Moonlight doesn't belong to me. It's just a place I go to play.

xxxxxxx

Beth closes her eyes just before she makes the leap. She feels the rooftop under her feet as she lands. Her feet falter. She tucks her head into a roll. She rolls the second time. She smoothly pushes with her legs and is up and running without even having to stop. She hears the footfalls behind her and tries to judge how much of a lead she has. She glances at the next jump and decides it's too far. Instead of jumping across to the next building she jumps straight down between them. He lands lightly in the alley. She ducks down the alley and sees it blocked by a six-foot chain link fence. She leaps the fence in one smooth movement only to find herself blocked in by a brick wall and a dead end. Damn. She wonders if it's too late to back track. She sees a fire escape on one wall and wonders if she can leap high enough to pull it down. She makes the leap and just misses the first time. She hears the footfalls closer now. She needs to make it this time or he will catch her. Beth makes one more leap and puts everything she can into it and catches the last rung of the fire escape. It doesn't slide down as expected. It hasn't moved in so long that even with her weight it won't budge. She pulls herself up until she can get her feet on the bottom rung. If she can get over this last roof, she will be safe. Quickly she climbs the fire escape. She gets to the landing and makes one last leap to the rooftop. She lands and looks around for her pursuer. Suddenly she's in his arms being kissed.

Mick breaks the kiss and smiles down at her. "You would have beaten me if you hadn't dropped off that last roof. You should have jumped."

They'd started doing this a few days ago. Mick convinced her that pushing her vamp abilities was a good idea. that way she is prepared to do whatever she needs to if someone comes after her. So, they played tag of sorts across rooftops and all over the darker parts of the city. Although, tonight the objective was to outrun him. If she could have gotten to this rooftop and down to the parking lot below first, she would have won. She chickened out on the jump for the last rooftop.

Beth looks disgusted with herself. "I know. I got spooked when I saw how far away it was. I didn't think I could make it. You're picking harder and harder areas. The buildings are older and farther apart here. Not only that, but you made me run this one blind. I didn't get to look it over first." She sounds whiny even to her ears, like a petulant child.

"That is true, but if you're on the run you seldom get to pick your route ahead of time. You know, it will hurt like hell if you miss but it's not going to kill you. You need to stretch out until you do miss a couple, so you know what your limits are. That's in part why we're out here. So, you can find your limits and stretch them."

Beth sighs. "I know. I'm still getting use to the idea that missing a leap across the buildings isn't going to kill me."

Mick puts his arm around her. "You did a good job tonight. That roll across the second to the last rooftop was a great recovery. I don't think you even missed a step. Very smooth." Mick kisses her nose. "However, you've got to stop closing your eyes when you jump."

She smiles at him sheepishly. "How can you know I did that?"

He laughs. "Because I remember doing the same thing. This practice is good idea. The only way you're going to shed your old human fears of getting killed is to keep doing this. If you run into problems, most vamps are going to think you'll be easy because you're so young. If you get into a jam and can do the moves across rooftops and down alleys and fire escapes, you'll surprise them. You should be able to get away to call for help. If you can do more than they expect for your age, it gives you an edge."

Beth looks at him somewhat worried and he sighs. "I'm not trying to frighten you. I want you prepared for any eventuality. Beth, between the three of us we tend to make some very bad enemies, and it never hurts to be prepared."

She nods, knowing he's right.

He puts his arm around her once again. "That's enough for tonight. Let's go home."

Xxxxxxxxx

Mick enters his office and sits down to make a few phone calls.

Josef looks down at the phone "Mick, what's going on?"

"Just thought you might like an update on Beth's visit to Jenny's?"

Josef smiles. "Of course, no matter what else, I'm still her sire. How did it go?"

"She did very well." Mick laughs again at the memory. "You may have to move Emily's brother, Henry in next year, when Beth moves back."

"That's right. I forgot that she had a brother that was one of Jenny's freshies. Do you think she liked feeding from a male enough that I'm going to have to employee a couple for her when she comes back?"

"Josef, you ask her, but it would be something she would appreciate since you already have the girls. I think she liked it very much, but she was concentrating on not losing herself and making sure she didn't hurt him. The more practice she has, the more she's going to enjoy it. If you don't have a male or two available for her, she's going to want you to take her to Jenny's. Jenny would love that."

"I'll keep that in mind. How did Beth and Jenny get along?"

"Jenny was good with her and once Beth gets use to more and more vamps, she and Jenny will be friends. Oh, and Beth met James."

Josef snorts. "What did she do?"

"Shot him down of course. She's got good taste in men, you know that."

Josef laughs. "Of course, she does." And hangs up.

Josef looks down at the phone. He's glad that Beth had a good time at Jenny's. From what Mick's not saying though, Josef guesses the sex afterwards must have been damn good. He sighs. He's got to stop thinking along those lines, or things are going to spin out of control. She'll be back soon enough.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Mick calls Al. "Do you still have men watching Castillo and Coraline?"

"No, Josef pulled us off. It was clear that she had spotted the tales and we weren't learning anything new. Uh, Mick, what is the deal with her?"

"What do you mean?"

Al hesitates not wanting to offend Mick. "Well, uh, I don't want to make you mad or anything. I mean she is your ex, but she has this guy not knowing whether he's coming or going."

Mick shakes his head. "No offense taken. Coraline uses sex for control. If you don't know what she's capable of, it's easy to forget who you are. It's that simple. Does he seem like she's got him so bad he's dangerous to everyone around him, like he's completely out of control?" Mick remembers the feeling. It's not pleasant.

"No, the opposite he seems more like a dog wagging his tail. She's got him calm as a lap dog."

Mick snorts. "Easier to get things done with a compliant accomplice. Al can you send me a list of places that he went up until you realized that they were on to you?"

"No problem." They hang up.

xxxxxxxxx

Beth sits at her desk and looks over the list of properties owned by the Tejada family. There are a few that she's traced back to Castillo. He's bought them since he's been married to Elaina in the name of an offshore corporation. Tejada had a big enterprise before he died. The old man diversified his dirty money. Some of these places, Beth knows, will be honest and legitimate to cover for the ones that aren't. He must have been laundering an awful lot of money.

Beth hears Mick coming up the stairs and looks up as he comes through the door. "Al sent me this. Maybe it will help. It's a list of the places that Castillo went before Coraline realized he was being watched."

Beth takes the list and starts looking it over. "That's great. I'll compare it with the list of holdings I have and see we can get some leads to look for Elaina."

Mick comes around and sits on the corner of her desk and she looks up at him. "You've been at this long enough. Come have a drink with me and you can start back on this tomorrow. We'll go over everything together with fresh eyes."

Beth takes a deep breath. "I keep thinking about Elaina…. I keep thinking of how frightened she must be. I'm afraid for her. I'm worried that Castillo did the same thing to her that Coraline did to you, and that's why no one seen her since the wedding."

Mick shakes his head. "Nope. I can almost guarantee you that she's still human. She may be scared to death but she's still human. You heard her mother say how important it was that Elaina was a virgin. That is one vamp that is not going to mess with a good meal by turning it."

Beth sighs. "I know you're right, it's just so terrible to think of her locked away so he can feed off her, like some damn rarified snack tray. That's almost worse. Mick, we have to find her."

Mick nods. "We will, but not tonight. Tomorrow we'll come up with a list of possible places and I'll start staking them out."

Beth narrows her eyes at him. "What do you mean you'll start staking them out? I'm going with you. I'm going to help. In fact, if it wasn't for me you wouldn't be looking for Elaina at all."

Mick shakes his head. "Beth, look I can't take you with me. If Coraline gets her hands on you then there is no telling what will happen." He cups her face. "If she gets to you, she could make me do anything to get your free. Do you understand how bad it could be? Do you understand the lengths I would go to get you back?"

Beth nods. "You know I'm always safer with you. She could come for me while you're gone."

Mick knows she's right. "I'll make you a deal."

Beth sees a glimmer of hope that he will give in and let her go. "You do exactly, and I mean exactly, what I tell you the minute I tell you with no questions asked and I'll take you with me. It's either that or I park you at Josef's and let him and his security guys keep you safe."

Beth realizes the enormity of his fear the moment he says he'll take her to Josef's. Having to admit that he needs Josef to help protect her is not a little thing for Mick. He's worried about Coraline getting to her. Beth makes her decision and nods at him. She knows Mick isn't a lightweight when it comes to these things. If he tells her to do something, it's the best thing for the situation. "Deal. I give you my word that, no matter what, I will do exactly what you say."

Beth gets up and follows Mick down to the kitchen and he pours her a glass of A positive and they head for the living room. Mick sits on the couch and Beth snuggles up next to him. "This is nice."

"I want you to think about a couple things. You have a great deal of vamp appeal. I need you to be careful around males you don't know. Remember how Castillo reacted to you? Imagine what might have happened if it had been a different setting and Josef wasn't there?"

Beth shivers. "I see your point. I'll be careful."

"The other thing is this connection that you have with Josef and I. Beth, the thing is you need to see if you can control it. Josef said that if you had control you could have shut him out and saved yourself a lot of pain. You wouldn't have had to wait for him to stop it at his end."

Mick watches her process this.

"Do you think if I had enough control that I would have been able to stop Josef's pain too?"

Mick shrugs. "No idea but keep it in mind. Although hopefully neither of us will ever need you to do something like that. We'll have to wait and see what comes of it."

Xxxxxxxxx

Julia and Elaina warily watch the woman at the desk in the corner. She comes every night now and sits in the room with them. She's waiting for something and neither Julia nor Elaina knows what it could be. She never says anything to them she just sits and watches them.

Julia recognizes her as the woman that was with Lorenzo when she told him she had seen Mr. St. John. There is something different about the woman and Julia can't figure out what it is.

Xxxxxxxxxx

Mick is going to go see if he can track down Julia Tejada. He's become worried because she didn't call him with the additional information, and he hasn't been able to reach her. He's afraid that Castillo finally got fed up with her and killed her.

They've spent the last few days staking out several of the places that Castillo might be keeping Elaina. They broke into a couple of places, but so far, no luck. While Mick is trying to track down Julia, Beth decides to go back over her notes. She wants to see if something else jumps out at her.

She sees a listing for a house that is in the foothills of the Santa Anna's. Her notes say that the house sat abandoned for fifty years, which is why she crossed it off the list in the first place. She figures there can't be much left of it. She sees there is a notation here for the real estate agent that sold it to Tejada a couple of years ago. She shrugs and dials the phone. What's she got to lose?

A receptionist answers the phone Buck Edelson real estate. "Yes, I would like to speak to Mr. Edelson about some property."

The receptionist puts her through. "Hello?"

"Mr. Edelson, hi, this is Beth Turner. I'm doing a story for the LA Times and was wondering if I could ask you a couple of questions?"

The line is quiet for a second "Is this the Beth Turner that use to do the news for Buzzwire?"

Beth smiles. "Hopefully you won't hold that against me, but yes, one in the same."

"Young lady my news watching hasn't been the same since you disappeared from my monitor. You're pretty, but you were good too, probably too good to be stuck at Buzzwire."

"That's kind of you to say. I was wondering if I could ask you some questions about a house you sold a few years ago?"

"For you, anything. Ask away."

Beth gives him the address and the line goes very quiet. He sounds very wary. "Why do you ask about that particular house?"

"It's in line with a story I'm doing. Is there something wrong? I'm doing a story on old abandoned houses that could be used for other things if they were rejuvenated," she lied. She wondered at the man's complete turnaround. Maybe it was because he knew whom or should she say what owned the property.

"Ms. Turner, let me call you right back, an important call came in."

Beth scrunches up her nose. If he calls Castillo, she's sunk but she can't think what else she can do. "Okay, please call me." She gives him her number and hangs up.

Ten minutes later the phone rings. "Hello?"

"Ms. Turner, this is Buck Edelson." He sounded much better, "I'm to tell you to go see Josef. He said you know where his office is. He said to tell you Charles Fitzgerald had the house built. He said you would understand."

Beth laughs. "Yes, I do."

Xxxxxxxxx

Comments are always welcome.