Midnight Shadows
Chapter Three: A Fun Trip To The Hospital
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 P.O.V.

The phone was ringing. I swam up through layers of sleep to wakefulness. I reached across Nathaniel to answer it. None of the pard was to answer my phone. Too often it was Dolph and things were tense enough between us without having to explain that I was living with two men and sleeping with the city’s head bloodsucker.

“Hello,” I managed to mumble as I looked at the digital clock on the bedside table. It was 11:01 a.m. Five hours of sleep. I’ve lived with less but would love to get some more.

“Dolph here. I need you to come to St. Louis University Hospital.”

“A hospital? There’s a body at the hospital?”

“No body, but an unconscious preternatural that we need identified.”

“What makes you think I’ll know who it is?” I asked. It was getting so that people thought I knew every preternatural creature in town. Personally.

“Not who, what,” was Dolph’s short answer.

Dolph didn’t know what it was? There aren’t that many preternatural creatures around that he shouldn’t be able to figure it out.

“All right, I’m on my way. What floor are you on?” I asked.

“Third floor, room 310,” he said and then click. One day Dolph was going to say goodbye and the world was going to rotate backwards.

I put the phone down on the cradle and just sat for a minute. Usually if the ardeur was going to set in it came right after I woke. Some days it did, some days it didn’t. I did not want to get hit with it anywhere near Dolph and the rest of RPIT. It would be embarrassing to the extreme and I’d never be able to work with them again.

I looked down at Nathaniel and he smiled at me with those lilac eyes of his and I waited for the familiar rush. Nothing. I looked over at Micah, who was still sleeping. Again nothing. It was going to be a good day.

“Sorry Nathaniel, not this morning,” I said as I climbed out of bed. He looked disappointed but being Nathaniel accepted it without comment.

I grabbed my usual jeans and polo shirt from the dresser and quickly dressed. I put on my shoulder harness and placed the Browning under my left arm. Given that no one was trying to kill me to my knowledge at this time I left the Firestar. The knives and wrist sheathes would go in the glove compartment of the Jeep. You never knew when you might need a silver knife and I wanted them handy just in case. Paranoia is my name.

When Dolph called I rarely had time to dawdle so I skipped making coffee which only served to make me grouchier than I already was for being wakened before I was ready. I pulled on a black jacket to cover the Browning, grabbed my keys and headed out the door.

The trip to the hospital was uneventful and I mentally ran through all the preternaturals that Dolph might not know. The only ones I could come up with were pretty exotic and none were local. I couldn’t imagine what it could be. But I was sure I was going to find out.

I pulled into the parking lot and parked in the visitor’s lot. I knew this hospital pretty well. I should given the amount of times I’ve been here as a patient. I headed in the front entrance and ignored the lady at the reception desk. I’m awake, not cordial.

I got off the elevator on the third floor and turned right. Dolph was standing in the hall with Zerbrowski talking to a doctor as I approached.

“She has some severe bruising and a large bump on the back of her head. She’s got a nasty vampire bite too. Whoever did it knocked her around pretty good,” the doctor was saying.

Dolph was writing in his little notebook and nodding.

“And you don’t know what she is?” Dolph asked the doctor.

“She looks like she might be faerie, but not exactly like the pictures I’ve seen. Her cheekbones are too sculpted and her ears are more delicate. We don’t get too many fey around here so I might be wrong. However, we took a blood sample and it doesn’t have fey markers in it,” the doctor explained.

Dolph looked up and saw me. A grimace passed over his face. He hated for his experts to be influenced before they saw the scene. Or I guess in this case, the creature.

“Thank you, Doctor Zimmerman,” Dolph said.

The doctor turned and walked away from us. I looked at Dolph. He looked tired, but as ordered as always. Zerbrowski, on the other hand, looked like he’d picked out his clothes with a blindfold on and then slept in them.

“Hey ya, Anita,” Zerbrowski said. “How’s Count Dracula?”

I just ignored him. Acknowledging him only encouraged him. I thought after he’d seen me with Jean-Claude at the police station he would lay off. No such luck. Zerbrowski just can’t help trying to get a rise out of me. Kind of like Jason. I suppose I could have shot him, but my reputation had enough black marks on it without adding shooting the police. No matter how much they deserved it.

“So where’s the preternatural that looks like a fey but isn’t?” I asked Dolph. I wanted to get down to business before he could start on my choice of significant others.

“In here,” said Dolph as he opened the door behind him.

That’s Dolph, the conversationalist. I followed him into the room. It looked like every other hospital room I’ve ever seen. Two beds with light blue blankets, various medical apparatus, and a TV in the corner. Only one of the beds was occupied. I walked closer.

She was unconscious. She had dark auburn hair and fair skin with a darkening bruise on her right cheek. Taller than me I thought, but it was hard to tell with her lying down. High cheekbones and pointed ears like the doctor said. If he hadn’t already ruled out fey, I’d have said she was a true blue faerie. But if that’s what she was, she was an awful long way from home. She had two fang marks on the left side of her neck. They were torn like whoever bit her had been pulled away. Whoever she was, she’d been bitten and might be contaminated. I continued to study her face hoping something would stand out and give me a clue.

“Well?” Dolph asked.

“I don’t know Dolph. I’d have said fey, but the doctor says she’s not. Blood tests aren’t going to lie. Where did she come from?” I asked him over the poor woman’s bed.

“Black and white found her unconscious on the outskirts of the city. They brought her here. When they saw the ears and the bite mark they called us in,” Dolph said.

Just then the woman began to stir. Her eyes fluttered and opened. Her eyes were a deep emerald green. Somehow with that hair I was not in the least bit surprised.

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