Vampire Romance | Trancing Miranda: Chapter 2.4
Paid | "Purple Sky with Stars" | Ch 2.4
Previously on Trancing Miranda:
Miranda wakes up at Nick’s after being stitched and lulled to sleep with his energy. She asks him to swap again and he refuses. He is impressed by her attitude and reminded of his ex, Arianne, who was fae as well. Nick rememberes a time when keeping a donor, presumably against their will was allowable, then agrees to take Miranda home.
Purple Sky with Stars
Miranda slouched in the passenger seat of the cushy black sedan. Outside, the fog was drifting in off the water, gray and heavy, all but obscuring the big vampire owned homes that dominated the lakefront.
“So this is the swanky side of Vampire Lake?”
The blueblood laughed. “Is that what they call it?”
“Why shouldn’t they? Vampires own most of it.”
Which had caused all kinds of trouble.
The north side of the lake was Regio land—and people were fine with that because all the property around the Regio was vampire owned. When bluebloods started buying up the entire lake, it was a different story.
People protested. Anti-vamp talking heads were on the news. The conspiracy crowd churned out the same old content. But in the end, money talked. The vampires had money to pay for what they wanted. Most humans did not.
“We have human residents,” the vampire said.
Miranda imagined the homeowners’ meetings. The humans sweating bullets in their loafers and blazers. The vampires, haughty and elegant, no matter what they wore.
She smiled a little at the visual. “For now.”
“Why for now?”
“Because you guys are buying up the entire United States. Or that’s what everyone is saying—outside the gate.”
People on the inside said it too, if you asked them. They just didn’t care. They knew they had it good. Most liked their community.
They even liked Daniel.
The vampire didn’t answer. Because what could he say, really?
Everybody knew it was happening.
It was a powder keg, according to Daniel. But the full-blooded vampires kept merging their wealth. And the half-vamps kept right on luring people away from their families and killing them with their poison blood.
It made vampire-run districts like the Regio a necessity.
Miranda shut her eyes, and when she opened them again, they were turning out onto the main road.
The fog was lighter now—a wispy, almost transparent mist sweeping across the roadway and winding into the forest. The pavement stretched up to the top of the hill and disappeared, and the trees made a dark arch over the roadway.
The vampire turned down the brightness on the dashboard display panel until it was almost invisible. The remaining lights were a warm cherry red that made the car seem almost cozy.
“Do you want the seat back?” he asked.
She did, which was odd. “Did you give me more energy?”
“A little.” He passed a slow-moving car. “You were in pain.
Which explained why the whole stitching thing had gone so apparently fast.
Miranda knew she should be indignant. But she wasn’t. She felt too good to be mad.
The seat whirred into a reclining position. Miranda gazed up through the sunroof. The dark leaves of the trees arched overhead. Now and then, she caught a glimpse of purple sky dotted with stars.
They rode along in silence, and the night was warm and friendly.
It wasn’t real. It was the energy, but Miranda didn’t care. All she wanted to do was drift. Floating along, skimming the surface, watching the trees.
Looking at him from time to time from the corner of her eye. “Do you have a last name?” she asked, even though everyone did, not caring if it was stupid to ask, just wanting to connect with him.
“Markovich.”
It had a nice ring to it.
“Nick Markovich,” she said to the trees.
He laughed. A low, intimate kind of laugh that Miranda couldn’t help liking. “You need to level out.”
She sighed because she did, and she would. It was inevitable. “I know.”
The trees thinned out overhead. Lonely businesses materialized through the fog at the side of the highway.
They were back on Regio land, but the only people who stopped here were travelers taking the state highway in or out of New Boston. Aside from the occasional convenience store or gas station, everything was closed for the night.
“The Skyliner is up ahead,” he said. “We can stop for something to eat.”
Miranda didn’t want to eat, but she did want to bask in the vampire’s energy just a little longer.
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