Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Moonlight, anything that occurs in this fanfic from the show, or any of its characters. I do, however, own this plot. Yayz!

Rory couldn't help but notice how quiet the night was as she walked back to her apartment. It was 2 a.m. She was heading home from a party, cursing herself for having lost her wallet. She looked around her, feeling more than slightly unnerved by the unearthly silence. She thought she'd heard footsteps a moment ago. Figuring she was probably being paranoid, she turned to face forward again, walking slightly faster. She pulled her leather jacket more tightly around herself, tying the leather strap encircling the waist of the jacket more tightly. She paused yet again, listening to the silence. Definitely hearing something, she whirled around to face her pursuer. Her icy blue eyes scanned the darkness, seeing nothing. She whirled around again, her straight, black hair rippling out behind her with the unusually chilly breeze. Breathing heavily now, she abandoned all attempts to see who was following her, turned on her heel, and ran. Now she was positive someone was following her. Whoever it was had given up on trying to hide their presence, and was now obviously pursuing her. The streets were deserted, and whoever was chasing her was clearly gaining on her…

Exhausted, Seth decided to call it a night after looking up at the digital clock on his desk. He had been working on his University Term Paper for hours now, and decided to go grab a bite to eat before going to sleep. He rubbed his brilliant green eyes before running a hand through his curly, auburn coloured hair. After a minute, he stood up, grabbed his jacket and wallet, and left in search of a fast-food place that might still be open at quarter to 2 in the morning.

Rory kept running but soon realized that it was an effort in futility. Clearly whoever it was that was following her was much faster than she was. She couldn't keep running like this. Then, all of a sudden, the sound of her pursuer's footsteps stopped. She stopped, too. She stood for a moment, afraid to turn around. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Letting out a shriek, Rory found herself being turned to face a tall, dark-haired, handsome man of about twenty-three. She let out a sigh of relief, before "It's you!"

"Yeah, it's me. Sorry if I scared you. You left this at the party." He handed her a black leather wallet attached to a chain. "I followed you here from the party so I could return it."

"Oh…thanks." She said, taking the wallet and stashing it in her small, black backpack. "It's…Jeff, right?"

"Yeah." He said with a smile, showing a mouthful of perfect white teeth. Rory had been flirting with him all night at the party, and one of the first things she'd noticed were his teeth. She felt weak in the knees when he flashed that smile. After a moment of silence, Jeff asked, "So, Rory. Do you live around here?"

Rory shook her head. "Nah, but I had to walk home because I'd lost my wallet. Now I can call a cab to get the rest of the way."

"Well…my apartment's not too far from here. Why don't you come back to my place instead?" Jeff said.

Rory didn't usually make it a habit to go home with guys she'd just met, so she said, "You know, I'm really flattered and all, but I have to get home and feed my cat." It was a lie. Her cat had enough food to last him at least two days, but something about the prospect of going home with Jeff made her feel uneasy, despite his seemingly trustworthy face.

"I'm sure that can wait until tomorrow morning at least." He insisted, flashing his smile, which Rory no longer found charming, but scary.

"You know what, I've got to go…thanks for returning my wallet…but I have to go." Rory insisted, turning and walking away.

"Wrong answer." Jeff said quietly to himself. His face changed completely. He was no longer handsome, but terrifying. His formerly dark brown eyes became white. His perfectly proportioned canine teeth became elongated, so that they were not teeth, but long, piecing fangs. He ran with such speed that no human being could ever possibly hope to achieve, and within the blink of an eye, he was standing directly in front of Rory.

Seeing Jeff suddenly appear in front of her was shocking enough, but the transformation his features had undergone was enough to inspire crippling fear in anyone. She screamed, and with lightning speed, before she could even think about running, Jeff had pinned her to the wall of a building. She screamed louder, hoping for someone, anyone, to rescue her. With a grotesque, evil look on his face, Jeff plunged his teeth into Rory's neck. With a flash of blinding pain, Rory could feel the hot blood seeping onto her clothes, the weakness that overtook her as she lost blood. She finally reached a point where she could no longer feel anything, where she was just barely conscious, barely alive. Her mouth hung open. She did not even have the energy to close it. She could barely discern what was happening anymore, and barely tasted the warm, coppery substance that was now being poured into her mouth, barely felt it slide down her throat. Unable to remain conscious anymore, sure that she was dying, she let herself slip into the oblivious blackness that she had fought so hard against up until now…

Seth couldn't help but notice the chilly night air, strange for L.A. He also couldn't help noticing the silence. Occasionally, a car passed by, but other than that, the streets were empty. Taking in the night air, he was pulled suddenly from deep within his own thoughts by the sound of a woman screaming. The sound was somewhat close by, a few streets or so over. Adrenaline pumping through his veins, he ran the distance in less than ten minutes. After about four or five minutes the sound of the scream had faded, and Seth feared that by the time he arrived, he would be too late to save the girl. Rounding a corner, he stopped dead in his tracks. A girl, about twenty or so, was lying on the ground. A man was kneeling over her, although Seth couldn't quite make out what the guy was doing. Taking a deep breath, Seth shouted. "HEY! HEY, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"

Jeff looked up from the unconscious Rory to see a guy about his age standing at the end of the street. He stood up, laughed, and then ran at the guy.

Seth, startled, pulled out his pocketknife, the one given to him by his great-grandfather. In seconds flat, he had unfolded the knife, and as the maniac running at him came close enough, Seth plunged it into him. The psycho stumbled backward, caught by surprise by the knife. While Seth watched, he pulled the knife out of his side, took one last look at Seth, and ran off in the opposite direction. Seth picked up the bloody pocketknife, quickly wiped it on his jeans, folded it up, and shoved it in his pocket. Suddenly remembering the unconscious girl, he ran to her side. He checked her wrist for a pulse, but couldn't seem to find one. Realizing he'd forgotten his cell phone in his dorm room, he took her limp form in his arms and carried her to the nearest building. He ran to the door, wrenched it open, and began to run up several flights of stairs. He wasn't sure where exactly he was going or what it was that was leading him there, but he somehow knew where to go. He came out onto a landing, and, still carrying the girl, he found himself in front of a door. It read, "Mick St. John, Private Detective". Seth banged on the door as loudly as he possibly could. He yelled at the top of his lungs. "Help! HELP!"

Mick St. John was working on his computer in his office. He was working a Missing Persons case. With his vampire-heightened sense of hearing, he heard a frantic hammering on his door, as well as desperate cries for help. Deciding to investigate, Mick hurried to his door and examined the high-tech surveillance screen mounted to the wall beside the door. There stood a man in his early twenties, holding in his arms the form of a young woman who looked to be about the same age. Both were covered in blood. He opened the door, and as he did he was met by a variety of scents. Fear. Adrenaline. Human. Vamp. And something somewhere in between. He caught sight of the bite-marks on the girl's neck. "What happened? Did you do this to her?" Mick enquired of the young man, somewhat menacingly.

"No," the man answered, following Mick to the sofa, where he set down the girl. "I'm Seth. I found her like this…some guy attacked her, I heard her scream, and came running to investigate. I saw him kneeling over her. I yelled at him, and he ran at me. I stabbed him with my pocketknife, and he ran off. But he-" Seth stopped mid-sentence. Mick looked at him.

"Well…he what?" Mick asked impatiently.

"I…well he...look, I know this sounds crazy, but the guy looked really fucked up. Like…like he wasn't human." Seth concluded weakly. He heard Mick swear under his breath.

"Look, you did the right thing bringing her here. I'll take it from here. You should go." Mick said to Seth.

"But…wait. I need to know if she's alright. I need to stay with her!" Seth protested. Mick just shook his head and led Seth to the door. "Besides, we need to get her to a hospital!"

"Look, you've done all you can. There's nothing more you can do for her now." Mick told Seth, ushering him out the door and closing it. Mick watched the screen for a minute as Seth just stood there and, after he finally left, Mick turned his attention on the girl. He knew there wasn't much he could do now except wait. He examined the bite marks on her neck more closely and grabbed a packet of blood from his fridge. He knew that she was weak and needed blood quickly. He put some in a syringe and slowly squirted it into her mouth. After he had fed her half of the blood pack, he noticed that the wounds on her neck had healed. He looked at the clock. 2:30 a.m. He knew she'd probably be asleep, but he needed her help…

Beth sat bolt upright in bed as the phone woke her from a deep sleep. Swearing under her breath and wondering who would be calling this early in the morning, she scrambled to pick up the phone. She was really pissed off until she answered it and heard that familiar voice on the phone.

"Hey Beth." Mick sounded apologetic.

"Hey," Beth said, happy to hear his voice.

"Listen, I know it's really early, but I need you to come over here and help me with something. I wouldn't normally ask but-"

"No, no. It's no problem at all. I'll see you there in a few minutes." With that, Beth hung up the phone, dressed, grabbed her car keys and left her apartment. Luckily, her boyfriend was away on business so she didn't have to try to explain why she had to leave at 2:30 in the morning.

When she got to Mick's apartment, she was almost apprehensive about getting out of her car. The last time she'd seen Mick was a few days earlier, when she had been protecting a woman who was being hunted down by a serial-killer/cult leader turned vampire who was trying to kill her. That night she had also discovered that Mick had been her childhood rescuer, her Guardian Angel. She had shared a tender moment with him on the roof of his apartment, only to be pushed away by him.

She got in the elevator and went up to his door. She knocked very sharply on the door and waited for him to open it.

Mick heard Beth knocking from where he was beside the girl lying unconscious on the sofa. He checked the monitor screen before opening the door.

"Thanks for coming. I really appreciate this." He said to Beth.

"No problem." She replied, "Now, what's so important it couldn't wait until a halfway decent time in the morning?"

Mick motioned to the girl lying on the sofa. After explaining to Beth the story of the attack, of the man named Seth who had brought her there, and that the girl had been turned, he said, "So I need help cleaning her up. She needs a shower or something and-"

"Say no more." Said Beth, who had been listening intently while Mick had explained the situation. She helped Mick get the still unconscious girl into the bathroom, where Beth washed the blood off of her and changed her clothes. With Mick's help, she managed to get the girl into bed…

Seth had arrived back in his dorm room at about 3 a.m. He couldn't stop thinking about the mystery girl he'd saved earlier, couldn't help wondering if she was okay. She was all he could think about as he showered, put on a pair of boxers and a t-shirt, and made his way into bed. He found that he couldn't sleep because his head was spinning from everything that had happened in the last hour. It hadn't even seemed like an hour. It seemed more like days, or weeks, or even months. At last he managed to drift off into an uneasy sleep, but his dreams were disturbed by the appearance of the man who had attacked that girl. The man that couldn't possibly have been human.