An ominous feeling grabs Mr. Mehta when the bright sky becomes dark with frequent lightning bolts and howls. He gets up from his seat and stands at the door of his office. Heaps of papers are stacked on his wooden table. One drafted question paper is lying separately on the table. The ringing of his phone brings back his attention from the weather.

A furrow appears on forehead hearing the ringtone as he mumbles, “Why is she calling at this hour?”

Reaching at his table, he grabs the phone which is lying beside the question paper and accepts the call.

“Hello.” Mr. Mehta speaks in a cold, no nonsense tone.

“Raj? He is at school. I saw him at the farewell party last. Why? What happened?” Another wrinkle adds to the previous one on his forehead.

With each passing moment his facial expression changes from confusion to stress and finally fear.

“Sun and moon came together! Hell! No! I’m looking for him. You guys reach here. Fast!” Mr. Mehta shouts the last word and ends the call.

He takes his seat and closes his eyes, taking a long deep breath.

“Raj... Give me a sign. Can you hear me? Raj...” He nods his head in a slow pace while mumbling.

“Why are you not replying Raj?” In vain, Mr. Mehta opens his eyes realising what may have happened.

“Let me try to see his surroundings.” Muttering this, Mr. Mehta again closes his eyes inhaling a deep breath.

This time a bright lights flashes in his vision which is creating an obstacle to see the rest of the surroundings. He increases his level of concentration and finally sees the open sky up above, white tiled ground and an angry Pari shouting at someone.

His eyes snap open as a growl comes out of his throat, “Pari... I knew it. Gonna kill her today!”

☆☆☆

Bewildered, Raj stares at Pari whose eyes are now watering profusely with a shiver throughout her body. He touches his fangs which still has fresh blood of Pari at the edges. His eyes lands on the two holes created by him from where blood is trickling down. Seeing this, he staggers behind a bit.

“No... I... Can’t... No.” Raj then looks into the scared state of Pari.

Raj takes a step towards her, his red eyes showing concern for Pari. “No! Don... Don’t.” Pari’s voice quivers as she moves back.

“Pari...” Raj speaks in a soft tone and tries to take another step but a sudden blackness covers his vision and everything starts swaying for him.

“Raj!” A familiar male voice hits his ears and soon he finds himself taking support of his uncle.

“Uncle... You?” Raj mumbles as his eyes make a hazy outline of his uncle’s body.

“Stop talking! I’ve told you so many times to stay away from this girl. Neither you nor your mom, none listen to me.” Mr. Mehta rambles seeing Raj in such a weak condition.

“ Sashank! What are you even saying? I thought we have already finished talking about this matter. Why are you still bringing Pari in all these?” Reyna speaks while jumping from one of the nearby trees along with Serein.

They both land on the terrace together and rush towards Raj. They notice Raj’s weak state and concern gets laced in their red eyes.

“How? I mean how can someone like you become this weak? What in the hell exactly happened?” Serein asks.

“Wohh... Pari and I...”

“Pari...” Serein’s gaze turn towards a trembling Pari who seems to be on the verge of losing consciousness.

Reyna comes in front of Pari with a worried look on her face.

“Pari... We... Let me explain. Don’t be scared of us. I know all this is shock...” Reyna pauses in between when she feels the energy Pari is emanating. It’s more of anger than of being scared.

“Stop.” An angry growl comes out from deep within Pari’s throat.

Reyna takes a step back. Fear visible in his red eyes.

“You all lied to me. You all are... monsters. You kill people. Give them nightmares. Turn them insomniac. I don’t want to hear any explanation from creatures like you who can only...” Pari’s cold voice gives out a crack. She digs her palm into a fist, looks at Raj’s horrified face and continues, “only hurt others.”

“Enough! Enough Pari! Rey, I’ve told you so many times that the moment she comes to know our truth she will hate us. Why don’t you understand, she is our death. Death! Just see what she made out of Raj. She just...”

“Death?” Pari asks, dumbfounded with the new information. She rubs her forehead as a pain starts drumming in her head.

“ Yes death! So if I don’t kill you today, you'll kill us one day.” Within a blink of an eye, Sashank stands behind Pari and grabs her shoulders in a tight grip.

“No!” Reyna and Raj shouts while tears start dropping from Serein’s red eyes.

Sashank widens his mouth as his fangs come out. Too much shocked to do anything, Pari counts for her death when she feels a pull by her arm. She looks beside and sees a huffing Raj.

“Are you... okay?” Raj asks pausing to breathe in between.

Confused, hurt, scared, angry; Pari screams out. “Lie! All... a lie. If I am your death, why did you adopt me? Why give me a home? Why give me a family? Why give this orphan so much love? Why?”

“So that you can save us. Isn’t it Reyna?” Serein, who has calmed down and stopped weeping, says.

“Answer her Rey. Answer us as well. It was you who told us that we need her if we want to keep living. Then why you suddenly became hell-bent on saving her? She doesn’t need any saving. It’s us who need the saving. We told you repeatedly that she’ll be our death when she comes to know all, but you...” Exhausted, Serein leaves talking while Reyna stands with drooping shoulders.

“So, all was a lie. All was out of purpose. No love. Only selfish purpose.” Pari mumbles as she starts stepping back.

“Then why did you adopt me?” Out of the blue Raj asks grabbing everyone’s attention, including Pari.

“Obviously because you are one of us. You are a vampyre, the creature of sleep, nightmares and night.” Sashank says with a tinge of boasting at the end.

“Then who am I?” Pari asks, a sudden change in her voice as she cringes seeing the ego and satisfaction of being someone’s pain in Sashank.

Everyone looks at her and then at each other.

“Answer me. If you adopted me only so that I can save you, it means you know who I am. So tell me, who the hell I am?” Pari shouts as she sees her life till now crashing like a house of cards in front of her.

“You are the soul. The Missing Soul.” Finally Reyna speaks taking a deep breath.

“Missing Soul? Not even any creature. No existence. Just a soul. All a lie. Love is lie. I am a Lie.” Pari’s steps totters back. Her voice breaks. She keeps on repeating, “Missing Soul” to herself. Fresh set of tears glides down on her tear-stained cheeks. An ear-screeching thunder illuminates the dark sky followed by big drops of rain.

Through her pooled eyes, she gazes at the four figures standing in front of her. The huge downpour is making it difficult to see everyone clearly but she can feel that all are staring at her trying to understand her next move. But how will they, when she herself doesn’t know?

“Goodbye my family. Thank you for all these years. For making me feel loved and... giving me a home. But I can’t live this... fake life anymore.” She sniffles while mumbling.

Without expecting any word in return, she dashes out of the terrace’s door as her name echoes in her ears from Reyna’s and Raj’s mouth.

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Total  words : 12911