A very large thank you to RobinxHoodxFan09 who noticed that I had said by accident that Beth was kidnapped when she was four. That is now corrected, and it says she is five.
Chapter 8
There was something soft underneath her, like a blanket. Why did she feel as though something was wrong, something she should have stopped?
Suddenly memories of the night flooded her mind. The professor-running away-Daniel trying to kill her-him taking the knife from her-Mick running up-trying to tell him about the knife being silver, but not able to. She sat bolt upright, was Mick alright? Where was she?
She looked around, she was at Mick's, it was light out now, and there he was, walking towards her, looking fine.
"It's alright you're with me."
"You saved me." She was half talking about last night, half about when she was a child.
"From a graduate student in Mythological Studies, didn't exactly take Super Man." He sat down next to her.
"He stabbed you." The knife, where was it?
"He sure tried."
"But how-"
"Beth, calm down, you're safe."
"Where's the knife?" Mick looked uncomfortable.
"It's on the table." He nodded towards the island in the kitchen, Beth stood up, and went to get it. "I'm not sure that's a good idea, it's pretty sharp."
"I know." Mick looked confused.
"How?"
Beth knew this could be a bad thing to say, but she needed this back. "Because I sharpened it yesterday." Mick stiffened.
"Why do you have it?"
"I was kidnapped when I was five, and I've felt the need to protect myself, that's one of the knives I have, there's another one in my purse."
"But why one made from this?
"What do you mean?"
"It made of silver."
"It is?" Beth made sure to keep her heart rate steady, not wanting to give him any idea she knew that vampires were real.
"Yeah, what are you afraid a vampire is going to come after you?"
"No, they don't exist remember? I didn't even know it was silver, my mom found it at a garage sale, and picked it up for me, because she knew I was looking for one."
"Oh, well, go ahead; if it's yours you can have it."
"Thanks." She tucked it back in her pocket. She looked at him, and felt slightly vulnerable, the night was beginning to finally sink in. She wrapped her arms around him, felling in need of a hug. She felt him stand there for several seconds, seemingly shocked, then hesitantly wrapped his arms around her, very lightly, as if afraid she would break if he held her too firmly. Then her rested his chin on her shoulder, relaxing slightly, and hugged her tighter. She just stood there, gathering her strength to pull away, but she didn't, she stayed.
Finally, Mick pulled back, and Beth let her arms drop to her sides. "You need to rest, I'll take you home."
"What about my car?"
"Well, we can stop at the Hall for you to get you purse, and then I'll call a friend to have it towed to you're house, how's that?"
"That's fine." To tell the truth she was glad she didn't have to go back alone, she wasn't ready for that just yet.
"Alright, come on." He grabbed a coat, and handed it to her, then held the door for her to go out. The ride was mostly silent, but not uncomfortable.
"I'll go get my bag while you call your friend." Beth hoped he would say it was ok, he might have believed her about the knife, but the stake in her bag wouldn't be able to be explained away. He would know for sure she knew about vampires, and then she would have to try and explain to him that she didn't care what he was. All in all, it wouldn't be a pretty sight to witness.
"That's fine." He parked next to her car, and pulled out his phone. Beth absently noticed they had the same type of phone.
"Hey, Josef, look I need you to have someone tow a car." Josef was the friend he had planned on calling, oh well, it did make sense.
"I'll go get my things." She opened the door as he nodded, and retraced her steps of last night. She was grateful she had come here during the day; it wouldn't be quite so frightening then.
She found her bag where she had last seen it, with the contents strewn across the floor. The stake was lying in the middle of the floor, so unless someone was completely oblivious they wouldn't notice it, but Beth was sure Mick would have. She gathered everything up; then looked around. Everything was as she had left it, except that no one else was there. Beth didn't know where the professor had gone to, although, if Mick had come down here, he probably would have done something to him, he was a vampire after all.
She headed back to where Mick was waiting, as she got in the car, she saw a tow truck pulling into the parking lot. Mick walked over to them, and seemed to be giving directions to them, then returned to the car. "Ok, they'll be bringing the car around about fifteen minutes after we get there."
"Ok." He drove off, taking several short-cuts to her house. He pulled up along side the curb, and got out to open her door. Beth smiled, so he must have been of the 'gentleman age' there were mainly two, one about seventy years ago, and then the other one, centuries ago. "Would you like to come in?"
"Um, I-sure." He turned the car off, and followed her up the sidewalk. He stood on the doorstep as she entered, seemingly unsure if he could enter.
"Well come in." He walked slowly in, and then stood there, as if waiting to be told to leave. "Why don't we sit down?"
There was a hiss as he walked toward the couch. Phantom stood up and arched his back. Mick just stared at him, not moving, staring him in the eyes. Phantom slowly relaxed, and hesitantly walked towards him. Mick held his hand out, and let the cat sniff him. Phantom lashed out, and scratched him. Mick did nothing, and Phantom jumped back onto the couch.
"Well, he's accepted you, why don't you sit down?"
"Um, ok." He sat down on the couch, and she sat down in front of him, Phantom curled up on his lap. Mick relaxed slightly.
"I told you Phantom was bigger than Midnight."
"Yeah, I wasn't quite ready to believe you, but I do now." Beth chuckled, then became serious once again.
"I just want to say thank you for, well, I guess you would say, rescuing me, normally I don't need it, but I'm glad you were there when I did." There she had said it, and although he might not know it, she was saying thank you for more than one rescue. She stood up. "Would you like something to drink?"
"Uh, no thank you."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'll probably be leaving soon anyway." Oh, yeah stupid, he's a vampire; he can't taste anything besides blood. Beth felt like kicking herself, but she couldn't do anything about it, at least not yet. She was determined to wait for him to tell her what he was; there was no other way to go about it. Unless he told her, there was no way he would accept it, and even then he might not. She watched as Mick scratched Phantom on the head.
"Oh, ok, well, maybe next time."
"Yeah, maybe, look I really should be getting home." He picked up Phantom, set him on the couch next to him, stood up, and walked toward the door.
"Oh, well, I'll see you around some time."
"Yeah, I guess, I mean maybe." He looked down, and Beth walked up to him.
"Now that I have your number you won't be escaping from me any time soon." She said this half seriously, half humorously.
He smirked slightly at her tone. "Ok, ok." She opened the door, and watched him get into his car, and drive off; she waved until he was out of sight. For several minutes she just stood there, staring at where she had last seen him.
She shook herself, she had a report to write, and not like it had happened either, she couldn't have people wondering how certain things had happened. She grabbed her phone, and called Mo.
"Hello?"
"Hey Mo, it's Beth, I've got the story so I'll type it up, and send it to you so you can look it over."
"Ok, is it interesting?"
"You have no idea."
"Oh, any juicy details?"
"Uh, not exactly, but I do have an attempted murder, and-"
"Girl, how do you know about this?"
"Because I was the one who almost got-"
"What, Beth, please tell me you are joking."
"No I'm not."
"Are you alright, do you really want to do this, have you called the police?"
"Yes I'm sure, and Mick has already taken care of it, he is a PI after all."
"True, are you sure you're alright though, if you want some time off-"
"Mo, I'll be fine, I just need to get this done, and then I'll be working on another story."
"Beth I'm not, well, I know you're not going to listen to me so I'll stop. So what happened?"
"I'll type everything up, and you can read it then."
"Alright, but I don't like you just jumping back into things after being almost killed.
"Mo, I'll be fine, there is no need to worry about me. I'll muddle through it, and get back on track."
"Alright."
I'll get to typing now, I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yeah, bye."
"Bye." Beth headed over to her computer, and started to type, she left out the knife being silver, they didn't need to know that, nor did they need to know the professor thought he was a vampire. She also left out what he almost did to her, as she was pretty certain that Mick had dealt with that vamp style, or at least done something to make sure he wouldn't hurt anyone again. She finished the report, and sent it to Mo. Now she just had to wait for Mo to look it over.
She looked out the window; she felt restless, she didn't want to stay here it didn't feel right just yet. Now would probably be a good time to call Natasha. She grabbed her phone from where she had tossed it, and dialed in her number.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Natasha, it's Beth."
"Oh, hey, so how'd everything go last night?"
"Um, well, I need to talk to you about that; is there somewhere we could meet, or should we wait until later when it's closer to twilight?"
"Oh, no now is fine, why don't I head over there, if that's alright with you."
"It's fine, how soon will you be here?"
"Um, give me about fifteen minutes."
"Ok."
"See you then."
"Yeah, see ya."
Now she would just have to wait until she showed up, she really needed someone to talk to right now. It was even better because she could just talk, and not be afraid of what she said to her. Beth walked over to the window, and stood waiting.
