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Between Shadows

Page 15

by Joanne Durann


  Miranda had a big job ahead of her and she knew if she could sell this well, the only people on earth who would notice she was gone would be her mom and dad.

  “I know in my heart where I need to be now and I want this to be done just right. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt or die because of me.”

  Michael knew what to do but wasn’t sure she would be willing to run with it, “Miranda, try taking just Jared in with you. He is a master at glamour and if they see you moving on with him, they will believe the woods gave you the peace that you needed to move on. They’ll also see what you see in him, with a little help from Jared of course.”

  Miranda and Jared looked at each other and smiled, but they still weren’t sure how well this plan was going to work. “How about we go and eat lunch first, hopefully we can all agree on just what to do and say.”

  Jared needed to get Miranda some food and then he remembered how strange it would look if she was the only eating, he also thought about the fact that Miranda needed to keep to her new diet too.

  “What is the name of the place we’re going? I need to find out if we have people there, I don’t think you should eat human food anymore, and I’m worried that it will make you weak. I’m also worried that it‘ll look funny when you’re the only one eating.”

  “Oh, I forgot about that. It’s just a small little place down the street from where I work. I always felt comfortable there even though they made it clear they didn’t want me around because they had the strangest people coming and going all of the time. It’s called the Storeroom, I know it’s a strange name for the place but I like it. For some reason the food just tastes better there, Ben and the kids hated it, they didn’t like the taste of the food. To me it was like ambrosia, I always felt full but it was more than that, I felt satisfied.”

  “No wonder, it’s one of ours!” Mattis was rolling on the floor, “She’s been eating blood laced food for some time now and she didn’t even know it!”

  Mattis of course found it very amusing that they had been serving her at all when they usually get rid of humans by scaring them.

  “Hey why do you think they served her? They don’t normally let humans eat there,” He turned to Miranda, “How long have you been going there?”

  “It’s been almost eight months now regularly but the first time I went there was with the family. The first time they came to our table and told us there was a problem in the kitchen and we needed to go, but then I looked into Celbris’ eyes, I think he’s the owner, and knew he was lying. So they let us eat, my husband was upset because I used my disability in front of the kids and that night we had a major fight, the wasn’t the first one over my disability, but it was the biggest, he wanted me to continue the way things had been and not talk any more nonsense ever again.”

  Miranda was clearly upset, “I felt so defeated and it changed our relationship permanently. I knew I couldn’t truly be myself around him ever again, that hurt me so much, and he didn’t even care. I think that’s why his death was so hard on me, I’d didn’t cry for him the way I cried for the kids, so I thought again something was wrong with me.”

  Jared looked at the others, “I know you didn’t just say, Celbris, did you?” He turned to Mattis and Michael, “What are the chances they have him working in the human world, and this close to her? Do you think they knew before we did, about Miranda, or do you think it was all just by chance?”

  Miranda had a ghost white look on her face, “Could we be talking about the same guy that works for Emina? How could he have known about me, I didn’t even know about me!!!?”

  Miranda’s emotions went wild, but this time she took the time to control them. It was good practice, she still wasn’t sure how the other people in her life where going to react to her telling them she was leaving and she needed to keep her powers in check.

  “There’s only one way to deal with this, let’s go eat lunch!” Michael was sure they were going to see Celbris, “Hey Jared you ready to meet your match, or so they think? You can size him up before you need to take him out and if Miranda gets into his eyes you might be able to see if he has anything extra.”

  Michael knew going there may help tip Emina and Mical’s hand and it also may give them a much needed advantage.

  “Miranda do you think you can control yourself while we’re there?”

  “No matter what happens, even if they attack, you need to act as human as possible and as if you have no physical or mental powers. If you even show a small piece of what you have they will get more information then we want them to know.”

  Jared was very clear and then he turned to Carma, “We need to get her out of there quickly as possible; as if we are guarding a piece of crystal, first because they can’t see what she’s got and second to make it look like she has nothing they want. They only want her dad to step down now; I don’t want them actually wanting to bind to her too.”

  “Michael, Jared” She turned her head from side to side to looked at both of them, “I think you’re forgetting something; he already knows one of my powers and he was definitely shocked to see me with it.”

  Miranda turned to Jared, “He knows I read minds, the waitress was very angry with him and scared of me. You do get it, whenever I go in there he is the only one who will serve me and he never looks me in the eyes, or speaks about anything but my order.”

  “It’s ok Miranda, he only knows that you can read minds, he doesn’t know about your ability to mind walk or anything else, does he? Miranda?”

  Jared looked a little scared, “We need to know every little detail about your visits. Everything is important from things like what you have eaten and did it stop ever satisfying you? Did your human family ever get sick? Oh, did you ever talk to anyone else there even the other customers. Does anyone know what you can do?”

  Michael and Jared fired questions at her left and right. The whole thing confused her and left her feeling sick to her stomach. Carma stood up and held her hands up in front of them.

  “Boys, boys, give her a break! You’re not even giving her enough time to answer.”

  Carma turned and looked at Miranda and softly said, “Just remember it’s in your mind, see it as it happened, walk yourself through it. All of the details are important so take your time and live it all over again inside your mind.”

  “Well, I remember the kids and Ben got real sick within minutes of us getting home, that’s one of the reasons Ben was so angry at me and he blamed my disability for the food not being cooked correctly. It’s funny I never thought about the fact that I never got sick. I only stopped going there because Ben said it would cause serious problems in our relationship if he caught me ever going to that place again.”

  Miranda was beginning to see her whole life had been one big order and comprise after another. She was very sad and she started to cry but she tried to hold it all back.

  “I guess my life has never really been mine own, has it? It‘s always been about people telling me what I can do and what I can not to do. They never accepted my disability and in return they never accepted me.”

  “Miranda I hate to sound mean, but what did you see in him? It sounds like Ben order you around a lot and I don’t ever hear about the times when he asked you for your opinion.”

  What Mattis said was callus but true and she understood why he said it, why he felt he needed to say it. It was really the first time anyone worried about her feelings and it felt good but bad at the same time.

  “I know you’re right, but I put myself there, I wasn’t honest with him about my powers in the beginning so I guess that’s how he had to deal with it.” Miranda looked right at Jared, “That’s why this time is going to be different, because I’ve been allowed to be honest from the start; you know all of my secrets.”

  She went on with her story, “A week after Ben and the kids died I found myself just walking in circles numb. That’s when I came back upon the restaurant so I went in, on some level it was because Ben ordered me
not to and on another level because I needed the food. I ate even though everyone in the place made it clear I wasn’t welcome, so to be an ass, when I left I said “see you tomorrow!” I went back the next day and Celbris asked how I was feeling. I guess he was expecting me to be quite sick so the smile came quickly off of his face and a look of surprise took over him when I smiled and said never better!”

  “Miranda you’re pretty lucky he didn’t kill you! Celbris is strong and has a lot of power, couldn’t you see that even without looking into his eyes.” Mattis continued on, “What did you have a death wish or something?”

  “Duh, why do you think I went to meet Jared in the woods?” She was laughing “I went back there because I thought they were trying to kill me, a funny thing happened though, it got to the point where I needed to go back. It was the only time I felt truly satisfied.”

  Miranda had a weird look on her face, “Now I guess I know why. It’s probably why no one would talk to me either, they pretty much growled at me and the place always went deathly quiet when I walked in. They definitely hated me and I wondered why they didn’t kill me. I waited everyday for it to happen.”

  “Ok -- now what? Should we vote or can we just get going? I know we need to meet Celbris face to face with Miranda close to us. He needs to see she’s in our care and that we are watching over her, then he can run and tell the others and that should keep down the number of small surprise attacks.”

  Michael smiled he was very confident when he spoke. “I have a plan in case things get out of control or if there’s any trouble. Mattis and Carma will get her out of there if there are problems, then Jared and I can stay and fight, but I don’t think they’ll start because Emina didn’t tell them to.”

  “Michael’s right, if they know she’s with us the small attacks won’t happen because they know we can beat them and we’ll have more time to prepare for the big one when it happens.”

  Jared looked into Miranda’s eyes, “Honey, have they seen any of your other powers?” She took a deep breath and had a very strange look on her face. “Sweetheart is something wrong? Tell me what you see, no matter how bad it is we can deal with it, and maybe even change is.”

  “It’s not that, actually it’s not bad at all, it’s just that Celbris won’t be there today Jared.” she turned to look at the group, “You will confront another one today, someone who shouldn’t be there. I think it’s ok though because we leave with him,”

  She turned to look back at Jared with a smirk on her face, “oh and your still not going to die I mean so far you’re still immortal, I still can’t see your death, and that makes me very happy. Could you please stop worrying, won’t you? Could you tell me about the werewolves’ blood line? I think that’s what he is, if we talk about them for about a half hour it will be time to go and meet up with him.”

  “I am still amazed at everything you can do and see.” When Jared looked at her it was with a look of respect and joy. “I can now definitely relax and stop worrying about taking you there because Celbris won’t be there. We’ll tell you everything we know about the werewolf race if you promise me one thing?” Jared grabbed her hand with one hand and took her face gently with the other, “You’ll look into my eyes even more often. I know it scares you, but I think that if you do, we can avoid my death before it comes, if it should come. Your power is a gift, not the disability the humans made it out to be, embrace it and use it to your advantage.”

  Michael started first, “The race is called the werewolf race however, and there are few exceptions and we’ll get to that later. The leader and hybrid of the pack is Brint, he is of course a member of the Concillium, and a friend of our father. For the most part Vampires and Werewolves are friends, a long time ago that wasn’t the case, but things changed for both of us. They are shape shifters that change deliberately. There are a lot of human legends out there that are wrong, so try to only remember what we tell you.”

  “Try not to get confused with the stuff on the movies and in your mythology classes.” Carma added, “They only change so that they can fight evil and to make things right in our world. They work very hard like us to keep things in order around here, that’s one of the reasons we get along so well, the other is a common enemy in Malis and Exire. They are also phenomenal trackers and no matter what form their in all of their senses are amazing. In their wolf form however, they’re senses are extremely heightened, and that gives them the most amazing ability to track you.”

  Miranda looked at Jared as Mattis finished up, “most of the old movies and mythological stories make them out to wild feral animals, but they’re not, everything they do or kill is for a reason. Like us they too live for blood, not flesh and like you, they can feel other people’s emotions. That’s why some of us believe you may be the unknown one.”

  Jared jumped right in on that, “I don’t want to go there now, ok. She needs to get her education first then we can talk about rumors and legends.” He turned to look at Miranda, “Miranda, I know you want to know about all of that, but is now really the right time or the right place? After you get what you need to know, I promise to give you what you want to know.”

  “I should go upstairs and grab my purse. I’ll be right back, Ok?”

  Miranda knew in her heart she should walk away before Jared got to angry at Mattis, as she turned to go she gave Mattis a smile, and to Jared she gave the look.

  She didn’t want Jared to be angry and start yelling at Mattis, “Now be nice! If you start yelling I’ll hear you upstairs.”

  “Fine, I’ll be good.” Jared said as she disappeared up the staircase and then he turned to the group, “Ok I know where some you stand, however you also know where I stand. I am very worried that if Miranda gets it in inside her head that she this “unknown one” she think she’s invincible, get sloppy and get herself killed. So until we get through to whomever it is that is after her can we skip the unknown one thing and move on? I really need her to concentrate so we can move on and live our lives together. Guys I can’t lose her, I don’t know what I would do if something happened to her.”

  Jared looked extremely upset so everyone agreed to let it go, his body showed a combination of anguished and agony.

  It wasn’t too long before Miranda was back and they got into the truck and headed out to the Storehouse. It wasn’t far away and they knew afterwards Jared and Miranda would go into her work to get her the leave of absence she needed from her job. Miranda was very nervous but she was also sort of content.

  Jared, even though he promised to relax and stop worrying, couldn’t do it. There were way too many factors involved in going into this place, but most of all, he was worried that he wouldn’t be enough to keep her safe.

  She looked over at him, smiled and told him everything would be ok, but until the threat on her life was over she knew he wouldn’t stop worrying about something. It was a short quiet car ride until they got up to the entrance where Miranda turned the truck into the small driveway.

  It was in front of them, a small building, barley even noticeable from the street and there was no indication that it was even open. The roof was a strange crosshatched pattern and the sign only stated the name, so you would never know what was inside. The parking lot was concealed behind some bushes on the side of the building where you could also find the only entrance. It was a double door that was a strange arch shape and made of aged wood. It was different, unique and definitely strange.

  Jared turned to Miranda, “How in the world did you find this place? I can’t believe you even knew where to go to get in at! I couldn’t find this place if I wanted to without you and I’m use to knowing the hidden spots.”

  “I don’t know, I guess I saw it somewhere, in someone’s eyes I think.” She seemed to be thinking hard and she was almost in a daze. “I just seemed to know about it and how to get into it. Anyway are you guys ready to go in? Let me warn you everything will stop when I walk through the door and sometimes they even drop things on purpose.”r />
  Miranda smiled she knew this time she wasn’t scared and it was because this time she was safe she had Jared with her.

  “Let’s go! It’s time to see what Miranda saw, I wonder who we are going to meet in there.” Mattis turned to Jared, “Hey you think we’ll have time to eat while we’re here? I’m starving!”

  Jared looked at Mattis with a huge smile and laughed back at him, “You’re always hungry.”

  He turned to look back at Miranda, “Do you remember you promise? I’m going to ask you two questions and you’ll have to look into my eyes to answer. Will we have time to eat and tell me if the scene still looks the same? We don’t leave this car and go in there until you look into my eyes and tell me it’s still ok.”

  Miranda concentrated and stared deep into Jared’s beautiful eyes. “No death, it looks kind of the same, but something’s different. It’s something so small I can’t put my finger on it,”

  She started searching, “Oh it’s the people. Some of them have seen my truck in the parking lot and they’re leaving.” Miranda chuckled, “I guess we better go in before there’s no one left.”

  The group got out of the truck and quickly walked into the grill. The patrons who were left stared at the motley group before them, one human surrounded by four vampires.

  “Oh, no! Now Vampires and a human! Just minutes before we had a werewolf, what is this place coming to?” One guy thought in his head. “What’s next the Forces or Seasons?”

  Miranda needed to remind herself to stay in control, at this point at least not yet, laughing wasn’t an option.

  Chapter 14

  They walked to the only table at the far end of the room and sat down, Jared would rather have been closer to the door but the other patrons had those, so he couldn’t help but feel uneasy. Miranda was right, there was utter silence, and no one said a word or came near them for at least ten minutes. The guys were very tense and Miranda could tell they really wanted to leave, but she smiled because should knew how it would all work out and that they needed to wait for their visitor to come.

 

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