Soul Mates
Prologue
New York -
It's so dark here. I'm so cold. Why has he left me alone for so long? I'm here Charles, I'm still here my darling... please don't leave me here... I'm frightened. Charles, why don't you answer? It's been so long, I'm still here... I'm waiting... Please come...
Los Angeles-
Josef Constantin woke from a restless sleep in a sweat, not an easy accomplishment when you sleep in a Sub Zero. "Dammit ! I need fresh blood." Too bad he sent his freshies packing the night before. He was just bored, he supposed. After more then 400 years of immortality he couldn't be blamed for feeling like he'd seen it all and done twice as much. So much of his work was game playing and even that was starting to pall, and as for relationships he had few friends and even fewer friends he could trust. Women— he had all he could want, but none he wanted for more then the fresh blood they could provide.
An image of New York City suddenly surged into his mind, not the city as it is today with Times Square a neon filled, tourist's mecca, but and older New York on the brink of becoming. He saw Grand Central station, thank God some things don't change he thought. Then he heard it.. Was it a clarinet? Yes, it was... he knew the tune... elusive memories of how and where he couldn't quite recall, a smoky club... no it's gone now... He shrugged off his mercurial thoughts to lack of good sleep and hunger. He picked up the phone. "Jessica, how about we meet for lunch?"
Chapter One
Mick St. John vampire and PI extrordinaire enjoyed his sleep. So when he was awakened two hours before sunset by loud banging on his freezer, his mood was less then cordial. "Josef, you better have a good reason ..." Mick took a close look at his friend. He hadn't seen him in over two weeks. Josef had been putting him off with stated concerns about work. Mick of course didn't buy it for a minute, but he tended not to interfere with Josef's personal life. Josef looked like Mick had never seen him before, his clothes were not his usual Armani perfection. He was wearing dirty khakis and a stained white dress shirt the looked like it had been slept in more then once. If that weren't enough to tweak Mick's vamp senses the look in Josef's eyes would have. Mick thought that his friend was unshakable, a rock, but something had happened that had rocked him and he looked to be still reeling from it.
"Give me a minute to get dressed. I'll be right down, and have a drink while your waiting... you look like you could use it," said Mick. Josef turned to walk down the stairs... and his voice high and thready said, "The music... it's driving me mad..." A chill went down Mick's spine at the words of his friend. Madness was not unheard of amongst vampires. He knew that the pressures of immortality became too much for some and they succumbed to a form of dementia. Once afflicted, most vampires stopped feeding and eventually starved themselves to death. Not a pleasant way to go thought Mick, give me decapitation anytime. He hurriedly donned a pair of trousers and a shirt and headed downstairs.
Josef was pacing the pacing the living room and office and mumbling to himself when Mick entered. Mick also noted that Josef had not fed recently. Oh this is not good. Mick headed straight for the kitchen and prepared a glass of AB neg for his friend, hoping that a little blood would help him find a little focus. "Josef take this," Mick's voice left no room for negotiation as he sat Josef down and handed him the glass. "Take it now or I'll pour it down your throat." Josef's eyes seemed to clear marginally as he swallowed the entire contents of the the glass. "Thanks.. I needed that," he said starting to sound more like himself. "Mick... I'm losing it... I need your help."
"Tell me everything from the beginning, and no games Josef."
"Mick, you need to understand I never... I would never ... God, how to make you see..." Josef was agitated and distracted. "How much do you remember about when you were turned from mortal to vampire?" Mick was confused by this sudden turn to his own immortal history. "Well, if you will recall, my wife considered it her wedding gift." Mick's thoughts turned back to that night in 1952 when Coraline, his now ex wife turned him into a vampire without his consent. He recalled that first morning waking up to the harsh rays of a now unforgiving sun, in a bed soaked with his own blood. He would never forget the urgency he felt to feed for that first time, and the self loathing that accompanied the knowledge that he had become in his eyes, a predator. "I went to bed a happily married man and woke up... a monster."
"Mick... if you had been given the choice to become a vampire..." Josef seemed desperate for Mick to understand that not all considered their vampire existence to be cursed. "I would never have chosen to be anything but mortal Josef," replied Mick. His voice held no anger, just acceptance of a past that could not be changed no matter how much he might wish it. Josef sighed. This was an old discussion and Mick never wavered from his position that the mortal coil was preferable to immortality, at this point Josef wasn't sure if he disagreed.
"Well, unlike you, I embraced my turning like a duck to water. I reveled in it. At a time where men were considered old at age 30, I welcomed the coming of the decades with continued anticipation. Aside from a few skirmishes with the hunters I've lived a charmed life. I only had one rule Mick, never get involved with a human. Too messy to complicated and so not worth the effort..." Josef's voice had become quiet and Mick sensed there was more he wanted to say, he wondered where this was going.
"I met Sarah Whitley in 1955 in New York City. She was waiting for a train and I new at once she was going to be a force of change in my life... a human, can you believe it?" Josef spoke as if he expected Mick to share in the joke but neither were laughing. "Keep going." Mick's voice had taken on a hardness as if he knew what Josef was going to say, that he had turned this human as he had been turned, without a choice.
Josef understood immediately. "No Mick you don't understand, I never told Sarah I was a vampire, I loved her too much." Mick was stunned. "You were in love with a human? After all you've said to me about Beth?" Beth Turner, internet reporter, was an ongoing argument between the old friends, Josef counseling that relationships with the living never worked out. Mick's feelings toward Beth were complicated to say the least so he drew his attention back to Josef and his revelations. "So she never learned what you were?" Mick wondered if this Sarah had recently died, causing his friend's distress.
"We were inseparable you know? For months we took the city by storm, it was spring when we met, we took long twilight walks in central park, spent hours dancing at the Copa, and all the while, I thought I was keeping my secret. Finally, that autumn she told me she knew what I was... I waited for the inevitable shoe to drop. All I could think was, she knows what I am... how can I lose her, how will I learn to be alone again. Mick, this girl brought a light into my life I had never known before or since, and now I was being plunged back into darkness." Josef had a small smile on his face and his voice was softer then Mick had ever heard it, and he had to strain his vampire ears to hear what came next.
"She came to me and confronted me with my truth and I couldn't deny it even though I knew in my heart this would be our end. Then she took my hand, I looked into her eyes and saw true understanding. She didn't fear me Mick. She said she loved me, knew I loved her and she didn't care what I was." Josef stared at Mick. "I think you have some understanding of how that feels don't you?" Mick's thoughts again turned to Beth, the only human to whom he had ever confided his existence, and her unconditional acceptance of all that he was. He wondered how it would have felt to have been rejected by Beth as he had surely expected to be when she learned the truth. Yes, he understood all to well how Josef felt.
"I'm my 350 years I had never thought to find my soul's mate, but I did in Sarah. I had even begun to think that some twist of fate had turned me into a vampire just so I could live long enough to meet her." Josef gave a small self-deprecating laugh as if he couldn't believe his own naiveté. "We had just one year together... 12 little months. In my lifetime that is barely a blip on the screen, you understand? But what I wouldn't give to relieve one day, one minute of our time spent together..." He suddenly gave a brittle laugh. "Be careful what you wish for hey Mick?"
Josef suddenly jumped up and began pacing the floor, "The music... I can't make it stop..." he began pounding at his temples with his fists. "Over and over and over and over the same tune... Why is this happening? Over and over and -" Mick had watched his friend crack wide open in front of him and he was startled into action. "Josef! Josef, look at me!" Mick grabbed Josef by the shoulders to stop his aimless pacing, forced him to look him in the eye. "Josef in going to help you man, I'm going to help you work through this but I have to hear it all, I have to know what happened to Sarah, why did you only have a year together?"
Chapter Two
Again Mick's words seemed to help bring Josef back into focus.
"Sarah loved to dance. Big Band... Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller. I know, it was 1955 and rock and roll was here to stay, but she loved the classics. In the Mood, String of Pearls, but her favorite song was Moonlight Serenade. We would dance all night but when we came home we would always end the evening with it playing on the hi-fi. We were happy to just be together." Mick was again startled to see the sensitive side of his friend of 40 years, but kept silent waiting for Josef to continue, knowing that something terrible had happened.
Josef's voice became clearer still but strangely flat and he began to speak quickly as if he had to try and get it all out in one breath or not speak of it further. "Sarah, after many months began to think about the future... I put her off, 'Let's live every moment in the moment' I would say to her, and she would laugh and say 'Yes Darling'. I could tell she was humoring me, that she wanted to talk about how our relationship would progress. Damn, I didn't know, this was all new for me. All I knew is that our life together was more perfect then, than any of the 350 years that had come before, and I told her so. But she wouldn't let it go and one night she sat me down." Josef's memories of that night came in a rush, back to the time he was called Charles.
"Hey Dollface," he chuckled as he walked into the brownstone. "Where are you baby? Did you miss me?" It was 7 pm and they were headed to the Rainbow Room. He had been sleeping all day and was ready for a night of holding her close when he saw her sitting on a chaise in the living room. She was wearing a beautiful black Chanel gown that make her hair look like fire in the candlelit room. God, but she was beautiful, he thought. She was giving him a mock stern look, but he could tell she was trying not to laugh. "Dollface is so common, my name is Sarah Whitley as you very well know. Do I look like a baby to you?" He laughed and grabbed her by the waist and gathered her in close to whisper in her ear. "You are my baby... don't ever forget it my love." She reached up to adjust the collar of his tuxedo jacket and then ran her hands through his hair mussing it from its perfect part into a tousled mess of spikes. "Much better, I like you looking a little dangerous," she smiled at him.
"Charles, we need to..." He could tell by her tone that she was approaching serious and interrupted. "--Yes Darling, I know we're running a little late, I'll call for the car right-" Sarah placed a finger over his lips and spoke. "No more evasions Charles. I've canceled our reservations because we are finally going to have the discussion you have been avoiding for months." He looked closely at her expression, there was no hint that she could be cajoled or persuaded to drop this so he sighed and prepared himself to let her have her say. "Alright Sarah," he said softly, "lets talk." She suddenly looked nervous. "Charles, I ... I don't know how to begin, I think I..." Suddenly he had a horrible thought. "Sarah," he asked quietly, "have you decided that this life is not enough for you anymore?" His fears rose like bile in the back of his throat making it difficult for him to speak. "I knew when we started that I was asking a terrible sacrifice from you. That eventually you would long for the children I can't give you and the days in the sun we can't ever share." His voice was hollow and filled with pain like he had never felt before. "I understand you know, I was mortal once, although I never understood what it meant to be human until I met you. That's why I won't stand in your way my darling..." God, he felt like his heart was being ripped out of his chest, he had to leave right now before he begged her not to send him from her life.
He headed for the doorway, but got only a few steps before Sarah grabbed him by one arm and spun him to face her, the look on her face was furious. Her voice was like cold steel when she spoke. "How could you ever think that I feel less for you then you do for me? Don't you know that putting you from my life would be like cutting off a limb? I love you... I know that you've never felt yourself worthy of it, but there it is. Like the sunrise you never see, constant, unchanging, forever. --- I will love you forever." Her anger began to fade as she saw his face begin to understand she was asking him not to leave her, but to stay... always. "Sarah, what are you saying?" He needed to hear the words, so there could be no misunderstanding. "Charles, I want to be like you, I want you to turn me into what you are so that we can be together always. This love we share will never fade, you know it down to your soul. Please Charles, it's time. I'm ready."
Mick sat in stunned silence as Josef related what happened that night. "So you turned her...?" Mick still didn't know how the story ended but he knew that Josef hadn't turned the girl against her will. She had loved him more then her own life, and it was painfully obvious that Josef had loved her and probably loved her still. Josef reached into his shirt and drew out a locket, one that Mick knew he never took off. "This is my Sarah," he said quietly handing the locket over. Mick looked at the photo inside, classically beautiful, the black and white photo gave no hint as to eye or hair color but her smile seemed to hide a secret. Mick could instantly see what Josef saw in her.
"For months we argued back and forth, she was too young, I'd say, it was too soon, she still had years of living she could do before we took that step. I also let her into our world fully. Before, she was on the fringe, she knew what I was but now I let her see, so she was fully understanding and prepared to accept the life we lead. She took it all in, quietly accepting it all with a smile on her face and always the question. 'When?' Finally, I ran out of excuses, and told her that yes I would turn her whenever she was ready." Josef looked to Mick expecting harsh judgment in his eyes and found only acceptance. "Josef, I wouldn't have made that choice, but she did, with eyes wide open and full knowledge of what we are." Mick found he could not really blame Josef for giving in to Sarah, after all, he knew what it was to spend decades alone, and Josef had spent much longer. He had reached for a chance at happiness. So what had happened?
Josef saw the question on Mick's face and bent to hold his own head in hands. "After Sarah had made arrangements, we set a date, May 16th, one year to the day after we met, for our marriage." Josef again had that flat expression as he heard Mick gasp in surprise. "Oh yes, we were going all the way my friend, I was to turn her the night before and then we were to be wedded the following evening. Sarah wanted us to be joined together as what we truly were." Josef stood up and walked to Mick's computer. He was still shaking and restless but now seemed driven to finish telling his tale. He sat at the desk and began tapping away at the keys while Mick looked on.
"Josef... I'm not sure this is the time to be checking the markets..." Mick stood up and came to stand behind Josef at the computer. As he put a hand on his shoulder he could feel him flinch then a shudder racked through his wiry frame, "I'm getting you another drink," said Mick. "Just wait... you have to see this, I have to finish this while I still can..." Josef clicked a key and Mick saw a room through what appeared to be a web cam. Suddenly the cam zoomed to focus on a bed in which a woman appeared asleep. Mick recognized her instantly. "Sarah... what?" Mick was confused. Had Sarah left Josef after being turned? Was he now driven to spy on her, was this what was driving his friend into madness? Josef saw that Mick still did not comprehend... "Mick, Sarah survived being turned but she has been in this endless sleep for more then 50 years. I don't know what happened, I drained her, I fed her my blood but she never woke up."
Okay, now Mick knew he was really in trouble. Josef needed blood and to distract himself from these revelations that Josef kept piling on his head, Mick went into the kitchen. His own hands shook as he prepared another glass of blood for Josef and one for himself, God knows if he had ever needed a drink it was now. He didn't know where to begin to help his friend, and he was sure he still didn't have the whole story. Apparently, Josef had been living well in LA for years, so what had happened to cause this situation to come to a head now. Mick had more questions than answers and although Josef seemed to be barely keeping it together Mick knew he had to dig a little deeper.
"Josef...Josef!" Mick finally got his attention and handed him another glass of AB neg. Josef had been humming the same tune for 15 minutes and it was starting to irritate. "Josef.. where is Sarah now?" Josef pointed to the computer screen. "In our townhouse in New York, she loved it there ..."
"So, she never left. How are you ..." Mick couldn't think of a way to put this delicately so he just said it. "How are you keeping her alive?" Josef smiled hollowly. "Nothing but the best care my friend, nurses to care for her 24/7 and the best blood money can buy." He became quiet, "I just couldn't let her go."
"I understand, Josef." Mick did understand, more then he wanted to. He imagined Beth locked in eternal slumber, and felt a shiver run down his spine.
"Every so often I would dream of her over the years. We were always dancing to that same tune 'Moonlight Serenade' and she would always hum along. It was our song Mick, and now it's playing so loud in my head, I can't sleep, I can't feed, her voice is all I hear, begging me to help her, to not leave her alone in the dark anymore. God it won't stop... over and over and over. I'm being driven mad by my own guilt and regrets."
Mick looked at Josef intently. "Josef, when did you stop sleeping?" "I don't know, a week... two, it was a gradual thing sleeping less and less each day until now every time I close my eyes all I can see is a darkened club, I'm dancing with my Sarah, she's laughing... and that song...", Josef again starts to hum what Mick now recognizes as 'Moonlight Serenade'. Mick again wondered what the catalyst was that began this, he also knew that he was in over his head with Josef, it was time to call in reinforcements. Mick quickly scrolled the numbers on his cell phone. "Father Garza, this is Mick St. John... I'm calling in that favor... today." He also had one more call to make.
Chapter Three
"Okay, I'm here.. where's the fire?" Beth Turner was used to cryptic calls in the middle of the night, it came with the job, but she had never heard Mick sound so worried before, and that was saying something. Mick opened the door to her with a small smile and he brushed a finger over his lips signaling her to be quiet. Her eyes widened when she took in the scene. Josef was wandering about Mick's apartment aimlessly seeming to have withdrawn completely inside himself. She also saw a priest who seemed very familiar to her then she recognized him as the vampire priest who turned that serial killer, Donovan Sheppard into a vampire who then tried to kill them all. "What is going on...what is HE doing here?" she whispered. "Beth, I'll explain everything, just please take a seat. Father Garza spoke. "What am I doing here St. John?" "Listen, your lucky I didn't give you the same treatment I gave your friend Sheppard, you owe me and now I'm collecting." Mick's voice was quiet but his tone left no doubt that he would have the Father's cooperation one way or another. "Fine, how can I be of service St. John?"
Twenty minutes later both Beth and Father Garza had as much information as Mick himself did. Beth was quiet, she had not spoken to ask a question since Mick had begun relating Josef's story, unusual, because Beth could rarely hold back her reporter's need to know every detail. Finally, Mick looked at her, and she spoke. "How can we help Josef? What can be done?" Father Garza who had also been very quiet for the telling spoke. "There is no hope for him except a merciful end at your hands St John. Your friend is being haunted by this Sarah and the only end to it is his death. Even if Sarah were to die now... it is too late for Konstantin."
Mick stared at Father Garza. "Haunted, what the hell does that mean? She is not a ghost, she's flesh and bone." "This woman died, her mortal life ended the moment her blood left her body, and she did not crossover, the blood was not enough. Don't you understand anything?" Garza was irritated. "Vampires meddling in things they don't understand, there is nothing simple about a turning you know."
"Then explain it to us, why don't you." Beth was angered by the priest's lack of compassion. Garza spoke. "Here it is... these two people are soul mates, the bond they share is unbreakable and they are connected in an extraordinary way." Mick and Beth shared a glance but Mick quickly turned his attention to the priest's words. "When you attempt to turn someone with which you share such a bond things get very complicated. It appears that Konstantin loved this woman beyond measure and that may have been the problem. When you attempt to turn a mortal there can be no room for doubts or fears, once begun there is no turning back. You need to fully commit to it or IT DOES NOT WORK. At some point during the turning, likely when he was draining the life from her, your friend had second thoughts about what he was doing. In all likelihood it was his love for her that made him hesitate... in his heart he wanted her to live. This inner conflict interfered with the turning, the young lady was unable to crossover... and she became lost."
"How do you know all this?" Beth wondered where the priest was getting his information and if what he said was true. Garza looked at Beth with a slightly mocking smile. "My dear child, I am a catholic priest, the human soul and it's fragility are my stock in trade. I am also 300 years old and a vampire, so you might say I qualify as an expert in these matters."
"I still don't understand why you say Josef is being haunted...", Mick interrupted, not wanting to hear Garza's resume. Father Garza sighed. "Weren't you listening to anything I said. They are soul mates. The real thing, not the contemporary human invention to explain lust... but the real thing. Their souls are truly mated and as such they are forever connected. Your friend Josef has had a connection with this woman for 50 years. When he described dreaming of her, those were not dreams, that was her consciousness reaching into his. She is stuck in a place where she cannot die but does not live, and she is reliving her life with him, over and over again. Now, something has happened to cause your friend to continually experience the connection they have. He can't shut it off, instead of experiencing occasional dream like connections, his mind has opened fully to her and it's slowly driving him insane."
"Why can't he close her off, keep her out of his mind?" Beth was curious. "We're not sure what happens to finally cause the final break from our reality, or why it happens when it does. All we do know is that when it finally happens there is no coming back from it. Eventually, he won't sleep, or eat, he will wither and turn to ash." Father Garza delivered this pronouncement gently but there was nothing in his voice that offered any hope. "When you said it wouldn't matter if Sarah was dead---" Mick was prepared to end her if he needed to, after all she wasn't really living anyway. Garza shook his head. "I'm sorry, but their bond is far too entrenched now, you kill her and you kill him as well."
"Is there no way of helping Sarah to crossover – if she was able to crossover wouldn't her haunting of Josef stop, wouldn't they finally be able to be together?" There was desperation in Beth's voice as she looked from Mick to Father Garza. Mick looked at her, "Beth... Are you -?" "--No, we have to try and help them," her voice was cracking. "There has to be a way." It dawned suddenly to Mick why Beth was so distressed, and there was pain in his own voice. "Beth, please don't--" She made to leave the room and he came up behind her. Grabbing her shoulders he pulled her back against he chest, and wrapped his arms around her and whispered in her ear. "Please don't cry." Mick turned Beth in his arms so he could hug her properly. Neither one wanted to let go of the other just yet, it felt too right. With a defiant look to the priest Mick spoke. "I refuse to accept that there is nothing we can do to help them."
Father Garza, watching all unfold realized that St. John and the mortal woman had their own reasons to fear for the outcome of this situation. He cleared his throat to get their attention. "I have heard only rumors you understand, nothing concrete, but I have heard of attempts being made to finish a turning. Although I have never heard of it being attempted after 50 years have gone by. There is a way it can be done. Does Konstantin have a plane? ...I hate to fly commercial."
Eventually, with many drinks and much prodding, they were able to get Josef sensible enough to book his jet to JFK a few hours later. Settled in, Father Garza began to explain the plan. "Essentially, it goes back to the core reason why the initial turning did not work. Your friend for all his statements to the contrary did not want to turn this woman, and so she could not be turned." They all looked at Josef who had ceased his wandering about the cabin and had settled in front of a computer where he was motionless staring unseeing at the screen. He continued to murmur quietly to himself . "The only way to complete the turning is to have him try again with true intent this time, he needs to want to do it without reservation or hesitation." Father Garza paused took look at Josef again. "I fear he may be past the point where he can accomplish this task." "Why can't you just turn her yourself Garza? You had no problem with Sheppard," Mick wondered. "It started with those two, they are linked, only they can finish the process they began," Father Garza replied.
Beth had been watching Josef closely. "What happens if it fails again? Will Josef continue to get worse or--?" "Oh no my Dear," Father Garza looked slightly saddened as he spoke, "this will be the last chance for them, she will not survive a second failed attempt thus neither will he. He has one last chance." "How do we get him through this Mick? He's barely holding it together as it is, how do we help them?" Beth looked at Mick closely seeing something in his expression that told her he had an idea.
"We need him aware, just aware enough to turn her and this time he needs to do it right." Mick was committed to helping his friend turn the human into a vampire, not something he ever imagined doing in his lifetime and as a vampire that was saying something. Beth looked surprised. "I thought you would have more reservations about this." "It's what they both want Beth, if I didn't believe that I could never do it," Mick replied. "I know," said Beth quietly. Mick looked at her, saw the question in her eyes and he looked away unable to hold her gaze.
They arrived in midtown Manhattan around noon. As they approached the stately old brownstone Josef started moaning. "The sun it's burning me, it burns.. it burns..." Mick looked at Father Garza, in silent agreement they grabbed Josef and escorted him up the stairs while Beth rang the bell. A woman dressed in a nurses' uniform answered the door. "Mr Fitzgerald we weren't expecting ...are you alright?" She opened the door to them as Josef spoke. "I'm hot so hot... Sarah, need Sarah..." They were shown into a lavishly decorated bedroom where Sarah slept.
"To change the outcome we need to change your friend's attitude about the turning, we need to know if he will be able to commit to the process." Father Garza was walking about the room looking at photos and books, attempting to get a sense of the woman who slept so soundlessly.
"How do we do that?" asked Beth. It was Mick who spoke. "I need you to talk to Josef." Josef, since arriving at the townhouse had settled greatly, he was still humming but had quieted for the most part, and was lying next to Sarah facing her and holding her hand. "I need you to speak as Sarah would speak to him. Convince him that he is doing the right thing by turning you...her." Mick spoke quietly, not looking directly at her. Beth stared at Mick, "Alright." Beth took off her coat and moved to lay on the bed behind Josef so he would only see Sarah but have Beth speaking in his ear. Mick stood close by the bed to assist Beth if she needed. Father Garza gave the nod to begin. "Josef..." Beth spoke quietly in his ear... he made no sign that he heard her. She looked to Mick. "She called him Charles," Mick said quietly.
"Charles, Darling, can you hear me?" Beth's voice was quiet but strong. Josef, mumbled incoherently but she thought she had gotten a response. "Charles ...?" "Hey Dollface," Josef reached up to Sarah's cheek and began stroking her gently. Beth looked at Mick who nodded to keep going. "I've missed you, have you missed me?", she said. Josef was clearer voiced now. "Oh Sarah, my love, I've missed you everyday, missed you so much that the pain of it never leaves me. I love you Sarah." Beth's eyes were looking only at Mick as she responded. "I know you love me, but you aren't able to love me enough to make me like you, a vampire." Josef spoke. "I love you too much to want this life for you, Sarah, you are so young, and innocent how can I --?" Beth interrupted. "If you don't do this we will be lost to each other. I only want to be with you. Forever is a long time when you are alone, I want to share your life and share mine with you. We belong together, I need you." Beth stared at Mick. "I love you now and I will love you forever. Before you came into my life I was so alone, and I know you were too." "I was waiting for you Sarah. I knew when I first saw you that we were meant to be together." Josef's voice was more thoughtful now. "Yes, we were fated my love," Beth was again concentrating on Josef, realizing that he was becoming more aware. "Please don't leave me alone any more Charles. I have waited a lifetime to be with you I want to be yours now and always, please Charles," she saw Father Garza nodding the go ahead, "it's time."
Josef's eyes were becoming a pale silvery blue and his fangs began to extend. Mick reached down to help Beth off the bed when they heard a growl from Josef. Faster then Beth could see Josef had latched himself to Sarah's neck. Fascinated, Beth couldn't look away until Mick drew her away from the bed. "We should go, it's their moment. Watching a turning is as intimate as watching them..." He was blushing. Beth still hadn't looked away from the couple and hadn't gotten the message. "As watching them what, for goodness sake?...Oh...OH... lets leave then," she got the hint and now they were both blushing. Father Garza had already left the bedroom and they quickly followed. "So did it work? What do we do now?" Beth wanted to know. "We won't know until she wakes up... or doesn't. This time if we failed he won't awaken either. Give them until evening at least and then we will see. There's nothing for us to do but wait," Father Garza replied.
Chapter Four
Beth hadn't slept in more then 24 hours and the stresses of the day were catching up with her, as Mick escorted her to one of the many bedrooms available for guests. "I'll be right next door if you need anything, just try and get a few hours of sleep." Mick knew he wouldn't sleep until he knew the outcome of the day's efforts but Beth looked dead on her feet, no pun intended. "Mick can I ask you... would you... never mind. I'm just tired I guess." Beth's thoughts were jumbled and an overridding sadness had her backing away from Mick as she prepared to try and sleep. 'Like that's gonna happen,' she thought. "Get some rest, I'll wake you if anything happens." Mick was closing the door as he heard Beth yawn, "Okay, 'night, I mean 'day." He heard the smile in her tired voice as her head hit the pillow. Surprisingly sleep claimed her almost immediately. Where she began to have a dream of her own.
"Mick, let's go dancing tonight, lets dance until our feet beg us to stop." Beth and Mick were in his apartment. "I don't dance Beth," Mick replied, looking at her like she had suggested they run off and join the circus. The last thing he needed was the temptation of holding her close while dancing. "Your a vampire, you have the speed, grace and agility of an immortal and your telling me you can't dance?" Beth was downright skeptical. "I didn't say I couldn't, I said I don't--" Mick knew he had doomed himself with that statement, that she now wouldn't let it rest. He should have told her he had two left feet. She started playing with the remote for the stereo searching for an appropriate song, when he heard 'Look After You' by the Fray beginning. He sighed, better to just get it done he thought. He stood and held out his hand.
Beth smiled at him like she had won a bet, she took his hand and allowed him to lead her into a waltz. As Mick spun Beth into a series of quick steps and turns she laughed, "I knew I would love dancing with you, your very good you know." She laughed again as he just quirked an eyebrow at her as if to say how could you ever doubt it. Suddenly Beth missed a step and fell into his chest after a turn, she could feel his arms move quickly around her waist to support her balance as she wobbled slightly from the impact. "Are you okay?" Mick asked. "Maybe we should slow the pace just a little bit," Beth replied, as she placed her arms around his shoulders. Mick swallowed the lump forming in his throat. They were standing too close, there was no space between them. Their dance had evolved into an embrace, Beth had let her head come to rest on his shoulder. Their feet were still moving but they were barely swaying to the music. His hands tensed about her waist as he made to move away, to distance himself from the temptation she offered, when Beth caught his eye.
"Please don't run from this, stay with me, just for a little while longer." Beth's voice was sad. Mick's hands tightened on her waist but instead of moving away he gathered her even closer than before. He closed his eyes and sighed and buried his chin against her neck, he could hear and feel every beat of her heart and it echoed his own. He was fighting his own will and hers, for just this moment he allowed himself to let it all go. She sighed against his chest. She felt like she was coming home.
How long they stayed like that neither could say, the music had stopped and they slowly drew apart. Mick began to speak, to withdraw from her, but Beth put a finger to his lips to interrupt. "I know this is all you can give, but I can't help reaching for more. It seems like my whole life has been building to this moment, building towards you. I know you've been so alone for so long and your afraid to let me in. But I have to finally tell you how I feel. I love you now, I will love you always." Her voice had fallen to a whisper. Beth was still looking at Mick but slowly silent tears began to track down her cheek.
Mick couldn't speak, he could barely breathe. Instead he again drew Beth into a tight embrace. "Beth..." Mick was having trouble finding the words to express his feelings. "Beth... I have always cared for you. When you were a child I watched over you but somewhere along the way... Beth, you have become my center. I cannot imagine my life without you in it. Knowing you are mortal, knowing that our time together will end, it causes a tear in my soul that will never heal." Mick said the words. "I'm in love with you Beth, eternally, for as long as I live and beyond." Mick pulled back to look at her and the pain on his face was more then she could bear, and she looked away. "Then make me like you Mick, turn me." He grabbed her chin forcefully and brought her to look at him again. The pain was still there but the resolve on his face was clear. "I will never, ever turn you into a vampire Beth. I despise what I am, what I've become. I will never make you into a monster...please don't ask me to--", his voice broke then and he could not go on. Beth led him to the sofa and they sat wrapped in each other's arms. In the midst of terrible sadness, Beth felt a joy like she had never known. Mick loved her and she loved him. For right now that was all that mattered. She knew he was not a monster, he just needed to know it too. She still had time. "Let's live for now then Mick, let's not waste one more day being alone." Beth reached up to caress his cheek then buried her hand in his hair bringing his lips closer to hers. Their kiss contained all the emotions they had kept hidden from each other for so long. Mick couldn't get enough, she tasted so sweet he wanted to bury his teeth in her neck while he...
Bang, bang bang! Mick startled awake by a knock on the bedroom door. What the hell? He had fallen asleep on a bed for God's sake. When was the last time he'd slept outside a freezer he couldn't recall. He was remembering his dream vividly. He scrubbed his hands over his face to clear his mind. This wasn't his first dream of Beth although it was probably the most intense. He figured the events of the last two days were playing havoc with his subconscious. He went to the door. Father Garza was waiting, "It's time to find out how your friend fared." Mick was suddenly alert as he focused again on the matter at hand. "I'll wake Beth and we'll be right there."
"Beth... Beth wake up.." Mick gently rubbed her shoulder to awaken her. "Mmmm... Mick." She said his name more in her sleep than awake. She stretched and made to roll over and go back to sleep. "Whoa... where... what?" Mick chuckled at her, "Good morning sleeping beauty, your not really a morning person are you?" She gave him a baleful look. "One, it's evening not morning, and two, of the two of us I am definitely more of a morning person then you, Mr. I will die if I get too much sun." "Okay okay," Mick held up his hands in self-defense. She's just a ray of sunshine when she's sleep deprived, he thought, but knew to quit while he was ahead. "It's time to check on Josef, I'll meet you downstairs." Mick left her to get up in peace. Beth let out a relieved sigh when she was finally alone. Oh my God, having romantic dreams of Mick and then being woken up by him was entirely too much for her peace of mind. But what a dream... She shrugged it off and prepared to find out if Josef and Sarah were able to crossover. Please God let it have worked.
Josef was tired, he didn't think he'd ever been so exhausted in his life, or death for that matter. There was something different, something missing. He heard... nothing. That was what it was, after weeks or was it months of music in his head, all he could hear now was silence. It was peaceful, but strange, after living with the noise for so long. The events of the last two days started to fill his mind. He remembered only bits and pieces, Mick, and Beth and some priest he had never met, and then he remembered... Sarah. His eyes popped open as he took in his surroundings. He was lying next to Sarah... In New York. "What... how did I..." then he remembered more. His decent into madness terrified him now that he looked back on it. Thank God for Mick. But Josef still hadn't put all the pieces together. He remembered hearing Sarah speaking to him, or was it? No it wasn't Sarah, how could it be, she had been lost to him for 50 years. Just the thought made him reach out for her, he clasped her hand in his. It was Beth speaking as if she were Sarah, but why would she do that? He remembered how he had spoke of his love for Sarah. He was embarrassed to have shown such emotion in front of his friends, not to mention the bloody priest. But why? Then he looked closer at Sarah and saw that her gown was bloody and his memory came into crystal focus... I tried to turn her... again. His heart began pounding in his chest as he raised his hand to caress her face. "Sarah, dearest, can you hear me?" The hand he still held clasped in his twitched.
He spoke again, familiar words. "Sarah, please come back to me. I'm so alone, it's so dark here without you. I'm afraid. It's been so long, I'm still waiting my love...please come back." Sarah's eyelids fluttered and slowly opened and Josef saw awareness dawn in her eyes along with a glint of pale and silvery blue. "I was always with you my Darling... always."
Epilogue
"So how long do you think Josef and Sarah will stay in New York?" Beth asked. They were in a limo returning from LAX to Mick's apartment. Josef was so grateful he had sent them home in style. I could get used to this, Beth thought. "I don't know, Sarah needs time to adjust to the new world in which she finds herself. Josef won't want to uproot her until she's ready," replied Mick. "He is a different man with her in his life," remarked Beth. "I think he always carried her with him Beth, it explains a lot actually." Mick thought about how changed Josef appeared in the last few days since Sarah had awoken. Gone was the devil may care playboy, Josef the cynic was a memory.
Beth was tired. Plane travel always made her exhausted and she started to nod off. Mick looked out the window, freeway traffic at rush hour, he knew he wouldn't be getting home anytime soon. He relaxed into the plush leather seats and stretched his feet out to rest on the seat across from him. He gazed at Beth. She had fallen asleep but her head was lolling about her shoulders with every bump in the road. He reached to pull her close so she could rest her head on his shoulder. "Mmmm... thanks," she mumbled drifting off again. Mick closed his eyes and began to relax. The stereo was playing music soft and low and he was beginning to feel sleep overtake him. He was sleeping in the oddest places recently, was his last coherent thought. He heard Beth mumble something in her sleep "... playing our song Mick..." Mick heard the words coming over the stereo...
If I don't say this now, I will surely break
As I'm leaving the one I want to take
Forgive the urgency, but hurry up and wait
My heart has started to separate
Oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh
Be my baby
Oh, oh, oh
I'll look after you
There now, steady love, so few come and don't go
Will you won't you, be the one I always know
When I'm losing my control, the city spins around
You're the only one who knows, you slow it down
It's always have and never hold
You've begun to feel like home
What's mine is yours to leave or take
What's mine is yours to make your own
Oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh
Be my baby
Oh, oh, oh
He knew the song but couldn't recall where he'd heard it before. "Sleep Beth," his voice dropped to a whisper as sleep overtook him. "I'll look after you."
Fin