Fever, Redux--CHAPTER RECAPS

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NocturneInCMoll
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Fever, Redux--CHAPTER RECAPS

Post by NocturneInCMoll »

Previously in Fever Redux (or, No-Star Cell Service)…


Chapter 1
Spoiler:
Leni can’t get a cell signal inside the no-star motel. She returns to the bathroom to tell Mick only to find him barely above water and looking near death. He tells her to get out, but she refuses to leave. He mutters something about how he’d die before he fed on her, and she hears it and calls him on it. Finally he admits what’s wrong with him—he’s a vampire.

Josh gets a call from Victorville PD that Mick and Leni stole a police cruiser and were attacked—it appears they are dead. The car is in flames and is too hot to even get close. Beth is visibly upset, and tells Josh he has a big problem, because Mick didn’t talk to anyone but her or him. Josh is shocked she’s accusing him of being the leak, but she clarifies that she is saying it’s someone on his team—and he should find out who. As she leaves, Josh tries to offer some comfort on the death of her friend, but she brushes him off.

Leni reacts to Mick’s revelation. She has lots of questions, but realizes now is not the time. She’s honoured to be one of the only two humans Mick has ever told his secret. Then, to his horror, she offers him her blood. He refuses to take hers. She thinks that’s why he wanted her to call Beth—she’s his freshie. He refutes that and says he doesn’t ask for blood from anyone anymore. Leni insists it’s an emergency, so it doesn’t count. He reminds her of her pregnancy; she tells him to just take a little—enough so he won’t die, but not enough to harm her or the baby. He tells her she shouldn’t trust him—a vampire—to control himself. She has confidence in his control, however, seeing as she’s still alive. She also tells him that if he dies, she’ll be alone in the desert with no one to protect her from the assassin, so it’s also partly self-preservation. Mick gives in and reaches for her arm with the instruction that, at some point, she might have to stop him.
Chapter 2
Spoiler:
Leni says Mick’s name after half a minute of him drinking. He stops immediately. It’s not enough, but it helped. He carries her into the other room, as she needs rest. He hovers protectively, and she insists she’s fine. Mick says he will never forgive himself if he hurt her or the baby—their heartbeats are slower, but steady. He realizes she needs food, and retrieves the food she had brought him in the bathroom before she realizes he left. Leni is very sleepy, but manages to eat some chips. She is still concerned for him, but he says he feels better, and thanks her. She says they’re even. He tells her that after she finishes eating, she should get some rest. They’d have to wait there until nightfall anyway to travel again, as he’s not quite recovered enough to be out in the sun. Leni is still worried about him, and asks if he’ll be all right.

Alone in her apartment, Beth sinks onto the couch and lets her grief out. She cries herself to sleep. Two hours later, Josh tries to wake her. She murmurs Mick’s name, and Josh persists in trying to wake her. Suddenly she does, her eyes searching the shadows. She calls Mick’s name again, only to sense someone beside her, and realizes it’s Josh. He confirms that it was not a bad dream—Mick really is gone. Josh says he can’t stay long, as he needs to go back to the office to wrap things up, but he wanted to tell her he did some experimentation with misinformation and found out that Kevin was the leak. He also apologizes that he wasn’t very sensitive before when she found out Mick died. He’s little jealous she’s so grief-stricken about a guy she’d barely met. Beth says he was a friend, and he saved her life. Josh agrees, and says he’ll make sure Mick gets a hero’s burial for trying to protect a witness. Beth starts to ramble about feeling so alone and not knowing who to tell or who she can talk to. She says she doesn’t think Mick has any family left, and she’s not sure she met any of his friends. Josh wonders what she does know about Mick. Beth says he was special, like no one she ever met. Josh is put out—it’s like it was him who died, and not Mick. Beth insists that’s not it—she hesitates for a moment, and then tells Josh she’s been keeping a secret of Mick’s, and now that he’s gone, she doesn’t know if she can bear it alone. She extracts Josh’s promise not to speak a word of this to anyone. He’s starting to get concerned. Beth finally reveals that Mick is—or was—a vampire. And there are more out there.
Chapter 3
Spoiler:
Josh finds Beth’s revelation incredulous. He thinks that it’s a cumulation of all that has happened lately (college blood cult, her resulting obsession, her shooting a man, Mick’s death). Beth says she didn’t think vampires existed either, until she saw proof with her own eyes. She explains what happened after she shot Lee Jay to save Mick, and Mick disappeared. She found him in his apartment, refusing to look at her and insisting that she leave. She saw he had a bag of blood, and thought he was trying to transfuse himself…until he finally looked at her. His irises were nearly white, and when he began to speak she saw his fangs. And then he said “I’m a vampire.” Josh is having difficulty taking this in, so Beth continues to tell him that Lee Jay was the real monster—Mick was not. He was trying to protect people. When Josh brings up the vampire stereotype as a counterpoint to this, Beth explains how Mick gets much of his blood from the blood bank. Josh makes a Red Cross joke, and Beth is annoyed at his inability to take this seriously. Josh apologizes. He’s realizing she’s going through a lot, and so far has had to do it all alone—he, however, has the benefit of her. Beth says she wasn’t alone; Mick was explaining things to her. Josh wonders how she couldn’t have been scared, but Mick nearly answered all her questions, and proved he would never now hurt an innocent—he’s not a monster. Josh points out that it doesn’t follow that all vampires are not monsters, however.

Mick tells Leni to stop worrying about him—she’s the one who needs rest, and maybe food. He starts babbling about how cookies would have been better. She thinks he’s the one that needs something. He says he’s just restless, and she has the revelation that he must need to hunt. He is surprised, but admits it to be true. He needed lots of blood to recover from his excessive sun exposure, but couldn’t take enough from her to be satiated—only to survive. He says his “inner vampire” is still demanding to be fed, but he can control it. Leni is not worried, but Mick thinks she should be, especially as she is about to go to sleep in the same room as a hungry vampire. She’s not worried that he will attack her. She finally convinces him, and he keeps watch as she rests.

Beth admits that Josh is right—some vampires are monsters, and she once helped Mick track down a rogue. Upon hearing the details, Josh realizes it was Carl’s recent case, and Beth uses it as an example to prove her point, because if all vampires ran around killing people, this wouldn’t be the first he’d heard of it. He makes another joke, as his way of dealing with it all. Beth once again emphasizes the importance of secrecy. Josh is still trying to process all the implications, but promises to keep the secret—especially when Beth hints that if they didn’t, she didn’t know what might happen. Josh doesn’t like that implication, but Beth says she struggled a bit at first too. She finally realized it was better to work with Mick than against him, for many reasons. Josh wonders what they should do about Mick’s body.
Chapter 4
Spoiler:
Josh tells Beth there will be autopsies, and the coroner may find something they don’t want him to. There’s no way to stop it. Beth doesn’t know what usually would happen in this kind of situation; Mick took care of the rogue, and she never expected Mick to die. Josh wonders if she knows any other vampires (and can’t believe he’s saying that). Beth thinks of the rogue’s sire, but then remember he was taken away by some kind of vampire police, but she doesn’t know how to contact them. Josh suggests they run Mick’s phone records unofficially via Buzzwire’s hacker to see which numbers he calls the most. Beth wonders what they would do after they have that information—go around asking the owners of the numbers if they are vampires?

Leni wakes to find Mick pacing. He tells her it’s almost nightfall—but still no cell service. Mick says he’ll carry her across the desert if necessary, and jokes about stealing another cop car. He’s still worried about her, and restless (hungry and predatory). She tries to cheer him up by saying that maybe they’d run into the assassin in the desert and Mick could take care of two problems at once. He still feels like a monster, but Leni says monsters only drain good people. She gets carried away by saying they can take care of Fayed when they get back to LA.

Beth calls Sam, her Buzzwire hacker, to run Mick’s phone records back two months and then email them to her. While they wait for the results, Beth tells Josh she feels like she’s invading Mick’s privacy after it took him so long to trust her, but Josh tells her he would probably appreciate that they’re trying to protect him and his secret. Beth agrees with this, as she doesn’t think Mick would want to be exposed like that. He didn’t like being a vampire much. Josh is curious about that, but Beth receives the results and thus doesn’t elaborate. One number is clearly called the most—a number belonging to Josef Kostan. They think the name sounds familiar and Google him.

Leni doesn’t understand why they can’t take care of Fayed, because she may still not be safe even after she testifies. Mick says he’ll protect her until the trial, and after that he has an idea. But he says that taking out Fayed would need careful planning and require lots of resources. He said his friend Josef would be better choice of hit man in this case. Leni is skeptical of him.

Josh is reluctant to accuse one of the youngest men in the Fortune 500 of being a vampire, until Beth points out that Josef and Mick call each other very frequently, and—most importantly—at night. Vampires are nocturnal.
Chapter 5
Spoiler:
Beth realizes she doesn’t have a plan to approach Josef Kostan, so she tries calling his number, to Josh’s disbelief. Josef answers, and Beth, mentioning she is a friend of Mick’s, whets his curiosity enough to get him to agree to a meeting at his office.

Night has fallen in the desert, and Mick decides it is time to leave, except that Leni is still hungry and a little weak. He raids the mini-bar from the next room. When he returns, he hears a car. Leni worries that it’s after them, but it drives past, and she orders him to go after it. He refuses to become the Hitchhiker From Hell. They’ll find another way once Leni gets a bit more strength back. Mick is worried for the baby.

As they arrive at Kostan Industries, Josh is still cracking sarcastic remarks about vampires and irritating Beth. He apologizes, saying he’s still trying to get used to it all. Beth and Josh are told Josef is in a dinner meeting, and insist that they are expected. The guard makes a call, and an escort comes down to take them to Josef. On the twenty-fifth floor, they are led into an office with a young man, and are suddenly very nervous.
Chapter 6
Spoiler:
Introductions are made. Josh inquires about the dinner meeting they were interrupting, seeing as no one else is in the room. Josef points to some food in the trash, and Josh assumes this means he can’t be a vampire, but Beth pushes forward, asking Josef about his friendship with Mick and how close they are.

When he answers to her satisfaction, Beth tells Josef that Mick is dead. In shock, Josef asks what happened, and Josh explains. Beth tells Josef they thought someone should know in case anything special needs to be done. Josef is already aware that Beth knows Mick’s secret, but wonders about Josh. Beth says she needed someone to talk to, and that Josef can trust Josh, but Josef isn’t convinced, and also perceives that Josh doesn’t fully believe that vampires exist. Josh asks for proof, and Josef agrees. He transforms, and Josh is no longer uncertain. Josef then threatens Josh with what would happen if the secret isn’t kept.

In the middle of a faceoff with Josef, Josh takes a phone call from his office—and finds out that there is no sign of bodies in the car. Josef says they need to get to the desert ASAP, because Mick and Leni may still be alive. Josh realizes that, thanks to some misinformation he disseminated in attempting to find the leak in his office, Fayed’s people may still think Mick and Leni are alive, and could be looking for them, too.

Please inform me if you think I've missed anything important in any of the chapter summaries.
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darkstarrising
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Re: Fever, Redux--CHAPTER RECAPS

Post by darkstarrising »

This is a great idea, Julie :hug: thanks so much!!!
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NocturneInCMoll
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Re: Fever, Redux--CHAPTER RECAPS

Post by NocturneInCMoll »

Hey, Karen!!! :hug: Well, it has been over a year since I last posted a chapter, so I figured people had likely forgotten about the story, much less what happened last! I'll probably post Ch. 7 soon.
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Re: Fever, Redux--CHAPTER RECAPS

Post by darkstarrising »

NocturneInCMoll wrote:Hey, Karen!!! :hug: Well, it has been over a year since I last posted a chapter, so I figured people had likely forgotten about the story, much less what happened last! I'll probably post Ch. 7 soon.
Hi, Julie :hug: and I'll be looking forward to reading it!!
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Moonlightsonata
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Re: Fever, Redux--CHAPTER RECAPS

Post by Moonlightsonata »

Thanks for the recaps. I definitely had read some of this story before - at least through Chapter 4 - but thought it was one of those that were left unfinished. Good to hear you intend to continue it and the recaps are great.
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NocturneInCMoll
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Re: Fever, Redux--CHAPTER RECAPS

Post by NocturneInCMoll »

Thanks, Moonlightsonata. I always planned to continue it; it's just all dependent on the muse, which has been AWOL for a while, and still largely is.
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francis
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Re: Fever, Redux--CHAPTER RECAPS

Post by francis »

:flowers: I'm glad you found your muse to write more.
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Re: Fever, Redux--CHAPTER RECAPS

Post by redwinter101 »

NocturneInCMoll wrote:Well, it has been over a year since I last posted a chapter, so I figured people had likely forgotten about the story, much less what happened last! I'll probably post Ch. 7 soon.
Not forgotten, honey - just waiting patiently. :hearts:

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NocturneInCMoll
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Re: Fever, Redux--CHAPTER RECAPS

Post by NocturneInCMoll »

:rose: Thanks, Francis & Red. My beta is looking at Ch. 7, so hopefully I can have it up soon. Sorry it's been soooooooo long!
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allegrita
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Re: Fever, Redux--CHAPTER RECAPS

Post by allegrita »

Ooh, how wonderful to know that a new chapter will soon be here! :hyper2:
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NocturneInCMoll
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Re: Fever, Redux--CHAPTER RECAPS

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:thumbs:
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