Where Evil Lurks

Welcome to Moonlight Madness - Where Evil Lurks



This is the fourth story in my Moonlight saga.



Story One - The Beginning - Beth's Diary

Story Two - With Arms Wide Open

Story Three - Barely Breathing

Cast of Characters



Monday, April 4, 2011

Chapter 29-1 Fated to Pretend

In this episode –


This is probably the most pivotal episode of all in Moonlight. For that reason I would like to recommend that you watch it if you haven’t seen it. I will include a link to Youtube for you, the episode is broken up into parts and once you get to the episode you will see the other parts. Each one is around 10-11 minutes long.

Mick is enjoying his stint as a human and is thrilled when Beth calls him to meet her at the beach. She is fascinated by his new persona, brought on by the cure and he assures here that it is the old Mick, before he was turned. She tells him that she cares about him and says that he needs to decide what to do about it. After he leaves the beach he heads to Josef’s where his friend urges him to do something about his feelings for Mick when he confesses that he loves Beth.

Back at her place Beth receives a call from Mo telling her to get down to Buzzwire immediately because she has a hot story. When Beth gets there she find that Mo has been shot. A new ADA turns up, Ben Talbot along with the police and Mick arrives shortly after. Ben tells Mick he has heard about him and when Mick inquires if it’s good things Ben tells him no! Realizing that Mo’s laptop was missing Beth knew that she had a backup somewhere and she and Mick head to Mo’s apartment to find a flash drive. When they get there they discover not only the flash drive but Travis, Mo’s cat. The flash drive is encrypted and they need Logan to crack it. Since they have Travis with them Logan mistakenly assumes that he is payment for services, but Mick pays with cash.

Logan discovers that Mo was working on three cases and Mick and Beth realize quickly that the last one is the one that got her killed. Mick in the meantime asks Beth out on their first ‘date’ and tells her he is going to cook for her and she is thrilled. When they start to work on the third story Ben Talbot comes along and when they push Dr. Pierce Anders for answers as to why a model that he did liposuction on died and threatened to get a warrant to see the files he turns into a vampire and knocks Ben out, fights with Mick while he yells at Beth to get out. Mick is thrown across the room and breaks through a heavy glass desk while Beth struggles with Mick’s gun to shoot Anders. She hits him twice but since the bullets aren’t silver they do no good.

When Mick wakes up he goes to Guillermo to help remove all the huge pieces of glass imbedded in his legs and G reluctantly gives him info about the doc, then calls Josef because he knows that Mick is going to go up against the vamps on his own. Josef finds Mick at the loft preparing to get himself killed and when Mick assures Josef that he can handle himself Josef vamps out and throws Mick across the room and then pins him against the wall, showing him that he can’t win against the vamps.

Mick realizes that Josef is right and asks Josef to return him, back into a vampire. Josef doesn’t want to do it, but Mick begs him, asking him to help him save “my Beth’’. Josef reluctantly agrees and the two to them head to Anders place and take care of the vamps. Beth and Ben sit together on the floor, blindfolded listening to the action around them and Beth knows that it has to be Mick. When he removes her blindfold she realizes that he is a vampire again and that he did it for her. They take Ben and Beth away and Mick tells Josef to leave the blindfold on Ben.

Later, during their date Beth sits and eats her dinner on the rooftop surrounded by candles and feels awkward because of what Mick has done for her. She tries to get him to talk about his feelings for her and finally tells him that she thinks he is afraid of getting hurt and rises to leave.

Mick panics and reaches for her hand and pulls her into his arms and kisses her deeply, trying to show her how much he loves her. Beth starts to turn away and reminds him to make up his mind because he may have forever but she doesn’t.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KDy_6drtuE


Part 29 Fated to Pretend part 1



It’s been 5 days since Josh’s funeral and I’m finally starting to find me again. I think I underwent a crash course in mourning him but maybe that happens to anyone who loses someone so quickly; so unexpectedly. Not that I have put him behind me or forgotten him, but I have decided that I not only have to go on with my life but I have a reason to do it.


Would Josh be happy for me now that I can let my feelings for Mick out? I honestly don’t know. I know that Josh would want me to be happy in my life but with Mick? Probably not, if some of the things Carl told me at lunch earlier was anything to go by. That lunch gave me a lot to think about and helped me to decide that I have to move forward. I only hope that things will calm down a bit so that Mick and I can really talk about what is between us.


I love him; I’ve known that for awhile, but I’m free now to tell him about my feelings and see where it goes. He tells me over and over that relationships between humans and vampires are difficult, dangerous and complicated but he never really tells me why. Some I can guess; differences in sleeping habits, food and such. I’m also not totally unaware of the physical attributes that vampires have. But how exactly does it make it dangerous? I need a vampire confidant. I wonder if Josef would like the job. Alright, I know that won’t happen, but there must be someone.


Maybe Elka. I wonder if she would talk to me about it all. I never thought I would say this but I like her so much; I just feel at peace when I’m with her. Maybe she carries a bit of Shamanistic magic with her, not sure but if we could bottle whatever it is we’d all be rich. I hope that in whatever past she had with Mick (and I am fully aware that there is a past) she helped him too.


I talked to Maureen today about coming back to Buzzwire; I feel ready to and she was happy to hear that. Her fill-in reporter is driving everyone crazy with a prima donna attitude that never ends. I’m going back in 3 days and I can hardly wait. One thing to take care of first; Mick and I have a date at the beach tomorrow and I am very excited about it. He sounded genuinely happy when I called and asked him to go and that makes it all better. He also sounded just so different, in a way I’ve never heard before. I don’t quite know what it is, but he sounded lighter of spirit. Sounds silly, but I can’t wait to see him.


Later…



OOOOOOOOOOOO



Mick had spent the morning looking at furniture for a bedroom. Furniture, like everything else had gotten much more sophisticated and complicated in the last half century. The woods that were available boggled his mind; he never imagined there could be so many kinds. He sort of wondered about all that what with everyone talking about how the world’s forests were being eradicated at a rate of 1 each day, or something like that. He guessed that green technology didn’t apply to furniture.

The room that he wanted to put it in was large and spacious so he definitely needed something substantial in there. He also tried to look at it from a perspective of what a woman might like; make that what Beth would like. Her place was light and airy, which his room definitely was not. He decided before he bought the furniture he needed to have some renovations done; brighten the room up a bit.

At least I have a plan…

He was also aware that the plan bought him a bit of time; he had a lot of things to discuss with Beth before they could take that step and the remodeling of the room provided him some time.

She had been wearing Josh’s ring at the funeral, but she wasn’t wearing it the night he climbed the tree to get to her when she was having a bad dream. Of course, there was the possibility that she didn’t sleep with it too. Still, she had called him to come to a picnic on the beach with her tomorrow and that gave him hope. If she wanted to tell him that she couldn’t see him anymore he didn’t think she would do it on the beach; she’d pick a more private place.

He stopped the Benz at a stop light and stretched. His physical aches and pains were fading away but he had forgotten how easily a human body gets tired. As he arched his back it popped and he’d forgotten about that too. He sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly, looking around him at the street and cars. That’s when he saw the sign for the sushi place.

Hm, Beth talks about sushi all the time. He spied a phone number and quickly plugged it into the phone and as the light changed he connected the call.

“Zen Sushi, may I help you?” inquired an extremely polite and definitely NOT Asian voice on the other end of the line.

“Um, yes. Do you deliver?”

“Yes sir, we do. What would you like?”

Like? He wanted Sushi. Suddenly he felt a déjà vu memory slip over him as he remembered Starbucks. “Um, do you have like a variety plate perhaps? Something with several kinds of sushi on it?”

“Yes, we do, we have the Kyoto plate with tuna, salmon, and…”

Mick listened as the voice droned on and moved onto the Tokyo delight. He got stopped at another light and rubbed his fingers over the bridge of his nose, totally confused by all the choices. Finally he heard the words, ‘California roll’ and he almost yelled STOP. “That’s the one, the one with the California roll on it,” he told them. He remembered Beth talking about California roll, so it must be good.

“Certainly sir.” They worked out the delivery plan and finally Mick ended the call. Why did everything have to be so damn complicated now? Couldn’t anything just be laid back and easy anymore?

He was putting his phone away when it rang and Mick was surprised to see Josef’s face pop up. He thought Josef was still in New York and figured that his friend needed some cheering up.

“Hey Josef, what’s going on?” he asked, in typical guy speak. He didn’t dare ask how he was.

“I’m fine. I’m back in LA; Okay if I swing by?”

Mick was amazed, this was not like Josef to ask; he just showed up, let himself in and never apologized for it either. “Sure, sounds good. I’ll just swing by the morgue and grab something for you to drink.”

“Not necessary. I anticipated that your cupboard would be bare so I brought my own. See you in few,” he said and hung up.

Mick listened to the empty sound on the phone and grinned as he hung up. Josef was probably pulling into the garage as they had spoken. A snarl of traffic ahead of him pulled his attention back to the drive and he silently cursed as he realized that he was at a standstill.

The traffic inched forward and Mick grew more irritated by the moment. The exhaust fumes and the heat swirled around the idling cars and all about him he heard fragments of a dozen different tunes playing on radios. It took ten minutes to get around the construction site and Mick was frazzled by the time he made it past.

When I was a vampire this kind of shit never bothered me. Why now? I’m not used to this new world; I may live in it as a vampire but it doesn’t really touch me. I’m an anachronism, walking in a 30 year old body with an 85 year old attitude that is hopelessly outdated.

It was a startling revelation for him and left him a bit shaky as he pulled into the parking stall at the loft. He saw a young man exit the elevator with a tee shirt on the read ‘Zen Sushi’ and suddenly remembered his lunch.

“Hey, did you make a delivery? I called one in but I got delayed in traffic.”

“Um, some guy paid for it; said he’d make sure you got it,” the kid said with a shrug.

Mick pulled out a twenty to give to the kid for a tip. The young man laughed and said, “The other guy took care of it man. No problems!” He hopped onto the Vespa and headed out in the street and Mick watched him gun it to avoid getting hit by a Honda. With a shrug he headed to the elevator anxious to try his sushi.

When he got into the apartment he found Josef standing in the kitchen looking into the containers with Mick’s sushi.

“Um, your bait is here. Have you taken up fishing? Pricey stuff…” Josef commented with a frown.

“It’s sushi Josef. Something new to try.”

“You’re going to eat this stuff?” Josef said, his eyes alight with interest. He pulled up a stool at the counter and rested his chin on his palm as he waited for Mick to take a look at his lunch.

Mick headed to the counter and said, “Yes I’m going to eat it…” He stared at the stuff in the boxes and the moment the odor hit him his stomach did a flip-flop. “Uh wow, it’s kind of pungent isn’t it?”

“Glad to know that you can smell it too. Is it okay to eat do you think?” Josef poked at a piece of bright orange salmon that was wrapped around a piece of seaweed with a bit of an avocado peeking out. He scratched his head and his nose wrinkled with displeasure at the odor.

“Of course it’s okay to eat; don’t be ridiculous Josef,” Mick chided. He got a plate out the dishwasher and placed several pieces of the sushi on it and almost shuddered at the cold and clammy unnatural feel of them. Still, people loved this stuff and so it must be good, right? He didn’t realize he’d said the words out loud until Josef laughed.

Josef took a drink of his tall glass of blood and licked his lips, “Mm, Candy. She’s delicious!”

Mick almost thought the blood looked better than the bait – er, sushi on his plate. He eyed the small containers that came with it and began pulling off the lids to see what was inside them. One was a dark brown liquid and Mick dipped his finger in it and discovered it was salty, but not bad. The next container held slices of something sweet and sort of spicy smelling and he took a small bite and discovered it was tasty as well. The third one contained something green that was very pungent and for some reason reminded him of the sauce that Musso’s used to put on their prime rib. It made him smile and set about spreading a bit of each on a piece of the sushi. He went extra heavy on the green stuff because it smelled too good.

“Uh Mick? I think that’s called wasabi and it’s…” was all he got out as Mick popped the piece into his mouth and began chewing.

For a half of a moment Mick smiled; it actually tasted really good. And then suddenly his sinus passages caught fire as the heat whooshed with the speed of light twisting tiny fingers through his head. It was unlike anything he had ever known before. He was sure his eyeballs would pop like popcorn because of the heat and he let out a yelp that Josef totally enjoyed. This wasn’t like the spice in the Chinese food, it was a thousand times worse and for a moment he couldn’t breathe. He ran to the sink and turned the water on, holding the spray up to his mouth as he drank greedily. He ignored the fact that more of the spray hit the floor and counter than it did his mouth as he waited for the fire to die down.

Mick turned the water off and stomped over to the counter and gathered all the sushi and condiment up and threw them in the garbage with a satisfied sneer.

“You know what Josef? Eating nowadays is fucking dangerous!”



OOOOOOOOOOOO



Across town Beth was dinning with Carl at Mojo’s, a little burger place that made the best Guadalajara burgers anywhere, except maybe for Clarks. Beef spiced with cumin and pepper, and then smothered with jack cheese, jalapenos, guacamole and red pepper flakes. They were served with French-fried sweet potato sticks that were sprinkled with cayenne.

“Um, God this is so good,” Beth said, taking a bite and feeling a bit of the juice start to run down her chin. She hastily grabbed a napkin and swiped it away before taking another bite.

Carl nodded, enjoying his own burger and thought about what he wanted to say to Beth. This was the first time he’d had a chance to speak to her alone since Josh’s death; each time he’d stopped by her apartment someone had been there with her.

Carl had been thinking over what Josh had said about Mick St. John, the vampire thing and the more he thought about it the more he knew it wasn’t true. Apart from the obvious that is, the fact that there was no such thing as vampires. Mick could go out in the sunlight without bursting into flames and Carl was pretty sure he couldn’t turn into a bat. Whatever had made Beth write such a thing in her diary he didn’t know; in fact, he seriously wondered if she had, if it just wasn’t something that Josh had said to pull Carl over to his side.

Still, there was definitely something strange about St. John; he was often some kind of freaking superman and that alone made Carl take a deeper look at him. When he was working on Josh that day he indicated that he had been in the war and that was easy enough to check out and Carl already had feelers out about it.

Beth was very drawn to him; it was easy to spot. He knew that she loved Josh, but there hadn’t been any fire to that love for awhile, on her part anyway. He knew Beth so well and at one time he had hoped that they would marry and have a few kids, but she was too independent for him. Carl needed to be, well, needed. With Beth he knew that she would always get through anything with or without him. Kind of hard on a guys ego and as much as he still cared about her and wanted her to be happy he knew he wasn’t the guy for her and he wondered if St. John was either.

“So, seen Mick lately?” he inquired, watching her face surreptitiously over the rim of his glass of Coke.

Beth wiped her mouth with a napkin and said, “No, actually I haven’t. But we’re having lunch on the beach tomorrow.”

“The beach huh? That sounds nice.” He watched Beth’s face light up as she thought about it.

“Yeah, I think it will be. Carl,” she started, biting her bottom lip for a moment as she gathered her thoughts. “You know that I loved Josh, but it – it wasn’t the kind of love he deserved, you know?” He nodded and she continued, “I have feelings for Mick and I don’t know where they will go for sure, but I know I want to see what can happen for us. Do you understand that?”

Carl reached across the table and lightly squeezed her hand and said, “Beth, I’ve always wanted you to be happy, you know that. I can’t say that I don’t have concerns over St. John; Josh did too. I’m going to tell you something that I think maybe you should know, just in case.”

Beth watched the worry flood his face and she felt a bit of fear ripple through her. “What Carl?”

Carl let out a long breath and said, “Beth, Josh read your diary once. At least I think it was only once. He was watching St. John pretty closely. Didn’t like him or trust him at all, which is understandable considering your growing feelings for the guy.”

Beth’s heart was pounding frantically and she laid the burger down in the basket when she saw how badly her hand was shaking. A lump rose rapidly in her throat as she tried to speak and she cleared her throat noisily trying to get the next words out.

“Did he tell you what he had read Carl?” She watched his face carefully but Carl knew how to mask his emotions well; she couldn’t read anything.

“Just that he suspected that there was a lot more to St. John than meets the eye. Beth, even I have noticed a few things about the guy. You know that Tejada has totally vanished and there are some really crazy stories coming out of the Hollenbeck bar about some ‘devil’ that killed him? It’s all a real mystery Beth. Whatever the truth of it is, you should be careful; St. John should be careful too. Others might be watching as well.”

Beth nodded and they finished their lunch, talking about Lani being back in town and how her parents were. As Beth crawled into her car she fought down the urgent need to vomit.

Who was watching still and was Mick in danger?



OOOOOOOOOOOO



Mick basked in the sunshine at the beach, staring at Beth as they ate their lunch. She had told him that she had feelings for him and it made his heart soar; still, he couldn’t manage to get his own feelings for her out. He wanted to, he wanted to tell her that he loved her but the words wouldn’t come. Not when they had so much to discuss; when he had so many things to tell her about. After she knew the truth she might not even want to be with him.

When it was time to leave the beach he stood there looking at her in the last few brilliant rays of the setting sun and thought it made her look as if she had a halo above her head. He felt humbled to be loved by her and he knew that she deserved so much more than he could ever offer her, especially after he returned to his vampire life.

He also knew that he couldn’t ever walk away from her either so he had to find a way to talk to her about it all. He waved as she pulled away and then climbed into the Benz to head home. On a whim he decided to head to Josef’s instead.

After what he and Josef both called the ‘bait disaster’ they had talked about New York and what had happened there. He had really let Sarah go and Mick could tell that it had hurt his best friend badly, even though he tried to hide it.

Sarah had slipped from life quietly, seemingly without any distress. At least Josef hoped that was true. He lay in the bed with her, holding her to him as Dr. Martinson disconnected the various devices that had monitored her and kept her tied to this life.

Although she hadn’t taken a true breath in decades Josef felt her take one and then she was gone; so quietly, so simply. It was done and Josef felt the pain of her loss but he also felt a weight lifted, from both of them as she escaped the bonds of this earth.

If it would only have been so simple for him he had told Mick. Still, in true Josef fashion he had thrown himself into something to occupy his mind, redecorating his office. Mick laughed as he entered what was left of it and heard Josef muttering to his design team.

“No matter how much money you throw at it remodeling is still a bitch. Are you TAN?” Josef asked as he noticed the glow radiating off of Mick’s face.

“I had lunch at the beach with Beth; not something you’ll be doing anytime soon,” he taunted.

“So, have you sealed the deal yet?”

Mick rolled his eyes, to Josef everything was about sex. Well, not exactly true but close enough, unless you were talking about blood or about money. Eventually Mick got the words out he needed to say. “I am in love with her.”

“Sure you are, now what are you going to do about it?”

“I’m sixty years older than her and I have a tendency to bite down when I…”

“Some girls like that Mick!”

Mick gave up at that point. Josef just didn’t get it… Still, what if he was the only one that saw the obstacles? What then?



OOOOOOOOOOOO



When Beth got home she sat her phone in the dock and headed into the kitchen to pour a glass of wine. The phone started ringing almost immediately and she rushed to it, hoping that it was Mick. Instead she saw Mo’s face and she sighed as she answered it.

“Where have you been? I’ve been trying to call for hours!” Mo exclaimed on the other end of the phone.

“Er, I was at the beach. I guess I get bad reception there.” Beth fibbed.

“Well get yourself down here, I’ve got a hot story.”

“Can’t it wait…” Beth said and at the same time she heard Mo add, ’20 minutes’.

Beth hurriedly changed clothes and headed off to Buzzwire. When she got there the parking lot was deserted, which seemed a bit odd but she headed inside anyway. As soon as she got into the office she saw that it had been torn apart. Beth ran through it, calling for Maureen, gazing at the utter destruction that graced the normally tidy office.

When she found Mo, she wished she hadn’t. Mo was dead, a gunshot in her forehead. Beth could only scream.



To be continued…

6 comments:

Micklover said...

You are right Hope, this was a pivotal episode and I'm glad I've seen it.

I think that Mick finally realized that being a vamp was the best thing, for HIM. The part where Josef turns him back always makes me cry it is so deeply emotional.

You really helped to bring the episode into focus Hope.

Hope said...

Hey Micklover!

It's one of my favorite episodes, even though Mick's choice breaks my heart. He sacrificed so much for his Beth, how could he ever doubt that they could make it all work?

For those that care I have put up a new banner on WOS and we'll start the story again on Friday.

Celia said...

Hi Hope,

I haven't commented for awhile but I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy this story. Rob was a huge vampire fan, I often wonder what he would have thought of it? I'm sure he'd love it, vampires and his favorite author writing the story, the man would have been in heaven.

Thanks for all your time because I know that it takes a lot to do. You are so appreciated!

Hope said...

Hi Celia!

It's good to hear from you. I hope all is well with you and the kids. I still miss Rob so much, his comments were always so much fun. Even if he hadn't liked the story he would probably have commented anyway, just to irritate me! But in truth I would have been laughing so hard!!!

Glad you are enjoying the story. Pop in anytime.

Kirsten said...

I am obsessed with Moonlight. After you posted the youtube link for this episode I watched it all night!!

Hope said...

Hi Kirstin!

Welcome to the fascinating world of Mick and Beth, on video that is. Isn't he just wonderful? I'd use the word dreamy, but you would all think I've lost it, LOL.

Check out all the other episodes too if you have the chance, they are excellent. I posted that one because it is such an important one. I want to not only write the psychology behind Mick's decision but for you to see it as well.

Thanks so much for reading and commenting.