The Enchantress

11. Irritating

"Okay," she said but she soon realized that her parents would panic if they saw the letter. Unlike other residents of the city, they woke up fairly early.

And by fairly early, she meant 5:30 AM. They came from village and in villages, people slept from 7 pm and woke up at around 4-5 AM. It was because it was common in villages for electricity to go off around 7 and if people are asleep, they are less likely to feel the heat.

Besides, it would be difficult to even look at the food when there was no electricity. So they could easily get an insect in the food bites. In short, a day in a village would be ruled by the presence or absence of electricity. However, it changed in the recent years because India established almost 100% electricity because of the present Government. However, her parents' habits were still the same.

She halted and mumbled, "I need to go. Don't worry about me, I will find a way to go unnoticed. You stay in hiding."

Saying this, she turned to go. He quickly gripped her forearm, pulling her back to face him, their faces close as he whispered huskily, staring in her hazel eyes, "I can't let you go. They will kill you."

She stopped struggling, feeling the sparks erupt at the place of contact. She looked away as she mumbled, "Alright, just stay away. You don't have the right to come so close to me."

He came to his senses and stepped back, mumbling a reluctant, "Of course, I understand."

She searched his eyes for answers and he, like an addict, stared into her eyes hungrily. She knew how to read faces and moreover, how to read eyes because children weren't that communicative. So, she had to use facial features and body language to read her patients.

However, what she found in his gaze shocked her. It was longing, hunger, obsession, love, lust and so much more, as if it was growing since many lives.

She looked away, not able to hold his dangerous gaze any longer. The brown eyes had completely sucked her in. She needed to get out of there, fast.

Turning around, she briskly started walking the other way, her head low. She didn't hear him follow her but she heard him mutter, "I'll see how you escape my area."

That had tensed her back. She knew that she had to distract him. That was the only way she could move away as quickly as possible. She couldn't let him inform his men.

Turning around, she looked at him, tears in her lotus shaped hazel eyes. Walking close to him, she looked down, her entire body trembling.

His heart clenched at the sight. Taking her chin in his hand, he made her look up as her hand tightened around her bangle. She was going to stab him and take all his phones away so that he couldn't contact his men.

However, before she could, he declared, "You are truly precious. I want to win you over with love, not by force. I will find you and I'll win your heart."

Her grip on her bangle loosened as she realized that it was not needed anymore. She said nothing, just looked away uncomfortably. He chuckled and mumbled, "Looks like I'm the first guy who has ever been this close to you."

She turned back to him, fire in her eyes, "Since when is that any of your business?"

He had a stupid grin on his face which she wanted to wipe away. He changed the subject, "Tell me your address so that I can drop you off."

Her eyes narrowed, "What about the checking and getting caught?"

He shrugged, "A lie."

She rolled her eyes. He was annoying, and most probably also a criminal, like his father. She tried not to stiffen as she looked away and mumbled, "XY street. I will take care from there."

She wasn't just going to tell her address to a stranger, a dangerous stranger. Yes he did help take down a criminal but that criminal was also his father. She hoped he didn't give out the information for selfish reasons.

He wanted to know more of her address. However, he said nothing as he walked to a nearby car. He pressed a button on the keys, making the car beep quietly as he gestured her to sit with him.

Why did he make her walk when he had a car? She didn't dare ask him because she wanted to be as far away from him as possible and she didn't want to know what went through his head. That would just pull her more towards him.

Tires screeched as the both of them came out of the area which should become alive at night, where criminals lived, where women wanting to be Bollywood actresses ended up becoming prostitutes, where drugs and arms were dealt with on a regular basis and Mahamaya wanted nothing more than to get out of there as she looked outside, making sure to keep an eye on her surroundings. Everything was quiet in the place where it should come alive at night, only because the King was dead and all were busy there.

They reached the street. Getting out of the car, she lowered her head as she asked in a low voice, "You talked about loving me?"

He stiffened and looked at her, nodding. She gave a soft smile, playing with the ends of her dupatta (scarf) as she said innocently, "Do you want me to accept you?"

He, like a fool in love he was, nodded immediately. She rolled her eyes and said, "Then stop whatever is happening in the red light area, give away all your money to charity while just keeping your house and people who your mother needs like house help and surrender to the police. After your term in prison gets completed, you can have me."

He looked in her eyes. Unlike him, she wasn't open. Her feelings were not available in her eyes, just a brightness which seemed innocent. He nodded as he mumbled, "Okay, forget about it. You deserve better."

She nodded, smiling, "Of course I do. Thanks for the ride."

She said sweetly while her mind was playing another tune. Of course he wouldn't. He probably used her to become the new King because his father was not allowing him to ascend the throne. She felt stupid because she had made his job easier and now she was also in his area. She was on edge as she wanted to leave as soon as possible.

He nodded and took off as she breathed in relief, rolling her eyes and walking all the way to the other end of the city. She had made sure that he would be left searching for her if he wanted to find her. She would die before giving herself to a criminal who was obsessed with her.

*****
A/N:

In West Bengal, a state known for its Shaktism or worshipping of divine mother, there is this ritual that a priest will have to go to prostitute houses, request the prostitute for the mud outside her doorstep and then mix that in regular mud and make statues of Goddess with it. If she declines, he can't mistreat her.

The reason for this ritual is unclear. It is said that when men enter her house, they leave their virtue behind, making the soil outside her home super virtuous.

Other reasons can be that a prostitute is one of the navakanyAs or the nine girls to be respected under Shaktism. They are protected by Goddess herself, since they are mistreated by the society. The navakanyas are:

A Nati (dancer/actress), a vaishyA (prostitute), RAjaki (laundry girl), a BrAhmani (BrAhmin girl), a shudra, a GopAlA (milkmaid): such are the women of known as Navakanyas. According to the belief, the worship of the ten-armed-goddess is incomplete without paying respect to these women.

Along with this, soil from the seven holy rivers, now six since river Saraswati has dried up, soils where animals have travelled, soils from the footsteps of these women, you have to request them and you can't just take the soil away and other such sources has to be mixed to make the new statues every year. That's why the veneration of the Goddess is best done in West Bengal.