So this is my first Moonlight piece. Love the show (Yes, love, because I still watch it on my computer T-T), but never tried writing about it until now. I had this idea and I simply had to put it on paper.
I hope you guys like it.
Oh, and this is my first English piece as well. If you find any mistakes, please let me know, so I can improve.
This is a One-Shot. So far, I don't have plans to continue it.
So, when you finish reading, there's a big green button waiting to be pressed, and a review begging to be written. Please, don't ignore their request.
Thank you, my lovely and very talented sister, Ella Evans (she has a profile here. And she's good!), for making sure everything was perfect before I posted it. You rock.
Good reading! Let me know what you think!
Pairing: Mick/Beth
Rating: T. M to be safe
Spoilers: Somewhere between episode 15 and 16, before all the Monaghan drama
Disclaimer: They're not mine. If they were, Alex and Jason would be too.
" Kelly Christina Abboc, 19 years old. 115 pounds, 5'4, brown eyes, brunette, dark hair.
Ran away with boyfriend, Tomas James Gregory, 22 years old, 154 pounds, 6'', hazel eyes, Caucasian, dark hair, on the 4th of July, after family–"
She wasn't helping.
Goddamnit, she wasn't helping at all.
Mick dropped the file he had been trying to read for ten minutes, covered his face with his hand and sighed.
This has been a mistake. He had work to do. It was a school night, for Christ sake. Or a work night. Whatever. The point was, it was Thursday and she shouldn't be there.
Not that he didn't want her to be there. He did. He always did. But that didn't make it right.
"God, I have to stop acting like a teenager…" He sighed into his hands.
The background music that was playing in his office wasn't helping at all. Maybe it was even making it worse. It was just adding some fuel to his mind to wonder about what was going on upstairs.
It all started a few hours ago. They had bumped into each other at the Los Angeles Stadium. Parking lot, actually. Mick, for a reason, liked to be with Beth in parking lots. He wondered why.
She was going through her purse, looking for her car keys. He pocked his own keys and walked to her.
"I wonder what you're doing here, Mrs. Turner." He said behind her. She turned around, looked at him and smiled, looking surprise.
"Mick! Hey! What are you doing out here, in mid-day sun?"
He showed her the four pieces of paper.
"Tickets. It's Josef's birthday. We're taking him to the game."
She raised her eyebrows.
"Knowing Josef, I would think he had a box, or something."
"Oh, he does. But we're just thinking it might be good for him to… Blend in society a little."
She nodded and cocked her head, suddenly looking suspicious.
"Who's 'we'?"
He smiled. Jealous Beth was just too cute.
"The guys. Allan and Theo. You know, guys night out."
She nodded again.
"So Mick, Josef, Al and Theo are partying, huh?"
"Yeah, pretty much. 416 it's a… remarkable age, to say at least."
She looked at him trough her sunglasses.
"And this party of yours… Is there any freshies involved?"
"I think the boys are gonna want a refreshment before the game, yeah."
"What about you?"
"What about me?"
"Will you have… Refreshments?"
He took a step closer.
"Not if you don't want me to."
They were dancing around each other for a long time now. The dance got a little more interesting since that night in his balcony, when they shared their first real kiss. After that things got a little awkward between them, but then they started to get… Well, great. Awesome, he dared to say.
If they saw each other a lot before, now they were abusing the right to say it was "coincidence" when their cases happened to be connected.
He would drive her home after work when her car was out of gas – that happened three times in two weeks. She would drag him out of his office every now and then, claiming he worked way too much.
And, occasionally, he would leave her breathless after kissing her like they would die the very next moment.
And then goodnight. He would go back to his freezer, she would go back to her pillows.
They were just friends that fell on each other's lips once or twice.
Five times. Six.
Fine, eight.
Anyway.
The right corner of her mouth came up, in a wicked grin.
"Oh, you can have your refreshments if you want to. Who am I to stop you?"
"You sure?"
"I guess."
He looked at her for a while, trying to read her. When she looked back at him, her eyes hidden by the sunglasses, he changed the subject.
"What are you doing here?"
She raised two tickets.
"You like football?"
"Oh, they're not for me. My nephew is crazy about the NFL, and I promised him I would get the tickets."
"What a cool aunt!"
"You never know when you're gonna need a boy to spill valuable information about his mom."
He smiled at her.
"You have to get back to work right now?"
"Hmm, kinda, yeah. I'm on my lunch break." She started looking for her keys again.
"'Cause I was thinking, maybe I could get you a coffee or something."
"Can I call you back on that? I'm already ten minutes late, and Ben has been on my neck about long lunches."
"On your neck? Really? I didn't know he was fond of your blood type"
She found her keys and laughed at his joke.
"Oh, well, not like, you know, you would be."
He smiled at her hair while she unlocked the car. She had no idea.
"I'll call you after work, how about that? You'll pay me this coffee, and maybe I'll let you take a sample of some fresh AO-."
And then she was gone.
She had been bringing up the feeding subject a lot lately. He tried to avoid it, but he couldn't say he wasn't interested. The one experience they had had been enough for him to let his mind wonder about the taste – her taste – for hours.
So night had come, and she called him, demanding her promised coffee. He asked where did she want to go, and she said that she was on her way to his place.
When she got there, she decided to skip coffee and asked if he had any wine.
"Hard day?"
"Awful, actually." She said when she took the glass from his hand. "Ben's driving everybody crazy. He's almost getting promoted, so his nerves are all over the place. Poor Jenny is about to lose it."
"Who's Jenny?" He asked from his spot on the couch, sipping on his own glass of wine.
"His secretary. She almost quit today. We had to make her eat a whole chocolate bar to calm her down."
"Is that bad?" He asked, when he saw her face when she mentioned the whole chocolate bar.
"Are you kidding? Do you know how easily an entire chocolate bar can ruin this?" She pointed at her own body when she got up to get more wine.
"I find it hard to believe that anything could ruin all that." He said to himself.
They kept drinking. And drinking a little more. Wine wasn't doing it for him, so he skipped to scotch. Beth sticked to her Merlot.
He just realized what time it was when his watched beeped on his wrist. 1:30 AM.
"Oh my, is that late? I should go home!" Beth got up from her seat, just to fall back at the couch.
"You okay?"
"Too much wine." She stated, rubbing her forehead.
"You know what? You should spend the night."
She looked at him from between her fingers.
"Huh?"
"Yeah. It's too late for you to drive home, and you shouldn't be alone, or driving, given the circumstances"
"What circumstances?"
"Too much wine."
She looked at him, and then lowered her face.
"I don't know… I have work tomorrow…"
"You'll go to work tomorrow. The only difference is that you'll sleep in my couch. Yet once again." He couldn't help grin at the thought.
She sighed after a minute considering his offer.
"Ok. And since I don't have to drive, I'll get some more wine."
She got up, slowly this time. He sat back on his couch, emptying his glass.
It was a stupid excuse. He could drive her home, and she would be perfectly fine by herself. He knew it, she knew it.
But then again, they both also knew the infinite number of possibilities of then sleeping under the same roof would bring. And they both couldn't say no to this.
"So…" he heard her when she came back from the kitchen "I've been talking to Simone"
"Really? I had a feeling you two would bond."
"Yeah, yeah. We had lunch Monday."
He was surprised when she, instead of coming back to her spot on the couch, over the cushions she had been occupying before, took his lap, her legs around his hips.
Surprised, but not unhappy. His hands flew to her thighs, like they had been doing this forever.
And, of course, the wine she had and the ¾ of his best scotch bottle helped a little.
"It's always dangerous when girls like you and Simone get together without supervision."
"Hmm, I wouldn't say dangerous…" Her hands found the limit of his shirt, and his flesh felt the touch of her warm fingers, running up and down his chest.
"What did you talk about?" His eyes closed, head resting on the back of the couch.
"You, and Josef… It's really nice to talk to someone about this crazy world of yours…"
"Great… That's good."
He was almost losing track of the conversation. The feeling of her hands massaging his muscles were really distracting him.
"Yeah. And I, uh… Asked about something that has been bugging me for the last few weeks…"
He didn't answer. He had to concentrate really hard not to moan when she decided to use her nails, and use all his will power not to squeeze her thighs with his hands. Well, at least not too hard.
"And I have to say, I liked her advice."
"What did she advice you about?"
He was so pissed off at her jeans right now.
"Hmm, some… Biting issues."
He opened his eyes, to find her blue ones looking at him, her mouth in a little smile. He shut then back again when she scratched him a little harder.
"I knew this was dangerous…" He managed to say.
"No, no, not dangerous at all. Just… Very educational. For example, I learned that it doesn't have to hurt."
His hands pressed her legs around his hips.
"I hurt you that time in the desert, didn't I? I'm s-"
Her index finger came to his lips, shutting him up.
"Forget about the desert. I did. The only thing I can recall that day was you all wet in a ripped shirt. That's all."
"Beth-"
"Seriously, shut up about it! Let me tell you what Simone told me!"
He relaxed again, and she got back to massaging his chest.
"She told me that the first time is always the bad one. The others are pure, and I quote, 'sex in a pair of fangs'"
He had to laugh.
"And you know what I decided?"
"What did you decide?"
Her hands were off his shirt, and around his neck, her lips touching his right ear ever so slightly.
"I decided I want to try it."
He saw that coming. He really did. Since the first joke she made about it a week ago, he knew. And then, every time he "accidentally" kissed her, she ended up nibbling on his neck, a little harder than normal.
He was about to tell her he didn't feed fresh anymore, when she suddenly got up.
"I'm gonna take a shower. Ok? It's late, and I have work tomorrow."
He looked at her, standing in front of him, looking as innocent as ever.
"Ok." He said with a smile in his lips. She messed his hair with her right hand and walked to the staircase, humming a song.
"Ok, St. John, concentrate. She's teasing you. She always does."
"Do you know where the towels are?" He shouted at her, since she was already upstairs.
"I'll find them later!" She shouted back.
Later. After the shower? What, she was just going to wonder around naked looking for tow-
"Focus! Focus, !"
He got up the couch and headed to his office. Nothing like a bunch of bloody cases to take his mind from Beth, walking around his second floor all naked and wet looking for towels.
"God have mercy."
And since then, she wasn't helping.
The shower was on for ten minutes now. That meant she was washing her hair. And she had left the bathroom door open. He could smell the shampoo and hear the water drops hitting against the floor, not her flesh, he told himself. Just the floor. And the humming of a song he didn't recognize.
God, how long was she there? Women do take long showers, don't they? Maybe she was trying to relax. Since that jerk Talbot was all bitchy about the huge promotion, is only natural she wanted to relax under the shower. Water can really make stress vanish when you close your eyes and just-
No! No no. Let's not think about this.
"…on the 4th of July, after family dinner at her grandmother's note.
'Dear Mom and Daddy,
Please, don't worry. I'm fine. I'm with Tom, and we're not in Vegas getting married or something stupid like that. We're safe.
Please understand that we love each other, and we want to build a life together. So we decided, why wait? Life's too short, so we'll make our dreams come true, starting now.
Mom, I'm dropping UCLA. Honestly, there's nothing there for me. I want to live, to know the world, and that's never going to happen if I'm stuck there.
Daddy, I'm sorry, I can't take your place at your Law Firm. I hate judges, and I hate those books you made me read every summer since I'm ten. I just don't care about that. Please, don't hate me.
I'll keep in touch.
Tell my brother I love him.
Love,
Kelly'
Last phone call was two weeks ago. Her credit cards – "
The shower stopped. He tried to hear her steps, but the only sound coming from her was the humming. And then the shower started again.
"Okay, St. John, stop paying attention."
"… creditcards were last used two days after she left ho-"
His phone started ringing.
"Hello?"
"Are you dead?"
Josef.
"No. Not yet, at least. Why?"
"Poker night, man. Where the hell are you?"
"Oh, right! Sorry, I forgot."
Josef was silent for a minute.
"Beth's there, huh?"
"What? How did you k-"
"I figured the only way you would pass the chance to get Al's beloved Impala was if something major happened. Like dying. Of course, since you're alive and kicking, the next major thing is Blondie."
Mick smiled at his friend's line of thought.
"Yeah, she's here."
"Things got good yet? Oh, am I interrupting something?"
He could hear the smile on Josef's words.
"No, Josef. She's at the shower."
"The shower, huh? Good. Is that Sinatra I hear? You dog. Didn't even get the poor girl a chance."
"Actually, she's the one not giving anybody a chance. Did Simone tell you about their little get together this week?"
"No." His tone was suddenly worried.
"Well, apparently, they've been having lunch together. And you know women. They talk."
"Should I be worried?"
"I don't know. But is always good to keep an eye on –"
The shower stopped again. And this time, he heard steps, and the light sound of fabric against skin.
"Women, man! They're just impossible to control!"
"I gotta go, Josef. Call you later, ok?"
"Fine. Go party. Tell Beth I said hi."
He hung up.
Mick picked the remote control and turned off the music, listening carefully.
There was definite walking, now. Her steps were getting louder.
She was walking down the stairs. Skipping, actually.
He hurried and picked the file up again. Five seconds later, she appeared on his door.
"Mick." She called.
He looked up, and his insides twisted.
Standing at his office carpet, was a fresh-from-the-shower Beth, wearing one of his button-down shirts. Her hair was wet, and her hands were wondering around it.
"Do you have, by any chance, a blow-dryer?"
He smiled at the vision and the thought.
"No, sorry."
She made a face, combed her already combed hair with her fingers and walked to him.
"Working?"
"Trying."
"Big case?"
"No, not really. Just a couple of parents who hasn't realized their daughter grew up."
"Hmm. I ordered Chinese. Is that ok? Wine makes me hungry."
"Of course." He couldn't take his eyes off of her when she walked back to the living room, giving him a full view of her back and her ittzy bittzy shorts.
And she was gone, leaving his mind wondering.
"Hey, do you have any ice cream?"
"No. Why don't you order that too?"
"Too bad." She spoke, her voice no longer shouting "Wine also makes me hot."
That was it. She just crossed the line. There is a limit of how much a man can take. He dropped the file and was just getting up his chair when a loud and clear "Ouch!" came from the kitchen.
He was on her on a second.
"What?"
"Nothing, I just cut myself. It's ok, don't worry. Nothing bad."
She walked to the sink and turned the water on, ready to wash the wound.
Oh, but he wouldn't let her.
He caught her hand and carried her with his free arm, making her sit on his counter.
"Let me check that."
He looked at her thumb. A small, not very deep cut were pouring red, rich scented blood. He inhaled and smelled the alcohol and the chocolate she had eaten earlier.
"You had an entire chocolate bar too?" He asked, comfortably settled between her legs. She didn't seem to mind.
"I told you I had a bad day. Now let me down, I have to clean this up. It's burning a little."
"Is it?" he pressed himself a little harder against her legs. "How did you do this again?"
"Wine opener. It slipped."
He looked at the sink and saw the water hitting the wine opener, the traces of her blood long gone.
"Now, you shouldn't have done that." He said, while turning the water off.
She looked at the sink.
"I didn't know I would cut myself, sorry."
"I'm not talking about that."
"What are you talking about?"
He took her thumb and put it in his mouth, licking the blood that was slowly pouring.
She shivered.
"What are you doing?"
He looked at her, a fake confused look on his eyes.
"What? You're the one who said you wanted to try it."
She just sat there, and looked at him, looking amazed.
"You don't?"
"I do, yeah. I just thought it would be really hard to convince you."
He sighed and smiled up at her.
"Well, you did it. I just have one thing to ask."
"What's that?"
She was caressing his face with her free hand.
"I want to know what Simone told you."
"Oh, I don't remember everything…"
"Yes, you do. Don't lie to me, I can tell when you do."
"Is that important?"
"Not really. But come on, humor me."
"I've been humoring you a lot lately, haven't I?" She ran her hands up and down his chest.
"Yes, you have. But I'm thinking you like humoring me. Am I right?"
She smiled and raised her eyebrows.
"Ok… What do you want to know?"
"How she described it to you. It would be interesting to have another point of view."
"Alright. Let's see…" This time she closed her legs a little tighter, forcing him to take a step further, bringing him closer "The subject came up when I saw her scarf. It was beautiful, but, come on, this is LA. Summer LA. And she's Josef's lawyer, and his freshie. I just made the math."
"And, a reporter that you are, you just had to ask, right?" He smiled at her predictable behavior and closed his hands around her knees, widening her legs a little bit more, positioning himself more comfortably.
"Well, yeah. I mean, she's the only person I know that knows about this. And we've been talking a lot, lately. She even tells me stuff about her and Josef." She giggled.
His eyebrows went up.
"Really? What kind of stuff?" He was suddenly interested. Josef had more dirt on him than he had on Josef. That was about to change.
"You know. Intimate stuff. What he likes to do, what he doesn't like to do…"
"Yeah, yeah, I know about all that. Known the guy for 50 years. What else?"
Beth looked at him.
"You want to know about my talk with Simone or Josef's weirdness?"
He looked at her angry blue eyes and smiled.
"You, of course. Go on."
She smiled again and patted his arm.
"Anyway, we've been talking a lot lately. She tells me stuff, I tell her stuff. So I was comfortable enough asking if Josef had had his lunch already."
"What kind of stuff you tell her?"
"You know… Girl stuff."
"Does that include me?"
"Sometimes… But, before you ask, I'm not telling you that. And don't bother asking her. She won't tell either. Anyway, I asked her about the scarf. She just sit there smiling."
He waited for her to go on.
She didn't.
"Then what?"
"I don't wanna say."
If he wasn't squeezing her legs already, he would have, just to make her talk.
"Oh, come on. Please? You'll get your prize in the end, is only fair you tell me what I want to know. Right?" He nuzzled her neck and used his Good Voice - Josef pointed once that when he wanted something from women, even Coraline, he used that voice. And it worked. All the time.
He heard her intake of breath.
"What did she tell you, Beth?"
She sighed heavily, then sang like a bird.
"She said that she didn't believe I hadn't tried it yet."
"And what did you say?"
"Nothing, she didn't let me. She kept talking and talking about all the things I was missing, and all the feelings that it… You… Could… God, Mick, stop that!"
Her hands flew to his hair when he took a small amount of flesh between his teeth, not really intending to bite or even break skin, just pressing his teeth and tasting her with the tip of his tongue. The goosebumps running her body and her moaning-like command told him she enjoyed it.
"Hmm, sorry. You taste too good. I got distracted. Go on."
She opened her eyes.
"What was I saying?"
"Simone was just telling you about how good I can make you feel."
"Oh, yeah. Ok, so she kept – stop it! – going on and on about all the wonders of sharing blood. How is almost like a drug, and that's why is so hard to quit. How the danger and the hole supernatural thing makes us feel like a very important part of something only a tiny part of the world knows about. She said that when you – Mick, seriously, stop it! – when you get over the theory and focus on the sensations, the world seems much brighter than it really is."
He was hardly listening to her anymore. Her voice sending delicious vibrations to her neck, her blood pumping under the surface, her wet hair lightly touching his face and the way his hands so easily ran through her skin, not to mention her fingers entwining with his hair, were making him really, really consider this whole biting thing.
He knew he had agreed with this before, but he hadn't really meant it. Maybe he would reopen the wound on her thumb, scratch her wrist a little bit, but that was it. Nothing dramatic like biting and taking mouthfuls of her blood. But this whole talk and the feel of her and the smell of his own soap on her skin were making his inner vampire get all frisky.
"What else?"
"Well, she said that you, vampires, have ways of making it feel good, other than fang skills."
His eager hands found the short shorts under the shirt she was wearing, pressed his fingers on her skin and continued their way up, the shorts over his hands keeping her flesh in contact with his.
"Meaning?"
"She said that, if you want to, you can… Attract me, even against my will."
He looked up at her and saw her eyes sparkle at him.
"Did she really tell you that?"
"Yeah… Why, is this bad?"
"No, I suppose is not bad, but… Why are you smiling?"
She touched her mouth.
"Nothing, just… Just wondering if you ever used it on me."
"No, of course I haven't. You would know if I did."
"Does it work on everybody?"
"It always worked for me."
"You use it a lot?"
He put a strand of hair behind her left ear.
"Not for the purposes I did a few years ago. But I do, sometimes."
"Like when?"
"Like… When I'm working, and I need someone to tell me something. Sometimes people are stubborn. And sometimes I just…"
"Makes things easier." She completed.
"Yeah, exactly."
His hands made their way back down, sliding from under her shorts.
"What?" He asked when he saw her curious look upon him.
"Try it on me."
He raised his brows.
"What, now?"
"Yeah, now, right now. I want to see what it's like."
"Aren't we curious today?"
"Just do it, come on!"
She let go of his hair and adjusted her hands resting on the counter behind her, supporting her upper body. The legs loosed a little around his waist, giving him space to move.
He looked at her and decided that she was already wearing his shirt, her thighs already had a mark with the perfect shape of his fingers, he was already going to prove her blood and her mind was already made up.
Screw it, thought the vampire purring inside him.
He let go of her legs and rested his hands on the counter, trapping her. He took a deep breath and looked deep in her eyes, listening to the sounds her body was making, keeping her eyes locked with his.
And then it was on.
He heard her blood run faster through her veins, felt her foot twitch on his sides, her expression change from curious and excited to deep and serious, looking into his eyes, waiting for something.
"Beth?"
"Yeah…?" Her answer came in a low, low voice.
"Come here"
She moved her torso on his direction, her hands coming to rest on her sides. Her eyes never left his.
"Close your eyes."
Her eyes shut slowly.
He moved closer and whispered to her cheek:
"Do you feel me, Beth?"
"Yes" She whispered back.
"Do you feel your blood running, calling out for me?"
"Yes"
"Touch me"
Her hand rose from her sides and touched his face. He leaned into her touch and kissed her palm. She let out a breath he didn't know she was holding.
His right hand went up and he gripped the base of her neck, and then up, forcing her head back, exposing her neck.
He repeated what he had done earlier and caught a bit of flesh between his teeth, pressed and tasted her with the tip of his tongue.
This time, she didn't tell him to stop, though. Instead, she let out a soft moan, almost a cry, and griped his hair again, trying to keep him in place, her legs tightened around his waist one more time, hooking him against her.
With her hand still on his face, he closed the hand that was still on her neck, capturing a handful of hair in the process, and pulled her face, and her neck, away from him.
He found her eyes still closed.
"Beth"
"Hmm?" The blue orbs remained shut.
"Look at me"
Her heavy lids slowly went up, and their gazes locked once again.
And, just like that time when she was high on vampire blood and silver, he leaned in to capture her lips, but was interrupted. This time, by a soft knock on the door.
He could kill someone right now. Really. He just needed four seconds to get his gun at his office, open the door and shoot whoever was trying to drag him from heaven. Or maybe, forget the gun. He had sharp fangs after all.
Beth blinked several times and then sighed, caressing his face while descending to the floor to land on the minimum space between him and the counter.
"God, you're good. I was ready to jump your bones just now." She gave him a peck on the cheek "That's my food. Can you wait here for a moment?"
He didn't move when she tried to pull him back so she could get her take out.
"Mick, really, the guy is waiting."
"I'm waiting too, you know." He bent down and touched her cheek with his lips, before moving to her earlobe.
"I know. But you're not going anywhere, are you?" The person at the door knocked again. She pulled him a little harder and walked to the couch, to get her purse. "Can you poor me another glass of wine, please?"
Mick watched her get her wallet, and walked to her.
"Why don't you get the wine and a bit of scotch for me? I'll get your food." He said, while taking her wallet from her hand and placing it back on her purse.
She smiled and walked back to the kitchen.
He opened the door and saw a skinny, really white guy with red shirt and hat, holding a paper bag.
"Huh… One Lemon Chicken and two Egg Rolls?"
"Yes" He agreed. Even if it wasn't correct, he just wanted the annoying boy to disappear, as quickly as possible. He paid the guy, who gave him the paper bag, touched his hat and walked back to the elevator. Mick closed the door and walked back to the kitchen.
Beth was not there.
When he turned to put the food on the counter, he found her sitting on the couch, sipping her wine, his glass of scotch on her left hand. She had her back to him.
He took the boxes out of the paper bag, opened them, got the chopsticks and walked to her.
"Hmm, that's smells great! Thank you!" She gave him his glass and sat by her side.
He drank from his glass and the familiar taste of concentrated alcohol burned his throat, calming his senses.
But then Beth moaned again.
"Hmm! God! I wish you could taste this! It's amazing!" She said, after swallowing a portion of her lemon chicken.
He just sat there looking.
"You really like watching me eat, don't you?"
"What can I say? You amuse me."
They smiled at each other.
"So…" She started, looking at her food again.
"So?"
"How many times did you use that on girls?"
"Used what, honey?" He caressed her cheek.
"Oh, come on. That! That… Thing you just used on me?"
"Oh, that."
"Yes, Mick. That. How often do you use that on girls?"
He rested his back on the couch and watched her take another portion of chicken to her mouth.
"Well, I never really needed to use it. It… comes naturally."
She straightened her eyes.
"Oh, really? Vampire eternal coolness, huh?"
"No. Just plain old St. John charm."
She smiled and raised her eyebrows.
"And that works?"
"It worked on you."
They stared at each other. He listened to her steady heartbeat and she looked for signal on his eyes.
"Are you doing it again?"
"No."
She kept looking for something else in his eyes.
"Eat your chicken, Beth. You had a lot of wine, you have to feed."
"You had a lot of scotch." She said.
"Oh, don't worry about me. I'll feed later." And he winked at her.
Her smile vanished, her gaze more intense.
"Now eat."
She dropped her eyes at her plate, smiling timidly.
After one or two minutes of silence – which was not awkward, because their silence is never awkward – she raised her head and looked at him.
"You still want know what Simone told me about Josef?"
"Yes, please." He emptied his glass and poured himself another one.
"Well," Beth said, chewing the last piece of chicken on her plate "She told me that once… He fell asleep in the middle of… You know."
He mouth dropped.
"You're kidding."
"Nope. That's what she said."
He didn't know what to say. Josef Konstan, his best friend Josef Konstan, the dream of 8 out of 10 freshies, 9 out of 10 random women, and secretly 3 out of 5 feminist who called him a chauvinist, fell asleep doing what he claims he does best.
Un-freaking-believable.
"Was… was she mad?"
"No. I mean, I suppose she was mad at the time, but now she can't talk about it without laughing"
"Well, I can imagine why" He chuckled. "God, that bastard."
The smile on his face made her smile too.
"Oh, but you can't tell him I told you. He doesn't even know I know this."
He looked at her, eyebrows as higher as they could be.
"Are you asking me to drop this? And to lose the chance of see the look on his face? I'm sorry, Beth, that's not happening."
"Mick, I'm serious. Simone told me as a secret. You can't tell him you know that I know!"
"Oh, don't worry, love, he won't know you know. We have ways of finding these things out about each other. You're safe."
He laughed again, just the idea too much to keep a straight face.
Bet giggled and finished her wine. He saw her close her eyes and rest her head on the couch, a heavy sigh leaving her lungs. He looked at his watch. 3:46 A.M.
"You should get some sleep, it's late"
"No, it's not" She said, her eyes still closed, looking for a better position at the couch.
He got up and went upstairs. Entered his closet and opened a door he rarely used and got an almost new pillow and a fluffy blanket, from his human days.
He went back down the stairs and found Beth lying on the couch, eyes closed, breathing long and slow, asleep.
He walked to her, carefully lifted her head to place the pillow under it and was about to move to get the blanket when she caught his hand.
"Where are you going?"
"You need to sleep, sweetheart, it's late."
"No, no. You promised, remember? I kept my part of the deal and told you everything you wanted to know. Now it's your –"long yawn"-your turn."
"Beth, you're almost sleeping. Maybe tomorrow, ok?"
"No!" She caught his hand with both hers, pulling him to her, sneaking her arms around his neck when he was close enough, getting him to land on top of her, and ran her feet over his jeans covered legs, eyes always closed.
"You're so stubborn" He stated, but couldn't help lose himself on her, the feel of her feet roaming his legs, her hands looking for the hem of his shirt, until she found it, and plunger her nails on his flesh, surely leaving red marks on his skin as they went up and down, side to side.
"You promised me. And you have to keep your pro…"
Her word died as he forced open two buttons of his shirt she was wearing, sending them to the floor, useless, exposing a beautiful cleavage, an inviting neck.
And no bra.
He ran his hands over her waist, under her, or his, shirt, until he could slightly lift her from the couch, exposing her neck to him. He inhaled her scent and he could feel her dizziness from the alcohol, feel the sleep leaving her body and giving place to a growing excitement. He could see himself through her eyes when he used his allure on her, her blood boiling under her skin, calling for him, Mick, Mick…
"Mick" she breathed his name and tangled her legs on his.
"Relax, love"
She tugged at his shirt, wanting to get rid of it, and managed to lift it from his torso until his chest were bare, and he had no choice but to flip it over his head, and let her pull it from his arms, one at a time.
He pressed his lips against the skin and ran them over collarbone, shoulder, neck, ear, cheek, neck again, and then her chin, pausing not an inch from her lower lip.
"Tell me what Simone told you."
"Aw, Mick, come on, I already-"
"Please, love, just tell me"
He licked his way back to her collarbone, making her shiver when he got to the limit of the shirt.
"I, uh…"
She scratched his back a little harder and lifted her upper body towards him, encouraging his actions.
"She said… I…"
Her voice was nothing but a weak whisper.
"Tell me"
"First, you see nothing but white, and a sharp pain. Then your… strength… Goes, and then you feel… you feel…"
He was sliding his right arm under her back, the left one running along her leg, foot to hip, stopping a little at her knee to lift it and place it around his body.
"You start feeling something run along your veins, and it's like you weight… nothing, and… Your blood stars running… To that point were all you can feel is-"
He bit down.
And she cried in surprise, but held him closer, her nails digging deep on his back, her legs tight around his legs, upper body lifting towards him, head falling back, eyes shut.
And that was it. All problems, all doubts, all concerns, Josh, Coraline, vampires, humans, secrets, death… It was all gone. It was them, together, entwined in a mess of legs and arms and teeth and nails and moans and smells and flavors. Mick and Beth. His Beth. The rest of everything going white and black, the world numb around them.
They were lost.
Mick was pressing his tongue over the open vein, willing her blood to come for him, and it did. He took it happily, his mind rushing in a speed he couldn't keep up, her flavor making him moan, and she was shivering and panting under him, crying his name in a high that Black Cristal never gave her.
They dragged each other to the depths of their souls, where they had belonged all along.
And yet, he knew he had to stop, to come back from her.
He retracted his fangs and she whimpered in protest, arching further upon, scratching him in punishment. Mick lapped at the two small punctures until they stopped pouring blood, and kissed and licked her skin when she whispered and moaned loudly at the action.
He closed his eyes, dueling with the vampire that fought to stay awake, to claim her, to take her, make her theirs. His.
She touched his cheek and brought his face up, to look at her.
Ocean eyes met icy ones. And fangs and traces of blood on his lips.
And she was kissing him, like she never did. Holding him, like he would vanish the very next moment.
Tender, caring. Loving.
"Hmm, let's do that again." She said between kisses and then offered the other side of her neck to him.
He chuckled, thrilled that she had liked it, and overwhelmed that she trusted him enough to do it again, so soon.
"I don't think so, love. You have to rest. You know, recover your strength."
"No, no, I can do that tomorrow. I'll skip work, and can stay here all day."
She pulled him towards her neck. He went willingly, but only kissed her sensitive and alert skin and she shivered again, all pores on her body screaming for him.
"You're like fine chocolate, my love. Small portions. If I take too much, I'll have to deprive myself for a long, long time. And I don't want that."
"No, me neither." She said, hugging him tight.
"The less I take, the sooner I… We, can repeat."
She sighed and he rested his head on her chest, listening to her heart beating, working to replace what he took.
Soon her breathing was slow, calm and rhythmic. She had fallen deep asleep.
And yet her arms were securing him against her, and his body fit hers perfectly, like it did when she hugged him 26 years ago, trusting him with her life. And he laid still, counting her heartbeats until the sun was high on the sky.
He belonged there.