Midnight Shadows
Chapter One: Home At Last
BY: Tammy

Disclaimer: Anita, Dolph, Jean-Claude, Jason, Asher, Zerbrowski, and any other recognizable characters belong to Laurell K. Hamilton. I’m borrowing them. This was written purely for entertainment and not monetary gain. Cara, Calin, Tanon, the Queen, and Dr. Zimmerman belong to me.

Author’s Note: This story is told from Anita’s and Cara’s view points. They alternate back and forth from chapter to chapter.

Anita’s POV:

It was late, or rather early depending on how you looked at it. I was probably going to see the sunrise and that just irritated me to no end. The early morning sun and I just don’t get along. I made the turn into my driveway and parked my Jeep behind Micah’s pickup.

I was right. The sun crested the horizon just as I was getting out of the car. I grimaced as the bright light slid across my yard. My first night back to work after my extended vacation had been a killer. Bert scheduled 4 raisings at 4 different cemeteries which was fine. The problem being that they were all over the freaking city. If I’d wanted to spend all my time driving I’d have become a taxi cabbie. I was going to have to talk to him about scheduling things closer together.

I turned my back on the sunrise, picked up my burgundy zombie raising bag, and walked up the front steps to the front door. I used my key and went in. It was quiet, which was good. Lately there just wasn’t enough quiet in my life. I seemed to be living in a loud action adventure movie and more often than not it seemed people were yelling, shouting, shooting, etc. around me. It was why I was renting a house on this empty road. No neighbors to get shot up.

I dropped the bag next to the front door closet and headed for the bedroom. I was dead tired. Being up all night will do that to you. I planned a shower first to wash off the chicken blood and then hopefully 7 or 8 hours of blissful, uninterrupted sleep.

I went into my room quietly so I wouldn’t wake Nathaniel or Micah who were curled up asleep on my bed. I wanted nothing more than to snuggle in between them, but chicken blood is so hard to wash out of sheets. I grabbed my red sleep shirt with Garfield on it saying “I don’t do mornings” out of a drawer and went into the bathroom.

I shut and locked the door and turned on the overhead light. I glanced at myself in the mirror under the harsh fluorescent light. My skin was as pale as usual with my dark hair and eyes making it seem even paler. That pale skin made the blood on my face stand out even more. I inherited the skin tone from my father’s Germanic ancestors and the hair and eyes from my Mexican mother.

I looked away from the mirror and began undressing. Off came the black Nikes and socks. Next I took my Browning Hi-Power out its shoulder harness and put it on the back of the toilet within easy reach of the shower. There had been a time that I wouldn’t have brought the gun to the shower with me, but the last few years had taught me a new meaning of the word paranoia.

I finished undressing, turned the shower on as hot as I could stand it, and got in. I washed quickly paying special attention to under my fingernails. For some reason people look at you oddly when they see blood under your nails. I can’t imagine why.

I finished the shower and got out. I dried off quickly and slipped into my jammies. I grabbed the Browning off the toilet as I walked back into the bedroom. Before slipping into bed between Micah and Nathaniel, I put the Browning in its second home, the holster hanging off my head board. I couldn’t sleep if it wasn’t in easy reach. You never know when the bad guys might come crashing through the door. For some reason the bad guys didn’t seem to understand that it’s a rule that you don’t attack people in their homes. I curled up behind Nathaniel and felt Micah move up behind me and sigh. I sighed too feeling safe and warm. I fell asleep.

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