Chapter Twenty-Three
Miranda stood for a moment, then bolted. She rushed through the halls to the steel doors. She pulled them open, though they groaned in protest. Mick stood, surprised to see her. "We can go," Miranda said.
Mick looked even more confused. "We can?"
"I'll explain later," Miranda woke the girls up. "We have to get them home."
The girls followed Mick and Miranda to the elevator. Magnus stood there, growling. Miranda lifted her chin, baring her teeth to him. He took a step towards Miranda but Mick was suddenly in the way. "Don't," Mick warned.
Miranda shooed the girls into the elevator before stepping in. She tugged Mick slowly as the door closed. He turned on her the moment they were in the elevator. "Why is he letting them go?"
"I'll tell you as soon as I can," She whispered. "Do you have your cell?"
Mick nodded, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket. "Dare I ask, what happened yours?"
"Magnus crushed it," Miranda lifted Katie up. "Any idea where we are?"
"Yeah," Mick said, holding out his phone showing a map. "The hospital is only a few blocks down"
"We'll walk them there and then call the police," Miranda said. She shifted Katie higher in her arms. "How you doing, sweetie?"
Katie lifted her head off Miranda's shoulder. "Thank you."
Miranda nodded, stroking her cheek.
The elevator stopped at the bottom level of the parking lot. Miranda told the girls not to move, that they would be right back. They needed to make sure it safe. Mick followed her. Once they were out of sight, Miranda turned to Mick. "Cut my cheek," she whispered.
Mick looked shocked. "What?"
"Hit me," Miranda growled. He pulled his hand up level with her cheek.
Mick shook his head, pulling away. "Why?"
"We need to look like captives. Like them. Hit me!"
"No," Mick growled.
Miranda growled. She attacked Mick, scratching his cheek and splitting his lip. His vampire reaction sent her flying into the wall. She groaned, standing up. "Hit me," Mick groaned but hit Miranda across the cheek, she pale skin discolored perfectly, a few red lines of blood appeared over the bruise.
Miranda flinched. "Perfect," She took off back to the girls, clearly in pain for hitting the wall. Mick touched his lip, following her. Pulling a finger away he saw blood.
The walk was short but the girls where all shivering by the time they got to the hospital. Mick carried Katie. The hospital personal jumped to action as they walked in the emergency entrance. She limped in pain, "I'm Miranda St. John. My husband is a private investigator. We stumbled across these girls."
The scurry to get the girls into rooms and checked out them all out. Someone must have called the police because Mick didn't get a chance, since he first called Josef, but they appeared anyway. A nurse can just finished checking both Mick and Miranda over when Lt. Davis walked over. "Okay, explain this to me, St. John."
Miranda looked at Mick, who smiled at her. "You can tell this one," he said.
"We were interviewing the Marshall family and I had the idea of checking the old abandoned industrial park" Miranda explained. She explained how they had seen the girls and tried to get them out. "Those guys got a few punches off. I hit the wall and got a good one on my cheek. But we managed to knocked them out," She looked down, looking upset.
"It's alright," Lt. Davis said. "I understand it's hard. We've called the parents. They'll be here soon. I'm sure they'll want to thank you," He patted Miranda's shoulder again, before disappearing.
Miranda leaned over, tapping her finger over his lip, which for the next few hours would remain spilt if he didn't get a 'drink' soon. He grabbed her arm, pulling her closer, hissing in a low dangerous tone, "Don't you ever ask me to hit you again." She smiled, kissing his gently.
"MOMMY!" Zoe screamed, seeing her parents as she, Josef and Aubrey came rushing in the ER entrance. "DADDY!" She ran to them as Mick stood and Miranda knelt. The other girls were now sitting in chairs of the waiting room, waiting for their parents, watching the scene.
Josef walked over, hands in his pockets. Aubrey followed, looking more flustered than Josef. "You had me so scared!"
Miranda smiled as Zoe released her neck. She stood as Mick knelt to hug Zoe. "I'm sorry, Aubrey, but you should know, I'm not as breakable as I was." Mick stood, lifting Zoe up with him.
Aubrey looked down, clearly this was a subject that bothered her.
"Christy!" Mrs. Marshall screamed, as she and her husband appeared, followed by a few other couples. The reunions went on for quite a while, as parents and little girls were reunited.
The Marshall's were the first to approach. "Thank you so much," Mrs. Marshall said, hold her daughter her chest. "I don't know what to say. You told me you would and you did."
Miranda smiled. "You don't need to thank us." Zoe grabbed Miranda's arm.
"Mommy, you're bleeding," Zoe brushed her fingers against Miranda's cheek, pulling them away with a bit of blood on it.
Miranda smiled, grabbing Zoe's hand gently, "It's nothing, baby."
Zoe leaned her head on Mick's shoulder.
The Marshall's continued to give their thanks as other families came and did the same. Miranda and Mick tried to brush it off. Finally once everyone had left, Miranda sagged against Mick's side. He kissed her temple, shifting Zoe to the other side.
"So, can life return to normal now?" Josef asked, walking closer with Aubrey.
Miranda swallowed. "Actually, no."
I hope everyone can forgive me for updating late. I know I said I would update everything by Thursday at the latest but life got away from. Got home later than I expected Wednesday. Went out with mom and just too turned to be do it Wednesday by the time I got home. Thursday I spent the day papering the town with applications and resumes as I am kinda-sorta unemployed at the moment. By the time I got home it was almost midnight and I was just too damned tired to bring myself to attempt checking over the chapters for posting. Anyways, forgive me. I'll get back to regular updates now. And I give you two chapters as an attempt at appeasement.