When Kara first enters CatCo, the windows are weird, and it takes her a while to figure out why – they don’t let in sunlight. Oh, they let in light, but do they let in sun? No. No they do not. So Kara has to keep a snack-drawer, and fill it up daily, because she needs a lot of energy.
Winn once actually asks – seriously asks – if she’s a werewolf, and Kara laughs and states that werewolves don’t exists. Alex made sure she knew how to say that without seeming like she was lying. No need to unmask the Danvers for what they really were, after all.
Winn chuckles nervously.
And in Ms Grant’s office, she hears a sigh.
Winn’s a djinn.
Like, shapeshifting, illusions-bending, he-could-grant-wishes-if-he-were-born-any-stronger-and-renamed-genie, djinn.
It’s kind of exciting, actually, until he explains that he can barely hide his Markings, that tell the world he’s part of the Mystic Sector. Kara knows what the Mystic Sector is – Alex is part of it, as a werewolf, and it’s a relief to text her sister on the MysticZone Chat, asking if she could tell. Alex texts back telling her not to tell him inside or anywhere near CatCo. Kara follows through, not mentioning her wolfiness until Winn was back at her house later that night for movies, whereupon Alex steps out of the shadows and scares the poor computer nerd out of his skin.
Literally, out of his skin.
He loses his glamour, and Kara gets to see his Markings.
She thinks they’re beautiful, no matter how much Winn denies it.
Kara tells him of Krypton in return.
Kara had been warned, of course, before she left Krypton, that a good amount of Earth’s population were descended from Divine Beings long passed from this universe, and that she shouldn’t speak of it to anyone. Kal-El tells her that they have no way of knowing who is and who isn’t, even with their powers – part of being Mystic is knowing how to hide in plain sight, after all, how to walk in the sun amongst mundanes and be average.
Except vampires, of course – everyone knows vampires can’t walk in the sun, even Kara.
It happened once.
But that was all it needed.
Kara had been in a Mystic Market, Alex not by her side for once – Winn hadn’t ever visited the National City Mystic Market, Rao bless him, so Kara had taken it upon herself to show him the wonders of his own world. Winn had to remove his glamour upon entry, the Toll-Sprite explaining to the shy man that it was seen as rude to hide yourself in a place of safety.
Walking around, Kara chirping away about this and that, it had been a surprise for a saiad to approach her. Alex had warned her about them, bastard children of sirens and naiads, told her never to let one touch her – but until then, Kara had never even met one, let alone touched one. Everyone always gave them a wide berth, instinctually, even Winn, and only werewolves ever had the gall to come within arm’s length of her when Alex was around.
Except Kara wasn’t a Mystic, was she?
Therefore, she didn’t step out of the way in time.
The saiad trailed a finger up her arm, causing all the breath to expel from her chest, before she felt a familiar heat in her eyes, a cold in her throat, an ache in her arms – and then it faded. That, and all her powers with it.
And Kara fell.
She stayed home three weeks, calling in sick, with Winn backing her up – doing too good a job of it, actually. She got so many things in the mail, so many co-workers knocking at her door. Alex sent so many away, having taken unpaid leave to look after her while her powers were out. It was a good thing too, as within the first day she’d caught a cold and dislocated her knee tripping up – yes, up – the stairs to her apartment.
It was on full moon that Alex left her alone, finally, and on full moon that someone slipped in through her window, the latch opening with a loud snap.
“Who’s there?” Kara stared, wide-eyed, at the open glass, heart pounding. Cautious for uninvited visitors, she stepped towards the wall, reaching backwards for her light switch, only to stumble and trip, falling back against the wall she’d been aiming for, hand smashing against a vase of flowers. “Ah!” She hissed as it was cut open in multiple places. Bringing it to her mouth, she only had a seconds notice before a body was against hers, latching onto her bleeding hand, lapping up the blood.
Kara was frozen as the vampire – and it was a vampire – hummed, before licking their lips, blue eyes that were so, so familiar latching onto hers.
“Kara…” they- she, rolled on their tongue, making it sound sensual before leaning forwards. Kara thought they were going to kiss her, when their head turned, reaching her shoulder, kissing it before biting.
Then, Kara moaned.
Heart beating ever-faster, adrenaline running through her system, her eyes slid shut, a contented noise leaving her as the creature of the night continued to suck and press her hands against her body. The bite was perfect, so amazingly different from the pain and – quite literally – paralysing fear that Alex explained. Without even thinking, Kara took her waist, holding her closer.
Tighter.
Tight enough that a rib cracked.
That was when the vampire pulled away, hissing and disappearing out of the window, Kara quickly coming out of her daze as her neck healed, super-hearing coming back in time to hear the vampire mutter in a venomous voice…
“Damn hunters!”
Kara went back to work two days after.
This was because, a: the bite was still on her shoulder.
And b: because the bite was still on her shoulder.
Alex went absolutely ballistic when she saw it, howling loud and snarling, eyes amber – which was so, so wrong, especially seeing as the full moon had come and gone – and moved Kara into her own apartment, apparently for more than just a temporary basis, so the damn fucking vampire who put a fucking mating bite on her wouldn’t come take her while she was surrounded by werewolf stench.
And then of course, she got a witch involved to ward the vampire from her…or something similar.
Kara disliked the henna tattoos hidden around the bite and her collar-bone, grimacing every time she caught sight of them, or managed to scent something – the witch had thankfully made it as scentless as possible, vaguely aware of her powers – but they made Alex happy. Happier.
On the brighter side, Kara got to meet Alex’s moon-pack, who she ran with in the hot deserts surrounding National City’s northern and western edges on full moons. The DEO – where she worked, which both hurt Kara and caused her to feel a lot more wary about using her powers – apparently required a minimum ratio of werewolves and vampires, and seeing as just about all the capable vampires in National City were part of the DEO that meant a lot of werewolves.
Kara was particularly proud of how her sister had corralled them and become the freaking Alpha.
Though, that did mean Kara smelled a lot like werewolf now, according to Winn, who didn’t even have that powerful super-senses.
So, going back to CatCo was a little strange, as Kara now knew who exactly in CatCo were vampires, simply by how they reeled whenever she entered the room.
At least it explained the windows.
“Keira, why do you smell like wet dog?” Cat looked in the direction of her assistant, sunglasses hiding her eyes. Kara swallowed.
“Uh, I went to my mother’s, while I was sick. She, uh, has a lot of dogs.”
Cat didn’t look like she believed her. She probably didn’t, seeing as Kara wasn’t a very good liar. At least I admit it. Giving a small smile, Kara raised her tablet.
“So, would you like to hear your schedule for today, Ms Grant?”
Cat sighed, before nodding, sitting back only to visibly wince.
“Ms Grant?” Kara became alarmed, “Is there something wrong?”
Cat waved her off. “It’s nothing. I cracked a rib due to some admittedly mistaken beliefs of what I could pull off in yoga.” Kara was still worried though. Cat’s head moved in the way that let Kara know she was rolling her eyes, before she took off her sunglasses, placing them down and looking to Kara directly. “I am fine, Keira, now let me hear my schedule.”
“…yes, Ms Grant,” Kara made a note to give her some painkillers later, before straightening and looking down at her tablet. “You have a meeting at midday with the Art Department, and…”
“I really don’t want to leave so soon after all…what’s been going on,” Alex gritted her teeth, stuffing the pizza box in the recycling over-forcefully, “but the DEO needs this business meet dealt with, and I’m one of only a couple people qualified, and because of a vamp out of state, they need a werewolf off the block anyway-”
“I’ll be fine, Alex,” Kara soothed. “Don’t worry.”
Don’t worry, don’t worry my ass, Alex thought as she stared at her sister through the window from where she stood on the plane wing in the water.
“So…” Kara looked back and forth between Carter and the nearest vampire, who was keeping a covert, nasty eye on him from the other side of the room. “Are you special?”
Carter glanced at her, frowning. “In what context?” Kara looked away from the vampire, frowning lightly, eyes narrowed.
Context? Odd choice of word…
“…you get all sorts of people around here. Some call them strange, others might call them odd,” Kara muttered loud enough for him to hear, before quirking a lip, “Some might even call them mystical.”
Carter turned to face her, eyes wide, before he whispered in a hush.
“Are you a Mystic?”
Kara grinned, ecstatic – jackpot! But then she remembered why she’d asked in the first place, and her smile faded slightly.
“Not really. My sister’s a werewolf, and I know a lot of people of different origins-”
“Your sister’s a werewolf?” Carter looked at her in horror, “Then what are you doing here? This is a vampire den! If they found out you’re related to a-” he stopped, looking around in fear before grabbing her hand and tugging her out of her chair with surprising strength towards Ms Grant’s elevator. Surprised and slightly fearful, Kara let him, nervously glancing at Winn as Carter started bashing the basement floor button. When the doors finally shut, Carter took a deep breath, looking up at her shyly.
“I’m a hybrid. They only tolerate me because of mom.”
Kara scrunched up her nose. “Ms Grant?”
Carter nodded solemnly. “Mom’s a vampire.” He paused, “Well, half-vampire, but vampire enough that I’m a hybrid. My dad’s a werewolf – he’s got an entire pack of his own in Chicago, all werewolves, born and bred. They don’t like me.” He sounded bitter. Kara squeezed his hand in comfort.
“I didn’t know,” and she didn’t. Rao, a den. No wonder Alex didn’t like her working in CatCo. And Winn – he was so antisocial though, when it came to Mystics, it was no wonder he didn’t know. He’d have left otherwise, Kara thought with a pang. Then she realised she’d left her phone at her desk. “Carter, why did I have to leave? I mean, I’m adopted – I’m not related to Alex by blood.”
Carter looked more understanding at that, “No wonder you hadn’t left already. You don’t understand, do you? Werewolves, pack laws – just cause you weren’t born one, doesn’t mean you’re not one. Your sister is your sister. That just makes everything stronger. Unless you got claimed by a vampire, you’d never be safe in a vampire den if they found out, and even then, the vampire would have to be strong – but at that point, you probably would have been kicked out of the pack. There’s a lot of tensions between vamps and weres.”
The elevator doors opened as Kara commentated, “That I did know.”
“Follow me,” Carter led her through the basement level, or Ms Grant’s private carpark, as it was less publically known. He took her over to an empty office, that looked like it had never seen an occupant – there wasn’t even a handy mug by the computer there. “This is my safe-room.”
“Why would you have a safe-room?” Kara frowned, before realising that the one window in the office wasn’t like any of the others in the building – it let in sunlight, and lots of it. Her shoulder itched suddenly, causing her to shoot it an odd look. Then she realised she could ask Carter about it. Alex hadn’t said anything after that mating bite comment, and no-one had spoken to her about it since, not that she had a lot of people to ask questions to, anyway. “Hey, Carter, can I ask you something? About vampires?”
Carter finally let go of her hand, and her shoulder itched again in an uncomfortable way. “Go ahead. I know a lot.” He sat down, and Kara shut the door, standing awkwardly in front of it.
“Well, my sister doesn’t like talking about vampires-”
“Obviously.”
“Yeah, well, one time she did, she mentioned…mating bites? Like, I know werewolves have them, but they work differently from most Mystic Bites, so I figured vampire ones might be different, and you mentioned claiming before-”
Carter looked a little overwhelmed at her words. Kara stopped abruptly, the quiet taking over the room for a couple of minutes, Carter looking at his lap while they passed.
“…vampires bite their mate when they smell their blood, or true scent, if they’re a vampire. Usually, they turn their mate if they’re human, then explain it all, though they usually don’t have to, because there’s a memory transfer that happens during the transformation – it lasts a couple of hours after the bite’s finished and the vampire has replaced most of their blood with venom.” Carter explained, at first quietly, then confidently. “If they’re already a vampire, they find them from their true scent, which puts humans into a fear-state on normal days.”
Kara frowned, “So they can only ever turn their mate?”
Carter looked at her funny. “No, of course not. The difference between turning someone random and turning your mate is placement.” He brought his hand to the side of his throat. “This is where you bite a normal human to suck blood out of, and or turn them.” He shifted his hand to his shoulder…right where Kara’s was currently itching like crazy. She almost moved to copy him, in a way to abate the itching that shouldn’t be happening. “This is where vampires bite their mates.”
Kara’s mouth went dry.
“And…and what if their mate is…is a Mystic?” It was the closest she could get to alien.
Carter shrugged, looking downcast. “I don’t know. My mom couldn’t try it with my dad, obviously – vampire venom is toxic to werewolves, and vice versa. I think that a lot of Mystics are like that, animal-based ones, and nature ones, at least. Vampires are dark creatures, born from death. Mystics keep to their own kind for good reason. Otherwise, abominations are brought into the world…” he muttered.
Kara immediately glared. “Carter Grant, you are not an abomination.”
Carter didn’t look convinced in the slightest. Instead, he nodded to her. “Why did you ask?”
“What?” Kara was still angry at the ‘abomination’ comment.
“Why did you ask me about mating bites? Have you been bitten?” Kara didn’t reply, causing his eyes to widen. “Show me.”
Kara withered slightly, “I- I don’t think I should,” she replied, remembering the wards around it, ones that were to be rewritten tonight, as the henna came to a ‘dangerously-faded level’, as Alex had said. Carter stood, coming over. “Carter-”
He touched the right shoulder, it exactly the right place, and without meaning to she let out a pained whine that had Carter staring at her in fear.
“Your sister’s a werewolf…” he breathed, before grabbing at the shoulder of her shirt, ripping it open, only to let out a high-pitched yip of his own, skating backwards as his fingers brushed her skin.
“Carter, are you okay?” Kara asked, hand going to her shoulder, wincing again. Carter stared at her shoulder, looking terrified.
“What did the witches do to you?” His voice was high, full of fear. He edged towards her again, reaching up carefully, removing her hand and – making sure not to touch her again – pulling the fabric out of the way with two hands, eyes tracing the henna tattoos with precision. “That’s a mating bite, an incomplete mating bite. Your mate is probably going out of their mind. Bites- bites are like the beginning of a soulbond, like the ones witches and warlocks of old had before they stopped it from happening…your mate is probably looking for you. Right now.”
“She’s not looking for me,” Kara said quietly, staring at him. “She thought I was a hunter when I broke one of her ribs by accident.” Carter looked at her sharply.
“You said you weren’t a Mystic.”
She gave a contrite look, before reaching up to take off her glasses. Carter stared, jaw dropping, eyes growing minutely larger.
“You’re Supergirl. You’re Supergirl.”
“Hi.” She waved a little, giving a cringy smile. Carter lowered his hands, before he looked to where he was holding her ripped shirt…and ripped supersuit. “Oh my god, I ripped your suit!” He stepped back, hands going to his cheeks in mortification.
Kara fixed her shirt a little. “It’s fine, Winn’ll fix it.”
“Winn? Winn from upstairs?” Carter’s eyes got a little wider.
“Yeah.”
“Oh my god.”
“It’s big, I know.”
“How many people in CatCo know?”
“Just Winn. And James,” she frowned grumpily at that. Kal-El’s little spy…
“My mom can help.”
Kara blinked back into reality. “With what?”
Carter pointed to your bite. “That just needs one more wash, and it’ll go, and your mate can find you again. How did she bite you, anyway?”
“I got touched by a saiad a few weeks before,” Kara explained, causing Carter to make a face. “Yeah, it was an accident – I wasn’t with Alex.”
“Yeah…we definitely need you to hide until that goes away, then hopefully you can explain to them. We’ll have to get that saiad back to repeat whatever happened though…”
Kara cringed, “No, no need – I have something that can help with it all that doesn’t require a saiad. It’s called green kryptonite.”
“Kryptonite – like Krypton?”
“It came from the core of our planet,” Kara replied quietly, “It can…disable my powers.” And now that she thought of it, so could a red sunlight chamber, if she could get a hold of one. “Alex will try to track me down,” she warned.
Carter sat up straight, face confident. “Don’t worry about it, just don’t get yourself get caught in a situation with her.” Kara nodded, before hearing someone call for help.
“Uh…someone’s, uh, someone needs my help. I’ve…I’ve gotta go.”
Carter frowned, “But you’re supposed to look after me.”
Kara fixed him with a frustrated look, but nodded. “I know.” She glanced at her shoulder. “And it might be a good idea not to go out, at least until this is fixed. I don’t want any questions I can’t answer thrown at me.” Nodding, she stood straight before giving him a pointed look. “Can we go back upstairs now? I do still have a job to do.”
Carter looked uneasy at the prospect, prompting Kara to go over, kneeling in front of him, thankful for once that her identity wasn’t hidden.
“Carter. I know you’re worried about me going into the den again, but I can look after myself, I promise. If I were any less capable, my sister wouldn’t have let me get a job here in the first place.”
“But they might figure it out…” Carter’s voice was quiet and pleading, “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Kara smiled at him, joking, “I’m Supergirl. What could happen?”
“Never say that,” he immediately moaned, shutting his eyes, “Now everything bad that could ever happen is going to happen!”
It didn’t go bad, no matter what Carter expected.
Okay, so maybe a bomb on the bullet train and a bomb at the airport at the same time was bad, but at least something worse didn’t happen.
“Carter! Why is Supergirl saying you invited her here tonight?” Cat called from her balcony, eyes zeroed in on the not-so-caped crusader as she floated by her penthouse, wearing all black, her golden hair mostly hidden by a hood. Carter came bounding out, looking relieved.
“Alex didn’t manage to get to you?”
Kara smiled tightly at him, glancing around, “She’s at my apartment, cursing my name. I left my phone behind with an unsent text to her.” Writing that text had been painful, a tugging in her gut wanting her to be loyal, and do as Alex said – but this was important.
As Carter had said, bites were like soulbonds, and not one planet Kara had ever set foot on didn’t have an equivalent – even Krypton. This is important.
Cat pursed her lips at their conversation. “Tell me what is going on right this instance – when did you get the chance to talk, for one, and why you aren’t wearing your costume, for seconds.”
“Can I come down?” Kara asked softly, causing Carter to nod his head.
“Yes!” Kara gave him a look that made him pause, looking to Cat. “Mom?”
Cat tensed, before shrugging. “Why not?” Nodding in thanks, Kara floated down, glancing sharply to the west, eyes wide as she heard Alex howl for her. Cat’s eyes flickered in the same direction, suspicion flaring. “Know the howler?”
“Is it Alex?” Carter questioned. Kara nodded, silent. “She’s looking for you,” he noted as the howl repeated itself, listening carefully before wincing. “Rude.” Kara glanced at him.
“I don’t speak wolf, but I’m guessing she called me a little shit?”
Carter grimaced, “Something like that.”
“Okay, enough,” Cat interrupted. “Tell me what the hell is going on.”
Carter eyed his mother, before looking to Kara. “Show her.”
Kara hesitated, then dropped her shoulders, pushing back her hood and unzipping her jumper, tugging it off and showing the bite on her shoulder, surrounded by nearly-invisible ink. Cat immediately hissed, coming over and ghosting her fingers over the marks, being careful not to touch.
“Witches,” she spat, and all at once Kara remembered the angrily muttered, damn hunters. “Always prying into our business and- oh, I’m going to kill them. I’m going to hunt them all down and murder them, one by one. Meddling with bites – it’s the last straw.”
“Don’t blame them, please,” Kara cringed, “My sister asked one to. She’s the Alpha of over two hundred werewolves in just one part of National City.”
“Well I’m National City’s damn coven leader,” Cat spat, “and if your sister thinks she can keep one of ours from us-” and just like that, she stopped, going still. Kara exchanged a look with Carter.
“Mom?” Carter approached tentatively, taking her free hand. Cat squeezed it.
“Kara.”
Kara went to ask what the matter was – only to remember one vital fact.
They hadn’t told her she was Kara Danvers.
“How-”
“I came to see you, because seemingly everyone in the entire building was worrying over your wellbeing. The temporary assistant I had was competent, but annoying. I wanted to know how long I had left of dealing with her. Then, you cut your finger.” Carter sucked in a breath.
“Oh my god, you bit her.”
Kara stared at her boss. “Ms Grant?” Her voice was high, but now Cat was shaking in anger, eyes full of fire. She pressed down on the bite, and Kara bit down the immediate want to gasp in pain. Cat flinched once, and then it started to glow, black shadow shifting and screaming in a pitch that only Kara could hear, before black dust was falling to the balcony floor, the bite clear to be seen.
Cat swayed, letting out a single, tired gasp.
“So, Supergirl…how am I supposed to bite you?”