Midnight Shadows
Chapter Fourteen: Breakfast Cereal and the Boob Tube
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.

The sun shining through the window woke me. I was in a different room yet again. The room was small with a sloping ceiling and a dormer window covered with simple white eyelet curtains. I had slept on a narrow bed with a matching eyelet cover and crisp cotton sheets. The brightness and angle of the sun told me it was late morning.

I only vaguely remembered arriving here last night and Anita introducing me to a couple of people. The trance I had entered allowed me to examine my mind for the vampire’s marks and chew on the overall problem, but it left me more or less unaware of my surroundings. Unfortunately, I had discovered the marks in my mind, overlaying the parts of my brain that controlled my immune system, endocrine system, and my dream center. Apparently Jean-Claude was correct in his assessment of how the marks had been designed to affect me. How they actually would remained to be seen. The marks were very subtle, but highly efficient. They stimulated and augmented those areas of the brain. Whoever created this little bit of magic had been very talented and rather lacking in foresight.

I had also discovered that Jean-Claude and Anita had been right about them being permanent. The marks would be all but impossible to remove without permanently damaging my mind. I was not pleased. I had hoped that a minute examination would reveal a solution to the problem.

Shaking my head at the unreality of my problem I dressed again in my borrowed clothes and headed downstairs. The house was very quiet. Given the late hour of the morning I was surprised not to hear anyone up and about. Normally I’m an early riser, but the events of yesterday had obviously caught up with me. I guess I wasn’t the only one who needed sleep. However, my stomach was rumbling so I began searching for the kitchen and some food.

I was doomed for disappointment. I found the kitchen, but couldn’t make any use of the gadgets there. The food I found was unfamiliar and I had no idea how to prepare it. While I stood there contemplating my problem I sensed a person moving in the front room. Someone was awake. A few minutes later one of the young men Anita had introduced me to last night entered the kitchen. I only generally remembered him, so I took a moment to study him.

A good six or seven inches shorter than me, he was well muscled and moved with cat-like grace. His ankle length auburn hair and lilac eyes made him seem quite remarkable. However, what caught my attention this morning was the fact that he glowed, much like Jason had. So he was also a lycanthrope. I began to wonder just how many of them populated this world.

“Good morning,” I said courteously.

“Morning,” he said softly with his eyes downcast. His manner was very cautious, like he expected to be yelled at. I wondered if he had been abused.

“I’m sorry, I know Anita introduced us, but I can’t remember your name.”

“I’m Nathaniel.” He didn’t volunteer anything more. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of him.

“Well, Nathaniel, I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry. I would prepare something for us to eat, but I’m afraid this kitchen is completely beyond me. Could I impose upon you to make us something to eat?” To emphasize my hunger my stomach growled again.

At that sound Nathaniel suddenly smiled and relaxed. Apparently he must have decided I was not a threat. He moved toward the counter and began to pull things out of the large metal cabinet with a light in it as I sat down at the table in front of the window. I caught a draft of cold air as he opened and shut the door. A most interesting contraption. He set about preparing breakfast with the ease of someone who was familiar with the task. After a few minutes he put a bowl in front of me with some sort of colorful shapes and poured milk on top of it. I looked at it doubtfully.

“What is this?” I asked, trying to keep an open mind.

“Fruitloops. Do you want any coffee?” he asked.

His answer was wholly uninformative. “You wouldn’t happen to have any tea?” I asked him hopefully.

“Yeah I think so, somewhere. Dr. Lillian and Sylvie like it.” He took a small ceramic tankard, filled it with water, put it in another strange box and pushed some buttons. With each button there was a high pitched noise. The box hummed as he rummaged in an overhead cupboard. After a few minutes it gave a louder series of beeps and Nathaniel removed the tankard. I could see the steam rising from the water. He placed some kind of a pouch in the water and placed it and a sugar bowl in front of me.

“You might want to eat your cereal before it gets too soggy,” he said softly as he sat down across from me with an identical bowl.

My gaze returned to the cereal doubtfully, but I followed his example and took a bite. It was like eating pure sugar. After a few bites I couldn’t eat anymore so I turned to the tea. After placing a spoonful of sugar in it I sipped it quietly. Nathaniel inhaled two bowlfuls of the sugary stuff. He must have the stomach of a goat.

“So, Anita says you come from another world. I think that’s pretty cool. Have you ever seen TV?” he asked me after he had cleared the table. There still was no sign of Anita. I was getting pretty impatient. If I couldn’t do anything about the vampire, I wanted to at least begin looking for Tanon.

“No, I’ve never seen TV.” I figured I had nothing else to do until Anita finally put in an appearance. I might as well continue to explore the fascinating technology of Earth. We moved into the front room and he picked up a small, black object and pushed a button on its top as we sat down on the white couch.

Across the room another black box came to life. Light, color, and voices emanated from it. The scenes flashed and I realized Nathaniel was pushing more buttons. Whatever he was holding controlled the device. Finally it settled on one scene. A blond woman sat behind a desk speaking.

“I hope you don’t mind the news. Anita doesn’t get the newspaper so it’s the only way to keep up on what’s going on.”

I could hardly mind. This TV was by far the most captivating thing I’d seen since I’d arrived. We watched in silence as the woman talked about crimes, politics, sporting events, and weather. Suddenly I saw something that made me sit up and gasp. There Tanon was on the screen!

“Tanon!” I cried. As the word left my mouth, the scene changed. “Bring him back!”

“Bring who?” Nathaniel asked.

“Tanon! He was just in the TV.”

“They’ll get to the story after the commercial. It’ll be a minute. Who’s Tanon?” Nathaniel was looking at me like I was crazy. He didn’t understand. The elf I’d come to this world for was right there. I waited for the commercial to end. It was the longest two minutes of my life.

The program began again. The newswoman reappeared and above her shoulder was an image of Tanon. He was older than the painting I’d seen of him and his elven features were disguised, but it was definitely him.

“Appearing this evening at Washington University is Tan Alfaim. Mr. Alfaim is a world renowned expert on the fey of the British Isles and will be lecturing about the history and magic of the sidhe.” The woman spoke in a calm everyday voice, as if she wasn’t giving me crucial information.

I grabbed Nathaniel’s hand and asked him, “Is this place near here?”

“Yeah”

“Then tonight I’m going to find Tanon and convince him to come home.”

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