With This Blood………Part 4

You should bring Beth with you.

As Mick drove back home, he kept coming back to that one sentence.

You should bring Beth with you.

With an intense look of concern on his face, Mick kept trying to figure out why Josef would want him to bring Beth to this party. Especially now. After meeting Josef's sire and listening to the horrific way that she had treated him in the past, Mick wasn't sure he wanted Beth to even be in the same state with Elena Korzha let alone in the same room. For the life of him, he couldn't understand what Josef was up to. And yes, he knew he was up to something. Not two hours ago, his old friend had been trying to set him up with two redheads, identical twins that went by the overly-precious twin names of Kandi and Karli. Now all of a sudden, he wanted him to bring his human……friend.

Sighing audibly, Mick's frown deepened. He honestly didn't know how to describe his relationship with Beth. Friend just didn't seem sufficient. But girlfriend didn't fit the description either. Besides, the word girlfriend seemed a bit much for a man who had just turned 85 years old. The term brought up memories of going to movies, hand holding while walking along a beach, sneaking kisses in restaurant booths……

A sudden and unexpected wave of loneliness washed over Mick. And try as he might, he couldn't overcome the feeling that everything good in his life seemed to be ebbing away from him. The ironic thing was that the closer he got to Beth, the more the feeling intensified. She'd stirred something awake inside him that he thought had been long dead and buried. Now he found that he longed more and more for the things he knew that he could never have again. Oh so many years ago, he had hoped for a successful career as a musician, a home, a wife and a family. Now, many years later, the dream of being a famous performer had died. His home sometimes felt more like a fortress. The one woman he had actually pledged to love until death, had cursed him for eternity, and the family he had envisioned, would never come to be. By allowing Beth to insinuate herself into his life, he could feel the walls that he had surrounded himself with begin to fail, threatening at any moment to crumble away completely. The idea of being close to someone, sharing in every aspect of his life ,thrilled him beyond reason. But knowing that nothing could ever truly come of that union nearly devastated him. He knew that he should distance himself from her, but he was also very much aware that he would never be able to follow through on that thought. For better or worse, in spite of the pain and agony having her close caused him, Mick knew that he would never have the strength to send her away.

Arriving back at his building, Mick pulled into his parking place and killed the Mercedes' engine. Instead of exiting the vehicle immediately, he stopped and permitted himself just a moment to fantasize about what life with Beth could have been like if things had happened differently. Closing his eyes, he could picture a lifetime with her. The two of them sharing and caring for the other through many happy and joy-filled years. She could have been the true life partner that he had always hoped for, a woman who would challenge him intellectually and emotionally and leave him the stronger for it. Someone who would insinuate themselves into every facet and niche of his life, filling up all of the empty spaces of his soul that he hadn't even known existed. And what of their children? He could see blonde haired blue eyed angels with glowing smiles almost achingly similar to their mother's and darker haired sons who would have not only his strength but also their mother's inquisitive nature. He could envision all of life's ups and downs and had no doubt that they could have weathered them all as long as they were together. He also saw the two growing older, both gray haired and growing weaker as life took it's inevitable toll. Until finally the time would come when she would leave him, his heart breaking but full with the memories and the love that she had given him. He had no doubt that he would follow soon after. What reasons would he have left to remain? He would have looked back on a life well lived and known that he could have done no better. Beth would have been his reason to live and without her, he knew that he would be ready to meet his end.

Whereas Coraline had consumed him body and soul, Beth had imprisoned his heart. He thought at one time that his now ex-wife had been the woman of his dreams, but that soon crumbled when he realized that everything he thought she had been had been based on lies and deceit. Beth had breezed into his life and opened herself to him with no pretension, no façade. How many times had he looked into her eyes and had plainly seen there everything that she was thinking and feeling. She truly was an open book to him and he felt compelled and drawn to read from each and every page. The more he knew about her, the more he wanted to discover. And somehow, he knew, on some instinctual level, that it would take a lifetime to learn everything. Oh but how he would have enjoyed the task.

Mick breathed deeply and tried to clear his fatigued mind. Opening his eyes, he stared off into nothing as he tried with more than some difficulty to overcome the mood that he plunged himself into. He knew better than to wish for what could never be. How many years had he spent burying these dreams? Decades it felt like. More than half his life had been spent in the pursuit of closing the door on foolish wishes. He thought he had secured that door, and was staggered to find that a blonde haired beauty had so effortlessly unbolted it with but a single smile, a gentle touch and a caring nature. He had tried almost desperately at first to keep her an arm's length away, but soon found it impossible. Not only because of her persistent nature, but also because somewhere deep down inside, he truly couldn't live without her in his life.

He thought for a second about the different paths that he and Josef walked. His friend was possessed of a woman he desperately wanted to be free of, but who also drew him in ways that even he couldn't fathom. Where Mick, on the other hand, was so desperately drawn to a woman he was hopelessly in love with but who could never be the lover he had dreamed of so many restless and sleepless days uncounted. How either one of them would ever find peace was anyone's guess.

Shaking his head almost violently in the hope of finally clearing his morose thoughts, Mick finally exited his car and made his way to the elevator. Once inside, he tried his very best to think of anything or anyone but Beth. At the moment, even occupying his mind with thoughts of Elena was preferable to sinking back into the depths of despair he was franticly trying to climb out of.

As the elevator finally made it to his floor, the doors opened and Mick felt like he had just been sucker punched. For standing right in front of him was the one person he really didn't want to see.

"Mick!" Beth exclaimed, clearly as shocked to see him as he was her. "I just….." she began, her finger pointing to his front door, "……I just stopped by to talk to you for a moment, and well…..you weren't here. Obviously," she laughed almost nervously. "I thought maybe……." she stopped then, finally registering that not only had he yet to exit the elevator car, but also noticing the look on his face.

Immediate concern creased her brow as she quickly asked, "What's wrong?" After a second or two more, when she received no response other than his continuing heartbreaking stare, she asked again, "Mick….what is it? What's happened?" Moving then, she reached in and grabbed his arm in order to retrieve him before the elevator doors closed.

Mick allowed her to pull him forward, stopping just outside the lift doors. He found that he couldn't say anything, just stare at her overly concerned features. He let his eyes drift over her face, her wide, amazingly open eyes, the skin so seemingly flawless, the lips he'd had the pleasure of touching only on one occasion, her straight patrician like nose. The face he had just been daydreaming about. Immediately all of those thoughts came back in a tidal wave of emotion and he could do nothing to hold it back. The dreamed of future, the life he would never have, but still hoped for, all threatened to engulf him and pull him under.

With an almost reverent touch, he reached out and traced her features with but the barest brush of his finger tips. He knew she didn't understand what was wrong, and at the moment he could find no words at all to explain. For one selfish moment, he just wanted to feel what could have been, to pretend that their worlds weren't so awfully far apart.

He cupped her face with his hands and stared deeply into her almost hypnotic eyes. His thumbs gently brushed her cheeks as he slowly lowered his lips to hers. He could feel her confusion slowly turn to acquiescence, as her lips molded themselves to his. It was soft, moist, gentle and unhurried. He changed the angle just a bit in order to more thoroughly explore what was so freely offered. His tongue licked at her bottom lip and he swore he could hear a soft groan start somewhere deep inside her. He pulled back just enough to allow her to breathe and was rewarded with a soft gasp escaping her parted lips. He then took her more fully into his arms, one hand on her lower back anchored her to him as the other plunged into the soft waves of her hair. He then consumed her as a dying man in a desert would once stumbling upon an oasis. She had once been that for him. Her life saving blood had saved him from an almost certain and painful death. Now, months later, her sweet kisses were like rain on his parched and weathered soul. He seemingly couldn't get enough, couldn't hold her close enough to him, couldn't stand the thought of ever letting her go. He could feel everything about her without even opening his eyes, the flush to her skin, the rapid beat of her heart, the way she moved against him fighting to get closer. He knew that it was wrong, but at the moment he wanted this, conscience be damned. Nothing could ever come from this moment, but he was powerless to stop what he had so readily started in his one second of weakness. He'd glimpsed a future full of love and wanted just this one moment of time to keep with him as a memento. Slowly, he eased out of the kiss, his lips skimmed along the line of her jaw and following the line of her throat to the hollow of her neck. He then buried his face in her soft hair as he held her to him, his arms tightly wound around her, knowing that this moment soon had to end and wanting to remember each and every detail of the this span of time. A small smile graced his mouth as he felt a contented sigh escape her now swollen lips. He refused to think about the outcome of his actions, instead he chose to live simply in the here and now.

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Many stories below, a very expensive car sat at the curb of Mick's building. Many a passer by looked at the sedan curiously. Los Angeles may be the home to some of the world's wealthiest, but it was still unusual to see a $250,000 Bentley parked in this neighborhood.

Inside the car, one very ancient, psychically gifted, vampire merely sat back and smiled. "So……he's in love," she said softly, to no one in particular. "How interesting." The smile was laced with something other than mirth, a look some would describe as deadly cunning.

To be continued……….

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