"Her love for you excelled her greed for power. A mother's love is the purest kind of love and the most powerful one too." Jiya muttered to myself.

"And so is a friend's, you proved it today. Thanks for saving me Jiya." She thanked me.

"Oh please don't get started now. I know I am the best person you could've ever gotten as your friend. As for my help, you should agree to attend the same college as mine to repay the favor. Now that the Midnight Mistress is no more a danger, there should be no problem with you leaving your parents here. In fact I bet they need some personal space to themselves." She's less likely to refuse it now.

"If you so much insist, I'll talk to my parents. But first, let's leave before this burning house swallows us." She said.

I nodded and proceeded. I couldn't wait to get out of this creepy mansion. At the end of the premises, my new life waited for me. Our parents accompanied by the rescue team were inching towards us. I was dying to hug mom and dad for at least an hour.

It's been a long night. I was glad it was now over once and for all. No one will ever have to be afraid of the woods. People won't hide in their houses after sundown ever again. No innocent would die in Aakrit. The days of terror were finally over.

Halfway through, my happy thoughts were interrupted by the absence of Tanu's approaching footsteps behind me. I glanced back to be shocked by a living form of Midnight Mistress stabbing Tanu with the Blessed Blade on her back.

I ran towards the mansion immediately. Just as I stepped on the porch, my mother's pained begging voice stopped me.

"Jiya stop. We can't lose you too." She cried.

Apparently Tanu's parents too gestured for me to come back.

"We'll save her. You come back." Said Jayant uncle, taking long strides towards the mansion with the firefighters.

I glanced back at Tanu's unmoving body. She froze just like the Midnight Mistress did when stabbed by the Blade. I knew this meant Tanu would lose her powers.

But then an evil smile spread on the old lady's face. She aimed the blade upwards and it took no genius to figure out what she was up to. She was planning to stab Tanu's heart which would definitely kill her.

"Sorry mom, dad, I love you but I can't let her die on me." I shouted and went inside.

I pushed Tanu's body aside with my hands throwing her on the ground. But before I could move away, the blade plunged on the right side of my chest.

"Ahh" I gasped at the burning pain in my chest.

"You" the evil lady screamed in frustration.

That's when I decided her fate.

"How dare you hurt her?" I roared.

I clutched her throat in a death grip. Wrapping my fingers around the handle of the blade, I pulled it out of me and stabbed it into her malicious heart.

Ignoring her pain ridden cries, I kept stabbing her until she went numb in my hands. Throwing her on the floor, I went towards Tanu in a relatively slow place as I started feeling dizzy. I slumped beside her in fatigue after dropping the blade from my blood coated hands.

"I'll take you out. You......gotta.........live........for my sake......don't lose against death. Fight it a....and come back to me. We..........all prefer you........alive." I managed to let out.

I tried to move her up, but she didn't budge. The blade's effect hadn't diminished yet.

"You're.........stupefied. Never mind, I'll.....drag you out." I assured.

Her eyelids closed automatically. I kept pulling at her arms with the little strength I had left in me, but failed.

"Jiya, what happened to you? Di-did the Mistress hurt you?" A familiar voice asked.

A hand pulled me, making me face the source of the voice which was none other than my traitor ex-fake vampire boyfriend.

He stared at me with his usual golden yellow eyes depicting an apologetic emotion.

"Your wound is deep, it's bleeding non-stop." He brought his face closer to the wound and licked it.

This intimate gesture fired a shiver down my spine, a pleasant sensation spread throughout my body.

As my mind took over, I instantly shoved his head away with both my hands.

"Stop, what the hell do you think you're doing after playing with my feelings?" I screamed in anger.

"Vampire saliva contains healing properties. I was trying to heal your wound but it won't." He glanced at the blade beside me. "It's the Blessed Blade. I can't heal a wound caused by it. The fire's getting worse. Help cannot arrive soon to save you. You'll bleed excessively." He said.

"Why do you care? It's you who got me in this mess at first. You barged into my decent life taking advantage of my sensitive state, faked being in love with me and when I finally harboured genuine feelings for you, you betrayed my trust, brought me here against my will to be sacrificed to your Mistress. Then why does it matter to you if I die anyway?" I poured the anger in my heart out on its source.

"I am sorry for what I did. I am greatly ashamed and regretful for toying with your feelings, for forcing you in this situation, I am. But you know very well I had no choice. She was controlling every inch of me. I tried but couldn't break through or manipulate her instructions. Though I tried to do my best to correct my sins. I didn't heal, stayed unconscious when Tanu attacked me so that she won't at least have to deal with me. I behaved in a weird manner that night she met me at your house. I got caught easily so that she would force the truth out of me. So that she could warn you against me beforehand.."

He made those mistakes intentionally!

"Its still not enough to forgive me. I won't ask you to either. But at least let me correct this one thing. You won't survive unless you're transformed. Allow me to change you into a vampire. Let me put my venom into your veins, that's the only way I can save your life." He said.

His voice held an unhinged truth that I couldn't ignore. His determination to save my life had no ulterior motive, I was sure of that.

Not that I ever wished for him to die as my feelings for him went deeper than any betrayal could wipe out, I was relieved that he was alive after getting his point of view of events so far.

"Have you ever felt anything for me to be remotely called as love?" I asked the question that's been eating me out since I found out about his betrayal.

"It's not the time for this-" I cut him off.

"Answer me." I stated firmly.

"I don't know. I have been a playboy all my human life, I have no idea what love feels like. Though one thing I am sure of is that I genuinely like you, not for your body, no that wasn't the case. Even though you are beautiful, I loved your passion for all relationships in your life, your faith in God, your optimism and your trust on me. Your humanity called on to mine. I do care for you more than I have ever did for anyone except for my family. That's the only 100% truth I can give you right now. If you want to discover more, let me bite you, change you, make you mine forever."

And the last two words definitely came from the playboy in him. He could have just said the 3 magical words and bitten me, but he preferred the truth. A good start for a strong, trusting relationship.

I drew closer to his face, touching our lips, kissing him for the first time ever. His lips felt cold and rough but tender too. He wasn't expecting such a reaction to his confession judging by his surprised gasp, which gave me access to explore his insides with mine.

It wasn't a warm kiss like the once I had gotten before. It was a shiver inducing exchange of mutual emotions, reaching to the bones.

I pushed him closer to me, encouraging him to cooperate. He gladly reciprocated with a satisfactory smile. I drank the tears falling from his eyes which felt more intimate than the kiss. I felt how much regret he was experiencing at the moment. The fear of losing me, someone he genuinely cared about, was there too. Love or not, we did have a budding chemistry.

We engaged in an intimate, romantic French kissing session that lasted for at least a couple of minutes until I felt dizzy again.

I never French kissed any of my previous boyfriends. It certainly wasn't my first kiss, but it was my last, so might as well make it worth it.

"Shall I?" He asked for permission. His mouth near my earlobe sent a chill through my entirety.

"Leave me here. I refuse to become a vampire." I replied softly near his earlobe.

"What! Why? Don't you want a second chance at life, at us?" He asked, shocked at my response.

He definitely didn't see it coming after the sensual moment we just shared.

"I do. But it's not that chance. If we are meant to be, I'll wait for my next life, cause this one already belongs to my friend. She saved it twice, and now it's my turn to repay her. You leave. Live like a good vampire, retain your humanity, stay away from necromancers and don't forget me. You can move on with your love life but always remember me as your first true love. Go and don't ever come back." I concluded.

"That's not what I meant. I won't let you die on me. Do you think the girl you're ready to die for would be able to live with the burden of your death on her shoulders?" He said.

"Emotional blackmail doesn't suit you, that's my style. I know she won't like this, but there's no other option. Don't take it negatively but I have enough knowledge on how a vampire's life is like. I have two live exemplars of the torture a vampire undergoes on a daily basis. I can't live like that, I would prefer death than living on blood whose sight alone is vomit inducing." I said.

"But- wait." His wide eyes darted towards Tanu's nearly lifeless form "Why is Tanuja not awake yet? Considering her necromancer showdown tonight she should have healed herself by now." He exclaimed.

"Your Mistress stabbed her with the Blessed Blade. That's how I got injured. I shoved her aside taking the second hit meant at her heart. Then I stabbed your Mistress to death." I proudly announced the last phrase.

"Oh God. What have you..... That evil lady totally deserved it." He gave me a satisfied smirk as an appreciation "But she's partly succeeded in her mission." He gloomily verbalised.

I narrowed my eyes in confusion.

"The Blessed Blade is a magical weapon. It always completes the task it's holder aims at. It completed the tasks Tanuja and you aimed it to accomplish. Those were single aims. But while Midnight Mistress held it, she aimed it to kill Tanuja. Although Tanuja was stabbed once, the task was obstructed by your intervention. Which means the task was divided. The Blade will accomplish it's one single aim even if the aim is divided." He explained.

"Wh-what are you implying?" I whispered. The dreadful anticipation was dried my saliva.

"One of you will die. That is decided. If she dies first, you'll live and vice versa. It's only a matter of whose breathing stops first, whose soul leaves it's body first." He concluded.

"How can you be so sure?" I asked.

"Midnight Mistress let me and my Sire in on many of her magical secrets. The books she had are proof enough of what I just told you. Therefore, you must let me change you before your life force fades out. Tanu's life force would take up quite sometime to fade because she is a powerful necromancer." Pratham stated, grabbing the sides of my neck.

"It's decided then. You are leaving right now. If one of us has to die, it will be me, not her." I firmly spoke.

"No, you can't do that. I won't let you. I'll bite you before you can bat an eyelash." He bent his head towards my neck.

"I'll kill myself as soon as you change me. I'll jump into the fire surrounding us. It's my life, my choice. You can't decide for me." I shouted as bitterly as I could manage.

"But-"

"No ifs or buts, just leave before I stab you with this Blessed Blade. You are not supposed to die tonight, that would be me. Tanu would live once I die, that's the only way it would work. One would survive only at the expense of the other. Trust me, I can see the connection between us clearly now. The more my life force weakens, the stronger hers get."

Now I understand that the thickening and thinning white rope connecting us wasn't my hallucination. I could see the spiritual connection between me and my best friend. The smoke like rope was knotted in the middle. My half of the rope thinned as hers thickened and her half thickened as mine thinned.

"Leave and don't ever come back. Good bye, Pratham." I left the masculine hand I was holding onto, averting my gaze from him.

"Goodbye Jiya. I hope you won't regret your decision." He replied, tears brimming his eyes.

"I won't." I promised and pushed him away with the little strength I had left.

He left at vampire speed. Guess he hadn't recovered from the obedient streak Midnight Mistress ingrained in him. Or maybe he just knew how determined I was to keep Tanu alive. He knew I wouldn't want to choose to die unless it was extremely important. If possible, I do wish to meet him again.

I glanced back at my unconscious friend. I understood what Apekshya aunty meant. She knew I was about to die as she said no living person could see or talk with the spirits without their will, unless, one was supposed to become one soon enough. She must've realised this when she was able to touch me while she couldn't touch Tanu.

She must have sensed the death aura around us. We were both vulnerable to death tonight. Still she was generous enough to chose my life over the daughter she fought tooth and nail to keep safe. She asked me not to intervene so Tanu could be consumed by death instead. It's hard to believe someone so selfish like her would prefer my life over her daughter's. 

But I couldn't let that happen. My death will affect many people, agreed, but they will come around. Whereas, Tanu's death would nullify the whole point of this fight, of our victory.

The fates might think an unique and powerful necromancer like her is better dead than alive but to me it's the opposite. If the world is resided by people like the one I killed tonight, someone like Tanu is needed more than a weak human like me. I am ready to go against God's wishes if it means Tanu would have a second chance at life.

"Jiya, Tanu." Mine and Tanu's parents cried out in unison.

My parents slumped down beside me, helping the firefighters to lift my body while Tanu's parents did the same with hers with the help of 3 more firefighters.

"Mom, Dad, I.........don't regret..........my decision. Tell the........ girls to behave. I.........love you all." Those were the last words that left my mouth before darkness came over my vision field and the environment went silent. 

_______________________________________

Certain voices around me made me open my eyes to a peaceful chaos. Only, there were no sources of the chaos. Everything around me was sheer white and a lot foggy. But the voices were still prominent.

"Welcome to the crossroads of death, Jiya Samthan. This is where souls pass on to another plane. As you must remember you died to save your friend Tanuja Awasthi. Now, you are supposed to pass on. But your soul is reluctant. Considering your untimely demise and a long list of unfulfilled wishes, which were crushed under the weight of your selfless love for your friend, you are granted a choice. You may choose to break all ties with your previous life and proceed to a new one or you may spend your additional years on Earth as a ghost, a good one at that. So make your choice." A verdictional, invisible voice spoke.

"Seriously?" I asked.

"Of course. Tonight Tanuja was supposed to die after fulfilling the purpose she was sent to Earth for. But your intervention provided her a second chance along with a new purpose which will benefit many in future. For your sacrifice, you are granted to live on Earth as a ghost, along with some ghostly abilities which will increase and decrease as per your good and evil deeds, for the original duration of your lifeline. Most importantly, you are given this choice because we can sense you are still tied to your loved ones emotionally. So you must make the choice now."

"What will happen after..."

"51 years are left in your original lifetime. After that you must sever your ties from Earth forever and present yourself here to crossover. At that time, considering your time on Earth as a ghost, we might give you another choice. So what do you prefer?"

"I didn't get a chance to say goodbye, or to make sure my death didn't go in vain, you know what I mean?" I asked.

"Well then, we shall meet after 51 years, or before perhaps, if you want to speed things up. The good ghosts of Earth and many other friendly creatures will help you keep away from the evil ones. Happy Journey." The voice announced.

With that, I felt the ground (or whatever it was keeping me standing) removed, resulting in a free fall of my soul.