*** Lilia's POV ***

I am still in shock after the bomb that Kylian just dropped on me. There are worse things to come, that is, if they haven't already begun !

"Lili, who is the devil he is talking about?" Ingrid asks, shaking me .

I stood there unfazed; I was contemplating what he just told me.

"Lili..." Ingrid says, violently shaking me.

"Are you all right ?"

"Aha." I answer, not knowing what she was talking about.

"Lili, what did he tell. Who is that devil?"

I finally get back to my senses and try recollecting what he just told.

"Someone is coming to town." I blurt out.

"Who?" She asks.

"The--"

"He is already in town. Remember the one who stole the blood?" Kylian says, closing the door behind him.

"Wait, the blood sucker is still at loose?"

I see Kylian flinch when Ingrid uses the term 'Blood Sucker'.

"Do you think they even captured him?" Kylian asks, pretending the flinch never happened.

"What were you doing at the hospital that day?" Ingrid asks out of nowhere.

"Heard the news about the blood robbery and came to check out on it. Looks like we were slow. For all we know that guy could now be running amidst us pretending to be one of us."

"How do we find him ?"

"Well, we can st--" Kylian was cut off by someone banging loudly on the door.

We follow Kylian to the door, lest it turns out to be someone who doesn't know his secret. It was Em on the other side, thankfully.

"Whattt are you guys doing here and why didn't you message Iddy? I was scared. Lilia everything all right?" she asks now, checking me for any bruises or something like that -- I guess.

"Hello Emma." Kylian says, kissing her hand. Looks like he turned on his charm, but why do I feel jealous? Didn't he do the same with me ?

"How do you know me?" She asks, bewildered.

"I know everyone in this town. And aren't you a member of the secret circle?"

"Oh, my-"

"Enough with the chitter chatter. We have a blood sucker at loose." Ingrid says, finally getting us all to focus on this.

"Okay well, he definitely is still in town. The blood was stolen a couple of days ago, so he could have lived on those for a few days. But he will definitely make an appearance soon and we've got to be prepared," Kylian says, in a affirmative tone.

"Prepared how? He is a vampire for heaven's sake!" Em says, frustrated.

"By training. Your grandmother sure knows a lot of stuff, make sure you learn as much as possible from her." Kylian says calmly. I thought he'd be angry, but he seems to be awfully calm.

"Are you a member of that Black family who was cursed? Is it true that you guys indulged in black magic?" I ask, curious as to why the two tales were clashing.

"No, actually it was that witch who did Black magic, not us. That woman lied to get her coven to help her," he says nonchalantly. But I could see the pain in his eyes, which he was trying to hide. He hates talking about those times and that witch.

Oh, poor Kyle! Wait, did I just give him a nickname!

We made plans about our training and ensured we were always in groups of two, if not all together.

We go back home after an eventful morning. On the way home, I spot Mrs Potts lingering in the courtyard. She never really goes there, unless she is with my mom. I wonder what is she up to?

"So do you think it would be wise to invite Kylian over?" I ask Em and Ingrid.

"Yeah, he can stay with us. I mean he is helping us, isn't he ?"

"But how can you trust him?" Em asks. I can't blame her, I too doubted him at one point, but then I trust him now.

"Let's have our lunch and talk about it later. Where is your granny, Em?" Iddy asks, looking around for her.

"Well, last I saw she was talking to Mrs Potts. Let's ask her ?"

We were getting up to go look for her when I see Mrs Potts and Mrs Smith stepping inside.

"Where did you kids run off to?" She asks, chiding us.

"Well, we were just --"

"I'm hungry granny, let's talk about this after we eat?" Em asks, sheepishly, cutting me off.

"Fine!" she says and we go have our lunch.

It was spaghetti and meatballs. Don't ask why we are having this for lunch, I just was craving for some spaghetti!

"Granny what happen to this sister who ran away with her son?" Em asks.

"No idea. We believe that it was her idea, and she disappeared after the act. No one knows where they are. But there were some rumors about those two!"

"What were they?"

"Now that's a tale for another time. I have some work with your granny. Excuse us." Mrs. Potts says, signaling Mrs. Smith to come with her.

What is going on? What's with all the secrecy!?

We go up to my room after lunch, where Ingrid and Em try out a few spells from the Grimoire. Thankfully, they don't burn anything. Ingrid gets out from the secret stash of chocolates from my room and I ended up sharing it. 

"Aww baby, it's okay. Sharing is caring."Em says rubbing salt on my wound. 

She could probably feel what I felt about all this sharing of my chocolates. I'm selfish when it comes to chocolates. But I wouldn't mind sharing it with Kylian.

"Who is it, who has your attention, Lili?" Em questions

"Umm...no one," I say blushing.

They somehow manage to get that name out of my mouth and the whole afternoon when by with them teasing me.

It is almost late evening, and we go for a walk by the garden.

"Lili, there is something I need to tell you," Ingrid says dragging me aside.

"What ?" I answer scared of what bomb is she going to throw on me.

"This monster is in town for my blood. Em's granny said Kylian was in town for my blood but since he didn't do anything yet, I suspect this new 'monster' is just delaying the act. They want my blood." she says, her voice cracking. 

"What?" This was beyond my imagination. I just thought we were investigating stuff but it looks like our lives are at stake here.

"Yes, since I'm the most powerful member of the circle,he probably needs to kill me to destroy this circle. Atleast that is what Em's granny told us ."

"Mayb-" I was cut off by my phone ringing.

"Mooooommmmmm!!" I exclaim, delighted to hear her voice after years.

"Hey sweetie. How are you!?"

"I'm good, Mom. How are you and dad?"

"We are fine. He is - -"

"Heyyyy mom. Wassup?" Ingrid snatches the phone from my hand before I could even talk properly.

I take it back. This goes on for a while.

"Bye mom." I say about the end of the call when she literally yells my name

"Mom, I'm still here."

"Good. I almost forgot, your dad is flying back home tomorrow around noon."

"That's awesome. But won't you be alone?"

"Dear, I got my whole squad up with me. Okay, I got to go, I have a meeting to attend. Love you!"

"Love ya mom." I say, hanging up.

"What did she say?" Ingrid asks.

"Well, looks like dad will be back home tomorrow." I say.

"Oh no. What if he finds out about me?"

"Ingrid, how would he?" I say.

"Yeah, I mean, I don't look different, do I?"

"Not a bit. Just don't stay around dad when you get angry. You don't want him to see your red eyes."

"My red eyes won't be a problem." she says walking away and I stood there, wondering what did that mean.

The day passes by with me waiting anxiously for the next day, which was very chaotic.

I woke up late and ended up rushing through things. I wear a top my dad brought for me from his last trip.

I couldn't focus on anything the whole day. I was just waiting to see my dad. I call him up at lunch but couldn't reach him. Maybe he was still on that flight.

"Ingrid, did you call dad?" I ask while making our way to the car after school.

"Texted him. No response. It isn't like dad to not respond."

"I know right. I've called him a couple of times but I couldn't reach him." I say, dialling his number again.

"Maybe he is stuck in the airport." Em says.

"But for so long. Mom said he'd be home by noon."

I call mom too and ended up reaching her voicemail. Dads was still unreachable. I had a bad feeling about this.

"Maybe he is at home waiting to surprise you." Em says.

"Yeah, maybe he wanted to surprise us." Ingrid says agreeing with her.

I nod my head reluctantly. Something doesn't seem right.

"Let's go home. We will find out." I say hoping into the car. Praying that my dad was home.

I go home to see someone standing by the front door. Dad's here.

Turns out it was Kylian, not dad. For the first time, I was dejected to see Kylian.

"Wow, didn't know the sight of me disappointed you so much." He says, taking a step closer and his voice dripping in sarcasm.

"Nothing like that. Dad was supposed to come home, he didn't yet." I say, disheartened.

"Oh! He is probably stuck up at the airport and I'm sure he will be back soon."

I sit and wait by the door with Kylian accompanying me . Seconds turn to minutes and minutes to hours, but my dad was not to be seen. The afternoon sun sets, making way for the soft evening light. It is almost dawn and dad isn't home yet. I am scared, and my mind started coming up with crazy theories.

What if he met with an accident? What if someone kidnapped him? We are rich. Maybe they did that. Or what if the plane was hijacked, and he never gets to set foot in Oakdale?

My thoughts were interrupted with the loud bang of our front door.

"Lili, that's it. I can't wait. Let's go search for dad."

"Where will you?"

"All the way till airport. Now come on."

"What if he comes home and we aren't here?"

"Mrs Potts is staying with us. I asked her to call us up if dad comes. Now come on, let's go." she says and we make our way to the car with Kylian right with us.

We take the only route to the airport, and I sense Kylian suddenly going stiff midway.

"Kyle, what's it?" I ask, softly. His nickname unconsciously slipping off my tongue.

"I," he says taking a deep breath "smell," his body stiffens "blood." He finally says, his beautiful blue eyes turning dark. I am reminded of the guy I met at the ball.

Soon enough, we pull across a car in the middle of the road. It was dad's. There was blood splattered by the car. In fact, I could see bloodstains on the car but no visible signs of any body.

Dad!

Author's Note :

Finally an update . What do you think happened to their Dad ?

Vote. Comment. Share

Until the next update.

Lots of love,
~Vaishnavi.