Now and Forever

13. Hybrids

The next day

"So you are telling me the attackers are humans?" Nandini wasn't sure if she heard him right.

"Were humans." Skyler corrected. "Now they are neither humans nor vampires. I guess we could call them hybrid."

"How is that possible? Long ago when the three lords decided to give up feeding on human blood and relying on animal blood, we eventually lost our ability to turn the dead into our kind. So how is that possible?"

"We did but what if there were vampires who started drinking human blood again?"

"You aren't doubting the clan envoys sent to the human world, are you?"

"I am just giving room to possibilities." Skyler shrugged.

"That's not possible in any way." Nandini contradicted. "I agree there is a high possibility of the conversion power manifesting again but it would take time, a lot of time and a lot of sacrifices. May be a hundred years or even more and we have been here for just ten years."

"It's just a possibility. So I am not sure either but one thing is sure it's the doing of our own kind and what's surprising is the attackers vampire DNA hasn't fully manifested. Like I said before they are neither humans nor vampires." he emphasized.

"This is so confusing." Nandini ran a hand through her hair, looking at the DNA report. She had no idea what those beings were or why this all had been happening. "This is still confidential right?"

"I used my own personal lab. So of course it is."

"You have your own personal lab?" she looked at him dubiously.

"What?!" he frowned. "Don't look at me like that. How do you think I make my daily doses of blood substitute medicines? And checking a species genes isn't that much of a work for us even you know that."

"You used to rely on Niell for that. So of course it's doubtful."

"I didn't ask for it." he sounded a bit offended. "He volunteered and ever since I came here in this freaking human filled world I have been relying on myself. And don't you dare forget-" he pointed an accusing finger towards her. "I was once the supervisor of the research team and your superior."

"Thanks for reminding me of something I had never forgotten." she scoffed, placing the report down. She could never forget those days when she had to work under him. He had always been picky and satisfying him was an impossible feat to achieve unless it involved something about her brother Niell.

"What are you going to do to those hybrids now?" she asked after a moment of silence. "You can't hand them over to the human cops and keeping them in your lab for long doesn't seem like a good idea either."

"I am planning on handing them over to the royal guard. You said he was here right?"

She rolled her eyes in disbelief. "You mean Niell."

"Yeah if that's what his name is." he said masking a tone of annoyance.

"Oh my god!! What exactly happened in between you two?" she pried.

"Ask your brother, not me, imposter." he huffed.

"Leave it." she raised both her hands to her shoulder level as a sign of surrender. "I am out of this."

"Good for you then." he shrugged, putting the report file in his bag. "I'll go for now." Swinging his bag on one shoulder, he got up from his seat. "So umm.. when you meet him, give him my address. I can't keep those hybrids in my small lab for long."

"Sure-" she peered up at him under her lashes, mouth twitching slightly before she added, "I'll give him your address as soon as I meet him."

Skyler uttered a snide 'tch' before making his way towards the door. "See you around." he heard Nandini say as his hand reached for the door knob. Right then a strong sweet scent of blood trickled his nose. "Sweet." he muttered silently as he twisted the door knob and simultaneously the door bell rang.

"Manik." Nandini almost ran to the door on realizing the scent. "What brings you here?" she looked at Manik and then at Skyler who had been breathing heavily. Nandini could figure out he had been trying to suppress his want for Manik's sweet blood.

"My god!!" Skyler let out a heavy breath. "We- we need to talk about this later." he added, meeting his gaze with Nandini as he pointed towards the taller guy. He knew he wouldn't be able stay sane minded in such a heavy sweet scent. "You are so reckless." he shook his head lightly before hurrying past Manik.

"Who is that?" Manik asked, looking at Skyler's leaving figure. "Umm by any chance your boyfriend?"

"No way." she denied. "He is just a friend I know."

"Oh!" his eyes drew back to her.

"So eh what brings you here on a weekend?"

"Uhm I was around this area and I thought I should pay you a visit."

"Really?" Nandini doubted but nevertheless she let him in. "Coffee, tea or anything else?" she offered when Manik settled down on the couch.

"No it's fine. I-I just had something to talk to you about." he seemed a bit anxious and that made Nandini conscious. What if her brainwashing hadn't worked on him? What if he still remembered? Her mind suddenly filled with 'what ifs' and every possible 'what ifs' just made her feel even more anxious.

"About?"

"Eh so for yesterday I uhm-" he paused, letting out a breath. "I am sorry."

"Sorry?" her eyebrows met in confusion. "Sorry for what?"

"My housemaid said that you brought me back home. I am so sorry for burdening you. I don't even remember where or when I fell asleep." he ran a hand through his hair, pushing his bangs backward.

She let out a sigh. "You came all the way here just for that." she facepalmed herself. "Oh my god! you don't need to apologize for that."

"No, that's not it. I just wanted to see you."

He wasn't sure why he was there. The first thing he did as soon as he woke up with a heavy head this morning was to find his car keys and rush here to her apartment. He just thought he needed to see her.

"I don't know I just feel like I am missing something." he said after a minute of silence. "Like you know something happened yesterday and I just don't remember. I might sound crazy but I.. I don't know how to explain it. It's-"

"Manik! Manik!!" Placing a hand on his shoulder, she settled down beside him when his words finally died down. "It's okay to feel like that." She felt his tense shoulder relaxing under her touch as his eyes met hers. "It's really okay and trust me nothing really happened yesterday. You just fell asleep in the car." she assured him.

'Liar.' she accused herself in her mind as she patted his shoulder lightly and he just looked down to his lap, still not fully convinced. The sudden break in his memory from last night felt like a gap, an empty space that needed to be filled. He knew he sounded crazy but he felt like he had forgotten something, something very important and it was bothering him, in fact more than he would like to admit.