As if she was reading Miranda’s mind right on cue, Carma jumped up, “Hey! Can we get some service around here? What is this, a morgue?” She looked at the people sitting quietly at their tables and then turned to Miranda, “Hey Miranda, I thought you recommended this place, what a drag.”
She winked and motioned for Miranda to get up. Miranda got up and against the guys wishes, they went from table to table messing with the other customers until finally the waitress came out from the kitchen where she has been hiding. This was the same waitress from the first night, when Miranda’s family was there, and she didn’t look amused.
“I see you’ve changed your company.” She said with a sneer, “You would have done better with your own kind. Perhaps they killed your family and kidnap you? I like that option even better. Can I watch you hurt her? Maybe even help? I have some good ideas of exactly what to do with this one.” An evil smile slid across her face as her mind went to methods of torture.
Jared knew what she was thinking about, he got up in her face and he came so close she had to take a step back. Everyone but Jared remained calm, Miranda walked from one side of the room right up to them and slid right between Jared and the waitress. She looked right into the waitress’s eyes and sat down without a comment or a gasp, no matter what the waitress said about her family or what she saw in her eyes, she wasn’t going to get upset. Jared would take care of that waitress himself, she knew without looking that Jared would reign her in.
He looked at the waitress and calmly but forcefully asked her, “Do you have any idea who I am? DO you know what I am capable of? I would advise you to stay away from her. Don’t look at her, go near her, touch her or even think about her because if you do I’ll know. She’s mine and I will have no one else go near her.”
There was calmness to his voice at the end of his statement but tenseness to his body and his eyes looked like they were on fire.
“Touchy, touchy about a simple kill, are we? She’s yours, I certainly won’t try to mess with your kind anyway, let alone the great Jared. Yes, I do know who you are, and no I’m not stupid.”
She turned to look at Michael, “By the way there was someone in here looking for you, Michael. Some werewolf named Sahen, he asked for you by name and he just left, if you all hurry you might catch up to him.”
After that little scene with Jared she just wanted them to go so she could have the place back to the normal crowd.
“What don’t you like us?” Michael said with a smirk. “Jared, we just got here and now she wants us to leave,”
He turned to Carma and Miranda, “Miranda you really pick some award winning places, first no service then the waitress wants us to leave!”
He turned back to the waitress “Hey did Sahen say what he wanted me for?”
“No, and I didn’t ask him. I don‘t think you are getting this; I don‘t want either of your kinds here!”
She heard a strange noise and turned to look at the kitchen area, Sahen was coming back from there.
“I guess you’re going to find out for yourself, here he comes.”
She pointed in the direction of the kitchen and asked “what are you doing back there? You’re not allowed to go in there, besides your friend’s here, why don’t you go and bother him somewhere else?”
Sahen was a very big man, he looked human but Miranda knew he wasn’t. He was over six feet tall and had the biggest muscles she had seen live in person. He was built like a lineman or a professional wrestler, his hair was as black as night and his eyes were the color of coal. If Miranda had been alone and met him anywhere else she would have been terrified. She knew he wasn’t going to start anything with them, she also knew that they would leave with him and Jared would be laughing, so it eased her sense of dread.
“Michael, how’s it going? How’s the family? I haven’t seen you since we worked together with the,” he turned to look at Miranda and silenced the end of the thought. His face was indifferent and he finished the sentence with “well since the event a while back. I need to talk to you, but maybe somewhere else, I don’t like this place or its customers.”
“Hey! What’s up with you? You’re right it has been a while. The family is great; working hard as usual just like you’re family is I’m sure. You remember Carma and Mattis, I know you’ve worked with them before, and I’m sure you know my brother Jared.”
Michael pointed in Jared’s direction and with a smile Sahen nodded yes, “and this is Miranda, she’s a very good friend of Jared and Gage.”
Michael whispered Gage’s name so one else could hear him as Sahen’s eyes lit up, “as far as this place I think you’re right we should go back to Miranda’s house.”
At that Michael and Sahen got up to leave. Mattis looked at them, “I’m not going anywhere until I get something to eat. I told you guys I was starving.” He turned to Miranda, “Come on, just a little bit longer, please, don’t you want something too.” His eye’s pleaded with her.
Miranda smiled back at him as she turned to Jared, “The grilled ham and cheese is pretty good here. Would you just look at Mattis he’s just wasting away, we’ve got to feed him, and we wouldn’t want to disappoint our waitress would we?”
Miranda was staring at the waitress knowing what it was doing to her. She was very happy with this new game it gave her power in a place she wasn’t allow to have any.
“No, I guess not, Mattis you’re saved.” Jared turned and looked at a menu, from behind it he said, “Mattis you are so lucky Miranda likes you, now do me a favor a order quickly, I don’t want to be in this shit hole all day.”
He looked up at Michael and Sahen, “Michael are you and Sahen going to eat with us or are you to important and busy to hang out?”
Jared smiled and smirked knowing that Michael at this point, would never leave Miranda. Jared was really looking to see how Sahen would respond, and unfortunately, he wasn’t going to be happy with his response.
Sahen spoke for both of them, “We would love to stay for lunch. I wouldn’t dream of leaving after all of the hospitality this young waitress his given to us.”
A devilish smile came across his face as he looked at the waitress, turned to Miranda and then spoke, “Miranda, what a beautiful and unusual name.”
He said it as gently as he kissed her hand, “any special friend of Jared is a special friend of mine, especially one that is a beautiful as you are.”
He turned his attention to Jared but his face was with Miranda, “I hope you don’t mind, Jared.”
Miranda was taken by him but she also understood that she was the game being played at the same time. She was interested to see how Jared would deal with the new man that called for her but she knew this was all an act. Like so many other men she had met in college, Sahen used romantic words and expressions to get to women, even though they were all just empty, sentiments they never really meant any of it. She decided to play along until she could look directly into his eyes and see what his real agenda was. She smiled sweetly and gave Sahen a deep sigh then she turned to look at Jared and quite surprised at was she saw.
Jared looked as if he was going to attack and she thought he was going to rip out Sahen’s throat. She snuggled a little closer to him so he would understand to her this was just a new game.
“Sweetheart, what do you think I should order? I’m not really that hungry so if you want we could share something.”
She took his face away from Sahen’s direction with her hands and stared deeply into his eyes, smiled and whispered, “Now who should calm down? You know me and who I’m with, you need to behave now.”
Sahen laughed out loud, “Oh now I see and although this doesn’t make any sense to me, Michael we need to talk before we go anywhere near this human’s house.”
He whispered into Michael’s ear, “Is she his food or what, why would your brother care anything about what his food wants?”
He had a strange look on his face as if his knew something more than he was willing to rel
ive at this time.
Michael looked strangely at him and laughed, “You don’t get it at all, do you? Trust me this is one you’re never going to understand until we leave and go home. Let’s talk about something else for now, something fun? I know let’s talk about how my dad and Gage were together today.”
Jared smacked his brother on the head, “I thought I told you to stop making up stories at start trouble. I would love to have a good fight right now but I am otherwise occupied! These people in here wouldn’t be worth my time, and you’re only looking to get me into a frenzy.”
Before long just as Miranda saw they were all laughing and having a good time, and the other people in the dinner were running out as fast as they could. The waitress kept to herself but did make several calls and at one point was urging with someone on the phone, Jared and Miranda both figured it was Celbris.
Apparently he was suppose to be in and didn’t show up, this left the waitress to deal with vampires, werewolves, and a human who was a pain in her ass, all alone. She wasn’t happy and she let him know it.
It was about two hours later when the group decided they had tortured her enough and left, Michael and Sahen left first, they wanted to make sure no one followed the others. After that Miranda got in the truck with Jared, Mattis and Carma to drive away, as Michael and Sahen watched to see if anyone followed them.
“You were right, no fight today, and no Celbris. Miranda why did you let Sahen glamour you like that? Didn’t you think that was going to bother me? You had to know that it was on purpose.” Jared was still upset at the way Miranda reacted to the way Sahen had greeted her.
“Jared, if you thought I knew it was on purpose, don’t you think I reacted to it like that on purpose? I always try to make people think they are getting their way, do I ever actually let them?”
“I’m sorry it made me want to rip out his throat, I thought he had some power over you.” Jared wasn’t upset, it more like anger, an animal hostility inside of him. “The idea that another man could touch you or remotely feel about you that way, well, it snapped something inside of me.”
Miranda answered him, “You may know who or what he is but I don’t and right now I don’t trust anyone but you. Oh and you guys, I forgot you were back there.”
She turned her head to look in the mirror at Carma and Mattis who were sitting quietly in the back seat of the truck.
“So until I look into his eyes, he’s a problem for me, until I know for sure why he’s here I assume that everything he says or does is a lie. I hope you can understand that, someone has already tried to kill me, and they didn’t know what I could do. I am afraid when word gets out everyone will be trying to take a shot at me, or worse, any of you. That would definitely be one way to piss me off.”
Her hair started to glow with the thought of someone else getting hurt because of her but she quickly gain control and finished her drive home.
“Hey you’re starting to get the hang of it! I saw that, you let it happen and then you put it away, by the way have you been working on your shield too? I was thinking about it, that would definitely come in handy if there were a fight for your hand, and Jared was having issues.” Carma asked.
Miranda looked in the mirror at her, “What do you mean? How could my shield be useful if Jared was having a problem? I‘m not allowed to fight until he is in real danger.”
“Miranda, you can fight with him as soon as he is in any trouble, you don’t need to wait until he’s dying. Girl, you could shield him at just the right minute and while his opponent is still confused, kill the bastard!” Carma was happy with herself, she had it all planned out in her head.
Jared had a strange look on his face, “I don’t want Mirada killing anybody,” he turned to Miranda, “your first kill is never that easy, don’t let Carma fool you. Your first kill is different and if not done for the right reason it lives with you forever.”
He turned to look at Carma, “Carma let’s not give her any ideas about who to kill or how she’s going to do it. OK!”
“Christ, Jared chill out! I don’t want her dead either, I also don’t want you dead and her blaming herself for all eternity, ok! You aren’t the only one who loves her and you also need to let her help you, stop being such a man!”
Carma was very serious; she knew if it was up to Jared he would stick Miranda in a bubble and keep her from ever getting hurt, what he needed to understand is that she was strong.
“In some ways Miranda is as strong as any of us, maybe even stronger, let her learn to help out before it’s too late, will you!”
“Ok guys, neither of you are going to win this battle, so can we call a truce, please? Here’s how it’s going to be; Jared I am going to learn everything, because I will have to fight someday. Carma hopefully the thought of my powers alone will be enough to scare them so I don’t have to fight. You both need to know that either way, you both need to stop arguing because you’re driving me nuts, otherwise you to will have me to deal with instead of each other. OK! Mattis you got anything to add back there.”
Miranda was tired of all of the fighting the two of them did over her, they both had valid points that were right, but neither would admit it to the other person.
Mattis smiled, “Nope, I think you’ve got it covered, and I think you put both of them in their place just fine.”
Carma and Jared gave Mattis evil looks, “What! I’ve seen Vampires fight less over a kill, after a week of no food, then the two of you when it comes to her. Can’t you just knock it off?”
He smiled at Miranda, “Now you know why they couldn’t keep dating! All they did was fight over one thing or another; you’re just the new toy they both want to play with! Sorry girl, but it is what it is!”
Miranda laughed, “Oh I get it, and if they keep it up, they’re really going to get it. Now who is this Sahen who would rather seduce me just to piss Jared off, then leave to deal with the business he came here for.”
“Miranda, do you remember when we told you about the werewolf race had a leader named Brint, well honey, Sahen is his son. I’m not sure what business he had with Michael but they have worked together a lot in the past, so this could be legitimate. I’m not saying that it’s real just that it could be.”
Mattis chose his words wisely he didn’t want to offend Jared, and he still wanted Miranda to be careful all the same.
“Miranda, his dad and my dad are great friends; I don’t think he would do anything to end that. The Concillium would have to punish him and your dad would get to pick the punishment. It doesn’t make sense for him to do anything stupid at this point, he could never win.” Jared added in.
Miranda though for a few minutes, “Right now all I know is that a very good friend of your family just showed up out of the blue, at a restaurant full of evil, and I know what my father has told me about keeping things quiet and who to trust. So for now I’m going to be friendly but very cautious with this one, at least until I get a good look into his eyes. All I want from you guys is a promise to keep my powers a secret, I only want the four of you to know what I can and can’t do, fair enough?”
Mattis jumped on it, “I think that is the best thing I’ve heard all day! If we keep your powers a secret, even after we truly know why he’s here, I think that is the best thing. That is what your dad told us to do, isn’t it?”
“Mattis, for one time in your life, I have to agree with you.”
Carma turned to Miranda, “your dad wanted you to be kept a secret for a reason and I’m not going against him on this. Miranda, honey I will teach you everything, but your dad is another story. He wants’ it all to be a secret and I think you’re right keeping it that way.”
Miranda turned to Jared, “Do you think Michael will say anything to him about me? Do you think it’s too late already or will he wait until he gets back to the house and talk to us?”
“Michael won’t open his mouth, he knows what your dad said, and he’s the one who kept reminding me at the Storehouse a
bout it. He didn’t want me blowing up in front of anyone, he told me to keep calm so you would stay calm. Michael won’t give up your secrets without asking you first, even if he knows he has to, he’ll still tell you first. He’s one of the most loyal people I know and he’ll never try to piss your dad off again, just knowing you alone is his free pass.”
Jared knew his brother well and he also knew his brother trusted no one at all, ever he had gotten screwed over once in the past and that was it for him.
The rest of the drive was uneventful, they walked into the house, waited for the other two, and it wasn’t long before they realized they had a small problem.
“Miranda, we never went to your work!” Carma remembered first, “what are you going to do?”
“They don’t leave until 4:00, everybody should be there, and it’s only 2:30 now. I’m going to get this business finished first, if I leave now they’ll know I’m preoccupied and they might worry its Jared. Now where are your brother and Sahen? I thought they left ahead of us.” Miranda was growing worried and impatience, “If he hurt your brother I’ll,”
“You’ll what little human girl, huh, or should I say Gage’s child. My guess is that you’re not human at all but a powerful force to be reckoning with, Jared would that be accurate?” There was a stillness to the room and all eyes were immediately focused on Michael.
“Don’t blame him, Miranda your father and Kilaws sent me and although they haven’t told me everything I can figure some things out for myself. Your father told me to say Oedipus and mythology is wrong there too? I hope your understand what that means because he also told me to look directly into your eyes and wait for your answer. So here goes, Jared please understand, her father told me to do it. Maybe he prefers a werewolf to vampire?”
Between Shadows Page 16
