Coming down the stairs, Bhairavi almost collided with a frantic Samanya, "Where were you!? I was looking for you everywhere. I was worried something happened to you."

Though his eyes showed concern, his expression slowly schooled itself into an impassive one.

'I don't like crowds. Had thought of spending time in some less crowded corner. Saw you dancing with some new friends, so I took off on my own,' Bhairavi spoke mentally, not breaking eye contact.

His jaw tightened, "Oh, so you decided to leave me and have fun on your own? Do you know I have never..." he lowered his voice after taking a quick look around, "Do you remember I have never danced with humans or gone to their engagement parties, or did that slip your mind? You bring me as your plus one, and then desert me?"

'I didn't want to disturb you, while you were having fun. And...I needed to think. You were not letting me apologize and...' Realising that she was worsening the situation, she did the only thing which felt rational in that moment, she hugged him. 'I am sorry Samanya. Please let me speak,' she said when she felt he was opening his mouth to argue.

'I was nervous and excited about the party and you were constantly assuming that Mayuri and Rakesh won't last...I just lost my temper. I don't even know why, they aren't even my best friends anymore. But how could I let you think that my generation was bad at maintaining relationships. That is like blaming an entire sack of potatoes for a few rotten ones.'

"Potatoes?"

She could hear the mirth in his voice and broke away from the hug, scowling, 'Be serious. That's all you noticed from the entire apology?'

"Still, potatoes?"

And they both started laughing at that. After their laughter abated, Bhairavi spoke, 'Forgive me? I should not have said such mean and hurtful things about your family. I truly am sorry.'

"I forgive you. Either way, it is really really hard to stay mad at you. I had to do my very best to not thaw at your first attempt to apologize."

Bhairavi shoved him and he laughed before holding her hand. She blushed a little at the gesture.

"Have you eaten anything? I, for one, am starving."

'Does a piece of kebab and a couple of glasses of wine count?'

Samanya glowered at her, without speaking.

'Then let's go and eat,' Bhairavi suggested, grinning at him.

They left after dinner, turning down the loud protests of Mayuri and Rakesh for leaving so early, the party was just warming up they complained.

"Bhairavi, I must thank you for coming, it meant a lot to us. I just want to say one thing. If possible, do have tea with me in college? I miss my tea buddy." At Bhairavi's nod, Mayuri's smile brightened before becoming a tad sly.

"By the way, who is the cutie with you? You have to give me all the details over tea in college, okay?" she whispered, while Samanya was talking to Rakesh. But Bhairavi was sure he had heard it, Rakshasa senses were superior to human ones. Bhairavi nodded at that quickly, embarrassed, before bidding them goodbye.

Bhairavi and Samanya reached her home by ten, and Namma was happy to see them on time. She insisted on inviting Samanya in, "No, I won't hear a single word. I know you live alone, that too in the next lane itself. Why the hurry? Have a cup of cocoa-nut coffee? Bhairavi told me you like it too."

Bhairavi stared at Namma's blatant lie, she had never told her...oh, she must have checked what they ordered on the day they met in her cafe, Namma and her detective skills! Bhairavi shook her head, not knowing whether to be amused or concerned.

'Will change and come. You two talk,' she signed before going to her room.

It took some time to scrub her face clean, brush her hair and change her clothes for she had no one to help her with the zip. Then remembering her powers, she focused on the zip and tried to make it move.

Being tipsy, it took her a few minutes to get it right and by the time she went back to the living room, Namma had not only made him cocoa-nut coffee but was also showing him her childhood and vacation albums.

Horrified at being seen in diapers and picking her nose, she desperately signed at Namma, 'What is all this!?' while she spoke in his mind, 'You are so getting your ass kicked for agreeing to this.'

Samanya laughed at her expression and words before reaching for the vacation albums. "Okay, okay, I will look at only these then. Happy?"

As he flipped through the pages and discussed the photos, with Namma providing him all the trip details, Bhairavi groaned and went to get a glass of water to drink.

As she drank, she heard them talk.

"And these photos were from their last trip together, you know, before they died in a car accident and she survived.”

On hearing that she put the glass down and closed her eyes, she would never get over losing them if this is how bad she felt even a month after their death.

"Isn't this the Aritar Monastery? I used to live there before I shifted here."

"Oh, were you alone there as well?"

"No, no, I was with my family. I was born and brought up there, it is our native place."

Bhairavi's eyes opened immediately on hearing that. Her mind started racing. The man with the red gleam in his eyes, the accident which she still did not remember, Samanya talking about how he left home after his father murdered a family, his father...Jaragarbha was it, and their kingdom...his capable younger brothers...the group of men with the man standing in the center like a leader...her mind was swirling.

It was all too much of a coincidence. Bhairavi stood there and shut her eyes. Focusing with all her might, she delved deep into her memories, determined to know what happened that night after they left Aritar.

** As they ran out of the hotel, she kept on asking her parents what happened but they refused to say a word. Her father took the keys from their driver, deaf to the man's protests, and after shutting her in the backseat, they drove off. Bhairavi was scared to death, something was up, something big, else her parents would never be so upset.

Her father was driving rather rashly and as he was not used to driving in the mountains, she decided to not pester him for information till they reached plain ground. But before that could happen, a fairly large rock fell from the mountain and heavily dented the roof of the car. Another, even larger one, narrowly missed their car.

Maa yelped in panic and made her father drive faster when a giant rock hit the car hard and sent them swiveling near the edge. It teetered, barely balanced.

Bhairavi's breath was knocked out of her lungs at the sudden motion and as she stared, dazed at the way things had turned out, her mother made a choice. She seemed to pray, with folded hands, and murmured something before opening the back door and pushing Bhairavi out of the car.

Stunned, Bhairavi fell a little distance away from the edge, near one of the large rocks which seemed to tower over her horizontal state.

Rubbing the dust off her scraped and bruised limbs, she had pushed herself up into a sitting position and was about to crawl to the car and pull them out somehow, when the largest rock yet, fell from the mountainside and pushed the car over the edge. Along with her parents. She crawled to the edge and looked down.

In the darkness, the car was not visible. Her parents could not have survived the fall. Her parents... her parents were no more. Gasping for breath, Bhairavi felt agony rip through her  like never before. She looked around to see if she could get someone to help her look for her parents.

Her eyes caught movement at the top of the mountain as the full moon was behind it. The men she saw seemed to climb down the mountainside with ease and reached the ground within moments.

She hid behind the large rock near which she had fallen, and looked on. There were three of them.

"Seems we got rid of the idiots. Just imagine, rejecting the honor of their daughter belonging to our father, the King. It is a sad thing that such a beautiful girl had to die to pay for her parents' mistakes."

Another voice spoke, "Did you see her gorgeous figure, I don't know how father resisted and showed respect enough to ask for her hand. I would have taken her then and there, right in front of them," and smacked his lips.

She heard a third voice, "Yes, holding her by those long, black tresses. I am sure father would have loved to ride her, while holding her tightly by those silky reins."

As the men joked and talked about how they would love to do her, Bhairavi's stomach roiled and rage like never before seemed to fill her. Her mind spun and as she lost consciousness, the last thing she remembered was that she would avenge her honor, along with the death of her parents. **

Waking from the trance, Bhairavi found her cheeks wet. She had been crying from the memory. She took deep breaths to keep it all in. Only then she realised the reason behind her subconscious desire to get rid of her long, beautiful hair. But she would not waste a tear. All her emotions, pain, anger, vengeance, regret needed to be bottled up to be used at the right moment.

She re-entered the kitchen. Namma was talking avidly with Samanya while Summer jumped and scrambled all over him. Turning to look at her, the smile on his face dropped when he saw her expression.

She nodded ever so slightly, not now. Samanya got the hint and got up. "Your coffee was simply delightful, Ma'am, erm Namma," he corrected himself at her frown. "But I must leave now, it is getting late. I hope to meet you again soon. Good night!"

Namma bade him goodbye and Bhairavi signed that she was going to walk him to the gate. Nodding, Namma began to pick up the cup and albums, while they left the house.

"What's wrong, Bhairavi?"

'Everything. You never told me that your father murdered my family. Conveniently left out the detail, did you?' Bhairavi spoke mentally, her tone sharp and steely.

"What!? What do you.... " his eyes widened as realisation dawned, "It was your fam...I had no idea Bhairavi. I swear. I was at home when all this happened. My father came home, livid. I heard from his men that he had sent three of my brothers to 'punish' a family for daring to go against him.

It was not too hard to decipher that he had given an order to kill. The next day, it was all in the newspaper, but I was too revolted to give it a read and find out the details. I knew he terrorized people, but since I mostly stayed with my mother, till she left for France, I did not know much of his criminal activities."

'Why stay with your father? Why not go with your mother then, if you knew he was bad?'

"Mother wanted me to stay and try to look after my younger brothers, try to mould them to be kinder, but I was a failure. They were vicious from childhood, and scoffed at my soft nature.

I had been contemplating going to France when all this happened. I decided to get away from all this, but I could not face my mother and tell her that her younger sons had become worse than their father. My mother had grown kind with the growth of civilization and was almost fond of humans, but not my father. Believe me, Bhairavi. If not, you can probe into my mind and check."

Bhairavi stared at him, trying to see if he was putting up an act. But the more she thought about it, the more she realised that he had not lied. He had had so many opportunities to kill her or kidnap her for his father, but he had never done a single inappropriate thing.

Sighing, she understood and accepted that he was not at fault. 'I will be avenging what was taken away from me, Samanya. I will kill your brothers and your father. Can you live with that? Else, we part tonight as strangers.'

Samanya replied instantly, "I am on your side Bhairavi. I may be a Rakshasa, but I have a conscience. You lost your family at the hands of mine. It is only right that they part with their lives to pay their debt to you."

Bhairavi asked again, 'Last chance. Can you stand seeing your family die? Your loved ones?'

"Bhairavi, I am close to my mother, but I lost all love for my brothers and father as soon as I saw them torturing others. The day they committed a murder, I left. I love them, but I don't respect them anymore. May their deaths liberate them from their sins."

'Okay. Then we will leave tomorrow. For Aritar.'

"Whoa, hold on! You can't go like this!"

'Excuse me?'

"Bhairavi, you have had barely any training. You need to build more mental powers and also know some basic combat skills. Please. At least for a week, minimum."

Bhairavi was silent for a while, before she spoke, 'Fine. One week. At your place. But we need to practice more. I'll miss college.'

"What will you tell Namma? Also, you will have to practice for minimum eight to ten hours. There will be meditation, mental combat, and physical combat to learn and practice. You need to tell her the truth."

'No. Not yet. I'll...I'll move to your place for a week then. Less time wasted and less questions to answer everyday.'

Samanya was shocked, "But...but...look, I am fine with it. But what will Namma say? And she deserves the truth."

'And she will get it! But not now. Soon. For now....I have something in mind. I'll see if I can convince her. Leave it to me. I will see you tomorrow morning. Good night Samanya. '

Full of questions, Samanya reluctantly left, curious and worried. He hoped Bhairavi would not take any drastic steps, what with her short temper and avenging mood.

Bhairavi stared at his receding shadow, lost in thought. Then she turned and walked back inside. She finally knew the truth, and she would ensure that justice was served.

A/N

Hey there! Here is the promised update. Don't forget to do your magic by voting and commenting, they make my day!

Love,
Kaushiki.