Midnight Shadows
Chapter Seven: Welcome To The Twenty-First Century
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.

She was frightened. Good, she should be. Not about seeing Jean-Claude, he was much to civilized to hurt her, but about the consequences of her attack. I still didn’t know exactly what she was and that bothered me, and so I had no qualms making her uncomfortable. Not a nice habit, but one that made me feel better. I was also still pissed about what she’d pulled with Dolph.

Dolph and the doctor came back into the room. Dolph still looked like he’d swallowed a lemon and the doctor didn’t look much happier.

“I’m Doctor Zimmerman,” he said to Cara. “Sergeant Storr tells me your name is Cara. How are you feeling?”

“I feel like I’ve been beaten and I’m scared,” Cara said. She was looking at the doctor calmly, but I could still see the panic in the back of her eyes. She was putting on a good show though.

“Sergeant Storr tells me that you need to take a trip to test that vampire bite. I want to look you over once more and make sure that there aren’t any other injuries I missed while you were unconscious and then I’ll discharge you.”

The doctor’s tone was mild, but his body language said he was angry. I wondered if he had a problem with vampires or with the police walking off with one of his patients. Not that it mattered. I was still taking her to see Jean-Claude. We had to know if that bite was contaminated before nightfall.

A nurse came into the room and Dolph and I stepped into the hall so he could complete his examination.

“Are you sure this is the only way?” Dolph asked me.

“Yeah,” I said.

We stood in silence. I didn’t know what to say to make the situation between us better, so I didn’t say anything and neither did he. A few minutes later the doctor came out.

“The nurse is helping her dress. She’s very sore, so try not to bump her around. She needs to rest, but she should be fine in a few days. I don’t really approve of this trip,” Dr. Zimmerman said.

“I understand, Doctor. We’ll be very careful with her health,” said Dolph. He was being very diplomatic. I wondered what he’d told the doctor in order to get her released. The doctor nodded and walked away.

While we waited I decided to call the Circus and let Jean-Claude know we were coming. He wasn’t awake yet, but Jason promised to be waiting by the back door to let us in.

The door opened and Cara walked out slowly. I could tell she was in pain by the stiff way she moved. Having been beaten a few times myself I knew exactly how she felt. She was wearing a floor length gown. Yes, a gown. It looked like something you’d see at one of those Renaissance festivals where everyone dresses up in period costumes. It was forest green with a fitted bodice and tight sleeves. There was a lighter green underskirt and embroidery down the sleeves and the edges of the overskirt. The collar was torn where the vamp had bit her and the skirt was stained and shredded in places. Neither Dolph nor I said a word about the dress.

“Okay, are you ready to go?” I asked.

“No, not really, but lets get it over with,” Cara replied. An attitude I could identify with.

I turned to Dolph. “Where should I take her when we’re done with Jean-Claude since the doctor discharged her?”

“Good question.” He turned to Cara. “Do you have someplace to stay?”

She was startled. “A place to stay? No, I just arrived here. I thought I’d take a room at an inn.”

“All right we’ll get you a room at a hotel when we’re done,” I said.

“Call me when you’re done with the Master and let me know where she’s staying,” Dolph said.

I nodded and said, “Come on.” We walked slowly toward the elevator. I could feel Dolph’s eyes on my back the whole way. I refused to turn around and look at him.

I stopped at the elevator door and pushed the down button. Cara stared at the lighted button in fascination. The doors swooshed open and she just stared.

“How is this possible?” she asked me.

“How is what possible?” I asked. She was acting like she’d never seen an elevator in her life. I gave her a slight push into the elevator before the doors closed on us. The elevator gave a lurch and began it’s decent.

“This…it’s moving!” she said with alarm.

“Of course it’s moving. It’s an elevator.” She was looking frightened and excited at the same time. She just looked at me. “You don’t know what an elevator is, do you?”

“No, my people have nothing like this. I told you I’m from Aradorn.” She said that like I was supposed to know what she was talking about.

The elevator stopped and I gave her a nudge out. I led her to the front doors and she gave a start when they automatically opened. I was beginning to get the feeling that wherever she was from was lacking in the modern technology department. I kept her walking. I think that if I hadn’t she’d just stand there staring. If this was how she was acting last night, no wonder the vampire attacked her. She was an easy mark. I took her arm and pulled her toward my Jeep.

I could see the questions bubbling through her eyes as we walked up to my Jeep. I pushed the button to unlock the doors and opened the passenger door for her. “Get in.”

She looked at the interior for a minute and then climbed in without a word. I closed the door and left her running her hand over the plastic of the dash board. When I got into the driver’s seat she asked, “What is this?”

“It’s my car. I’ll drive us to the Circus.”

“Drive? I don’t see any horses. How will we move?”

“It’s got an engine that moves the wheels. Don’t ask me how, I’m not a mechanic. I just know how to drive it, not how it works.” I was getting the definite impression she was completely out of her depth.

“You need to buckle up.” She looked at me blankly and I had to show her how to do up her seat belt. She was very interested in the buckle mechanism.

I got us out onto the road and watched her out of the corner of my eye. I wasn’t going over the speed limit, but she acted like I was driving the Indy 500. She held on the door handle like her life depended on it and if her eyes had gotten any wider they’d be saucers.

After a few minute she must have decided we weren’t going to crash because she consciously released the door handle and folded her hands in her lap. “I’ve never seen such wonders. This car is magnificent. We’re going so quickly. My friend Calin would enjoy this very much.”

We had some time before we’d arrive at the Circus, so I decided to see if I could find out about her. I wanted to know what she was and where she’d been that she’d never seen a car, or an elevator, or automatic doors. I was betting she’d never seen TV or a phone either.

“Tell me about where you come from, it’s obviously very different from here,” I said conversationally. Let’s see if she was willing to talk to a friendly voice. We could always use other methods later.

“Like I said earlier, my world is called Aradorn. I live in the Elven city called Caelian. It’s our capital. Our technology is entirely dependent upon magic. This type of technology requires no magic and it is wonderful for its novelty.” She waved her hand at the dash board. “We have no talent for the mechanical. It’s the humans who have a gift for creating such things.”

I really didn’t like the way she said humans. It was kind of like how some humans said “monsters”; like they were something bad and to be feared. I chose to skip that train of thought for the time being and focus on what I needed to know now.

“Elven city? So you’re an elf?”

“Yes.”

“But the doctor tested your blood and it has no fey markers in it. Are you related to the sidhe?”

“I don’t know. It’s possible. The knowledge of how to open a gateway has been around for millennia. There are just very few of us born with enough strength to open one. Tanon was the last to open a gate to this world 500 years ago. Maybe at some point in time a gateway was opened and some of my people came to this world and settled. If that’s the case they must have been terribly powerful. It’s all I can do to open a gateway large enough and long enough for me to pass through. I can’t imagine what it would take to create one large enough for any number of elves to pass through. We have no record of such an event in our recorded history. But that’s not conclusive; much information has been lost over the years in wars and by those who jealously guarded secrets.”

Cara’s _expression became contemplative as she spoke. She was turning the idea over in her mind. If her theory was correct it made me wonder if that’s how humans came to be on her world. It might also explain the origins of many of the preternatural creatures on Earth. Most of them didn’t have a recorded history and science has only been able to determine so much.

I turned into the back parking lot at the Circus. We got out and walked up to the back door. There was no knob for security reasons. Before I knocked I decided to give her a few warnings.

“Look, we’re about to enter a vampire’s lair. Jean-Claude is the Master of the City, so he’s very powerful. Don’t look him in the eyes; he can capture your mind that way. His voice is powerful too. Stay near me. I won’t let anyone harm you, but a vampire’s idea of fun and games can be pretty scary and I’m guessing that there isn’t anything like vamps where you come from.”

I didn’t add that I was Jean-Claude’s human servant and lover. Or that I’m on pretty good terms with most of the vamps that lived here. I wanted her to be cautious. Most vampires are not nearly as civilized as Jean-Claude’s and I didn’t want to give her the wrong impression. Vampires are not just people with fangs.

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