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Dinner with Ruth for the first time was silent and scary,she was completely pale white in color,her lips were blood red and she had no energy within her.Jill eyed me to break the silence,hinting bad to have a conversation with her.I had no choice,Kim and Sipper too were mutely agreeing with her.
“You know don’t you?.” I tried.
“Yes.”her voice was melodious and for some reason unusual,she was definitely in pain.
“Why are you....”
“Its pointless isn’t it?.”she answered and we all stared at her in total disbelief,was this the same Ruth.
“Ruth are you alright?.”asked Jill,she could not hide her horror,Kim and Sipper were staring at her silently,so was I.
“Yes.”her reply was not convincing,what kind of change was she undergoing,I was baffled.
“Ruth,say something,this can’t be you,I mean how can you allow us to...to....to cross lines.”Kim was speaking for the first time,she was so good at targeting the actual subject.
“You all are growing up,I am just a nanny to you or a guardian but I am not your parent.So its just...”her spoon dropped in the bowl and Ruth was on the ground,she was shivering bad,Jill was shocked and I understood late,Ruth’s entire body was ice-cold.
“Call the doctor?.”shouted Kim.
She pulled Ruth,and carried her upstairs,in her room,Sipper was in the kitchen boiling hot water and having some face towels ready,Jill was by the telephone making it dial itself,the last number was to the doctor itself.I was stone cold,still in the frozen state,my heart was beating wildly,it just occurred to me life without Ruth,what would my life be without her?.
Jill pulled me by her side and we were in the room,Sipper was right after us,the hot bowl of water was following her and she had the hot towels ready.Kim placed one gently on top of her forehead.
What would life be without Ruth?What would it be?.Jill answered my question easily, “Body without soul.” There was no denying the same,she was my only family and the best person I knew,she never encouraged me into anything ill and till date she allowed me ample of space in my life.I loved her and equally Chris,everybody present in the room were the people around who my life circled regularly,having anyone down would mean something which I had experienced years ago,I did not wish to experience the same,my parents death was still an unsolved mystery and here Ruth was giving me the same clues.I knelt by her side and kissed gently on her forehead.
Kim snapped instantly, “she is not going to die,save those tears for later.” Sipper was already crying,her hands were shaking while she changed the towel on Ruth’s forehead.Jill stood straight,there was no way she and Kim were accepting anything stupid.
“Hello girls,let me check please.”
An age old witch just flew in from the balcony in Ruth’s bedroom,the weather outside was suddenly rainy and it was thundering loud.First time we noticed the same.
“Stupid weather.”she grumbled,throwing her wet raincoat on the nearby chair,Sipper folded it instantly and placed it on the table.There was nobody who was messing in my sisters bedroom.I loved her for that.
“You are?.”questioned Jill stepping right in between her and Ruth.
“Mrs Wanda Bellcum,the doctor from the Cataphotia hospital,in New witch zone.Ruth comes to me for regular check-up.”
“Regular.”I repeated not believing my ears.
“Yes.She has to.”she replied,her wide eyes more wider than an owl,her long face was a scared puzzle in front of us,she nodded her head gravely and sighed slowly,her expressions changing all of a sudden, “oh Ruth,she did not tell you’ll,did she?”
“Tell us what?.”sobbed Sipper,wiping her tears immediately.
“Ruth is suffering from a curse.”
This piece of news sent us back into our thinking,we all were growing up,her words circling my mind again,she wanted me to have someone in my life so I wouldn’t be lonely like her.She ignored our mistakes so that we would know how to live without her.
“This is not true....say it please...”Jill finally let that one tear escape her left eye.
“She is not going to die,she is not going to die...”Kim was still the strong and stubborn head,refusing to accept the facts and most importantly the predictable consequences.
“She won’t die.He will not let her die.”agreed Mrs Bellcum,she gulped few words down her throat,finding it difficult to explain us,we were not anywhere near sober,scared to death and on the verge of breaking,it was very easy to read us from our faces alone.
“Do you mind dear,I’ll just do the needful.”she tried and Kim gave her all the space that she required.Her bag opened and she pulled out a red velvety rope like thing from it.
“What’s that?.”Sipper asked Kim sadly.
“Oh this is blood donor,very difficult to find the perfect match for Ruth,luckily there has been one new person with whom the blood matches perfectly,new face never seen him around.Some Bodwin....”answered Mrs Bellcum,focusing entirely on Ruth now,the thing that she held was like a red tube passing blood in Ruth’s body,she put it right under her mouth and kept pushing until she could feel her gut.
“Everything will be fine.”she assured us,within few minutes,Ruth’s skin was pink,Kim sighed and Jill stood rock solid again.Sipper slipped downstairs to get some coffee,while I was still thinking,the same thing as Jill,what was the curse and who cursed her?.
After exactly half an hour,Mrs Bellcum pulled the red velvety tube out of her mouth, “She needs to sleep entire night.Don’t wake her up.”
“Who cursed her?.”Jill did not loose time.Mrs Bellcum gave us a meaningful look and then seeing Sipper enter with five cups of coffee,she smiled widely, “I can tell you all,downstairs.Please close the curtains and lock the door.”she requested and I was the one to securely shut the door and Kim pulled the curtains with the help of her wand.One last look at Ruth showed us that she was breathing fine.Jill left in the end,she jinxed the walls of her bedroom in order to protect her.
“This is not going to help girl.”added Mrs Bellcum sadly.
Kim was stern,her blood boiled but Jill’s firm grip on her shoulder hinted her to suppress her anger.
“Then what is going to help?.”I asked,just couldn’t believe my tone,it was smeared with acid and hate.
“Being a doctor,I know this very well,if you need to treat a problem,you should know first how it started and then manifested itself,where is its source and how can you cut it from there.Sit girls,I know how you all are connected to her,it will take a while,hot coffee is good,it helps the brain to reason.Lets pick a cup.”She suggested.Her words did work,everybody was silently sipping their drink,Kim was soft,so was Jill and Sipper but my blood was still high,she was my sister,the only blood relation I had,there was no way I was loosing her for a stupid curse.
Mrs Bellcum eyed me often,still sipping her coffee,making sure that everybody in the room was sober and could take in all her words.
“You ready dear to digest?.”she asked me,her eyes were speaking something very mutely,I calmed my brains and breathed for long.After opening my eyes,she already had her cup placed neatly on the tea table.
“Yes.”
“Very well then.”she began, “ever wondered how your parents died?.”she asked me,I had no answer, “why the policeman refused to pen down the spell that you were continuously chanting?.”
I was blank,she knew it,but still she stared at my face,trying to read my puzzled expression. “You are sober now.”she smiled and Jill stopped me just in time,her hand pressed my shoulder in the same fashion.Mrs Bellcum smiled very widely at Jill.
“You are truly as she described.Well,the spell that you were saying was not an ordinary one,it is a protection spell,given to a person who’s life is in great danger,your mother made you practice the same as a poetry,if the same spell is said by someone its effects wear out.The spell is no longer useful.She did not give any spell to Ruth,many years Ruth wondered why and when she came to me she was sixteen,your age,I had to help her.As I said,being a doctor,I had to find what was it and so I met the inspector in charge.He said that your parents were trying to protect Ruth from a demon,he was in the house,following her where ever she went,he wanted her,till date he wants her,this demon that we are talking about is somewhat a mixbreed I guess,because the moment I have started treating her,she keeps on loosing immense amount of blood,that night when your parents were attacked,Ruth was just breathing because most of her blood was sucked out of her body.If you look carefully,below her left breast,she has the marking of the fangs.The girl has witnessed many,I repeat many horrid dreams,dreams which are powerful and dark.She survived so far with the help of medication and with the help of the same inspector who was investigating your parents case.Few days back I heard that he died.With his death the protection charm that Ruth held is broken.She is at his mercy,he will not kill her.If he had to kill her he would had done that earlier,with your parents.He wants her,she has reached the age,such cases in our medical term are called as Calseona,meaning the last phase of the curse according to the calendar of the dead.He is near to achieve his goal.She can be saved if we find out,who is he and what does he want from her,if we give him what he wants he will leave Ruth in peace.”
I wanted to cry,my parents were dead because of the curse and now my sister was fighting the same. “Can you suggest us where we can start?.”asked Jill.
“Of course dear,I tried him again,several times but he did not have a word with me,hope you can go to his hide out and find more.”
Mrs Bellcum scribbled an address on a piece of paper and handed it to Jill,her razor sharp eyes scanned it and allowed the words to sink in her memory.She ate the paper later.Mrs Bellcum was not surprised, “You will make a fine investigator.Good luck.”with that said she left us.
“Next move?.”demanded Kim.
“One of us will stick with Ruth like her shadow and the the rest three will hunt clues,the more we get,we split.”
“How do we keep in touch?.”asked Sipper.
“I’ll get the mirror charm’s basics,we can share and communicate through it.”added Kim.
“And if people start asking at school?.”
“Mirror charm again.”replied Kim.
“No that’s not going to work.We need something more serious than that.I’ll find.”
“When do we start?”
“Tomorrow.”answered Jill “After having a word with Ruth.”
“Does she have to know we are hunting the truth?.”
“No.She should know that she is still wanted.Its hard to live without her,no matter how insane she can go at times or be demanding.”
We all agreed to the same.It was still raining outside,my head was spinning badly,life was changing so drastically.I was lost in my thought process when a pair of cold hands pulled me.It was not hard to guess,Chris was in my room,I was again with him inside the vacuum.We stared for a very long time,I closed the balcony door and drew the curtain till the end.
The cold was unbearable but I had to allow myself freely to him,there was no way I was breaking away from him,the true reason for the same was,I did not know how long I would be away.
My hands were above my head and he kissed me wildly.Slowly I felt his rocking take me to a different level.Ruth’s face came right in front of me,she was a perfect sister,perfect friend,caring soul,good at her work,good with everybody,so why her?why?.
Chris was helping me in a way,I just wanted to stop thinking but couldn’t,my mind raced back now and then to the words which Mrs Bellcum said so easily.
He was not stopping at anything and was becoming more greedy than ever but somewhere my mind was more wild than my actions,it had nothing to do with Chris,it was only thinking about Ruth.
My legs were wide apart and I watched Chris,he was driving me insane,forcing me to think only about him.I loved him for that,the rough and cold surface made me cry bad.Chris did not back away,he was still in me,I was lost in him,my brains refused to think anything else,I was not even thinking about him.
I was in a position where I could not think at all,this is what I actually wanted,he was just rough and mad but somehow his madness was giving me peace.
I did not know the exact reason why I was crying,which pain was hurting me actually,was it physical or mental?,was it Chris or Ruth?.
His eyes were mad,I just could not ignore them anymore,I had to see through them,it reminded me of the same vampire at the temple,the image flashed back again,the only difference was,his eyes were red and Chris had Cold Eyes.
