete wilderness with all those menacing thoughts in mind. Hence, against her better judgement, she decided to explore!
She crept out of her room, walked through the passage lawn slowly, and entered into the sprawling dining hall.
It was dark and deserted.
' No wonder Anirudh was rich, but why such misery with lights!' Vidhi thought as the darkness creeped her out.
She looked around, adjusting her eyes in the thick blanket of dark, as a brass candle stand appeared into her vision.
She immediately picked it up and lit it up with a gas lighter that lay beside.
It felt as if this was planned... arranged for her to light it up!
Vidhi's heart started to beat faster as she held the candlestick and walked past the hall.
There was a passage outside the dining hall that led to two spiral staircases. The right one leads to the mid wing of the mansion and the left staircase leads to the forbidden west wing!
She had already been to the mid wing the day Anirudh had taken her to the beautiful terrace garden.
But, the west wing was where her heart longed to go.
Although the forbidden warnings about this place rang in her ears but,
'How bad can it be?' she tried to explain it to herself.
The entrance to the west wing was guarded by a giant wooden door, with beautiful gargoyles craved on it.
'Its very unique, ancient Indian art with a colonial touch.' Vidhi thought as her hands ran across the artistic carvings.
She pulled the door firmly, but to her dismay it didn't open.
'It's locked!'
She sighed in disappointment.
'I wonder where the keys would be...' She thought turning around towards the passage leading to the mid wing.
She walked past a few closed doors in the passage as suddenly the candle flame started to flicker a little. Vidhi stopped.
She turned slowly towards her left to find the source of the wind that made the flame flicker, and it was then that her eyes fell on a plaintiff door with a plate on it that said STORAGE.
The candle quivered again as she approached the door. It was closed, but not locked... and a thin gush of wind played hide and seek through the creek.
Vidhi took a deep breath and pushed the door open, making it creek, as the sound reverberated through the empty passage, making her heart jump.
She carefully entered inside. It was empty, barring a few old cupboards and wall cabinets. The faint morning sun peeped through the glass windows as it's fumed orange beams fell inside the room.
Vidhi coughed out a little dust after she had inhaled it's stagnant air.
"What room can this be!" She murmured to herself as her hands automatically moved towards one of the drawers on the wall cabinets.
She pulled the drawer slowly revealing a set of old files and rusty yellow letters.
She skimmed through the letters one by one...
Some were posted, but some were just letters without an address... But, most of the letters were addressed to one person... Bondita!
She quickly picked up the bunch of letters and tucked it in her night pants.
And, it was then that she noticed the name written on an old file kept on top.
Vidhi's eyes furrowed instantly as she picked up the file and read the name on it again.
- SHIREEN AHMED -