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Josef cursed the white Nissan Sentra, This thing was dogging it. The legion had been waiting for him outside his motel. Good thing a torch-bearing mob was so 18th century and flame throwers were two extravagant for public use. They had overwhelmed him, three of them pinning him down. Bone crushing blows rained down on them as they got out a stake. The Kevlar Josef was wearing under a fleece jacket had surprised them. Thank you IZOD penguin, fleece didn't show any visible bullet proof vest lines. Josef had leapt to his feet and run for the car, running, he was good at running.
Josef reached the hotel slamming the car in park. He was halfway to the front doors when he stopped. smoke... human blood... burning flesh... He leaned against the building, pressing his body into the shadows. Mick.... on the roof, growling. Oscar... a few blocks away answering him. Shuffles of movement began to fill his ears, surrounding him... more Legion. Above him, Mick was on the move, ...with Beth. He better be taking her to Oscar. Josef vamp sped to the other side of the street and into the alley. He laid low and watched three legion run down the street, all in black, chasing after Mick and Beth. Damn, these guys are like roaches... I hate roaches... anything that gives vamps a run for immortality.
Josef is after them silently. Ahead of them he sees Oscar leap to the ground, carrying Beth on his back. Springing forward he seizes the legion hunter who is last, snapping his neck, dropping the body the ground. I out grew this two centuries ago. Oscar is in front of Beth, shielding her as she unsheathes the shotgun, clicking the safety off. Josef thinks, Oscar's got his hands full and the other attacker is on top of her before she can raise the gun. Without thinking she presses the barrel against his thigh pulling the trigger and he collapses, bleeding to death from a pulverized femoral artery. Beth's eyes are wild, teeth clenched... discovering a rage she didn't know was in her. Reloading...
The noise was deafening, Mick had heard Beth scream before his ears began to ring. Oscar has her... Oscar has her... Oscar has her.... The weight of the dead legionnaire was getting lighter, the bullets were beginning to travel through and hit the Kevlar with more force. Mick roared and threw the body at the shooters, a momentary pause in the gunfire, but enough for Mick to attack… close in using his teeth a throat ripped and spit out with disgust; a second human shield. Mick drops the body as the final attacker flees. Following him from the rooftops above, Mick enjoys the backwards glances and the gradually calming heart beat of his prey.
Oscar watched the legionnaire run from the alley... good.. . It means the Legion had run out of back up thugs. He sees Mick on the roof, taking off after the guy. Beth is still staring at the guy she shot, his face is covered with a mask, and she reaches down to pull it off. Oscar stops her and turns her away from it; she gulps, facing Josef who is kneeling on the ground, still biting into the neck of a struggling legionnaire.
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They stayed under the shower until the water got cold, long past the time when the water ran clear. Mick had washed and cleaned the both of them as Beth, still stunned, stared at her feet and the blood that was swirling toward the drain, diluted by the water.
The three of them had broken into an empty house near the docks. Josef was on the phone coordinating clean-up called in from Anchorage. Oscar wasout making arrangements, gathering their few belongs and clothes for Mick.
"It's ok Beth," Mick repeated like a mantra in response to Beth's occasional gasping sobs, stroking her back and shoulders. "We did what we had to do." Mick touched Beth's chin with his fingers guiding her eyes to his. He gave her a quick wink and a gentle smile.
Beth began to shiver in the cold as Mick wrapped her in a towel. "I know Mick," she said as she looked up at him
with her clear blue eyes, emotions of sadness, fear, anger, love flitting across her face like fast moving clouds.
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Mick held Beth close as they approached the boat, knowing they would be parted once more. Beth clutched him, not wanting to let him go again, not wanting to be without him. Beth gave another involuntary shiver and Mick shrugged out of his coatto wrap it around her, letting her slip her arms in before pulling her tight back to his chest.
Beth looked around them. Oscar and Josef were a few feet ahead talking, more like arguing, but she couldn't hear what was being said. She looked up to Mick and saw the pain in his face, knowing they must be talking about her and how she had to leave. She was pretty sure Oscar was reminding Josef that Mick needed to stay away.
"Come with me," Beth pleaded, her eyes brimming with tears.
Mick stopped walking and looked down into the ocean of her eyes, his undead heart broke. He wanted desperately to do just that, whisk her away, once again being her guardian angel, not Oscar.
"I wish I could." Mick moved his hands to hold her cold ones. He brought them to his lips and kissed them, rubbing them with his own trying to warm them up. "I never want to let you go, but it has to be this way. I need you safe… and right now I can't do it." Mick brushed Beth's cheek with his thumb as he fought to get the rest of his words out. "There's too many of them, more humans than vamps... and they are after us. I trust Oscar." Mick thinks about how easily he believed the lies. He had demanded a way to know Beth was safe only to be met by Oscar's stony silence. The three vampires knew that Josef's intelligence had failed. It was up to Oscar to make them both disappear. "The Legion doesn't care about human life either."
Mick looked away, unable to hold her eyes while he confessed his short comings. Beth quickly pulled her hands from his, wrapping them around his neck, pulling him closer. His chin rested on her forehead and her voice was but a whisper, "I have always felt safe with you." Her voice trembled as she closed her eyes tight.
Feeling the sting of tears coming, Mick knew he had to get her on the boat quickly or he wouldn't be able to let her go at all. Mick kissed her forehead once more and started to walk again, keeping her tight tohim, committing her scent to memory once more.
When they reached Josef and Oscar, Beth was sniffling, trying to keep the tears from falling, trying to stay strong; to listen to Oscar and to get mad. But how was she supposed to be mad at Mick? He had come to find her, to see her, and protect her.
"It's time for us to go," Oscar extended his arm for her to go ahead of him onto the boat.
Beth looked to Oscar, her heart pounding in her chest, then back to Mick as a tear escaped and rolled down her check. Mick brushed it aside with his thumb, his hand lingering on her face as his lips longed for her. Leaningdown, he took her lips in a soft kiss that quickly turned into a heated one full of passion, demand, and longing.
When they separated, Beth was breathless as she looked at Mick and a tear trailed down to his lips. Beth reached her hand up to brush it away, brushing her thumb across his soft lips. "Promise me you'll take care of yourself." Again her voice was only a whisper
He knew she would be mad if she knew the extent to which he had let himself go, not feeding regularly or sleeping enough. He gave her the best crooked smile he could, kissing her thumb and nodding. He wouldn't feel as guilty about lying that way. When he was without Beth, he didn't want to drink the blood of another, to be that monster without his light.
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As Beth sat on the boat staring out the window, Mick was standing on the dock. As the boat began to move, her tears fell, unstopping as he began to get further and further away once more until she couldn't see. Clutching Mick's jacket tight around her, she breathed in his scent, letting it calm her.
"Want a drink?" Oscar startled her, standing beside her with a bottle and two glasses.
She gave a small laugh, "Going to get me drunk so I'll stop crying?"
Oscar gave her a smile, "Just thought you might need one. You did well today."
Beth took the glass as he filled it; this was beginning to become a pattern with them. She wondered where they would be when she woke up, but didn't really care; it wasn't the one place she wanted to be.
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