Nights like this one became all too common. He would wander on his own, keeping to himself and leaving the world unbothered, yet those who wished to hunt him would arrive one after the other. They carried a variety of weaponry, stakes, crossbows, knives and daggers, yet none could take him down.
The girl that stood before him tonight was only slightly different. Her elders wouldn’t wait to attack. They wouldn’t waste a second standing still.
“Your hands are shaking. What’s the matter, afraid?”
The girl tightened her grip around the wooden stake, clutching the handle of a silver dagger tied snug to her belt. Her feet were poised to attack, but her palms began to sweat, and her arms began to shake again. Her target noticed it all, and mocked her with a smile.
“You’re not like your predecessors. They put up a great fight, right from the beginning. You? You can’t even look me in the eye.”
The girl grit her teeth and locked eyes on him, the monster of the night that was responsible for the death of her ancestors. It was a vendetta her family carried for centuries.
He stood there with his smug smile, hand in coat pockets, the wind blowing his hair over his eyes. One could mistake him for someone completely harmless. Only her family knew the truth.
“I made a vow to end you, and I will die trying.”
“I hope you have a grave prepared then.”
He walked closer to her, circling her like a feeble prey ready to be devoured. He bared sharp, glistening fangs at her, vanishing and then reappearing between the trees, second after second.
She didn’t move an inch from her place.
“Do you really want to die?” He asked, leaning over her with a curious look in his eye. She swallowed and tried to maintain a look of fierce resolve. “You can’t hide it, you know? You are afraid to face me.”
“You are a monster.”
He laughed quietly to himself.
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
The two foes locked eyes on one another. But the boredom began to settle in. He leaned against a tree and crossed his arms, lifting his wrist to let a locket dangle from it. He pried it open and ran a thumb over the photo inside. The crickets filled the silence between the two.
“Go home. I don’t think you have what it takes.”
“Don’t tell me what to do!” She yelled, lunging forward with the dagger instead of the stake. He narrowly dodged it, but the locket’s chain was shattered, throwing it open on the ground. The dagger remained lodged in the tree trunk.
She tried to use the stake, but he broke her wrist and kicked the weapon aside. He grabbed her throat, eyes scarlet red, raising her up into the air until her feet dangled and struggled for solid ground.
“On second thought, you do have the audacity.” He snarled, gripping tighter.
“Wait, please…..don’t…don’t kill…me…,” she pleaded, struggling to breathe. The vision around the edges of her eyes began to go black.
“Begging for your life now, are we?”
He threw her to the ground, and picked up the locket and its severed chain, dusting off the dirt and small twigs. She saw his lips move in an inaudible whisper, and the darkness in his eyes filled with a momentary light.
When she moved, he snapped back to look at her, wearing the same murderous glare from moments prior. She gripped her throat and looked him in those same eyes.
“You listened?” She enquired out of mild shock.
“I suppose I did.” He walked to her, and crouched so that they were eye level. The fright in her eyes was fading a little, enough to surprise him. “Don’t bring yourself into this mess, kid. You’re young. And today I’m feeling benevolent.”
“I only have one option. I must kill you. I cannot go home without fulfilling my vow, else they will send my little brother in my place. I can’t let him die to you, nor can I let him get his hands dirty. I need to end this here.”
“And I take it that you’ve never killed anyone before?”
She furrowed her brows and then looked down at the ground for a moment. With a slow nod, he laughed.
“Guess I was right. You may be a hunter, bu you sure don't look like one.”
“Are you mocking me?”
“No. I’m taking pity on you. And also, I’m a little jealous of you. You’re the kind of sibling I wish I had. Perhaps I wouldn’t have ended up like this.”
“You had a family too?“
“I did. My elder brother was my only family. Our parents passed when we were young, you see. He took care of me and worked hard to give the both of us a good life. Then, my late wife came into the picture.”
He popped open the locket, and showed her the contents inside. Inside was the portrait of a smiling young woman holding a small bunch of orchids. A photo that was worn down from age, but still showcased her beauty well. It looked familiar.
“We grew apart. I fell in love with her, and she with me. I didn’t know he loved her just as much as I did. I didn’t know when he began to despise me. But it happened. He sought the darkness of this supernatural world to remove me from the picture. They turned me to keep me away from her, and later, our unborn child.”
It was hard not to feel pity for him. But she kept her stoic expression.
“I never learned what happened to them. And then years later, the first in your family came to hunt me. Though I had killed no one up until then. It confused me greatly, and it still does today.”
She looked at him, puzzled. He killed no one before her family started hunting him? Was he lying? She had to dig deeper.
“Your name?” She enquired.
“Aren’t we past introductions?” He paused, staring at the sky in thought. “They used to call me Abhayendra. She used to call me just Abhay.” He smiled a little at the end. “Abhay Raichand.”
She stood up and backed away. That was a name she couldn’t ever forget, the name of her family’s ancestor whom they vowed to avenge. She jogged her memory, remembering the stories that sealed her family’s fate to hunt this vampire to the ends of the earth. The name Siddharth Raichand stood out to her. And those letters….those letters bore the same name.
“You can’t be…how….how can you be him?”
“Is something wrong?”
The target and the victim, they were the same all along. But she couldn’t let her family know all the casualties they sustained were for naught. The one they were fighting for was alive all along. And he was the one who ended so many more.
“Was your brother’s name Siddharth, by any chance?”
He stared at her, shocked.
“It was. How do you know?”
“Because he was the one who started this feud.” She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a letter, detailing Abhay’s features, and calling him the vampire who wears a locket around his wrist. He was blamed for his own death. The signature bore Siddharth’s name:
He read it three times over, and burst into laughter. Once he calmed down, he gave her the letters and looked rather solemn.
“Cursing me with this life wasn’t enough for him. He wanted me gone for good.” He murmured, turning the locket in his fingers. “Not only that, I killed people in my family because of him.”
He looked at the girl and wondered how many greats he should attach to the word granddaughter.
“I think we should put an end to this feud, don’t you think?”
She stayed silent, and watched as he took the stake from the ground and handed it to her. Clutching the locket in his fist, he stood before her, waiting.
“After this, you can walk away free.”
She understood what he was implying, but she had little heart to do it. He sensed what she was worried about, and gave her reassurances. He did kill people in his family, even if it was out of ignorance, so revenge was still justified.
Her fingers gripped the stake hard, and without wasting a second more for her heart to waver, she plunged the sharp wood into his heart. He wore a smile from start to end, slumped on the ground against a tree.
“Take good care of your little brother.” He whispered.
As the eternal darkness began to consume him, he stared up at the stars and let a tear fall. The locket was held with all his remaining strength, her photo filling his eyes.
“Forgive me, my Piyashree. I’ve kept you waiting for far too long.”
His body slowly crumbled to ash, and the locket, a part of his being, joined him. The stake fell to the ground, and she was free.
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