"Hello, Beth," Coraline simpered. She leaned her elbow casually against the door frame and planted her other hand onto her hip. Beth barely registered that the hand on her hip gripped a dagger between her long fingers.

"Mick was right all along," Beth breathed. Fear still kept her rooted in her tracks. The ice in her veins collided with her heart, turning it into one giant iceberg of terror.

"But I still fooled him in the end," Coraline said, grinning slightly. With a start, Beth noticed the sharp fangs in her smile.

"I thought you really were human though."

"A temporary fix," Coraline murmured. "I always knew it would be. I only planned to be human long enough to screw with Mick. I'd win him back to me and then -"

She raised the dagger and mimed slicing her throat.

Beth stared at the vampire as a new emotion began to thaw the ice around her heart. Something hot and fiery that could blind her just as easily as fear. It bubbled inside of her like a growing lava flow of hate and anger. She felt it grow larger and larger until she thought she would combust. She stared at the woman who could destroy both her childhood and future.

"You are out to kill Mick," Beth said. It wasn't a question.

"Why else would I come back to this hell hole? It's not for the food, believe me. That hasn't changed in over 400 years," Coraline said with a snort.

"Why can't you just leave him alone?" Beth cried, her eyes suddenly watering. Curling one hand into a fist, she fought back the sudden moisture. Now was definitely not the time to show weakness. She had shed enough tears in front of Coraline as a child – she wasn't about to shed one drop more.

"Can't you see he doesn't want to be with you anymore? Can't you just let him go – live his own life? It's bad enough you cursed him with being a vampire. Now you can't get your claws out of him."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Coraline cried, moving from the door. She took a step closer into the room, her tall figure towering over Beth's smaller one. Beth bravely stood her ground, her teeth clenched tightly together. Her face remained as cool as stone, but her heart was racing like a blazing bonfire.

"Now you're suddenly a goddamn vampire expert?" Coraline cried. She looked Beth up and down and scoffed. "I bet he hasn't touched you. Such a gentleman – wouldn't want to accidentally hurt you in any way."

"I know enough that he doesn't want you."

"Then why did he ask for my help today? Why does he keep calling me? Face it, Beth. He wants to be with me again. He wants to fuck me again. I can feel it dripping out of his pores. He may have divorced me and tried to kill me, but he'll never get rid of me."

Coraline's words stung Beth's heart like the shock of a live wire and she involuntarily winced. Coraline's words felt too much like truth to her. Beth was no fool – she had seen the way Mick had changed around Morgan/Coraline. He had chased after her like a love sick fool. His eyes had never looked at Beth with pure lust like he looked at Coraline. It drove stakes straight into the core of Beth's heart, but she couldn't let it affect her now. She refused to let any other emotion slip pass her remarkably calm exterior. She had to remember - this was the woman who ruined her childhood. This was the woman who had destroyed hundreds of lives over the centuries. No way would she let Coraline destroy any more.
"He won't go back to you," Beth whispered through stiff lips. Her jealousy gnawed at her insides, but deep inside the secret chambers of her heart Beth knew the truth. Mick looked at Coraline as a starving man eyed a rain puddle. Mick's friend Josef had once said Mick was addicted to Coraline like an addict to heroin. He may have still craved her body, but he didn't want her out of love. He couldn't love a woman who would kill a child to get a man. Besides, Beth hadn't missed the look of love in his eyes when he gazed at her. It was not full of lust and lechery and sin. It was deeper, sweeter, more meaningful. She had felt the taste of that stronger emotion of love on his lips once. No, he couldn't still be in love with that vampire bitch anymore.

"You know, I had my plan all worked out," Coraline hissed. She paced slightly in front of Beth, but never turned her back on the human. "I'd come back into town, sneak my way back into Mick's life and then utterly destroy him. But who should happen to be standing in my way? You– the little wayward brat that almost got me killed twenty years ago. Since you were in his life, it was a lot harder to gain his attention again. It's kind of pervy if you think about it, you know."

"I'm glad you're back in town," Beth bit out, the anger beginning to bubble slowly again to the surface. Her entire body trembled like a mountain seconds before an eruption. "If you hadn't come back, I would never have remembered."

"Bully for you."

"I would never have remembered that you were the monster who kidnapped me as a child."

"And now I'll be the one who kills the man you love. Don't worry, Beth. He won't even feel a thing. In a few years, you won't even remember his name."

"Not if I can help it," Beth growled. Suddenly the anger erupted in her brain like a blaze from hell and she made her move. She dove for a nearby small white wooden chair and smashed it to the floor. She snatched one of the legs off the floor and lunged for Coraline. Unfortunately, even without weakened powers, Coraline was still faster. She quickly back handed Beth across the jaw, knocking the reporter to the floor.

Beth gasped as warm blood gushed into her mouth. She coughed up the blood, grimacing at the fresh iron taste. Her hands grasped for anything in reach that could inflict pain. Instead, she again received pain as Coraline planted a foot onto one of her grasping hands, piercing the skin with her pointed boot heel.

Coraline chuckled as Beth cried out in pain. She struggled to free her hand, but the vampire was still too strong for her.

"You know, I see why he likes you," she cried, throwing the dagger back and forth between her hands. "You've got some fight in you. Too bad it's still not enough to take on me. I do have to thank you though. As soon as I smelled you in the house, my plan to kill Mick suddenly improved for the better. You see, as soon he knows you're dead, he'll be more than willing to cut his off his own head."

"Bitch!" Beth cried and snaked a hand around Coraline's leg. She tried to push it off of her hand, but the vampire still refused to move. She simply dug her heel harder into Beth's hand, causing the girl to scream with pain. Beth could actually hear her bones crunch under the Prada boot heel.

"Language!" Coraline cried, sinking into a crouch. "You need to save your strength, Beth. You're going to need it. Because with what I have planned for you, you're going to be screaming for days."

Beth struggled again to free herself. Coraline shrugged as if Beth were merely a dying roach under her heel.

"Have it your way, baby," Coraline hissed. She lowered the dagger to Beth's cheek, slowly outlining it with the very tip of the blade. It barely scratched the porclein surface. "But I'd really like to have Mick hear your very last scream."

"No!" Beth shouted.

"Oh, yes." Coraline cried. She abruptly threw her head back and deeply sniffed the air around her. "God, did anyone ever tell you that you smell like heaven on a Sunday? No wonder Mick's obsessed with you. I wonder if you taste just as intoxicating."

"No! No, no!" Beth screamed, shaking her head violently. She tried to pull away as far as her pinned hand would allow her. Undaunted, Coraline bared her fangs and lunged for Beth's throat.