Welcome to a new story, continuing the saga of my Moonlight universe. I'm so glad there are those who still love Moonlight and I'll keep writing as long as there are readers.

Disclaimer: I'll only do this once—I don't own anything at all from Moonlight, but I wouldn't mind having a key to Mick's loft.

Chapter 1

Rider England frowned over his computer screen. His experience was programing, and especially hacking into computers, but the information in front of him looked like Chinese. He'd been trying to decipher the information from the Swiss doctor's computer. He printed out a few sheets, and headed for Josef Kostan's office.

It had been ten days since Rider had returned with the group from Geneva. The trip had given him satisfaction that the doctor that tried to kill Josef and Beth had failed. Josef had been weak when he returned from Europe, but within a week he'd felt well enough to resume his regular work schedule. Since he wasn't expected to return so soon, no one had any idea he had been incapacitated. It wouldn't do to let the vampire community know that their Elder was out of commission.

Simone and Ben Talbot finalized their legal practice incorporation, and were ready to take on cases for vampires who needed special services in the legal arena. Beth returned to her job at Kostan Indurates, and Mick caught up on his PI work.

Rider made his way to Josef's office. He saw Josef's assistant, and asked if Josef was busy.

She checked the computer, and said, "He's free for the next half hour. Is this important?"

"Uh, sorta," Rider said. He'd always been intimidated by the human dragon that guarded Josef's office.

After getting permission, Deborah buzzed Rider into Josef's private office.

Josef looked up from his computer and gave Rider a half-smile. "What's up?"

Rider gave his boss the papers, and Josef frowned over them for a moment. "What am I looking at?"

"It's some of the stuff I got from that doctor's computer. I'm not sure what it means, but I think we need to figure it out."

Josef sat back and thought. Since their return he'd had to take it easy, which was not his normal style. Simone made sure he had enough rest and now he felt back to normal. During his convalescence, he'd given a lot of consideration as to how they would deal with Lance Duvall. The information from the Swiss doctor was lower down on his list of priorities.

He turned back to Rider. "I think we need an expert to check this out. I want to see what was so important that Duvall would be involved."

Rider nodded. "I have duplicates of all the hard-copy notes and the computer records."

"Good. Make sure they're kept locked up." Josef picked up the phone and called his assistant. "Deb, could you get Mrs. St. John in here?" Josef still teased Beth on occasion by calling her Blondie, but since their ordeal, he had developed a much greater regard for the young vampire.

His assistant rang back. "I'm sorry sir, Mrs. St. John left for the evening."

"All right," Josef said, hanging up. He glanced at Rider. "I'm going to try to find someone to interpret these formulas for us. I'll let you know what we need."

"Right, boss." Rider got up and left. He'd been gratified that Josef had personally thanked him for his help in Geneva, and given him a liberal bonus. He'd also assigned Eileen to be Rider's personal freshie at the office. He found out Eileen's birthday, and planned to use some of his bonus to buy her some jewelry. He wasn't sure what to get; he thought he'd ask Mick.

Josef left the office, telling Deborah that he'd be out for the rest of the night, then headed for the garage. He got into his favorite Ferrari, enjoying the drive to the loft. He parked in the underground garage and rode the elevator up to the penthouse, walking down the hall slowly so Mick and Beth would scent he was coming.

Upstairs in their bedroom, Mick was teasing his wife with slow kisses as a prelude to divesting her of her clothes. She had gotten home early from the office and was looking forward to some alone time with Mick. Since they'd gotten back from Geneva, he never missed an opportunity to show her how much he loved her. The time she'd been missing and hurt made him realize how much he needed her.

She pressed herself against his hard body and let coherent thought slip away as he ravaged her senses. Her arms came up and her fangs grazed her husband's neck.

Mick mumbled, "Oh, shit." He pulled away and turned his head as he heard the front door open. "Crap, Josef must be here." He knew his friend was the only one with a key to the loft.

"What?" Beth stopped running her hands down Mick's chest and looked at him with unfocused eyes.

"Sorry, sweetheart, we'll have to get back to this later." He took one of her hands and kissed it, moving away from her. Damn, Josef always picks the worst times….

From downstairs, they both heard the call, "Hey, anybody home?"

Beth sighed in frustration. "I'm gonna have to talk to Simone about his lack of timing," she huffed.

Mick gave her a smile. "I'll go see what he wants." He left her to calm down from their interrupted encounter.

Mick went to the stairs and jumped down to the main level. He wasn't pleased that his evening of seduction was disturbed. "Hey man, what's up?"

Josef was helping himself to the fresh blood from Mick's hidden freezer. He turned to his friend, and scented the sexual tension coming off him. "Not intruding, I hope?"

"Yeah, you coulda called first," Mick growled.

Josef smirked. "What would be the fun in that?"

Mick walked over to the small bar and poured a scotch. With the familiarity of long acquaintance, Josef followed Mick to the bar and splashed some scotch into his glass as well.

"I wanted to run something by you. I mean Beth," Josef said wolfishly.

"And you couldn't do this at work?" Beth said. She'd straightened her clothing and stood at the top of the stairs, looking down.

"Well, you left early," Josef said, taking a swig of his drink.

Beth came down the steps, rolling her eyes at her boss. "I told you I was working short hours this week."

"Yes, but I just got something from Rider and I wanted to see what you thought."

Beth knew Josef wouldn't have disturbed them if it hadn't been important, so she reigned in her sarcastic comment. Since they'd been poisoned and kidnapped, she felt like she had achieved a different level with Josef. When she was turned, he'd been supportive, but now she felt his respect from their shared experience. She got herself a drink of scotch and settled down on the sofa next to Mick.

"So, what do you have?" she asked.

Josef sat up and pulled out some folded papers from his inner pocket to hand to her.

"Take a look at these."

Beth opened them and frowned as she read over them quickly. "I have no idea what this means."

Mick took a looked over her shoulder and shook his head. "I don't either."

"That makes all of us," Josef said.

"What is it?"

Josef looked frustrated. "This is from the Swiss doctor's computer. He had the process for whatever made us sick. Rider's been going over his computer and he obviously had formulas for things that involve vampires, besides the spurious cure. It might not be anything worthwhile, but I want to find out what he was working on. I don't think Lance would have been involved if it wasn't important."

"You're probably right," Beth agreed. "What should we do?"

"I know a couple of vampires who might be able to help, but I haven't had contact with them in years." Josef looked at Beth. "You've been making a directory of all the vamps in the region. Do you know of anyone who has any science background? Anyone who could figure this stuff out?"

Both Mick and Beth frowned, thinking.

Beth spoke first. "The only scientist we know is Gerald Stofsky, and he works with engineers and rockets, not chemicals, but he might know someone. I'll call him."

Mick got up to get Beth a refill on her drink, and this time added some blood. She took the glass and peered into it.

Both Mick and Josef noticed her hesitation, and Mick said, "It's okay; I picked it up from Guillermo earlier today."

She smiled weakly and took a sip. Mick was angry that Beth was still wary of bottled blood after her experience in Geneva. He glanced at Josef, who also saw Beth's reaction.

"I'm sorry you're still worried about the blood, Beth," Josef said

She gave a little shrug. "I know we're home and we can trust our supply. It's scary that our sources could be tampered with."

Josef nodded. "I don't think it could happen again. As far as we know, Bernard worked alone, and kept his discoveries to himself. I don't think anyone would be able to duplicate it."

"I want you to find that formula and make sure it's destroyed," Mick said with a slight growl.

"That's the first thing I plan to do," Josef responded. "I'd just get rid of all his research, but I want to know if anything is valuable."

Mick got up and refreshed his drink. "What I want to know is when we're going after Duvall."

"I know you want to charge up and attack the castle, but we have to be smarter than Lance."

"We need to do this now, Josef. I don't want that bastard to be able to get to Beth again," Mick scowled.

Beth put her hand on Mick's arm, "He can't come to America, and we all have good security."

"I'm working on it, Mick. The Duvall's are powerful because they're old and rich." Josef wiggled his eyebrows. "Old I can't do anything about, but I can make them poorer and less powerful."

"How?" Beth leaned forward, listening.

"I have a forensic accountant finding out all the Duvall's financial holdings and then I'm going to take them out. They won't know who's doing it, but once they're not able to pay for information, spies and sycophants, we can move in on them."

"Do we have to get all of them?" Beth asked.

Josef nodded. "They're like a hydra, you have to cut off all the heads or they'll come after you."

Mick could tell Beth was slightly disturbed by this. He knew she had no compunction about dealing with Lance, but she might not want to destroy the whole family. "We can't take the chance, Beth. The other brothers might not be as vindictive as Lance, but they could be out for revenge."

Beth looked at Josef. "Maybe once Lance is gone, the rest of the family will back off."

In the past, Josef would have discounted Beth's opinion on such an important matter, but now he was willing to listen to her input. "Once I decimate their finances, and take care of Lance, if the others are willing to be reasonable, we can call a truce."

"Okay," Beth said, nodding. "I can live with that."

Mick took her hand. "But, if they don't, we'll have to deal with the brothers, too."

"I understand," she said. "They need to know they have a choice not to follow Lance."

"Done," Josef stated.

"How long before you can get to their businesses?" Mick asked.

Josef smiled, letting his fangs show. "It shouldn't take much time. I've got the best accountants on the case. I'm going to put them in the poor house. But, we may have to go to France to catch Lance."

Beth leaned forward with a little snarl. "I'm ready."

"Of course you are, Blondie," Josef chuckled.

Mick put his arm around Beth, giving her a hug. He was in awe that his wife, his partner, was ready to defend them and their friends.

Josef felt Mick's desire for Beth and decided it was time to go. He finished his drink and got up. "Let me know if you can find anyone who can help us with the formulas." He was confident Beth would do whatever she could to find someone who could help.

Mick and Beth showed Josef to the door, and Beth gave Josef a quick peck on the cheek. "I'll make it a priority," she said.

Josef took Beth's hand and kissed it. He looked at Mick with a superior smile. "Good thing I'm already married, buddy."

"Yeah," Mick responded in good humor, "I'd hate to have to tell Simone you're hitting on my wife."

Beth rolled her eyes. "Go on, Josef. I'll see you at the office tomorrow."

"Okay, have fun, kids." Josef let himself out and the steel door to the loft closed with a bang.

Mick took Beth in his arms. "Now, where were we before we were so rudely interrupted?"

She pushed him back and turned toward her purse and got out her cell phone. "I have to make a call."

"What, now?"

"Why don't you go up and start the shower, handsome? I'll be up in a minute."

"I didn't know I married a workaholic," Mick grumbled.

Beth gave a laugh. "I'll only be a minute, and I'll make it worth your while," she said seductively.

Knowing when to pick his battles, Mick responded, "All right, but just a minute." He sped up the stairs, taking off his shirt as he went.

Beth looked at him, momentarily distracted. She shook her head and dialed a number.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Gerald. This is Beth St. John."

"Yes, how are you?"

"Fine, we got back a few days ago."

"It was a nice wedding, we really enjoyed it. We appreciate that you asked us to attend."

"I'm glad you had a good time," Beth said. "Gerald, we have a problem, and I hope you might be able to help."

"What can I do?"

"Do you know anyone who could decipher a chemical formula?"

There was a pause. "I don't know. Sonny—"

"Who?"

"Um, Sonora, I call her Sonny. She used to research blood-borne illness at Johns Hopkins before she worked at MIT for nuclear physics."

"That's great," Beth said, relieved. "I'm hoping maybe she could help us decipher some formulas that we've found. Would she be willing to help?"

"I'm sure she would," Gerald said. He felt grateful to Beth for her support after he'd inadvertently killed a human when he'd been denied his blood supplier. "Sonny's been doing a few lectures at Hearst, and I've been trying to convince her to stay out here, but there have been no positions available to challenge her."

Beth understood that Gerald wanted Sonora to stay in California. She also sympathized with Sonora's desire to work on something, and maybe the research on the formulas would entice her to stay.

"Gerald, would you be able to get Sonora to meet with us at Josef Kostan's office?"

"What's it about?" Gerald questioned.

"We have some chemical formulas that could impact vampires, but we need an expert to try to figure them out. If Sonora could give us an opinion, it would be helpful."

"Yes. When?"

"I'll check Josef's schedule and give you a call, okay?"

"We'll be there." Gerald's voice rang with determination.

"Fine, thanks for your help."

Beth hung up, certain that Gerald would do whatever he could to ensure that Sonora would help. Feeling triumphant, Beth put down the phone and heard the shower running upstairs. Her body hummed at the thought of Mick naked under the water, waiting for her.

She ran upstairs, shedding her clothes as she made her way to join the love of her undead life under the cold water.

TBC

Just the beginning, and hoped you liked it. Next, some friends get together and Mick and Beth find trouble (as usual).