No Boundaries - part two (PG13)
Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2011 2:33 pm
Disclaimer: Moonlight is not mine and no copyright infringement is intended.
IN BETWEEN
sixteen and . . .
No Boundaries
part two
When Beth woke again it was dawn, there were blankets heaped over her, and she was gloriously warm. It felt wonderful, but she was profoundly disappointed. Had she only dreamed that she’d been lying here with Mick, actually sleeping with him? Reluctantly she opened her eyes. But her bed wasn’t empty after all. Mick was there, lying on top of the covers beside her, wearing his jeans but still shirtless and barefoot, his hair damp from the shower. When he saw she was awake, he gave her a heart-melting smile.
“You’re still here,” she said happily.
“Yeah.”
“But you’re half dressed.” She looked him over, a little mournfully. Well, half dressed was far better than fully dressed.
“You’re covered from head to toe,” he pointed out.
“Have a heart, I was freezing,” she said.
“I hope you’re not any more.”
“No. You must have turned on the heat.” He must have put away the ice packs as well, as there was no longer any evidence of them. How had she not noticed any of this activity? Vampires could be quite creepily silent.
“As soon as I woke up. Are you feeling better?”
She nodded. “But it worked, didn’t it? For a little while? You were asleep at the same time I was.”
“In your arms.” He moved closer to her and leaned down to kiss her. The touch of his lips on hers brought back a rush of memories from the night before, and a wave of heat ran over her body. “For at least a couple of hours.”
“Is that all? I should have made you go home to your freezer. I just wanted to try that. To see if it might work.”
He kissed her again, very tenderly. “It did work, and you couldn’t have made me go home.”
She kissed him back, her whole body trembling with desire. “Oh, God, Mick. We’ve got to stop. Otherwise I’ll never be able to go to work.”
“Don’t go,” he whispered.
“I don’t want to go, believe me. But I think I’d better. God knows what they’ll make of Emma’s escape and disappearance. If I’m there, I can steer things in the right direction.” She felt her body tense up as she thought about what she’d be facing at work today, and Simone’s words slipped into her mind: keeping their secret is the number one rule. Not that Beth thought of protecting Mick's secret as a rule. To her, it was simply the most important thing there was.
Mick withdrew a little, as if reacting to her tension. “That’s true, but . . .” He reached out, resting his hand on the bite marks at her throat.
Beth had totally forgotten about them. She put her hand up uncertainly, her fingers brushing his, and her eyes widened. “Oh no . . . I didn’t think of that. And Ben’s already been acting so weird around you.”
“I didn’t think of it either. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t ever be sorry,” she said firmly, and gave him another kiss. “I wanted it, and I loved it. We’ll just have to be a little more careful about . . . timing . . . in the future.”
Mick smiled a little, obviously thinking of what might happen in that future.
Beth smiled too, but she was worried. She couldn’t risk having Ben see the marks, yet she was frightened of what might happen at the office without her. What kind of theories might Ben come up with on his own? What had actually happened?
She sat up in bed, propping her pillows behind her, and regarded Mick seriously. “Mick, what happened last night? All I heard was that the police van crashed and Emma escaped.”
He hesitated. “It really might be better for you not to know.”
“I need to know, Mick. I need to know what I have to work with.”
“Okay.” Taking a deep breath, he said, “Logan stopped the van, we pulled Emma out, and we took off in an ambulance.”
Well, he was trying, but he obviously needed a lot more practice in telling her about things. “How did Logan stop the van?”
“He ran out in front of it. It swerved, and he pushed it over.”
“Logan pushed a van over?” Beth was distracted from her goal by this image. It was actually hard for her to even think of Logan as a vampire, when she’d only seen him working away at his computer in his basement hideaway. Josef, on the other hand . . .
“Well, he was supposed to do clever things with computer control of the traffic lights, but that didn’t work out. It was Plan B.”
“But it was in public, right?”
“At night, on a quiet street.”
“But there could have been witnesses.”
Mick shrugged uncertainly. “I suppose it’s possible.”
“Who was involved besides you and Logan?”
“Josef, Guillermo, a couple of the Cleaners.”
The Cleaners. Mick had called these people to come and take care of Donovan Shepherd’s body. A businesslike woman in black leather had appeared, along with two men also dressed in black, and they’d quickly and efficiently removed the body, along with every trace that it had ever been there.
“These Cleaners,” she said. “Are they the ones who – who dispense vampire justice?”
“For the most part. It’s a little more complicated than that, but that’s the essence of it.”
“What gives them that right?”
“They give up a lot. Their job is everything to them. They don’t have families; they don’t sire. They’re not influenced by the world the same way the rest of us are.”
“Well, maybe they should be,” Beth muttered.
Mick sighed. “You don’t understand about Emma.”
“No, I don’t. Why did she have to die? I mean, I know she killed Dominic, and in a public place at that. But I don't believe she ever meant to. She told Jackson that she lost control, and you've said yourself that things like that can happen by accident, so -- ”
Mick was shaking his head. “That isn’t why Emma died.”
“It isn’t?” Beth was bewildered.
“No. Emma . . . she made threats.”
“What kind of threats?”
“She was angry with me for letting her get arrested. She said that if I didn’t get her out within twenty-four hours, she’d expose me as a vampire.”
Beth felt herself freeze again. She hadn’t known anything about this. Emma had threatened Mick?
“And there was more,” Mick said. “She said she’d also name every other vampire in L.A., and expose us all.”
How did I not know about this? “When did she make these threats?”
Mick glanced away, looking a little guilty. “When Jackson visited her. While we were watching.”
Beth remembered the way Mick had drawn back, as if in shock, while Emma and Jackson were talking. Mick had looked at her, his eyes haunted, but had said nothing, although he'd been filling her in on their conversation up till then. She’d assumed that Mick had overheard something very personal that shouldn’t be shared with her, not that he’d been concealing something like . . . this.
“That’s what you meant about her being a liability to your community,” she said, her mouth very dry.
“Yes.”
“But why would she even make a threat like that?”
“She was scared; she was angry. She wanted to make sure she got my attention.”
“Do you think she really would have followed through on it?”
Mick hesitated only for a second. “Yes. She’d have found a way, even from jail.”
“I don’t understand. She was a vampire too! Why would she expose her own people?”
“Beth, look at what humans do to each other. Look at what Lola did. It’s what happens.”
Beth was silent for a long time. It made a horrible sort of sense. “I liked her,” she said at last, in a small voice. She’d felt such an affinity toward Emma, and she’d loved the story of Emma’s meeting with her true love. She’d seemed like such a good person. Yet she’d betrayed her husband, threatened her friends. Had she simply been that frightened? How much terror would a vampire feel, facing prison? To be locked up, with no access to blood, would mean a slow and terrible death.
“I know,” Mick said. “So did I. I didn’t know her that well, but I always liked her. And Jackson seemed like a really good guy.”
“How did they die?”
“Fire,” Mick said, very low.
Beth shuddered, and the nightmare image of Coraline, burning in the flames, filled her mind. “Poor Jackson. I can’t believe he decided to die with her, after all she’d done.”
“That didn’t matter. He loved her. He didn’t want to live without her.”
Mick’s voice was oddly intent as he said this. Was he thinking the same thing, that he didn’t want to live without her? But where did that leave them? What happens when I start to get old? she’d asked, but maybe that wasn’t the question. Maybe it was What happens when I die? For a moment it all seemed impossible again. What would Mick do when she died? She didn’t want him to follow her into death. She wanted him to go on and on, to live through the generations, to always be in the world, taking joy in it. She frowned slightly, another thought crossing her mind. Would it really be so bad to live that way? Even though Mick insisted that it wasn’t really life . . . even though it seemed that the fledgling stage was likely to destroy one’s soul . . .
She firmly pushed all her turbulent thoughts aside. She could think about all these things later. Now, she needed to go to work, if it was at all possible. She needed to be at the office in order to protect Mick, and if she could hide the marks well enough, it would be safe. She put her arms around Mick, giving him a heartfelt hug, and then pulled away. “I’m going to go try something. Wait for me?”
“Sure.”
Beth took a hurried shower, then put on her makeup and dressed with care. When she came back out into the bedroom, Mick was dressed too, sitting in her bedside chair with a book in his hand. He looked up at her face with a smile, and then his gaze moved irresistibly downward. Good. She’d left her hair down but had made no effort to conceal her throat, having chosen a low-cut blouse and a chain with a gold pendant that drew the eye to her cleavage. His eye, anyway, though she was willing to bet that she would have the same effect on other men. Their eyes would be drawn to her cleavage, not her throat. And in any event the bite marks on her throat were fine and small, much less obvious than the ones she’d had before on her wrist, and they’d disappeared easily under an expert application of makeup. At least, she couldn’t see them at all any more.
“Well?” she asked anxiously, lifting her chin. “What do you think?”
Mick looked at her throat with a strangely avid gaze, and his eyes flashed white for an instant before he got himself back under control. Maybe she shouldn’t have offered her throat quite so blatantly. She lowered her chin again, self-conscious, and said, “I hope that doesn’t mean you can see the bite.”
“Sorry,” he stammered, looking a little dazed. “No. I was looking at your vein.”
“Well, what about the bite marks? Can you see them with vampire vision?”
He got up out of the chair, leaving his book on the table, and moved closer to her. She could see the effort it took for him to keep from changing, but she needed his answer. And finally he shook his head.
“Knowing it’s there, I can just make it out. Mortal vision would never see it.” He sounded puzzled. “How did you do that?”
Beth laughed, pleased. “Believe me, any woman who’s made a living in front of a camera becomes very good with makeup.”
Mick took one more step to her and drew her into his arms. “I still don’t want you to go to work.”
She sighed, resting her head against his chest. “And I don’t want to go. But I have to.”
“Then why don’t you come by my place after work? I have something to show you.”
“What kind of something?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“I don’t even get a hint?”
“Well . . . I think you’ll like it.”
“That’s all you’re going to tell me? Well . . . I suppose I might be able to make it.”
She could actually feel Mick’s laugh, deep in his chest. Heavenly. The very thought of leaving the apartment, and leaving him behind, seemed unendurable. But she managed it. She closed the door behind her and stood in the hall for a moment, taking deep breaths, trying to put aside the image of Mick in her bed. She had to focus now, to concentrate on work.
She made it to her car and started driving, but concentrating on work proved to be quite impossible. She would have to wait for that until she actually got there.
Mick stopped at a grocery store on the way home. It felt strange shopping there as a vampire, when nothing looked remotely appetizing, but when he walked back out toward the parking lot, he was absurdly pleased with his purchases. He paused in the shade out front and quickly put on his sunglasses, squinting as he looked for his car. He’d had to park well out in the lot, where, of course, there wasn’t a trace of shade. But not even blazing sunlight could bother him today. He couldn’t remember ever being happier, not even when he’d been human.
And now here he was, shopping for ice cream again. Once he was in the welcome shade of his car, he cheerfully set the grocery bag on the seat beside him. He’d made up for Beth’s sacrifice as well as he could, remembering the flavors that had caught his eye when he’d been human, and this could now be part of his surprise. He was eager to get home now, to make sure everything was ready for her visit tonight.
He put the car in gear and headed home, lost in his memories. Being with Beth last night . . . it had been the most incredible experience of his life. His whole definition of sex had been changed. For so long he had thought of it as losing control, because that was the way it had been with Coraline. Losing control held its own appeal, especially to the vampire – he couldn’t deny how much he’d reveled in that kind of vampire sex, or how good it had made him feel when it was happening. But afterward, looking back on what they’d done, he’d always felt unsettled; he’d even been disturbingly reminded of the way it had felt to hunt with Coraline. And at best, sex with Coraline had had nothing to do with love. Coraline had had her tender moments, and he’d loved her for them, but she’d never shown this side of herself during sex.
Sex is about letting down your barriers, and letting someone else inside, Beth had said, and that was exactly how it had happened last night. Beth had let down her barriers so easily, and somehow he had been able to do the same. For so long he’d shut himself away and hidden himself, not letting anyone see who he really was. Not even Beth. But last night all that had changed. He’d given in to his every desire, he’d bitten her, he’d drunk her blood . . . and she had loved every minute of it. I don’t even have to guess. I know she did. I was so connected to her, more so than ever before.
And that connection, that closeness, meant more to him than anything else that had happened last night. Waking up in her arms, with his head on her shoulder, had been the most amazing thing he’d ever experienced. And she was the one who’d somehow come up with a way to make that happen. He’d wistfully imagined what it might be like to make love to her, but actually sleeping in her arms – without being half dead from silver or sunlight - was not something he had ever imagined possible, not even in his wildest dreams.
Lost in thought, he reached his apartment in what seemed no time at all. He pulled into the parking garage, got out of the car, and headed for the lobby, happily swinging the bag of ice cream from one hand.
Halfway to the lobby, he faltered, catching a scent on the air. No . . . no, it couldn’t be . . . he had to be hallucinating . . .
But when he spun around and looked, she was there, standing in the shadows in the far corner of the parking garage. Coraline. How long had she been waiting there? She gave him a little smile and leaned back against the wall in a casual pose, obviously expecting him to join her.
Mick hesitated. He didn’t want this, didn’t want her. His life was with Beth now; his time with Coraline was over. He took a step toward the lobby, then stopped again. The last time he’d seen her, Coraline hadn’t seemed bothered by what Beth had done to her, but she always concealed her true feelings. If he ignored Coraline now, she might very well take it out on Beth. He had to make sure that wouldn’t happen. And though he didn’t want to admit it to himself, he also needed to make sure that Coraline was really okay.
He met her in the shadows, well away from the lobby. She looked just as she had when they’d parted, her dark hair in the same old-fashioned waves, and she didn’t seem visibly damaged. But that didn’t mean she hadn’t suffered. He remembered the fear in her eyes all too well.
“Coraline,” he said simply.
“Hi, Mick.”
“I was worried about you, when Lance took you. Are you okay?”
“I am now,” she said, looking him up and down. “And you’re a vampire again. I have to admit I wasn’t expecting that. Not yet, anyway.”
He shrugged uncomfortably. “Well, you warned me it was only temporary,” he said, not wanting to tell her about the choice he’d made. “But I’m glad for the time that I had as a human. I can’t even tell you how glad. And I’m grateful for what you did to protect me from Lance. You saved my life.”
“Just repaying the favor,” she said.
“I didn’t know what would happen to you, Coraline. I never meant for you to get in so much trouble with your family.”
“Our family, Mick. And it wasn’t as bad as I’d expected.” A tremor went through her body, belying her words, but she shook it off and glanced at his grocery bag. “Ice cream, Mick? Do you think you’re still human?”
He shrugged again. He’d completely forgotten he was still holding the bag.
“It’s for your little Beth, isn’t it? You still think you love her.”
“Coraline . . . I do love her. And I’ll protect her. Any way I have to.”
“Oh, Mick. You don’t need to worry. I won’t come near her. I don’t need to. I had a lot of time to think while I was in Europe, and I figured it all out. I can wait. It isn’t as if Beth will be around for very long.”
“Don’t you dare threaten her.” Mick’s voice was ice cold, and his eyes turned pale and cold as well.
Coraline looked genuinely startled. “I’m not threatening her! I’m just saying she’s human, that’s all. It’s simply a fact: mortals don’t live very long. So take all the time you want with her, Mick. Indulge your obsession while you can. Because after she’s gone, you’ll come back to me. And I’ll be there waiting.”
Mick stared at her in shock, and felt himself shaking. Coraline had just dismissed Beth’s entire life as a brief, unimportant interlude. And she seemed absolutely convinced that once Mick was over this little obsession, he would come running back to her side. She was smiling, and seemed quite pleased with herself.
“Coraline,” he said, fighting for control. His fangs were sharp in his mouth, his eyes like ice. “It’s over. Over. I won’t ever come back to you.”
“Well, that’s what you think now,” she said kindly. She stepped closer to him, ignoring his furious, vamped-out state, and whispered into his ear. “But I know you better than you know yourself.” She lightly kissed his cheek, as she had the first time they’d met, and he flinched. Then she was gone, and Mick was alone, still clutching his grocery bag, shaken to the core. He staggered back against the wall and slid to the ground, staring into nothingness.
What happens when I start to get old? Beth had asked, and he didn’t know. He hadn’t begun to face it yet; he’d shied away from the question, from the very thought. Beth would grow old and die, and he would not. Unless I turn her. But she didn’t want him to do that. She’d said it herself last night: she wasn’t ready to enter his world.
Coraline was right about the lifespan of mortals. They’re like mayflies, Josef had once said, and this was terrible but true. In Mick’s eyes, only yesterday Bobby Desmond had been a young, strong cop; now he was a frail, blind old man who probably didn’t have much longer to live. Mick didn’t want to think about Beth that way. It would be hard, so hard, when she became old and frail. . . and he couldn’t imagine her being gone, couldn’t remotely imagine going on without her. Jackson hadn’t wanted to go on without Emma, and Mick totally understood that.
Still, whatever happens, whatever Beth and I choose, I’ll never go back to Coraline.
But how many times had he said that, and gone back to her anyway?
Mick got up and slowly made his way back to his car. He didn’t even notice that he’d left his grocery bag behind.
When Beth got to the office, the place was buzzing with rumors about Emma Monaghan’s escape. Jackson Monaghan, it seemed, had also disappeared, and some of the rooms – and walls - of the couple’s house had been emptied. Beth thought it was doubtful that Jackson had taken the time to do that; probably those mysterious Cleaners had taken care of it. Which was a little creepy, but Beth was glad someone had removed all the vampire evidence from the Monaghans’ house before the police showed up. All those marriage licenses and wedding photos . . . the double-wide freezer, if they’d really had such a thing . . . all the things that had testified to Jackson and Emma’s incredibly long life together as a couple.
There were also rumors about what the prison van’s driver had seen, and when Ben Talbot and Theresa Novak came in, Beth cornered them to get the official report. The guard had been knocked out in the crash and didn’t remember anything, but the driver had reported that an unknown man had run out directly in front of the van, causing him to lose control. He’d been too stunned by the accident to see what happened next, but he thought he’d seen an ambulance drive away before the police arrived.
“Well, that doesn’t make sense,” Beth said firmly. “It sounds like he was pretty confused.”
“I’m more interested in the man who ran out into the street,” Novak said. “He must have been Monaghan’s accomplice."
"Did the driver describe him at all?” Beth asked.
“No,” Ben said. “He just saw a dark shape. I’d be willing to bet it was the husband. They probably set it up during that damn visit.” He glared at Beth. “You were supposed to be monitoring that – did you have any hint of this?”
“Of course not,” Beth said steadily. “You can check the recording. They barely even said a word to each other. They just held hands. Anyway, what would they need to set up? Emma didn’t need to take any action at all. But I’ll bet you’re right about Jackson. I would never have guessed it of him . . . but he loved her so much, in spite of what she’d done. In hindsight, I can see it happening.” Jackson had actually had nothing to do with Emma’s escape, but it seemed a convenient way to explain his disappearance.
“What about St. John?” Novak said harshly. “What did he have to do with the Monaghans?”
“Nothing,” Beth said, feeling a sudden lurch of fear. Mick hadn’t really known them . . . not well, anyway . . . and there shouldn’t be any sort of evidence to connect them. “He was just with me that day.”
“He certainly ends up in a lot of places where he has no business,” Novak said grumpily.
How had this conversation ended up directed at Mick? Beth said quickly, “Jackson also might not have had anything to do with Emma’s escape at all. Maybe he just ran off with her after she got away.”
Ben sighed. “There’s only one thing for certain. I’ll be taking the blame for the whole thing.”
“Why?” Novak demanded. “Prisoner transfer doesn’t have anything to do with you.”
“That’s what you’d think. But this is going to become very political. Listen, I’ve got to leave to meet with the mayor in a few minutes . . . Beth, come with me for a second.”
He got up and led her into his office, settling down behind his desk. Beth perched on one of the chairs facing him, and waited. “What did you want me to do, Ben?”
“Hang on, I’ve got to check my email. I’m waiting for a report . . . damn, it’s not there.” He let out a deep breath, pushing his computer screen aside. “I’m waiting on Emma Monaghan’s toxicology screen. Can you follow up on that for me? I’ve been assuming she was on drugs when we picked her up, but if she wasn’t . . .” He frowned, deep in thought, and Beth watched him nervously. “Well, if she wasn’t, that’s a mystery. Theresa's going out later to check the Monaghans’ house, and in the meantime I need you to do some research on them. See if there’s anything in their history that would give a clue where they might have gone – look for vacation homes, check with their friends, whatever you can think of. We need to find them.”
“Sure,” Beth said.
Ben glanced at his watch, and froze. “Oh, damn. I’m already late.” He jumped up, grabbing his briefcase and straightening his tie. “By the way, I do not want St. John in on this. Theresa’s right, he has no business being part of this, and he could easily be a liability.”
“He does have a knack for finding missing persons,” Beth countered automatically.
“Yeah, he does.” Ben gave her a long, considering look, and Beth shivered inside, hoping that the bite marks were really well concealed. She didn’t like the tone of Ben’s voice at all, or the way he was looking at her. “But what I said stands. Don’t involve him in this case.”
Beth nodded, trying to look obedient, and hurried out of the office behind Ben. Once he was gone, she retreated to her own little office and sat down, shaking a little. Research the Monaghans, contact their friends . . . right. Thank God she was the one who’d been assigned to do that. She was sure she could make the report look thorough without giving anything away – she could emphasize the Monaghans’ relationships with their players, with other managers, with the school, and leave out certain little things like their friendship with Josef Kostan.
But first, she needed to check something. She made her way to the bathroom and quickly examined herself in the mirror. Her makeup looked fine; the bites were still invisible. She must be getting paranoid, thinking even for a moment that Ben had suspected something. She touched her fingers to her throat, ever so lightly, and the memory of Mick’s bite, of the way he’d made love to her, shot through her whole body. She felt weak at the knees, and held on to the sink to steady herself. She felt a terrible surge of longing, a desire to just drop everything and head for Mick’s apartment. But she really didn’t want anyone else doing this research on the Monaghans. Who knew what there might be to find?
She started back to her office, passing Ben’s empty office on the way, and found herself stopping by his door. Speaking of research . . . might there be anything in his office that could give her more information about Ben? Maybe something that could explain why he’d disappeared from sight a few years ago, reappearing months later only to switch careers? Something to explain why he’d dropped all his cases in New York so that he could take this job? She glanced up and down the hallway – no one was in sight. Silently she slipped into Ben’s office, closing the door behind her.
-
IN BETWEEN
sixteen and . . .
No Boundaries
part two
When Beth woke again it was dawn, there were blankets heaped over her, and she was gloriously warm. It felt wonderful, but she was profoundly disappointed. Had she only dreamed that she’d been lying here with Mick, actually sleeping with him? Reluctantly she opened her eyes. But her bed wasn’t empty after all. Mick was there, lying on top of the covers beside her, wearing his jeans but still shirtless and barefoot, his hair damp from the shower. When he saw she was awake, he gave her a heart-melting smile.
“You’re still here,” she said happily.
“Yeah.”
“But you’re half dressed.” She looked him over, a little mournfully. Well, half dressed was far better than fully dressed.
“You’re covered from head to toe,” he pointed out.
“Have a heart, I was freezing,” she said.
“I hope you’re not any more.”
“No. You must have turned on the heat.” He must have put away the ice packs as well, as there was no longer any evidence of them. How had she not noticed any of this activity? Vampires could be quite creepily silent.
“As soon as I woke up. Are you feeling better?”
She nodded. “But it worked, didn’t it? For a little while? You were asleep at the same time I was.”
“In your arms.” He moved closer to her and leaned down to kiss her. The touch of his lips on hers brought back a rush of memories from the night before, and a wave of heat ran over her body. “For at least a couple of hours.”
“Is that all? I should have made you go home to your freezer. I just wanted to try that. To see if it might work.”
He kissed her again, very tenderly. “It did work, and you couldn’t have made me go home.”
She kissed him back, her whole body trembling with desire. “Oh, God, Mick. We’ve got to stop. Otherwise I’ll never be able to go to work.”
“Don’t go,” he whispered.
“I don’t want to go, believe me. But I think I’d better. God knows what they’ll make of Emma’s escape and disappearance. If I’m there, I can steer things in the right direction.” She felt her body tense up as she thought about what she’d be facing at work today, and Simone’s words slipped into her mind: keeping their secret is the number one rule. Not that Beth thought of protecting Mick's secret as a rule. To her, it was simply the most important thing there was.
Mick withdrew a little, as if reacting to her tension. “That’s true, but . . .” He reached out, resting his hand on the bite marks at her throat.
Beth had totally forgotten about them. She put her hand up uncertainly, her fingers brushing his, and her eyes widened. “Oh no . . . I didn’t think of that. And Ben’s already been acting so weird around you.”
“I didn’t think of it either. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t ever be sorry,” she said firmly, and gave him another kiss. “I wanted it, and I loved it. We’ll just have to be a little more careful about . . . timing . . . in the future.”
Mick smiled a little, obviously thinking of what might happen in that future.
Beth smiled too, but she was worried. She couldn’t risk having Ben see the marks, yet she was frightened of what might happen at the office without her. What kind of theories might Ben come up with on his own? What had actually happened?
She sat up in bed, propping her pillows behind her, and regarded Mick seriously. “Mick, what happened last night? All I heard was that the police van crashed and Emma escaped.”
He hesitated. “It really might be better for you not to know.”
“I need to know, Mick. I need to know what I have to work with.”
“Okay.” Taking a deep breath, he said, “Logan stopped the van, we pulled Emma out, and we took off in an ambulance.”
Well, he was trying, but he obviously needed a lot more practice in telling her about things. “How did Logan stop the van?”
“He ran out in front of it. It swerved, and he pushed it over.”
“Logan pushed a van over?” Beth was distracted from her goal by this image. It was actually hard for her to even think of Logan as a vampire, when she’d only seen him working away at his computer in his basement hideaway. Josef, on the other hand . . .
“Well, he was supposed to do clever things with computer control of the traffic lights, but that didn’t work out. It was Plan B.”
“But it was in public, right?”
“At night, on a quiet street.”
“But there could have been witnesses.”
Mick shrugged uncertainly. “I suppose it’s possible.”
“Who was involved besides you and Logan?”
“Josef, Guillermo, a couple of the Cleaners.”
The Cleaners. Mick had called these people to come and take care of Donovan Shepherd’s body. A businesslike woman in black leather had appeared, along with two men also dressed in black, and they’d quickly and efficiently removed the body, along with every trace that it had ever been there.
“These Cleaners,” she said. “Are they the ones who – who dispense vampire justice?”
“For the most part. It’s a little more complicated than that, but that’s the essence of it.”
“What gives them that right?”
“They give up a lot. Their job is everything to them. They don’t have families; they don’t sire. They’re not influenced by the world the same way the rest of us are.”
“Well, maybe they should be,” Beth muttered.
Mick sighed. “You don’t understand about Emma.”
“No, I don’t. Why did she have to die? I mean, I know she killed Dominic, and in a public place at that. But I don't believe she ever meant to. She told Jackson that she lost control, and you've said yourself that things like that can happen by accident, so -- ”
Mick was shaking his head. “That isn’t why Emma died.”
“It isn’t?” Beth was bewildered.
“No. Emma . . . she made threats.”
“What kind of threats?”
“She was angry with me for letting her get arrested. She said that if I didn’t get her out within twenty-four hours, she’d expose me as a vampire.”
Beth felt herself freeze again. She hadn’t known anything about this. Emma had threatened Mick?
“And there was more,” Mick said. “She said she’d also name every other vampire in L.A., and expose us all.”
How did I not know about this? “When did she make these threats?”
Mick glanced away, looking a little guilty. “When Jackson visited her. While we were watching.”
Beth remembered the way Mick had drawn back, as if in shock, while Emma and Jackson were talking. Mick had looked at her, his eyes haunted, but had said nothing, although he'd been filling her in on their conversation up till then. She’d assumed that Mick had overheard something very personal that shouldn’t be shared with her, not that he’d been concealing something like . . . this.
“That’s what you meant about her being a liability to your community,” she said, her mouth very dry.
“Yes.”
“But why would she even make a threat like that?”
“She was scared; she was angry. She wanted to make sure she got my attention.”
“Do you think she really would have followed through on it?”
Mick hesitated only for a second. “Yes. She’d have found a way, even from jail.”
“I don’t understand. She was a vampire too! Why would she expose her own people?”
“Beth, look at what humans do to each other. Look at what Lola did. It’s what happens.”
Beth was silent for a long time. It made a horrible sort of sense. “I liked her,” she said at last, in a small voice. She’d felt such an affinity toward Emma, and she’d loved the story of Emma’s meeting with her true love. She’d seemed like such a good person. Yet she’d betrayed her husband, threatened her friends. Had she simply been that frightened? How much terror would a vampire feel, facing prison? To be locked up, with no access to blood, would mean a slow and terrible death.
“I know,” Mick said. “So did I. I didn’t know her that well, but I always liked her. And Jackson seemed like a really good guy.”
“How did they die?”
“Fire,” Mick said, very low.
Beth shuddered, and the nightmare image of Coraline, burning in the flames, filled her mind. “Poor Jackson. I can’t believe he decided to die with her, after all she’d done.”
“That didn’t matter. He loved her. He didn’t want to live without her.”
Mick’s voice was oddly intent as he said this. Was he thinking the same thing, that he didn’t want to live without her? But where did that leave them? What happens when I start to get old? she’d asked, but maybe that wasn’t the question. Maybe it was What happens when I die? For a moment it all seemed impossible again. What would Mick do when she died? She didn’t want him to follow her into death. She wanted him to go on and on, to live through the generations, to always be in the world, taking joy in it. She frowned slightly, another thought crossing her mind. Would it really be so bad to live that way? Even though Mick insisted that it wasn’t really life . . . even though it seemed that the fledgling stage was likely to destroy one’s soul . . .
She firmly pushed all her turbulent thoughts aside. She could think about all these things later. Now, she needed to go to work, if it was at all possible. She needed to be at the office in order to protect Mick, and if she could hide the marks well enough, it would be safe. She put her arms around Mick, giving him a heartfelt hug, and then pulled away. “I’m going to go try something. Wait for me?”
“Sure.”
Beth took a hurried shower, then put on her makeup and dressed with care. When she came back out into the bedroom, Mick was dressed too, sitting in her bedside chair with a book in his hand. He looked up at her face with a smile, and then his gaze moved irresistibly downward. Good. She’d left her hair down but had made no effort to conceal her throat, having chosen a low-cut blouse and a chain with a gold pendant that drew the eye to her cleavage. His eye, anyway, though she was willing to bet that she would have the same effect on other men. Their eyes would be drawn to her cleavage, not her throat. And in any event the bite marks on her throat were fine and small, much less obvious than the ones she’d had before on her wrist, and they’d disappeared easily under an expert application of makeup. At least, she couldn’t see them at all any more.
“Well?” she asked anxiously, lifting her chin. “What do you think?”
Mick looked at her throat with a strangely avid gaze, and his eyes flashed white for an instant before he got himself back under control. Maybe she shouldn’t have offered her throat quite so blatantly. She lowered her chin again, self-conscious, and said, “I hope that doesn’t mean you can see the bite.”
“Sorry,” he stammered, looking a little dazed. “No. I was looking at your vein.”
“Well, what about the bite marks? Can you see them with vampire vision?”
He got up out of the chair, leaving his book on the table, and moved closer to her. She could see the effort it took for him to keep from changing, but she needed his answer. And finally he shook his head.
“Knowing it’s there, I can just make it out. Mortal vision would never see it.” He sounded puzzled. “How did you do that?”
Beth laughed, pleased. “Believe me, any woman who’s made a living in front of a camera becomes very good with makeup.”
Mick took one more step to her and drew her into his arms. “I still don’t want you to go to work.”
She sighed, resting her head against his chest. “And I don’t want to go. But I have to.”
“Then why don’t you come by my place after work? I have something to show you.”
“What kind of something?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“I don’t even get a hint?”
“Well . . . I think you’ll like it.”
“That’s all you’re going to tell me? Well . . . I suppose I might be able to make it.”
She could actually feel Mick’s laugh, deep in his chest. Heavenly. The very thought of leaving the apartment, and leaving him behind, seemed unendurable. But she managed it. She closed the door behind her and stood in the hall for a moment, taking deep breaths, trying to put aside the image of Mick in her bed. She had to focus now, to concentrate on work.
She made it to her car and started driving, but concentrating on work proved to be quite impossible. She would have to wait for that until she actually got there.
Mick stopped at a grocery store on the way home. It felt strange shopping there as a vampire, when nothing looked remotely appetizing, but when he walked back out toward the parking lot, he was absurdly pleased with his purchases. He paused in the shade out front and quickly put on his sunglasses, squinting as he looked for his car. He’d had to park well out in the lot, where, of course, there wasn’t a trace of shade. But not even blazing sunlight could bother him today. He couldn’t remember ever being happier, not even when he’d been human.
And now here he was, shopping for ice cream again. Once he was in the welcome shade of his car, he cheerfully set the grocery bag on the seat beside him. He’d made up for Beth’s sacrifice as well as he could, remembering the flavors that had caught his eye when he’d been human, and this could now be part of his surprise. He was eager to get home now, to make sure everything was ready for her visit tonight.
He put the car in gear and headed home, lost in his memories. Being with Beth last night . . . it had been the most incredible experience of his life. His whole definition of sex had been changed. For so long he had thought of it as losing control, because that was the way it had been with Coraline. Losing control held its own appeal, especially to the vampire – he couldn’t deny how much he’d reveled in that kind of vampire sex, or how good it had made him feel when it was happening. But afterward, looking back on what they’d done, he’d always felt unsettled; he’d even been disturbingly reminded of the way it had felt to hunt with Coraline. And at best, sex with Coraline had had nothing to do with love. Coraline had had her tender moments, and he’d loved her for them, but she’d never shown this side of herself during sex.
Sex is about letting down your barriers, and letting someone else inside, Beth had said, and that was exactly how it had happened last night. Beth had let down her barriers so easily, and somehow he had been able to do the same. For so long he’d shut himself away and hidden himself, not letting anyone see who he really was. Not even Beth. But last night all that had changed. He’d given in to his every desire, he’d bitten her, he’d drunk her blood . . . and she had loved every minute of it. I don’t even have to guess. I know she did. I was so connected to her, more so than ever before.
And that connection, that closeness, meant more to him than anything else that had happened last night. Waking up in her arms, with his head on her shoulder, had been the most amazing thing he’d ever experienced. And she was the one who’d somehow come up with a way to make that happen. He’d wistfully imagined what it might be like to make love to her, but actually sleeping in her arms – without being half dead from silver or sunlight - was not something he had ever imagined possible, not even in his wildest dreams.
Lost in thought, he reached his apartment in what seemed no time at all. He pulled into the parking garage, got out of the car, and headed for the lobby, happily swinging the bag of ice cream from one hand.
Halfway to the lobby, he faltered, catching a scent on the air. No . . . no, it couldn’t be . . . he had to be hallucinating . . .
But when he spun around and looked, she was there, standing in the shadows in the far corner of the parking garage. Coraline. How long had she been waiting there? She gave him a little smile and leaned back against the wall in a casual pose, obviously expecting him to join her.
Mick hesitated. He didn’t want this, didn’t want her. His life was with Beth now; his time with Coraline was over. He took a step toward the lobby, then stopped again. The last time he’d seen her, Coraline hadn’t seemed bothered by what Beth had done to her, but she always concealed her true feelings. If he ignored Coraline now, she might very well take it out on Beth. He had to make sure that wouldn’t happen. And though he didn’t want to admit it to himself, he also needed to make sure that Coraline was really okay.
He met her in the shadows, well away from the lobby. She looked just as she had when they’d parted, her dark hair in the same old-fashioned waves, and she didn’t seem visibly damaged. But that didn’t mean she hadn’t suffered. He remembered the fear in her eyes all too well.
“Coraline,” he said simply.
“Hi, Mick.”
“I was worried about you, when Lance took you. Are you okay?”
“I am now,” she said, looking him up and down. “And you’re a vampire again. I have to admit I wasn’t expecting that. Not yet, anyway.”
He shrugged uncomfortably. “Well, you warned me it was only temporary,” he said, not wanting to tell her about the choice he’d made. “But I’m glad for the time that I had as a human. I can’t even tell you how glad. And I’m grateful for what you did to protect me from Lance. You saved my life.”
“Just repaying the favor,” she said.
“I didn’t know what would happen to you, Coraline. I never meant for you to get in so much trouble with your family.”
“Our family, Mick. And it wasn’t as bad as I’d expected.” A tremor went through her body, belying her words, but she shook it off and glanced at his grocery bag. “Ice cream, Mick? Do you think you’re still human?”
He shrugged again. He’d completely forgotten he was still holding the bag.
“It’s for your little Beth, isn’t it? You still think you love her.”
“Coraline . . . I do love her. And I’ll protect her. Any way I have to.”
“Oh, Mick. You don’t need to worry. I won’t come near her. I don’t need to. I had a lot of time to think while I was in Europe, and I figured it all out. I can wait. It isn’t as if Beth will be around for very long.”
“Don’t you dare threaten her.” Mick’s voice was ice cold, and his eyes turned pale and cold as well.
Coraline looked genuinely startled. “I’m not threatening her! I’m just saying she’s human, that’s all. It’s simply a fact: mortals don’t live very long. So take all the time you want with her, Mick. Indulge your obsession while you can. Because after she’s gone, you’ll come back to me. And I’ll be there waiting.”
Mick stared at her in shock, and felt himself shaking. Coraline had just dismissed Beth’s entire life as a brief, unimportant interlude. And she seemed absolutely convinced that once Mick was over this little obsession, he would come running back to her side. She was smiling, and seemed quite pleased with herself.
“Coraline,” he said, fighting for control. His fangs were sharp in his mouth, his eyes like ice. “It’s over. Over. I won’t ever come back to you.”
“Well, that’s what you think now,” she said kindly. She stepped closer to him, ignoring his furious, vamped-out state, and whispered into his ear. “But I know you better than you know yourself.” She lightly kissed his cheek, as she had the first time they’d met, and he flinched. Then she was gone, and Mick was alone, still clutching his grocery bag, shaken to the core. He staggered back against the wall and slid to the ground, staring into nothingness.
What happens when I start to get old? Beth had asked, and he didn’t know. He hadn’t begun to face it yet; he’d shied away from the question, from the very thought. Beth would grow old and die, and he would not. Unless I turn her. But she didn’t want him to do that. She’d said it herself last night: she wasn’t ready to enter his world.
Coraline was right about the lifespan of mortals. They’re like mayflies, Josef had once said, and this was terrible but true. In Mick’s eyes, only yesterday Bobby Desmond had been a young, strong cop; now he was a frail, blind old man who probably didn’t have much longer to live. Mick didn’t want to think about Beth that way. It would be hard, so hard, when she became old and frail. . . and he couldn’t imagine her being gone, couldn’t remotely imagine going on without her. Jackson hadn’t wanted to go on without Emma, and Mick totally understood that.
Still, whatever happens, whatever Beth and I choose, I’ll never go back to Coraline.
But how many times had he said that, and gone back to her anyway?
Mick got up and slowly made his way back to his car. He didn’t even notice that he’d left his grocery bag behind.
When Beth got to the office, the place was buzzing with rumors about Emma Monaghan’s escape. Jackson Monaghan, it seemed, had also disappeared, and some of the rooms – and walls - of the couple’s house had been emptied. Beth thought it was doubtful that Jackson had taken the time to do that; probably those mysterious Cleaners had taken care of it. Which was a little creepy, but Beth was glad someone had removed all the vampire evidence from the Monaghans’ house before the police showed up. All those marriage licenses and wedding photos . . . the double-wide freezer, if they’d really had such a thing . . . all the things that had testified to Jackson and Emma’s incredibly long life together as a couple.
There were also rumors about what the prison van’s driver had seen, and when Ben Talbot and Theresa Novak came in, Beth cornered them to get the official report. The guard had been knocked out in the crash and didn’t remember anything, but the driver had reported that an unknown man had run out directly in front of the van, causing him to lose control. He’d been too stunned by the accident to see what happened next, but he thought he’d seen an ambulance drive away before the police arrived.
“Well, that doesn’t make sense,” Beth said firmly. “It sounds like he was pretty confused.”
“I’m more interested in the man who ran out into the street,” Novak said. “He must have been Monaghan’s accomplice."
"Did the driver describe him at all?” Beth asked.
“No,” Ben said. “He just saw a dark shape. I’d be willing to bet it was the husband. They probably set it up during that damn visit.” He glared at Beth. “You were supposed to be monitoring that – did you have any hint of this?”
“Of course not,” Beth said steadily. “You can check the recording. They barely even said a word to each other. They just held hands. Anyway, what would they need to set up? Emma didn’t need to take any action at all. But I’ll bet you’re right about Jackson. I would never have guessed it of him . . . but he loved her so much, in spite of what she’d done. In hindsight, I can see it happening.” Jackson had actually had nothing to do with Emma’s escape, but it seemed a convenient way to explain his disappearance.
“What about St. John?” Novak said harshly. “What did he have to do with the Monaghans?”
“Nothing,” Beth said, feeling a sudden lurch of fear. Mick hadn’t really known them . . . not well, anyway . . . and there shouldn’t be any sort of evidence to connect them. “He was just with me that day.”
“He certainly ends up in a lot of places where he has no business,” Novak said grumpily.
How had this conversation ended up directed at Mick? Beth said quickly, “Jackson also might not have had anything to do with Emma’s escape at all. Maybe he just ran off with her after she got away.”
Ben sighed. “There’s only one thing for certain. I’ll be taking the blame for the whole thing.”
“Why?” Novak demanded. “Prisoner transfer doesn’t have anything to do with you.”
“That’s what you’d think. But this is going to become very political. Listen, I’ve got to leave to meet with the mayor in a few minutes . . . Beth, come with me for a second.”
He got up and led her into his office, settling down behind his desk. Beth perched on one of the chairs facing him, and waited. “What did you want me to do, Ben?”
“Hang on, I’ve got to check my email. I’m waiting for a report . . . damn, it’s not there.” He let out a deep breath, pushing his computer screen aside. “I’m waiting on Emma Monaghan’s toxicology screen. Can you follow up on that for me? I’ve been assuming she was on drugs when we picked her up, but if she wasn’t . . .” He frowned, deep in thought, and Beth watched him nervously. “Well, if she wasn’t, that’s a mystery. Theresa's going out later to check the Monaghans’ house, and in the meantime I need you to do some research on them. See if there’s anything in their history that would give a clue where they might have gone – look for vacation homes, check with their friends, whatever you can think of. We need to find them.”
“Sure,” Beth said.
Ben glanced at his watch, and froze. “Oh, damn. I’m already late.” He jumped up, grabbing his briefcase and straightening his tie. “By the way, I do not want St. John in on this. Theresa’s right, he has no business being part of this, and he could easily be a liability.”
“He does have a knack for finding missing persons,” Beth countered automatically.
“Yeah, he does.” Ben gave her a long, considering look, and Beth shivered inside, hoping that the bite marks were really well concealed. She didn’t like the tone of Ben’s voice at all, or the way he was looking at her. “But what I said stands. Don’t involve him in this case.”
Beth nodded, trying to look obedient, and hurried out of the office behind Ben. Once he was gone, she retreated to her own little office and sat down, shaking a little. Research the Monaghans, contact their friends . . . right. Thank God she was the one who’d been assigned to do that. She was sure she could make the report look thorough without giving anything away – she could emphasize the Monaghans’ relationships with their players, with other managers, with the school, and leave out certain little things like their friendship with Josef Kostan.
But first, she needed to check something. She made her way to the bathroom and quickly examined herself in the mirror. Her makeup looked fine; the bites were still invisible. She must be getting paranoid, thinking even for a moment that Ben had suspected something. She touched her fingers to her throat, ever so lightly, and the memory of Mick’s bite, of the way he’d made love to her, shot through her whole body. She felt weak at the knees, and held on to the sink to steady herself. She felt a terrible surge of longing, a desire to just drop everything and head for Mick’s apartment. But she really didn’t want anyone else doing this research on the Monaghans. Who knew what there might be to find?
She started back to her office, passing Ben’s empty office on the way, and found herself stopping by his door. Speaking of research . . . might there be anything in his office that could give her more information about Ben? Maybe something that could explain why he’d disappeared from sight a few years ago, reappearing months later only to switch careers? Something to explain why he’d dropped all his cases in New York so that he could take this job? She glanced up and down the hallway – no one was in sight. Silently she slipped into Ben’s office, closing the door behind her.
-
I do like thinking of Lance as a wuss . . . )
And as for the situation Beth finds herself in, it makes perfect sense to me. Ben knows more than he's letting on. And he's sure to be worried about the politics of this situation, because that's what happens to guys in his position. So Beth is both in danger (because of Ben's mistrust of Mick) and in a perfect position to mitigate the danger (because Ben trusts Beth for some reason that I don't quite understand). I trust her to do her best to protect Mick. 'Cause I'm kinda partial to Beth. 
