Moonlight doesn't belong to me It's just a place I go to play.

I originally posted this and pulled it down quite a while back so some of you may have already read it. I pulled it down in part because the last story in the series was a mess. It was also inappropriate for this site. I chopped the graphic sex, fixed the spelling, as much grammar as I'm able, added a bit of foreshadowing here and there and fixed the last story.

*If you are a stone-cold Mick/Beth fan and only Mick/Beth fan read this first story and no farther.

Takes place after Josh dies but Mick is still a vampire.

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She sits on the floor in the dark. She's oblivious to her ripped clothing, to the bruising up and down her body, to the blood trickling down her neck. She's wedged into a corner not knowing what to do. She's too scared to move. She doesn't know how long it's been since the music started and the lights went out. Moonlight spills in from the far bank of windows. Even with that bit of light she can't see much, shapes and shadows in the darkness. She strains her eyes until they water but she knows the killers can be very still and very patient. Nothing is moving... yet. She thinks she hears knocking above the music. She doesn't move, doesn't make a sound. She sits staring into the darkness, watching, waiting.

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Josef stares out the window of his private jet. Distracted by worry, he doesn't see the stars twinkling in the darkness. He glances at his watch and growls in frustration. He finished his business in New York a few days earlier than expected. He wanted to spend the rest of his trip visiting with Sarah, but he has a bad feeling. Josef has managed to live to be four hundred plus years because he listens to his instincts. Rarely do they let him down, and right now they're screaming at him that something has happened to Mick and Beth.

Mick is a lot of things, he's the unofficial enforcer for Josef's territory. He's Josef's annoying conscience, and he's a damn good Private Investigator. Most of all Mick is the closest thing Josef's ever going to have to a brother. Back in the 80's a blond four-year-old forced Mick to turn a corner. While he's never going to be the human, he started out to be. Mick is the moral, solid, good citizen Josef always knew was under the surface.

Even with Josef out of town, Mick is smart enough to tag one of Josef's people if he needs backup. So, where the Fuck is, he? Four days ago, Josef called Mick to see if anything was on the radar. Usually he doesn't bother calling, but he's been gone longer than usual on this trip and wanted to touch base. There was no answer on Mick's personal or business lines, so Josef left a message. No big deal, but that was four days ago, and no matter how many messages Josef left, Mick hasn't returned any calls. After two days of not hearing from Mick he called Beth. When she didn't return his calls, he began to get more than a little worried. He has a contact at Buzzwire. All he could tell Josef is she'd taken some time off to deal with Josh's death. Josef hopes that Beth and Mick took that last step and went somewhere to work off the sexual tension. It emanates from them like smog. Since Josh hasn't been dead long, he's sure that's not happening.

Tonight, before he left his New York office to go see Sarah he called his office in L.A to talk to his head of security. He sent Charlie to Mick's apartment to see if anyone was home. Charlie Sanderson is Josef's head of security for his home. He reported back that Mick's Mercedes and Beth's Prius are both parked in the garage at Mick's apartment. Charlie knocked on the apartment door but there wasn't any answer. He tried to sense if anyone is inside but it's tough through Mick's steel door. He thought he heard music and under it a heartbeat, but something isn't right. He thinks the heartbeat belongs to a human female. If that's the case her vitals are way off, her heartbeat and pulse are far too rapid. He does sense the lingering smell of vampires in the hallway and no, not Mick. He also smells blood, lots of it and there are some bloody footprints in the hallway outside Mick's door. Hearing that, Josef decided he better cut his last few days in New York short. He needs to find out what the hell is going on with Mick.

He glances at his watch again and sees that he's a half hour out of LAX. He'd better have damage control on hand, he sighs and taps his phone to call his Cleaner. Victoria Beck, a tall beautiful blond woman who he's sure started out in those old days of the Viking raiders. She and her team help keep the vampires hidden by making sure some of their problems disappear. Victoria knows where all the bodies are buried, literally and figuratively. She and Mick run in some of the same circles. Mick puts down rogues and villains and Victoria cleans up the messes. "Victoria, have you seen Mick lately?"

"No, hold on a minute." She turns and taps the mic at her throat. "Anyone seen St. John lately?" She listens for a minute and goes back to Josef. "None of my people have come across him either."

"Alright, I need you to go to his place. I have a hunch he's run into trouble."

She scowls, she's fond of the young vampire. "Well shit. Any idea what kind of trouble?"

"No, but Charlie says there are bloody footprints in the hallway outside his apartment. I'm in the air, about to touch down at LAX. I've got Charlie there watching to see if anyone shows up. He says he hears a human heartbeat. I'm guessing it belongs to Beth, Mick's human, and he smells blood. Wait for me, I'll get you inside. With the security system he has on that door, it would take you longer to get in that it would to wait for me. I shouldn't be long."

Victoria glances at her watch. "We're not that far away. We'll wait for you there."

Josef hopes like hell that Mick and Beth are off swapping body fluids and whoever is in Mick's apartment isn't Beth.

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From where she's sitting, she can see the door as it opens. Light spills in from the hallway but not enough for her to see who it is. In this light, all she can see is a vague outline of a man. She knows it's not Mick... not Mick. They've come back. Her heart starts to pound even faster. Can I kill another one? She picks up the stake in one hand and the gun in the other.

Josef cautiously walks through the door. The lights are all off, but the stereo is on full blast. He can smell blood, vampire, and Beth. Through the dim moonlight, he spots her in the corner on the floor. He needs to get that damn stereo turned off. He can sense her fear. If she sees him, maybe she will know that she is safe. He flips a couple of light switches and nothing happens. Damn.

He goes back out into the hallway to get away from the noise of the stereo. "Victoria, can one of your guys get the lights up and get that damn stereo turned off? Charlie, you search for Mick, while I see to Beth."

Victoria points at a couple of her people and off they go.

She sees more of them slip into the room. They don't think she can see them, but she can. She knows by the way they move they are vampires. Too fast... too smooth... too graceful... too dangerous.

Josef can smell vampire and human blood and it's a day or so old. Not good. He wishes they would hurry up and get the lights on so Beth can see him. He doesn't want to approach her in the state she is in. Even with the stereo blasting, he can hear the erratic beat of her heart. Her breathing sounds like she is going to hyperventilate.

Josef tries to watch her closely. He can see something in her hand down by the floor, but it's hidden under her leg and he's not sure what it is. He suspects it is a stake, he hopes that's all it is. He would not be the first vampire she has staked. Then he sees something in the other hand as she brings it up. Josef dives for cover before the gun goes off. He hopes Victoria and her people are clear. He sighs in relief when he hears a dead click and the gun goes flying at him. Last shot.

Someone finally gets the stereo turned off. He wonders how long she's been in the dark with that noise. Josef crouches down and approaches her. "Beth?" No answer. "Beth? Come on, it's Josef." He's inching closer to her, ready in case she doesn't recognize him. Closer... closer. "Beth, come on. Look at me. It's Josef." He's getting close. He can sense that she is about to spring. Every muscle in her body is taut. Her heartbeat is pounding. He tries one more time. He's afraid he could hurt her if he needs to defend himself. "Beth? It's Josef. Can you look at me?"

Josef hears a pop and the lights come on. Beth's hand is in the air with a stake pointed at his chest. She sees him and drops the stake. "Josef?" He nods and holds out his arms to her. She lunges into his arms. He goes from a crouch to a sitting position on the floor with a thump, the little blond weeping in his arms. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry," she repeats over and over. He tries to hold her out from him to assess the damage done to her. Every time he tries to move her, she digs herself into him even tighter. He puts his arm under her bottom and uses his vampire strength to stand up with Beth clinging to him.

"Everybody all right?" Victoria nods and Josef continues. "Do you have anything we can give her to calm her down or better yet, knock her out?"

"Of course." Victoria goes over to one of the black bags on the floor. She turns her back so Beth can't see what she's doing, and she fills the syringe. She might as well not bother since Beth has her head buried in Josef's shoulder. Victoria uses her speed to quickly move to Beth and put the needle in her arm.

"Hold on to her for a minute or so, and she'll be out." Josef can feel Beth relax against him and her breathing even out. He goes over to the couch and lays her down. He can see that she has blood smeared across her neck and into her hair. Cleaning her up will have to wait. He looks at her neck, and there are two sets of fang marks. He leans over and smells her to see if he can identify the vampires involved. It is all too much of a jumble, too many different scents to make an identification. He can smell Mick, but that is always there in the background. The scent isn't strong enough to say that Mick is the one that left either of the bite marks. If it wasn't Mick, it could explain her fear. Beth might finally understand that the Mick-type vampire is far and few between. Josef doesn't sense that there is anything physically wrong with Beth. He covers her with a blanket and joins the others to look for signs of Mick.

One of Victoria's crew yells. "I've got an unknown dead vamp in the kitchen." They enter the kitchen and find a youngish looking, which doesn't say much, vamp dead on the floor. He's got a stake in his chest and a bullet hole right between the eyes. Josef smells him. The decay isn't strong. He thinks the vamp is 60 years old. He survey's the kitchen. Besides the vamp's blood, there is Mick's retail blood spattered across the kitchen. Victoria picks a couple of the empty bags with her fingertips. "So, none of this blood came out of St. John or the human?"

Josef nods his agreement.

Charlie comes running down the stairs. "Boss, there isn't anyone upstairs or up on the parapet. I searched all the rooms and didn't find any bodies. No one's in Mr. St. John's freezer."

Josef starts to pace, even in the small kitchen area. "Victoria put this place back together. I doubt we're going to find out what happened until I can get a coherent answer out of Beth. See if you can ID the dead punk. Send me the bill but get this place back in shape. I'll take her with me. How long will the drugs last? I don't want her waking up and freaking out in the car."

"If I give her another dose now, she'll be down for a couple hours. Depends on how hard she's fighting the drugs."

Josef nods. "Then do it. That will give me enough time to arrange to keep her safe. I'll have someone look at her and see if there is any lasting damage."

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Josef picks up Beth and cradles her in his arms. "Hey, I found this. Must be hers." Victoria hands Josef Beth's overstuffed bag. "She'll feel better when she wakes up and has this available."

Josef wonders what it is with females, human or vamp, and purses. Then he remembers her laptop. "You didn't see a laptop lying around, here did you? She sometimes has it with her."

A voice comes from the kitchen, "There was a smashed one in the office."

Josef turns with Beth in his arms "Charlie put it in a bag and bring it down to the car. It might be another clue, if she doesn't have any answers. Then you can head back to the house." Charlie nods and follows Josef's orders.

Josef carries Beth to the car. He walks to the elevator and hopes like hell that the dead vamp is the only one involved in this mess. Beth is a fighter, but he can't imagine her still being alive if there is more than the one vampire involved in her attack. If there is more than the one, he's worried that whoever it is, could be more than Mick can handle. What would be so bad that it would cause Mick to abandon her and leave her in this situation? She stirs in his arms. He belts her into the Porsche and heads for home. He thinks he better find out who is at the house and have Robert prepare for Beth. It isn't often he has a human in the house who is off limits to everyone. This one will always belong to Mick, no matter if the worst has happened or not.

Robert is Josef's Majordomo. He's been in Josef's service for over two hundred years. Robert Addington was an accountant for a vampire solicitor in London. The lawyer was cheating not only vampires, but humans. Robert was afraid the human authorities would catch up to him and cause trouble for them all. The European vampire community, even to this day has no central authority, it's all fragmented. At that time London had no standing master. There was no vampire strong enough to take care of the problem, until Josef came to the city. Robert approached Josef and explained the problem. Josef isn't one to meddle in the local vampire politics, in this case though he knows he can't turn away. It would only take one match, let alone the torch and pitchfork mob to burn most of London to the ground. London is a big hub for trade, and he needs it in one piece to get his goods shipped in and out of Europe. The idea of humans even getting an inkling of vampires is unthinkable. He pats Robert on the back and tells him he will investigate and try to get the solicitor to stop before it's too late. With little work on Josef's part, he finds Robert is correct. The solicitor is arrogant and not hiding his illegal dealings. Josef determines everyone would be better off if the Solicitor disappeared. He takes care of the problem in short order. In his dealings with Robert, he realizes he is meticulous, smart with a good eye for details. Josef hires him as his assistant. Once the money started rolling Robert took over caring for the current estate. He also oversees Josef's other properties as well.

Josef gets Robert on the phone. "Mick and Beth are in trouble. I can't find Mick anywhere. At least two vampire's attacked Beth. I've had her sedated and I'm bringing her home. Is there anyone on the grounds that might be a problem? Anyone who has trouble with boundaries? I'd hate to have to kill someone for not staying the hell away from a human that doesn't even belong to me."

"Denton." Robert answers bites out. "He might be a problem, no one else that I can think of. You know Mick and Denton hate each other. If you turn your back on him, he would mess with her to spite Mick, other than that, no one. There aren't a lot of visitors here this time of year. It's too hot in California for most of our friends."

"Pick an expensive vamp-friendly hotel and move Denton. Tell him I'll pay for everything. He told me he is going to leave town in a week, anyway. Robert, get him out of there. I'm on my way and I don't want to have to deal with him for long or at all." Denton is a thug Josef tolerates for the little amount of time he is usually in California. He's been useful in the past. Sometimes there are things that Mick would object to doing. Denton is good for those things, but not much else. "Next, I want you to call Dr. Stanton and tell him I have a human that I need him to look at. Tell him I'm not sure exactly what all happened to her. He should bring a female nurse. She may not react well to an unfamiliar male, especially an unfamiliar male vampire." Josef can picture Robert making notes. "Now it's best if we put her in the master bedroom. I don't want her alone. So far, she's reacting to me without freaking out. Got it?"

"I'll take care of it," Robert says and hangs up.

Robert sits in the study for a minute staring at the phone. He's worked for Josef a long time. This little human is the closest he's come to a human friend in 50 years, not since Sarah. Not that Josef has the same intent on this one. He knows Josef well enough to know that there will be blood spilled for this attack. Never mind what will happen if St. John is dead. Neither of them would admit it, but the two have become like brothers. They don't always see eye to eye or understand each other, but Josef and Mick are close.

Robert dials Dr. Stanton and tells him the situation. Stanton knows Josef well enough to drop everything when Josef calls. He will be there as soon as possible. Robert thinks about his choice of hotels for Denton. He determines the Sanguine would suit Denton's needs. He makes the reservations, and then goes to inform Mr. Denton that he is to leave at once.

Robert finds Denton by the pool snacking on one of Josef's girls. Emily does not look pleased, but she would never insult one of Josef's guests. She will be glad when he is gone. He has the touch of a vampire who likes to know they are causing pain. He doesn't let on that he is doing it on purpose, but Emily knows; she's no fool. She's been around a lot of vampires, and she can tell what emotions in the blood they are reaching for. With Josef, it's all about the pleasure. Josef gets off on his food tasting of endorphins. Josef wants the girls to feel as good as he does. Denton gets off on his blood tasting of pain. Emily hates to think what would happen if he wasn't bound by Josef's protection of his girls.

Robert taps Denton on the shoulder. He lets go of Emily and snarls at him. Robert stands with his arm folded waiting for Denton to speak. "What do you want?"

"Josef called. He wants you to move to a hotel. I've made reservations for you at Sanguine. They are holding one of their suites for you. Josef will, of course, pay for this inconvenience." Denton looks at Robert speculatively. What would Josef have going on that would be so important that he would pay for Denton to stay at the Sanguine? Better question is, what is it that Josef doesn't want Denton to see? Impatiently, Robert tells Denton, "There will be a limo here for you in ten minutes. Be ready." Robert has no use for Denton and has never made any bones about it. He hates him almost as much as Mick does. Denton narrows his eyes at Robert and tries to stare him down. Robert laughs and stands there staring right back. Nothing Denton could come up with would intimidate Robert or surprise him. "Go get your stuff and be ready. You don't want to be here when Josef gets back." Robert turns on his heels and walks away. Denton shrugs and tries to figure out who will tell him what is going on after he's left. It can't be one of the household staff or girls; they are all completely loyal to Josef. He will have to think about that. Denton gets up and heads for his room to pack

Josef drives through the night wondering what could have happened. He thinks he smelled at least three other vampires at Mick's and none of them familiar.

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Josef pulls up to the house and Robert immediately opens the door. Josef picks Beth up out of the car and carries her inside. On his way to the stairs, he sees that Dr. Stanton and his nurse are at the bottom of the stairs waiting for them. Good. They follow Josef upstairs. He gently deposits Beth on the bed. She's still asleep.

"The doctor starts to examine Beth and turns to Josef. "What did Victoria give Beth to her to knock her out and how much?"

"No idea, but I can find out." Josef calls Victoria. "Tell the doctor what sedative you gave Beth" and he hands the phone to Stanton. He listens for a bit, nodding, and then hands Josef back his phone. She should be out for another half hour at least. I can do a cursory check until she wakes up."

Josef nods. "From what I've observed over the time I've known her, she's not one to go into hysterics. I'm worried something was done to her that was…. intolerable." It's the only word that Josef can think to use. "She recently suffered a loss and I'm not sure she was back from that, before this... whatever… happened."

"If we find that there is evidence that she's been sexually assaulted, we will take care of it when she wakes up."

Josef frowns, "Wouldn't it be better to do that kind of stuff while she's still out?"

"No, not at all. You don't deal with females on this level much do you?"

Josef smiles warily. "I suppose not."

The doctor explains to Josef. "Doing that while she's out, without her permission, would be like a second assault. If that's what's happened to her."

Josef nods. "I guess I didn't want her to have to think about it."

Dr. Stanton looks up at Josef. "I've known you a long time and I've never known you to be this close to a human female." He holds up his hand to stop Josef. "It's your business. If we are going to check her out, I need to know about her recent activity with vampires and humans."

Josef shakes his head. "She's not mine. She's involved with a friend. I don't believe they are intimate on any level, no biting or anything else. The loss she suffered recently was a human boyfriend who died three or four weeks ago. My guess, she hasn't been with anyone since then. I'm pretty positive those marks on her neck and any blood loss are the work of her attackers."

The doctor nods. He and his nurse begin their assessment.

Josef goes over and stands at the window and looks out at the night sky. He wants to be close if she wakes but doesn't want to intrude on the doctor's work.

Stanton finishes his examination. "Josef, we're done."

Josef returns to Beth's bedside. "And?"

Stanton points to Beth's neck. "Other than the wounds on her neck, she has no other injuries and I don't believe she was sexually assaulted."

Although Josef thinks that she may not see it that way. Being bitten by a vampire without permission to Beth may seem as bad as a sexual assault. Since Mick has taught her that he places such a high value on doing such a thing. He shrugs, not sure how she'll feel about the bites.

Josef is brought out of his thoughts as Stanton continues. "We've cleaned the wound area and not much of the blood on her is her own. The fang marks aren't very deep. She must have fought them off. She's been through so much that having Victoria give her drugs to knock her out was a good idea. She's close to exhaustion and she may not wake when the drug wears off. Don't be alarmed if she keeps right on sleeping for several hours. Her body needs rest to heal. Have some food on hand so when she wakes up, she'll want to get cleaned up and eat."

Josef thanks them and they leave.

Josef plants a comfortable overstuffed chair next to the bed where she's resting. He'll be the first thing she sees when she wakes up. It's getting to be morning and he would like to get some sleep before that happens.

He covers her with a couple of blankets on the bed, sits down in the chair and tries to sleep. Instead, he sits and watches Beth sleep. Josef smiles to himself. One of these days she's going to be turned, whether Mick does it or he does. He's sure she'll be ready in a couple years. Mick is fooling himself if he thinks it's going to be any other way. After she passes that awkward fledgling stage, she's going to be a whole lot of fun, Josef is sure of that. If Mick messes things up, he may lose her. Josef thinks he could be persuaded very easily to spend some time with her. He drifts off to sleep with a smile on his face and visions of vampire Beth in his head.

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Comments are always welcome.