Since tidying and organizing a virtual office is easier and more fun than cleaning my actual house, I decided to copy all of my assorted Drabbles and put them in one thread. Makes for quick reading, and I hope they make you smile.
Some are between the lines, some are title drabbles, and some are just drabbles. As usual, I do not own Moonlight, its characters or any of its dialogue.
1. No Such Thing As Vampires
2. Out of the Past“There’s no such thing as vampires.”
Damn, why did I come here? Why did I let her see me?
Because I couldn’t help it… I was drawn to her. After all these years spent in the shadows, I wanted, no - needed, to connect with her. To know if she remembers me.
And right off the bat she starts talking about vampires? Maybe it’s a sign.
It’s a sign alright, St. John. A sign that you’re playing with fire. You need to go back in the shadows. Let her live her life. Before you feel something you shouldn’t.
Too late.
Bobby Desmond laid his weary bones down on his bed, pulled up the covers and sighed. It had been an interesting day, full of voices and memories out of the past. Some good; some not so good. First that scumbag LeeJay Spaulding left a message on his answering machine. “I forgive you. It’s all behind me now.”
Ha! As he said to Mick, when I want forgiveness, I won’t be applying to LeeJay Spaulding.
Then there was Mick. It was so good to hear his voice again! Still as strong as ever.
I wonder why he never kept in touch?
3. Dr. FeelgoodMick POV:
I stand at the door and survey the crowd. Lee Jay is signing books. He has them all fooled; all except me. But he’ll get his. This time I’ll finish the job.
Then I see her, though she hasn’t seen me yet. I watch her work; I see her passion for her job. Now she’s seen me, and is coming my way. She looks beautiful.
“What are you doing here?” she asks in surprise. She doesn’t believe that Lee Jay is dangerous. I have to try and convince her. I have to protect her.
“I wanted to talk to you.”
Beth POV:
The book signing is going well. After giving Steve his instructions I look around at the crowd, thinking ahead for the next shot; the next angle for my story. Then I see him. Mick St. John, standing in the doorway. He seemed so disdainful of Lee Jay before; I can’t imagine why he would attend this event.
I walk towards him and he smiles. And so help me, my legs feel like they might fail me. He has that kind of effect, and I barely know the man. Yet.
“What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to talk to you.”
4. Fever“How do you feel?” Mick asked.
“Awful.”
“I called the doctor. He said you have to let it run its course.”
“Don’t block my path to the bathroom, then.”
“I have another message from the doctor – ‘feel good’.”
“Feel better.”
“You feel better? Then why did I call the doctor?”
“No, I don’t feel better!”
“But you just said…”
“I meant that “feel good” isn’t proper. He should have said ‘feel better’.”
“If he had said ‘feel better’ instead of ‘feel good’ would you be feeling better?”
“No.”
“Then what difference does it make?”
Beth sighed. “Now I feel worse.”
5. Arrested Development“You’re dying.”
He’s burning up with fever, even while sitting in tub of water and ice. I thought he was already dead, and my tears surprised me. They shouldn’t have. I’ve been feeling something for awhile, but I was just unwilling to admit it. I pushed it down, deep down, where it wouldn’t nag my conscience. But hearing he was dead made me realize I can’t hide it any more. Now, I’ve been given a second chance. And I can give him a second chance as well.
“I don’t know how to do this, but I know you need it.”
“Listen to this,” Beth said reading her iPad. “The director of development for that amusement park where you killed that teenager has been arrested.”
“Mmm,” Mick replied, engrossed in his ebook.
“Apparently teens break in at night and goof around on the rides. Someone fell off the roller coaster and was killed. They’ve charged him with negligent homicide.”
Mick looked up. “The kid who fell off?”
Beth sighed. “No of course not! The arrested development director!”
“What about him?”
“I give up,” Beth muttered in exasperation.
Mick returned to his reading. “He should have just called a Cleaner. They’re cheaper.”
I want you to admit that something happened between us.
To you? I can barely admit it to myself. I still can’t believe you offered me your blood. I never wanted it to happen like that. You not only nourished my body, but my soul as well. If I still have one, that is. When your blood hit my tongue, it was sweet, spicy and wonderful. I know you have feelings for me, even if you don’t realize it yourself, yet. I could taste them. And it scared me. Because I have feelings for you, too.
Okay, okay. Something happened.
You understand that I’m a vampire, right?
I’m a vampire AND a monster. I FED from you for chrissakes! I could have killed you!
I don’t want to encourage you. If I had returned your calls, it would have just led you on. Where do you see this going? Do you possibly think there can be an “us”? There can’t be. It’s too dangerous. I’M too dangerous. I can’t let this go any further. I can’t let myself want you. I have to protect you. From me.
Besides, you’re taken. Remember?
And don’t you have some dinner that you’re giving?
6. B.C.How does it work?
The “sex thing”? Between humans and vampires? Is she thinking what I think she’s thinking? Oh, what I wouldn’t give to hold her and feel her and…
Come off it, St. John! You know that relationships with humans are difficult, dangerous and complicated!
I know. But everything “works”. Everything “fits”.
But then you’d have to bite her.
I can’t do that.
You bit her in the desert.
I can’t let it happen again. She doesn’t know what she’s asking. I have to keep the distance between us. Put her off this crazy idea.
It doesn’t.
7. Ringer“Come on Mick, join me.”
Omigod I almost kissed her. She’s high on Black Crystal, coming on to me, and I almost gave in. Now she’s doing that sultry walk over to the stairs, watching me watch her, daring me to follow…
Damn! I gotta shake this off. But there she goes. I’m going.
No! I can’t! But she’s… and I’m…
I’m helpless to stop myself. I pause, then up the stairs, two at a time.
She’s waiting for me, and…
I can’t do it. I want it, I want her, but not like this.
Because it’s just the drug.
8. 12:04 AM“Yeah, I wouldn’t kick her out of bed for eating crackers.”
That’s what I said when I first laid eyes on Coraline. One look at that photographer - man she’s a perfect ringer for Coraline – and it all comes rushing back. I thought she was such a knock-out back then. Now all I can see is the woman who turned me into a vampire; who took my life and turned it into a hellish existence. And now that I’ve met Beth, now that there’s a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel, she’s come back to haunt me.
“Donovan Shepherd died by lethal injection at 12:04 A.M.”
That moment, 12:04, should have been the beginning of a new life for Audrey Pell. Haunted for years by the imprisoned man who murdered her parents, this moment should have been closure for the young woman.
Little did she know. How could she have foreseen what was about to happen? Shepherd being turned into a vampire so he could exact his revenge. How could anyone have seen that coming? In the end it didn’t matter how he came back. All that mattered to Audrey was that he had - for her.
What Mick probably thought:
Why did you hide it? Made me think it was my imagination?
Oh, my God, she found the pictures. Now she knows I stalked her all her life. And that I lied to her, too. I never meant to hurt her. I was just trying to protect her from the truth. After all, it was my ex-wife who kidnapped her as a child. She must hate me, after what she’s learned. At least one good thing may have come from this - maybe now she will realize there can’t be anything between us.
You have every right to be angry.
What Mick SHOULD have thought:
Why did you hide it? Made me think it was my imagination?
Oh, my God, she found the pictures. Now she knows…
Hey! Hold on! She found the pictures? I told her to stay OUT of my office! She never listens! “Stay in the car, Beth. Don’t go in the office, Beth.” She went into my office AND she went through my files! I wonder if she went into my freezer room? Man, I’ll never be able to sleep if her scent is in there.
I bet she sniffed my shirt, too.
Sigh…
You have every right to be angry.
9. Fleur de Lis
10. Sleeping Beauty“Do you want something, Mick?”
I had followed the trail of discarded clothes into the steel room filled with steam. I swept her naked body with my eyes and the memories came flooding back. It had to be her; it HAD to be Coraline. The “old” Mick wanted her again, as crazy as that sounds. The “new” Mick wanted proof, once and for all. Both Micks got what they wanted. The kisses meant nothing. But seeing the fleur de lis tattoo meant everything. First, relief that I had not, in fact, murdered my wife. Second - she has a cure.
11. Love Lasts Forever*Sleep slowly gave way. Mick smiled, but dared not open his eyes. The dream was too beautiful; too perfect; too real. Seeing Sarah had frightened Beth, he knew. But when he invited her for a night on the town, she put her fears aside. The music, the dancing, even her dinner – it was all perfect. And afterward, it was everything he’d imagined.
Right. It was a dream, St. John. Wake up and smell the coffee.
He stretched, inhaled… and his eyes shot open in surprise.
“Hey, sleeping beauty,” Beth smiled. “I was wondering when you were going to wake up.”
*These are two new drabbles. In preparing this collection, I found to my surprise that I never made a Title Drabble (or any drabble, for that matter) for Love Lasts Forever. So I had to write one on the spot. And then I made a second one, because I couldn't decide.
Turn him, he’ll live.
She wants me to turn Josh. She’s not thinking this through. He’ll have to disappear; as his sire, I’ll have to go with him. At least at the beginning. And will she be willing to go along and disappear herself? Does she think we’ll be a happy threesome? Awkward wouldn’t begin to cover it. Does she think this will mean their love lasts forever? As a vampire, Josh may not even want her! Then where will she be?
Not to mention I’d be turning someone against their will.
No. Just, no.
Because...
That’s not living, Beth.
12. The Mortal CureIf you hate what you are so much, why do you go on living?
I did a lot of bad things after I was turned, and I want to make up for them…
Yeah, yeah.
Because I want to use my special abilities to help people…
Yeah, okay, that, too. But what about the real reason?
Because ever since you came into my undead life as a little girl, you have given me a reason to go on. To love again. And reconnecting with you now, makes it possible to hope that love lasts forever.
You make we want to.
13. Fated to PretendI’ve waited to feel human for a long time. But I forgot how painful it can be. And yet I wouldn’t change it for anything. Coraline gave me the cure to be human again. To cure my vampirism, at least temporarily. And when Beth asked me how it felt, I told her it felt amazing. The pain, the sun, the mortality…all of it. The eternal wall between us has opened up, at least for now. Coraline, a vampire, cured the monster that lived within me. Can Beth, a mortal, cure the emptiness left behind? The thought fills me with hope.
“No, not a good idea. Animals are naturally afraid of – of vampires.”
My voice trails off because I keep forgetting that I’m not a vampire anymore. All those years I kept wishing to be human again; to experience my humanity again. There were times when I couldn’t sleep and I’d make lists in my head of all the things I would do if I were ever able - somehow – to return to the mortal coil. And I can honestly say that having a purring cat on my lap was never one of them.
It’s wonderful.
“I think he likes you.”
14. ClickI had orange juice and coffee for breakfast. I drove with the top down in broad daylight. I’m on the beach, in the sun. Things I thought I’d never do again. And now I’m on my way to meet Beth for a picnic in the sand. Another thing I thought I’d never do again. Not after what happened with Josh. But she called, and here I am.
I may be fated to pretend I’m human. And sure, I’m living on borrowed time. But I’m not dwelling on that part. How can I, when I have so much living to do?
But as long as you’re involved with Mick, and you work at Buzzwire, his secret will always be in danger.
Josef’s right. And the truth is, I don’t even like working at Buzzwire anymore. With Maureen gone, it’s a whole different place. Grant Lewis wants to run with a story regardless of the facts, figuring we can make a retraction later. Buzzwire doesn’t even have a veneer of respectability any longer.
Well, I have enough experience now to find another job. And quitting will help keep Mick safe.
I’ll call Grant and resign. And then I’ll tell Mick at dinner.
15. What's Left BehindMick lay in his freezer, unable to sleep.
How awkward was that? “Not with me, with me”? I sounded like an idiot!
Often when sleep eluded him, he would flip through a mental photo album of all the pictures his mind captured of Beth.
Click! When she came up to him at the fountain. Click! Her smile after she kissed him on the parking deck. Click! Sleeping off BC on his couch, wearing his shirt. Click! Standing by the ship’s rail, as he leaned in to kiss her.
He smiled at that one and let the welcoming cold overtake him.
16. SonataWhat’s left behind when a vampire is turned? Mick thought as he stared at the white house. Family. Friends. Loved ones. Chances lost. Regrets. A thousand paths untaken.
There were happy memories, too.
Yes, there were happy ones.
Would you do it again?
It was wrong.
You didn’t know Ray was alive. Would you do it again?
Yes. Mick sighed. What if they’re mine? How could I ever tell them the truth?
What if they’re not?
Then I’ve lost my only chance at having a family.
Are you sure? He saw Beth walking towards him. Family’s not only about DNA.
How can you remember that?
How can I remember the moment I let you see me after twenty-two years? I remember everything about you. Your flannel nightgown, your fear and your trust the night I rescued you. The look on your face when I told you I’m a vampire. The trust when I told you how I was turned. Your caress when you called me your guardian angel. The red gown and your happiness when we danced. When you first kissed me. When I first kissed you. Why do I remember all these things? It’s easy.
Because I love you.
MiscellaneousBeth’s clock radio clicked on to the classical music station she kept it tuned to. She liked waking up slowly to the soothing music. Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” came on and she smiled as she heard the familiar notes. She rolled over onto her side and snuggled next to Mick, who instinctively put his arm around her and tucked her in next to himself, still asleep.
“Because I love you.”
The words Mick said to her last night danced in her head along with the music.
And I love you, my vampire of the moonlight she thought, drifting back to sleep.
Last on the List
Beth got out her resolutions from last year to see how well she did.
2007 New Year’s Resolutions:
1. Get an exciting new job.
Buzzwire crime scene reporter - check!
2. Do at least two things I’ve never done before.
I killed someone. I pray I never have to do that again. And I fed a vampire. I really hope I get to do that again!
3. Find my guardian angel.
Every year, this was always the last item on her list. However, she had a feeling that 2008 would be the year she could finally check that one off.