Phew! It's so hot here in Berlin! I have the feeling I melt away… But I still post this chapter as I promised. Thanks a lot for your feedback! Great to hear you liked the new chapters and hope you like this one too. Will be back at Thursday again, best wishes, Jenna

Translated by: Jenna

Beta read by: SG6169


Excitement

The guy who stood before me looked really handsome. Tall, dark, slightly soft, but very well proportioned facial features, very tastefully dressed, and this compelling, slightly arrogant smile on his lips... Yes, he really had that certain something, this Josef Kostan.

I ran a hand through my short, in fact perfectly styled hair, ensuring a somewhat dashing touch was given to my reflection. It was hard to believe but I actually looked even better. The only disturbing factor was the small device attached to my right ear.

"Did you get the passports yet?" I now heard Alejandro's rough voice.

"Yeah, they're great," I admitted frankly and with a frown fixed the collar of my dark red silk shirt. "I think with these we'll be able to get through any kind of checkpoint."

"You should remix the teams again right away...," Alejandro advised me in his worried fatherly tone. "Especially when you're traveling. The Legion is especially attentive at the airports and train stations..."

"We'll soon be switching to cars," I tried to calm him down and straightened my eyebrows with care.

"But even then you have to be careful," the Mexican knew. "State borders are even more dangerous in this case..."

"I know," I replied quietly, lifting my shoulders a few times to see how the shirt fell in motion. The expensive fabric had been a very good choice. Almost too good for a club like The Maestro...

I noticed that Alejandro hemmed and hawed a little bit on the other end of the line, so he still had something on his mind. I could well imagine what this was...

"When ... when will he arrive?" he finally voiced the question I had almost expected. I had to grin. Currently, it almost seemed as if I were friends with a superstar. The whole world asked for him.

"He's already here," I smiled back and I could picture Alejandro's surprised face in front of me.

"And...?"

"A couple of horns have grown out of his head and he now walks on all fours, but otherwise everything's the same," I couldn't resist pulling his leg.

"That... that's not funny, José," Alejandro managed to say after a moment of shocked silence. I had to laugh anyway.

"He's doing really well," I replied mildly. "He looks recovered and has put on some weight - in a good way, I mean. You know Mick, how seriously he takes his fitness. Gabriel and August seem to have supplied him well - physically in any case..."

"And... emotionally?"

I automatically shrugged my shoulders, for a moment forgetting that my friend could not see me. "He also seems to be emotionally strong, but that..." I looked briefly in the direction of the bathroom where the shower had stopped a couple of minutes ago. "...can be misleading," I ventured to add quieter. "Gabriel said, he would have phases when he's obnoxious and quite difficult to deal with, but they're limited and are, given the extent of his trauma, remarkably harmless so far. We'll see..."

I now clearly heard steps from the bathroom and turned quickly back to my mirror image, when the door opened.

"We... we'll talk about it later," I said. My eyes captured Mick's reflection as he passed behind me, dressed only in dark jeans and rubbing his hair dry with a towel, and didn't let go of him so quickly.

"Take good care of our friend Matthew," I added yet.

"But of course," I heard Alejandro say almost indignantly. "Then I bid you a good evening and best of luck with... whatever you've planned."

I nodded, took the small device out of my ear and switched it off. Then I turned to my friend who had bent over his suitcase and was looking for a shirt that had survived the long journey back to the states fairly wrinkle-free.

"Greetings from Alejandro," I sent out words that hadn't been spoken, but went without saying anyway, and approached him.

Mick looked briefly over his shoulder, forced himself to nod and gave me a small smile and then continued to rummage through his suitcase with laboriously knitted eyebrows.

The grin began, without me really wanting to or even being able to prevent it to start with. Since Mick had talked with Beth and knew he would be seeing her in just a few hours, his state had changed dramatically. This amazing calmness and self-control, which he had brought along from nowhere, began to evaporate visibly and allowed for a significant nervousness. It was really cute...

Mick lifted up one of his fancier looking shirts in front of him and looked at it critically, while I just shook my head and walked over to the hotel closet. I cast a quick glance at my friend's, through hard training, very muscular body, and his enviably brown surfer-skin - in the nowhere, it had to be quite sunny - and chose one of my favorite shirts: Elegant silk, dark ocean blue - tight enough to enhance the advantages of such a well-trained body, but casual enough to not provoke tearing of the seams with movement.

Mick had already slipped one arm into his crumpled shirt, when I pressed mine against his chest.

"But don't complain to me if she jumps you in the middle of all the guests and pulls you into one of the bathrooms or a supply-closet," I added to my requesting gesture.

Mick's eyebrows indeed succeeded in getting a bit closer to each other. "She wouldn't..."

"... do something like that? Nah, not your saintly Beth," I finished his sentence slightly annoyed and happily registered his hidden smile as he took the shirt and slipped into it without another word.

At the moment, I had to remind myself again and again that my friend had only been rescued a few weeks ago and that I still had to deal with him with consideration and attentiveness. When I had met him and Gabriel yesterday in the hotel lobby in the early hours, I had hardly recognized him. There had been little left of the sick, unstrung man who had left us four weeks ago. The dark circles under his eyes had almost disappeared, which was partially due to his sun-darkened skin and he had come back with a calmness that was really admirable in a situation like this. The old Mick's coolness and a large part of his humor had returned and contributed significantly to the fact that I just loved giving in to the illusion that everything was now back to normal and that I had my best friend back by my side safe and sound. Only Gabriel's words of warning, in a quiet private moment and the lack of Mick's typical vitality and warmth in his eyes had prevented me from giving into this illusion completely and tried, every now and then, to recall the events of the last six weeks in my mind.

With this thought and without intending to, my eyes wandered across Mick's chest, inspected the fine, but still clearly visible scars left in his skin by the bullets of the Legion – as if to remind him and all the others he meant something to, for the rest of his life, just how close he had come to death. For vampires, it was extremely unusual to retain highly visible scars because our skin healed so quickly and smoothly that you couldn't detect the most serious injuries, at least not with the naked eye.

Of course, Mick had been a human at the time we freed him from the hands of the Legion and the process of healing his wounds had therefore run very slowly to start with, but later the vampire in him had gradually healed them all– so, what was the problem? Maybe it was a mental thing...

Mick pulled me from my thoughts as he turned away from me and sat down on the couch with his shirt only half closed, and put on the dark socks he had just taken out of the suitcase next to him.

I cast a quick glance at my watch, quarter past ten - still enough time to torment my friend a little. Just enough to distract him from the challenge, 'We'll be going to a well-packed club where it will be confined and stuffy', of course. The more he concentrated on his meeting with Beth, the less likely it would be for him to think about the other people around him and the crowded room. What a good friend I was, again...!

"She sounded a little excited," I had to drop casually. Mick's gaze immediately flew up to me and I tried to look innocent.

"Did she?" The question was not meant seriously on his part. He must have noticed it also; thinking that this was going to, once again, receive a confirmation that she was awaiting their reunion as impatiently as he was.

"Yeah," I thought aloud, rubbing my thumb and forefinger broodingly over my chin. "After all, she just got through with an exciting job..."

The disappointment, which immediately appeared on Mick's face almost made me regret my remark. "Oh... yeah ... that's right," it slipped softly from his lips, and the second sock found its place on Mick's foot.

"... but on the other hand..."

Now his eyes were on me again. My my, what love was able to accomplish... This was almost too easy.

I decided to not torment him any further. "... she's certainly, like you, just as wound-up to finally see you again."

His eyes sought again contact with his feet. He plucked at the sock a bit awkwardly. "Yeah, maybe...," he murmured so softly that I had to smile after all.

"Maybe?" I asked and one of my eyebrows rose automatically. "So you're telling me that your nervousness is only due to the fact that you're finally getting to visit a club again!"

Mick looked at me now, with knitted eyebrows and a slightly indignant expression in his eyes. "I... I'm not nervous," he lied to my face quite boldly and I could not help it: I let out a laugh.

"Perhaps 'nervous' isn't the right word," I considered under my friend's angry gaze. "'Paralyzed' – yeah, that works better!"

"I'm not..." Mick broke off with a stressed groan and shook his head. "Why do I even react to your comments at all...?"

"Because you know full well that behind them only hides a serious offer to talk about your fears regarding the upcoming encounter with Beth," I replied generously and sat down at once beside him. Mick looked up, a slight smirk on his lips.

" Josef - the specialist in relationship issues..."

"Oh, by no means," I replied modestly. "But I know you pretty well and have also become much closer to Beth and so..." I raised my hands invitingly, but let them fall again immediately. Suddenly a strange expression had crept into Mick's dark eyes, an expression I had never particularly liked...

"Did you?" he probed and his smile was not quite so genuine anymore. Not good... not good indeed. Not because I had not expected such a reaction – for I knew Mick only too well and it was clear to me that this issue was going to come up at some point - but because Mick's jealousy, if it reached its peak, could take on some very unpleasant traits and additionally it had really stung me a bit. From my point of view, I had not deserved such distrust - so I had to nip this very small flame of jealousy in the bud. To my good fortune, someone else took this task from me, this time.

Mick suddenly turned away from me and looked over to the door of the hotel suite and only seconds later I felt the reason for his behavior. A smell, very familiar to me now, came to my nose and then the door opened and Gabriel entered. He seemed in a hurry, took his mobile phone off his ear and walked briskly towards us both.

"Robert Duncan does indeed exist," were his first words addressed to us, "or rather, did exist. He bit on a poison capsule, just as Tony's team caught him."

I closed my eyes and shook my head resigned. Yet another lead that came to nothing.

"But..."

I tore my eyes open again, full of hope for better news.

"... during the search of his office they came across a few things that might possibly help us," Gabriel added. "I'm going to meet Tony and the others right away. Can you handle Jason and Henry alone?"

His eyes went from me to Mick and then remained on his thoughtful face.

"It's only going to be an exchange of information, isn't it?" my friend probed.

"Well, you're also supposed to keep your eyes and ears open to try and figure out just how loyal, in fact, these two are," Gabriel replied honestly. "Surprise visits work really well for this."

"Maybe we'll get lucky and our friend Cynthia will show up in person," I interjected and with that broached a topic that had caused some concern in our community for the last few days.

"That would indeed be a pretty clear cut indication that they've both been deceiving the rest of the community for some time," Mick voiced my thoughts and Gabriel nodded affirmatively.

By working with the material Paul Ritchcroft had left with us and by our own research, we had been able to shed a little more light on the correlations between the Legion's and Cynthia Davis' transactions with the cure. It had dawned on us fairly quickly that she could not have handled the entire operation on her own but would have needed at least a rich businessman who could support her financially in her businesses. My first choice had been Lance - admittedly, not only because I would have blamed him for any crime - but also because I simply couldn't stand him. Unfortunately, Gabriel had put his foot down with respect to this and claimed to be able to exclude him for good reasons.

Logan had brought the name Jason Burton into play after some thorough research. Jason was a fairly young vampire who had inherited, after his father's death, a huge fortune that included a number of nightclubs and bars, and at times threw large sums of money around. So he too wasn't afraid to sink money into risky, sometimes even dodgy businesses - merely because he found it interesting or exciting. It would be just like him to be twisted around the little finger of a shrewd woman like Cynthia and to be mesmerized into risky games with the Legion. And since Henry was his Sire and mentor, he too was certainly embedded deeply in this affair. Our task now was to find evidence for our speculation and to do it inconspicuously enough so our 'dear' friends would no longer be able to slip their heads out of the noose.

"Cynthia would have to know by now that the community is looking for her and certainly wouldn't be hanging around in any nightclubs," Gabriel replied calmly. "But there may be other guests who are behaving strangely in some way. You might even be able to catch Jason in the middle of a transaction or other suspicious activities..."

I nodded in agreement. "Ritchcroft will definitely need the remedy, if he plans to resume the research with Peterson. And I hardly think that there would supplier other than Cynthia."

"At least it didn't appear that way until now," Gabriel added and breathed deeply. His gaze was once again stuck to Mick, who had become totally absorbed in putting on his shoes. To hear the words 'research' and 'Peterson' in one sentence still seemed to be quite unpleasant for him.

"Are you sure that you want to go with Josef?" Gabriel asked him cautiously. I was probably not the only one worried whether two exciting events in one day would be too much for Mick - even though he had given the impression, so far, that he was indeed fully prepared and resilient again. "We could also try changing the teams somehow separate from this little mission."

Mick shook his head and then looked at him. "I... I think I should try, at least once, to move a little among other people. And if it becomes too stressful...," he shrugged his shoulders lightly, "... no one's going to keep me there."

"Not without regretting it deeply," I added, and Mick gave a little laugh.

"I don't think there will be any major problems," Gabriel said, smiling, and glanced at his watch. "I gotta go. If all goes according to plan, we'll meet in Los Angeles in two days."

I nodded and now found it much harder to keep smiling. In two days the next major meeting of the vampire community would take place, which should serve as an exchange of the latest developments and plans regarding the Legion. Lance would be back by then and maybe a few more of his loyal friends...

Gabriel's eyes already rested on Mick again. "Have you got everything you need for the next few days?"

Mick's answer was a silent nod.

"Good." Gabriel tried for a confident expression. "You really don't need to worry, Mick. The control is back and you know what you need to do, if you should lose it once again."

Again his words followed a short nod.

Gabriel took a deep breath and looked at me. His gaze told me he knew his new protégé was in good hands with me and somehow this made me proud.

"I'll see you in two days," he said again, then turned away and left my suite with a flowing cloak.

My gaze wandered to Mick. His eyes still rested on the door, but his thoughts seemed to occupy him so thoroughly that he didn't seem to perceive his environment for the moment, while the fingers of his left hand absently turned the broad ring adorning the forefinger of his right hand several times around itself.

I tilted my head almost imperceptibly and frowned. This ring had, for so long, been Mick's constant companion that I really had felt as if I had gotten a part of him back when Beth had given it to me in the darkest hours before Mick's rescue. And when Mick had left with Gabriel, I had simply felt compelled to hand the jewel back to him, to tell him with this gesture that he would for sure become the old Mick again, that I myself firmly believed this.

In the past, I could never remember Mick touching this ring like he did now. This nervous habit was completely new and yet I had been able to watch it quite often in the last few hours. The message conveyed in this gesture, did not really please me, but it was useful, for it was just another way of reminding me that Mick was still not entirely his old self again. The ring belonged to his old self, to his old life - and seemed as though it didn't really fit him yet, was still much too palpable, not quite welcome. And somehow, I saw it as part of my job to change this. How difficult this would be - I wasn't really sure.


Beth felt like a sixteen-year-old just before her prom. No, in fact she was even more nervous, more restless than she had been back then. It was probably because it wouldn't be a Timothy Higgins who would soon be standing in front of her door to pick her up, but a Mick St. John. Well, he wouldn't actually be picking her up, but would meet her at the club, so they could act as if they were meeting there for the first time and in doing so watch for suspicious people. Music, dance, alcohol and a lot of people looking to have fun, those were probably the only similarities between the two situations - and the presence of a male person, she was terribly in love with and to whom she felt attracted to in a very physical way. Timothy had disappointed her dreams and desires back then, as he had explained to her, sex before marriage totally contradicted his morals and good upbringing. In that respect, Mick was thinking very differently, she had now learned several times in a very exciting way.

This thought alone made Beth's heart beat a little faster and awakened the butterflies in her lower abdomen immediately. Four weeks without mental and physical contact with Mick... this had felt like pure torture. Apart from all the worries that had consumed her at times, the withdrawal of sex had been one of the reasons for her emotional lows and had also caused the people around her to suffer at times. She was only human and of course she missed Mick so much in this way. The few passionate hours spent with him had just been so exciting, so intense and the thoughts of them together burned into her memory, allowing her little sleep. She simply had to have Mick in her proximity again, for her mental and physical needs and she was absolutely sure that he felt the same way.

Of course, she had pictured in her mind, against all odds, what their first encounter would be like: ardent, passionate and... well, also pretty cheesy - with confessions of love, tender kisses and tears of happiness. She was just a typical woman with a slight tendency towards dramatics. That everything would definitely turn out different from what she pictured was quite clear to her - especially since Mick and her would have to act as if they didn't know each other. Josef and Alejandro had, concerning the change of teams and their many meetings, always been very careful, had always, with respect to the team, put emphasis on group and public meeting places with crowds, because they assumed that the men of the Legion and its allies had exact descriptions of them by now and that they would have their eyes and ears open for them. Another precaution was that no team would know exactly where the other team was, in case any of them were captured by the Legion. That way no one could tell were the others were, no matter what pressures the Legion put on them. They would know the towns they would stay in, but that was all they would know about each other. Any other actions and their successes or failures, would be exchanged usually by phone or in meetings and then the teams would be changed again so that no description of related persons had a permanent validity.

Beth had come to terms with never being able to remain in one place and with having to constantly change her appearance, to take on new roles and on nights like this the whole thing could even develop a certain charm - a small role play to fuel the tension between Mick and her could indeed become quite interesting. Not that they really needed that, but she had to get something positive out of this whole masquerade…

Beth had to laugh at herself when she quickly painted over her lips the last time in front of the mirror - of course with kiss-proof lipstick - and once again gave a fresh impetus to her dark red curls with her fingers. It felt strange again and again to catch sight of her, so altered self, in the mirror. Certainly, the dark red hair and green eyes were interesting enough and even became her, but somehow she felt as if she was looking into the face of a stranger and she couldn't quite get used to it. Because of that, the idea that she only had to play the role again for one night, was quite comforting. At least now the discomfort of the heavy wig she had had to wear the day before was no longer weighing on her, for she had decided to dye her own hair, at least for this evening with a dye that was easily rinsed out after the first wash. She wouldn't have even been able to last an hour in a club under a warm heavy wig. Of this she was sure.

Beth took a deep breath and then stood up. She almost winced as Simone came into the room, who, like Beth before, took both hands and run them through her currently pitch-black hair to give it a little more fullness.

"And? Ready?" she asked, eyeing Beth with a quick glance. "You look fantastic!"

Beth shrugged her shoulders and pulled the revealingly low-cut and quite short black dress, they had bought together in a split second, a little further down. Although she had a similar dress at home and had nothing against low-cut dresses, she was, if truth be told, not such an 'openhearted' type, and normally steered away from showing her charms in such a salient way. But Josef's information to act in the club, as if they would not know the two men and to appear as if they were looking for someone they could drag off, had seduced her and Simone into having a little fun with it and to dress accordingly. To describe Simone's dress as still a dress was almost misleading. With its short length and silky tightness, it looked more like a negligee than a dress and truly enhanced Simone's delicate, yet very sexy body.

Like so many times before, Beth had to once again confess, ungrudgingly, that Simone was a really beautiful woman who additionally exuded, even for Beth, a noticeable sex appeal. It was really hard to compete with such a woman and Beth's discomfort grew. She liked Simone, but to appear together with her in a nightclub, with so little fabric on her body, was a challenge she hadn't been involved in for a long time. They would certainly draw a lot of attention... even before meeting Josef and Mick. And if Mick happened to look at Simone in an explicit way, Beth's evening would be ruined. Of course she knew he wasn't seriously interested in the young lawyer, but she had not forgotten about this little 'biting-incident' in Mick's apartment yet and their relationship was still too new to cope with such glances toward other women without hurt. In Mexico, it had been different. There were no other women and therefore no competition, but here in the city...

Beth had looked forward to seeing Simone again and had even hugged her neck at the airport, as if they had been close friends for a long time. Even when Josef had called and told them about his plans, Beth had still been happy and content despite her excitement. She had received Simone's idea to 'dress to kill' with enthusiasm and had enjoyed buying the clothes. It was only when they had arrived back at the hotel and had gotten ready for the evening that the doubts had risen; Beth had started to think again about her encounter with Mick, and her joint appearance with Simone. For some stupid reason those pictures had played over and over in her mind's eye: Mick pressing his lips full of enjoyment on Simone's wrist and drinking her blood while she was giving the impression she was doing something quite different with him. And so Beth's self-doubts had resurfaced again and this... this damn rivalry which could no longer be banished from her mind.

"Beth?" Simone's slightly confused voice ripped her from her thoughts. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course...," she stammered, and quickly lowered her eyes, pretending she was looking for her purse. "I... I was just thinking about Mick," she added quickly, as she had found the soft top bag and had grabbed it.

Simone met her with a knowing smile. "You really don't need to worry - you will simply throw him for a loop! I just wish I had your curves!"

At once the blood shot into Beth's face and she sheepishly lowered her gaze again. Through the stress of the last few weeks, she had lost quite a bit of weight, but had always been blessed with a body that was naturally curvy and lost little of its femininity with the weight fluctuations. In her youth she had suffered because of this, now she was even a little proud of it. At least, as long as a tall, slim woman like Simone wasn't close by...

"I wish I had your legs," Beth replied, and finally dared to again look at her friend. Simone laughed.

"Thanks, but I can return the compliment." She stepped closer to Beth, grabbed her upper arms gently and looked at her intently. "Believe me, I know what you're going through. When I saw Josef yesterday for the first time in weeks, I was as excited as you are and it's given me a thousand thoughts and worries - all of which were unfounded." She began to smile. "Let's just say... we had a very intense, wonderful evening that will hopefully continue today. And I just know it won't be any different for you and Mick..."

"But Mick ..."

Simone didn't let her continue. "Mick loves you, Beth. That's all that counts... and quite honestly, the way you look, even I would drag you off!"

Beth had to laugh, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I... I'm just not that comfortable with this appearance. I look so... so alien. And it's not just the red hair and the contact lenses..."

"Every woman has two sides, Beth," Simone smiled. "A decent and a wicked one. You just have to give it a chance to wake up. And I bet tonight won't be the only evening that happens."

A sly smile slipped against Beth's will over her lips and Simone turned away from her with another laugh, to get her own bag.

Of course, her friend was once again fairly correct with her presumption. What she didn't know was that Beth had been drugged the last time she had let out her lascivious side and had completely lost control of herself. Back then she had walked to Mick's with only one thing on her mind: to sleep with him and in doing so deliberately cheat on Josh. Under the vampire drug her desire for Mick had grown so strong that any doubts, any holding back had vanished into thin air and had made her a slave of her own instincts. Beth still asked herself today, how narrow her escape had been. If she remembered correctly, there had been a moment when Mick had no longer been able to resist her seduction attempts, and had tried to kiss her. She had dodged him to fuel the tension between them further along with her retreat to the upper floor of his apartment but had unconsciously given him the chance to collect himself again. It could have happened that night... the wicked Beth had a very appealing effect on Mick. And certainly she would have that affect on him again. The only question was whether Beth was capable of teasing the Vamp out of herself on her own, without looking pretentious or put on.

And an entirely different question was whether it made any sense to engage in such a game at all - as attractive as it might seem. Besides, they weren't really visiting the club to have fun, but to do a smaller job and to again mix the teams up. Her reunion with Mick was just a positive side effect of the whole affair, and certainly there was no real opportunity to get closer to each other in a not quite so decent way. Not while they were among other people. Maybe later in the hotel...

With this thought in mind, Beth instantly became a lot warmer and a gentle tingling spread in her interior. There it was again the anxiety and excitement that assailed her in waves and made her body vibrate. This man could drive her out of her mind some times!

Simone appeared in the doorway and gave her a warm, encouraging, smile. Then she lifted up her nose in mocked arrogance.

"Shall we, Amber?" she squeaked and Beth had to refrain from laughing.

"But of course, Daphne," she answered just as artificially and sauntered, in her far too high heels, toward the open door.

"Let's fish the gorgeous boys," Simone grinned and winked at her briefly before she sailed through the door. The laughter fought its way over Beth's lips and echoed in the hallway of the hotel. She took a deep breath again.

'Here you go, Turner!' she demanded to herself, before she walked out. 'Hook that man!'