Love's never too easy UPDATED Pg 19 - 18/11 - Page 13

''Dad.'' I rushed out of the car and climbed the stairs to our house. The green ivory covered about 1/4^th of the building. The stairs lead to the lawn which was full of different coloured roses and all sorts of flowers you can't put a name to. There was a huge silver fountain in the middle, cold water in the pool, sounds of birds chirping everywhere. In short, it wasn't what you'd expect a vampire to live like.''Dad!'' I called again.

''Yes, Abhay?'' He was standing near the flower bed, gazing at the flowers, admiring their beauty. ''You know? I almost wish we were a flower instead of these cold blooded creatures. Atleast they change, grow, and with their own time, die.''

''DAD!'' I sighed. ''Please no melodramatic talks, alright? I have something to tell you.''

''Oh yes.'' He placed his hands on my shoulder. ''How was your first day, son?''

I hesitated. Not knowing quite how to place it. ''Dad..you know how you told me, that when you meet your imprintation, it feels magnetic. You get attracted to her, compulsed, craved. I felt like that, dad.'' I smiled as Pia's image came in my mind.

''Really!?'' His eyes went wide. ''Oh my gosh, son. That's wonderful. But is she'a human?''

''Mhhm.'' I nodded. ''I have been trying not to get too close to her. But it's not so easy. Her scent..it's too strong than any other humans. It almost makes me feel like..'' I let the sentence trail off.

''Right.'' He nodded. ''I have read in vampire legend books that when you meet your imprintation, and if that's a human, her scent overpowers you. That's why there ain't many vampire-human successful stories. At the very least, the option is to bite her.''

''No way.'' My heart ached - that is, if I had a heart ' at the thought of making Pia go through every single danger, every single pain I have went through. And besides, I couldn't take another vampire bite on my conscience. Kabir was more than enough. ''I am NOT changing her into a vampire.''

''Don't worry, son.'' He laughed a nervous laugh. ''That's too far to come. You don't have to change her. If she is what you claim ' that is, if she is your imprinted soul mate ' she would live with you as long as you live, that is, for eternity. But..you know the catch.''

''I know.'' I sighed. ''The Originals don't let humans live long. They need to be changed into vampires in order to sustain eternity.''

''Right.'' He nodded gravely.

''And there's one more problem.''

''One more!?'' He sighed. ''Okay, bring it on.''

''Its about Kabir.''

''Did he meet a human imprintation too?!''

''No..'' I chuckled at the thought of what Kabir would say to this. Nobody can take Nisha's place, ever. You understand? ''But his problem is far bigger.''

''What is it?''

''He met a girl in the school today. Her name is Misha '''

''Come again? Did you say Nisha?''

''No..'' I sighed. ''Misha, with a M. But the trouble is..she looks exactly like Nisha.''

His eyes went wide, jaws dropped, and it almost looks like he has frozen. It looked like the blood intake suddenly stopped and he would drop dead any second, that is ' if he wasn't already dead.

''You mean'a doppelganger!?''

I nodded. ''A doppelganger. But neither me, nor Kabir knows much about dopplegangers, except the fact that they are very rare.''

''Doppelgangers are rare, and really valuable, son.'' He sighed. ''Only one doppelganger takes birth in a century. And all of the dopplegangers are humans. Mostly, they take their looks from burned vampires. And a doppelganger taking looks from a human is extremely rare.'' He stroked his chin.

''I know. And that's what got me so frozen when I saw her.'' I said.

''Dopplegangers don't last long, son. As I said, they are really valuable. They are the epitomes of really powerful vampires. They can be used for many things, for undoing many curses, or simply to become more powerful.'' He took a dramatic pause. ''They say, that If you kill a doppelganger exactly at 12 o'clock on her 21^st birthday and drink her/his blood, you can get 100 times more powerful than what you are. ''

I went numb with shock. ''What if'Kabir hurts her, unintentionally or intentionally?''

''If he hurts her or kills her, before her 21^st birthday, he would get in great deal of trouble with the Originals. That's against the rules. You are only allowed to drink a doppelganger's blood at 12 o'clock on the 21^st birthday. And needless to say, when power's involved, competition's involved. So hurting her, or killing her before the assigned date and time, would be cheating, and it won't be taken lightly.''

My head started spinning. Misha. Dopplegangers. Pia. Originals. Changing. 21^st birthday. 12 o clock.

''We should never have come here, son. This place is trouble.''

''It most certainly looks like it.'' I agreed.

NEXT PART UPDATED ON PAGE 17

''I feel really sorry for the girl - Misha. I mean, she's a perfectly normal human. And she's what -18? What will happen when she gets surrounded by vampires on her 21^st birthday? All bloodthirsty vampires?'' Dad sighed.

''Who's getting surrounded by vampires?'' Kabir stood in the doorway, the dim lights of the sunset falling over his dark shape. ''What are you talking about?''

''Nothing.'' I stood still. Being a vampire means we can pick out any discomfort or nervousness. So we could easily tell if a person is lying or not.

Kabir shot one glance at me and shook his head. ''Lies. No use, bro. Ur not good at it.'' He looked at dad. ''What is it?''

''We were talking about doppelgangers.'' His face was so calm and serene, there was no sense of discomfort.

''Doppelgangers!?'' His eyebrow arched and he did a mental 'duh'. ''Oh..you mean, Nisha's doppelganger!?''

I nodded.

''Misha is not a doppelganger, guys.'' He sighed. ''A doppelganger is a person who has derived their looks from a vampire, a human who has the special blood that can undo curses and grant powers. But Nisha was no vampire. And that means Misha does not have any special blood.''

As I walked back to the Biology section, I saw her laughing, a strand of hair coming in her face and her desperately trying to tuck it away, and failing. I had this strong urge to go to her, touch her, remove the strand, hold her-

I shook my head. I can't be so selfish. I can't ruin her life, for my guilty pleasures. What if she's my imprintation? There must be a way to avoid that, to delete the whole process of 'soul mates' from my life. And since I have turned Kabir unintentionally, I had no desire whatsoever to put anyone else through this never-changing and never-ending hell, especially Pia. No matter how much I crave for her.

She looked at me and smiled. She shifted to make a seat for me. I tried to smile back, but it wouldn't come. Not with the whole whirlwind of thoughts crashing in my mind. All the possibilities. All the ways I can keep her without hurting her ' I couldn't think of any.

I looked around for Kabir. Not here. Probably he is also trying to avoid Misha. Probably he is trying hard to save her from all the dangers she might have to face. Does he really believe in the 'misha-is-no-doppleganger' theory. You can't be sure. But he did have a point. Nisha was a human. And misha obviously didn't derive any special blood from any vampire.

Kabir entered. He shot a glance at me and nodded. I nodded back. I knew what he was trying to say. He had advised that earlier. The only way to keep Pia and Misha safe from all the potential dangers of vampirehood was to stay away from them. Easier said than done, I know. However much he pretended otherwise, I knew it was hard enough for kabir, too. However much he claimed Misha is not Nisha, I could see the spark, the faint hope in his eyes.

I went and took a seat next to Pia. She gently tugged at my shoulder. ''Are you alright?''

I longed to reply 'No, nothing's right. Right from the moment we entered, we have put your and everyone's life at risk'. But I settled for a simple firm nod.

''Okay, class. We are going to do some practicals today.'' The short, brown haired teacher said. ''As you can see, there's some bowls of acids and bases in it. I want you to create atleast three compounds with the person you are sitting next to.''

''Damn it. I have never been so good in biology.'' Pia laughed. A rich innocent laugh. I settled for a smile and passed the bowls to her, ''Do you want to go first?''

''Yeah, sure.''

We did the rest of the practical in silence. Probably she assumed I am not so interested in talking to her. Well, she didn't know how much I actually wanted to talk to her, to shift closer, to close the gap between us..

Shit. I am doing it again.

''Why did you move here?''

It took a moment for me to realize that Pia was actually talking to me. ''Huh?''

''Why did you move here?'' Her brows furrowed deeply. ''You said you lived in Delhi, right? Why did you move all the way to Dehradun?''

''Oh.'' Damn. I am not so good in lying. I mentally scratched my head for a good reason, and I could only come up with the simplest one. ''My dad got a transfer.''

''Oh. Right.'' She took the bowl and was about to pass it to me when the sharp edge of a tube hit her and blood started streaming. ''Oh shit.'' She laughed a nervous laugh. ''Im sorry about that.''

She took a paper tissue and started to clean it. All I could do was stare. I have seen blood many times, drink blood many times, but the smell of this blood, the aura, it was too much. Honestly, it took everything I had to stop me from pouncing at Pia and ripping her flesh off and drinking her blood-

I shook my head vigorously. I couldn't do it. I muttered a apology and ran for the door. I ran from the corridor. I ran as fast as I could, and once no human was watching me, I quickly ran like the breeze and rippled fast everything, straight for the forest. Only once was I deep in the forest, I stopped. The smell of her blood was stuck in my memory. It was so sweet. So delicious. So pure. Just like honey. I let It all pass. I let the memories of the blood pass. And when it did, I screamed. A scream of rage. I couldn't go anywhere near Pia - not until I am absolutely in control of my senses.