It is the survival of the fittest.

****

Devipuram wasn't just serene for Maya now. It had turned into a maze which she had willingly entered but didn't know the way out.

Maya thought about the welfare of the villagers. Her boss would probably ask her to come back and leave the assignment if he got to know about the chain of murders happening, because it wasn't their job to stick their nose into the paranormal affairs of rural folk.

But Maya had grown on them in the little time she had spent here. She had woven an attachment with everyone she met. To leave them now in the midst of such a menacing series of murders that was most definitely going to continue wasn't in Maya's ethical code.

She knew she had to be here. She had to do something.

The greens basked in the warm rays of the sun, as if painted by an artist in splashes of blood-red soaked in colloidal gold. The cattle returned home after grazing, dust spiraling behind them. Kids with sticks rolled pebbles on the ground while following their mothers who walked in the front with pitchers full of fresh water.

"You have bewitched me."

Indeed, Maya was in love with Devipuram despite getting a close glimpse of its darkness. She wanted to become a part of this big family and to do something to ease the pain of the people.

As the sun dived deeper beyond the horizon, Maya rang the bell of Aadi Babu's house, now also her temporary home. Anandi opened it.

"Come in."

It was a faint, feeble voice.

Maya saw that all colours were drained from her face. Anandi didn't even coat her lips with lipstick or wear the bindi today. There was definitely an unwelcoming change in the house.

Maya sat down on a chair and tapped her fingers on the dinner table absentmindedly.

"Did you see the body?" Anandi asked somewhat half-heartedly.

Maya looked up at Anandi. "Not from close up, just from a distance. I didn't have the guts to go near."

"Ho-how is Hrishav?"

Maya heaved a sigh. "Not good at all. He was vomiting when I got there."

"There's definitely a difference between carrying out animal sacrifices and watching dead bodies. He isn't strong for the latter."

Maya found the comment rude, but she didn't express it. "Has he vomited every time he saw the bodies?" she instead asked.

Anandi raised a brow. "What do you mean?"

"I know this is the fifth murder."

Anandi pursed her lips. "Oh, I see." She nervously scratched her chin. "I heard he became really sick after the fourth victim. I don't know about the ones before. Maybe he isn't ready to face any more of this. None of us are ready, for that matter."

"Do you really think everything is happening for his, you know, bad luck?"

"I don't think it's about his bad luck. It is about our bad luck. We have either enraged the Mother or resurrected the Devil."

Maya believed in miracles, voodoo and ghosts as much as she believed in raw rationale. At this moment though, it was getting difficult to choose one.

"Were the other bodies too found inside the temple premises?" Maya asked.

"Yes. The murderer always dumps it there." Anandi balled her hands into fists. "Maybe the murderer is an atheist."

"Are all the victims women?"

"Is it really needed for you to know everything?" Anandi snarled. Maya was taken aback for she never expected her to react in such a way. Anandi, having understood what she did in the heat of the moment, collected herself and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "It's not that we don't want to find who is to be blamed for all this. But Aadi Babu, me and Nathu don't want you to step into this mess. We want you to be safe."

"Am I really safe?"

"As long as you don't poke the Devil by trying to know its future plans."

"So you all are going to just sit back and watch the drama unfold?"

"Hrishav is doing all he can. He has Manas and Shekhar to help him. I am sure they will find a way out," Anandi declared with confidence.

Maya crossed her legs and squinted. "So you feel this is the work of magic and spirits?"

"I don't know if a human is involved here or not, but the Devil has surely been invoked."

Drawing a line to the conversation, the bell rang a second time. Anandi got up to open the door. An exhausted looking Aadi Babu came in panting and flopped on the sofa across the table.

"Things have gone downhill. Anandi, fetch me some water."

"Yes, Aadi Babu."

She hurried to the kitchen and brought back a glass of water. Aadi Babu slowly sipped it in between deep breaths. Maya uncomfortably shifted in her place.

Nathu came out of the kitchen. His apron was splattered with stains of oil and masala. He wiped his hands with his wife's aanchal and sat beside Aadi Babu.

"Has the body been cremated?" Nathu asked.

"Yes," Aadi Babu said. "Sahiba performed every ritual like a responsible daughter."

Maya felt too bad for the girl. She had not talked to her during the first meeting but the way she was pulling her mother's aanchal was so endearing and innocent. She needed Radha, she needed motherly warmth. Poor girl was now without anyone above her head.

"Anandi, I am warning you, do not go and help Sahiba. She has grown up in poverty and pain. She will find a way out. But we don't need to help the ones whom the unseen have targeted."

Maya's jaws clenched. Her nostrils flared. But no one noticed her being unsettled.

"I will restrain my heart, Aadi Babu. I shall not dare to help her," Anandi promised.

"Hrishav had already been helping their family, I heard." Maya joined the conversation.

"He was?" Aadi Babu asked, blinking in confusion.

"Yes, I heard some people gossip about it in the crowd."

"Oh damn those gossip mongers!" Aadi Babu scrunched his nose. "They always make up stories. Hrishav is from a big family. He would not engage himself with veshyas and alike."

But he has, Maya thought. She had seen Hrishav go there with her own eyes.

Anandi's eyes roamed around the room, never fixated on anything specific. She clutched the ends of her aanchal in one hand and wiped the sweat off her neck. Maya's heart was palpitating.

Maya sensed that Anandi too knew the truth about Hrishav. Maybe Lalita had told her, but she had to keep quiet.

"Have you not informed the police of the adjacent town?"

Aadi Babu stared at Maya as if she had spoke about summoning the aliens. The corners of his lips twitched. Then, perplexing the other three, Aadi Babu broke into a hysterical laughter. Maya's pupils enlarged on beholding the sight.

What madness is this!

"My dear Maya, we had, but they ran away after the third murder. They disowned the case. Now, no police is brave enough to venture into Devipuram, not even to investigate a petty case of robbery."

"Someone must have threatened them."

"One naturally assumes so when hearing it for the first time. But the policemen are human too, and if they face mysterious phenomenon because of the investigation, they will, like normal humans, back off and crawl inside a safe burrow."

Maya decided to keep mum. These people were convinced that something more than a human was associated with the murders. But till now, Maya had got no proof of it, and she wondered if she actually desired such a proof in the first place.

Or was she convinced that the Devil was a human?

"It is a heavy atmosphere, but we must sit for dinner. Come, let's eat," Nathu said.

Aadi Babu went up to have a bath and change his attire because he had visited the cremation ground. The others waited for him. Then together they sat around the table. Dinner was served. Even though the village was draped in a sempiternal state of fear, good food was never out of question for the Bengalis. Death or birth, marriage or a divorce, they always needed scrumptious food. It was like a part of their soul.

Today Nathu had cooked rice, moong dal, household style french fries, katla fish cooked in yogurt, chutney and papad. Like a man hungry after much hard work, Nathu gobbled down the food without much care in the world. Anandi busied herself in biting each piece of a french fry, lost in her own sad world while Aadi Babu refused to have fish for the night. Maya, though struggling to swallow the food, respected the platter and didn't wish to waste food. She took only small amounts to eat.

Aadi Babu was the first to finish his meal, while the other three still continued. He still sat along with them, owing to his manners.

"I had visited Hrishav's home after the body was cremated. I didn't enter the house though. I enquired about his health from the maidservant."

"How is he?" Maya asked in haste.

"He has a bad fever. He is not eating well. I just hope he gets to stand on his feet soon."

"Then who will do the puja while he is absent?" Anandi asked. Maya felt perturbed by this question– are rituals really more important than someone's health and wellness?

"Shekhar will handle the stuff. I guess we don't need to worry about it," Aadi Babu answered.

The dialogue led to a palpable tension hanging in the air which squeezed the last drop of appetite from Maya's tummy. She forced herself to finish the fish, praying to God that she would not vomit and left the chutney and papad untouched. When all of them were done, Anandi cleaned the table and Nathu went to do the dishes. Aadi Babu, as usual, went back to his room. Maya waited to talk with Anandi.

"Are Shekhar and Hrishav good friends?" she asked Anandi while the latter adjusted the flowers in the vase.

"They do, I think so. Hrishav was the one to appoint Shekhar in the temple."

"And Manas is the older one."

"Yeah. He is older to them, but isn't as good in the scriptures and tantra as Hrishav or Shekhar. Hrishav is the best priest available. You won't find someone capable of rivalling him even in the nearby towns."

"I do feel he is a lovely man."

Anandi's fingers paused of their own accord. A ghost of a smile passed her face. "I believe so too. He has a golden heart."

"I would have talked with him about his family and history, but after whatever happened, I don't know when he will again be normal."

"Trust me, he will be sane in a few days. He has no choice. Without him, the temple will fall to ruins." Anandi sprayed some water over the flowers. "After all, we have seen plenty of deaths by now. Maybe we will have to get used to these," she remarked with sarcasm coated in her tone. It pricked Maya's sensitive nerves. Without another word she retired to her room.

Maya locked the door and sat on a chair by the window, looking at the starry night sky. Devipuram was so aesthetically pleasing to the eyes, but not tender to the heart. It was like a siren from the tales of pirates– it sang to its visitors, tempted them to stay, and then showed them her true colours.

And like a pirate enthralled by the adventures of the sea, Maya too was enchanted by every shade of Devipuram, whether good or evil.

She had to be here.

"Now since you have taken up the duty of unravelling this mystery, try to think about what you know till now."

There was this whole thing about bad luck and Hrishav. The logic behind it– the deaths began when Hrishav was appointed as the priest.

"No doubt, someone might be doing this to sabotage his reputation. But why?"

For now, Maya had no clue regarding this theory. To get to the bottom of this she had to spend more time with Hrishav and know more about him.

"And then the blood in the garbha griha. Definitely the murder had happened there, or Radha had gone there while being injured. It can't be the remains of animal sacrifice because a strand of human hair was present."

And then the weird behaviour of Manas. He was desperately trying to hide something from me.

"And then... the pair of eyes following Sahiba."

The only features visible about the man were his pale blue eyes and a tiny scar running down the right eyebrow.

"Maybe the man is a villager only. What can be his interest in Sahiba?"

Is he related to the crime?

"At this point, I can suspect almost everybody. But this man was a stranger. Maybe he wasn't even related to this whole incident."

Maybe he was lusting after Sahiba? If that was the motive, his path was clear now since her mother, her sole protector, was dead.

"Two people are clearly in trouble– Hrishav and Sahiba."

But Maya forgot to note down that she was in trouble too.