Turn Me to Dust (In Between 2 and 3, PG)

[Shadow]

Disclaimer: Moonlight is not mine and no copyright infringement is intended.




IN BETWEEN
two and three





Turn Me to Dust



I’m a vampire.

It was the one thing Mick had sworn never to tell her, the one thing she must never know, and in one instant, he’d lost the secret forever. Beth had seen him changed, she’d seen the eyes and fangs and blood, and it was too late now; she was staring at him in utter shock. He ought to care about his secret being exposed, but he didn’t. He only cared that she would never look at him again the way she had before. She would only see the monster.

It was far too late now, but he turned away, hiding from her gaze, and rubbed his sleeve across his face to wipe away the blood. The movement was excruciating, more pain than he’d ever felt before in his life, worse even than when he’d been wounded in the war. Mick could feel the poison moving through his body, pain and paralysis spreading. The blood bag fell from his hand, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to pick it up again. He’d heard that silver was a horror, but he’d never imagined anything as terrible as this. He thought of Elaine, and shuddered.

“You’re hurt.” Beth’s voice was shaking, but she was kneeling beside him, and he felt her hesitant touch at his shoulder. Her uncertainty washed over him, confusion and fear mixed with tiny flickers of memory. “My God, I didn’t realize. . . he shot you?”

“With silver. He knew.”

“But that’s – " Her breath caught, and she stared at the blood on his coat. “Mick, what should I do? There must be something . . .”

“You have to leave.”

“But – "

“Now. Please.” His vision was fading, along with the rest of his perceptions, but he could still see her beside him. She hadn’t moved.

“I can’t leave you alone,” she said. “Not like this.”

“I’ve already called for help. Someone’s coming.” Josef was coming, in fact, and Beth absolutely had to be gone when he arrived. Mick was fast losing consciousness, and there was no way he was going to let Beth and Josef come into contact without his supervision. Or, preferably, at all. “Beth. You can not be here when he shows up, okay? Please.”

He was sliding, falling, but Beth caught him gently and eased him to the floor. He felt another shock from her, as she looked at the blood on her hands and realized he’d been shot in the back as well. “Oh God,” she whispered.

“Wash your hands.” Mick could barely hear his own voice. “Check your coat. Don’t go out with blood on you.” She was distracted enough, she might not even notice. And there was certainly silver in his blood by now – could it harm her?

A long pause, then he heard the sound of the kitchen faucet and the rustle of her coat. “Mick – "

“Go. For God’s sake, go.”

“Okay.” Her voice was soft and scared. A moment later she was gone, nothing left of her but her scent and the image of her memory, but he could still feel her touch and hear the worry in her voice. She didn’t want to leave me. He wondered at that, as everything faded away . . . even, blessedly, the pain.


















But when he woke he was screaming.

“Hell! Keep it down, will you? How you get into situations like this – "

Through a gray haze Mick saw Josef hovering over him. Mick’s senses were off, dismaying and disorienting; the light fixture on the ceiling was blinding him and the clink of metal on glass resounded in his skull, but he couldn’t smell Josef at all, and he felt cold. That couldn’t be right. Mick wasn’t even in his freezer; he was lying, he thought, on the kitchen table. But the only warmth in his body was at his right arm, where an IV was dumping blood into a vein.

“Now hold still, and stay quiet,” Josef said. “Four hundred years I’ve been a vampire, have I ever been shot with a silver bullet? No, not once. And here you are with a goddamn collection. Told you you were off your game.” Josef was probing one of the wounds for another bullet, fire and ice, and Mick could hear a voice clear as a bell from seven floors down, the coffee’s ready, did you get the paper? – and though he still couldn’t smell Josef he was awash in a memory, Josef’s memory of a friend who’d died from silver. Josef’s old pain melted into Mick’s agony but Mick couldn’t even find the strength to cry out.

“Mick! Damn you, don’t you die on me. Mick!”

The world spun; suddenly Mick could smell the coffee seven floors below but he couldn’t see Josef, couldn’t hear him.

I need to talk to Beth.

I need to explain.

Josef, where the hell are you?

Help me. I’ve got to live.

Then there was only the pain, and since there was nothing else he held on to that, tightly, for as long as he could.





















There was an angel hanging over his head. The angel watched a battle, and Mick had a vision of Sunday school, of the glorious colored plates in the big church Bible; he could almost see his own small hands turning the glossy pages. But surely there hadn’t been airplanes in those pictures? Airplanes from different eras, torn by battle and falling from the sky. The angel stood on a bridge, looking out from under her hood, her hand up to shield her eyes, an infant at her feet. No, not an angel. Still, the robed figure made him feel safe, even before he recognized the painting on the ceiling. He was at Josef’s. He was lying on a couch, under a blanket, and the room was freezing. He looked around, bewildered, and found Josef sitting in a chair opposite him, just glancing up from a laptop.

“So, Mick. Good to see you’ve decided to survive.” Josef put the laptop on a table and came to Mick’s side, holding out a hand. His tone was light and airy, and he was smiling, but his hand wasn’t quite steady. “Come on, sit up. It’ll make me feel better if you aren’t lying there like the dead.”

Even with Josef’s help, sitting took an astonishing effort, and the pain flared. Mick sat still for a moment, catching his breath, while Josef crossed the room to his fridge and rummaged through it.

“How close a call was it?” Mick asked.

“Trust me, you don’t want to know. Now where did they put the fresh stuff? There’s supposed to be some in here. Damn . . .”

Mick glanced down at his shoulder. He was wearing a shirt he didn’t recognize, and under it . . . bandages? He shifted the wraps to look beneath them. The bullet wounds were still there, bloody and bruised and not at all healed, and for a dizzy moment he wondered if silver was not just a poison but a cure. But no, his senses were back, and his sight and hearing were much too acute for him to be human. But –

“It hasn’t healed,” he said.

“It’ll take time. There aren’t any scientific papers on the subject, but they tell me it takes a lot longer for a vamp to heal from silver than from lead.” Josef pulled a bottle out of the fridge and checked the label. “Ah, there it is. Sylvia’s. Just donated this morning.” He poured a glass, handed it to Mick, and settled back in his chair.

Shakily Mick downed the blood, and felt marginally stronger. Josef said, “I know I’m wasting my breath, but - you’d heal faster if you drank straight from the source.”

“No. Thank you.” Mick put the glass down and awkwardly pulled the blanket up around his shoulders. “Why is it so cold in here?”

“It isn’t. Silver makes you cold – it screws up your system.” Josef smiled faintly. “You might want to avoid the freezer for a few days.”

“But the bullets are out. Aren’t they?”

“They’re out. The thing is, they start to break down in your body as soon as they hit. That’s what kills you, if you don’t get them out in time.” Josef lowered his eyes, suddenly downcast. Remembering someone who died, Mick thought, and wondered why he felt so sure of it. Had Josef ever told him the story? He couldn’t remember.

But another memory passed over him, chilling him. “I’ve never felt that kind of pain before,” he said quietly. “Josef – did we do that to her? To Elaine?”

“God, no!” Josef looked horrified. “Yes, the chains hurt, but it’s nothing like that. Nothing.”

Mick frowned uncertainly.

“And don’t even think about trying it yourself,” Josef said, reading his thoughts. “You’re sensitized now, and it would be totally different. Silver on your skin would hurt like hell, now that you’ve been exposed to so much internally. It wasn’t like that for Elaine, all right? It wasn’t, and that’s the straight truth. Ask anyone.”

It had to be true. Elaine would have told him, later, if she’d been in pain. What they’d done to her had been terrible . . . but they hadn’t hurt her that badly. Not physically, anyway. “Okay,” Mick said at last.

“And I’d highly recommend that you stay away from silver in the future.”

“No problem.” Mick pushed back his hair, looked up, and saw sunlight behind the window blinds. “Is it morning?”

“It’s after noon. It’s too bad you didn’t wake up earlier – you missed the twelve o’clock news.” Josef raised an eyebrow, and Mick sighed.

“Don’t tell me. I was on it.”

“Well, at least this time you weren’t the star. Do they have it right? This Spaulding character is dead?”

“He’s dead.”

“Good. At least you managed to kill him.”

“I didn’t do it.”

“You just said he was dead.”

“Beth killed him.” Mick let the astonishing memory linger in his mind - looking up to see Beth holding his gun, realizing that she’d come after him, that she’d saved his life.

Josef’s eyes widened in astonishment. “What, your little blonde?”

“Can you have someone call me a cab? I’ve got to get down to the station.”

“Ah - Mick, you want to run that by me again?”

“They know I was there. They’ll be looking for me. It’ll be better if I show up on my own.”

Much more importantly, Beth had killed Spaulding in order to defend Mick. Spaulding’s kidnap and threats to Julia might well deflect any legal concerns about his death, but there would still be questions. Mick needed to be there, to verify Beth’s story. And the sooner the better, before the wounds healed. Maybe the silver really was good fortune, if it will help Beth.

Josef murmured into his phone, then put it away. “So, this blonde of yours . . .”

“Beth.”

“This Beth. I assume she’s the human who was hiding at the end of your hall last night?”

“What?”

“She didn’t leave until I went into your apartment. Care to tell me why?”

Mick scarcely heard him. Beth was that worried? She didn’t leave me? He closed his eyes and saw her face again as she knelt beside him, as she tried to help him. She shouldn’t have stayed! Not with Josef there . . . But she wanted to help me. She wanted to help me even after she knew what I was.

Josef sighed. “Did she see what you are?”

“Yes.”

“You remember promising me that she was never going to find out?”

“I remember.”

“It’s dangerous. For all of us.”

“And your freshies aren’t dangerous?” Mick was suddenly angry. “Your lawyers? The other humans who know about you?”

“Mick, you know about my screening process.”

“Well, I don’t need one. Not with Beth. She won’t betray me.”

“She is a reporter.”

“Doesn’t matter. She won’t betray me.”

“You’re that sure? You’re putting your life into her hands. All our lives.”

“I’m that sure.”

Josef watched him for a moment, taking in his absolute certainty, and then nodded, very slowly. “All right.”

“You won’t touch her.”

“No.”

“Swear to it.”

“You told me what she means to you.” Josef looked suddenly forlorn. “You might trust me to care about that. Okay, if you really want it, I swear.”

Mick remembered the panic in Josef’s voice when he’d thought Mick was dying, and he felt his anger fade away. He knew Josef would never forget this promise. His throat tightened and he said softly, “Thanks, man. And thanks for what you did for me.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Josef reached for his laptop and bent over it again. Mick smiled.


















It felt strange to be so cold. In the cab Mick was freezing, even in his borrowed coat. As a vampire he was always cold, as anyone who slept in a freezer must be, but he’d never felt it before. There were still traces of silver in his body – residue from the bullets – and he could feel it like ice in his shoulder and back, seeping cold into his veins. Nothing would cure it but time. But there’s not enough left to kill me, or even paralyze me, and it’ll be gone in a few days. I’ve been lucky.

With an effort he pulled his phone out of the pocket of the coat. He brought up Beth’s number, then sat holding the phone, staring out the window at the buildings passing by. He’d reach the station soon. He had to call her now. At last he managed to force himself to hit the button, and the phone began to ring.

Five rings. Six. Mick was trying to think what to say to her voice mail when the ringing stopped. Beth’s hesitant voice said, “Mick?”

“Yeah. It’s me.”

“Are you okay?”

She sounded so scared, so worried. Mick said, “I will be.”

Suddenly there were voices in the background on the phone, Josh and Carl talking about the warehouse. “Where are you?” he asked.

“I had to come give my statement.”

Of course. He was headed straight toward her. Just where he didn’t want to be right now. He said, “Beth, I need to – "

“Wait.”

He heard her footsteps, muffled, her voice telling Josh she’d be back in a second, doors opening and closing.

“Are you still there?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“I didn’t tell them anything. I mean, I only told them what I saw at the warehouse. I said you took off when I wasn’t looking. That’s all. Maybe . . .”

A long time passed. “Beth?”

“Maybe that is all that happened. I shot someone last night; I killed him. Maybe I just freaked out, and imagined things that didn’t happen. Maybe I didn’t really see what I thought I saw.”

It was his turn to be silent. He’d let her think that her memories weren’t real before. He could do it again, and she’d probably believe him.

“Mick?”

But she’d seen too much. The sight of the vampire would keep worrying at her, eroding her confidence, her self. What he’d already kept from her was bad enough. “Beth,” he said, “can you come by my place tonight?”

“Why?”

“Just – to talk.” He hesitated. “About me.”

Even over the phone he could hear her heart rate increase. “I don’t know.”

“Beth – "

“Look, I have to – I have to go.”

The dial tone echoed in his ear. Mick put the phone away and leaned back in his seat, pulling his coat tighter, closing his eyes. Would she come? He knew that she wouldn’t betray him, but that didn’t mean she would ever willingly come near him again. She tried to help me even after she knew what I was. She didn’t leave me until Josef came. But that had been last night, in the heat of the moment. Since then she’d had time to think, to reflect on things in the cold light of day, and he knew she was afraid.

When the cab pulled up at the station, he saw Beth on the sidewalk, walking alone toward the parking lot. He watched her from the window, from a distance, just as he had done for so many long years. How can I go back to this? Now that he’d talked to her, laughed with her, held her in his arms – now, watching her from a distance was almost too painful to bear.



















“Where the hell did you go last night?” Carl said, leading Mick into a room. “You and Beth both, just wandering off. . . Josh!” He leaned back into the hallway, waving Josh down, and shook his head, looking back at Mick. “It’s unbelievable. You of all people should know better.”

Josh stopped at the door, his phone in his hand. “Carl. Remind me to call Beth in about half an hour, okay? She would not let me get her a cab; she’s going to drive herself home and I want to make sure she gets there safe. . . oh.” He stared at Mick. “St. John.”

“He finally showed up,” Carl said dryly.

“Where have you been?” Josh shoved his phone into his pocket. “And why exactly did you leave the scene last night?”

“I don’t like hospitals,” Mick said.

“Excuse me?” Josh said. Both men looked baffled.

“Can I sit down?” Without waiting for an answer, Mick crossed to a chair, leaned against its back for a moment, and sat heavily. Josh and Carl were both staring at him. “I’d lost some blood,” he explained. “If I passed out, I didn’t want to end up in a hospital.”

There was a silence. “So,” Carl said after a moment. “You thought it was better to get in your car and pass out while you were driving?”

In my case, yes. Mick shrugged and said, “I guess I wasn’t thinking very clearly.”

“No, you weren’t,” Josh said coldly, pulling up a chair. “If you’d been thinking at all, you wouldn’t have taken Beth in there with you.”

“I told her to wait in the car. If I didn’t come back, she was supposed to call the cops, not come in after me.”

“That was still too dangerous. Someone might have come out and found her waiting there.”

“That’s why I gave her my gun.”

“You went in there unarmed? No wonder you got into trouble.” Josh sighed. “Well, at least you were thinking about Beth’s safety. But you should have realized that she’d. . . .well, no. I guess you couldn’t have. You don’t know her.”

Josh’s dismissive tone stung Mick; he wanted to snap back I’ve known her all her life. The pain was getting to him, putting him on edge – he would have to be careful what he said, during this interview - and worst of all, he knew that Josh’s words were true. Mick didn’t really know Beth, not in the way Josh did. Not with the normal, day-to-day intimacy of two people who were actually sharing their lives. Mick had only watched Beth, never coming near her, never speaking to her, never experiencing anything with her that was real. All he had with her was a tentative friendship that had barely even begun.

Mick usually didn’t have trouble with police interviews, having had plenty of practice editing the vampire element out of his statements. But today he couldn’t keep his mind on the questions. He couldn’t stop thinking of Beth, of the way her voice had sounded on the phone. She was afraid of what she’d seen. She didn’t want it to be true. Maybe he should have lied to her after all, told her she’d imagined it. . . God, no. He couldn’t keep lying to her that way. Surely it was better for her to know the truth, whatever came of it.

“St. John? Did you hear me?”

“What?”

“After you untied Julia, what happened?”

“I told her to run, and she did. And when I turned around Spaulding was there, and he had a gun.”

Mick really didn’t want to talk about getting shot; just thinking about it made the pain worse. He had forgotten what it was like to feel ill, to be hurt – he’d forgotten that it went on and on, without fading, endless. Oh, he’d felt plenty of pain in the last fifty years, but he’d always known that it would pass quickly, and that made it easy to bear. This was different, so different. It hurt to pull the bandage aside for the photographer who came in to document the wounds; it hurt just to sit and answer questions. The deep, icy throb never let up.

“So he fired on you, and you went down. What did he do then?”

“Pulled out a flamethrower.”

“A what?”

“Sorry. Welding torch.”

“And then?”

Josh’s voice faded away and Mick heard another voice instead, a woman’s voice. It was Julia, and he looked around in confusion until he realized that she wasn’t in the room, or even near it. He’d learned long ago to filter out distant sounds so that he could concentrate on what was immediately around him, but something in her words had riveted his attention. Julia was talking to someone – he wasn’t sure who – about Lee Jay Spaulding. "He was my friend," Julia said, with tears in her voice. "I trusted him. I thought I knew him. And then last night I saw what he’d been keeping secret from me. What he really was. I saw that he was a monster."

“St. John. Mick. Answer the question, please.”

It was Josh’s voice again, but Mick was caught and held by Julia’s words. He was shivering, and not just from the cold. That’s Julia, not Beth, he told himself desperately, and she’s talking about Spaulding, not me. Not me! But it was all too easy to imagine Beth saying the same words about him, and it would be all too true. A wave of thirst passed over him and for an instant he saw a red pattern of blood vessels flare against Carl’s face and throat, and then Josh’s. He flinched and looked away. That hadn’t happened in years. God, it’s not under control. I AM a monster.

“You’re spacing out, Mick. Are you okay?”

With an immense effort, he pushed the thirst away. Later. You can wait. He managed to say, “Not really.”

“I guess we’d better finish this another day,” Carl said, looking concerned. “You didn’t drive here, did you? I’ll get a cab for you. We can schedule another time.”

“Don’t bother scheduling anything now,” Josh said. “I think we’ve got enough.”

Carl looked startled. “We do?”

“We do.”

“Ah.” Carl sounded enlightened, and even in his daze, Mick understood what was happening. Josh was only going through the motions. This was Josh’s case, and he was going to make it disappear. To protect Beth. He could probably do it without compromising himself, since Spaulding had convicted himself so thoroughly on tape. But he’d jeopardize his career for her if had to, Mick realized unwillingly. He cares about her, more than anything. On some level, Mick was actually glad that Beth had a real human relationship with someone who cared about her so much. He knew it was the best thing for her. But on every other level . . . it was very, very hard for Mick to even speak to Josh.

“She should be home by now,” Josh muttered to himself as Carl led Mick out. As he walked down the hall, Mick listened to one side of the conversation. "Hi babe. Just checking you got home all right. I didn’t wake you up, did I? Good. Make sure you get some rest – I don’t think you got a bit of sleep last night. No, I don’t know when I’ll be home; I think it’s gonna be late. I can pick something up . . . no? Okay. I love you, sweetheart. Bye."

Mick tried, and failed, to imagine himself ever having a conversation like that with Beth.

Maybe it would be better if she doesn’t come tonight. Maybe it would be better if I never see her again. He wavered, and Carl caught his arm, giving him a worried look.

“You okay?”

“Yeah. Sure.” I will be if she comes.

















When Mick got home he was dizzy with thirst, and the loft was cold and empty. He went straight to the fridge, praying that Josef had sent someone by. Yes. Thank you, Josef. The fridge was fully stocked with blood again, and he yanked out two bags and bit into one, too desperate to be civilized. But as soon as the worst of the hunger was dulled, he washed his face, opened the cabinet and got out a glass for the rest. Awful, that Beth had seen him with blood all over his face. No wonder she was scared. Shivering, he turned the heat up and switched on the fire, but that took him straight back to the warehouse . . . lying there unable to move, the welding torch flaring in his face, the flames only inches from his skin . . . he hastily turned the fire back off, and looked around. There was a box of bandage material on the kitchen counter, another delivery from Josef, but everything else seemed normal. The little mirrors were back in place, there was no blood on the back of the couch or on the floor, and the kitchen table was clean, decorated with its usual ornamental vase. He remembered, much too clearly, lying on that table while Josef worked, bloody silver bullets in a cup and an IV hanging from the lamp. He remembered leaning against the back of the couch, the world turning dark as he fell to the floor in Beth’s arms. But now it didn’t look like anything had ever happened here. It certainly didn’t look like he’d almost died here last night.

The thirst was gone at last, but he was so tired, and he hurt so much – he wanted to collapse on the floor and stay there, not moving, forever. But he had to get ready for Beth’s visit. Just in case. Painfully he made his way upstairs, to shower and change clothes. He paused at the mirror upstairs, strangely fascinated by the sight of his wounds. All of his old scars had vanished when he became a vampire, and most of his injuries since then had healed almost instantly. These bullet wounds were healing too – they already looked better than they had – but slowly, so slowly. Not as slowly as a normal bullet wound would heal if he was mortal, but not so very far off. It almost made him feel human again. And it was so cold – that felt mortal, too. Mick went looking for a blanket.

He lay down on the couch at last, pulling his blanket over him. It had been used as packing material the last time he’d moved, and wasn’t really much help against the cold. Wish I’d brought the blanket from Josef’s. He lay huddled on the couch for a long time, wondering if he’d ever feel warm again, wondering what he was going to say to Beth. If she came to him, she would certainly ask difficult questions – she was Beth, after all - and as desperate as he was to explain things to her, he knew he wasn’t ready to answer them all. He couldn’t even imagine telling her about Coraline. Not now, not yet. But that won’t matter. If she comes tonight, she’ll be back in my life. I’ll see her again. There’ll be other times. He shifted restlessly, unable to find a comfortable position, but finally fell asleep.

And into dreams. Beth was there, walking around him as he lay on the couch, saying I keep dreaming about you. Why? He tried to sit up, to speak to her, but he couldn’t move, and he couldn’t find his voice. You’re hurt, she said, and she sat down on the couch beside him, gently touching his face. He felt himself change under her touch, and stared up at her through pale eyes. She stared back, putting a hand to her mouth in shock, and disappeared. No. . . . He cried out in despair, reaching out for her, and woke.

Oh God. Is that what’s going to happen? Mick sat up, trying to shake off the dream, the most vivid dream he’d had for more years than he could count. His vampire dreams were usually faint - sleeping in a freezer muted dreams, made them cold and faraway, and he rarely remembered them. He wished he hadn’t remembered this one. Watching Beth vanish from his life . . . he felt like a film vampire, caught in the sun and turned to dust. He was afraid to look at his watch. How late was it? Was there still any chance she would come? He felt warmer than he had before, and the pain from his wounds had faded to a dull ache. He must have slept for hours.

The elevator door opened, and footsteps started down the hall. Mick looked up sharply, his gaze moving to the monitor, but he already knew it was her. She’s here. She came. She really came.

He froze for an instant, then quickly got up, folding the blanket and slipping it under a seat cushion. His coat was a wrinkled mess, and he stowed it under a cushion as well. Nervously he moved to check himself in the mirror, smoothing his hair, straightening his shirt, making sure the bandages were invisible beneath it. No time for anything more. He heard Beth come up to the door, and he walked quickly to the other side, watching her on the monitor. She raised her hand to knock. Then she yanked her hand back, whirled around, and hurried away. Vanished, like the dream. He couldn’t blame her, but he could feel his heart breaking. It would have been easier if she hadn’t come at all.



But then she stopped, and came back, and she knocked loud and clear on his door. So. It’s not over. Mick was terrified, and elated, and he didn’t have the slightest idea what he was going to tell her. It didn’t matter. He took a deep breath, and opened the door to let her in.














_

[lorig]

I loved it. My heart breaks for mick. I hope he gets what he wants in this story. My gosh, what did he an d josef do to that poor woman?

[allegrita]

This is just... amazing. This story knits the two episodes together so that they flow together. There was a Champagne Challenge about the end of Episode 2, and this story could fit into it perfectly. I love the way you've captured the little loose threads and made them strong, made the story move in a sensible, believable way to the next episode. I'm enjoying this series so much, and I look forward to finding out more about what happened between Mick, Josef, and Elaine. Now we know she's a vampire, but there are so many questions...

I can actually "see" your stories in my mind, which is such a pleasure. You write the same way you create videos--very cinematographically (if that's even a word). Every scene is so vivid. And your writing echoes Mick's state of mind very well. I know how he's feeling by the way you describe the scenes. Mick's dreamlike reaction to the images in the painting is absolutely wonderful, and his mixed-up senses are really well portrayed. This whole story (chapter?) is so dreamlike, as Mick's thoughts and perceptions would be under the circumstances... it has really captured my imagination.

[Shadow]

I loved it. My heart breaks for mick. I hope he gets what he wants in this story. My gosh, what did he an d josef do to that poor woman?

Thanks lori .... Mick's path will have to follow the episodes for the most part here, but hopefully there will be lots more of his story in these spaces. Including what happened with Elaine ....

[Shadow]

This is just... amazing. This story knits the two episodes together so that they flow together. There was a Champagne Challenge about the end of Episode 2, and this story could fit into it perfectly. I love the way you've captured the little loose threads and made them strong, made the story move in a sensible, believable way to the next episode. I'm enjoying this series so much, and I look forward to finding out more about what happened between Mick, Josef, and Elaine. Now we know she's a vampire, but there are so many questions...

I can actually "see" your stories in my mind, which is such a pleasure. You write the same way you create videos--very cinematographically (if that's even a word). Every scene is so vivid. And your writing echoes Mick's state of mind very well. I know how he's feeling by the way you describe the scenes. Mick's dreamlike reaction to the images in the painting is absolutely wonderful, and his mixed-up senses are really well portrayed. This whole story (chapter?) is so dreamlike, as Mick's thoughts and perceptions would be under the circumstances... it has really captured my imagination.

I didn't know there was a Champagne Challenge about this! But I've never really kept up with the challenges, there just hasn't been time. (I only contributed to the 1000 story Christmas challenge by accident ... found out about it after posting part one, which turned out to be 996 ) Maybe one of these days I'll keep up .....
So lovely to get your comment on this. (Cinematographically ....I'm not sure if that's a word either, but I like it!) It was so nice that you mentioned the part about the painting, I think it would be a very strange thing to wake up to ... really a bit hallucinatory. Glad you're interested in Elaine too - she'll be back.
Thank you!

[redwinter101]

Oh I love this, Shadow. Mick's pain - so convincing, so debilitating - and his fear, not just of pain, of a genuine brush with death, but of Beth and what his feelings for her might mean. I especially loved his jealousy of Josh and the everyday intimacy he shares with Beth - that rang so beautifully true. And it squeezed my heart.

Beautiful.

Red

[coco]

And the brilliance continues. Wonderful once again, Shadow.

You knit the two episodes together perfectly and Mick's thoughts are excellently observed. His jealousy, fear and pain all ring true.

Very much looking forward to more.

[carniegal]

Thank you for knitting the episodes together.

[Shadow]

Oh I love this, Shadow. Mick's pain - so convincing, so debilitating - and his fear, not just of pain, of a genuine brush with death, but of Beth and what his feelings for her might mean. I especially loved his jealousy of Josh and the everyday intimacy he shares with Beth - that rang so beautifully true. And it squeezed my heart.

Beautiful.

Red

thanks so much, Red. It was interesting trying to get back into the feel of the first few episodes, and into Mick's thoughts back then - it really made me realize just how much these characters grew and changed even during the course of the show, not to mention in fan fiction. (And such a trial for me, having to look at those episodes again. )

[Shadow]

And the brilliance continues. Wonderful once again, Shadow.

You knit the two episodes together perfectly and Mick's thoughts are excellently observed. His jealousy, fear and pain all ring true.

Very much looking forward to more.

thanks so very much, coco. I spent a lot of time when the show was on trying to figure ways to make the episodes fit together, especially when the mood and tone would change so much between them ... so couldn't resist finally starting to write them down. I'm glad you've liked it so far! More will be coming ....

[Shadow]

Thank you for knitting the episodes together.

And I've been having a lot of fun doing it! Thanks so much for your comment.
The next one should come along soon.

[wollstonecraft61]

Oh, I want to hold Mick so terribly, make him feel better. I am loving your series, Shadow. You are adept at giving us what the writers did not, answers.

[Shadow]

Oh, I want to hold Mick so terribly, make him feel better. I am loving your series, Shadow. You are adept at giving us what the writers did not, answers.

I'm so glad you're enjoying it .... goodness knows they did leave us an awful lot of questions. Thanks!!

[francis]

Oh how much do I love this! I love that you let Mick dream, and explain how vampires dream. I love that his wounds didn't heal right away, making it possible to fool the police. And I love Josef's role in this, helping Mick and letting him get away with telling Beth, trusting Mick. But the best of all is how you describe Mick's feelings about all this, and the mystery of what happened to Elaine.

[Shadow]

Oh how much do I love this! I love that you let Mick dream, and explain how vampires dream. I love that his wounds didn't heal right away, making it possible to fool the police. And I love Josef's role in this, helping Mick and letting him get away with telling Beth, trusting Mick. But the best of all is how you describe Mick's feelings about all this, and the mystery of what happened to Elaine.

Wow, thanks, francis ... that is so great to hear!
There will be a lot more for Elaine as the series continues. I always felt as if we were just seeing glimpses of Mick's life on screen, and that there must have been a lot more going on than what we saw there .....plus there is so much in Mick's past that we never learned.