Almost Midnight (Shadow Falls: After Dark #3.5)(87)

Miranda cut her eyes to Tabitha. “How do you know about that?”

“I heard rumors,” she said. “And I heard you two talking last night.”

“Not all shape-shifters are bad any more than all vampires,” Miranda said. “Or witches for that matter. Plus, it’s rude to eavesdrop.”

Tabitha didn’t answer for a few minutes, then she said, “I was curious.” She got quiet again. “Are you gonna take him back, or go with the hot FRU agent?”

Miranda closed her eyes for a second. “I think it’s been five minutes.” She looked back at the sleeping vamp.

“Fine, don’t tell me. I just thought we’d kind of … never mind.”

Bonded. Miranda knew what she was going to say. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. Perry broke up with me.”

“The shape-shifter?” she asked.

“Yeah.” Miranda rubbed her finger over the bite wounds to see if they had stopped bleeding. “He said I deserved better than him and that he was doing it for me.”

“Why would he say that? Is something wrong with him?” Tabitha asked.

“He’s powerful, very powerful, and he had a hard time controlling his shifts in public. He didn’t think he could live a normal life.”

“You said he didn’t think … is he better now?”

“Yeah, he came here to a school and they seem to be helping him.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“He didn’t even call me. I didn’t want to break up.” She breathed in. “It hurt. And now … now I don’t know if I can just take him back. What if later on he decides he’s still not good enough?”

“Then drop his butt and go with the warlock. Sienna wasn’t lying when she said he stared at you that whole time.”

Miranda leaned back against the mud wall. “I like Shawn, but … I need to figure out what I feel about Perry. And…”

“What?” Tabitha asked.

“I don’t know. It just feels complicated.” Even more complicated since I discovered the truth about my parents.

They both sat there, nothing but the sound of breathing filling the space. “Do you have a boyfriend?” Miranda asked.

“I did, but he went off to California to college last year. He said we wouldn’t break up, but then it just … I don’t know. It started to feel weird. He stopped calling so much and when he did it just felt off. I’m pretty sure he was dating someone else. So I wrote him a letter and told him it was over.”

“Sorry,” Miranda said.

“Me, too,” Tabitha said. “At first I was hurt but then it just felt like the right thing. I don’t think I really loved him. Or if I did, I stopped loving him. Mom says I’m young and that I shouldn’t commit myself to anyone.” She sighed. “I think she regrets marrying my dad.” Tabitha exhaled and stared into the darkness for several seconds. “What’s sad is that I think my mom still loves him. Always has.”

“It’s a mess,” Miranda said, hurting for Tabitha. “What do you think Dad was going to say when he got us all together?”

Tabitha shifted. “I think he wants us all to get along. But I’m telling you, my mom and your mom will never be buddies.”

“But we can,” Miranda said.

“Yeah, if we live through this.” Tabitha hugged her knees closer and frowned.

“We will.” Miranda stood up. “Let’s wake up sleeping beauty and see if he can walk now. I don’t know what the chances are that there’s a way out of here, but we gotta try.”

*

They got a couple hundred feet, both she and Tabitha holding Anthony by the waist, an arm around each of their shoulders, helping him walk. It wasn’t easy. The vampire was heavier than he looked.

“You two just go on,” Anthony finally said, his voice sounding weak. “If you find a way out, send someone back for me.”

“No,” Miranda and Tabitha said at the same time.

“Look, I’m too weak, I’m slowing you down.” He pulled away from them, leaned against the wall, and slid down, until his butt hit the dirt floor.

“Not if you had more blood,” Tabitha said. “You can have some of mine.”

He looked up at her and made a funny face. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll eat your liver?”

Tabitha made a funny face right back. Miranda chuckled.

Tabitha huffed. “You weren’t unconscious? You were faking it.”

“Faking what? That I’d been knifed? I was not faking. I was in and out of consciousness. Every few minutes I’d hear you two talking.”

Tabitha stared down at him, and slipped one hand on her hip. “And you couldn’t do the polite thing and let us know you were awake. And you French people say Americans are rude.”

He cut his eyes up at her sister. “Oh, yes, how ill-mannered of me. Never mind that I was on my deathbed. I should have used my last strength to warn you that I was not dead yet.”

Tabitha frowned. “Fine. Maybe you couldn’t help it,” she snapped. “And now you know I was afraid of you, but I’m not afraid anymore. See!” She stuck her wrist in front of his mouth. “Bite me,” she said, in almost a teasing tone.