Mick and Beth take on a puzzle, with help from their vampire friends, and the subject is blood. Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy~~~~~~

Disclaimer: I'll only do this once—I don't own anything except my love for Moonlight.

Chapter 1

He was hungry. His usual resources had failed him, and Gerald Stofsky was getting frantic. He worked over 24 hours on a project at the jet propulsion lab, ignoring his cravings. When he left work, he stopped at his normal blood supplier, only to find it locked and dark. This had never happened before and he was at a loss. Stofsky was solitary and didn't have much to do with the vampire community in Los Angeles. He knew there were other places to get blood, but had never paid attention to them. He'd also heard about some vampire clubs. He could get a meal there, but couldn't remember the names or where they were.

Now he was frightened. He'd waited too long and could feel the bloodlust coming on him. He always led a well-regulated life as a vampire, only interested in his work. He remembered the nightmare last year when he'd been run down and attacked that doctor. He thought he could take over as a sire, but was sadly mistaken. The rogue doctor was killed and he spent some uncomfortable time as a guest of the Cleaners.

Stofsky wandered the alleys near his supplier, wondering what to do. He could hear heartbeats nearby, and smell the humans. His fangs grew as he scented their blood. NO, he couldn't—he forced himself to walk the other direction, but now he could hear one heartbeat, tantalizingly near. He peered around a corner and saw a young man leaning against a wall, smoking a cigarette.

The vampire in him moved stealthily toward the human. He sniffed and there was no one else around. He seized the man, and dragged him further into the darkness. Instinct took over as he drank deeply, not noticing the slowing of the man's heart. Sated, Stofsky realized the human was dead, and he stumbled away in horror.

Oh, no, no. The Cleaners had warned him if there any further infractions, he would be executed. What could he do? He had a responsibility to keep the death from the humans, but if he called the Cleaners, they would surely blame him. He had no friend, no advocate. Wait. Who was that young vamp who was after the rogue doctor? James? St. James? No, it was St. John. Stofsky remembered staking him at the doctor's house. He imagined St. John wouldn't be too happy to hear from him, but it was either that or the Cleaners.

Stofsky took out his phone, found St. John's number and shakily dialed.

xxxxxxxxxx

Beth was due home any minute and he relished the thought. It had been over six months since she had become a vampire, and Mick could finally think about it without a twinge. After the ordeal of her turning and the Duvall's treachery, she had settled into her new life with only a few ripples. Having Beth in his life had made everything feel . . . . . normal.

She started to work at Kostan Industries, and soon became invaluable to Josef as a guardian of the vampire secret through her expertise with the web media. Beth was excited about her new responsibilities, and Mick was happy she was able to work from home frequently.

Mick's business had also taken a turn and he was now working investigations mostly for vampires in LA and across the country. The New York Council had been impressed with reports about his achievements and recommended him to Elders in other areas. Because he didn't want to be away from Beth for any extended time, he usually took her with him and she proved to be a valuable asset to his investigations.

As he was out of town more, Beth suggested he hire an off-site service to answer his office calls during the day. Josef was pleased that Mick was more visible in the vampire community, but Mick still tried to take as many cases for humans as he could, and had a soft spot for missing children and runaways. Now he heard Beth come into the loft and make her way to the office. "Hi, sweetheart." she said softly, coming around the desk.

He took her in his arms, pulling her down on his lap. He could never get enough of her and he nuzzled her neck. "Hey, yourself." He kissed her deeply and she melted into him. "How was your evening?" he asked

"Just a meeting with the marketing guys. I'll be able to finish my reports from home in the next couple of days." She enjoyed her job, and was glad to be doing something useful again. Since Mick owned the loft, Beth insisted on contributing to household expenses. She took the rest of her generous salary and had Josef invest it. Beth snuggled into Mick's embrace. She ran her hand down his shirt, loving the feel of his hard chest.

"I'm almost done." Mick said between kisses. His fangs nipped her and she responded with a low growl. Beth's fledgling days were behind her, but she always responded to Mick without reservation. She was busy trying to pull off his shirt when the office phone rang. "Ignore that." she ordered, squirming on his lap.

"Mmphhh." Mick said from under his shirt. He succeeded in getting up from the chair and depositing her on the desk as he pulled his shirt down, reaching for the phone.

"Now, stop!" He said with mock severity.

Beth continued to grin at him as he answered the call. "Mick St. John."

A tremulous male voice said, "Mr. St. John? You probably don't remember me, but I was um, involved in the situation with that doctor being accidently turned last year."

Mick frowned, "Who is this?"

"Um, Gerald Stofsky. I—I need your help."

Mick remembered the rocket scientist who staked him. "What's the problem?" Beth now leaned into the call

"I'm afraid I've done something terrible." he whispered. "I couldn't help myself, I was so hungry—"

"What did you do, Gerald?"

"I killed him." Stofsky replied. "I didn't mean to . . ."

"Where are you?"

"I'm in an alley near Alameda and Loma."

Mick scowled. "Have you called the Cleaners?"

"No."

"Well, don't. I'll be there in half an hour. In the meantime, stay out of sight and don't move." He hung up before Stofsky could say anything further.

Beth looked at him. "Gerald Stofsky killed someone? I wondered what happened to him. I thought the Cleaners might have . . . . " She trailed off.

Mick snorted. Stofsky was stupid and the Cleaners don't kill for that. I'm sure he was punished. He sounded desperate on the phone just now."

Beth hopped off the desk. "Let's go."

Mick glanced at her and knew there was no use arguing. Beth quickly gathered her things and hustled out the door. She noted that Mick looked grim as they parked a block away, walking stealthily to the area. Both of them could smell the blood, and came upon Stofsky huddled in a doorway.

"Gerald? Where's the body?" Mick asked harshly.

"Over here." He led them to a blood-soaked form, and Beth could feel Mick's anger at the waste of a human life. She could smell the fresh blood, but maintained control. She didn't need Mick to be worried about her as well.

Mick pulled out his phone. "I'm going to call the Cleaner. Beth, take Gerald to the car and wait for me, then we'll talk. I need to know what happened here."

Stofsky was shaking as he asked, "You mean you're not going to turn me over to them?"

"No, not yet." Mick replied. "Unless I find you did this on purpose, then all bets are off."

Beth could see Stofsky was petrified, and gave Mick a sidelong glance. She wanted to calm Stofsky and didn't want to leave Mick while he was upset. He felt her concern and said softly, "Don't worry, it'll be fine. I'll see you in a few minutes."

Beth nodded and tugged Stofsky's arm toward the Mercedes.

The Cleaners arrived up shortly after Mick's call. Annie jumped out of the van and saw him. "Hey, Mick, don't tell me this is yours?"

He shook his head. "No, it belongs to a client, and I have to go deal with him."

"What was it, an accident?"

"Yeah," Mick ran his hand through his hair. "that's what he says. If not, I'll be calling you. This kind of thing is bad for the community."

Annie nodded and directed her staff to begin the clean-up. She walked back over. "Say, how's your fledgling? Haven't seen you since that happened."

At the mention of Beth, Mick's face lit up with a smile. "She's fine. I never got to thank you for your help that night."

"No problem." Annie shrugged. "Bring her down to the club sometime; I'd like to meet her properly. See ya." Annie turned to the crew who were already packing up their equipment

Mick moved with vampire speed through the alleys to find the car. Beth was in the passenger's seat, with Stofsky cowering in the back. Mick turned to him. "Where do you live?"

"Just a few blocks away. I like being downtown and walking at night. An old habit I've never been able to break." Stofsky said shyly.

They followed his directions to an older building, and headed to the top floor. Stofsky must have some money, Beth surmised by the large living quarters. Mick kept his eyes on Stofsky, as if waiting for him to do something wrong. Beth remembered Stofsky had staked Mick and wondered how this meek vampire had the gumption. Maybe there was more to him than was apparent.

"Please," Stofsky said hesitating, "sit down."

Mick sat across from him and Beth on the arm of his chair. "All right Gerald, tell us what happened tonight."

Stofsky cleared his throat and played with his glasses. "I'd been working on a project, and ran into some problems. I ended up staying all day and night. I didn't realize how hungry I was, and when I stopped to pick up my supplies, they weren't there."

"What do you mean?" Beth asked.

"The store was locked up and the owners were gone."

Mick frowned. "Who handles this store? Vampires?"

"No," Stofsky replied. "They're humans, and have been running that supply house for about 10 years. Very reliable, I've never had a problem before."

"What are their names?"

"Let's see, they were and older couple, married, um, William and Irene . . . oh." Stofsky got up and rummaged through his desk. "I have a receipt here with all the information . . . here it is." Stofsky handed the paper to Mick, who scanned it and shoved it in his pocket.

"All right. You couldn't get any blood, so you attacked the nearest human."

"No, no," Stofsky wailed in anguish. 'it wasn't like that. I didn't mean to, I tried to walk away, but I couldn't help myself. I know I shouldn't have waited so long to feed, but I thought I could get my supply and it would be fine. I never feed on humans."

They could feel his real distress and Beth glanced at Mick. He went to the desk, and jotted down something on a paper. "Here," he handed it to Stofsky. "these are some other blood suppliers, a couple even deliver. We're going to check out what happened to your store. If they're closed, then you're not the only one who's out of a supplier."

Stofsky muttered his thanks, realizing he could have ended up dead at the Cleaner's hands.

"Don't let me hear anything like this again Gerald." Mick said darkly. He took Beth's arm and they left. On the way back, Mick put down the top and Beth nestled closer to Mick. She could tell he was still bothered by the evening's events.

"For a rocket scientist and a vampire, he doesn't have much common sense." She commented.

"No, I guess not." Mick replied absently.

"At least he stayed to make sure no one found the body. He could have just bolted and left a mess."

"At least he did something right." Mick put his arm around Beth "Can you check on those people with the store? Maybe something happened to them."

"Sure, as soon as we get back." Beth noticed they were driving up one of the canyons. "Where are we going?"

"I thought since it's such a beautiful night, we could go up to this little place I know that overlooks the city." He turned his head and gave her a little smile. "It's kind of romantic."

Her heart turned over when he looked at her like that. She loved it when he surprised her with sweet gestures. She leaned into Mick, enjoying the night.

TBC

Hope you liked the start, there's much more to come!