Midnight Shadows
Chapter Eight: Meet and Greet
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.

Cara's P.O.V.

I looked at Anita as she knocked on the door. Again, I got the sense she was hiding something from me. Her warnings were sincere enough, but there was more she wasn't telling me. The door was opened by a short young man with blonde hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a yellow sleeveless top and faded blue pants. He was barefoot. One look and I could tell he wasn't human, though he appeared to be. He shone with life energy. It was like a golden halo that surrounded his entire body.

Before I could think I blurted, "You're not human!"

"Telling my secrets, Anita?" he said in a teasing tone.

Anita looked at me closely. "How did you know?"

"He shines. Can't you see it? What are you?" I asked.

For the first time he looked at me carefully. I could see intelligence behind those eyes and a fine sense of humor. There was power too and something I couldn't identify. "I'm a lycanthrope. Specifically, a werewolf."

I had no idea what a lycanthrope or a werewolf was and it must has shown on my face. This world seemed to be populated with more unusual critters than home. Maybe that's why Tanon never came back.

"A shapeshifter." He said slowly.

"Can we come in Jason? We can quiz each other later," Anita said. She sounded impatient.

Jason stepped back and we entered a small room with two other doors. Anita led me to one and opened it. Stone steps led downstairs. It felt like the entrance to a dungeon. She started down them without hesitation and I followed her after a moment. Jason brought up the rear. When we got to the bottom of the steps there was another door ajar. We went through and into a room decorated in white, silver, and gold. There was a fireplace along one wall with a portrait above it of three people; two exceptionally handsome men and a beautiful woman.

"Jason, don't give her a hard time. She's had a rough night and is from very far out of town," Anita said as we entered the room.

"Who me?"

"Don't start. I've had a short night and she's got a bite that might be contaminated. I'm not in the mood to police you. The only good thing that's happened today is the ardeur hasn't put in an appearance."

He just grinned at her. He walked up to me, closer than I liked. "So where are you from that you've never heard of a lycanthrope? And what do you mean I shine?"

I took a couple steps back and he just grinned harder as he followed me. He was enjoying himself. Suddenly, I understood. He liked to push things just to see where they'd go. Now that I had his number I could deal with him.

I looked him right in the eye and said, "Kindly step back from me. I do not welcome your advances." I kept my voice steady and firm. I wanted him to know I was on to him and that I was having none of that.

"You don't like me?" Again with the come hither grin.

"Knock it off, Jason." Anita's voice had a warning tone in it. "Don't make me say it again."

He looked at her and walked over to a white couch. He flopped down and said, "You didn't answer my question."

I couldn't remember what he was talking about. "What question?"

"What do you mean I shine?"

Before I could answer Anita piped in. "I'd like to know the answer to that myself. Psychics and sensitives can sense lycanthrope energy on their skin, but I've never heard of anyone who could see it." She had taken a seat on another white couch.

"It looks like he's got a golden energy field around him. I don't feel it, I see it. As for why, I imagine it has to do with my being an elf. My perceptions and senses are going to be different from human ones." My voice was calm and matter of fact.

I sat down on the same couch as Anita. I was taking the "stay near me" warning seriously. Jason didn't seem to be dangerous, but I wasn't taking any chances. I hadn't been here twenty-four hours yet and look what had happened.

Anita sat up straighter and said, "Jean-Claude's coming." Jason nodded in agreement.

I wondered how they knew. I hadn't heard anything or seen a sign that there was anyone else near by. That in and of itself was odd. I usually sensed other people around me like a faint background hum. I'm so used to it, it hardly registers. I wasn't sensing that hum, so I'd assumed there was no one else present.

A drape was pulled aside and the most beautiful man I'd ever seen walked in. He was a little shorter than me, maybe 5'11", with gorgeous midnight blue eyes and curly black hair that fell to his waist. He was wearing a white silk shirt with lace on the collar and wrists and black pants tucked into knee-high black boots. Like Jason, he had a glow about him, but his was dark and harder to see. I might have missed it if he hadn't been standing in front of the white drape. He looked over the room and his gaze lingered on me for an extra moment before he turned to Anita.

"Ah, ma petite, to what do I owe the honor of your presence so early in the day? I didn't expect to see you until evening," he said to Anita. "And why have you brought one of the fey to the Circus?" His tone and expression were bland, but I got an underlying sense of curiosity and irritation from him.

"The police picked her up this morning with a vampire bite. And she's not fey," Anita told him.

"So, of course, you brought her to me. I'm flattered." Amusement leaked into his voice and I had an urge to laugh. Suddenly I understood Anita's warning and began to shield against the voice.

"I know you can feel her power Jean-Claude. She doesn't know who bit her. She could be contaminated if it was a master vamp. You know no master would leave her uncontaminated. That kind of power would be like candy to a baby. We need to know one way or the other."

I stood as he turned his attention to me and I got the full force of his power. He was easily as strong mentally as I was. I remembered Anita's warning and didn't look him in the eye though. I'd never had to try to carry on an intelligent conversation while looking at someone's forehead. It was uncomfortable and annoying.

"You may look in my eyes, I won't try to bespell you," he said to me.

I looked at Anita. She said, "Go ahead. He's a pain in the ass, but he keeps his word."

I looked down into his midnight blue eyes while he studied my emerald ones. I tensed and strengthened my shields as I felt his power touch them.

After a few moments he said, "I can't read anything. Your shields are exceptionally strong. If you want to know if you're contaminated you're going to have to lower the shields."

"You want me to give you access to my mind? I've heard about you vampires and none of it's been good. I'm not giving you free reign in my psyche."

"What have you been telling her about me, ma petite?"

"Only the truth about you bloodsuckers," Anita said. She turned to me. "I know you don't want to do this, but there isn't any choice here. We need to know and he's the only one who can tell us."

"You don't trust him and you want me to let him in my mind!"

"I never said I didn't trust him. I said to be careful of him and all vamps in general."

"So what are you saying?"

"Let him in. He'll be a gentleman. Won't you Jean-Claude?" she said to the vampire in sweet, yet warning tones.

"Of course I shall. I assume you've given her your protection?"

"You know I have."

"Then I will be a perfect gentleman."

A look passed between the two. There was a strange relationship between these two. Anita seemed more relaxed here than she had at the hospital, but at the same time more guarded. He looked like a man in love, but at the same time just as wary of her. It didn't really make any sense.

Jean-Claude looked at me and said, "Please be seated. It is a rare woman who is as tall as you."

"I'm not that tall. Among my people my height is average." I sat back down on the couch next to Anita. In this unfamiliar place she was the most familiar thing, if you could count a couple of hours acquaintance a comfort.

"How unusual," he murmured as he kneeled in front of me. He reached out a hand to my face. It was cold, like a corpse. It made my skin crawl. I tensed and pulled my face away.

"Please," he said. "Be still and drop those shields. I am not going to hurt you. Anita would try to kill me if I did, though if she were successful it would likely kill her and Richard in the process."

I dropped my shield and tried to make sense of that comment to distract myself from the feeling of his icy fingers on my cheek. It didn't work. I felt his awareness filter through my mind like cold fingers and it was all I could do not to shove him out.

And then he was gone. I raised my shields hastily and watched him sit back on his heels and look at me with what I could only describe as shock. "Mon dieu!" he exclaimed. "She carries two marks."

"What!" Anita cried.

"You're kidding," said Jason.

I sat there feeling kind of left out. Apparently whatever Jean- Claude had discovered had shocked, no scandalized them. The kinds of expressions I was seeing would have been more appropriate if I'd started to throw lightening bolts around. I quickly got tired of being the only one who didn't know what was happening.

"What is going on? What are marks? Am I contaminated?" My rapid fire questions brought their attention back to me.

Jean-Claude looked at me very closely. "Tell me exactly what happened to you."

Anita was pale, but she nodded at me. They didn't answer my questions and I was getting angry, but I told him everything I remembered from leaving the portal to waking up in the hospital.

He stood and began to fiddle with his clothes as he paced away from me. Anita stood and went to him. She pulled him though the drapes without any explanation. That made me angry and I got up to follow them but Jason was suddenly next to me. I hadn't seen him move. He took my arm and shook his head.

"They'll be back," he said. They'd better be. I wanted an explanation.

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