Chapter-21

-Previously in DiR-

"I'm fine now," I said to Nate as his eyes flickered at my face. His eyes were full of concern but what scared me was the drying blood on his mouth.

How ironic, because I obviously had the blood on my mouth too. I too must be looking like a vampire myself. Wow, just wow.

"How did I look while kicking their asses?" Victor raised his eyebrow at me.

I smiled even when it hurt my muscles.

"You're wearing a biker jacket." I noticed.

"Yeah, I borrowed it from a biker guy." He smirked. "Illegally."

Suddenly, I saw a shadow creeping behind him.

It was a vampire, with a wooden stake gripped in his hand. My eyes went wide with fear as the stake was raised in air by him.

"VICTOR!!!" I screamed.

***

"We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all of the power we need inside ourselves already."-J.K. Rowling

Chapter-21

-Karen-

I raised my palms up in the air. Something crackled in me, like an unknown energy it swelled up in me, ready to burst through.

Then it happened.

The air sparkled with green and red colours. When I stopped looking at the air surrounding me, I realised that everything had stopped.

Yes, every moveable thing was now stopped. Well, the time wasn't entirely stopped but everything had slowed down to 99%. The vampire behind Victor still had that look of anger on his face. Victor was trying to turn towards him. Nate was beside me, his hands in a running position as well as his legs were. And the stake was still descending on Victor but the rate of movement was slower than a dead snail (Okay, not funny).

But everything was unmovable, or slowly moveable. The only being who could move was me. At my normal pace.

I stared at my hands and let them fall. I walked slowly towards the vampire and snatched the stake from his hands and threw it to the other distant corner of the room.

I came back to my place and closed my eyes. This was me. Karen Michaels. Not some female Flash, right? I am not the fastest woman alive.

I let out a breath and made fists from both of my hands.

When I opened them, a green coloured smoke surrounded us all for a second and then it was gone.

Victor moved with unbelievable speed and Nate also gripped the Vampire by his arms.

"Don't know how many of them are left here." Victor snarled.

The vampire fought back, elbowing Nate on his stomach and snarled as he horse kicked Victor. Then, the fight began. All of them were moving swiftly but I could see how much the two brothers were struggling to trap the vampire. It looked as if he was almost...trained.

I heard a bone cracking and my eyes went wide with horror. I prayed it wasn't Nate or Victor. There was a lot of punching, kicking, biting and growling before the vampire came in control.

"You're all going to die." He hissed.

Victor punched the vampire in his stomach and Nate snapped the neck.

"He was one of the toughest." I commented.

Nate and Victor turned to face me. They maintained a safe distance from me like I would go on the Flash mode again.

"How did you do that?" Both of them stared at me.

I knew this was coming.

"I—uh—I don't know." I stammered. "What was I like?"

"You were a mixture of green and red light and you moved faster than us." Nate said with his eyes fixed on me. "And your eyes are still glowing."

What?

I rubbed my eyes continuously with my hands.

"Aren't they brown?" I asked terrified.

What the hell was going on? Living in the parallel universe had made me a freak too? How was this even possible?

I was standing in a room with vampires and asking these questions to myself. How impossible could this situation go?

"No, they aren't brown, sweetie." Victor furrowed his brow. "They are green. Your eyes look like two green LEDs. Cat slit LEDs."

If he was kidding me, I was going to kill him myself. There wasn't need for any other vampire to do it for me. I watched Victor having an amused grin on his face.

"You are not helping her." Nate's eyes were filled with concern.

"I'm sure doing—whoa, your eyes are back to normal." Victor said.

"Are they, Nate?" I asked.

"Yeah." He answered.

"Why would you ask him for conformation?" Victor asked in an annoyed tone. "Isn't my word enough for you?"

"The question is how this did happen to me?" I asked.

"You're a witch, Karen." Victor blurted out.

"What the fish! No way." I screamed. "You can't be serious."

I had a life. I was a high school going girl in a much silenced town where people were scared to enter the damned mansion. I had parents who were normal; I had normal friends and a NORMAL life for God's sake. Nothing had happened to me which proved that I was a magical creature. That I was a witch. Until now.

This time stopping could be the effect of breathing in the magic air of the supernatural. I had to do something about this. I didn't want to be called a freak by my friends if I ever went back home.

"This is your reaction?" Victor asked. "I was expecting some more dramatic reaction from you."

"You want a reaction?" I punched him on his stomach.

He let out a 'humph' and clenched his stomach with arms around him.

"I thought you'd be happy to know that you're a witch." He said.

"How can I be a witch? You don't make any sense to me."

"Karen, we'll explain you all this when we reach home." Nate grabbed my arm. "We can't stay here for long."

"Yeah, it weakens him." Victor said.

We ignored him.

"So it is time to go back." Nate said.

"Yup," Victor replied. "We can't risk staying here for too long. We don't know how many vampire hu—vampires maybe here."

"Can't I go back home?" I asked. "I know it's really far from here but you can teleport me there with your witch's secret ways."

Nate and Victor looked at me with surprise.

"You can't ever go back. How many times do I have to tell you that?" Victor shook his head. "Even if you succeed in leaving our world, there will be still danger out there for you."

I didn't know what 'danger' was out there for me. I just wanted to go back to my normal life where there were no vampires, werewolves or witches to be afraid of.

I followed Victor to the stairs, leading to the door to exit.

-Nate-

"She knows it." I whispered to Victor. "Now what?"

Karen was eating something. She was hungry and needed to eat. We were out of the club and the street food was tasty according to her.

"There's no need to pay." He said.

"What?"

"I mean I hypnotised the vender and he will be giving her as much as food she wants without even asking her for money." He explained. "There are perks of being a vampire."

I stared at Karen who was smiling while eating. She looked...happy.

"She has to be told what mother allows us to tell. Karen doesn't know the whole witch affair and neither do we. We have to find the witches and ask them for help." Victor said looking in the same direction as me. I felt jealous.

I was sure Karen considered him her hero. He came to save us as the part of plan went. In her eyes I was weak and he was the one who was capable of doing everything. And why was I jealous?

I didn't love Karen.

My eyes met with Karen and she smiled.

Maybe I was already in love with her.

"It was pure energy that was around us." Victor made a gesture with hands. "The way she moved was...supernatural."

"We're supernatural." I said.

"I know. But what I didn't know was these powers were going to emerge this way and at this time." He said turning to me. "It makes her blood more powerful and alluring. This can be dangerous for her."

"He wasn't a vampire, was he?"

I was asking about the vampire with the stake who had attacked Victor from behind. He wasn't a vampire. Not fully.

"Yup. He wasn't a vampire." He bit his teeth. "He was a hunter. A very fast moving hunter. He must be a mixture of something potent enough to fight a vampire like us."

"What does this mean?"

"This means there is so much alertness and danger for us in this world. When I come here often I make sure it's for the purpose of fun, not for death." He made a face. "You and this girl bring only problems."

"I could have gotten us out of this without your help." I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Yeah, tied on the pole and struggling to breathe, you looked like a real hero out there." Victor smirked. I hated his smirk. "

"I thought you were not a hero." I spat.

"I'm still not. I just came because I don't want you and Karen to die." He said. "You will be killed only by me and Karen's blood will be mine."

I stared at him, scared. He looked so serious when he said this but I relaxed when a smile appeared on his lips. Eventually he started laughing.

"I got you there." He said. "Look at your face and you'll laugh too."

I remained silent. Was he really joking?

"By the way, what I said about killing you is true." He said before walking away.

I saw him walk to the other side. I walked to the place where Karen was sitting.

"How was the food?" I asked a very human question.

"It was great." She smiled. "You know what, I always dreamed of coming here. I didn't know the situations would be like this."

I nodded, understanding what she was trying to say.

"Do all humans want to come here?" I asked conversationally.

"Yes, all of us consider this place as city of love." She replied shrugging.

I chuckled.

"A place has a name like that?"

"It's like a tag that sticks with it forever. I don't know the reason but what I know is people are crazy about this place." She said. "I always wanted to come here with Jon."

A pain stabbed my heart.

"Jon is my best friend and we had been planning to run away from home to travel the world together." She smiled brightly. "Now all this seem like a dream only. There is no way you're letting me go and I can meet him."

"Love birds, we have to leave this place." Victor was standing behind us. "They are here."

­-Karen-

"Who are here?" I asked as Victor dragged me.

Nate and he were walking so fast that I had was lagging behind. So, Victor decided to drag me.

"Can't you shut up for a while?" He glared at me.

We turned in a dark alley.

"Where are we going?" Nate asked.

I thanked him mentally for asking the most awaited question of the century. He was a saviour. I didn't want Victor's wrath to fall upon me.

"We are going to find a new portal. The last one is closed." Victor's eyes were searching something in the dark.

"That doesn't explain your 'they are coming' statement." I said.

We kept walking and hid behind a wall when we heard someone's laugh.

"The hunters are all around the place. It reeks of them." Victor whispered. "If they get us, it won't turn out to be good."

"They are going to finish us." Nate agreed with him. "They are very well trained."

"You can fight them." I stated dryly.

"Baby, it has been more than three hours I'm in this world and haven't taken my food intake. Guess I can be weak too." He titled his head sideways, extracting his fangs out. "Are you eager to provide me blood?"

"Shhh..." Nate shushed him. "Where is the nearest portal?"

"Just some blocks ahead."

"Let's go then."

We moved quickly like we were some thieves. We passed some buildings and people. I caught girls swooning over the two brothers and some of them glared at me for they probably thought I was with one of them. This cliché scene made me laugh.

We stopped when we reached a building. It was a hotel. A not very good hotel from the look of it.

"I'm not going in." I declared.

"Who said anything about going in?" Victor asked. "We've to make a portal at the backside of the building."

"I really hate this portal thingy."

A/N Thank you for your votes and lovely comments. Hitting 20k before the end of this year is a dream to me and it's already 18k...close enough, huh?

Try not to be angry for the late update but this is how I work.

So, how are you all doing? And what are you doing? XD

I've gotten the covers for the sequel of DiR made (Yes, there is going to be a sequel and you can read it if you can bear my unforgivable grammar mistakes and typos).

TakeCare beautiful readers...

Tryna hit the 'Vote' star!

-M_m