Chapter 22 - Uncertain
"Miranda, Miranda!! Miranda, please, look what you are doing, please don't do this, please!" I stood up from my pathetic collapsed position in the sand, only to turn my head around and see...Joel standing there this time, desperately trying to convince me not to release the wave. What the heck?! Everything started to fade, along with the agonising emotions which came with this familiar scene.
I slowly began to drift back into consciousness, feeling extremely groggy and exhausted, and my face soaking wet with the tears I'd shed during the familiar nightmare. I thought that for sure this time I was dead, and I would wake up in either heaven or hell, or some limbo realm. But no. Once again, I was lying on a comfortable and soft bed. What was with me constantly being knocked unconscious and always waking up in a bed?!
I opened my eyes to check out where I'd ended up this time. The slight light seeping through the sides of the curtains was enough to show me the room in which I was. It looked quite modern, and I hadn't recognised it. I didn't think that I'd been here before. The carpet was a chocolate colour, and the walls a bright white. There wasn't much in this room except for the bed that I was lying in, which was draped with a modern chocolate brown bed covering, and the mirrored built in robe which was installed onto the wall directly in front of me.
I slowly began to sit up, expecting some sort of physical pain at my neck, assuming that I could have possibly been bitten by yet ANOTHER vampire...but nothing. I actually felt ok, despite the lack of energy and somewhat disorientation, after having been knocked out with some toxic chemical fume. I pulled the covers off of me, and jumped out of bed, catching a quick glimpse of my reflection, noticing that I was still dressed exactly how I was when I was taken, except that my hair and make-up was reasonably a mess.
I tiptoed to the door way, and gently placed my ear to the door, listening out for some sort of indication of the presence of any one hovering by it. I was pretty sure that there was no one around, so slowly began to pry the door open, peering my head out into the hallway. The hallway looked vaguely familiar, but probably because it looked like any other modern house hallway. I briefly scanned it ensuring that there wasn't anyone nearby, and hesitantly made my way out through the door.
I had almost tiptoed to the stairs from which I was about to make a run for it down, when someone jumped out in front of me, grabbing me by the shoulders, making my heart leap out of its chest. My jaw had dropped to the floor when I looked up and saw who was standing there in front of me. "Miranda, I'm sorry but I can't let you leave." He said, glaring into my eyes with sympathy. I didn't know whether to be shocked, scared, or relieved that I saw the familiar face standing there before me. A part of me wanted to lift my knee up and strike him right in the nuts, making a run for it, but the other part wanted to wrap my arms around him and tell him that I'd missed him.
I was literally frozen in shock that I couldn't do either. I just stood there staring at him. "Miranda, Miranda are you ok?" NO of course I'm not friggen ok! I was bitten by a rogue vampire the other night, found out I was a witch and that I wasn't allowed to be with the man that I had feelings for because he was a vampire, and then kidnapped by...by...Joel.
"No Joel, I'm not ok! What the hell happened?!" I screamed at him, wriggling from his grip on my shoulders and cautiously backing away, wondering how the heck I ended up in his house after being kidnapped from the deserted cabin that I was in with Will.
"Miranda I can explain. You just need to relax. You need to know that I'm not going to hurt you, I'm here to help you. Please just relax." He gently replied, throwing me his large gorgeous grassy green puppy dog eyes, making my heart melt ever so slightly.
"No I'm not going to relax. Why the hell should I trust you?! The last time I saw you, you took me to the beach that you knew was in my horrific nightmares, the ones which you knew I dreaded so much, that caused me so much pain. And then the last thing I remember I was kidnapped, and now I wake up here, in YOU'RE home?! Don't tell me to relax Joel!" I shouted, finding it a little exhilarating that I was getting so worked up. I'd never been an aggressive or angry person, but right now I really didn't give a shit. I needed answers, and I needed them now.
Joel just stood there looking so devastated, so concerned, and so confused as to what he could possibly do to change my newly formed opinion of him. I felt a little sympathetic for the tiniest split second, but instantly threw that thought to the back of my mind remembering that it could have been him that had possibly knocked me unconscious and kidnapped me. "Miranda please, just give me 10 minutes to explain everything, I promise you it will make a whole lot more sense when I do. And we're not the enemies here, the enemies are outside of this house. It's not safe for you to leave, you could be killed." He pleaded, completely jolting me once again. How the heck did Joel know that my life was in danger??
"Miranda please, just come sit down with me for a minute." I just stood there, not able to move a muscle, my body still in physical bewilderment. I squeezed my eyes tightly shut for a moment and drew in a large breath of air, as if expecting it to bring about some kind of relief. I let out my breath and slowly opened my eyes again to look at Joel. He looked completely innocent. And boy was he gorgeous. No matter what he'd done or what he was going to tell me, I still struggled to hate him because of how gorgeous he was. How could someone with those eyes, who looked like that, possibly be the enemy here?
"Ok. But if I don't like what I hear I'm getting the hell out of here." I replied, as he gently took my hand in his, and led me down the stairs into the lounge room. He pulled me down onto the couch with him, not leaving the grip of my hand, turning to face me. He held onto my hand so gently and compassionately, almost like one of those doctors from Days of Our Lives, where they're about to tell the patient that their loved one had just died.
"Miranda you need to trust what I tell you. You're going to find it hard to believe but there's no possible reason for me to make all of this up, ok." He said, intently studying my face for a reaction.
I just sat there, no surprise whatsoever on my face. I knew exactly what he was going to say. He was going to tell me things that I had already discovered these past few weeks, I was already past the initial shock of the fact that these impossible, fictional, mythical creations, these urban legends, actually existed. "Miranda you're in danger because -"
"Because I'm a witch, and vampires are after me, because apparently witches and vampires don't get along, right?" I cut in, leaving Joel completely gobsmacked. He just sat there, jaw ajar, for what seemed like minutes. Ok now I was starting to freak that perhaps I was completely off the mark.
"Miranda how did you...how did you kn-know?" He stuttered out, searching my face for some sort of practical answer, as I just sat there looking completely uninterested and far from shocked.
"I should be asking you the same question. Don't tell me you're a vampire too, and you're basically going to tell me that you have no choice but to murder me, right?" I questioned, half believing what I was saying, and half hoping so intently that that was far from the truth.
"Miranda you couldn't be more wrong. I'm definitely no vampire. In fact, I'm the same as you. I share the same abilities as you. I'm a witch too Miranda." He replied, now, finally, sending shock waves through my system. It all started to make sense now. The way Joel seemed to know things about me that I hadn't told him, like my favourite drink, and pizza topping. "Miranda when, and how did you find out? I'm going to find it hard to believe that HE told you. Miranda if only you knew what you're little 'friend' has been hiding from you the whole time. It wasn't safe for you to stay there with him, he would have killed you. I'm surprised he didn't do it earlier."
I couldn't believe that Joel was trying to poison my feelings towards Will like this, there was no way in hell that Will would ever lay a finger on me. Well, without me begging for him to do so first anyway... "Joel you have no idea. I know about Will, I have for a while now. And he is far from what you think of him. He's not the bad guy in this Joel. He was trying to protect me back there. There are much worse threats out there for me at the moment. Will is my friend, and I don't care what you tell me, nothing is going to change that. I need you to take me back to him." I demanded, pulling my hand from his hold and crossing my arms over my chest like a spoilt little child.
"Miranda I'm afraid I can't do that. You can never trust a vampire, believe me. He's built to trick you, to seduce you, to make you believe everything he tells you is true. And that's when he's finally, well and truly, lured you in. That's when he will take your life, because that's what they're built for Miranda, they're built to devour your soul and leave your lifeless body behind. That's all they care about, that's all they need. All they need is to succumb to their everlasting hunger for blood." I couldn't believe the way Joel was talking about Will. It was as if he was brainwashed, convinced that this was the way it was and that was it. Little did he know that Will was the least of our concerns. He was one of the good guys...or so I'd believed, so I wanted to believe. My vibe was telling me so. Perhaps my vibe was somewhat distorted because of the way I felt about Will, but it was all I had right now to go on.
"Joel, these feelings that I get, these vibes, that I've had my whole life, that I'd only just discovered are my, 'witch' powers - they're confirming for me that Will is not the enemy here. Will has saved me, on numerous occasions, from the real threat. There are rogue vampires out there Joel, and Will is not one of them. He only feeds on animals, and he's been protecting me from them, he'd saved me when they'd attacked me. That's how I found out about what I am, that's why he told me. And that's not all, the other vampires, the ones that aren't rogues, if they were to find out how close I was to him, they would destroy him, and me for that matter, in a heartbeat. He's been risking his own life to protect mine Joel. He's not the enemy here, trust me."
Joel just stared at me, as if slightly confused, as if trying to think of some sort of excuse, some sort of reason, why Will was buying his time and luring me in, making me think that he was protecting me, before killing me. "Miranda, his kind, then, they still want you dead. They're evil Miranda." He defended.
"Yeah and can you blame them?? With your attitude towards them, there's no wonder they're forbidden to associate with your kind!" I defended back, becoming frustrated at Joel's one sided opinion. "Joel, I haven't been a witch, or realised I was one, for long enough to have been brainwashed into thinking that vampires are evil. I got to know Will before I even knew about him, or myself, I got to know that he's just like most other caring, loving, and compassionate beings on this earth. You're whole perception about vampires is completely wrong Joel. I don't get this. I don't get what this entire battle between the 'witches' and the 'vampires' is even about. Where the hell did it even all stem from anyway??" I pleaded, now craving to find out more about this ridiculous ancient old war between 'good' and 'evil'.
Joel took in a deep breath, preparing himself for what he was about to tell me. "It all happened centuries before Christ. Vampires were on the rise and were managing to keep their race a secret. So many people were being killed with no explanation, and society was managing to cover it all up. But not us Miranda, not us witches. We've existed for even longer than they have. Witches were the only ones that could see what was happening, they got premonitions, they could see these monsters, these beasts that were killing off our race. But no one else could see it because it was always being sheltered, they were always being convinced otherwise. Witches have only ever known vampires to be evil killing machines, who will stop at nothing to hide the truth, to hide what they really are in the world - heartless, ruthless, blood-sucking murderers. They were built to kill us Miranda."
"They're not all like that Joel. Will feeds off of animals. He hasn't once tried to hurt me. If he wanted my blood don't you think he would have killed me by now? Especially knowing that I was a witch, that I was the enemy." I replied, causing Joel to look a little baffled.
"I'm not sure why he hasn't yet Miranda, but believe me you cannot trust him. Perhaps it was because he'd sensed what we were, that you're friends were also witches. He'd know that we'd come after him. Remember that night at your party? How Lilly and him almost attacked each other? That's when we'd sensed what each other were."
That made sense. That was the reason that Lilly hated him so much. But why did she hate me so much? I was still yet to find this out. And then speaking of the devil, in walked Asthon, Jordan, and Lilly. I threw them the most intense daggers that I could possibly conjure up, and crossed my arms over my chest like a spoilt little brat again, jumping to my feet to face them. "I don't suppose that all of you were in on this the whole time too then hey? That you all believe this bullshit that all vampires are evil?" I rudely shouted, not giving a shit that they probably now hated me. They used chemical fumes on me and then kidnapped me, for pete's sake!
I mean what did I have to loose with Lilly anyway, she already hated me as it was. I noticed that Lilly was staring at me particularly intensely, focussing on my entire form, as if she was about to...ouch! I slammed back down into the chair, moved by an invisible force - Lilly. "What the hell was that?! I saw that, you just did that!" I yelled at her, jumping up once again, preparing to charge at her like I was some sort of drunken hooligan trying to start a fight in a bar.
Joel held me back, restraining me from throwing myself at her. What the heck was her problem?! This girl made me so furious, and I was never an aggressive person. "Joel, let me go! I thought you said you guys weren't the enemy here?! Clearly you're wrong! Let me go!" I struggled from his grip, and stormed out of the room, completely ignoring Lilly as I violently brushed past her, and headed for the front door. I could sense Joel immediately coming after me.
"Miranda, wait!" he shouted, desperately trying to persuade me to stay, as I reached for the door knob "There's something else you need to know about Will, and it's got to do with your parents." That single most sickening sentence threw me in a way that I couldn't quite describe. I was shocked, I was horrified, I was in disbelief. I didn't want to believe a word coming out of his mouth, but I knew that he'd touched a soft spot inside of me, and I couldn't do anything else but turn around to face him, to swallow up whatever it was that he was just about to spill to me.