Chapter nine:

Josef dropped Elaina home at six in the morning, the two of them laughing and reminiscing about the night the whole way. As they drew up to Elaina's house, she stretched and opened the door; the cool morning air hitting her body. "Thank you for such a lovely night Josef" she said with a smile. "You're welcome" he replied as she climbed out. He expected her to reach back down into the car, maybe suggest another meeting or try to kiss him. That was usually how things worked with him. So it was much to his surprise when Elaina simply slammed the door and headed towards her door.

"Wait" he cried jumping out of his side of the car. "we do need to meet and discuss the roles i expect you to play in my city and what we need to accomplish...you know to make the city safer". "Of course" she nodded "however could it wait a few days? I need to finish settling in and right now, i need sleep" "well yes...i didn't mean right now..." Josef stammered and then caught himself, since when did he stammer? "Look" said Elaina walking towards him with a card in hand "this is my number, call me if you need me. Though i am sure my status reports are enough to keep you in the loop no?" with that Elaina strolled up her driveway tossing a goodnight over her shoulder and closing the door. Josef stared after her, had he done something wrong?

Without thinking he marched up to the door and banged on it. Elaina opened the door puzzled; she was now out of her heels and was much smaller without them; Josef instantly decided he liked this petite look-she was somehow more vulnerable at this stature. "Did i do something?" he blurted out. "No, not at all" Elaina replied looking puzzled "i just really, really need my freezer. I haven't been able to drink fresh since i got to L.A. and all the humidity combined with the lack of fresh blood is really wearing me down." Elaina paused "did i come across rude?" she asked sheepishly. Josef felt mollified and giving her a charming smile he replied "not at all my dear. Goodnight for now". He was tempted to kiss her but before he could decide, the door was closed in his face.

He shook his head and smiled. He had heard it said in circles but he now knew it to be true; she was certainly one of a kind. As Josef drove the rest of the way home his thoughts focused on her like how he liked her energy and her smile, how she could take on the big boys and beat them; she was wilful and ballsy and had the skills to back it up. Hueilen had done a fine job; he must get some pointers from her on how to deal with the St John clan the next time he spoke to her.

Mick's house:

About 2pm that day, Mick awoke to a call from a new client. Someone had stolen some priceless artefacts from the L.A. museum; the same thing had happened in Seattle two weeks previous and in Iowa two weeks again before that. The curator had heard Mick was the best and he asked him to come in and work with the police. DA Talbot had apparently said he was "good help in a recent high profile case involving a plastic surgeon". Mick snorted to himself as he filled a syringe with blood, he was sure DA Talbot was not his biggest fan and had probably said a lot more about him behind the curators back. Still this case did give him the chance to work with Beth which he relished.

Mick arrived at the museum and saw Beth waiting at the curb. She waved as he pulled in. "what do you know?" he asked. "Some old book and an old sword were stolen....dating back to about four centuries ago. The curator is determined to get them back. Here are photos of what they look like...i got them at the gift shop!" she finished with a grin. Mick grinned back and scanned the pictures, nothing out of the ordinary for him. He walked towards the museum, Beth following. Showing his credentials at the door he was allowed under the yellow police tape and stepped into the air conditioned foyer. Letting a sigh of relief at being out of the sun, Mick strolled purposely forward towards the crime scene. "Beth" he said as they approached "how about a movie night this week?" "how about we skip the movie and go straight to the afters" she teased, they had been seeing each other for 3 months, since Jackson and Emma had been killed and everything was going well. They had agreed to live in the moment and face the more serious things in time; now could just be about their fun.

Mick smiled and was about to reply when the curator followed by Talbot appeared. "Mister St John" cried the curator pumping his hand "thank you for coming on such short notice; i am in debited to you!" "No problem" replied Mick as he and Talbot eyed each other with suspicion. The curator still pumping Mick's hand led them to the crime scene.

Mick stepped forward and lent down over the empty podiums where the treasures has lain. He sniffed, humans definitely had committed the crime, he sensed about 3 of them had come in to do the job. What Mick couldn't understand was the underlying smell of old vampire blood around the area. He decided to dismiss it; old vamps probably came here all the time to relive some of their past, they had had no part in this heist, of that much he could be sure.

Mick followed the trail of their scent to an air vent; in it he spotted some silken treads where someone had caught their shirt. "Talbot" he motioned him over "this is how they got in and out". The curator beamed, pleased mister St. John had so quickly found some evidence of the case. The evidence was bagged and collected but not before Mick had a chance to sniff it. Sea salt and oil, probably the old docks he mused. He would have Logan run a search of any black markets down there. Raising himself up he stepped back and allowed a csi tech move in to dust for finger print. He inclined his head to Beth and they moved away.

"Definitely humans who stole the artefacts" he told her in a low voice "I'll go put a call in with Logan. I'll call if i know anything".

Beth nodded and went to rejoin Talbot at the scene. Mick left to visit Logan.

A few hours later Beth got a call from Mick. "There is some old building down near the docks, strange things been going on down there lately. I'm going to go check it out, i think it could be our place to hit" Mick said. "I'll meet you at the entrance to the docks in thirty" she replied and hung up before he could warn her off coming.

Elaina awoke from the freezer with five messages on her phone. One was from FRU telling her they had freshies that matched her specifics in and 4 were from the cleaners. Elaina frowned, Bella did not sound happy in the messages. Grabbing a bottle of blood from her fridge, Elaina settled herself in her favourite chair to call Bella back.

Bella explained to her the predicament " last night we dispatched a group to the docks to clear up a mess. We were told the mess was small so i dispatched one crew. No one has heard from them since and the docks smelt of old vampire blood, new vampire blood and humans when we checked it out ourselves. I don't know what to do...we're all at wit's end...especially with the fact that this has happened recently in Seattle and Iowa". "Okay" Elaina hushed " I'm on it".

Elaina raced to her closet and chose a pair of red jeans, a grey shirt with a red flower and grey pumps. Donning her sunglasses to keep out the remainder of the waning sun, Elaina headed off towards the docks.

At the docks: Mick and Beth

" Beth" Mick shout whispered " stay in the car!" Beth rolled her eyes " when has that ever worked Mick?"

Mick sighed and knew she had a point "okay" he said giving in "just stay close and keep your gun out". Beth nodded and they climbed out of the car. Together they headed in the back entrance.

At the docks: Elaina

Elaina left her car a short distance away and using her vampire skills hopped onto the roof of a nearby building. She had the address of the reported clean up and she started scanning for the building. On finding it, she hopped gracefully from building to building until she reached the roof of her destination. Lifting a window panel she sniffed. A vampire not much older than she and a human were in the factory. She couldn't see them yet but she knew that they were there somewhere in the dark. Not a bother she thought and slipping through the window panel she lowered herself to the ground, landing with a soft thud.

Mick froze at the sound of the thud, someone else was in the building. He sniffed, it was hard to discern what was what in the factory but he felt the unwelcome visitor was a vampire...possibly slightly younger than him. Maybe they would know something about what was going on around here. Mick took off at pace after his possibly valuable source.

Elaina scouted the factory out. Bella hadn't been joking she mused. Very old vampire blood mixed with freshly spilled vampire blood and humans had also been here recently. Had old vamps been hiding out and feeding here? Why kill the cleaners if that was so? Was this linked to what she had heard thru the grapevine in Seattle and Iowa? As Elaina questioned all of these things she became aware the vampire she had sensed earlier was rushing towards her. Okay she thought take them down but don't kill until you see who they are, it could just be a very scare member of the lost crew who has gone onto survival instincts.

Mick could see the other vampire now, female 5'4 with dark brown hair. He growled and went to lunge for her. she stayed stock still until the last second when she dropped herself into the splits causing Mick to miss her altogether. Mick landed on the floor and before he had time to react the other vampire was on top of him. "Calm down" she muttered thru grit teeth " i am not the enemy". All of a sudden a shot rang out and the weight of the one on top was removed.

Elaina collapsed on the ground groaning, silver didn't suit her system at all. Thankfully the human had just gotten her left arm but any closer and she would of been a goner. The male vampire beside her lifted himself up on his forearms and Elaina's eyes widened with recognition.

"Mickey?"