**So guys, the rape is not explicit (in order to not be flagged :P), but the violence sort of is. Please keep in mind there is a mentally disturbed character in here who is and says creepy stuff. This is my first hetero-fic, I think. Enjoy :3**

"I always did like the smart girls."

Those words chilled Mick St. John's blood colder than it had been in a very long time. With the click of the phone, he fled the old Victorian house, Robert's cries of worry fading behind him as his shoes slapped the wet pavement. Mick's breath rushed in and out of his lungs, the night air burning his insides not because he needed more oxygen, but because he was beginning to panic.

Goddamnit, why'd he have to be on the other freakin' side of L.A.?

That guy sounded crazy. Like, crazy crazy. Proper not right in the head which permeated through his voice, the only connection Mick had with the man other than his name. The private investigator slipped a little as he skidded on the pavement to round a corner and head across Olympic Boulevard. Horns screeched in time with tyres but Mick didn't stop, not for anything. He had to get to Beth, because Ken was going for her. Beth. His Beth.

The pen scratching on the paper was the only sound in the Records Room.

Coal shoot (old Vic houses) + through walls/floo

Beth was distracted for the first time in what felt like hours by the light above her flickering, then dying completely. She frowned, and dropped her pen on the beaten-up papers that had been floating around in the librarian's dusty old office for way too long. She could get back to her notes, but she needed light.

Beth made it to the nearby wall and set of light switches, only to have all of the lights turn off.

'Oh, hey! Can you turn the lights back on, I'm still in here!' She called out into the darkness, her voice somehow echoing more now that the lights were off. She sighed in annoyance, and felt around for more light switches, trying each of them, growing more frustrated with each click.

'Light. Flashlight.' She mumbled as she stumbled back over to her desk to rummage around in her handbag for the torch she always kept there. When the blonde managed to turn it on and turn it on her surroundings, she found herself scrutinising everything, as if something had moved. Sighing and berating herself for being stupid, Beth headed back over to the lights. Flicking them on and off again didn't help. Another sigh.

'Is anybody back there who can turn the lights on? Please?!' Beth called out, waiting for a response. Just as the thought crossed her mind that it may've been a power-outage, there was a noise to her left. It seemed the flashlight dashed in that direction before her brain even had time to process the possible threat, but she was clearly able to see a face in her suddenly panic-stricken state.

The sound of sneakers on linoleum made her move. As in, move. She dashed for the end of a bookshelf, then rounded the corner to head for the door at the end of the huge underground room.

Somehow, arms appeared from the darkness behind her, wrapping around Beth's middle and taking her to the floor. The torch went flying as she tripped, and the attacker — who only could've been Ken, watching her the whole time — managed to land right on Beth as they fell, with Beth on her back.

For a moment, adrenaline supplied Beth's brain with the possibility of this Ken guy being a vampire, but she quickly discarded it with the lack of fangs or general vamping-out.

'Get off of me!' She yelled, and quickly tried to wrangle her arms out from under the man's torso. Still, he grabbed her wrists and pinned them between their chests. He leaned in closer, and Beth found herself pressing closer to the floor in an attempt to stay away from whatever was wrong with this man. Ken breathed out slowly, right into the air Beth had to breathe.

'Looks like you would've been a difficult one. You don't seem scared. Let me guess,' He said slowly, his words careful and calculated, 'you had something horrible, and I mean terrifying happen to you as a child.' Ken's eyes narrowed, partially in a threatening manner but Beth could tell he was genuinely curious. In what, she couldn't tell.

'Tell me, what happened?' Beth tried to wrench her hands again from Ken's, but he only leaned closer.

'Who hurt you? Who was it?' Ken asked. Beth looked him in the eye, trying to match his blood-chilling gaze.

'A vampire kidnapped me.' She said, and head butted him as hard as she could. Beth knew better than to be distracted by however Ken reacted, so she just dashed to her feet, and ran. A pain in her knuckles let Beth know she'd grabbed her phone as she ran back past the desk she was working at. She had to get Mick, he'd come swooping in and save the day, like clockwork. Pressing the On button, she saw at least five missed calls from Mick St. John. She swore to herself as the reached the end of another bookshelf, and could see the open door just a few more yards ahead of her. Still running, she called Mick on speed-dial and didn't hear the additional footsteps over the beeps she was straining to hear.

'Beth?!'

Mick had still been trying to call Beth as he ran, but eventually he had to stop for breath. He was a vampire, not Usain Bolt. It just so happened she called him back in that moment. Good thing, otherwise he probably wouldn't have heard it over the rushed noises of annoyed city-goers.

'Beth?!'

'Mick, ohmygod,' Beth panted into the phone, 'he's, I think—'

'Beth, listen to me,' Mick commanded, 'Ken is coming, you gotta find somewhere to hide, or find someone to stick to—'

Mick's panicked instructions were cut off by a strangled scream. Beth screaming. He heard the phone clatter to the ground, and settle.

'Beth? Beth?!' Mick cried. He was about to start running again when a voice reached his ears.

'Hello, St. John.' Ken. He was too late.

It was just as Beth reach the doorway that Mick answered. She stopped short, unaware of someone behind her, and tried to concentrate on what Mick was saying. She was about to take another step when pain exploded in her thigh. Beth couldn't help but scream as the fell to the cold floor, her phone clattering on the cement in front of her.

Beth tried to reach out for it, hearing Mick's worried cries, but footsteps went around and a hand picked it up before she could reach it. She followed it upwards and watched Ken bring it to his ear.

'Hello, St. John.' He said calmly, as if not having just stabbed someone in the leg. Beth tried to concentrate on just getting out of there. She twisted around as much as she could and saw that wouldn't really be an option. Sticking out of the side of her leg, hilt-deep, was what looked like a hunting knife. Beth could feel herself paling as blood leaked steadily to the floor.

Beth must've passed out for a minute or two, as when she was able to concentrate again, her leg was numb and Ken was done on the phone. He stepped toward the head metal door that Beth had almost made it to, and took his time swinging it shut, and pulling the heavy barricade across it, locking them in there. Even Mick would have a hard time bashing through that slab of metal.

The emergency lighting let Beth see the faint sides of her attacker.

'Why… Why'd you take the ki—' Beth was shushed by Ken rushing toward her and holding his hand up to her mouth, cooing for her to stay quiet.

'You don't want them to find us, do you?'

Hell yeah, I do.

'You should know that monsters can only come out when it's dark.' Ken crooned. Beth frowned at him. Ken's smile grew marginally. 'Still not scared.' He observed. Beth tried to bite at his fingers, and when she managed to twist his hand away from her face, he grabbed her shoulders and heaved Beth onto her back, or as much as her injured would let her move in the direction. She screamed.

'Hush, hush, beautiful. I'm not done, and you and your cop buddy already interrupted me once.'

Beth tried to say "He's not a cop" but could only managed choked gasps. That leg was definitely not numb anymore.

'Marvellous. Amazing, you're still not scared.' Ken mused, while poking around the injured flesh on Beth's thigh. '—but you are hurt.' He added at Beth's strained whimper.

'No good, no good at all…' He mumbled as he moved to straddle Beth's shins. 'They go together, you didn't get them together…' Beth managed to look up at the man leaning over her and attract his gaze, only to see him smile cruelly. Beth's phone was buzzing against the floor, slowly moving a beam of light across the ceiling. Both of them ignored it. Ken leaned back over Beth, right into her face, like before.

'You only got scared, but you're still hurting. You're not meant to hurt, but I can help you with that. Not like they did. I bet you just got scared, then saved. They didn't hurt you.' Ken's fingers wrapped around the handle of the knife firmly embedded in Beth's leg, and pulled. Another scream was swallowed up by the darkness of the records room. Beth silently screamed for Mick, and when her vision cleared, Ken had sliced through her shirt to reveal her bra, and was carefully working his way down the denim of her jeans. It was when the tip of the knife skimmed the broken flesh on her thigh that she realised what was going on and started begging. Ken's hand was invisible in the low lighting and Beth felt hot tears sting the now burning-flesh on her cheek.

'Shut. Up.' Ken hissed, then seemed to find himself. 'I'm helping you. I am. You'll thank me.'

Beth cried more. And more, and more. And during, and after. And when Ken observed how much blood she was losing and slipped the knife back into her leg, something about arteries, she cried until she couldn't cry anymore.

Then blackness.

~ O ~

There was banging, and yelling, and someone was moving her. Beth didn't respond, she just couldn't find it in herself. She recalled the feeling of Mick's blood-slicked, yet rough fingers grabbing the silver chain from her neck. It reminded her of something, but it was more of a feeling of déjà vu. Everything was going blurry, then there was Mick's voice, but Beth was too tired to listen. The blackness came again.

~ O ~

Mick let his head fall on his clenched fists, and let his knees jerk in anxiety, his head jerking in time. Over and over again, he replayed that scene: banging down the door, the wave of coppery scent that made him stumble against the wall, feeling of something crunch underfoot, getting to Beth, trying everything he could before he remembered he hadn't even called an ambulance. He swore like some of the sailors he'd heard back in the war when he realised what a colossal mistake he'd made with that one.

The rest was a blur, a myriad of voices in his head telling him what to do, what to feel, how to handle… This.

Without his permission, Mick felt tears spring to his eyes. He'd had a lot of people close to him get hurt or even die in his life, but Beth didn't deserve any of this.

The quickened beeping of the EKG roused Mick from his memories, and he dashed from his seat to beside where Beth was lying on the hospital bed. He gently grabbed her hand in both of his, and tried to calm her down.

Finally, when those blue eyes Mick had fallen so hopelessly in love with cleared, he broke down. Beth sat through all of his apologising and promises, not really hearing a lot of it.

'What happened to your hands?' She finally asked. Her usually silky voice was raspy, and she had to clear her throat a few times before speaking. Mick looked down. His fingers had angry raised red lines streaking them, most reaching his palms.

'Oh, the, uh, necklace. I had to stop the bleeding, and I guess it was made of silver.' Mick said. Beth nodded vaguely, then returned her gaze to the ceiling. Mick let her. He honestly didn't know what to do.

Epilogue

Beth no longer flinched. No jumping in fright, or anything. It was unexpected, the opposite of how most trauma victims recover, but Beth had told Mick enough times to stop babying her and try worrying less, that he finally was. Still, it was a little concerning when she listened emotionlessly to her various gory cases from Talbot (no longer "Ben"), and when Mick admitted that Emma and Jackson Monaghan had been, as she put it, "executed", and Beth hadn't reacted negatively in the slightest, Mick was a little worried.

~ O ~

Beth had just one last thing to move on about. She'd been told countless times that it's possible for rape victims to begin to blame themselves, or think that what happened was okay, but Beth knew she wouldn't be like that. It just wasn't in her personality.

But there was still one thing Ken had said that was nagging Beth. That she'd thank him. He sounded so sure, surer than anything else he'd said. It had crossed her mind when Mick had told her that two living beings had been burned to death that old-Beth probably would've reacted badly to what had just been said. But this Beth didn't— couldn't feel anything. It was scary, but deep down she knew it was, at times, more comforting that the possible alternative.

**Ha, I know, shitty ending. My enthusiasm for this story was just plummeting as I wrote it. Still, I'm glad. Btw, this ending is totally unhealthy. If you have been sexually assaulted, or really anything-assaulted, it feels a lot better to tell someone. No one's gonna look down on you for getting help, it's hard because it's the tougher option. Be safe, everyone.

- TJ**