Between Shadows

by Joanne Durann

  “I never meet her father, he left her mother when she was little, she never knew him. My grandmother, however, she was the best. I wish you could have meet her; she died when I turned 12, she was the one who always supported my gifts. You don’t think he was one of your, I mean our kind, do you? That could change the way we look at things, but wouldn’t she show up somewhere, I did. Gage knew I was born because I showed up on his “radar” remember.”

  Miranda was trying things out in her mind but she wasn’t ready to be a descendant on two sides.

  “No, Carma called it a mother’s instinct, that’s all it was. She was actually worried that we were hurting you, but when she got here she saw everything she understood.”

  Jared tried to keep her in bed, and he even tried to cover her up with blankets but it didn’t work, Miranda knew her and how she could be.

  Miranda insisted on getting up, “The goodwill truck will be here soon, and I need to be there to meet it. Not because I called them because I need that final closure, to fully be with you, besides my mother is probably driving the other two crazy by now.”

  They got up and walked slowly and quietly downstairs, they were trying to sneak up on her mother to see what she was up to, and what she was doing to Carma, Mattis, and Michael. They were surprised to see them around the breakfast table, eating and talking, Miranda was still a little afraid.

  “Good morning sleepy head!” Her mother was always way to chipper in the morning and as a teenage it always made Miranda sick.

  “Hey, I thought I heard you! What are you doing back here?”

  Miranda was still sleepy and wanted her mother to tell her what Jared already did, it would make Jared look good in her mother’s eye.

  “I just had a weird feeling, and unfortunately I though your friends were hurting you, I couldn’t think straight until I saw you. Anyway, I know how good they’ve been to you and I apologized, aren’t you proud of your mother?” She straightened up and smiled.

  “Mom you’ve come a long way. I guess they told you what I did last night, I needed to do it with someone who has been there, you know. Please don’t be mad, I couldn’t do it with you, it’s just something I needed to go through. Ok, I need to try to change things in my life, I still love you.”

  Miranda didn’t want her mother mad, but she needed her mother to start letting go, before the final blow. She knew it would come far too soon and she was already trying to prepare her for it.

  “Don’t worry. I already explained things to your dad and he’s good with it to. Now the Goodwill truck will be here soon, do you want to stay inside when they come, or do you need to be there? It’s up to you, what’s going to be the best thing for Miranda because that’s what today is about.”

  Her mother really was being way too good with it and it was beginning to scaring her.

  “Mom what happened, you’ve always been so, so you? I’m confused how did this happen?”

  Miranda looked at Carma and Mattis, is if to ask, what did you do to my mother.

  “Oh nothing, it’s just time, I know that you need to go and I need to be ok with it.” Her mother said those magic words, “Miranda your dad and I just want you to know, we only did stuff because we didn’t want anything to happen to you. We were afraid of, well, about things. Things you wouldn’t understand, we really love you, both of us.”

  Wendy quickly changed the subject, “Never mind, oh look here comes the truck and we don‘t want to leave the driver waiting do we.”

  “Are you ready for this? If not we’ll do it for you.” Jared was trying to keep her from breaking down again and losing it in front her mother.

  “No, its fine, I need to do it.”

  Miranda replied quickly, she didn’t want to start becoming too emotional, because she was afraid of her new powers and what her emotions did to them.

  “Promise me if something goes wrong and I get out of hand, in a powerful way, you’ll do your best to hide it so no one has to die. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt.”

  “Don’t worry we’ll all be there for you, and if your mother see it you’ll just tell her the truth early. You’ve got us and we will make sure the driver goes home tonight safe and sound.”

  Jared’s reassuring voice always made things sound better than they were but right now she needed that, it would be several days before Gage would show up with a new report, and she would go home to live with him and Jared.

  They spent quite a few hours loading the truck with the driver, he was grateful because Miranda had a lot to give away. They talked with him a lot and found out that the driver had a new baby boy. They agreed to give him all Frank’s things, he was worried about the Goodwill finding out, but Miranda insisted she wanted to see someone just like him get it, she told him it would give her more peace and closure then he could know. They loaded Frank’s old things into her truck and drove it to the driver’s house that way it wasn’t on company time. His wife was in tears the guys set up the furniture and put away all of the clothes, she didn’t know what to say.

  Miranda looked at her and the baby, “Just treasure everyday because you don’t know when it will end. My son, daughter, and husband were killed in a car accident and I had to survive. I didn’t know why until recently,” she looked right at Jared, “but I still miss them. Meeting your husband, and seeing you and the baby with Frank things, it makes it so much easier, I need to thank you. You have no idea how much this helps me, to help you.”

  They got in the truck and her mother’s car and went home. Her mother had seen enough, surely these people wouldn’t hurt her daughter, and more importantly her daughter wasn’t going to hurt herself.

  “Well Miranda, I did tell your father I would be home for supper. Can you and your friends come by the house before you leave? I just would like to see you all one more time; it is going to be three months after all.”

  Miranda looked around at everyone, “Do you want to come with me? I’m going no matter what.”

  Jared spoke first, “We’ll all be there, I told you I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

  It came out of his month before he even realized what he was saying. The look on his face matched the thoughts Miranda heard running through his head.

  “Jared, what are you saying?” Wendy jumped right on it.

  Then she thought to herself don’t screw this up and turned to Miranda, “I am so glad, Miranda, you have such good friends. He wants to make sure you are safe no matter where you go.”

  “That’s right. We don’t need you breaking a leg or slipping on ice, you have to come with us! I don’t want to be the only girl anymore.” Carma smiled

  “Good then we’ll see all of you on Thursday? I thought I heard you say something about meeting someone on Friday before you left when I was walking up to house. I have always had good hearing; it’s one of my specialties, after all!”

  With that her mother kissed her, turn to get into the car and left. As they all waved goodbye, no one said a word. She was gone a full five minutes before anyone tried to speak.

  “Are you sure she’s not like us?” Carma finally said, “That’s two times she’s done a non human-like thing.”

  “My mother has been like that since I can remember that’s why I could never understand why they thought I was the only crazy one. Why wasn’t super hearing a problem? They never called her crazy, but she could only do it when she was trying to figure out something we were hiding, not when it really counted. I always thought she just got lucky.” Miranda walked back into the house with Jared arm and arm. “Now what do we do?”

  Miranda was not looking forward to being in the house just waiting for news; she knew it would drive her crazy.

  “It’s lesson time!” Mattis yelled. “We need to get her up to speed. No time like the present to get started, you have centuries of knowledge to fit into that little half human brain of yours.”

  “He’s right, sorry sweetheart, we do need to get started.” Jared turned to look at the
others, “Where do we get started? More importantly how do we get started? There is so much information and so many years of people, place and things, doe anyone want to figure out where we should try to start?”

  Carma looked at Miranda; she knew what to do, “Miranda, why don’t we start with what you want to know. We can fill in the blanks from there, ok? What is on your mind, anything the sky is the limit, what do you need to know?”

  “I going to start with your form of marriage and how someone can just jump in and try to take me away, and really have no say in the matter?”

  Mirada was adamant about this; she wanted to know if Jared would ever be taken from her, or if she could be forced away from Jared.

  “That’s two different lessons, one about binding, and one about permissions for binding.”

  Mattis knew most of the rules because he was good at breaking them. These rules were different, they could only be broken by death, and he wasn’t into that.

  “Miranda, if you want to marry as you call it, you have a binding ceremony. It’s kind of like a community wedding, everyone is always invited, and they all come. One of the most powerful beings in our land has to be there, they physically bind you. It’s like a bracelet that never comes off, you both have them, and they permanently seal them with energy of some sort. Right now there are only two people in our world who can do it, and one of them is your dad, he has the most power.”

  Jared jumped in, “That’s why no one crosses him. He can do almost anything and no one can or wants to stop him, but he has kept the longest reign of peace that anyone has ever known. He really is good at it to, but I think sometimes he gets tired of it, he has to hear and deal with everyone’s problems.”

  “So now on to the important part, what if someone wants me for my power, how does the fighting thing work?”

  Miranda wanted to know as much about this as she could. She was afraid this was what was going to happen.

  “If I hone my powers, do you think I could be the most powerful? I know that sounds like I’m full of myself but my dad told me that I am more powerful than him. Now I’m afraid someone’s going to start with me and try to take me away just for the powers I hold.”

  “Miranda do you know how much power your dad has? Do you think he was serious because I didn’t think he know half of what you could do.”

  “Yeah, someone scared me, and I showed a little more. He was serious when he said it, but he also told me not to tell anyone. He thinks someone will take me to use me and he wanted me to be very careful meeting new people. He just kept saying, kept this to yourself, I don’t know if Jared and I have enough power to fight and live. I told him not to forget we had Michael, Mattis and Carma, he said he didn’t but he was still worried. He told me to only be with you four and only show my power to you, you would help me learn everything. I asked him why he wasn’t going to show me and he said too many people were watching him. Then he said it would be good if Jared and I were bound together, if we really cared about each other, even if I wasn’t ready. He said that was the only way I could be completely safe.”

  All of them looked at each other they couldn’t believe their ears, something was going on and they needed to know what it was. Jared liked the idea of the binding but he knew, as well as the others that there was more to the story then Gage told Miranda. Gage hated the idea of mixing blood lines with any race, especially with vampires and werewolves, why would he suddenly want his only living child with one? They needed more information and Gage wasn’t coming until Friday.

  “What if we were bound in this world? Would it count, or would it need to happen again? If I am stronger then him wouldn’t I be the one to do the ceremony? I know that I don’t understand everything but Gage wasn’t himself and that scares me.”

  Miranda was very worried and she knew that they cared for each other, so how bad could it be.

  “Miranda there will be no binding until we are both ready, I’m not sure the rules wouldn’t allow it away, and you need time to get use to our world.”

  Miranda just stared at him this was a lot to take in so quickly, “Ok, what are the rules? I need to know how they can split us apart. How can they fight our being together? How does it all work?”

  Jared and the others looked at her knowing this was going to be a very long night.

  “Why don’t we order some food? It will take time to get it here, you have already started eating what we eat, so I think you should continue that, don’t you?

  There’s a lot of information and I want to get it to you correct from the start, so can we get the food order in and I’ll start writing things down, I need to get rules on paper before I say them out loud.” Carma whispered.

  “How do we get our food in this world, I could go to the store and get steak , or chicken or something and not cook it.”

  Miranda wasn’t sure how to order blood-laced food in the human world, it was something she haven’t thought about before, who would?

  They laughed at her and Carma answered, “Where do you think we get human blood from? Especially in the quantity our world needs, we get it from our people who live here.”

  She said it in a matter of fact kind of way, smiled and then explained, “We have our people working in death. I know it sounds so cliché, but our people work in hospital morgues and funeral homes, when a human dies the blood gets drained, right? Our people store it and get it to us, no one dies the wrong way and we don’t go hungry. It works out well for all of us, don’t you think?”

  Miranda smiled, “So who do we call? The hospital? Or the funeral home?”

  She really didn’t want to be laughed at anymore, she was getting tired of it, she needed to catch up fast.

  “Don’t worry, “ said Mattis “I got this one, I got people here. What favor would you like, steak, chicken, pork?”

  They gave Mattis what he needed and he disappeared into the kitchen and order the “food”, Jared surprised everyone, he had several bottles of wine. Dinner was wonderful they had a ton of fun and everyone drank way to much. Michael, Mattis and Carma had passed out way before they wanted to and no lesson was spoken of. Jared and Miranda polished off more wine after the others were gone, and they went upstairs feeling no pain.

  Miranda was happy and Jared though she was drunk, but so was Jared, and in their condition that wasn’t a good idea. Things started happening way too fast, and before they knew it, things were getting carried away. Jared wanted to stop but couldn’t and Miranda didn’t want to stop at all, she hadn’t been with anyone in a long time and Jared cared so much for her, that’s when they heard it, someone was in the house.

  Chapter 12

  Jared heard the noise first but Miranda heard it to, they stopped and froze in their tracks. Jared moved quickly, Miranda followed suit, they were both dressed in the blink of an eye.

  They split up, Jared wanted her to stay put, but Miranda refused. They moved through the house, Miranda quietly woke Carma and Mattis, Jared woke Michael and checked the rooms upstairs. They all found themselves at the attic, where their unwelcome guest was, and they attacked quickly. Miranda was off to the side she knew her father would be angry if she got into the middle of this and they looked like they could handle it. Jared suddenly stopped.

  “Hold it! Stop! It’s one of Gage’s servants, Gemi. What’s going on? Why are you here?”

  He was holding Gemi up in the air, poor thing was only four feet tall and had no weight about him, his feet where dangling in the air. He looked like death for the fear that the group had in him.

  “Jared put him down, NOW!”

  Miranda’s voice was more like a command then a request. She waited a minute or two for Jared to respond and for the man to catch his breath.

  “What brings you here? What news do you have? How is my father?”

  Reluctantly staring at the group in front of him the small man spoke, “Your father says gutentag!” He looked at her is if he was waiting for something, and she was suppose to know what
to say next.

  “Guten morgen, kinder! Ich bin Kinder.” She smiled waiting his reply.

  “Sweet child he begs you stay put right now¸ he says he will come to get you soon. He also asks that Jared do whatever it takes to save you, there is a plot again you, but he doesn’t know by whom yet. He will send someone again if he needs to and it will not be me, he will send another.” Gemi looked scared.

  “My father has given the pass, now please tell him if he doesn’t show by Friday, I said it will be done, and he’ll understand. Also tell him mother is next on Thursday, he will understand and he will know where to find me. Also if tell anyone if they cross your path, they will lose their life and the life of thier entire family line if they touch you. Go now tell only my father what I have told you and I will see you at the house soon.”

  Miranda smiled politely, the message was good and yet bad at the same time. She would need to let the other know what she learned, but not yet, she needed to know it was safe. She remembered what her father said about the walls having ears and she wanted Carma’s shield around when she told them what was going on.

  Gemi added one more thing before he left, “He also said goodnight sweet daughter, goodnight! All is well with me.” With that he was gone, as if he had never come there, he disappeared into the darkness.

  “What just happened?’ Jared looked steamed and he quickly turned to look at Carma, Michael and Mattis, “Did you understand anything that just happened?”

  Miranda smiled, “I did and we’ll talk about it in the morning. You’ve all had way too much to drink tonight I think a little sleep will do us good, don’t you? I will also need your full attention and patience when I tell you and honestly Jared you need the sleep.”

  “How about we go back to bed and sleep? Tomorrow will work this all out, ok? Besides you haven’t told us what that was all about anyway, and I need all the information. Especially if I’m going to do whatever it takes to save you, from whatever it is that is after you, that your father still doesn’t know yet.”