[ Laura ]

I didn't remember when I fall asleep but the abrupt halt woke me up.

"You awake?" Sebastian asked.

"Uhuh....where are we?" I asked in sleep.

"Outskirts of Denver."
"Kilometres away from your place, the demons shouldn't be able to track us here." He continued.

I rubbed my eyes and got off the car. It was still night and without my sweater, the breeze seemed colder. I looked around. We were standing infront of a small motel - "Blueberry".

"What time is it?" I asked dizzily.

"2 O' Clock". He answered while unloading  a travelling bag from the trunk. Except for the blood all over his body, he looked pretty well. He wasn't wincing whenever he moved, and his muscles and his leg weren't doing that bad. He was limping just a bit. I wondered whether that flask did really contain some elixir.

We walked to the counter and saw the receptionist's eyes widening with fear.

Except for the huge basket of fresh blueberries kept at the reception, there was no reference to blueberries elsewhere; and yeah, paintings of blueberries all over the place. It kind of made me hungry; I hadn't had a dinner.

While Sebastian was busy making up a fake tale explaining how a thief shot him and ran away stealing his golden watch and how he heroically retrieved it at the cost of just a few injuries, I spent my time enjoying the sweet blueberries. Wow. I didn't expect them to be so good. I picked up another set. They were so juicy and sweet, I could have eaten the whole basket.

"You sure, there's...there's no need to call the cops?" The receptionist stuttered. She looked like she'd seen a ghost.

"No, lady, there's no need. Actually, I myself am a cop. So there's no need to worry." Sebastian said with such confidence that even I believed he was a cop.

"Really, then I'm just so glad. Please tell me what size room you want?" She said. Her voice was still slightly panicky.

"A kingsize room ". Sebastian said.

The receptionist handed over the key.

"You need to fill in this form. No need to do it now, just fill it before checking out. Enjoy your honeymoon, Mr and Mrs Smith." the receptionist said hurriedly while struggling to smile.

It was the word honeymoon which drifted my attention from the sweet blueberry to the actual Blueberry motel. Before I could say anything, Sebastian pushed me towards the elevator.

"What, are you nuts! Mr and Mrs Smith! Honeymoon?! Couldn't you book two rooms." Anger flashed in my eyes.

Okay, the guy had just saved my life. But this was unacceptable. Never ever had I lived with a guy in the same room!

"You know what, this business I do doesn't pay me well. I'm running a bit low on money if you understand. So until I get home, sorry, I need to save some money".

"I could have paid." I complained wondering if I'd lost my credit card during the chase.

"As if I would've let a lady pay." He said.

The elevator doors opened and we walked to our room.

"I'll take the couch. The bed's all yours, princess." He said as he unlocked the door.

At least the guy had manners.

Something red fell on the floor as he unwound my sweater from his biceps. The pink sweater had now turned into a shade of dark red. Sebastian must've lost a lot of blood.

The guilt of hurting the very person who'd saved my life surfaced in my mind as soon as I saw the ugly cut.

"Let me help. I...I can do dressing." I said wondering where I'd find a first aid kit.

"No need, you'd end up stabbing my other hand." Sebastian smiled as my face dropped with further guilt. He really had a weird sense of humour.

"Don't worry Laura. This will heal in no time." He said as he took a towel and went to the bathroom.

Finally, I gulped down my guilt somehow and walked to the balcony. I focused on the calm landscape and as the chilly air washed over me, I wrapped my arms around myself. A layer of moisture blurred my vision. I closed my eyes.

Why was this happening to me? Where were the angels, my supposed guardians, whom I prayed to like every night and every morning? My mind filled with grief and anger at Him as tears started trickling down my cheeks.

I stayed at the balcony mourning about the unexpected turn my life had taken. Why was Destiny playing such a cruel game? Why was the bright life of a normal teenager now turning into a life full of darkness and despair?

Had God failed in planning out the rest of my life?

Actually it was the opposite - If God had written my life and if he'd failed in doing so, it was at the initial stage and not the present one. The moment I was born, I was destined to run into demons; I was destined to live every day as a fight for survival; I was destined to be a venator. After all, I was the vessel  whose fate shall, one day, decide the fate of millions.

I wiped my tears when I heard Sebastian shutting the bathroom door and went inside. He was wearing a black waist and trousers, his injured biceps bandaged properly.

"Thanks." He said as he handed over my sweater. It was now pink again with traces of dark shades.

"Sorry, I think I ruined it." He said.

I took the sweater and spreaded it on the dressing table. Sebastian gave me a puzzled look.

"Aren't you going to throw it?" He asked, surprised.

"I'm going to keep it." My voice was still shaky.

"Like a souvenir?" He asked and chuckled at my nod. But he made no further comment.

Then I decided to take a quick shower. I hurried to the bathroom and started the shower. As every drop rolled on my skin, my every worry and grief started resurfacing.

"Just a few weeks, Laura." I recalled Sebastian say. After spending almost an hour, trying to falsely assure myself that everything will be fine one day and then I could forget that demons ever existed, I finally succeeded in curbing down my worries.

After the shower, I wore the same clothes since I had nothing else to change into and walked out of the bathroom.

Sebastian was already asleep on the couch, his one hand under his head while the other one over his stomach. A sharp metallic edge shone from under his cushion. Wondering what it was, I approached him and realised it was a dagger. If I hadn't had seen any demons that day, I swore I'd have called the cops immediately. But now it made perfect sense to me. When you're on the Wanted List of demons, you have to stay ready
24,7.

Not wanting to turn his bad joke into reality, I carefully removed the dagger from under his cushion and placed it on the edge of the couch.

Then I collapsed on the comfortable bed. The warm bedsheet and comfy pillows helped me escape my unpleasant thoughts as my eyes became heavy.

"Laura, wake up!" I heard Sebastian calling me next morning. I looked out of the window. Though it was a bright morning, inside my heart, the black clouds of grief and sadness were still spread out.

He was wearing his usual black leather jacket over a white Tshirt. He wasn't wearing any bandage anymore. But I noticed that the cut wasn't healed yet, obviously he was no Wolverine. He told me to freshen up and went to bring breakfast.

By the time he came back,  I'd bathed and was just about to call my father.

"No. Laura, you can't contact your dad." He came hurriedly and snatched away my phone.

What was wrong with him, I wondered. He then gave me a big fat explanation of how certain smarty black eyes could track down a person just by a mere phone call. I was convinced and kept the phone aside. I didn't care whether demons would come chasing after me again. I was scared of the fact that demons would rather approach my father and get out the information from him. Like Sebastian said, remaining silent was in the best interests.

But that was how logic worked. I obviously wanted to call my dad or Amanda and empty my heart. However, I finally convinced myself and gave Sebastian my phone for keeping it away from me. Otherwise my weak heart, for a few minutes of relief, would destroy mine as well as my father's entire life. What more of mine or my dad's life was left to be destroyed, I wondered, gulping down my uneasy thoughts.

We checked out after breakfast and hit the road. Who knew that it wasn't the last time I visited this motel; the next time, contrary to the present, being one of the happiest moments of my life.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Nowhere specific. We need to get out of Colorado as soon as possible." He said.

"Sebastian, why are the demons chasing me?" I asked after a while.

During the breakfast, I'd asked Sebastian the same question. But he'd waved it off with a lame excuse like 'No talking while eating'.

But even now he didn't answer. Suddenly a tourism ad on radio became the most interesting thing he'd heard this week.

"Sebastian?"

I asked again before my mind could go back in the chain of replaying my worries about my dad and Amanda.

"Laura, this stuff about demons, believe me you don't want to know. It's not something a girl like you should get into. Once all this is over, you can go back to your normal life. Just forget this as a bad nightmare or as a good adventure, the way you see it." He answered.

"Dude, you do realize that I was followed by half a dozen of those blood thirsty demons. Do you think I would just forget it. I need a complete explanation. Don't give me the crap that I shouldn't know any of this, I'm a grown up now!" I flared.

I recalled Delroy talking about how he was after someone for sixty years and that person being first my mother and then me. My mother! My stomach clenched. 

I wondered how she'd died. All my life I'd thought,like others believed too, that she'd died during my birth. But the way Delroy said he'd hunted her down and I was the prize she'd succeeded in hiding for all these years, my mind filled with another wave of questions. Something told me there was some really dangerous secret my family was keeping, actually the opposite of a secret; the secret which others knew but I'd no clue of.

He sighed.

"So you wouldn't budge, huh. So where do I start. What stuff do you know about this stuff, the weird stuff?" He asked me.

"Well, demons are always blood thirsty and they are monsters who feed on humans and, well, God and angels can protect us." I answered what I firmly believed.

"So you are perfectly normal, brainwashed since your birth." He sighed.

"Now listen carefully. The world is a big place and if you observe carefully, it's full of evil. There are many foul creatures that walk the earth. demons being, perhaps, the foulest of all. Yes, they do feed on humans. But they also hunt their souls. They are nasty beings and if God or angels existed, it would be nice to think that they would take care of them. But unfortunately we are on our own."

"What do you mean. God and angels, they are unreal?They don't exist?!" I exclaimed. It's really shocking to know that all your life you'd looked upon to, you'd prayed to, hadn't had ever existed.

"Priest's daughter, what can I expect." he sighed.

"Can't tell about God. But angels, they definitely don't exist. If they had, don't you think someone would have spotted them at least once in ten centuries. Even the oldest of our records don't hold a single vision of angel, let alone God, well except the fictional holy Bible." He explained.

I couldn't believe this. No day had passed that I hadn't had prayed to the angels or God.

"You know what, just because you see demons, they exist and just because you can't see angels, they don't, that's the lamest logic. I pray to angels, to god, everyday and... "

"And see where they got you." He finished my sentence, inverting the whole meaning.

"I'm sure he had his reasons. Why are you so hell bent on proving his non-existence? " The air suddenly felt tenser.

"And why are you so hell bent on proving his role in your life?" He said with the same anger I'd spoken.

"You know what, with time, you will just see how many times your God will fail you and then you will realize that he'd never existed. It's the way how it works." He continued. 

"Screw you and your atheism." I flared and looked out of the window. The only good thing about this conversation was that my anger emptied my mind of thoughts about demons and broke the Sebastian-is-my-Prince-Charming debate which had been secretly going on in some part of my mind.

That's the strange thing about faith. When you have a deep unquestionable faith in someone, you wouldn't ever realise or acknowledge the fact whether that very person has betrayed you, even if all the evidences are against him. In my case, God had betrayed me and I wasn't doubting Him, my faith. Instead I was angry at Sebastian, the very person who had come to my aid when I needed Him the most.

We spent the next hour in total silence.

Then the car decelerated as a broken board stating

C A F É   A B E R

rushed into my vision.

"I'll be back in a few minutes." Sebastian said as he shut the door which made another wave of glass shards fall on the road. This piece of crap needed serious garage help.

Since a few hours had passed since our little argument, my anger had now mostly dissipated which forced my mind again to think on demons.
I closed my eyes and images of my past flashed like a slide show. I wondered how my father, Amanda, my friends and teachers were reacting to my disappearance. Poor Amanda would be speed driving in and out of town while my father would be relentlessly praying at the church. I almost reached for my phone which now sat comfortably in Sebastian's weird collection in the glove box. But I decided against it.

Just a few weeks. Sebastian's lie was my only solace.

After a few minutes, I saw him emerging from the rusty place Cafe Aber holding a poster in one hand while a carry bag in the other.

"Hungry?" He asked as he tossed the carry bag at me.

It revealed a burger and some french fries. He started the engine and soon we were back on the journey.

"What's that?" I asked as my attention drifted from the burger, which didn't taste quite good, to the poster. He had kept it folded on the windshield.

'Nothing you should worry about." Sebastian said as soon as I touched the poster. But he didn't snatch it away.

EXORCISM. C GRADE. 500 $

"What's this?" I repeated as I saw these words written below a picture of a hideous evil looking girl. An address was provided at the end of the poster.

"Laura, look, you really shouldn't get into this stuff. If you do, you may never escape." He warned and ignored me the next time I asked the same question.

Assuming it was some horror movie poster, I kept it aside and decided to take a nap.

Then, after a couple of hours, we stopped for dinner. We halted at another motel, kilometres away from Blueberry.

"Laura, don't go anywhere. Call me if anything springs up. And don't even think of calling your father; you know why." He said next morning as he tossed my phone at me.

"Where are you going?" I asked sleepily. I was still in my bed.

"I'll be back in a few hours." He said and left.

I took a shower, again dressed back in the same clothes and ordered a sandwich through room service. After calling Sebastian the third time, he finally answered and told me he'd be back soon.

And then he took a couple more hours before returning.

The schedule was repeated for the next and the next to next day with little variations. We'd travel all day, halt at the Cafe Aber's which surprisingly had sown its roots like in every town we were travelling through, then Sebastian would disappear for almost half day and when he'd return, we'd back on the endless journey.

The few variations included me getting to visit a local park, a church which refreshed my mind, Sebastian getting most of the car fixed in just one night and we going to shopping just for a few minutes. Finally, I'd two pairs of new clothes.

But the biggest change that took place, bigger than the change in my living, was in me.

After having puffed eyes for almost half a week now, I'd finally calmed down. When I'd expected myself to be mourning in my loss until I got back home, I was holding up pretty well.

Yes, it was pretty weird to start feeling better so soon. But I'd succeeded in convincing myself what Sebastian had been trying to tell me all these days was the truth. I believed that all my family and friends weren't in danger's way. I believed that this was a matter of few weeks at most and then I'd return to my good old life and one day build my dream hospital which kind of helped me come back. It was the faith I put in Sebastian's words that helped me calm down. The faith that everything will be fine and a strong desire of living my dream were the only factors that helped me come back.

That said, inside, I was still broke. You can't just expect things to turn out good when your heart strongly believes in quite the opposite.

During these few days of my new nomadic lifestyle, Sebastian and I would barely talk. Most of the time we were in his Chevy so whenever I tried to interact, my question mostly being related to the paranormal which had disturbed my life, he'd increase the volume of the radio and pretend he didn't hear me. When we were at the motel, he'd fall asleep in less than a minute and always woke me up at 5 am sharp to go on yet another travel or to inform me that he'd be gone for a few hours.

I soon realised how wrongly I'd sketched out his theme in my mind when we'd first met. He was surely not the Prince Charming I'd thought him to be.

My sad state of mind which made me stay as silent as a lonely cloud and Sebastian's reluctance to introduce me to the world of the crazy helped me stay away from the weird and thus preserve my sanity until now. But then curiosity started taking over and I realised I really needed to check where Sebastian vanished daily. Every night he used to come either bruised or with minor cuts here and there.

The next morning, I rose up early and the moment he stepped out of the room, I hurried towards him. And after a long discussion, Sebastian finally agreed to take me with him, though reluctance coloured his stiff 'fine'. But there was some kind of look on his face that said, you'll realise now why taking you for a hunt isn't a good idea.

"So, where are we going?" I asked when we were back in the chevy which, after Sebastian's hours of hard work, had become a bit less unpleasant. The windows were fixed and the humongous dents were made less pronounced.

"Café Aber." he replied sternly.

"But we just had breakfast?" I complained wondering why did he keep going to the rusty place. The food there tasted like crap.

"Yeah, I know. Cafes are not just places meant for eating. You'll see." He said as if a big event like some marathon took place in these cheapest kinds of cafes I'd ever seen. I still couldn't get why Aber had so many branches all across Colorado.

We didn't speak much until we reached Aber Cafe. Apart from it's weird location, the place didn't stand out differently. I expected the place to be full of hunters, weird demon-killing atheists like Sebastain since he claimed something was special about this cafe. And having heard this, I looked at the cafe with a complete different view than before.

But the place seemed usual; packed with normal people, like any other cafe, but way less crowdy. Perhaps it was the look of the cafe that kept people away. The paint of the building was ruined at many places and the 'Café Aber' board was tilted nearly at an angle of 45 degrees.

I followed Sebastian through the cafe until I reached 'Gents Toilet'. Embarrassed, I quickly opened the ladies room. I freshened up even though I didn't have to and came out. I expected Sebastian to be waiting out somewhere but even after looking for him everywhere, I couldn't see him. Where was he?

Then I saw him rush through the gents door.
"Laura, where were you. I searched for you everywhere!" He exclaimed.

"In there? Sebastian, for your kind information, ladies don't just walk into gents's washroom. And what the hell would I do in a freaking gents's toilet?" I asked him, obviously surprised.

"Oh right, I forgot to tell you. Listen, Aber is one of the few places where we hunters meet. But where we meet is at the basement of the cafe, which can only be accessed through Men's washroom, I guess. Now if you don't hurry, we'll lose the job." he said hurriedly.

What job? I wanted to ask. But he quickly went inside the washroom.

Having no other option, I entered the toilet hoping our job wouldn't turn out into cleaning the toilet. I could see a waiter looking curiously at me. Fortunately, it was just me and Sebastian inside the toilet. He approached one of the urinals and I followed him wondering how would we get to the basement.

Yeah, I got it. It's like Harry Potter, isn't it? He would do something there, like flushing, I guess, and a torrent of water, possibly non-dirty, would take us to the actual hunter's place. Or he might push some brick to open a secret passageway...

My mind filled with a million thoughts as my weird fiction loving side took over my brain.

In order to know what and how he was going to trigger on the secret passageway, I tried to take a peek.

"What are you doing?!" Shouted Sebastian.

"Well, aren't you doing the Ministry of Magic thingy?" I asked.

He paused, gave me a weird expression and yelled.

"For God's Sake , Harry Potter's a fiction!".

"Yeah, right." I turned away as my face went red.

Yeah, that's another thing about me. I was a helpless nerd - Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Sherlock, Game of Thrones, say anything and I did fall in that respective fandom for at least a year. But, yeah, I wasn't definitely this childish. Well, in my defence, you know how weird my life was currently which made me rethink about all the fictions I had read.

He zipped up and washed his hands while I tried to look elsewhere, utterly embarrassed - both by my mentality and action.

"Now, I don't know whether you wanted to flush into our 'Hunters Club' but we have a perfectly functioning door". He walked towards a door at the end of the urinals system which read 'Visitors Not Allowed'.

"Really? That is supposed to keep people away?" I asked.

"Well, that's one of the reason we chose this cafe. All the teenagers go to McD or such highly trending cafes. Aber Cafe is often visited by other people who, not being teens, don't have much interest in breaking any rules. Moreover, the owner is a hunter himself and he isn't so keen on providing good service to the non-hunters. And I guess you must've noticed the condition of the place. So no one in his right minds visits the Aber Cafe the second time. And well, it's Aber cafe we are talking about. Ever heard of it?" He raised his eyes.

I got his point.

"But still, if someone manages to go in and finds out about you people?" I asked curiously while wondering what was on the other side of the door.

"Then we'll just make sure that guy doesn't come here the next time." Sebastian smiled.

Before I could process that, he had already gone in the other room. I quickly followed him, curiosity arising in my mind.

Now I wish I never had opened that door. Now I wish I never had came to this cafe.  Because the person I was going to meet down there shared something so terrible with me that it made me doubt a pure guy like Sebastian on more than one occasions. And you know how suspicion works. Once its seeds are sown, it first grows so slowly that it is beyond our notice and then it erupts like a volcano, destroying everything in its wake.

But as it turned out,  though I didn't believe it then, what she'd told was indeed the truth. Sebastian wasn't helping me out of the good of his heart. There really was something he was hiding from me - the fact that he was using me.