Midnight Shadows
Chapter Five: Trust Cuts Both Ways
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.

Dolph and I moved out into the hallway. Zerbrowski was leaning on the wall. “Well what’s the verdict, Anita?” he asked me.

Dolph shook his head at Zerbrowski and he backed off. I looked around the hall for a few minutes while I tried to gather my thoughts. She radiated power like nothing I’d ever seen. And she had been bitten. It wasn’t good.

“I don’t know what she is Dolph, but I can tell you she’s extremely powerful. I don’t know of any creature that can learn an entire language in a touch. She could have killed you with that pulse of power,” I said. I was trying to decide how much to tell him. That bite might be contaminated and we could not have anyone as strong as she is under the influence of a vampire. However, Dolph would not approve of the only method of cleansing that bite. It amounted to torture and the police are not supposed to sanction such things. “We need to find out who bit her as soon as possible.”

“Why do we need to know that ASAP? We’ve had lots of people bitten by vampires and you’ve never been this concerned about it before.”

“Because she is so powerful I can’t see a vamp not trying to control her.”

“Why don’t you ask the Master?” Dolph asked. “Shouldn’t he know all the vamps in the city? He’s supposed to be controlling them.”

Sarcasm and disapproval colored his tone. It just set my teeth on edge. Dolph had no right to judge me or my relationships. And he didn’t even know half of it.

“Can the attitude, Dolph. I’ll ask Jean-Claude, but if it’s a rogue master vamp new in town he might not know. Master vampires can hide from one another. I will tell you this though. Jean-Claude does not let his people attack humans, or anything else for that matter. He’s the ultimate business man who wants vamps to remain mainstreamed. He’s not going to risk all of that by permitting attacks. He can probably find out though if there is a rogue and maybe who it is given some time. After this type of attack we can probably get an order of execution and I’ll stake the vamp when we catch him. If I kill him the bite won’t be an issue.”

I hated defending Jean-Claude to Dolph. I understood his feelings. He thought it should be us against the monsters. His attitude had not improved upon finding out his oldest son was engaged to a vampire. Until recently I’d have agreed with him one hundred percent, but somewhere along the line I’d learned that not all the monsters were bad and that not all the humans were good. Dolph hadn’t learned that yet and with his prejudice he might never.

“You seem to be more worried about the bite than the attack,” Dolph said.

Good, he was letting the personal stuff ride and getting back to the matter at hand.

“Like I said, she’s incredibly powerful. I don’t know if she’s trustworthy with that kind of power, but I sure as hell know that no vamp is. If he rolled her mind at the same time he bit her that bite could be contaminated and if it is she’ll be under his control. And before you ask, if she was unconscious when he bit her she would not remember if he rolled her or not. Under these circumstances she’d do anything he tells her to do if she’s been contaminated.”

“That’s not good.” An echo of my own thoughts.

“No shit.”

“Is there any way to find out if she’s contaminated?” he asked. “And if she is, is there anything we can do about it?”

“Yeah, Jean-Claude should be able to tell if she’s contaminated. If she is there are only two ways to break the bond. One, kill the vamp. Two, cleanse the bite with Holy Water. Of the two, I’d prefer to kill the vamp.”

“In the interest of time wouldn’t it be easier to cleanse the bite? Finding the vampire is going to take time and if she’s under his control we don’t have it.”

“Yeah, but the cleansing is like pouring acid on the skin. It hurts like hell.”

“You sound like you know what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah,” I said. I did not elaborate. I’d had a vampire bite cleansed once. It wasn’t something I’d wish on anyone. Dolph didn’t know the circumstances and explaining might have landed me in prison for killing several vampires, including the former Master of the City, without an order of execution.

“Well, before we ask her to submit to having that bite cleansed lets find out if she’s actually contaminated first,” Dolph suggested. “Can you get Jean-Claude to come see her?” I was almost surprised at his question. I thought I’d never see the day when Dolph would let Jean-Claude anywhere near a police investigation.

“Probably, but not until after dark. It’s only about noon and vampires do not travel during the day. However, he’ll be awakening soon. I can take her to him.”

Dolph frowned at that suggestion. He definitely did not like the idea of me taking his victim anywhere near the city’s resident vampires. Bringing Jean-Claude to the hospital was one thing, taking her to the Circus was a whole other.

“Look, we need to know now. If we wait until night when he can come to her, she might already be under her attacker’s influence. You know I’m not going to let anyone hurt her,” I said. “Most of the other vamps will still be out for the day. I’ll take her in, let him test her, and then bring her back.”

“I don’t like it at all. But you’re right. I’ll clear it with the doctor.” He turned and stalked off towards the nurse’s station. I watched him walk away from me and felt regret. There was a time when Dolph had trusted me implicitly, but no longer. He though I spent too much time with the monsters. Sometimes I thought he was right.

Zerbrowski came back up to me. “What’s got his panties in a bunch?” he asked. I smiled. Trust Zerbrowski to say something stupid enough to make me grin.

“Shut up, Zerbrowski,” I said.

“Okay, okay, don’t tell me what the hell’s going on. I only have to work with the man everyday.”

“If Dolph wants you to know he’ll tell you.” I turned and walked back into Cara’s room.

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