Josh is dead, Mick is newly human. So it's set loosely after episode 12 or so and then veers wildly off cannon.

Apartments on Wilcox Dr. In Hollywood-- Evening

Danny Warn pulled her beat up Jeep Cherokee into the shadowy parking sub-basement and cranked the break. She got out and cracked her knuckles as she tried to wiggle the knots out of her shoulders. Work sucked, not having enough money sucked, not getting any call backs about her singing demos sucked. Danny was really starting to hate LA; and she'd only been here three months. She also hated being in this creepy parking garage at night. She leaned into the car to pick up her precious groceries;she'd gotten paid today and could now afford to eat. There was a soft bang, like the side door up to the street opening and closing. The sound echoed off the walls and Danny peeked around her car. There was no one near the door, another quick glance around and she couldn't even see another person in the whole garage. She quickly grabbed her groceries and headed for the bank of elevators.

Of course the elevators were out of order Danny thought grinding her teeth together. Nothing like climbing five stories worth of stairs after a long and tiring day. She turned and headed for the stairway on the far wall. There was another soft bump somewhere to her shadowy left. She froze, looking for what had made the sound. She heard the noise when she saw the shadow moved. Danny jumped out of her skin and dropped one of her bags. She was halfway to the door when a large grey cat climbed over the bumper of the closest car. Her heart still in her throat she made her way back to the bag she'd lost. By the sound that they had made when they'd hit the concrete she knew her eggs were toast. The cat came over to inspect the gooy egg yokes that were seeping out of the bag, licking at the mess slightly. Danny shooed the cat away with her foot and picking up the leaking bag made it to the stairway and started the trek up to her tiny studio.

She didn't feel the eyes watching her now. Admiring her pale skin. Her dark hair and blue eyes. She couldn't feel the thing, who only looked like a man, letting his eyes roam over her body. He had been hard pressed not to move when he smelled her fear that was only now starting to drain away. Fear was such a beautiful potent perfume and it clung to this girl. She was the one. She had to be. She looked just like Margot. His beautiful, lovely Margot. He didn't know how she could be here, now, but he was sure it was her. The creatures white/blue eyes flashed, and for a moment a mouthful of fangs could be seen. She was the girl. The next moment he was gone. To find his next present for his father. But, he had plenty to choose from, his father had insured that.

Somewhere in West Hollywood

Being a vampire for over fifty years had made Mick forget what blood and gore smelled like to a human nose. His stomach twinged a little, and not in that blood-makes-me-hungry sort of way. But he brushed the fleeting feelings to one side. Considering what his first human life had been he had hardened his stomach to the destruction a human body could suffer many, many years prior.

It was just different being on the heart pumping, non-fangy side of things again. A different that Mick was reveling in to hearts content. Or had been until today. Beth had called him with some very interesting details on a murder case that the police were playing close to the vest. Very close. Sweeping his eyes around the small apartment he found it a sorry sight indeed. Dried blood was splashed in sticky spots on the, what he figured was once, an off white sofa. The furniture was Ikea grab bag but not un-cozy. The moonlight caught another blood spatter that had sprayed lightly against the carpet, like a child had taken a paint brush to it.

The bodies of the two young women who had been killed here were at the morgue but it wasn't the bodies that Mick was really interested in. It was the rumor he'd heard about what the police were keeping quite about this case. The girls were amazingly lacking blood in there bodies, even though there throats had been slashed there should have been more blood at the scene. Or that's what Guillermo had said. But as Mick stepped over a bloody stuffed elephant on the living room floor he found what he hoped he wouldn't. On the far wall scrawled- in what had been determined was a little of both of the girls blood- were messy but readable words:

I've found you Daddy, Josef, Charles, Jerome, Lair, Murderer.

The guilty must be punished. You can't replace the irreplaceable.

I'm coming Father. Preparing the way. Your faithful son, Gideon

Mick's mouth twisted into a grimace. As he read the angry sentences he heard a step in the front of the hall and quickly hid himself. It didn't occur to him to miss his vamp hearing and speed. The door opened a crack and he let out a breath when a familiar blond popped into view. His blond. Well, hopefully. Things were still a little up in the air about that. "What are you doing here?" Mick whispered at her.

Beth was unable to reply for a moment, her gaze transfixed by the bloody writing, "Like I'd let you go in to a murder scene without me? Come on Mick you've only been human for like a week, you need me now. More than ever. Not to mention, who told you about this in the first place?" Mick sighed, "You did. And you want the story for Buzz Wire." He reached a hand into his jacket, "But I still think it's too dangerous." He added turning back to the wall and taking out a small camera he snapped a few hurried pictures.

"And breaking an entering is still a felony last time I checked." Beth looked at the handwriting a little longer and then said, "Do those names mean what I think they mean?"

"I really hope not." but Mick had a sinking feeling that there was only one person in the world that this note was for. A person he just happened to know. "One of my contacts in homicide said this isn't the only case. Three other murders with similar MO's all in the last week or so. All the victims were young women and there has always been some message written on the wall in the victims blood." Beth had been moving farther into the room as she spoke but stopped when she saw the couch. "They said he displayed them. This guy's an animal."

Mick finished taking pictures and, after putting the camera away said, "I was thinking more like a vampire." Mick didn't need vampire senses to know this whole thing stunk of vampire. He glanced at the wall once more before turning away from it and said, "We need to talk to Josef."

"We?" Beth's face and eyes perked up at Mick's use of the plural.

"Well, if I told you no you'd follow me anyway." He shot Beth a grin, "This saves time." Beth gave a shrug. "You're right." As they exited the apartment building she paused for a moment before saying, "Just remember you're human now."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Beth gave another non-comital shrug, "I mean Josef's still a vampire and you're well...not." "I trust Josef. I've trusted him for nearly fifty years. Me getting the ability to tan and eat pizza back isn't going to change anything between us."

"But what do you really know about him? I mean, he didn't tell you about Sarah. What else has he been keeping from you?"

"Josef doesn't like talking about his past. I respect that. Four hundred years is a long time to acquire bad memories." He got into his car and opening the passenger side door asked, "So you coming?"

"Are we going now?" Beth asked as she hurried into the car.

"One thing I have learned in the last week. No time like the present." The purr of the engine drowned anything they might have said after that moment. The black mercedes pulled out of the lot Mick had parked her in and slid into the flashy lights and vague dark that made up an LA evening.

Josef's Home

"And to what do I owe this extremely inconvenient and invasive honor?" Josef said leaning back in the leather office chair he hadn't bothered getting out of when Mick and Beth had arrived. He raised a brow and asked, "Shouldn't you be out rediscovering your humanity or..." his eyes traveled to Beth suggestively, "Maybe spending your evenings...in?"

Mick chose to ignore the jabs, while Beth couldn't help but blush a little. "Josef, we need to talk."

The old vampire steepled his fingers together, "Well it can't be about Beth because she's here. And it can't be about how you hate your vampire nature because...hey! That's no longer on the menu either. So what's so important that you needed to interrupt me near lunch time?"

"Who's Gideon?" The name had barely left Mick's lips when Josef went completely still, no breath, no blinking, as if he'd been frozen solid by the sound of the name. Mick repeated the question. Josef's eyes flashed ice blue but his control was impeccable. But it still looked like someone had exchanged Josef's spine with a rod of iron. Josef stood up slowly, fluidly, with the grace that being a vampire had given him. He smoothed down the blue vest he was wearing and did his best to ignore Beth and Mick. He poured himself a glass of blood from a cold decanter. He held the glass but didn't drink. He just starred at the blood.

Beth, after looking at Mick quickly, continued pushing the question, "Who's Gideon Josef?" Josef turned his head slightly toward the pair and cocked his head to one side slightly, "What I want to know, Miss Turner, is how you heard that name in connection with mine?"

Mick tossed the photos of the crime scene that he'd taken onto the glass desk. Josef glanced at the photos and the hand that had been holding the glass shattered the tumbler. He calmly brushed off the remaining bits and threw the glass out like nothing had happened. But Beth and Mick knew now how angry Josef must be. "You know Mick I don't think photography is really your bag. Maybe try pottery or flower arrangement."

"This isn't the only scene." Beth said, "They think there are more. But they've been scattered in different cities and suburbs so they weren't immediately connected." She thought quickly, "I would think you'd know about something like this."

"So would I." said Josef, his flippant demeanor draining away. "How something like this could happen in my city is rather...vexing. I may have to terminate a few employee's for this oversight." Mick and Beth both didn't like how Josef said the word 'terminate'. It sent a shiver up Beth's spine and Mick asked a little impatiently, "So are you going to answer the question?"

Josef gave his one time friend a tired look. "I figured your dogged persistence for cases like this would die away while you enjoyed the cure Mick. Seems I put too much stock in your survival instincts. They haven't risen with your body temp. Thought it was just a vampire thing."

"Your name, no three names, Josef, Charles and Jerome. I'm guessing they are all you. Were painted in these girls blood on the wall. If you're in trouble Josef... You should know by now that I'll do everything I can to help."

"That's really sweet Mick, very hero of you, but go home. Enjoy being human. This isn't your world anymore. At least not for a while anyway." Josef didn't want his friend involved in this. He wanted Mick to enjoy his temporary cure maybe even finally seal the deal with Beth.

"You think I can do that now?"

Josef let out a deep sigh, "I don't know how you made it to eighty eight, or five, or however old you are now. You seem to have a filter on the 'listen to Josef, it's a good idea' part of your brain." "So who's Gideon and why is he leaving you bodies?"

"He'd see them as gifts. Or maybe warnings."

"Then why is he leaving you presents?"

Josef knew that it was a losing battle so he gave in, "Gideon was one of the very short list of vampires I sired. My son, as he sees it. Back in the mid twenties. He was a good kid, smart, sharp dresser. Helped me run my speakeasy businesses."

"Then what went wrong?" Beth cut in, "What he did to those girls is monstrous."

"Beauty's in the eye of the beholder. But as far as Gideon is concerned. Well," Josef thought for a moment, "you could say we had a, falling out of sorts."

"How?" Mick asked. Josef had never talked about his past if he could avoid it. Even when Mick had been a vampire Josef wasn't big on the sharing...not old stories anyway.

"I had...what did we call them back then? A bit o'fluff named Margot. She was a freshie of mine in the thirties when I lived in Boston. I was going by Jerome Bennette back then. Gideon had fallen in love with the girl and convinced her that she had fallen in love with him back." Josef paused and settled himself down into one of the leather couches before continuing, "Well, to be honest, I was rather fond of her myself. Not your normal snack. That girl had panache. But she had an outside life so I wouldn't consent to letting Gideon turn her. So they got together and asked me to turn her. They hounded me for months. I mean he could give you lessons, Mick, on the term tenacious. They were so set on it. I just couldn't fight both of them. So I did. I turned Margot." Josef paused again his voice a strange empty thing as it continued slowly, "She went crazy after the change. Some vampires do you know. Their psyche just can't handle the stress of it. So I did what I had to do to protect us and our secrets." Josef's voice dyed on a dry note.

Beth whispered, "You killed her?"

Josef's eyes found Beth's, "Did I offend your delicate sensibilities Miss Turner? I had no choice. She would have made those photos Mick just showed me look like a day at Disneyland. A blood-crazed vampire isn't very picky. She never would have been able to forgive herself anyway; even if there was a way to keep a raging vampire imprisoned indefinitely."

"How did Gideon take it?" Mick asked, pushing the story forward. He didn't want to think about the girl. Or about his friend executing her.

Josef gave them a ghost of a smile, "Not too well. He told me I was cursed, that I'd never be able to turn a woman I cared for. Said that I'd murdered Margot in cold blood...said that he could've turned her. Then he said he'd make me pay. That he'd find her again. Yada...cursed by the gods...yada...very dramatic yada...and all those other things angry people say in the heat of the moment. I tried to reason with him but it broke something inside of him. I thought Gideon died in a fire in Chicago decades ago."

"Apparently they don't make fires like they used to." Beth said blandly.

"He's looking for revenge then?" Mick asked Josef.

Josef shook his head, "I don't think that's the only reason why he's here. Not with the way he's setting this up. If I know him, he thinks he's found her."

"Margot?" Beth couldn't hide her shock.

"Or just some poor girl that has a small resemblance to her. We went through a similar episode in Chicago. Not so much with the pre-show as here though." Josef said shaking his head. "But you said you thought to died in a fire in Chicago?" Beth said confused.

Josef gave her look, "A fire that I just might have started. Though, that was never proven." Beth shrank back toward Mick a fraction of an inch, "That's why I like the tar pits. Not too much clean up. Gideon's deranged. There's no telling how far he'll take this."

Mick took a deep breath, "So we find him. Kill him." "

Oh good plan Mick, charge!" Josef said dryly. "Tell me how that works out for you and your soft, squishy human body."

Beth gasped putting a hand to her mouth, "My god!"

"What?" Both of the men asked. "

He wouldn't hurt the girl he thought was Margot would he?" she asked quickly.

"Probably not at first. Not until she robbed him of his illusion." Josef said. "Which will eventually happen. And then it will get ugly."

"But then there is a girl out there who looks like Margot being stalked by some crazy, killer vampire."

As she finished her sentence Mick and Josef turned and looked at each other. In that moment, they were perfectly in tune, mortality or immortality be damned. Mick said, "If you happen to have a picture of this Margot I can get Logan to download it and start looking for our look-a-like. Maybe a girl that's recently moved into the area. Maybe Gideon followed her here?"

"On the not so off chance that the boy is here merely for a revenge kick I'll see what I can get some of my people to turn up about a new vamp in town." "And what do I do?" Beth asked a little annoyed. Men.

Mick glanced up at Beth realizing he'd forgotten she was there for a moment. "You go back to Buzz Wire. See what else you can find out about these murders. What they have in common. If there's any type of pattern."

"I'm on it." Beth said cheerily, nearly running out of the office.

Now alone Mick asked Josef one more question, "How fond was 'a little fond of her'?"

Josef gave him a wry, weak smile and said, "Until Sarah I was sure that I'd broken my own heart by burning Margots."

"Is that one of the reasons you've kept Sarah alive so long?"

Josef's eyes flashed, "Boy, I swear if I thought you could survive it in your new freshly-easily broken- body I'd punch you."

"That's what I thought. So you have a picture of this girl?" Josef went to a compartment in his wall and typed in a code. Part of the wall came off and Josef opened the secret lock box inside. There were a lot of things in the box, things that he couldn't bring himself to get rid of. After a minute of shuffling things around Josef handed Mick a worn, sepia photo of a pretty girl in her early twenties with dark hair and pale skin. Mick nodded his head solemnly, "She's pretty."

"Yes, yes she was."

"I'll let you know if something turns up."

Mick was about to leave when Josef's voice stopped him, "Mick, do you think people we care about come back?"

Mick looked at his friend and saw an expression he'd never seen before. But all he could offer was, "I don't know."

Josef came out of his thoughts and grinned again at Mick saying, "Get out of here, I've got some dinner to play with. A little asian dish that I bet you'd love." But once the door clicked behind Mick the smile faded from Josef's face. He wasn't sure what bothered him more, knowing Gideon was out there somewhere, or that there was a girl out there that looked enough like Margot to bring Gideon out of his nearly three-fourths of a century of hiding. No longer in the mood to feed. He picked up his phone. "Yeah, I need you to find something out for me. It's very important."