Author's Note: This chapter has a bit of dialog and scenes either directly quoted or paraphrased from Moonlight. They all come from Moonlight, Season 01, Episode 16: Sonata. I don't own any of it. It all belongs to those who own Moonlight and everything about it.
Chapter 006
A Better Understanding
Thursday, January 31, 2008; 7 p.m. PST
The Sarah Whitley Memorial Sports Arena
At Hearst College, Los Angeles, California
When I reach the stage, I stride to the far end of the platform and then stand and gaze out into the sea of people. While the school's president gives a small speech explaining the process involved in putting a new building on campus, I search the crowd for blonde ringlets and a crimson gown.
I begin paying attention once I spot Beth in the crush of people. She winks at me and I relax exponentially right around the time the president says, "Tonight, Hearst College honors Josef Kostan, whose generous donation has made possible the Sarah Whitley Memorial Sports Arena: The new home of the Hearst College Rough Riders' Basketball Team!"
Everyone claps at that, and a few people scream out cat-calls. The President waits a moment, and then after smiling, he continues his speech, "To commemorate this event, we're retiring the jersey of the young man that led our team to the national championship last year. He may have gone on to the pros, but he'll always be Hearst's favorite son. Ladies and gentlemen, Number 24: Dominic Michaels!"
Dominic stands from his chair on the dais and receives applause before he and I shake hands. We pose for photos with the president for a few minutes, and then I'm released from my duties, so I go down the steps and enter the crowd intent on finding Beth.
I lost sight of her for a bit while we were taking photos, so I actively search for her in the crowd. When I find her, Alejandro is standing a few feet away giving her the illusion of privacy while she talks with the freshie I originally planned to bring with me as my date.
Simone Walker is not only one of my regular freshies, but she's one of my lawyers, a real up-and-comer. I usually just feed from her on Tuesdays and Fridays, but she wanted to come, and I needed a date, so I offered.
For me, it was an offer of convenience, nothing more, but I'm sure she thought it meant something because when I called her this morning and told her that she would be attending with my maker instead of me, she was not pleased, to say the least.
Therefore, I inch close enough to overhear Beth and Simone's conversation over the room full of people talking to make sure she's not rude to Beth.
I may have known Simone longer, but Beth is to be my childe, which means she outranks everyone else in my life except my previous childer and they only outrank her in so much as they've known me longer, so we have a more profound history together.
The moment Beth agreed to become my childe, my first concerns became her safety, welfare, and happiness, so if Simone or anyone else in my life mistreats Beth, I'll cut them out of my life faster than they can say, 'Sorry.'
Simone's long brown hair with honey blonde highlights is loose and curling around her shoulders and compliments her floor-length, canary yellow dress that has thin, double spaghetti straps, a deep neckline, and an empire waist.
She has her standard bangle bracelets on both arms that she uses to camouflage my bite marks, though, tonight's bracelets are full of yellow beads that match her dress instead of the gold ones she wears during the week.
Simone takes a sip of her wine and then asks Beth, "So, you came with Josef? How do you know him?"
I chuckle to myself because she's trying to figure out if Beth knows what I am without coming out and asking a question that could endanger my secret. That's something at least.
Beth smiles and says, "A friend of Josef's introduced us. I'm an associate of his friend."
That's my girl, tell her the truth but not too much. My grin widens when Beth changes the subject and says, "This is great, isn't it? I feel like I'm back at my high school prom."
I chuckle out loud when my maker saunters up to them and tells Beth, "Prom wasn't really a thing back in my day. High School either. Locust, plagues and pestilence were the things."
My maker is wearing a tuxedo much like mine, though instead of a cummerbund he's wearing a crimson vest underneath his jacket.
He's grinning widely, and my laughter is initially because Simone looks like a fish with her mouth opening and closing at my maker's seemingly uncharacteristic comments and demeanor.
Beth almost imperceptibly leans towards my maker and says, "Hello, umm, I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't know your last name, only your first, and calling you by your given name would be wholly inappropriate given our respective positions."
My chuckles continue, but this time it's because of how well-suited Beth is to her new life while my maker smiles even more fully. He's clearly inordinately pleased with Beth's comment, so he takes her hand and tells her, "Jorge Alonso de San Diego at your service Ms. Turner."
He kisses the back of her knuckles causing her to beam at him and say, "It's a pleasure and honor to meet you again Mr. de San Diego, or do you prefer Señor de San Diego?"
He inclines his head and says, "The latter is my honorific of choice."
Beth smiles wide enough to show all her teeth and says, "Great, now, Señor de San Diego, as for plagues and pestilence, I have to be honest, I don't envy you that part of living for so long. Seeing history and experiencing everything you've seen first-hand while it happened would be fabulous, but I can't imagine that the scent of all those rotting corpses sat well with such a finely tuned sense of smell. The lack of indoor plumbing probably wasn't much fun either."
Now, I'm laughing at my maker because his eyes widen at her words a tad before returning to normal, so no one who wasn't looking would know that his infamous poker face cracked for a split second. I saw it clear as day, though, so I know that he's impressed by Beth's insight. He smiles that rare soft grin reserved for those he considers his that is without any condescension or malice and tells her, "Indeed Ms. Turner. It was a test of our ability to hold our breaths for years on end."
She laughs and then smiling tells him, "Um, if you like, you can call me Beth. I don't expect to receive the same honor, but, again, given our respective roles, it seems appropriate for you to be more familiar with me than I am with you."
He's relaxed, and his muscles are loose, and he's still smiling, which is not his normal facial expression. He usually smirks or sneers, but this soft turning of his lips upward is something I've only ever seen him give to me and my blood-siblings and our childer after they turned, so I furrow my brow and narrow my eyes when he gives a leisurely nod and says, "Thank you, Beth."
Is Beth correct? Is this whole situation the result of my maker scheming? Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful if it is, but how will Beth handle it if it turns out that her theory is correct? There is truly little in this world that I want more than for my maker and my childe not just to get along but to care for each other. I send up a prayer, 'Please, no matter what the answers to Beth's questions are let the result be conducive to my wishes for us all to be a happy family.'
Beth beams back at him before my maker turns and stares at Simone before he sneers at the glare she's shooting towards Beth. He glances back at Beth and smiling at her tells her, "If you'll excuse us, Beth, I'm in need of refreshment, and the Champagne isn't cutting it."
She grins and tilts her head to the left and tells him, "Of course, uh, when you get back maybe you can tell me if I should, uh, offer to Josef."
He makes direct eye contact with her, and then he shakes his head and says, "You are much more than food, Beth. Neither Josef nor I see you that way, and neither of us would expect you to do that, and, really, you shouldn't lower yourself to the vermin's level. You are better than that, you're one of the few chosen ones."
She's frowning somewhat, so he tells her, "Remember there are distinct roles for everyone and you are not food, far from it, in fact. I'm not the sort that offers to bring food into my family, and neither is Josef. I'm sure he's made other arrangements to meet those particular needs."
I had a drink with a freshie before meeting up with Beth back at the house, so I won't be needing that sort of refreshment while we're here.
Beth now has a small smile on her face, instead of her previous frown, so Jorge turns to Simone and tells her, "Come," and then he turns and strides away without waiting to see if she'll follow.
Simone stares at Beth with her eyes narrowed, so I stroll up to them, and after placing my hand in the small of Beth's back, I tell Simone, "If I were you, I would hurry because my maker does not appreciate being made to wait. Oh, and a word of advice Simone, refrain from giving Beth those nasty looks, or my maker and I will both sever our arrangements with you."
Her eyes widen, and her frown smooths out before she jerks her head up and down and hurries off after my sire.
When she's gone, I turn to look at Beth and with a cocky grin on my face, I tell her, "Jorge's right, Beth. I view you as so much more than food. You are my future childe, and while I'm looking forward to tasting you when I turn you, I really have no desire to demean you in that way."
She purses her lips and narrows her eyes before she says, "It doesn't seem demeaning to me at all. Nourishing you seems more like an honor. And uh, when I fed Mick out in the desert, it felt good, really good, even though I was scared senseless that he was going to die."
I chuckle and lean in closer to her before saying, "I'm surprised that he had the wherewithal to make it enjoyable. Based on what he told me about that night I figured it wasn't painful, but it probably wasn't enjoyable either. Plus, Mick hasn't live fed since he returned you to your mother, to be honest, so I was sure between his lack of practice and his extreme amount of sun exposure that day that he lacked finesse in his extraction."
She giggles but says, "No, it felt absolutely amazing."
I smirk and brush my hand along hers before telling her, "Wait until I turn you and then you can compare our techniques and see if my advanced years and millennia of practice have helped me perfect my bite."
She laughs outright at that, so I grin and bump her shoulder with mine before telling her, "As for our usual food, feeding us is an honor for the freshies, but we don't have conversations with them or at least not particularly interesting ones. We certainly don't share our histories with them."
Beth tilts her head to the side, so I take her hand in mine and squeeze gently before telling, "You need to understand that my maker's comments about high school and the plague were directed towards you Beth, not you and Simone, just you. He doesn't talk with his food any more than you would try to have a conversation with a cow or a chicken. You are a rare quantity, especially because I doubt he even remembers Simone's name."
My eyes widen, and I lean in towards her and say, "I'll be honest, any time a vampire meets someone like you they almost immediately begin considering if they are compatible enough with the individual to offer eternity to him or her. I have never once wanted to drink your blood beyond turning you, not because I don't think that you're good enough or that your blood wouldn't be palatable, quite the opposite really. In fact, you smell better than anyone I've ever met in my long life, so I'm quite sure that your blood will be outstanding."
I shrug and tell her, "Mostly, I don't want to feed on you because, in my humble opinion and my maker's too, you are above all of that. You are the future childe of Josef Kostan and the future grandchilde of Jorge Alonso de San Diego. That means something in our community, and if anyone tries to feed on you between now and when I turn you I need you to tell me immediately because you are not now, nor ever, going to be someone's food, and my claim over you legally prevents others from feeding on you."
Her eyes are round again, but she says, "Okay, um, thank you for thinking so highly of me."
I smile and open my mouth to comment that she makes it effortless to think so highly of her, but my maker beats me to it when he comes up behind her and says, "You deserve it, Dear."
Beth turns her face toward him and beams at that obviously understanding that that's high praise coming from my maker. She turns her body and glances at him before saying, "Hmm, you're looking a little pinker. I'll have to remember to keep an eye out for your skin turning paler. Um, if you don't mind me asking, and if you do mind then just ignore me, but um, that was kind of quick, no? Don't you savor your meals? Or is that not a thing with vampires?"
My maker lets out a booming laugh, and every pair of vampire eyes in the room, about 15 of them, immediately shift to see what filled the legendary Jorge Alonso de San Diego with so much mirth. I watch while each set of eyes that jumps to us widens when the vampire realizes it's Beth, a human, who is eliciting that response from him. That will work in her favor and make them all treat her with far more respect than they would have before her turning.
He touches her arm and tells her, "If she had tasted anything like I'm sure you do, then I would have taken my time and savored her, but, as it is, she must take an iron supplement to keep up with feeding Josef, and she's probably taking more than necessary. It's made her blood a bit on the tinny side. I took enough to slake my thirst, but that is all."
She smiles gently, but I shake my head a touch, and with a heavy sigh I tell him, "I'll speak to Simone about reducing the amount of iron she takes."
He lifts and then drops one shoulder and says, "If it doesn't bother you, then it makes no difference to me. After all, I won't be feeding on her again."
He had planned to utilize her services on occasion, so if he's decided not to use her at all, then she must have done something, either being disrespectful, rude, or somehow abrasive and caused him to change his plans. His regard of Beth seems high enough that Simone's earlier sneering at Beth might have been enough to change his mind.
Frowning, I tell him, "The iron tablets must be new because I fed from her on Tuesday and I didn't notice it. I have strict rules that my freshies aren't to consume any medicines, minerals, or vitamins that Dr. Ludwig doesn't specifically tell them to take, so technically what you're telling me is that my freshie is in violation of our agreement."
He inclines his head, so I slowly nod back. Beth opens her mouth to say something, but a scuffle between Dominic and a pale young man with brown hair a few yards away diverts her attention.
They push at each other for a moment before another man pushes the brown-haired man away from Dominic and says, "Back off Hank!"
There is a flush to Dominic's dark skin, well, as much as possible on a black man, and he puffs his chest and takes a step towards Hank who does the same. Sensing the impending inevitability of the fight, Lisa, one of the 15 or so Vampires in attendance grabs Dominic's arm and tells him, "Dominic, Don't."
My good friend, Jackson, intervenes and after stepping between Dominic and his would-be attacker tells the young man, "Cool off, Hank, or get out. Okay?"
Jackson's wife, Emma, moves beside Dominic and holds his arm and after placing her hand on his chest, she tells him, "Calm down, it's over."
I bring my attention back to my date when Beth inclines her head towards my friends and asks, "Who are those two?"
Grinning, I glance over at Emma and Jackson. Emma is wearing a floor length midnight blue gown with silver accents and Jackson is wearing a tuxedo with a matching blue bow tie and vest underneath the jacket.
They both have brown hair, though Emma has her long tresses twisted and pinned up tonight, and Jackson has a neatly combed and styled shorter cut.
They appear to be a couple that's in their mid-thirties to early-forties, but, in reality, they're much, much older so I glance down at Beth's upturned face while she patiently waits for my answer and then tell her, "They're Dominic's managers, Emma and Jackson Monaghan."
Beth narrows her eyes, probably sensing that there is more to the story, so I chuckle and then tell her, "They've gotten my maker and me courtside seats to every Lakers' game since Wilt Chamberlain played for them."
Her eyes flash, and her back straightens before she lowers her voice and leaning in towards me she asks, "Dominic's managers are vampires?"
I grin and tell her, "They've been married for something like 150 years. Emma came over on a ship during the Potato Famine, and a mysterious vampire turned her during the voyage. I don't believe she ever saw her sire and when she got to New York, she felt drawn to the fights because her brother boxed before he died. Anyway, Jackson was a successful fighter in the circuit, and when they met, I believe Emma felt the same type of pull that I feel towards you. She was only a year or so into being a vampire at the time, though, and it is incredibly rare for such a young vampire to feel the pull."
Beth's hand is wrapped around my forearm, and she's leaning against me with her dreamy 'I'm learning history' face on. I smile and tell her, "I was visiting an old friend in New York, and we attended the boxing matches and met them both, and I sort of took Emma under my wing and taught her what her absentee maker never did. When she wanted to turn Jackson, I consulted my maker, and he felt that they would both behave well enough not to make such a thing disastrous. Even still, Emma and Jackson came here to California so I could keep an eye on them, and they waited a few years before Emma turned him. It had the potential to turn out very badly, but it worked out perfectly, and I'm not aware of anyone involved regretting the decision to allow her to turn him. Anyway, they were officially married for the first time on New Year's Day of 1855."
Beth's eyes widen, but I have to hold in a chuckle when she practically bounces on the balls of her feet before asking, "153 years of marriage? That gives a whole new meaning to ''til death do us part.'"
A new song begins playing in the background, so I grin before holding out my free hand and asking, "Do you want to dance?"
She grins and takes my hand allowing me to spin her onto the makeshift dance floor.
We dance for a few minutes before she fiddles with my bow tie and says, "153 years with one person, that seems like a long time."
I grin and lean down to her ear and maybe flirt a little when I tell her, "Well, it depends who you're with."
I pull back in time to see her smile, so I tell her, "You understand that you're to be my childe, right?"
She gives an unhurried nod, so I say, "I won't be releasing you until after we've been together for a few hundred years at least. Do you remember Rider who used his computer skills to help us find Mineo while he was on his killing spree?"
After she tilts her head to the left, and I take that as a yes, so I grin and tell her, "I don't know if you know this, but he's my childe, your future blood-brother."
She shakes her head, so with a high chin and a knowing grin, I tell her, "He is, and he's been a vampire for 174 years, and I have yet to release him."
A frown grows on her face, so I guess at the reason and tell her, "The only reason he went to Venezuela for a few months instead of staying here with me is that the human government took an interest in him after he hacked the Pentagon for me. He went and stayed with my younger blood brothers, Saúl and Q. Saúl is a sheriff in Venezuela, and, as a rule, Venezuela doesn't cooperate with the American Government, so that allowed Rider to lay low for a few months. He, or, really, we, hated being parted so much that Rider created a new identity and staged his own death so that he can come back earlier than planned because being apart from each other bothers us both so much."
Her head tilts again, and her brows rise towards her hairline, so I tell her, "I think I told you that I wasn't released until I had been a vampire for just under 380 years and even that's young by most standards. The only reason my maker released me at such an early age was that it was necessary for me to assume the role of sheriff. It could be much longer than 400 years before I release you. Once I feel you can survive on your own and that I've taught you all that I can, we'll discuss whether you want to be released."
She tightens her hold on me a little, so I tell her, "If our relationship plays out how I'm hoping it will, neither one of us will be eager for me to release you. I'm trying to build an eternal relationship with you, and by the time I even consider releasing you, Jackson and Emma's 153-year-long marriage will be child's play compared to how long we will have been together."
She shrugs one elegant shoulder, so I spin her out and then pull her back into my arms and tell her, "We're not in love like they are, and after my one and only experience with love I'm hesitant to open my heart like that. Therefore, I'm not planning for our relationship to take that turn, but I've learned in my more than 5,400 years on this earth that it's best not to rule anything out and never say never. Still, I almost think a proper maker/childe relationship is even stronger and more lasting than a marriage could ever be."
Her brows pinch together and then smooth out before she says, "I always thought of the maker/childe relationship like a parent/kid thing, I mean I know from Coraline and Mick that the maker and childe can be involved in ways that children and their parents shouldn't be but I just…"
I shrug one shoulder and then lean in close before telling her, "In some respects that's accurate, but it's more complicated than that. There are parent/child aspects to the relationship in that it's the sire's responsibility to teach the childe how to be a proper vampire. However, there are friend and lover aspects even if the two parties aren't in love. I'll be honest, Beth, makers and their childer often have physical relationships."
She pulls her face from its resting place on my shoulder and with narrowed eyes asks, "You mean I'll be expected to sleep with you?"
I shake my head firmly and then tell her, "I'm not such a monster that I would require anyone to have sexual relations with me for any reason. If you're unwilling, then I will respect that. However, most childer find comfort in that sort of relationship with their maker. I'm willing if you are, Beth, but I will leave that decision up to you in its entirety."
Pausing in my explanation, I swing her out for another spin, and when she settles back into my arms, I tell her, "I will call the shots in most aspects of your life once you turn until we decide we want me to release you. However, I am of the belief that every man and woman should have full control over what happens to his or her body regarding sex. I'll punish you if necessary, and it will be physical and incredibly painful in a lot of cases, but I won't sexualize your punishments and if you choose not to entertain me sexually, then I can and will respect that."
She sighs and says, "Sorry, I didn't mean to jump to conclusions or accuse you. I know you're not like that. I just—"
I place my finger over her soft lips and tell her, "You're just entering a new life, and you have no idea what the rules are so you're nervous, which, for the record, is completely understandable. I need you to talk to me, though, okay? Don't assume that you know what's going on. Ask me questions when you're uncertain as to what's expected of you, okay?"
She just gives a gentle nod, so I pull her head to my shoulder and turn us around on the dance floor a few more times. A minute later she whispers, "I'm not opposed to that sort of thing if it's my choice."
I laugh at that and tell her, "I'll keep that in mind."
She brushes her cheek against my shoulder and then asks, "So, you're planning for us to be close for 400 years at least?"
With a shake of my head, I pull her face away from my shoulder again, and with my hands on her cheeks I gaze into her eyes before telling her, "No Beth, I'm planning for us to be close for the remainder of our existences. The 400-year mark is just when I will consider giving you a bit more freedom."
Her eyes narrow and her brow furrows before she asks, "Has a vampire ever never released their childe?"
I give a leisurely nod, and then I tell her, "My blood-sister refused when our maker offered to release her. He only offered because he had released me and she's older, and Jorge didn't want Celeste to think he thought less of her or her ability to take care of herself. He finally stopped offering over a millennium ago. He hasn't released two of my three younger blood-brothers, though, one of them is only 634 years old, and, again, he only released Saúl because he became a sheriff, too."
She gives a gentle smile and shifts in my arms slightly, so I tighten my hold on her and tell her, "I personally haven't released any of my childer either despite some of them being well over 4,000 years old. The connection between a maker and his childe, well, I don't think I have the words to accurately describe it, but there is little in this world that I've ever found that feels better than that connection. Before you're released even a simple brush of skin feels amazing and comforting, to both childe and sire, in ways that it won't anymore after you're released. I mean, it'll still feel better than touching someone I have no blood link to, but before a vampire is released the connection between maker and childe is hypersensitive."
My brows gather in, and I resist the urge to scrub a hand over my face and instead squeeze her just a bit before telling her, "That loss of connection is the one thing I regret about agreeing to become a sheriff. I mean my maker and I have never been closer emotionally and mentally and even physically, but mystically I miss that feeling more than I miss most things."
She squeezes my hand holding hers almost imperceptibly, so I smile and spin her out again and then while she laughs I settle her back in my arms. Her giggles fade away, and we dance in silence for a moment and sway through a song change.
I tighten my hold on her just a touch, and then I tell her, "My sire made it perfectly clear that the only reason he was offering to release me was so that if I wanted to take the king up on his offer of a position in the government I would be able to do that. It still took me a year, and quite a bit of coaxing by my former king before I agreed, and my maker released me."
Glancing down at the top of her head, she must sense me looking at her because she shifts so she can see my face even with her cheek resting on my shoulder. I smile gently and tell her, "I think my reluctance to being released coupled with my maker's reluctance to do it is why we both work so hard to keep in daily contact."
Her smile is soft, and she tightens her hold on me, so I beam back at her and say, "We are, in my opinion, successfully making up for the loss of that bond. It's hard work sometimes, and no matter how hard we work we'll never completely get that mystical bond back, but we have every other possible bond in spades. Like I said, that's because we both work hard at staying close in every other way possible. It's been my experience that the things worth having or doing are rarely the ones that come easy. If you and I both want to be close for eternity, it will take work, with or without my releasing you, but I guarantee that it will be worth every bit of effort we both put into the relationship."
She smiles wider, reaches up on her toes, and kisses my cheek before telling me, "I'm looking forward to forever with you Josef, regardless of the nature of our relationship."
I smirk and lean in and kiss her cheek back before breathing into her ear, "Me too, Blondie."
She ducks her head and a blush blooms across her cheeks before she peeks at me through her lashes and says, "Being close to you already brings me comfort and this weird sense of peace that I can't explain. I felt it that first time we met when you took my hand and shook it, and I've felt it every time I've been near you ever since. I, um, I thought about asking Mick about it, but—"
I cut her off and tell her, "It's for the best that you didn't. He would have known what it means, and he would not have reacted favorably towards either of us."
She tilts her head and narrows her eyes, so I stall and spin her out and then pull her back into my arms. I plan to explain about the pull in full at some point. I'm not too keen on doing it in public, but I think if I do it now, and I word it correctly the vampires here will overhear and spread the crucial points to the rest of the community. Despite me wanting to keep certain things private that might work in our favor more than me keeping it all to myself.
Therefore, I gaze down into her crystal-clear sky-blue eyes and tell her, "What you're describing is the human end of a mystical bond. I feel it, too, and it means that I should make you my childe. Mystically you're intended or meant to be my childe."
Her eyes widen at that, so I hold her closer and tell her a truth I only just figured out, "If you die without becoming my childe, I'll feel a hole, for lack of a better way to put it, where our bond currently resides inside me. I'm not sure if you'd feel the same thing if I died, but I know from my experiences with Mick that I would feel it if you died."
I release a heavy sigh and then tell her and any vampire listening to us a secret that even Mick doesn't know, "I felt the pull to him when I met him in 1952, but I was distracted, and I left L.A. and moved to New York without fulfilling the bond. Coraline turned him, and I felt it the night he turned and knew deep in my soul that something had changed and not for the better. It wasn't until I re-met him and figured out the date of his turning that I began to understand what had happened. I think the hole was less than it would have been if he had died a final death instead of Coraline turning him, but I still felt it until I re-turned him. Now the hole is gone and has been replaced with the bond a maker and childe would have after the childe has been released."
I hold in my frown while I overhear several vampires begin whispering about what I just said. Instead, I continue and tell Beth, "What you're feeling is the same pull I feel towards you, but it's muted because you're still mortal. Most humans don't even notice it, so it says something about your self-awareness that you consciously feel it. Anyway, for me, just touching you like this, right now, is bringing me the same comfort I'd have if I were holding one of my childer only faintly less profound because we don't share blood yet."
Her jaw drops a little at that, so I smile and tell her, "Experience tells me that it will only get stronger for both of us once I turn you and we share blood."
Her eyes are wide, and then they narrow before she asks, "I'm mystically meant to be your childe?"
As my maker and I said last night, Beth deserves the honor of people knowing that I chose her without my maker's input, and this is my chance to make that happen. I give a gentle smile and then tilt my head to the side and picking my words carefully and perhaps strategically repeating myself I tell her, "Yes. No one is sure what causes the connection, but I've turned 15 childer, including Mick, and I felt the pull to turn all but two of them, so it's happened to me enough that I know what it means. Anyway, as we've already discussed if Mick wouldn't have objected, I would have offered to turn you. His opinions on your humanity and its continuation are well-known, though, so like I've said several times, my hands were tied because I was unwilling to betray him even to make you my childe."
I'm sure Mick will be keeping his ear to the ground and keeping up-to-date on the goings on here while he's gone, so I exhale a long breath. What I'm about to say is a truth that most vampires should already know but that Mick knowing makes me nervous. Still, I take a deep breath and then release it before saying, "Whether that would have remained true remained to be seen. Mick's not the only human I felt that connection with and didn't immediately turn. I've resisted turning one other vampire I felt the pull to while they were human, and it got stronger and stronger until it became unbearable, and I finally gave in, so it's possible the pull would have eventually overridden my loyalty to Mick. I haven't gotten to that point yet, and I was trying to figure out a way to keep everyone alive and still follow the Goddess' wishes by turning you, but I had yet to figure out an acceptable solution."
I shrug and then confident in my strategy to feed the community specific details, I tell Beth and the other vampires present, "My maker's ruling has overridden my wish to keep my relationship with Mick intact and untarnished. Jorge knew what he was doing, and his punishment for me isn't that I have to turn you it's the fact that now that chasm I feared would form between Mick and me is likely going to slide into place, and our friendship will never be the same. The only beneficial thing for our friendship about my hand being forced is that the chances of Mick remaining alive, even after you're turned, are higher this way, but our friendship will likely never be the same again, and it's entirely possible that it'll be dissolved entirely."
She pulls away somewhat, and with wide eyes, she says, "I know I thanked you last night for helping save me, but I'm sorry, for my part in all of this."
I rest my finger over her lips again and tell her, "You didn't do anything wrong, Beth. You had a case, and you did your job and followed the leads, and they led you to a vampire who was misbehaving. The only problem I have with how anyone handled the case is that Mick's response was to kill Anders. That falls on Mick for planning to murder him and me, to a lesser degree, for not realizing that Mick planned to kill Anders all along. You, your former boss, whom so far as I know Anders murdered in cold-blood, and A.D.A. Talbot are the only innocent parties in this whole mess, so I don't want you to feel guilty, okay? You did nothing wrong."
There are tears pooling in the corners of her eyes, but she shakes her head a tad and asks, "You think his murder of Anders was premeditated?"
My shoulders slump, and I let out a dejected sigh before pulling her tighter to me and telling her and the vampires in the room, "Yes. I've been replaying the whole thing over and over in my mind. Mick didn't take out his machete until after he staked Anders. You and A.D.A. Talbot were no longer in any danger, and I was about to call Vincent and have him come and get Anders so that he could stand trial for his bad behavior when Mick killed him. I think Anders is dead because he kicked Mick's temporarily mortal ass and took you, Mick's human. At the time that Anders took you, Mick was just as human. That means he had no official claim on you, but he said, 'He has Beth, my Beth,' to me in his plea for me to help him, so I'm sure in hindsight that he killed Anders out of revenge."
Her eyes are narrowed, and her brow is furrowed, so I shake my head a little and tell her, "Killing other supes in retaliation for their bad behavior is wholly unacceptable any way you look at it. If Mick had killed Anders at his office when he attacked you, Mick, and A.D.A. Talbot then that would have been self-defense, and Mick wouldn't have been punished. Mick got his ass kicked instead and then hours later turned around, and himself attacked Anders."
She's frowning something fierce, and instead of making eye contact with her I stare at her nose and ask, "You know that saying, 'two wrongs don't make a right?' Well, that's especially true in the supernatural world. The proper response to Anders kidnapping you would have been to rescue you and the A.D.A. and stake Anders before bringing the matter and Anders paralyzed body to me, the sheriff, who would then bring the matter to Jorge, the magister, if I thought the situation warranted it. For the record, taking another vampire's human is an offense punishable by having your fangs pulled and being staked for a few decades at least, but up to several centuries, depending on what you did to or with that human before its owner took it back. Mick's claim on you was well established, so I could and would rule in his favor and bring Anders before Jorge for multiple crimes including kidnapping."
I release a long exhale of breath and then still staring at a freckle on the tip of her nose, I continue explaining, "No matter how much my maker can't stand Mick he would have ruled in Mick's favor. Anders would have been fined and then physically punished for a few centuries because he actually took blood from you. I thought that our mission was solely a rescue mission and that I'd have to assert myself as the sheriff. The fight was quick, though, so Anders was staked before I had to order him to stand down. Like I said, I had my phone in my hand to call both Vincent and the Cleaners to come to pick up Anders and clean up his blood selling operation, but Mick chopped off his head before I could push send."
She sort of scowls, but I'm not sure exactly why she's making that face, so I spin her out and then just as a new song begins to play I pull her back into my arms. When she settles in the circle of my arms, she frowns and says, "Mick is really messed up, huh?"
I shrug with one shoulder, so she inclines her head and says, "The more I hear about your world, and Mick's behavior, the more I think this mess is all of Mick's creation. He made this clusterfuck with his bad habits and his stubborn and pigheaded ways, and then he didn't have the stones to stay and accept his punishment. Instead, he ran and just made everything worse."
I release a sharp breath and tell her, "You're right, of course. I didn't see it when it was happening because I was too close in the years leading up to this to realize what was slowly occurring, so I unintentionally stood idly by. That gets my goat, too. Mick knows me better than most, so he knew that I would hate all of this. Still, he roped me into his bad behavior even knowing that I wouldn't approve, and I hate his willful disregard of my feelings the most."
She tightens her hold on my hand and shoulder and lowers her voice before saying, "You love him like a brother, but I don't think he treats you with as much respect and love as you treat him. You've repeatedly said that you put off offering to turn me because you knew he wouldn't approve, and, yet, you just admitted that he knowingly and willfully went against your wishes and even tricked you into breaking the law. He uses the 'Vampires are all monsters' trope to excuse his not giving you as much as you give him in your relationship, and that's not fair to you. From what I can tell, you've given Mick every bit of you, and he's thrown that back in your face by causing you to be a party to murder. He's lucky you didn't lose your position as sheriff or I'm not sure I'd be willing to forgive him."
I shake my head and tell her, "The supernatural world works under the assumption that accidents happen from time to time. That means provided I don't make a habit of helping people murder other supes I won't lose my position. It's all about intent and habits. My maker and everyone else knows that I'm not in the habit of misbehaving, and although I didn't tell Jorge the finer details of what happened with Anders, I'm sure he knew that I had no intention of killing anyone when I went with Mick to rescue you. He also just as likely realizes that Mick probably did exactly what he intended to do that night."
She lets out a gust of air and says, "I'm still grateful that the only punishment you're essentially receiving is the destruction of a toxic relationship."
I give a dejected sigh and tell her, "I'm still hoping it won't be completely destroyed, and once Celeste gets custody of Mick, she should be able to rehabilitate him enough to make him treat me the way I treat him, like a brother."
She frowns and then tells me, "I maybe love Mick, or at least I was heading that way, but I can see now that he doesn't deserve you, not even close. I think he maybe doesn't deserve me either because I'm pretty sure that if I had stayed at that diner like he told me to, he would have convinced me to run with him and he would have done it by withholding crucial details from his explanation of what was going on. He would have spun things to make me do what he wanted and completely disregarded my free will. You, on the other hand, came to me and explained in graphic detail what was going on and gave me all the information I needed to make a fully informed decision."
She releases a heavy breath and then says, "Don't get me wrong, I still love him, but I think my blinders have been taken off and I'm beginning to see him more clearly."
I exhale a breath that's loud in my ears because my blinders are gone, too, and I can't say I'm enjoying the view. I don't respond verbally, though, and instead spin Beth out again. A moment later I pull her back into my arms, and we just dance for a minute before she lowers her voice and asks, "You—did you and your maker, um, well, did you and he have, um—"
I can guess what she's having such a tough time asking, so I chuckle before asking her, "Did we have sex?"
She blushes, but neither confirms nor denies my question, so, smiling, I treat it like a yes and tell her, "Yes. Jorge was the first, and I've since had sex with about two handfuls of other men, all of them of mine or my grandsire, Roman's line: Roman, my maker, my blood-brothers, my sire's blood-nephew, Godric, Godric's childe, Eric, and my four male childer, including Vincent and Rider. My physical relationships with the 11 of them had more to do with our blood connection and getting comfort out of being that close to someone with whom I share a blood link."
Beth tilts her head, and a question mark is written all over her face between her narrowed eyes, furrowed brow, and pursed lips, so I smirk and tell her, "The connection from a blood link is similar in feel to the bond between a maker and his childe before he releases the childe. They're vaguely different, but both make touch, and sex, in particular, especially comforting. That's why makers and their childer usually have physical relationships, even after the sire releases the childe. For the most part, though, I'm only physically attracted to women."
Her eyes are wide open now, but she just stares at me for a few seconds before she opens her mouth and asks, "Did you and Mick…?"
I swing my head back and forth and tell her, "No. Based on what I know of his upbringing, I thought it best not to offer. Honestly, it might have made him feel better, that comfort I could have brought him. I was sure he would have a knee-jerk reaction to my offering, though, and I feared that to offer would do more harm than good, so I chose not to bring the possibility up to him."
She narrows her eyes and tightens her hold on me a touch, so I tell her, "He's made comments about other vampires who outwardly showed that sort of affection and connection with same-sex childer, so I'm pretty sure he's homophobic if only due to when he was raised. Back when I was human people were much more open to that sort of thing than they were when Mick was human. Humanity has begun to return to that openness and understanding of those who find comfort and love with people of the same sex. However, vampires born and raised in times that were less accepting are themselves generally less accepting."
I swing her out once more, and when she settles in my arms again, I tell her, "I've heard of several childer who reacted violently to just the idea of it. In all three cases, their sires had to issue Maker Commands to calm their childer down enough to prevent anyone from being harmed. As much as I love Mick like a brother, I'm sure he would have reacted similarly. Now that I know that I can't Command him, I think that it would have been disastrous, so it's better that I didn't offer."
She frowns and opens her mouth to reply. Before she can speak, I hold up my hand forestalling her words. Her mouth snaps shut while every vampire in the room stands just a tad straighter and focuses on the sound of a muffled scream and a splash of water. Then maybe 15 seconds later a scream that's audible to the humans in the room rips through the arena.
Beth doesn't say what she was going to say and instead grabs my hand and rushes towards the sound and possible danger. When we enter one of the new training rooms, my senses are on high alert, but I sense no supernaturals in the space.
The first thing we notice is Dominic in his underwear, laying half in and half out of a tub full of water. The angle of his neck tells me that it's broken.
Beth gasping and asking in a breathy voice, "Simone?" draws my attention away from Dominic's body
Striding further into the room, I find Simone sitting against the wall on a bench. The front of her bright-yellow dress, from her chest to the tops of her thighs, is a darker yellow than the rest of her dress and her arms still have a thin sheen and little individual droplets of water on them.
She's clenching her arms to her chest, and her clasped hands rest under her chin while she rocks backward and forwards on the bench and nibbles on her bottom lip. She has tears in her eyes when she looks at me. It takes a moment for her eyes to focus on me but when they do the tears fall, and with a noticeable tremble in her voice, she says, "I didn't do it."
Crap. As if having a death at an event attended by so many vampires isn't enough of a danger, now one of my freshies is going to be the prime suspect.
My fists clench at my side, and I grind my teeth together for a moment before I tell her, "Say nothing. I will call Harold and get a lawyer to attend to you."
She doesn't respond verbally or physically and just continues to rock back and forth while staring across the room at nothing, so I lead Beth out of the little room and pull out my cell phone.
I call my lead attorney, Simone's boss, and quickly explain what I know. He assures me that he will send someone to the police station immediately to meet her when the police inevitably take her into custody.
I want to leave, but when I say, "Beth, we should go," she shakes her head and says, "I can't Josef. I'm an investigator for the D.A.'s office. If I leave the scene of a suspicious death without speaking to the police, I'll not only call attention upon us, but I'll be risking my job, which I'm pretty sure we decided I'm better off keeping."
She glances around, and although she lowers her voice to some extent, she says, "Anyone who can hear me, know that if you leave now, right after a body has been found, you'll only be calling attention to yourself. Wait and answer any questions tonight, and then the humans won't have any reason to look at you any deeper than surface level."
Despite my earlier knee-jerk desire to leave, what she's saying makes sense, so at a sub-audible level I add, "As your Sheriff, I order you all to stay and cooperate with the authorities. Do not call attention to us by acting suspicious and leaving."
The vampires present incline their heads at me almost imperceptibly, and they all respond with various versions of "Yes, Sheriff."
I smile that none of them are trying my now slim patience, and then we wait for the police to show up and start asking questions. Three minutes into our wait Beth asks, "Exactly how many vampires are present?"
I narrow my eyes and think back over everyone I saw tonight and then tell her, "Fifteen or sixteen, why?"
Lowering her voice, Beth says, "I'll try to get put on this case and keep anyone from asking the wrong questions about the wrong people. I need you to point out who I need to steer things away from, though."
I give a deliberate nod and then pull her into my arms as though I'm comforting her, before I whisper to her pointing out not just the vampires but the other supernaturals that are here tonight, too.
It only takes me a few minutes to discreetly point everyone out and by the time I finish a tall brown-haired man I recognize from Anders' lair saunters to us and says, "Beth? We're on this case, so I need you to tell me everything you know, and then we need to observe while the police question everyone."
She grins and says, "Ben, this is my friend Josef Kostan, Josef this is A.D.A. Benjamin Talbot."
Talbot had a blindfold on the last time I saw him. Therefore, he's never seen me before, so I pretend that I didn't help save his ass from Anders, and we shake hands, and then she tells me, "I'm going to go over there and brief him. I'll come back when we're done."
I give a gentle nod, and she steps away from me to provide him with the allusion of privacy. I focus on their words and watch Beth move about the room over the course of the next few hours. Ordinarily, I'd find the show mind-numbingly dull, but my maker joins me just after Beth ambles off with Talbot, and we use this situation like a job interview of sorts. We observe every move and word out of Beth's mouth and pay close attention to how people react to her.
Alejandro is still shadowing her, but he keeps a bit of distance while staying close enough to act quickly, if necessary. He's grinning at her, though, because she's respectful and manages to put everyone at ease with little effort, preferring to use a soft touch approach rather than a hard-line angle.
The basketball player who grabs her ass while she's passing him quickly finds his cheek stinging from her slap and learns that she also doesn't take any crap from anyone. However, her overall demeanor and soft touch command respect from all she interacts with, even the vampires in the room.
When she starts heading in our direction several hours later my maker smiles at me and says, "I think you are correct, and she will be a perfect replacement for St. John."
I give a crisp nod, and then a grin grows on my face when Beth steps right into my arms and hugs me. I think it's, in part, an effort to seek comfort, but it's also a cover so she can tell me, "Simone will be held and questioned at the station. Ben says I can't talk to her until the cops finish their questioning, though, so we should go home and get some rest. He said he'll call me if they finish before I show up for my usual shift."
I use my arms still around her to squeeze her just for a moment and then glance at my maker when he says, "Call me tomorrow and apprise me of the situation once young Beth has had an opportunity to get a better understanding of what's going on."
I grin and tell him, "I will."
I chuckle a minute later when Beth steps out of my arms and into his personal space and kisses his cheek before telling him, "It was an honor to see you again Señor de San Diego. I hope to see you again soon."
He gives her a soft smile and tells her, "It was my pleasure, Childe. Go sleep, and we'll talk soon."
She returns his gentle grin with one of her own, and I go to turn, but his next words have me halting in place frozen because he says, "Oh, and Beth? From now on when we're around humans who aren't in the know, you may call me Jorge. Conversely, when we are around vampires or others who know what we are you may call me Grandsire. I know it's not official yet, but I am confident that it will happen soon, and I feel that you have earned the right to speak to me in such a manner."
She gives a broad grin and tells him, "Thank you," then she glances around before lowering her voice and whispering, "Grandsire."
He smiles at her like a proud grandparent, and we grin back before I put my hand on the small of her back and lead her and Alejandro out of the building to the waiting limo.
The ride home is quiet and much tenser than the trip to the dedication. Beth doesn't seem to be able to sit still this time around, and she shifts in her seat and fiddles with her purse every minute or so for the entire trip home.
We get back to my house around 12:30 a.m. and Beth would likely lose her way by herself, so because the night has been so long and trying, I escort her to her room. Then we just stand there for a couple of minutes, neither of us saying a word.
Beth keeps shifting from foot to foot every few seconds, and her upper lip is perspiring. If I didn't know better, I'd say she's nervous, about what I have no idea, but, nevertheless, she seems unwilling to go into her room. I'm not sure of the reason why, so I stay quiet hoping she'll voice what she needs from me.
Instead, a minute or two later she reaches up, kisses me on the cheek, and says, "I had a good time, Josef."
I raise my eyebrow and quirk my lips at her, so she giggles and says, "Well, right until the dead body showed up."
I give an unhurried nod and tell her, "I had a good evening, too, before the star basketball player got himself dead and probably stole all of tomorrow's headlines. No one will be talking about the 120 million dollars' worth of state-of-the-art architecture and technologically advanced sports equipment. They'll only be talking about the dead professional athlete."
She giggles again and then says, "Goodnight, my future sire."
I chuckle lightly and tell her, "Goodnight, my future childe. Sweet dreams."
Her face pales almost imperceptibly, and I open my mouth to ask what's wrong, but she reaches up, kisses me on the cheek again, and then hurries into her room and shuts the door.
How strange. I shrug, and then I unbutton my jacket, untie my bow tie, and take off my cummerbund while I stroll down the hall to the other wing and then to my office. It's still early by vampire standards, and I have a bit of work to do before I hit the freezer in the morning. I'd like to find out if Vincent or Rider have any leads on Mick's whereabouts.
As if he heard my thoughts, Rider pops his head out of his study that's a few doors down from my office on the opposite side of the hallway and says, "I thought I heard you."
I grin and release a soft sigh at the comfort just being in the same space as him brings me before I ask, "Any luck finding anything of use in our search for Mick?"
He moves more fully into the hallway and says, "Yes, he took your lessons to heart and has been siphoning off $7,500 from his accounts every other business day, just about every week since the 1970s and putting one withdrawal a week into two different accounts, one in the Caymans and one in Switzerland. I haven't figured out where the other third has been going yet, but I've drained both accounts that I know about and put the money into a new account I made for you. I also drained all his other accounts that we already knew about because even though I froze them all last night, he accessed one of them today. My guess is that he glamoured someone at the bank to give him the money from the account despite it being frozen. Anyway, all his accounts including the ones that Mr. Griffen made for him are now completely empty, so he only has what was on him when he ran and the $7,500 he took out today, which is low enough to keep the Feds from sticking their noses into things. I sent all the information I have to my grandsire's people, and I sent copies of everything to both Vincent and you."
I furrow my brow and ask, "Where is the account that you made for me?"
He smirks and says, "Venezuela. There's no way he's gonna find it, never mind access it."
I angle my head to the right and then ask, "And where is this bank that he took money out of? I assume if he glamoured someone, he was at the bank."
He shrugs with both shoulders, but nods and says, "Yes, he was near San Diego, and I've got him on camera, too, both in the bank and out in the parking lot. He's dressing down, jeans and a t-shirt and a short leather jacket. He's cut his hair so that it appears more like yours, and he's driving a late model pickup truck now instead of his Mercedes. I sent pictures of him and the details of his vehicle that I got off the video to everyone, too, though, the angle was wrong to get the plate, and it was a black and white video, so I only know that it's a dark colored truck. I figured out the make and model, though, and I'm keeping an ear to the ground to see if he sold his Mercedes to make some quick under the table money because it's a classic, so he'd easily get a decent price for it even in a rushed deal."
I smile despite the topic and tell him, "Excellent work, Rider, I assume by your presence in your old rooms that you plan to take me up on my offer of a place to live?"
He gives me a broad grin and holds his hands out like the plates of a scale. He raises one hand and lowers the other and then reverses them while he says, "Live by myself in a ratty old apartment that no matter how much Febreze I use smells of old urine and stale cigarettes while missing my sire or live here in style with my maker right across the hall, hmm, hard choice. So, yes, I decided to take you up on your more than generous offer. Besides, I'm over my 'I need privacy stage' that I went through the last couple of years. I realize now that not being close to you bothers me more than having to share space with someone, or, now, I guess two someone's because my new blood-sister to-be has moved in."
I reach out and pat his shoulder and tell him, "Good, I missed you, too. As you said, Beth is living here now, too, and she's the youngest, so she comes first for me just as you did when you were the youngest, so don't bother her or do anything to upset her, or I'll ask you to move back to your smelly apartment."
He tips his head towards me and says, "No worries, Josef, I know how it works. I wouldn't do anything to upset her simply because it would upset you, and I still want to please you in all that I do. Besides, I like Ms. Turner, so I'll do my best to stay on her good side, and, hey, Vincent said you're naming her the Area Two Investigator. Maybe my being here will be useful to her in her capacity as the area investigator, too. She won't necessarily need to go through you to get me to look things up for her, so if you don't object, I'll make my services readily available to her, and I'll let her know that the next time I see her."
I incline my head again and tell him, "That would be excellent. I'm considering giving her the gatehouse as an office for the Area Two Investigator position. If you two end up working together often, you might want to consider using one of the rooms there as an office instead of your private study in this house."
He grins again and says, "I'll consider it, but I'm not sure about the security on a building that has direct on road access for the more sensitive stuff I do for you and will probably be doing for Ms. Turner. If you get me the security details for the gatehouse, I'll look them over and see if they meet my requirements and if not, I'll see if I can come up with a security plan that will do what I need it to do."
I shift my weight from one foot to the other and tell him, "I'll have it sent to your secure account tomorrow. Make up your plan, and we'll talk later because Beth will want tight security, too, if she's going to have files on supernatural cases."
He gives me a soft smile and a slow nod, so I tell him, "I'll let you get back to your hunt for Mick. Let me know if you find anything."
He grins and says, "I will and thank you for letting me come back so early. I missed feeling you so close by."
I smile and move into his personal space. I reach up and stroke his cheek, which causes him to tilt his head into the touch. Our bond hums between us before I drop my tie and cummerbund to the floor and use both hands to cup his cheeks and pull his forehead to my lips. I kiss his brow and then tell him, "I missed you too, Childe."
I stroke his cheek, and he gives a gentle nod as much as my hands still on his cheeks will allow and grins before he reluctantly pulls away and goes back into his office.
If I didn't feel a sense of urgency to check my email and make sure that no one has any pressing news about Mick, I'd take the time to properly welcome Rider home.
I'll have to make it up to him later. I grin while focusing on the connection between us that has gotten stronger since I touched him, and then I pick up the tie and cummerbund off the floor and enter my own office.
I'm also smiling because Rider is home and Beth has agreed to become my childe, and both are currently under my roof. The only thing that would make all this better is if Mick weren't on the run, but I still think that despite his running this really is the best possible outcome. I mean it'd be better for everyone involved if Mick had simply accepted his fate and allowed Celeste to tie him to her, but for Mick, this is his one chance at freedom.
I've seen enough in my long life to know that his freedom will be short-lived, so I hope he's enjoying what's left of it. Either way, Rider and Beth are both here where I can feel them close by and simultaneously keep them safe, and, for now, that's good enough.
I shrug off my jacket and hang it and my tie and cummerbund on the back of my desk chair before unbuttoning the first three buttons of my tuxedo shirt and sitting down, and then I set about reading everything Rider, Vincent, and Celeste have sent me while Beth and I were at the dedication.