------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
19- Running Back to You
She looks at Abhay; her eyes are widened with tremendous fear as he drags her along with him, running fast, so fast that she felt like she was in a speeding car! She felt she was floating as her feet were above the ground, he was grabbing her arm and lifting her up with so much ease and moving so fast, that she didn't even feel any pain in her arm, this whole scene doesn't seem real, am I having another dream! Where is he running to?! Holding me and why?! She thought with a disturbed mind!
"Hold on!" he says as he sweeps her in his arms now still running as fast as a bullet she couldn't see where they were running and why! All she could see was him and his face
she holds on to his neck tightly and in a frightened quivering voice she says "Abhay why are we running?!"
"Not now Piya" he says "just trust me"
She holds on more tightly, resting her head on his shoulder, she senses that something was chasing them, but she wasn't sure what it was! As she couldn't see it when she looked back above his shoulders, and how could she?, as he was very fast!
After ten minutes or so suddenly he stops in a jolt near a deserted house, as there were no lights, and it was surrounded by allots of trees and heavy plants! it was almost pitched black, because of the tress that shunned the moon light from casting its light in, only maybe in few spots that the light could penetrate, between the heavy tree leaves, causing what seemed like light beams that looked like white faded sun rays!
The place was dead silent only disturbed by the sound of some night insects, that were buzzing intertwined with Abhay's and Piya's heavy breathes
Abhay recollects his breath quickly, Piya's heart was still beating fast, she couldn't see him clearly and she was scared, yet she wasn't scared of him, not even a little, she could sense that he was scared too, and she felt he was scared for her sake and not for his own safety, it felt strange how she thought she can sense him!
She opens her mouth to ask him, quickly he puts his fingers on her lips shaking his head and she keeps her silence!
She was still in his arms as he was sitting on his knees inside the bushes! When suddenly she felt a stinky breeze that felt very bad and the silence of their hideout gets disturbed by a very strange heavy voice "Well well!, did you really think that you can hide her from me?!" the voice was scary, very deep and husky "she smells so yummy, that I can smell her from miles"
Piya gasps in fear and holds on to Abhay tightly, he pats on her hand gently reassuring her and then he stands up and pulls Piya along, covering her, standing just right in front of her, between her and the mysterious man with the horrible voice who was standing now within 10 feet away from him.
"Not at all! I knew you will come along, sniffing like a sick smelly alley dog" retaliates Abhay; with a sarcastic tune
He comes closer "Shut your pie hole boy! She is mine! I found her first! How dare you come between me and my prey?" roars the scary man
Piya was shaking with fear now, she couldn't see the man's face but he sounded very mean and horrifying, moreover his words were sending a chill in her spine!
"She is with me, you can't touch her!" says Abhay in a threatening voice that sounded like a roar too. The man laughs and he sounds even more terrifying now as he growls "Do you really think you can stop me pretty boy?!"
"Now now! Don't eat your heart out, just because you are an ugly old man!" retaliates Abhay
"Ugly and old I might be, but I am stronger boy! Let's not fight over an insignificant mortal! Hand her out to me! and I will give you my word that I won't hurt your pretty face"
"Don't push your luck old man, you want her then come and get her!" Says Abhay
Piya's mind was spinning now, she couldn't comprehend what was going on! She starts to sweat; she couldn't get what the scary man was saying! and the strange way they both were talking!
This must be a nightmare! wake up Piya, she tells her self, and then the mysterious man starts to attack Abhay trying to snatch Piya away, but he couldn't succeed because every time he tries Abhay swings Piya so fast from one hand to another pulling her and pushing her, twirling her keeping her away from his clutches, each time he charges! Piya felt in a bizarre way like they were dancing! she could feel the other man trying to get hold of her, but Abhay was much faster then him, swooshing her left, right back and forth, so effortlessly like she was a rug doll!
The man growls in anger and he charges Abhay directly now, trying to punch him, he moves fast and then he pushes Piya gently into the bushes letting go of her hand, she gasps as she hit the soft long uncut grass, almost sliding on it and then she looks at them with fear, as the both men engage in a fight growling and hissing punching each other jumping so high in the air like the martial arts experts, she watched them with shock! She couldn't see them clearly, only two shadowy figures collating and then breaking up and again collating, but she could recognize Abhay so easily as she knows his outlines so well, he was like imprinted in her mind! And this goes on for quite some time.
Then suddenly she hears a huge jabbing sound, like some one got stabbed with a hard object followed by a horrible sound as the scary voice man howls like an injured animal that was in tremendous pain
"You will pay for this boy!, you will regret this, you will see I will be back!" he threatens in his scary painful voice before he moves so fast away, like he has got vanished in thin air!!
With fear Piya watches Abhay standing breathing heavily and then he collapses on the ground, she shrikes "Abhay" and runs towards him she sits on her knees beside him, looking at him in fear, his eyes were shut, she puts his head on her lap touching his cheek "Abhay, are you all right? Abhay!" her voice quivering tears pouring from her eyes!
"Sshh! I am fine don't worry" says he touching her face gently with back of his hand, the fight has exhausted him but he was fine, "are you ok?" he asks her breathing heavily, she nodes feeling relived that he was fine.
The old vampire was very strong, much stronger then him, he thought, then he stands up slowly
"We have to get out of here, you are not safe" he says with deep concern, she holds him as they walk the moon light coming from between the trees cast some light on them, she sees blood on his left arm "you are hurt" she says panicked and he was, he was bleeding
"It's nothing, let's go" he grabs her arm and walks towards the beach "Abhay, you are bleeding" she says panicked he looks at the blood "don't worry, I told you I am fine"
"Ouch" she says as she steps on some hard bushes and woods as she was bared feet, as she left her sandals on the beach! he looks at her bare feet then sweeps her in his arms "Abhay put me down, your arm is hurt it will get worst"
"sshhh" he says as he walks so fast again like they were floating, she asks him "Abhay what's going on? How can you run so fast? Who was that man?"
he says "I will explain everything later, now we have to get back"
Soon as they reach the hotel entrance some guest smile looking at them, Piya feels embarrassed "Abhay put me down, I will walk"
He puts her down, "but you aren't wearing any shoes"
She looks at his torn white shirt that was bloody "your arm Abhay, you should check it out with a doctor"
"it's OK no need" he says impatiently
"It's not OK! look at all of this blood!" she protests
He says "it's not mine"
She looks at him puzzled and checks his torn shirt sleeve she could have sworn that she saw a cut before but now it was gone like it never was there !
"You mean to say that this blood is of that attacker!"
He nodes "now let's get inside"
As they get inside the lobby, people look at them as they both looked in a total mess Piya's dress was torn and dirty, Abhay's shirt torn with blood. People start to stare at them, the manger rushes towards them "Sir! Miss! Are you two alright? Have you been mugged?" Abhay tells him that they were attacked by robbers while walking in the beach but they are fine as the robbers flee after he beat them
"Sir do you want me to call the police? or do you need any medical attention?" to which he says "no thanks as I told you nothing happened, its just a small cut I will take care of it" he says holding his arm, Piya looks at him surprised about him lying
The man tells him he better call the police maybe he can identify the attackers and help police catch them before they attack some other people, Abhay tells him it was dark he couldn't see their faces Piya looks at him astonished why didn't he tell him the truth why did he say they were robbers why he lied, she says: "Abhay!", but he shakes his head very slowly and looks at her in away like he was telling her not to say another word!
Inside the lift Piya sees her self for the first time through the mirrors that cover its four walls, "OMG! I look so horrible my dress it's torn" she says with a frowned face touching her hair that looked out of place now
Then she looks at Abhay he was leaning to the lift wall his arms crossed to his chest his shirt torn and bloody yet he looked in a bizarre way, like some one posing for a magazine, even with his messy state he still looked picture perfect! She thought irritated
He scans her from her head down to her toes he grins "girls!"
"what!" she looks at him still frowning he says "you just have faced a life threatening situation and all you care about is your dress and how you look, typical girl" he chuckles she looks at him angrily "easy for you to say that, you get whatever you want easily in a silver platter you never work hard for it"
"Now what that suppose to mean!" he looks at her stunned
"It means if you lose a shirt you will get thousands more not everyone is privileged like you"
"Oh you are upset because of your pretty dress!, don't worry I will .."
She interrupts him and snaps "just forget it!" then she looks at him, he was looking at her with a puzzled expression, and she feels guilty that she has over reacted, she says feeling bad now "I am sorry Abhay"
He smiles flaunting his dimples "its OK, I know you have been through allot today and you are very tired and sleepy so obviously you will be cranky"
As they reach their rooms Abhay says "you will stay with me!"
"What, no way!" says she
"Why not?! I can't leave you alone! Don't you get it! You are in a great danger"
"But I am not alone Panchi and Misha are with me"
He shakes his head" they aren't here now!"
"I can't be in your room" says she nervously
"Fine!" he says agitated "wait I will change my shirt" he opens his room door grabs a T shirt and impatiently opens his shirt buttons throw it away, push the T shirt down his head and arms while still standing in the corridor! she looks at him feeling embarrassed then he takes her room keys opens her room and gets inside before her checking it, he checks the cupboards, the bathroom and the balcony, he locks it's door, then lets her in.
"See it's OK, he won't dare to come here" she softly says, then she stands near the door waiting for him to leave he looks at her grabs her from shoulders pulling her away from the door way then closes the door locking it!
She looks at him agitated and snaps "Abhay what are you doing?"
"You said you don't want to be with me in my room, so I will stay with you in your room" he says
"What! You can't stay here! What will you do when Panchi and Misha come?" she says
"I will leave by then of course" he says
"Are you insane! what will they think when they see you with me alone in the bedroom?!"
"Nothing of course, cause they won't see me I will leave before they do"
"Abhay you just can't stay here, just leave please"
He smiles and walks towards her "what's wrong Piya? do you think I will take disadvantage of you now that we are alone in the bed room" he looks mischievously at the bed
She swallows and blushes, she knows he isn't that kind of a guy who misbehaves with a girl or takes advantage of such a situation, and forces him self, she somehow knew him, Casanova or no Casanova he won't ever do that to any girl! She just knew deep in her heart and she whole heartily believed that he wouldn't ever hurt her, she trusted him more then anyone else.
She didn't want him to stay because she was just too embarrassed to be alone with him and way too sleepy, that's all but she couldn't tell him!
He chuckles as he notices her blushed face then he says in a serious note "I have to be here Piya ,you are not save alone, you get ready to sleep, I won't bother you, I will leave when your friends come" she looks at him helplessly, he comes closer to her holds her shoulders "you have to trust me Piya, whatever I am doing is for your sake, please now go on and get some sleep, tomorrow might be a long day!"
She senses sincerity in his eyes as she stares at him "what's going on Abhay? Who was that scary man? Why was he attacking me? What does he want? Why don't you want to tell the police? And how can you run so fast?" she says in a weak helpless voice
He looks at her deeply "I promise I will answer you tomorrow, but now just go to sleep please, you might need your full strength tomorrow, and please don't tell anyone about what had happened tonight, not even Misha", he says impatiently.
She wanted to argue with him but instead she nodes and walks towards the bathroom grabbing her pajamas
She looks at her torn dress sadly as she changes She takes a quick hot shower quickly brushes her hair and her teeth
When she comes out of the bath room he looks at her, she was wearing a night robe over her pajama "please turn around" she says
he turns his head, she takes off the robe and tugs her self inside the sheet
"you can look now" she says softly
With a smile he looks at her and says "now close your eyes"
She looks at him while laying her eye lids becoming heavy "so what made you come back to the dance after you left with that bimbo?"
He looks at her amused about her sudden drift if mind! and he has an urge to say something nasty just to tease her and make her feel more jealous, but he didn't have the heart, so he decides that he says the truth" I didn't leave with her, I just dropped her to her room, she was way too wasted! I didn't want to leave her alone so vulnerable in the party where any jackass monster would have picked her up and taken advantage of her drunkenness!"
Then he shakes his head and says "I don't understand you girls! why do you even drink when you can't handle it well, do you know that most women get raped while being drunk" She sighs in relieve so he didn't do anything with that Blondie, he was just helping keeping her safe how typical of him, Abhay Raichand the rescuer of the damsels in distress, she smiles in relieve.
"I never drink! I hate drinking" she says with a weak tune
"Really! I guess that night in the party you were just sober when you roamed alone in the jungle"
"I wasn't drunk ok! I didn't drink anything, someone put something in my cold drink"
"Really? If you say so"
"Abhay Raichand don't act smart and think you know everything ok cause you don't"
"OK I believe you! Now shut up and close your eyes!"
She giggles "he tells me to shut up and sleep and then he lectures me about drinking! you shut up Abhay"
He looks at her amused, shakes his head smiling, and puts his index finger on his mouth "sshh". She says with a weak sleepy tune "Abhay stop looking at me", he grins and looks away, then she whispers with a weaker tune now "Abhay, please don't leave me alone"
Before her tired mind and exhausted body gives in, and she falls fast asleep
"I will never leave you Piya" says he as he approaches her bed looking at her, while she was sound asleep, he pulls the sheet so it covers her more then he bends and kisses her gently on her forehead.
She moans and then sighs, he smiles and then walks to the balcony door looking out side! and he goes into a deep thought. Piya I am so scared, for the first time in my life I feel such a fear, and its all because of you, it will kill me if anything bad happens to you, I had a similar experience long time ago! But even then I wasn't this much scared as I am now, I won't feel secure till I get rid of this monster! and feel that you are safe again, I hoped that you wouldn't come to Goa! But you did!
She moans again and whispers his name he turns around and looks at her with a sad smile, you are dreaming of me! God no matter how hard I try to keep you away from me every thing unite against me and send me back to you, is it fate as you and Tina said? I don't know! but I know this, I can't keep away from you whenever you are in trouble, I won't let anything harm you!
He crashes on the sofa, sighs and brushes his hands in his thick hair, he becomes agitated waiting for Panchi and Misha to come back, he wanted to get done with this matter as soon as possible
3 hours passes but still no sign of them, his mobile rings he answers it quickly looking at Piya but she didn't get disturbed one bit, as she was gone into a deep sleep
"Abhay you have made me sick worried, you said you would call me but you didn't wh.," says Tina from the other end
"Listen Tina I am in a serious situation here, you were right, about the serial killer he is no human, he is indeed a vampire, he is an old one, much older then me in both ages, that's why he is stronger then me but I am faster, damn! He is one large ugly stinky demon!"
"OMG! Did he attack Piya? Is she alright? Are you alright?"
"She is thank God! But it was a close call Tina! He fought with me and I have wounded him, I have stabbed him with a thick wooden rod and now he is really pissed off! I think I have damaged his lungs and hopefully heart, so he will need some time to heal and hopefully this will stop him from attacking tonight! but I can't take any risks that's why Piya shouldn't be left alone"
"Ok I will come, I can help you keep an eye on her!"
"No Tina you can't handle him, compared to him your powers are of a baby, he will eat you up for breakfast, I can handle him on my own, my only concern is Piya's safety now she has become a challenge for him, maybe she is his first prey that escaped his filthy clutches beside now he has a grudge against me too now so I am sure he won't rest till he track us down but I won't rest till I get rid of him"
"but you need all the help you can get so please call me if you need me, by the way did you use the tracking dust?"
"Yeah hopefully I will find his whereabouts tonight and get rid of him too, I am waiting anxiously for Piya's friends to come back so I can leave and hunt him down"
"Is she with you now? How is she?"
"She is fine sleeping now" he smiles looking at Piya
"Wasn't she terrified seeing him or you change? Does she know what you are now?"
"I don't think so, I made sure that she doesn't see us, I allured that monster to somewhere dark but she asked too many questions, but I don't think she comprehends the seriousness of the situation yet, because she was very sleepy so her state of mind wasn't that clear, I think she might thought that it was some kind of a nightmare"
Tina chuckles "poor girl! I hope she be safe, I know you won't let her get harmed but Abhay please let me come I can be of help please" she begs
"No Tina, I don't want to worry about you too, being around that monster, I don't want to be torn between protecting both of you, I know I can handle him on my own"
"but you said he is much stronger then you" says Tina in a worried tune
"I am younger and faster, and hopefully smarter, let me see what I find about him later" he hears foot steps and concentrates "Tina, her room mates are back I have to leave I will call you back" quickly he gets out the balcony and then jumps to his own rooms balcony like he was flying!
"Look at the sleeping beauty" says Misha
"Misha chup! And get ready to sleep" whispers Panchi
Abhay smiles and then tries to open his balcony's sliding door and realizes that it was locked, he looks down and then around to make sure no one was watching before he jumps down from the fourth floor
There was a drunken man sitting down drinking, he saw Abhay jumping and he thought he jumped from the sky "wooo! Who are you? Are you death angel?!" says he looking at him with fear!
"Yes I am! and if you don't stop drinking now, I will steal your soul and fly away!" growls Abhay, making his voice deep and scary.
The man looks at him terrified, throws the bottle and runs as fast as he could
Abhay smirks "humans!"
Then he runs back to the same place where he fought that monster, he then inhales deeply trying to track as he has sprinkled him with bat wing
Dust, that works like an in undetectable tracking device
He follows the smell and he reaches a house that was surrounded with high walls he smirks "Got you stinky!"
He looks around still keeping his distance trying to figure out a way that make him able to get inside and then he notices video cameras that were installed all over the wall! and there was alarm system too!
"Damn the stinky old man is a high tech freak!" he knew he couldn't attack him now relying on the element of surprise! As he will see him coming and will be well prepared and he wasn't sure what kind of booby traps he has! and if he has any partners! He goes around the house trying to get any glimpse or sounds and he hear him still whining in pain and he knows that he was a loner!
He feels disappointed and thinks now he has to rely on plan B, Which was highly risky, and a very tricky task as he has to keep her safe and defend her but without scaring her and exposing his true identity, however he was quite sure that he can carry it on; he calls Tina telling her about the new details and the new plan, then runs fast to start preparing for his next plan!
Next morning, Piya moans and turns on her bed, then slowly opens her eyes, she sighs deeply, and then slowly every thing comes back to her, Abhay running with her in his arms, his fight with the monstrous man! The blood and all, she wonders doubtfully, was she dreaming it all! Was it just a bad nightmare! If so then how she came back to the room! She sits still feeling confused!
"Good morning" says Abhay softly
She gasps in fear "Abhay!"
"How?" where?" she mutters her heart beating fast' oh God so it wasn't a nightmare after all! Everything was real'
"Piya you are mumbling!" says Abhay softly raising an eyebrow
She inhales and exhales deeply pulling the sheet to cover her self "did you stay in the room all night long?! How? And where are Misha and Panchi?"
"Last night I left when they came, today morning I came when they left, after they went down for breakfast, come on get ready and pack your things we have to go before anyone of them come back" says he
"Go where Abhay? I am not going anywhere, I will leave tomorrow and that too, to Mumbai to the orphanage!" she says firmly
"Piya I told you! you are in a great danger, do you think I would ask you this if I wasn't sure of what I am doing?"
"Sure of what? You haven't told me anything yet! I am not going anywhere until you do" she says firmly
"Stop it now Piya! You don't know who we are dealing with! this man is very dangerous he can track you down where ever you go, do you understand that?!"
"Then we should call the police! and I don't understand what he has against me?"
"And what will we tell the police?! We don't know who he is! You are not safe here and neither will be your friends! If you stayed, if you trust me, you will come with me now! I swear I will explain everything once we are out, so please do as I told you" he pleads
She looks at him and then says "turn around" he turns his head , she jumps out of the bed and grabs some cloths and heads for the bath room!
After a while she packs her things up all dressed and ready to go Abhay watches her packing, he picks up a lingerie from the chair and asks her mischievously "yours?"
She snatches it from his hand nervously and shoves it in her suit case "don't touch any thing ok".
"I was just trying to be helpful!" says he humoring her, then he says in a serious note "take every thing, we don't want them suspect anything, and after half an hour you can call them and tell them you are heading for Mumbai cause your orphanage called asking you to come earlier because they need you"
"But Why cant I just go and tell them?" she says agitated
"They will slow us down maybe try to convince you to stay or maybe say they will talk to the orphanage, it's better this way"
"You thought of everything , didn't you?!"
"I had to" says he as he grabs her bag and then holds her hand he checks the corridors, and quickly takes her to the fire escape.
As they reach the ground floor they head for the parking
"Duck down!" says he as he drives the car, she bend her self down inside the space of the feet rest!
Soon they were driving outside the hotel premises and on the road "You can sit on the seat now" he says
"Now tell me what's this all about?" she says as soon as buckles up her seats belt
"Don't you want something to eat? we can stop in a nearby coffee shop so you can have your breakfast" says Abhay
"No Abhay first I need to know why am I running like this with you without telling anyone, I feel like I am in one of James bonds movies"
"You mean 007?" he says teasing her
"Abhay I am not joking ok, last night was like a scene from a horror movie for me, you risking your own life fighting with a stinky scary man who referred to me as his prey! I don't know how I managed to fall asleep after what had happened! I need an explanation, and I need it now!" she says agitated
He looks at her and says: "ok calm down!, and promise me that you won't panic", she nodes in agreement
"now open the glove box and take out that black file" he says softly
She checks out the file there were various pieces of newspapers with photos of teenagers written underneath them missing
She looks at him dumbfounded
"These girls have three things in common, they are all teenagers, beautiful and orphans" he says
"You mean to say these girls might be all victims of that horrible man who attacked us?" she says
He nodes
"but they didn't disappear from Goa they all are from different areas" she says
"That man is a serial killer Piya, he is a monster who probably raped and then killed his victims, he travels from a place to another, each place he kills two or three girls to keep a low profile so he won't get caught, he doesn't leave any trace or any witnesses, he chooses orphans because"
She interrupts him feeling shocked her eyes widened with fear "because he knows that they don't have any family, so they won't be missed and no one will fight for them or bother to search for them" she says with a sad shocked voice
He looks at her and nodes
She starts to panic "OMG!OMG!" says she shaking now
He quickly pulls over the car, and turns him self to face her, he holds her hands in his own pressing them gently "sshh nothing happened to you last night and I won't let anything happen to you, you are safe as long as you are with me"
She starts to cry "its not that! All these poor girls! What have he possibly done with them? This is so horrible!" her hearts ache!
"I know, and trust me I will make this heartless monster pay for what he did, please calm down"
She wipes her tears and says "why you Abhay? You are no police! Why can't we go to the police? And how did you know about this? And why are you connecting my attacker with these cases?"
He looks at her, police can't touch him Piya, he is a vampire and he has super powers he will probably flee before they catch him, but i can never tell you that!; he thought, and then says: "Look at the first page"
She does and it was about a model missing during her photo shoot in Goa a month ago!
"I got to know about all this before one month only, that model is Tina's friend, she has disappeared at that time and she too fits the profile as she had no family too"
"But here it's written that the police suspected her boyfriend"
"Yeah but he was discharged later on because people saw him fight with her in a club then she left alone while he stayed drunk there till dawn while the girl never returned to her hotel room all night, anyhow Tina hired a private investigator to find her, it's he whom came to this conclusion when he connected the disappearance of young beautiful girls from different cities that had one thing in common all were orphans, Tina forwarded this information to the police but they did nothing at all although they promised"
"of course not! Because none of them had a dad or a mom or anyone to care or to take the matters to the justice" she says tears gathering in her eyes again then she says
"Is this is why you came to Goa Abhay?! You came for me! you knew I might be in danger, you were watching over me ever since you came here, that night in the swimming pool and last night too you some how knew I was walking to the dance alone you .." she stops feeling a painful lump she knew he was trying to make sure she never was alone he was protecting her like her guardian angel!
He looks at her silently and says nothing but she got her answer and she starts to sob covering her face! He grabs her hands gently and remove them off of her face, then he touches her cheek gently "please don't cry" but she couldn't help her self, she starts to howl, he then leans towards her and embraces her in his arms, hugging her, she holds on to him crying her heart out
"Sshh Piya, everything will be alright, I promise" he says softly reassuring her patting her head, stroking her hair gently and rocking her slowly like she was a child that needs to be comforted!
Edited by ka7eela - 14 years ago
Cricket
Anupamaa
293