3 Hide-n-Seek

He entered the room quivering in fear and stood on his knee. He was aware of his master's temper. He would be furious.

"We have found its location, Master." he gulped. "But... But we are unable to pinpoint the source." he knew this questions his capability as his right hand. His position has been questioned and challenged ever since he got it. But his master had never doubted him and refused to let anyone else take his place. He has let his master down. He was ready to accept punishment. But to his surprise his master laughed. He laughed! This scared him even more. He looked up still unable to understand this reaction. His master never laughs. Never.

Yash hadn't had a hearty laugh in such a long time. Whatever it was he sensed that night was very powerful and apparently well hidden too. Something that powerful can not be hidden easily. It would require a lot of power to suppress it. This piqued his interest even more.

"Vir, move closer and wait till it fills the air again. And then we shall make our move."he smiled. This was the first time a hunt had excited him to this point. Vir stood up, bowed and left the room while Yashretreated to the shadows again. Vir couldn't help but wonder why his master was interested so much. He just had a whiff of its blood by accident. How could a human's blood interest him to this extent..

***

It has been a week since the first day. Priya saw Visha enter the college in a white knee long dress today. She looked like a pure angel ascending from heaven. Just like everyday, guys turned to look at her. Priya's face twitched as she saw the attention Visha grabbed just by walking in.But unlike before, even the girls were looking at Visha too. She smiled and continued to walk to the campus. She was too excited to see today's events unfold. Right then a black sedan swept past her. Priya barely saved herself. The car parked a little further away and she saw a girl in a blue dress get off. And from the passenger seat got off a boy. Arrogant b*stards. Priya thought. She walked upto the girl who was driving. Just when she was about to pull her back, she saw something creep out of the small opening in her bag. Everyone turned her way as Priya screamed. It was a snake. The girl turned and caught its head. It was Dhira, she looked surprised but not scared like everyone else. She turned to Priya and bowed, "I'm sorry I scared you. It's a pet. It must have slipped in unnoticed." Priya nodded but the fear was clearly visible on her face. Dhira then turned to Shivam, "You go to class, I'll get this back home." Shivam looked at the angry Dhira as she pulled out her car keys. She once again turned to Priya, "I really am sorry to scare you." she got in the car and left. Dhira has a pet snake! Who keeps a pet snake? These people really are weird. And it looked like a Krait snake. Aren't they poisonous, are they allowed as pets?

***

Visha felt like something was strange like something was hissing and slithering. This voice came from her back. She turned towards the sound and saw Dhira and Shivam. This hissing sound was coming from Dhira. Dhira seemed to have noticed her gaze as she turned to her. She then suddenly turned around and caught the snake's head. Visha was surprised to see Dhira holding a snake. Dhira then turned to face her again. Visha turned away and quickened her pace. She left without wanting to see anything else.

She continued to walk to the cafeteria to meet up with Priya and others. She went in and saw the whole group sitting and chatting. Visha went up and sat down. Everyone turned to her and smiled, she smiled back and joined in the conversation. Soon she noticed that not just her group but everyone in the whole cafeteria was looking at her. They were giggling and whispering while looking at her.

"Oh my God! This is that freshman isn't she?"

"Look at her, so shameless and unaffected. Coming here and casually acting like nothing happened."

"Yeah. I thought she might be crying in some corner. It doesn't look like we should pity her, she is enjoying the attention."

What do they mean? She picked up her bag and left. Wherever she went, everyone had the same reaction. But why?

Visha turned around to see a huge crowd around the notice board. She immediately went to see what this commotion was about.

***

Dhira stopped the car in a secluded spot and looked around before she got out. She had driven quite far from the residential areas. Snake hissed at her as she pulled it out by its head and threw it aside. As she expected, it didn't go into the woods like a normal snake. It dashed towards her ready to bite. A bloodlust emitting from its hisses as if it was possessed.

Dhira knew now that it was not a real snake, she picked it up again and bashed its head with a rock. As its blood spilled over, Dhira soaked her fingers in its blood and started chanting. The dead snake blew up in fire and smoke. Dhira jumped back. She failed to track this attack back to anyone and banged her hand on the car angrily. Whoever it was, is really good at hiding themselves. There was no point in staying anymore. She got back into the car and called Shivam, "I have nothing. It went quite far this time. They sneaked up a poisonous snake at me."

"Calm down. Anger won't do anything. Maybe we should go back tonight and report this." Shivam knew that this has crossed Dhira's bottom line.

"No. I can handle it myself. If someone wants to play hide and seek with me, they'll soon regret it." Dhira gritted her teeth.