Disclaimer: All concepts and characters from L.J. Smith’s work belong to her and are borrowed here without permission for non-profit entertainment. All other concepts and characters belong to me.

Rating: Big, fat NC-17 (Sex, more sex, violence, language)

Spoilers: NW Characters leading up to Strange Fate, plus my previous fan fiction.

The Fourth Good Measure

Part One

Hannah Snow arched back in the black leather seat and sighed restlessly.

"Almost there," Thierry Descordes said, patting her hand.

"I feel like we've been traveling for days."

He glanced at his watch and smiled wryly. "We have. I'm sorry, I should have been better prepared for the check in the airport. Teth told me how hard it can be to get into the country."

Hannah nodded and let her eyes drift through the window and into the black forest. The social security number on her passport had been two numbers different from the one on her visa, and the authorities had demanded a call to the FBI to verify Hannah's identity. By the time they were finished, she and Thierry had missed their flight. Fourteen hours later, they finally touched down.

Cold air crept in through the crack between the door and the body of the car. Hannah unbuckled her seatbelt and squirmed to the left until she could lay her head on Thierry's shoulder. He wrapped an arm around her.

"I suppose the delay has just made you even more nervous about coming," he said.

"I'm not nervous," she replied, inhaling that dry-cleaned scent that clung to his clothes. "Just wary. A year ago he was your enemy."

He turned her chin. "You know I would never put you in any danger."

"I know. And it'll be nice to see Mira again." She shrugged.

She was more than wary, she was Argus-eyed about the whole trip. Teth was always a wild coin in her mind; the expression in his eyes was so honest she found him impossible to believe. No one was so unguarded.

She had seen him lower his head in defeat. She had watched him swallow his pride. No on could give up such things willingly, knowing that he was being judged.

"He believes in my cause because he believes in me," Thierry had told her. "That's enough for Teth."

"He's in love with you," she had replied.

Thierry had looked at her slowly. "Probably," he agreed.

"And what happens when he falls out of love with you? Will he fall out of love with your cause?"

She was coming now because she was afraid of Teth's betrayal. But also in part because she was curious to see him, to look into his soft gray eyes and try to find the decence there. She wanted her own proof.

The car rolled to a slow halt. When the door opened, Hannah found herself standing in front of a house made of cedar and glass beneath the beginning of a weak dawn. A circular dome was placed on top of the second floor, making the house appear larger than it was, and shaded lights marked a pathway to the front door. A lamp burned deep inside the house, on the second floor, and through the front window she saw the soft blue of a computer screen.

The door opened before they could reach it, and there was Miranda Cassavitis, stepping out to throw her arms around Thierry's neck. She'd cut her hair short again, so that it stood out like a thick gray halo around her face. Hannah had always thought Mira was wonderful to look at, with her giant brown eyes like trapped syrup, and her smile so wry, and with a few more months rest behind her, she was glowing.

Hannah hadn't expected to feel so overwhelmed with emotion. She had spent five months with Mira after the Solstice party and the ensuing gunfire, blowing off a whole semester of college and not minding a bit. The time had been vital to her relationship with Thierry. She had needed to learn that she had every right to ask for what she needed, and he had to get back into the habit of her presence. There had been ups and downs, they'd fought, and though they didn't occur often, the arguments tore Hannah apart.

More than once, she'd found herself sitting on the edge of Mira's bath, or flopping down beside her on the giant feather bed and pouring out all her woes. Mira was one of the few Night People who didn't treat Hannah as a holy relic, who understood that Hannah may be the soulmate of Time incarnate, but she was still a teenage girl.

Now Hannah looked back and saw the strangeness of their friendship, how it had started with conversations about soulmates, and only later come to the truly intimate secrets. They both had issues with their fathers, and the night Mira broke down sobbing would remain forever ablaze in Hannah's mind. Mira had been so tired at the time, exhausted by the last six months, trying to adjust to losing her shapeshifting abilities, and she'd still been able to reach out to Hannah. They'd fallen like pillars against each other. She had become the sister Hannah never had.

"Hannie!" Mira cried now, turning to grab the other girl in a tight hug. "Come in, I've been waiting for days."

Her French accent was the same, fluid and a little sultry. She tugged Hannah with one hand and Thierry with the other, and she backed into the house without limping. The entrance hall was marked by a winding staircase, which Teth was just reaching the bottom of as they came inside.

He was unremarkable to look at and his gaze was rarely penetrating, but he remained charismatic. He reached out to kiss Hannah's hand with a respectfulness that was striking, and when his light brown hair brushed the side of her arm it felt like the touch of silk. She watched him straighten and bow his head to Thierry in the old vampire custom, watched as Thierry smiled and reached out to embrace him.

"You must be exhausted and hungry and dying for a shower," Mira said. "I can't believe how the border patrol treated you, you probably think everyone here is barbaric. Tell me, what can I fix first?"

Hannah looked at her and smiled again, suddenly feeling better. Mira smiled back and took her hand again to lead her into the kitchen. They left Teth and Thierry to follow at their leisure.

"We never have guests," Mira said as she turned the kitchen light on, revealing a room decorated with fashionable sleekness. "It's so good to have you here."

"Your hair looks great."

"You like it?" Mira reached up to run her fingers through the thick strands and found them immediately tangled. "It's so much easier to take care of this way. Sit down, I'll get you something to drink."

Hannah slid onto a backless stool and rested her chin in her hands. "I thought we'd never get here," she said, blinking sleepily.

"Tea?"

"Do you have hot chocolate?"

"In nine different flavors. Which would you like?"

"Raspberry?"

"Coming right up." Hannah closed her eyes while Mira moved around, pouring hot water from a special faucet and stirring in a package of gourmet chocolate mix. "Marshmallows?"

"That's okay."

She let the steam rise into her face. "How have you been?"

"Good. Wonderful. How have you been?"

Hannah shrugged and didn't know what to say. "I'm happy, but everything is so tense right now with the Night World and the millennium and Thierry's job. I'm stressed."

Mira nodded. "You look like you need a vacation. Teth promised me that while you and Thierry were here, he'd only work while we were sleeping, so as far as I'm concerned, rest and relaxation is all we have to do."

"Sounds like heaven."

"Of course," Mira added, "if we're feeling ambitious, we might even try to have fun."

Hannah looked at her speculatively. "Fun?"

Mira just smiled again. "Only if we find the energy."

Behind them, Thierry and Teth walked in, already speaking quietly about the latest uprising against Circle Daybreak in Florida, of all places.

"I thought no work talk while we were awake," Mira said, the teasing in her voice edged with steal.

"Hannah's nearly asleep on her feet," Thierry replied. He stepped beside her stool and let his hand fall to the small of her back. She barely noticed, either too tired or else too used to his presence, his affection.

"I'm sorry," Teth said softly, his face creasing with guilt. "I did say that, didn't I? Thierry's not here ten minutes and I'm already forgetting myself."

Mira gave him a small smile. "It's all right, I wasn't expecting anything else."

"But," Thierry said, "to uphold Teth's honor, I'll change the subject. How do you like living here, cut off from the world?"

Hannah saw Mira's smile fade, and Teth glanced at her, his expression darkening. "It's lonely, to be honest," he said. "I know that Mira's much more used to living in the city, and I'm preoccupied with work."

"There's so much to be done," Thierry put in, as if trying to reassure him. "The millennium is less than a month away."

"And we were all expecting a sign by now," Teth agreed. "Some sort of attack or Divine intervention."

"I could have sworn we just got off this topic," Mira murmured.

Hannah set her mug down. "I think that's your cue to show me to bed."

Mira gave her a strange, sad smile and nodded in agreement. "Are you coming, Thierry?" she asked.

He glanced at his soulmate. "Hannah?"

She waved a hand dismissively at him. "If you want to stay up with Teth for a while, go ahead."

Mira wrapped an arm around her shoulder and lead her out of the kitchen and into a dark hallway, flanked by a wide staircase where votive candles marked each step. "Oh," Hannah said suddenly, "I left my bag in the entry way."

"I'll get it," Mira offered.

"No, that's okay. I'll meet you upstairs."

"First door on your right."

Hannah glanced up and down the long hallway. In one direction, it led to what she thought was a darkened living room, the other way would take her back to the house's entrance. As she started in that direction, she passed by the kitchen doorway and, glancing inside without real interest, felt her heart skip a few beats.

Thierry was standing motionless beside the island counter, Teth locked in his embrace. He was taller, significantly enough that Teth's face was lost in his collarbone. Thierry glanced up from placing soft kisses in Teth's shady brown hair.

He eyes met with Hannah's and she forced a smile. There was a kind of intimacy in the way they were holding each other that should have aroused her jealousy, but the hang to Teth's weight, his arms that had practically collapsed around Thierry's neck, stirred nothing more than uncertainty in her. Again, she was aware of their strange situation, of glimpsing a world governed by heart and not by head. No where else but the Night World could the Prime Minister of Circle Daybreak hold a former rabid anti-human in his arms with all the tenderness he afforded his lover.

She swallowed and kept moving. Bag in hand, she waited in the dark entryway until she heard Teth's footsteps on the floor and the soft murmur of voices to pass by the door again and lithely climb the stairs.

Mira had prepared a long guest room on the second floor that ran the length of the house and was lit with blue moon light like ice water. The curtains were made of delicate lace, and furniture was white brass. Half the room had been partitioned with an archway, separating a den area from the bedroom, and two doors opened into the hallway.

"This is beautiful," Hannah breathed, not reaching for a lamp. The dimness matched the subdued feel of the house, yet somehow exemplified her inner apprehension. Everything was perfect here; it was the perfect scene for a tragedy.

She slid her shoes off and sat down on the edge of the bed, releasing a long sigh.

"You'll probably want to get some sleep," Mira said, her voice distant.

Hannah looked at her. "Is something wrong?"

Mira seemed to consider before shaking her head. "Nothing's really wrong."

"Mira."

Now she shrugged. "When you're not so tired, Hannah. We can pour our hearts out when we have the energy."

Hannah agreed and climbed wearily to her feet. It felt as if each mile she'd flown had taken a bit more of her strength.

"It is just me," she asked, struggling out of her pants, "or do jeans get tighter the longer you wear them?"

That brought another smile to Mira's face, and she stepped forward to offer Hannah a steadying arm. "I think that's leather."

"Hmm. Somebody should let Levi's know. Obviously they have their materials mixed up."

She flopped back on the bed, wearing only underwear and a crumpled tee-shirt she'd had on for so long it felt like an extension of her skin. The fluffy white comforter was cool against the back of her thighs.

"Come here," she said, seeing Mira standing beside the bed. She patted the mattress. "Lay here and talk to me until I fall asleep."

Mira was barefoot, dressed in loose silk pants and a cotton shirt. She eased down beside Hannah and took a moment to arrange herself perpendicular to the headboard. Hannah reached out for her hand.

"I'm so glad you're here," Mira whispered. Her words came quickly, like collapsing dominos. "I know you don't trust Teth, I know you're scared of him. But it's so different now, Hannah, you'll see. You'll love him, and pretty soon..." She hesitated, and by the time she found the words, Hannah had fallen asleep.

"Pretty soon he'll love you, too," Mira finished, before nodding off herself.