All through his time on Being Human, Mitchell has been seen to wear a pendant of some description. The fun has been in trying to decipher what exactly is on that pendant. There has been a lot of discussion and theories about what they are. One seems to be a ring. This is my interpretation of how that ring came to be part of his pendant. It is pure guesswork and supposition. The characters of John Mitchell, Josie, Herrick and Seth belong to Toby Whithouse and his team of very talented writers. I write for love and not for profit. All errors are my own. This was intending to be a one shot but nope, not happening, as it is, this will be posted in two parts, the second part at a later date. Please read and let me know what you think. The latter part of this chapter is inspired in part by the Florence and the Machine track 'Howl'. Dedicated to The Blog and the girls at Twitter, they know who they are ;) Thanks x
The Pendant.
The Ring:
Summer, 1969.
He hates waiting for anything and today is no exception.
She promised faithfully that she'd be here but he still has that niggling doubt at the back of his mind that she'll change her mind, that something better will come along and she'll ditch him. They'd talked for ages on the phone last night and just the sound of her voice makes him smile, makes his body react. He can't wait to see her; he's missed her so much.
He sees the train come into the station and he puts out his cigarette and he straightens and he waits. His brown eyes seek her out, nerves twisting in the pit of his stomach. She has to be here, she promised. He doesn't know what he'll do if she's not on the train. His mouth is dry. He stands on tiptoe, trying to see over the heads of the disembarking passengers, his eyes searching amongst the faces.
Then he sees her and he smiles in relief. He strides towards her, dodging between passengers and other folk meeting loved ones off the train. It all feels so incredibly normal but also incredibly exciting. Her eyes are searching out the faces too and when she sees him she smiles. Her smile makes him hurry, makes him want to be there more quickly.
In an instant he's there and she's in his arms. He's holding her and he can smell the scent of her, her perfume, her hairspray, just of her. He lifts her off her feet as he hugs her tightly and he's kissing her and hugging her again. Everything will be okay; she's here now, just as she promised.
"How was the trip?" he asks her and she rolls blue eyes.
"Boring" she replies. He puts her down and looks down and sees the large case by her feet. His eyes widen.
"Bloody hell Josie how much of the flat did you bring? It's only for a couple of days" he teases and she smiles.
"I didn't know what to bring…not having been to Bristol before…" she blushes prettily and he grins as he picks the case up. He tests its weight.
"You've brought everything haven't you?" She glances coquettishly up at him and shrugs one shoulder.
"I might have" she answers. He takes her other hand.
"I don't know why you bothered, you won't be wearing much of it anyway" he teases and she giggles. Together they head out of the train station and to where his Volvo is parked.
He dumps the case in the boot beside his own rather smaller overnight bag. He's never needed much. He slams it shut and then goes to the passenger door before she can get there and he opens it for her and takes a little bow as she grins at him and gets in. He closes it behind her and scoots around to the driver's side and he gets in.
"Did you manage to get everything organised?" she asks. He looks at her and he slowly smiles.
"What do you think?" her answering smile is wide.
"Which reminds me…you'll need this" he dips his hand into his jacket pocket and he takes out a small square box. He glances up at her face as he flips the lid open to reveal a thin band of gold. He takes it out of its velvety bed and gently takes her left hand. She can barely breathe as he slips it onto the fourth finger. He looks at her again and he smiles once more.
"There you go…Mrs McCartney" he teases and she tears her eyes away from it to look into his brown eyes. She giggles happily and throws her arms around his neck and she kisses him. There's a glow to her face as they separate.
"We'd better get going, in case they give our room away" he pushes the key into the ignition and smiles at her as the Volvo roars into life.
She's still giggling as he unlocks the door to their room and pushes it open.
"I don't think he believed us for one single second" she whispers to him and he rolls his eyes.
"He's not paid to believe us Josie, he's paid to do his job" he follows her into the room.
"But the look he gave you…" the words dry up as she finally takes in her surroundings.
"Oh…Mitchell" she whispers reverently and he takes pleasure in how her eyes go wide, how her mouth drops open.
"Do you like it?" he asks as he quietly closes the door behind him. He watches her turn to look at him. Her eyes are sparkling like sapphires and there's a new glow to her that he hasn't seen before.
"It's beautiful…it must've cost you a fortune…" she breathes, turning to look at the room again. The walls are painted a pale ivory with matching curtains at the long windows. The bed is wide and inviting, the bed linen a deeper shade of gold. The moment she consented to visit him in Bristol, he wanted it to be special.
"Don't worry about that, it's all taken care of" he tells her walking towards her. He slips his arms around her waist and she leans back into him, resting her head against the hollow of his shoulder. She's only here for two days and he wants it to be memorable. She turns in his arms and she stands on tiptoe and kisses him. His hands slip down to her hips and he gently brings her up close to him, not once breaking contact. She reaches for the buttons of his shirt and he lets go of her long enough to loosen his tie and pull it free of the collar. It drops ignored to the floor. His jacket quickly follows. She reaches for his belt buckle, hooking her fingers around it. She draws back from him and the look in her eyes is pure devilry as she pulls him towards the bed.
"Don't you want to freshen up first?" he asks. She pauses as if contemplating it for a second. Then she unfastens his belt with a speed that makes him widen his eyes. She turns him around.
"You minx!" he exclaims, laughter in his voice. She puts her hand in the centre of his chest and she pushes him. He falls back onto the bed and without prompting, she climbs on top of him and claims his mouth in a sizzling, toe curling kiss.
The remnants of a meal are on a tray on the floor. They had sat in the centre of the bed, clad in hotel dressing gowns and demolished it. Outside its dark and they haven't once ventured outside of their hotel room.
"I had plans to show you around Bristol this afternoon" he tells her. She looks at him as she takes a mouthful of her coffee.
"I think what we decided upon was much more fun" she replies with a wicked grin. He smiles back.
"Yeah it was" he agrees. Here he doesn't have to keep his eyes open, to be vigilant for Seth or even Herrick lurking in the shadows. Herrick won't do anything that he can get Seth to do and Seth is just too bloody annoying at the best of times. He doesn't want to expose Josie to either of them unless absolutely necessary.
He hasn't told Herrick that he's doing this but he'll know. The fact that he's not at his usual hang outs should be information enough. He knows that he's been distracted since their sojourn to London three months ago but he won't tell him about her, about the fact that he didn't kill her as he'd instructed him to do. Being with Josie has made him open his eyes to the world around him. It's made him look at himself and the company that he keeps. His eyes land on the wedding ring that she's wearing for proprietary's sake. They lift to her face. He lowers his coffee cup and the sudden movement makes her look at him. He's frowning and she wonders why.
"What? What's wrong?" she asks, her voice suddenly tense with worry and he looks at her again.
"Have you thought about moving to Bristol…living here with me?" he asks, the idea just leaping into his mind. Her eyes go wide.
"Mitchell!" she breathes. He twists his upper body to put his cup on the bedside cabinet. He takes her cup from her and puts it beside his.
"Think about it. We could get a flat together somewhere, it'd be great, just the two of us" he warms to the idea the more he thinks about it.
"My whole family are in London Mitchell" she gently reminds him.
"You could visit them, there are regular trains to London" he frowns slightly when he realises she's not as enthusiastic about the idea as he is.
"It's too soon isn't it?" He watches her nod and he swallows against bitter disappointment.
"A little bit. We're having fun as we are, aren't we?" He nods.
"I miss you that's all. This is all so new to me, relationships that last more than a single night" He looks away.
"I don't know anyone in Bristol Mitchell" she tells him in a sad voice.
"You know me, and you'd make new friends…" but she's not really listening to him anymore.
"All your…vampire friends are here aren't they?" her voice is hesitant. Slowly he nods.
"You know…you could always…move to London with me instead?" she gently suggests and it's on the tip of his tongue to refuse but at the last moment he stops and he thinks.
"I could give notice on my place, we could find something together, there's plenty of jobs in London, you'd find something easily I'm sure" his expression remains pensive.
"I dunno…it's a big step…"
"And you were expecting me to just up sticks and move here?" she reminds him and it makes him pause. He sighs.
"Point made. Let's just forget about this conversation yeah?" Josie nods. She watches him climb out of bed. His manner is stiff and she swallows.
"Mitchell…" she scrambles off the bed and goes to him, grabbing his arm. He pauses and then looks at her. She can see that he's not happy.
"I'm not saying no outright, just not right now, okay? We're having such a good time; I don't want to do anything to spoil any of it. What if I did move here and we did find somewhere to live, what if we realised that we didn't get along? Bristol is such a long way away from London" she deliberately catches his eye and she smiles softly.
"What we have feels so special right now and I don't want anything to get in the way of it" her hand slides down his arm to capture his hand.
"Come back to bed" she invites. With her other hand she reaches for the tie of his dressing gown.
She stirs sleepily and sees him shrugging on his jacket. She squints at her watch.
"Where are you going at this time of night?" she asks, her voice blurry with sleep.
"To get some cigarettes, go back to sleep, I won't be long" he comes around to her side of the bed and he presses a quick kiss on her forehead. She watches him leave before closing her eyes again.
The night manager glances up at him as he walks by. Mitchell ignores him as he leaves the hotel lobby.
The air is warm. He pauses and looks left and right. He steps out and just walks. The need for cigarettes is just an excuse to get some air. What Josie has said about him moving to London rather than her moving to Bristol has made him think. He could get lost in London, leave all of this behind, and leave Herrick behind. It's tempting.
He's so lost in his daydreams that he doesn't hear the footsteps til the last moment. He feels a hand grab his shoulder and before he knows it, he's being turned around. He lets his eyes change and he snarls as a hand wraps around his throat. He's being forced backwards until his back hits a wall, his head connects painfully with the red brick. He struggles but he's held in place.
"You always are a one for nocturnal wanderings aren't you Mitchell?" a voice enquires. He manages to turn his head a fraction and he's not surprised in the slightest to see Herrick standing there. Herrick looks at Seth.
"You can let go of him now" he tells him. Seth frowns almost in disappointment but eventually he releases him. Mitchell glares at him and rubs at his throat.
"That'll leave a bruise you fucking moron" he snarls at him. Seth hisses at him and Mitchell lunges towards him only to be stopped mid movement by Herrick. He pushes him back up against the wall.
"You're a quick healer, get over it" he tells him in a firm voice. Mitchell falls silent.
"Now…." He turns his head and sends Seth a hard look. He turns back to Mitchell.
"You're a hard man to find but not impossible"
"What do you want?" Mitchell demands.
"You've been like a ghost these last couple of weeks; a guy could get a complex"
"I've been working, been busy" Herrick sees how his eyes slide almost guiltily away from his. It's a tell of Mitchell's, when he's not being entirely truthful, his eyes become distinctly suspicious and they're being very suspicious right now.
"What's going on Mitchell?" he sighs. He stiffens, it's very subtle but he notices it.
"Nothing" he mutters. Herrick steps in front of him.
"You're lying to me young man and be warned, I will get to the bottom of it. You can't keep anything from me, you've tried before and failed" a tiny smile plays at the corner of his mouth. Mitchell stares at him.
"Or I could just go back to the Berkeley and ask the night manager myself?" he makes to turn and Mitchell reaches out and grabs the lapel of Herrick's jacket.
"No" he growls and Herrick stares at him for a moment and then looks pointedly at the fist curled around his jacket lapel. Mitchell slowly lets go. The two men stare at each other.
"What's her name?" Herrick asks in a cool voice. Mitchell swallows but doesn't answer and Herrick sighs impatiently.
"Does the night manager know? Should I ask him?" his voice rises sharply.
"It doesn't matter" he retorts.
"Oh I think that it does, you go off the grid for two weeks and I start to wonder why. I should've realised that it had to be about a woman, a woman is the only reason you would be avoiding me, I feel almost…used"
"You'll tell me her name eventually" his voice drops to a lethal purr.
"Have you told her about what you are yet?"
"She already knows and she's fine with it" he admits and Herrick's eyes widen.
"Really? Now that is interesting, don't you find that interesting Seth?" he looks briefly at the other vampire.
"Fascinating" Seth drawls. Mitchell glares at him.
"I must meet this girl, is she still up do you think? Would she mind visitors?" he turns and begins to walk and Mitchell has to hurry a little to catch up. He grabs his arm again.
"No…please…don't" Herrick pauses again and turns to look at his right hand man.
"Why not?" Mitchell sighs.
"She's asleep, I don't want her disturbed" he answers. Herrick stares at him and it takes all of Mitchell's will power not to look away. Then he sighs loudly, dramatically.
"Okay. Fine. Be like that but I want you back at my side tomorrow or I'm going to be very, very cross with you" he wags a finger in Mitchell's face. Mitchell nods just the once. Herrick sighs and straightens his shoulders.
"Don't do this to me again do you understand? I worry about you" he glances at Seth again and Mitchell stays where he is and watches them both walk away.
Josie is asleep when he returns to their room. He sits by her bedside and just watches her. She's so beautiful, so perfect and far too good for the likes of him but she gives him strength. Every time that she looks at him, smiles at him, it makes him feel better about himself, makes him feel a little bit more worthwhile. He doesn't want Herrick to get his grubby little paws anywhere near her. He doesn't want to bear witness to his reaction when he finds out that he didn't kill her as he'd instructed. Herrick in a rage was a sight to behold and a spectacle to fear. Her life will be in very real danger. He swallows. He's been tired of this way of life for a while, it holds no magic anymore and maybe a change of scenery is what he needs right now. He sighs quietly and slowly stands up. He tiredly peels off his clothes and drapes them over a chair. He slips into bed beside her and she rolls over. He tenses momentarily as her arm curls around his waist and she snuggles into him. He stares up at the ceiling.
He needs to escape.
The next morning Josie notices that Mitchell is in a pensive mood. He was awake when she woke up and she has a feeling that he didn't sleep much through the night, if at all. She woke up in the wee small hours and saw his body outlined in the early grey light but his back was to her and she had no real idea if he was asleep or not.
"I didn't hear you get back last night" she ventures. He looks at her.
"Shop was shut so I went for a walk instead, it was a nice night for it" he replies looking away.
"You should've woken me, midnight walks can be romantic" those eyes of his flick back to her face. Then he smiles fleetingly.
"You were dead to the world, I didn't want to wake you" he answers softly.
"I wouldn't have minded" she reaches across and takes his hand. He stiffens very, very slightly and she swallows against the sudden pitching in her stomach.
"Are you okay Mitchell?" she asks him. He looks at her again, right into her eyes.
"Maybe you should go back to London" he tells her. Her eyes widen in disbelief and then in confusion.
"What…what are you talking about?" he pulls his hand away and gets out of bed.
"This isn't such a good idea, you and me…I mean look at me? I'm not even human!" Josie's mouth drops open. He stands in the centre of the room and he pulls his fingers through his hair.
"Mitchell? What brought this on? Is it because I said no to moving to Bristol, is that it?" she climbs out of the tumbled bed, wrapping a sheet around herself toga style. He frowns.
"Yeah, that's it…partly…Jesus, I don't know but you shouldn't be here anymore" he lifts his head and sees her standing in front of him. Her hair is tousled, she's not wearing a scrap of make-up and she is staring up at him with such…trust in her eyes that he feels the self-disgust well up inside of him. He's nowhere near good enough for her; he's not fit enough to walk in her shadow. He frowns again and takes a halting step backwards. He lowers his head. She notices and feels the rejection keenly.
"Please…don't be like this…we can work this out" she whispers. He suddenly lifts his head and a gasp squeaks out of her when she sees his scorched black eyes and the fangs. He grabs her by her shoulders.
"Don't you get it? Look at me! You deserve so much better than me, than this, this abomination!" he hisses. Her eyes go saucer wide and she grabs his forearms.
"I don't want anyone else Mitchell, I want you, only you" she replies her voice starting to rise in alarm. His shiny black gaze rests on her face.
"You shouldn't. Aren't you scared to close your eyes at night, knowing that at any moment I could weaken and rip your throat out and feed from you? Don't you wake up in a cold sweat about it because I do" she watches his eyes return to normal, to agonised brown.
"I do worry, I'd be a liar to say otherwise but you haven't, not yet and I trust you" He stiffens.
"Don't trust me Josie, never ever lower your guard around me" he growls. He lets go of her and she watches him stalk across the room, grabbing his clothes from a nearby chair. He goes into the bathroom and slams the door behind him. She flinches at the loud slap of noise and she exhales shakily.
Mitchell leans against the door and closes his eyes. He hurts, everything hurts. Slowly he slides down to sit on the floor and he buries his head in his hands.
She lifts her head when she hears the door open. Slowly Mitchell emerges. He sees her sitting on the bed and he flinches.
"What are you still doing here?" he demands. She stands up and pauses for the briefest of moments before walking towards him.
"You will not get rid of me that easily Mitchell" she tells him in a voice that sounded firmer when she'd run it through her head earlier. He just stares at her.
"You need to leave" he tells her and makes to walk past her but she grabs his arm.
"No. You need to listen to me. You saw Herrick last night didn't you, during your walk and now you're being awful to me in the hope that I'll hate you and leave you" his eyes slide to her face and stay there.
"Well it won't work" He frowns.
"You think you know me? You've barely scratched the surface, you've known me for three months Josie, and then you've only seen what I've wanted you to see, that's part of my charm, of what I am, I lure you in and by the time you realise, it's far too late and you're mine"
"You asked me to move here with you, you arranged all of this…you've been nothing but a gentleman Mitchell I don't believe…"
"Maybe it was all part of the plan, to pull you in to my web, get you away from your loved ones and make you vulnerable" he hisses back and he watches her eyes go wide again.
"You wouldn't…" her voice falters as she scans his face, stares into his eyes.
"Mitchell…please…don't do this" she whispers, tears swelling in her eyes.
"Don't do what?" he whispers back cruelly. She gulps and the tears slide down her face.
"Be like this" she replies.
"Don't you get it yet? This is what I am, this is how I am" he sneers at her and she just shakes her head.
"Someone or something has scared you. You're trying to push me away and it won't work. I remember what you did in London, I also remember you pleading for me to help you, to save you. I wouldn't be here if I didn't know what you can be like or how you can be. You're a lot of things John Mitchell but you're not that man anymore, you're that desperate man who came into my flat. You could've killed me then but you didn't and that says a hell of a lot more to me so try harder" he watches her swipe angrily at her face. He pushes her away.
"Christ Josie, why can't you just leave?" he roars. She flinches at his voice.
"Because you don't want me to go" she replies. He freezes.
"Whatever he's threatening to do, we can face him together…we can…Mitchell we can do anything together…" she presses as he slowly shakes his head.
"Please…please Mitchell" She throws herself into his arms. He catches her without thinking and she's kissing him. He can taste the salt of her tears, he's inhaling her sobs. He should tear her away, throw her out but he can't, oh Christ he can't, he doesn't want to. He turns and he carries her to the bed. He lies her down on the mattress and he stares down at her. There are sooty traces on her cheeks. He reaches out and brushes them away with his thumb, then he's pulling off his clothes, dragging the sheet away and he possesses her, overwhelming her. There's no gentleness, no tenderness. Everything is stripped away. She arches her spine and accepts him.
He's spent. His weight threatens to suffocate her but she doesn't speak. Instead she wraps her arms around him and holds him close, the rasp of his heavy breathing loud in her ear. She stares up at the ceiling. She loves him, so help her God she loves him so much.
"I'm sorry" he whispers a little bit later and they're both huddled beneath the sheets again. She opens her eyes and looks into his. She reaches out a hand and pushes a lock of his hair away from his face.
"Why?" she asks him. He frowns.
"Because I'm an idiot, because sometimes I get so terrified that I do such stupid things and say such foolish things" he whispers. She stares into his eyes.
"You need to get away from here and make a fresh start. Come to London, start again with me, think of the opportunities" She makes it sound so inviting that he's seriously tempted. What is there here to hold him back? The only person who has any kind of power over him is Herrick and if he's absolutely brutally honest, it started to wane five years ago. He's his maker, his sire and that's the only loyalty that he owes him. It's everything to him. He wavers. He feels her hand on his chest, slide down to his stomach, go lower and his eyes close. He hears her move closer to him and he can feel the heat of her body press against his and all over again he's lost.
TBC...