Bright sunlight hit her face, making Riddhima groan and bury deeper into the covers. She was not a morning person at the best of times. Vaguely, she recalled the reason behind her splitting sensitivity to light this morning and a mouth that tasted like sandpaper. Her stomach churned in protest at the thought of a certain amber liquor. Ugh! She was swearing off brandy forever. Swinging her legs off the bed, she winced, trudging groggily to the bathroom.
Turning on the shower, she hissed in pleasure as her body slowly awakened, her muscles feeling oddly sore. Flashes of yesterday came to her as she lathered up. Had she dreamed it all? In the optimism of the day, it seemed preposterous that she was linked to a ghost. How much exactly had she drunk yesterday?
Her eyes caught two prominent red marks on her neck, making her gasp in horror. Shit shit shit! She trailed her finger over them, wincing at the dull throbbing pain. What the hell?
“This should remind you in the morning that you shouldn’t play such dangerous games.”
Oh my God…She groaned in mortification, pursing her lips and mock hitting her head on the wall. She had behaved like a drunken wanton last night and a sexy ghost had turned her down like a gentleman. And that too, twice in one day. Looking at the marks again, she shivered in terror and remembered desire. What was wrong with her? Was someone secretly mixing weed in her coffee these days? Why couldn’t she seem to keep her hands off him?
Her phone flashed Rudra’s name, lighting another bulb in her head. The boyfriend was going to take her to see shamans today – Of course! She absentmindedly answered the call, reassuring him to be ready in 5 minutes. After all, she had to go on a madcap mission to eradicate an evil ghost from existence forever. The same one who had shown himself capable of burying a human being alive a hundred years ago. Just how had things become so messed up in just one day? And how the fck was she going to cover these marks on her neck?
She hurriedly picked out a simple black top and acid washed jeans, wrapping her only scarf – an ostentatious red polka dotted one – around her concealer ridden neck. Double protection to cover up all reminders of the previous night, she decided grimly. She was going to pretend she didn’t remember a single thing, and God save him if Vansh even tried to pick on her today! A simple kohl around her doe eyes and a pale pink lipstick, hair tied up in a high ponytail, completed her look for the day. Yes, she looked like a normal girl now. The Law of Attraction better be listening.
Grabbing a sandwich as breakfast on the go, she slid into the passenger side seat of the jeep, waiting for Rudra to catch up. “You look bright today. Had a good night, sweetheart?”
“Fck off,” she muttered, ignoring Vansh’s mocking presence at the back. She could just picture him sitting there, with his bloody dimpled smirk, feeling proud at getting under her skin last night.
“Sounds like I got under someone’s skin,” his deep voice chuckled, near her ear. She felt his cold breath against her hair. “Is that why you decided to wear your grandma’s scarf today? I assure you, little girl, my tastes in women are quite modern these days.”
She turned so fast, she nearly cricked her neck. “Listen, you suited jerk!” She pointed at his suit clad self with her half-eaten sandwich. “I laid down the ground rules last night and one of them included giving me the privacy of my thoughts. This is the least you can do for me, blood link and all!”
Vansh held up his hands in surrender, laughing silently. It only served to goad her further. “And what’s with your velvet blue suit, huh? You are dead, so no need to take a bath and ergo, no need to change your suit or the fabric? Who even wears velvet these days?”
“Ouch,” he was nearly choking on his laughter, much to her chagrin. “You are bringing in the heavy artillery this morning. Okay, okay. I will behave better. Let’s start again. Good morning, my lady. You look beautiful today. Can I kiss your hand?”
“Shut up,” she gritted out, turning to the front. Thankfully, Rudra got in the driver’s seat at that moment before she could dwell too much on words like “beautiful” and “kiss” coming from his delectable mouth. A mouth that was on her neck last night, she mused, trying to quell her rising blushes.
“Ready for a new adventure, girlfriend?” Rudra enquired obliviously, clutching an orange juice for his hangover.
“Could not be more enthusiastic!” she exclaimed with fake cheer.
***
As the jeep finally rolled into the village, Riddhima internally heaved a sigh of relief. Sharing a cramped space for an hour with an impatient ghost and a boyfriend was quite the minefield. Rudra wanted to do regular couple stuff like hold her hand and place his hand on her thigh as he changed gears. But every time he got close, something would get knocked off the dashboard or the radio station would tune in to religious sermons or worse, a Justin Bieber song. Once, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Vansh pinch him as he leaned in to kiss her cheek.
By the end of the trip, he had given up and was profusely apologizing to her for his ‘old jeep’ and ‘nasty insects in the wilderness.’ Vansh only smirked in response to her murderous glares.
As she stepped out, the soothing chirping of birds mingled with the gushing sound of the river calmed her senses. A light mist lay just beyond the entrance, as if the beginning of another world. A simple wooden board hung lopsided on the gate with the words “Magik Village” carelessly scribbled. Villagers with weathered faces turned to look at them, as they made their way towards the cottages. Old ladies sat by the roadside, chanting under their breath with typical magic accoutrements spread over the table. “They tell your fortune here,” Rudra whispered to her reverentially. “We can try our luck at one of these tables on the way back. Just for the experience, you know.”
She nodded absentmindedly, looking towards Vansh. He was looking grim, staring straight ahead. What was that name he had told her earlier? Yes, Ahilya Devi. How did one even begin this conversation? ‘Excuse me, sir/madam. Could you please direct me to anyone alive today related to a magical priestess, who by the way, existed a 100 years ago?’
The moment they stepped beyond the gate, the mist lifted suddenly, a bustling bazaar surrounding them. The riot of colours stunned her for a moment. “Oh my God,” she exclaimed in delight, eyeing the colourful shawls, displays of gemstones and wacky styled tourists ambling about. “What is this place?” She noticed foreigners checking out the wares, each shop hosted by an unmistakably witchy looking lady.
“Surprise!” Rudra grinned, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. “Yeh iss jagah ki khaas baat hai. Tourists drive down for hours to get the spooky feels here. It’s like Halloween but in carnival format all day and night. And aaj toh kuch aadhe chaand ki raat hai. They say the shamans connect with their ancestral spirits on this night and perform sacred rituals to honour them.”
“Um, are these ladies really shamans?” she eyed the shop women suspiciously. Dressed up in an assortment of bright clothing, complete with purple turbans and crystal ball displays in hand, they looked like they belonged on the set of Harry Potter. But then what did she know about the ghostly world?
“No, silly. This is all for tourism. I guess there may be real shamans somewhere if you believe in that sort of stuff…” He shrugged, turning her towards a gemstone and crystals shop. She snuck a quick look at Vansh, who was eyeing his surroundings with distaste. “Hey, check this out.” Rudra was holding out a deep blue stone with a white starshaped light in the middle.
“Ah madam, this stone is the most perfect choice by your handsome gentleman,” the toothy shopkeeper told her eagerly. “It’s a star sapphire; it protects the wearer against the evil eye. Priced only at rupees 1050 for you.”
It was probably worth a fourth of that price. “We will take it,” Rudra spoke confidently, ignoring her protests as he paid.
She heard a certain ghost scoff behind her, which she ignored. Vansh was being such a sour puss. Turning her back towards Rudra, she pushed her ponytail to the side in invitation. As he took his sweet time fastening the clasp, her eyes met Vansh’s dark ones; a possessive gleam in them sending a sadistic thrill through her.
As she passed by him towards the next shop, he grabbed her elbow, looking meaningfully down at her. “We are supposed to be working here. Get rid of your clown.”
‘Oh really. What do you even expect me to do?’ she thought irritably, hoping he would tune into her mind this time, rule breaker that he was. ‘Ask these fancy-dress participants where your evil ghost’s haunting grounds are?’
“You are not even trying, Riddhima,” he whispered, angrily. “Is this all a joke to you? While you gallivant merrily with this idiot, I have tasks to complete.”
‘Then complete them! And he is not an idiot!’ She pulled her arm from his grip, noticing Rudra giving her quizzical look out of the corner of his eye. She must quite look odd to him, glaring into thin air. Struggling to keep a neutral expression, she thought sharply. ‘I am not your personal assistant. Why don’t you go make yourself useful now that you aren’t haunting a gloomy mansion? Find me when you locate your priestess friend. I will be around, enjoying my date with my boyfriend.‘
Without a backward glance, she grabbed Rudra’s arm, determined to enjoy the rest of the day. Let ghost boy shove his attitude where it belonged!
***
It was late evening. She was having the time of her life! Vansh had disappeared, leaving her feeling carefree and ghost free. The locals were welcoming, if not opportunistic, shoving ‘magical’ trinkets and ‘energy cleansing’ routines at them. She had thrice been told by ‘witches’ that she was going to move to London, marry ‘the-sweet-boy-beside-her’ and bear him three beautiful children – one boy and two girls. Her boyfriend was showering gifts on her, despite her protests, obligating her to spend money to buy him random stuff to make it even. He was so sweet and normal that Riddhima felt ready to take this date up a notch.
Wearing an abstract off-shoulder knitted top that she had bought in the market, she pulled down her hair, wanting the feel of the wind in her tresses on the rickety Ferris wheel. She had drawn the line at the more adrenaline pumping rides that Rudra was attracted to. This would have been a perfect day, if not for her ghostly tasks. At Vansh’s continued absence throughout the day, she had begun to feel a little guilty and half-heartedly asked around for someone related to Ahilya Devi. Meeting blank stares and another round of sales pitches for various magical products, she had given up, leaving it to Vansh to sort his own issues out.
“I didn’t expect this to be so much fun, Rudra,” she told him softly, leaning her head against his shoulder. “Thank you for bringing me here.” The Ferris wheel had stopped spinning, allowing the ones at the top to enjoy the colours of the setting sun.
He caught her chin gently, raising her head to look into his chocolate-brown eyes. She knew what was coming. She felt ready for it. In the colours of the dusk at the very top of a Ferris wheel, she closed her eyes in anticipation of the kiss. When none came for a while, she opened them, staring at confusion at Rudra making a kissy face inches from her face. It was so bizarre that she could only sputter, “What the fuck?!”
“He’s seeing an illusion,” explained a bored voice from behind her, making her scream and jump instinctively. The chair swung dangerously, threatening to topple her over the flimsy handlebar. Vansh caught her hand in time, pulling her onto his lap. He grinned lazily, looking down at her indignant expression.
“What is wrong with you?!” she inquired breathlessly, her fear from the near-death experience making her tone sound weaker than intended. “You promised not to startle me! And what is wrong with him?” Rudra was now staring into space with a goofy smile plastered on his face.
“Like I said, I have given him an entertaining illusion…so that we can speak privately.”
“Tum pagal ho?” she uttered, vexed beyond words. She squirmed to get off his lap. “You can’t just-” Vansh held her tighter against him, pulling her legs over his.
“I found something…or someone,” he told her seriously, stilling her struggles. “From what I could see, she is one of the real deals in this fake Shamanic joke of a world. Its Ardh Chandrima tonight. There will be a surge of power in the general vicinity from the practicing shamans. We have to locate those powerhouses through this woman and cajole an alliance to help us find Ahilya’s descendent and through her, trace Kabir.”
“Why can’t they directly help us find Kabir?”
“Because darling…” Vansh pushed back her hair from her face tenderly, lingering over her cheekbones. She shivered, her toes curling. “The ancestors of the four Shaman elders are linked by blood to Kabir. Just like I am linked to you. They cannot help us find him even if they wanted to.”
“What? What did you say?” she sat up in horror, his hand falling away from her face. “But that means…”
“That he is powerful as a spirit, drawing energy from their magic. That he can move anywhere more freely than I can. Before I died, Kabir negotiated a blood bond with the ancestors of these shamans in return for a vengeful favour. It acted as his security against me when he died and took his spirit form. He knew I would come for him eventually, you see. I don’t know the whole story, but we really cannot trust anyone here, except Ahilya’s living descendent.”
“Why only her? Isn’t she a magical person too?”
“Ahilya was a priestess; a God’s servant bound by a sacred vow to her deity through generations. Her blood cannot be tampered with by any spirit. It will always be pure.”
“You knew about this all this while” she accused, glaring at him. “And yet you insist on asking these shamans for help? If he is more powerful than you, why do you insist on taking Kabir on singlehandedly? What else are you hiding, Vansh?”
“I am not a fool,” he stated quietly, winding a lock of her hair around his hand. He looked into her eyes, the kind of look that heated her insides. Slowly, the action brought her face closer to his, diminishing her anger. She was looking into the darkness of his eyes, the colour catching the waning light of the sun. He had such beautiful, expressive eyes, she thought fascinated. “Tell me, Riddhima…” He tugged her face closer with her captured locks, their noses almost touching. His familiar scent beckoned her, drowning her in memories of last night. “…gifts, sunsets in Halloween town, kisses on top of a Ferris wheel…is this what I have to do to impress you?” he murmured, looking down at her lips.
If he was trying to distract her, it was definitely working. “You want to impress me?” she squeaked, biting her lips nervously. The old Ferris wheel gave a jolt as it restarted, causing their noses to bang together. They both jumped back, the spell broken. Seeing each other’s startled expression, they grinned and then began laughing. The harsh lines of Vansh’s face softened when he laughed, she noticed, committing his dimpled smile to memory.
As the ride went down, she slid off his lap primly, trying to appear unaffected. “I will meet you closer to time,” he told her, snapping his fingers in front of Rudra’s slack face. “Wear the ceremonial dress. Lose the lover boy.”
Rolling her eyes as he disappeared again, she turned towards a confused bleary-eyed Rudra with a dazzling smile. “Hey sleepy pants, nap time’s over. We have to get off this ride.”
***
The night was alive with the ringing of bells and the sound of fireworks going off in the sky. The seva ceremony was about to start. It marked the beginning of the Ardh Chandrima ritual, where volunteers served the shaman elders and assisted them in prayers. As per Vansh, at least four of the shamans in this ceremony were the real deal, including the old woman he had found today. At the end, if found feasible, each volunteer was awarded their heart’s desire. Or so, it was claimed by the locals.
Riddhima looked out the window from the guest cottage, inhaling the intoxicating scent of jasmine growing beneath in the garden. The half moon visible in the sky, adding to the allure of the magical night. She felt like a goddess, draped in a flowy deep maroon shaman attire. Her hair was open, trailing down her back, with a ring of white flowers adorning her head like a traditional tiara.
“It’s almost time.”
She turned to see Vansh, leaning against the doorway. “You changed,” she exhaled softly in surprise, looking at his cream-beige kurta pajama. “I didn’t know you could do that.”
He gave her that wicked half smile of his. “Does that mean you like it?”
“Relieved is the word,” she scoffed, trying to ignore his sheer handsomeness in traditional attire. “That suit made you look like an old strutting peacock who hadn’t got some in years.” Lies. But she wasn’t about to admit she found him hot no matter what he wore. Right now, he looked like an Indian prince with his usual perfectly set hair, deigning to grace the common folk with his royal presence.
“Pardon? A peacock? Who hasn’t got what in years?” He looked flabbergasted at her terminology, making her regret saying it in the first place.
“Nothing.”
“Who hasn’t got nothing in years? What was the peacock supposed to have got instead?”
“Sex, you dummy” she muttered under her breath, looking skyward for help.
“I didn’t catch that.”
“You weren’t supposed to. And don’t you even try snooping in my mind again!”
“I-” He looked suddenly distracted, staring at her neckline. She touched her neck, curiously looking down. Nothing seemed out of place. “You know what?” Vansh had the devil’s gleam in his eye, the one that set her nerves fluttering again. “I think you are quite odd, Riddhima.”
She half laughed, pointing at herself in mock surprise. “You think I am odd. You, a hundred-year-old ghost thinks Riddhima, a regular human girl, is odd. Hah! Irony died a thousand deaths with that one.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why do you assume I didn’t get sex in a hundred years?”
Well, that was one heck of a way to change the topic. Hot colour rose to her cheeks. She opened and closed her mouth like a fish, wishing to be anywhere but here. Trying unsuccessfully to suppress a smile, Vansh was looking down at her, his hands folded across his chest. “Gh-ghosts have a sex life?”
“Well, I won’t be technical enough to call it a sex life!” He was enjoying this, she could tell by those damned dimples. But this conversation was making the room feel too warm and small for her liking. “But you know, one has encounters sometimes with other wandering guests in one’s home.”
Amazing. Here, she hadn’t got anyone to knock her panties off in years, and there were ghosts wandering around having sex with each other. Feeling the ugly head of jealousy rear up, she adopted a bored stance. “How riveting! I couldn’t have lived a moment longer without that insight.”
“Well,” he drawled, walking slowly towards her. She stepped back instinctively, bumping into the dresser. “You were the curious one here. I merely wished to satisfy your… inquisitiveness.”
He was really the devil. Playing with her, deliberately toying with words like that, smelling of sandalwood and smoke… Anger rising within, she moved to push him away. He caught her hands in a vicelike grip, effortlessly turning her around in his embrace before she could utter a word. “Temper, temper, little girl. Tch tch.” He met her irate eyes in the mirror.
“Don’t treat me like a child,” she gritted out, elbowing him. Much to her chagrin, he didn’t even wince.
“Hush, sweetheart,” he whispered, trailing his finger over the bright red marks on her skin. “I know you are a strong beautiful woman.” She looked away from his intense knowing eyes, blushing at the compliment. She had tried to cover his love bites with her hair as best she could, her scarf not matching the fashion attire at present and the concealer being stashed in the tree house room. Apparently, they were visible enough to be spotted from across the room to Vansh.
He ran his hand down her hair caressingly, pushing it to one side. She felt cold metal sliding onto her skin and looked as he placed a familiar deep blue star sapphire pendant along her neck. Rudra’s gift. She stared at it quizzically.
“I have charmed it with a bonding spell.” He clipped the chain closed, letting his fingers linger at the nape of her neck. She felt goose bumps rise up on the sensitive flesh, wanting nothing more than to close her eyes and lean into his body. “It makes our connection stronger. If you get into any danger, all you have to do is hold the stone and think of me. We will switch places wherever we are.”
She stared at him, the concern in his eyes apparent to her. “You will put yourself in danger in place of me?”
He exhaled, turning her around and placing his hands on her shoulders. “Riddhima, I am dead.” She winced, the finality of his tone and that word bringing her to cold reality. How could he be dead? He looked vibrant and alive talking to her, holding her. “Your life is more valuable than my spirit. I am touched that you would be willing to put yourself in this situation for me, but I cannot allow you to be hurt.”
“Vansh-“
He placed a finger over her lips. “Promise me, Riddhima,” he looked deeply into her eyes. “You will use it if you are in any danger tonight. You will not think twice, and you will not feel guilty. No matter what happens.”
“I promise,” she spoke softly, her heart hurting at the thought. But Vansh was right. He was a ghost. He could handle himself better than her. In the face of danger, what use would her human frailty be compared to his ghost magic? With more conviction, she repeated his words to her from earlier. “I am not a fool.”
***