“How did I get myself into this mess?”
“I’m not ready for anything heavy either, but I’m still wondering about you and Carma, neither of you have spoken about it since…. well, you know.” Miranda was probing for information she wasn’t sure was hers to find out.
“Carma and I that was more that was a century ago, and nothing happened.” Jared realized he wasn’t going to get out of this that easily so he continued on, “We got stuck in a snow storm together about ninety years ago, back when there wasn’t much you could do about it. Anyway, alone for one month you get to know a person. We knew each other through her brother, he is my best friend, and she was nice. I really didn’t go after many women not even the human ones and my kind thought something was wrong with me. They just took something or someone whenever they wanted, but I’m not like that. So I guess it just kind of came together, we hung out a lot after that until she got real annoying, then it was over. We were much better as friends and we both knew that. That’s how it ended, and there’s been no one else in my life until you showed up, and man you really pissed me off that 1st day.”
“Oh really, would you like to put me back out there.”
Miranda was having a very hard time not laughing at him; he was becoming way too soft, while he was trying to act so hard.
“Come on now smile, I’m not all that bad, am I?”
“You know what I mean and I still can’t believe how we got to where we are now from how we started out. Think about it for just one minute, you wanted to die and I wanted to kill you. Oh, please don’t tell your dad how badly I beat you. It‘s not one of my prouder moments and I’m going to be making it up to you for the rest of my life.”
She didn’t want to think about it either, “That was the old us, before we knew each other. You were just doing your job and I was trying to get you to kill me, I was doing a really good job pissing you off too.”
Just then he turned on the lights, and threw his arms around her and kissed her. Miranda was surprised by his kissed, but she was also ready for it. When she opened her eyes to light she saw one of the most beautiful bedrooms she had ever seen in her life. She could have fit most of her old house in this room, and it was decorated in the most beautiful antique furniture she had ever seen. It was filled with lace and all of the fabric was ivory in color, it had a sitting area the size of her old living room, and the bathroom that adjoined it was bigger than her old bedroom. She just gazed around at everything in marvel of it.
“Do you think this was always for me? I can’t believe he had this waiting for twenty-seven years.”
“According to the maid, he made changes to it every so often for the last twenty-seven years, in hopes you would be here some day. He got into a lot of fights with his wife over it, the maid said no one has been allowed in this room unless they were working on it, or cleaning it. His wife wasn’t very happy about that so one day she came in here and slept on the bed, he had the bed and all of the bedding destroyed and had all new things made. He wouldn’t speak to his wife for months after that and she never tried anything like it again, she even feared that he would kill her over it.” As Jared finished the story he added, “We should get to bed soon, it’s almost one in the morning, and ten am will come far too soon.”
“I am tired. Could you please help me get things ready for the morning? If we over sleep I don’t want to add not being able to find clothes to the problem. Do you mind if we talk in bed for a while? I want to hear your voice when I feel asleep, it makes me happy.” Miranda was yawning as she spoke; the day was getting the better of her.
Jared helped her find everything she would need to get ready in the morning. They laid out her clothes and place the things she would need to get ready in the bathroom where she could find them. Then Jared spoke to her until she fell asleep and finally he fell asleep. He slept very lightly he didn’t want anything to happen because he didn’t wake quickly enough.
The noises that usually accompanied the night weren’t there; the house had done its job and hidden the sound well. Miranda and Jared were awoken by a maid, who carefully knocked several times before entering. Jared got up a walked across the room and let her know he was up and he would get Miranda up. She smiled and told him breakfast would be ready in one hour.
Jared whispered, “Are our other friends awake, or should I wake them?”
“Sir, I will be waking them next, Gage asked that Miranda be given plenty of time to get used to her room, before waking the others. Good morning, sir.” The maid was pretty but she knew better than to flirt with Miranda’s special friend. That is how Gage had referred to Jared as a special friend, as he was briefing the staff. He also let them knew that Jared was off limits; anyone even caught looking at him the wrong way would have to see Gage alone and no one ever came back alive from that.
Jared went back to bed and watched Miranda for a few minutes while she slept. He watched her breathe and he watched her face, she always seemed to be smiling.
“What wonderful dreams you must have. I hate do this but I need to wake you up.” Jared moved across then bed and softly kissed her face and neck until she woke. It wasn’t until this moment that he realized how long it had been since he was this close to someone he truly loved. There was only thing stopping him from getting closer, she couldn’t handle it, and she wouldn’t force him to stop. He knew it wasn’t fair and he wouldn’t do that to her because he was starting to love her so much, and he knew she was falling in love with him.
She looked up at him and smiled, “What a good morning it is! I can’t believe I get to wake up to that face, I wish you could see this from my eyes.” She was still happy and chirper from the night before, “Now what time is it? I need to get ready for breakfast and we don’t want to keep Gage waiting, do we?”
Before too long Miranda and Jared were out of the shower, which looked and felt more like a soft waterfall, dressed and headed into the hallway. They walked to the living room and met up there with Carma, Michael and Mattis.
“Don’t say it Carma, we slept that’s it. Please don’t bring that stuff up with Gage, it really pisses him off and I need him to be happy for a little while, at least until we leave for the human world again. O.K.! Please for me!”
Miranda knew Carma way to well by now and she knew she had to set some boundaries with what could be said in front of Gage.
“When we’re together I don’t mind you embarrassing Jared, or yourself, but when it comes to Gage let’s not create any problems, especially because they could become very painful.”
“It’s ok I wasn’t going to start with him. I knew last night was a gift; he’ll never let me get that far again. I promise I will behave around him,” she turned to look right at Jared, “Jared dude, you are so in trouble. She just gave me permission to start with you.” Carma was never happier.
“It’s ok, she gave you permission, I didn’t and I know enough of your secrets to keep you at bay for quite some time.” Jared was smiling to.
“Come on you never play fair. Who am I going to pick on?” Carma looked a little defeated.
Miranda piped up, “How are we going to find breakfast? Does anyone know where we’re going?”
“Ladies and gentleman, if you will please come and follow me.” From out of nowhere a man came to take the group to breakfast, “You father has assigned some of use to get you where you need to go, each of you will have a guard. If you have any questions we will try to answer what we can.”
“You mean what my father will allow you to answer, don’t you?” Miranda was no dummy she knew her dad. The creatures were here to help, but also, to spy.
“Dear Lady your father told me you could take that up with him. He also said that you would be going on a trip, and we would not see you for a few days, would you need anything waiting for you when you get back?” He seemed to be following orders so the question didn’t bother her, what bothered Miranda is that she couldn’t get him to look at her, so how could she tell what h
is true intentions were.
Jared answered, “You can ask her father for help with that. She will give any requests to him first, and he can decide who he will have to come and work on it.” Jared went inside her head, “I don’t trust him, I’m not sure why, it’s just a feeling.”
Miranda looked at him and answered back the same way, “I know what you mean. He won’t look at me; I’m going to bring Mattis, Michael, and Carma in on this, hold on.”
She asked for permission from them to get inside and talk, of course they said yes, for Mattis and Michael this would be their first time.
“I promised the boys we would go easy on him, they are virgins at this. Jared and I were just discussing the fact that we don’t trust this guy. Idon’t think he’s really working for my father, there’s just something there, and I can’t put my finger on it.”
Before too long they had all agree to not give too much information to anyone. Miranda and Jared would even decide what her father would know and what they weren’t going to tell him. They were worried that someone was trying to get to her, and they weren’t too far off. Miranda knew if her father wanted anyone in the house to know where she was going and when she would be back he would have already told them. This guy was asking too many questions and they didn’t even know if he was really taking them to breakfast, Miranda was becoming suspicious of a lot of things. She learned a long time ago to trust in herself and had she done that, a lot of things would be different now. She couldn’t dwell on the past but she knew she had better learn from it, making mistakes here could cost someone there life, and she didn’t want to lose anyone else.
They were escorted downstairs through the house to the back courtyard. As the group arrived at the back of the house they were greeted by the smell of a feast. They walked out a beautiful blue and green stained glass double doorway. Miranda was still astonished by the largeness of it all. She was searching around with her eyes at all of the furniture, carpets, painting and other trinkets her family had gathered over the centuries. The whole thought of living for a century was miraculous. As they walked out onto the tri-colored slate patio Gage greeted them with a smile,
“Good morning Miranda. How did you sleep? Well I trust. Jared made sure you were comfortable and my maid didn’t wake you to abruptly I hope.”
He was staring at the maid who suddenly appeared out of nowhere. She looked as if she would faint at any minute.
“I did sleep well. Jared was prefect as usual, and as for your maid I never even heard her. She carefully woke Jared and then allowed him to wake me up in a gentle way.” Miranda turned to the maid, “Thank you. I have never been awaken so gently and so perfectly. You are very good at your job.” She gave the maid a smile and then turned to Gage, “By the way, why do you have all of this food? I know a little about my friends eating habits or lack of, except Mattis, what is it that you eat? I couldn’t possibly eat all of this.”
“Miranda my dear don’t worry, I wasn’t quite sure what you ate, so I had the cook make everything. On this side of the table however you’ll need to watch, everything here is laced with blood, for your friends and myself. You see most of our world needs some form of blood in their food. It enters our animal side, the darker side, and keeps us happy here.”
Gage attempted to smile but he wasn’t sure how Miranda was going to take this new information.
Miranda turned to Jared, “That’s where I get it from, my father’s side, that’s why the wine didn’t make me sick.” Miranda notice a strange twist to Gage’s face she guessed he didn’t like the comment.
“You see dad I was never good at following directions and even though he locked it up, I went into Jared’s wine closet. He was so upset and worried when he got back from meeting with the council because he thought I was actually going to died. I thought the whole thing was funny, but like you, Jared didn’t see it that way. Anyway, apparently I to need some blood in my diet, my power boost came right after that. What a rush!”
She was smiling that smile that could stop any man in his tracks, Jared notice at that moment Miranda had been changing. Her face was more perfect, and it was not just her skin, even her hair was healthy, more tame, and vibrant. He wasn’t sure what was happening but something was and it was happening at that moment. He stared to wonder if it was the world, the blood, or both or could she really be the unknown one?
Chapter 9
“We need to go back to my world soon people won’t notice I’m missing. My holiday time at my job is done and I need to be at work in two days. I need to show people I am starting to make friends and I am moving on with my life. The people I work for want me to take time off and get my head straight, I want to go in and tell them I have finally agreed. I am going to take off three months, that’s what they offered me before I showed up in the woods to meet Jared, so I’m going to take it. I will let the few members of my family meet my new friends and hang out with them for a few day or so, and then we will plan a hiking trip, off somewhere warm, with no cell phone service.”
Miranda sighed she had never lied to her parents like this before, but she knew it was for their own good. “Then we can come back and stay here for awhile until I get used to this place, finally I will go back sell the house and quit my job for good. I will need to tell my mother and father at that point that I am with you. Don’t be mad, trust me; they will be mad enough because all of this will be a lie until that day. They tried to keep me away from here because they didn’t want me hurt. I know it wasn’t meant to be, this is where I truly belong, here with all of you.”
Gage couldn’t say a work to dispel what she was going to do he knew she was right and things needed to be done a certain way. It was the only way Miranda would ever be happy with her own decision and he was giving happiness to her approving the decision that she had made.
“Why don’t we eat first and then we’ll talk.” Gage said.
Mattis jumped right in, “Good I am hungry, the smell is driving me wild!”
“Anytime you smell blood it drives you wild, it’s not like you haven’t eaten lately. We had steak yesterday before Miranda met up with us, don’t you remember.” Carma knew her brother was rarely ever satisfied but she tried to remind him of his matters as gently as she could.
As for Miranda, Jared sat to her left and Gage sat to her right, Carma sat across from her next to Mattis and Michael. They all started to eat when Miranda did the strangest thing, she prayed and everyone stopped to look at what she was doing.
After a few minutes Gage asked, “What are doing?”
“I’m praying. I was brought up Lutheran, no matter what I am now, so I will continue to pray. Nothing’s changed, at least not in regards to my feelings about God.”
Carma and Mattis snickered, but Jared kicked them under the table, “Sweetheart how can you believe still, after everything you’ve seen?”
Gage jumped in quickly, “Religion and politics is it? Miranda dear aren’t those the things humans never talk about the table. I think it was something about ruining a good time with indigestion?”
Gage was worried that if they had a big fight she wouldn’t come back. Miranda was glad her father intervened, this was not the time or place for a talk about God and all manner of creatures or creation or anything.
“Yes, you’re right. I think later after all our other business is done and after we come back from our journey, and Jared we can talk about this after I have a more permanent residence here. Ok?”
Jared smile he really couldn’t resist her, “Sure, how can I ever resist you?” Miranda had him right where she wanted him and he knew it.
Before long they were finished with breakfast. She really didn’t pay attention to what food she ate that’s when Gage asked about the food with the blood in it.
“How did you say you knew it wouldn’t harm you? It was something about wine at Jared’s house?”
Gage was fishing from information and everyone knew it.
“Daddy, stop and just ask w
ant you really want to know. Did Jared screw up and almost kill me? The answer is no, he told me what to do and what not to do and I choose not to listen. I thought it would be more fun to get drunk, but back then I thought I was a freak because I saw things no other human saw, things that weren’t there. I also didn’t know who my real father was or what he was, or for that matter what I was. So I decide Jared wasn’t going to tell me what to do and I drank his wine.” Miranda was giggling at this point.
“Miranda, what’s so funny?” Gage asked. He was staring at Jared who was completely blushing and starting to get a little angry with her.
“Oh, and Jared here, he came running to my rescue when he found the missing bottles of wine. He didn’t say, oh no I think I killed Gage’s daughter, instead he was actually worried about me., the whole time he was trying to be a big, strong, killer vampire, and he was just truly worried about me. I knew then we would never be apart and nothing on earth would ever keep us apart.”
To help Jared’s crushed ego, she kissed on the lips, in a way he had never been kissed before, it made Jared forget about being angry.
Jared smiled at her, “And that’s how you get away with it. No one else could ever speak to me like that and live, not even Gage’s daughter, I’d rather die than have someone speak to me like that. But you, you are another story there’s nothing I wouldn’t give up or anything I wouldn’t do for you. How do you do it? How do you get to me like that?”
It was a small moment in time that they were sharing together, until they remembered they had an audience.
“Hum, there are people here, and an angry father.”
Carma was being more than polite, she didn’t want to see a family massacre, or be part of one for that matter.
“Although if Gage even attempted to fight, I am betting on you over your dad, but only because Jared will get in his way.”
Between Shadows Page 10