Tantrics Of Old (53 page)

‘Which way?’ he asked.

The next right
, the Wraith said.

Adri walked some more before he saw the gates of the graveyard in the distance. It was small, not as big as the one in Park Street.

‘Well Wraith, to tell you the truth it wasn’t bad, this you being in my body. Towards the end you had become so quiet that there were times I forgot you were there,’ Adri said.

Isn’t that nice to hear
, the Wraith said drily.
The time is almost upon us, either way. You have bound me to my word, and I will show you where I want to leave
.

Adri looked down at his right arm—the scales had spread and were covering the entire arm, glinting in the sunlight.

‘About time, too,’ he said, entering the graveyard.

Maya was in Adri’s room, watching him sleep. She had been feeling better as of late, but something about the world was changing. Colours were gradually beginning to fade away, things far away were beginning to blur. She was wondering what it was, yet she never had a choice but to stay and watch. She sat on a chair near the bed now, looking around the room for something new. It was a room she had seen too many times in her memories, so much so that she was intimately familiar with everything about it, with every object in it. And yet she looked for something new, and a small new statuette on Adri’s table caught her eye. She had never seen it before. She would to have moved to pick it up, but Adri began talking in his sleep.

It started off with random words, unusual muttering. Maya had seen him sleep before; he usually slept for a long while, and that was the most boring time to be around Adri. This time it was different. Adri woke up with a shout. Maya gasped, and looked at him. He was covered in sweat, tangled among his sheets, his face hidden. He was panting, but slowly, his breathing calmed down, and he looked up, straight at his table. His face was wet; Maya could not tell if it was sweat or tears. Adri climbed out of the bed, and the colours in the room slipped another degree towards black and white. Maya followed him as he went to his table and opened one of the drawers. He took out a small box, kept it on the table, and opened it. There was a single envelope inside. Light brown, with a red wax seal, long broken. Adri turned it over in his hands again and again before he slipped his fingers in and took out a small letter. As he kept the envelope down, Maya saw tiny, slender writing on it.
Adri
.

Adri was opening the letter his mother had left him, the only thing she had ever had to say to him. Maya gazed at it in wonder as Adri unfolded and opened the letter. In the centre of the page, was a word, a single word, written neatly in the thin, cursive writing that was his mother’s.

Live
.

The world went black and white and everything blurred. And Maya woke up with a start, gasping for air.

It was a long time ago
, the Wraith said.
I remember I was afraid. I had been taught well by my masters, but I was never absolutely fearless. At that time I did not view vampires for the filth that they are. Back then, I was constantly amazed by their power, envious of their control over the night. Killing them was tough and I had been trained to believe that. My first real test was to actually put into practice all I had learnt, starting from the little magic tricks to the massive weapon training. Apprehension, uneasiness took me as the vampire crawled out of its coffin. I was sure I would mess it up somewhere, do something wrong
.

‘But you killed it, of course,’ Adri said, walking through the graveyard. It was small, ill-maintained. Most of the statues and large tombstones were falling apart. A lot of graves were dirty, moss having taken over the stone slabs, names having been rubbed off by the elements. Adri did not like such graveyards. They were where magic caused things to go wrong, revealing its inherent chaotic nature. A place like this gave the magic in the air a room to play its own little games.

I froze, initially. The vampire went by me, its long tongue licking my ear as it went. My sensei, watching from behind, looked at me disapprovingly, unsheathing his sword. Clearly, he planned to fail me after quickly ending this vampire. My career as a vampire hunter would have come to an end before it had even begun. If you remember, I had frozen, and I did not even turn back as the vampire passed me and reached my sensei. I heard quick slashing noises; I turned and saw my sensei fall to the ground, dead
.

Adri nodded. ‘Not quite the ordinary vampire, then?’

It was a blood reaper, Tantric. And as I saw my sensei die, I felt my fear desert me. In front of me was one of the deadliest vampires, and I had been trained all my childhood to fight these things. I unsheathed my sword. The vampire looked at me and grinned savagely
.

‘How old were you?’

I was ten
.

Adri whistled. ‘Not bad.’

The vampire came at me with the speed of the bat. I swung, but of course its power lay in the fact that it could sense my moves beforehand. Then I unleashed my energy blade, a weapon I had developed in secret even from my own sensei, and not one I could have ever used in front of him. The design of the blade I had stolen from the deepest, most well-kept files of the vampire hunters. And, of course, I had created the blade slowly, like an amateur. It was years later that I could perfect the weapon, but even then it served its basic purpose. It was not a tangible weapon so the vampire could not sense it coming; with every wound I landed on the hellspawn, one of my own wounds would heal immediately. I had not meant a stab at power when I had made the blade—it had simply been a precaution—one my sensei could have done with, I might add now. He was an old fool and he died. And I, Mazumder, Bane of Vampires to come, was born on that night. I collected the ashes of the blood reaper after I killed it and wore them in a cloth bag around my neck for my entire life
.

‘Where did you kill it?’

There, by that white grave
.

Adri walked to the white grave. It was nameless, just another grave in the weed-choked grass. He stood there for a while, taking in the silence of the graveyard. He looked up at the landscape around, feeling warm in the sunlight. Then he looked down at the grave.

‘Well, I guess this is it, Mazumder. It was a fun run.’

Goodbye, Adri
.

And that was it. Adri thought he would feel a surprisingly heavy weight lifting off his mind, or something else—a part of him he would miss immediately. He sighed, slowly. The Wraith was gone. All those thoughts of sharing a body with another soul that scared him had been proved false. His head was blissfully silent, and he felt much more in control. Adri smiled inwardly, clenching and unclenching his fists. Then he looked down at his arm and saw that the scales were still there.

‘Wait a minute. Wasn’t this supposed to go away?’ he cried out.
It will leave when I do
, the Wraith had once said.
Getting rid of that thing is not going to be as easy as you think
, Fayne had said.

‘Mazumder! Mazumder!’ Adri shouted angrily. Silence. ‘Answer me, goddammit!’ he cried.

I spoke the truth, Tantric. I told you it will leave when I do
, the Wraith spoke.

‘You also told me you would leave! That’s why we’re here in the first place!’ Adri shouted, knowing at the same time that this was turning into something ugly, something he didn’t want.

I cannot leave
.

‘I have bound you to your word. I will force you out of me!’ Adri said.

I did mention a graveyard near Howrah, but I did not mention which one. The story about the blood reaper was perfectly true, Tantric, except it did not happen here. I am not bound to be released here
.

‘Then where?’

You think I want to be released, Tantric?
The Wraith was perfectly serious; its voice carried no traces of amusement, the usual sarcasm or spite.
I have done terrible things in my time. There is no way that I’m going to the next Plane where the Angels have come from. No, I shall be summoned across the River. And I’m not going somewhere I sent thousands of vampires, where their spirits wait for mine
.

‘I do not care about your situation and I told you that, Mazumder! We had a deal!’

I never had any honour, fool. Things such as deals don’t matter to me. I plan to keep on living as a Wraith; for that purpose I am transforming you. When the transformation is complete I shall have taken over your body. You can then sit and spectate for a while as I have
.

‘You did it in the Hive,’ Adri said, slowly understanding the gravity of the situation.

You gave me complete control, Tantric. I made my move; who wouldn’t have? The assassin was right, the pompous brat. I AM after this body. And if you hadn’t shouted out right now and just gone back, I would have been silent until the takeover was complete
.

‘How long do I have?’

Do you expect me to tell you that? I’m not stupid, Tantric. I’ve seen what you are capable of. All I will tell you is that I shall not torture you for long, but soon you will be a prisoner in your own mind, the way I was a prisoner in yours
.

‘Mazumder, there may still be a way to get you to the next Plane. What if we can find it? Will you consent to leave my body then?’

I don’t really want to move on, Tantric. I was in the eternal sleep when you woke me up and forced me on this tour around the Old City. I’m seeing everything after so very long, and I like what I see. No, I want to live now
.

‘You know the Horseman is after me. How long can you survive? I have been running after something for this long, Wraith, and you’ve seen what I’ve been through. Let me complete what I’ve started. Let me, at least, get to the bottom of this conspiracy.’

As long as you wear the pendant, I can keep dodging the Horseman and hunting vampires forever, Tantric. I’m no kind soul, and I have never cared about this conspiracy or Doomsday. Do what you will; you know you have little time. When I take over, I’m going hunting
.

Adri’s mood changed completely, his resolutions changed rapidly. It was time to reprioritise and quickly so. Not much would change. What was needed to get the Wraith out was a Wraith exorcism, a process that took at least a week to pull off, not to mention he couldn’t do it to himself. He would need another Tantric. He knew he didn’t have a week. Far lesser. The scales had been growing at a phenomenal rate of late, and now he understood what the black shiny growth actually symbolised.

Think all you want, fool. You are not getting me out, that’s for sure. I suggest you divert your energies to finding out what you came here to find
.

That was actually the road he would have to take. There was no time now for exorcists and rituals. He had lesser time now to find out what he was after, but he had a feeling he was close. He needed to take the next step.

Pestilence, in a cave beneath the Howrah Bridge.

Adri got back around noon. The first person he saw was Maya; it seemed to him that he was seeing her for the first time. He had seen her still and lifeless all the time, and had forgotten what she was like when she walked and smiled. Which she was, towards him.