Taint (Formerly Claimed) Dark Midnight 1

Chapter 35

Don't freak out.  I cut this chapter in half.  I will upload part two either tonight or tom.  

Also, on this chapter I will put a slideshow of *almost every cover I have used for this story.  (I couldn't find some, but if you can just tell me the chapter they are on)  Some covers are never before seen lol.  Let me know your favs and I will use the one with the most votes as the permanent cover from here on out.  :)

As always tell me what you think.  Feedback is much appreciated.  

Also, I will try to add a song to the side which I think perfectly fits the mood/theme of the story.  I lurve it.  

-Nikki

Chapter 35

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It had started snowing again by the time Miriam crawled out of bed.  

Light flurries drifted against her window, falling to dust the lawn like a scene from a winter landscape.  The sight was beautiful—at least until she remembered the shocking cold of being tossed around in the stuff like a rag doll.  

Wincing, she got up, pulled on a pair of clothes, dragged a brush through her hair and was out of the door a whole ten minutes earlier than usual. 

Too early, she scolded herself as she rounded the bend in a pair of fur-trimmed winter books.  You’ll look like an idiot when you end up having to wait.

But, as she turned onto the main road all of the worry vanished... 

He was already there; that sleek black car idled patiently on the side of the road.  Waiting.  Heart pounding, she walked over and climbed inside.

“Good morning,” Eliot greeted, as she slid onto the leather passenger’s seat.  

He looked straight ahead, eyes on the road like always, but there was a grim tilt to his mouth that hadn’t been there before.   Something that could have been pain flashed in those eyes as they brushed her over.  

Just like that, everything she'd been prepared to say slipped from her mind like smoke.  She had it all planned; demand he give her answers to the same dark questions that had kept her tossing and turning all night.

Just who were those people from last night?  

And what about the werewolf?--he was hiding something.  

But, at the sight of that look, all she could do was mutter a soft, "Hey," and shove her bag into the back.

Fingers on the steering wheel, he eased the car into a smooth, slow pace that wound through the back streets of the town; a short detour that conveniently ate up ten extra minutes.

They didn’t talk much; the fact that she had shown up early enough to wait for him—and that he had already been there waiting—said more than Miriam figured any words could.

Still...something was bothering him.  She could sense it, even though he appeared perfectly in control as she watched him from the corner of her eye. 

It was all in those strangely colored eyes.  

Strange, she realized, watching the pale daylight play over the planes of his face.  After only a few days she was already starting to pick up on his odd habit of reading people. 

A part of her couldn’t help wondering if his strange mood had anything to do with the two strange visitors from last night.  Thinking of those strange vampires, with their creepy black eyes, made her stomach twist into knots.