Part 10: Blood So Sweet

Blood. It is the essence of life, the binding that ties all life on earth together, even those half dead. Its gentle rhythm calls to those of the night drawing them in and the sweet scent practically rolls over the tongue. The craving is deep and primal; one scent of it can drive even the oldest of our kind over the edge. Some blood though is different than others. Some blood has a magical ring to it that makes every vampire mouth water. The blood of the dark it is called and little does my best friend know, but his little pet's blood is that very sweetness.

Alex was an excited ball of energy; he was never like this for her. As they walked up the driveway he practically bounced along radiating excitement. "What?" She finally asked as he turned his eager gaze on her.

"It's a girls night." He laughed. "I have missed these terribly."

"A what?" Roxy asked as they paused at the door.

"A girls night." Alex said rolling his eyes as he opened the door to Liz's apartment.

"I have no idea what that is, Liz only told me to bring a pair of pajamas and we were going to have a girls night." Roxy said if she was able to blush she would have.

"Oh Rox you will love it. We gossip about boys, or in my case girls, we eat, watch movies and then pass out." Alex said wincing as the morning sun started to rise. He was still sensitive to the sun and would be for another year while he was still in his fledgling stage.

"Alright." Roxy sighed as they stepped inside. The cool temperature soothed their skin as the scent of fresh blood washed over them.

"Hello my little friends!" Liz giggled as she bounced into the room in a red tank top and matching boy shorts. "Welcome Roxy to your first girls night or day technically." Liz said as a knock sounded on the door.

Alex sniffed the air and grinned at his friend, "Lizzie I didn't know you ordered take out." He chuckled wincing when Roxy hit him in the stomach as Liz opened the door grinning madly.

"Hi Beth!"

Josef's Home

"Josef!" Mick roared barging into the four hundred year old vampire's home. Josef looked up from his spot behind his desk not at all surprised that the vampire was there before him.

"What can I do for you Mick?" His casual question seemed to enrage the other male more.

"Why the hell is your scent all over Beth's home, hell her scent is all over this office." Mick growled.

"Knew I forgot the office." Josef muttered. "Her scent is here because she was here Mick."

"Why?" Mick asked taking a seat knowing that Josef was in fine form that morning which meant that it was going to take awhile.

"Because I needed to talk." Josef said rubbing his forehead, he could feel that his skin was warm letting him know what his mood was already telling him, he needed his freezer.

"About what?" Mick ground out.

"It is nothing that concerns you." Josef said turning back to his work hoping that Mick would take the hint and leave, but luck was not with him that morning.

"She is my girlfriend of course it concerns me." Mick snapped. Josef could feel his anger rising as he calmly turned to his friend.

"Really? Tell me Mick, how does my relationship troubles concern you?"

Mick stared at his friend in shock. "What? How would Beth be involved in any of your relationship problems unless…" Mick's mind jumped all over the place from one scenario to the next each one enraging the beast in him even more.

Josef could see his friend was coming to the wrong conclusions and decided to step in and correct him before he did something stupid. "Not that you idiot." Josef huffed straightening his tie. "It was about Sara."

"Oh." Mick said the tension uncoiling in his body. "What about her?" Mick asked feeling like a lousy friend all of the sudden.

Josef knew he had to think fast, Mick showing up was unexpected. "I am thinking of getting back together with Liz." He blurted out the first thing that came to mind, unfortunately for him it was also the truth.

Mick stared at him in shock. "What?" He croaked.

Josef fidgeted in his chair like a little kid not wanting to get personal with Mick, those were never fun conversations and it always left him feeling like a girl. "I was with Liz about a hundred years ago, when she first moved to the New World. We were both in New Orleans at the time, she was an inn keeper and I was a lawyer. We were together for a few different lives until we moved to New York." Josef said.

"Until you met Sara." Mick said but Josef shook his head.

"No until Laurent called her back to France. He has never been very fond of me and did not want to take the chance of his little Elise mating with me." Josef said.

"So how does Sara come into this?" Mick asked.

"I met Sara after I dropped Liz off at the docs. She was taking an ocean liner back to France and I was miserable but I had to get by. I went to the train station on my way to a business meeting and that was when I met Sara." Josef said.

"So you were in love with Liz still when you met Sara."

"Right." Josef released an unneeded breath. "I never stopped loving Liz, she is different than any girl I have ever been with." Josef said.

"Yeah I know that feeling." Mick said. "But are you sure about Liz?" His prejudice against her family peaking out.

"Seeing her again a few days ago brought a lot of feelings out that I didn't realize I still had. She enters a room and I swear the world freaking stops." Josef said letting out and unintentional laugh. "She talks and all I hear are little songs."

"Someone is in love and from the sound of it you have been for a long time." Mick said. It was as if he was seeing his friend in a new light. When he first heard about Sara it was as if he was seeing Josef as a man for the first time and not another monster. Hearing about Liz and the way Josef talked about her though was a new experience for Mick. In all the years he has known Josef he never knew him to smile and laugh for the hell of it and the animation in his pale face was new. He knew that he was seeing Josef as not only a man but as a human.

Liz's Apartment

Beth looked at the three vampires in front of her nervously shifting back and forth on the balls of her feet. "Hi Liz. Alex Roxy." She said nodding at them. Roxy smiled at her as Liz dragged the small blonde into her apartment.

"See I even invited our human friend." Liz giggled. "Don't worry Beth I made some human snacks for you." Liz said bouncing around like a child on a sugar high.

"Is she normally like this?" Beth asked Alex in a stage whisper. Alex looked at the girl who was older than him and grinned, he liked that she was not afraid of him.

"When no one is around to see and judge her, yup. Lizzie is a little ball of energy."

"I believe Josef calls her his energizer bunny." Roxy said with a satisfied smirk.

"Eww." Alex hissed.

"It's good that he has someone who can keep up with him." Beth said grinning at Liz. "Others just make him board and cranky." Beth said making Roxy and Liz laugh.

"We have to keep her." Roxy said between giggles.

"She is fun, she is like a Maria, Amy mix with a little Kyle thrown in." Alex said and Liz nodded.

"She really is." Liz agreed looping an arm around Beth's waist being mindful of her strength to not hurt the girl. "Okay so first on our list tonight is gossip." Liz said pushing Beth onto the couch next to Alex who looped an arm around her.

"You are going to love this." Alex chuckled.

Around midday the four were rolling on the ground laughing. "No you did not." Beth hissed between breathy laughs as Alex sipped his blood in a glass.

"I did!" Roxy said laughing as well. "I walked into the room in plastic wrap and asked him if he wanted to unwrap his present."

"Oh that is too funny." Liz giggled. "But I have done worse."

"How?" Alex asked.

"Red bow party of one." Beth muttered and Liz's eyes snapped to her.

"How the hell did you know!" She screeched happily.

"Hello, college!" Beth smiled drinking her water.

"No wonder Josef gets a kick out of you." Liz laughed. "You have an adventurous side."

"Does St. John let you show it?" Alex asked wiggling his eyebrows.

Beth's face turned several different shades of red before it settled on a sunburn color. "Mick can be very...enthusiastic at times." Beth said biting her lip.

"In other words he is a secret freak." Alex said and Beth nodded.

"He likes a little kink in the mix at times others no."

"That is normal for our kind, it is a power play and we like a little roughness." Roxy said and Beth nodded.

"I have the bruises to prove it."

"Wounds of love Beth wounds of love." Liz giggled.

Roswell

Max sipped at his hot sauce laced cherry soda staring at the swinging back door. Nancy Parker had just taken a sobbing Maria into the back room followed by a sullen Michael. He knew something was wrong but he knew that if Jeff Parker saw him hanging around he would be dead.

"Hey Kyle." He called when the sheriffs son entered the alien themed café.

"Max." Kyle said reluctantly sitting across from him.

"Why is Maria upset?" Max asked pointing to the backroom.

"Oh I guess they finally told her and Michael." Kyle said looking dejected.

"Told them what?" Max didn't know why but he had a sinking suspicion that what was going to come out of Kyle' mouth was going to upset him more than he would like.

"That they are selling the café." Kyle sighed.

Max felt as if someone had slammed a truck into his chest as the air rushed out of him. "What?" He gasped out in a strained whisper.

"The Parker's decided that with Liz gone they have no need to stick around Roswell, they have no more family here so they are selling the place to Amy and heading to Florida to leave near Nancy's sister." Kyle explained ripping at the napkin in his hands.

"When was this decided?" Max asked.

"Well we knew it was a possibility once Liz left but yesterday the Parker's approached Amy with this and she talked to my dad about it and they both thought it was a good idea so Amy bought the place for a steal and now the Parker's are moving." Kyle said as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

"She isn't coming back? Like ever?"

"Nope." Kyle said. "She blew this popsicle stand and then some."