Usual: The world of Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter belongs to Laurell K. Hamilton. Jubilation Lee, Angelo Espinoza, and X-Men/Generation X belong to Marvel Comics. And Kyuuketsu Miyu belongs to Animego (I think).

Otherside
chapter six

"The bloodlines are weak." A look of distaste twisted the girl's delicate features as she gazed through the window at the party below. "They are weak, and they do not know of the Shinma."

"Why are you here, Kyuuketsu?" Jean-Claude kneeled down to reach eye-level with the Shinma princess. "What is it you want of us, Miyu?"

"Your spiritualist." She giggled, eyeing Anita from under half-lowered lashes in a manner that sent shivers down Anita's back. Anita gritted her teeth, straightening her spine. She refused to let the strange girl see her flinch. "Himeko seems to find my presence... distasteful... right now. I am in need of a replacement."

"I wonder why." Sarcasm dripped from Jean-Claude's voice as he considered the diminutive girl. "You've only been taunting the poor thing for years, and then you drop something of this magnitude into her lap. I would think she has a right to hate you."

"She wanted the truth." Miyu shrugged and turned back to the window, eyes alight with mirth. "She has demanding the truth from me for so very long. I honored her dedication and gave her the path. It's not my fault that she is not strong enough to embrace it."

"You are cruel, Kyuuketsu."

"I am just, Princeling."

"You don't want Anita." Jean-Claude, sat back, a satisfied smile playing around his lips. "You adore Himeko too much to risk bringing another spiritualist into play."

"I needed some excuse to get past immigration." Miyu tossed her hair, never taking her eyes from the dancing below her. "The quest of the Western clans to be recognized as 'human' has taken its toll on those of us who must remain in shadow. They recognize my nature, even if they do not know my purpose. And an Eastern vampire is such a rarity, they screen carefully to make sure I am not here to incite an uprising against the living."

"You can pass as human." Asher's voice was soft in the silence of the room. "You are not bound by the laws. Holy water, crosses, sunlight, they all mean nothing to you. You are free to come and go as you choose."

"I many not be bound by the geas of the mundane vampire, but that does not mean I should pretend to be something I am not."

"Who did you want to see you come here, Miyu?" Jean-Claude stood, his frustration plain on his pale face. "You never leave Japan, and you came as yourself for a reason. Now what is it?"

"I bring you a warning, Princeling. You have made many enemies in your rise to power, many powerful creatures of shadow. They hate, and they do not forget."

"And what does that have to do with you?"

"They have consulted with me." She turned her luminous eyes to watch Jean-Claude, mirth dancing in their depths. "You have confounded them so much, that they asked my advice, and then my aid. I am not eldest, but I am Miyu, and even you with your baffling triumvirate could not hope to stand against me."

"The Council." Jason's shock was palatable. "It was the Council."

"Why did they summon you, Miyu?"

"I am Kyuuketsu, no one summons me." Miyu's anger crackled through the space, causing Anita to wish that she had brought one of her guns upstairs. "They petitioned, and I decided to respond. Consider yourself very lucky that I did not agree with them."

"What did they want?" Anita flexed her fists, willing the tension out of her body. "I don't understand."

"You do not understand, because you do not know what I am, Spiritualist. I am beyond your comprehension." She giggled, casting a cloying look at Jean-Claude. "They wished for me to banish him to the Dark."

Asher hissed, and Jean-Claude took a step backwards from the ethereal child. "And how do we know that you are not here to do just that?"

Miyu shot them a baleful glance. "Because you are still here!" She giggled again. "No fear, I would not banish such a pitiful creature as yourself. The Dark would eat you up and spit you out again!"

"Stop playing games, Kyuuketsu." Jean-Claude paced around the room, casting annoyed glances at the small figure smiling sweetly at him. "I do not have the patience for your whimsy."

Rage flared in her eerie golden eyes. "I come to warn you against danger, and you insult me. You forget what I am. I am the Guardian, and despite your diluted bloodline, you are still descended from the Western Shinma. Your bloodline is built of traitors and cowards, I should return all of you to the Dark! However, since you are of both worlds, I will not return you without due cause. You live as human, you may then stay mired in the realm of humanity."

"Are you saying you said 'no' to the Council, and they accepted it gracefully?" Anita snorted, eyeing the strange girl skeptically. "Somehow I doubt they'd take no for an answer and let you walk away unscathed."

"Gracefulness has never been a strength of the Western Shinma." Miyu's mouth curved into a wry twist. "However, they did not have a choice."

Jean-Claude placed a hand on Anita's shoulder, not taking his eyes off of his guest. "Ma chere, I will explain all at a later time. Simply believe me when I say that the Council could not hope to stand against Miyu, even if they joined forces to fight as one. She is the Guardian, and they do well to remember that."

"Now you flatter me?" Miyu snorted, tossing her hair behind her shoulder. "You would have done better to praise me at the beginning, Princeling. Westerners. I will never understand the way you think. You should remember your manners more often, Jean-Claude, you would get in much less trouble with your elders." She smiled suddenly, a bright flash of amusement. "Unfortunately, I do not have time to teach you manners, no? I have been away from my duties too long as it is. I have more important things than saving the skin of a worthless Princeling who is foolish enough to annoy his Council. Larva!"

Anita felt Jean-Claude's grip on her shoulder tighten as...something...materialized out of the slight shadow by the window. She watched as Jubilee's hand drifted slowly to the knife that was concealed inside her boot...if the girl could just slip her knife free...Jean-Claude squeezed her shoulder, hard, and she moved her head to look at him. He silently shook his head at her, eyes focused on the tall, robed presence. She nudged Jubilee, who slowly slid the knife back into its slim sheath, obviously displeased that she was not allowed to use it. Angelo laid a warning hand on her wrist, and she quieted slightly, but continued to glare at the little demoness.

Miyu skipped gleefully up to the looming figure, tossing her arms around its neck as pale arms encircled her delicate frame. "We will go home our way, yes Larva? No more airplanes crowded with scared humans. Pituh! As if I would drink from them." She snuggled into his shoulder, eyes dancing with amusement.

Jean-Claude bowed slightly. "I thank you for your warning, Kyuuketsu. However, it was un-needed. I am well aware of the Council's...displeasure with me."

"That was not my warning, Princeling." Miyu yawned, toying with the folds of her companion's cape. "You managed to insult and annoy me beyond belief before I was able to deliver my message."

Jason yelped loudly. "There's more? Yer kidding." He quieted quickly under the quicksilver glares of Asher and Anita, but Miyu had already hopped down from her perch to approach the terrified werewolf.

"Oh yes. You are being hunted. My decline of their offer has forced them to consider more…brutal actions. They have sent a hunter, a creature almost as skilled in the hunt as I am." She primped her hair girlishly, fluttering her eyelashes. "Unfortunately, his kills lack finesse. He is an animal, nothing more. However, you would still do well to be wary of him. He has taken up the hunt, and won't rest until every single one of you is permanently dead. Those two children have a chance, if you send them away now. The Council does not yet know they are here, and they are not assigned as secondary targets. The animal has your scent, Princeling, you and your pretty spiritualist. And he will not rest until you are both very much deceased."

"One man?" Jean-Claude chuckled lightly as Miyu levitated herself back to Larva and they moved towards the door. "Once again, you have my thanks Miyu. However, I think Anita and I can handle ourselves."

"I did not say it was a man." Miyu opened the hall door, revealing a strange red glow. "Ask the girl, she knows. He is not a man." She stepped backwards into the light, her silent companion looming behind her. "If it was simply a man, I would not have come all this way." The sound of windchimes suddenly drifted through the air, and a wind whirled violently throughout the room. "His name is Creed." And then they were gone.