Manjulika fully materialized, her form a nightmare of rotted flesh, lank hair, and a skeletal grin. Yuvaan looked her up and down, his nose wrinkling in genuine distaste.
"Eww," he said, his voice dripping with disdain. "You are profoundly unhygienic. Don't you ever brush? Or take a bath? I agree we're the dark force, but that doesn't mean we have to look this dirty. Yuck."
Manjulika's milky eyes widened, not in fear, but in confusion. "You... you are not human. You feel no fear. Who are you?"
Yuvaan placed a hand on his chest, feigning offense. "Why are you asking? I'm not here to marry you that you need my biodata."
"Being one of us, a creature of darkness, why do you protect that girl?" Manjulika hissed, pointing a bony finger at the sleeping Kiara. "She is of the Reeva blood, our eternal enemy!"
Yuvaan's smirk returned, sharp and possessive. "Not just protecting her. I intend to make her mine. And if you have the guts," his voice dropped to a deadly whisper, "then try to lay your rotten hands on her."
With a shriek of fury, Manjulika declared, "I will drain the life from her!" She launched herself into the air, flying straight toward Kiara's shielded form.
In a movement too fast for the eye to follow, Yuvaan vanished from his spot and reappeared in her path. He caught her by her ankle mid-flight and, with effortless strength, swung her like a ragdoll, hurling her back against the stone wall.
"Tsk, tsk. Naughty ghost," he chided, clicking his tongue.
Enraged, Manjulika rose again, hovering in the air. Her hair flew around her like a nest of serpents, elongating and shooting toward Yuvaan like sharpened spears.
Yuvaan didn't move from his spot. He simply stretched his right hand to the side. With a sickening, organic sound, long, blade-like claws of solidified shadow grew from his fingertips. With a casual, almost bored flick of his wrist, he slashed through the onslaught of hair, severing the dark strands, which dissolved into smoke.
Manjulika fell to the ground, stunned. She looked at her severed hair and then at him, a flicker of genuine fear finally entering her eyes.
"You... you are powerful," she conceded, her voice a ragged whisper. "Who are you? What are you?"
Yuvaan slowly approached her, his shadow falling over her cowering form. He leaned down, his voice a soft, terrifying purr that held the weight of millennia.
"I," he said, "am your father."
Before she could process the impossible claim, he placed his clawed hand over her chest. A dark light erupted from his palm, and with a silent, agonized scream that never left her throat, Manjulika's soul dissolved into nothingness, her physical form crumbling into dust.
The hall was silent once more. Yuvaan retracted his claws, flexing his hand back to normal. He glanced over at the soundproof shield, ensuring Kiara still slept peacefully, completely unaware of the cosmic execution that had just taken place feet away from her.
Yuvaan dissolved the soundproof shield with a thought. He gently slipped his shirt back on, then carefully lifted the still-sleeping Kiara into his arms. He carried her out of the oppressive silence of the mansion and through the crumbling gates, stepping back into the night air.
Just as he did, headlights swept across them, and Vikram's car screeched to a halt mere feet away. The doors flew open. Vikram and Varun emerged, their postures tense, their eyes fixed with open suspicion on Yuvaan holding the unconscious Kiara.
Yuvaan met their wary gazes with a perfectly crafted, deviously charming smile.
"Principal Shetty! What perfect timing," he said, his voice laced with false relief. "Your daughter and I got trapped in a chamber. She fainted, poor thing, out of sheer fear. It was quite the ordeal. Could we trouble you for a lift back?"
Varun moved forward swiftly, his expression grim. Without a word, he carefully extracted his sister from Yuvaan's arms, holding her protectively.
Vikram's mind raced. My car is bathed in Reeva dust. Any dark force that enters will be burned. This is the perfect test.
He forced a neutral, grateful expression. "Of course. Get in. We'll take you home."
"Thank you so much," Yuvaan said, his smile not faltering for a second.
They all got into the car. Varun sat in the back with the unconscious Kiara. Yuvaan slid into the passenger seat beside Vikram, who started the engine, his entire body coiled with anticipation. He waited for the scream, the smell of burning flesh, the undeniable proof of the evil sitting beside him.
A moment passed. Then, Yuvaan suddenly yelped, "Ouch!" and slapped his own hand. "Mosquito," he explained, flashing a quick, innocent smile at Vikram. He then casually brushed his long hair back with the same hand, the picture of nonchalance.
Vikram's blood ran cold. The Reeva dust had done nothing. No reaction at all. The test had failed, leaving him with more terrifying questions than answers. Who, or what, was this boy who could carry his daughter out of a haunted palace and sit unscathed in a vehicle sanctified to burn his kind?