Dhampir of Kalika

১৮.‌ the villain of villains

Kalika doesn't want to kill. Kalika needs to kill.

****

Maya was helplessly catching her breath between the moments and getting a jolt of electricity run down the back of her head during unwelcoming hours. The panic was getting out of hand, and to pair it with the raw, cruel excitement of what was going to happen made matters worse.

After returning to the Das mansion, Maya had locked herself in her room, going through the last bits of the puzzle before coming to a conclusion. The pieces she thought were missing now made sense. She knew with what to fill those gaps.

She was wrong initially. At the very beginning of the investigation, she had assumed that the killer of the Abhinoy Das and the virgin girls were one and the same. "Wrong, very wrong," she muttered under her heavy breath. "It's two different people."

Maya found herself looking at the darkness outside. Perhaps it was blacker tonight than any one before. It was nature's own way of setting up the stage. Maya could do nothing but watch.

She couldn't take law in her own hands. It was against her principles. But if someone else did it, she would definitely try to look at the case from an unbiased perspective.

A knock on the door forced Maya to push aside her thoughts. It was Ram, asking her to come down for dinner. Maya later on regretted asking Ram about Binodini Devi, because after all, he was the servant of Kalikacharan Babu, and what if this stalwart decided to alert his master about Maya's curiosity and possible awareness? The Das would unflinchingly put her to death.

Perhaps.

Or if Kalikacharan Babu really had a heart, he would soften up. Maybe he would sit down with Maya and tell her about the sins of his past, both the serene and sinister ones.

The dinner table was quiet as a winter lawn. It was the buzzing of the grasshopper that interrupted the deadly silence. Death, death, death– that was all Maya could smell and predict. Death preceded, and death will follow.

And I will be a witness. A mere witness.

Tonight the plates clanked too much and the bowls were kept with much rudeness. Ram served the dishes with such a twisted face as if he had an allergy to politeness. Mrinjay was staring into the distance, often matching his gaze with Maya, who would fake a smile whenever his eyes would land on her. Mrinjay would part his lips, whether in an attempt to speak or as a reaction of being engrossed in lustful fancies, Maya didn't know. Manihar was eating like a beast who went on a fast for a week. He gobbled down everything and even ate through the plates and bowls. Kalikacharan Babu hardly touched anything. His pensive gaze was kept in place by the shadows casted by his bushy brows.

Dinner was over without the exchange of even a syllable. Manihar was the first one to leave the table and Kalikacharan Babu was the last. Maya and Mrinjay left at the same time. Ram cleaned the table, extinguished the lamps and locked the door. The mansion was ready to go to sleep.

Only fate knew if anyone would even be able to close their eyes tonight. Maya found sounds of laughter coming out of the room of Mrinmoyee and Mrinjay. She wished the pregnant woman would be unharmed. Khirodh refused to eat. Kalikacharan Babu decided to overdose himself with wine, despite Raktim having asked him to stay away from the whipped liquid.

Maya was not on bed. She was standing in the balcony, focusing if someone went out of the gates or not. She was hypervigilant, chary of losing the opportunity to uncover the whole truth.

All of a sudden, she felt she saw a shadow cross the balcony. Swiftly she turned and followed the man. It was Manihar. He had probably not noticed her. He was so into his anger that he couldn't have.