As much as I wish it. Moonlight doesn't belong to me in any way shape or form. I like to come play in their sandbox.

This takes place after Forever Werewolf. This story may turn into a kind of bridge. We'll have to see where it goes.

Thank you to those of you who have reviewed.

This story of this series feels like it's a bridge to a grown-up Beth. She's not a fledgling anymore. She's still living with overprotective male vampires, but there will be more of Beth standing on her own two feet. It's time she became less of a spoiled brat.

xxxxxx

Sheila taps Matt on the shoulder. "Hey, I have someone that wants to talk to you." She turns to Beth. "Beth this is Matt Kelly, Matt this is Beth Turner."

Beth points to the seat next to Matt. "May I?"

He nods and says teasingly. "You bet. So, you're the notorious Beth Turner."

She rolls her eyes at him. "Sheila says you've been back a week. How could you know anything about me?"

He laughs. "You know vampire gossip. I asked around at what had changed. I got lots of answers, but one thing that cropped up quite a bit was your name."

She shakes her head. "Not my fault. I suspect if not for Josef and Mick I would not be such a magnet for trouble."

"I heard you were hooked up with those two. Thank the goddess that Coraline is dead, or you'd never be safe."

"You aren't kidding." Time to change the subject. "Did Sheila tell you why I wanted to talk to you?"

"No, she said you had a proposition for me. First, I need to ask if you've spoken to Josef and Mick about whatever this is, they may have some reservations."

"Yes," she points to the ceiling. "They're upstairs playing poker. Sheila mentioned there was some difficulty, so I talked to them. Neither of them had a bad word to say about you and are fine with what I'm going to propose."

"They're upstairs playing poker. I wonder if they have an extra seat."

"I can ask. Hold on a minute."

Josef, Mick, two questions, first when are we going to the park with Ryker?

If everything goes to plan three days. Josef says. Why?

No reason I just need to work it into my schedule. Second, Matt would like to know if you have room for him at the table once we're done here.

No problem, Mick says. Maybe the deal will be better with another player. Tell him to come on up when you're done.

Fine with me. Josef adds in.

Beth turns to Matt. "They say to come on up once we're done here."

"You're a telepath." Matt says.

She nods and gives him the disclaimer spiel, so he won't think she randomly intrudes on other people's thoughts.

"Well," Beth goes on to explain the online newspaper and everyone associated with it.

"What do you need from me? It sounds like you're on your way."

"Sheila said you taught English. I'm hoping you also have some journalism experience. I need an editor who can double as an office manager."

He looks at her and laughs. "I've yet to meet a writer of any stripe who really wants an editor. I do have some journalism experience, although it's from the sixties."

Beth looks at him sheepishly. "I need a special editor. I'm pretty good with grammar and spelling but reading something over and over, things can get missed. As for content, I need someone who won't look at something I've written and put big redlines through everything. I need you to read my story and be a sounding board. I don't mind someone punching holes in my storys. They need to tell me what they think needs to be added or subtracted without the "this is shit" do something else."

He nods to himself. "So, if I said, "don't you think there needs to be more background on this person so we can empathize with their plight, or be clearer about the intent of the person and why that's good or bad for vampire culture". That kind of thing."

Beth nods. "Yes, that's it. I'm the first to admit I don't do well with people who give orders."

Matt laughs. "You and Josef must be a joy."

Beth grins. "We've learned to compromise. This is why I need an editor that is more of a soundboard, someone I can hash a story out with and find the best angles. I don't mind listening to other people's opinions if they're constructive."

"And you need an office manager." He says.

She nods. "It really wouldn't be much besides making sure we don't run out of things."

"I haven't heard you mention a bookkeeper." He says.

She sighs. "Something else I didn't think of. This has been a real learning experience for me. I'm a journalist not a businessperson."

"Josef hasn't helped?"

"Josef and Mick tend to take charge which bugs me. They would help if I asked, and the money has all come from them. Mostly they've let me do this myself. Which is great. I've enjoyed it, but I keep finding things I didn't know or think about."

"I have a suggestion." He says.

"Shoot."

"Hire a part-time bookkeeper slash office manager. In the beginning neither job should take much time. I'll be your editor and I'll write a weekly travel column for the vampire side. I have been all over the world. I've seen so many things, differences in vampire culture. I think it would be an interesting idea."

Beth nods "I like that. Now to find a bookkeeper."

"How about Sheila? Right now, she's a receptionist for a bank and I'm pretty sure it pays shit."

"Good idea. I'll talk to her. Can you meet me at the office tomorrow night at eight? I'll show you your office, Stephanie can get you a code for the door and security can take your picture. I spent four months waiting for the remodel. I spent a lot of time writing. I'd like you to start on the stories right away. When Stephanie is done with her hardware tests, we can get things rolling. How does that sound?"

"You don't let the grass grow under your feet. I'm ready. I'll be there."

"Great. I'm assuming since you taught school, you're good with a computer?"

He nods. "Of course. I'm not one of those vampires who is behind, but,"

"But?"

"But I'm going to have to find someone to help me buy a new one. The one I have is years old and probably not secure. I know how they work but not the nuts and bolts, you know?"

"Yes, I do. I had Stephanie buy three extras for this reason. She can talk to you about buying one for your personal use, but we have a brand new one you can use for work."

"Really? That's great."

Beth hands him one of her new cards. "This is the office address and my numbers. Call if you think of anything we didn't discuss."

"Will do. Now I'm going to go take some money from Josef and Mick." He whistles as he heads for the stairs.

Beth turns around intent on looking for Sheila, but Ziggy taps her on the shoulder. "Hi Ziggy. I haven't seen you in a while. How are you?"

"Good, good. Josef said you are looking for a self-defense teacher."

"I am. I didn't know he was talking about you. We were kind of arguing about me taking classes and I forgot to ask him who he had in mind. If you'd like the job, it's yours. Stephanie says you're a great teacher."

"It's easy with her. She's an enthusiastic student. Josef said the space for the classes isn't done yet."

"That's right. We decided that whoever I hired to teach should be the one to select and order the needed equipment. Can you meet me at the office tomorrow night say at nine? You can look it over and decide what you want. If you think walls should be put in place, it's a large space, I'll have the wolves in this week to take care of it."

"I'll be there." He says.

She goes back to looking for Sheila and she feels another tap on the shoulder. She turns to find a male vampire.

"I need to speak with you." He says

"I'm kind of busy. Can it wait a few minutes?"

"No, right now." He grabs her arm.

"Let go of me." She snarls.

He jerks on her arm. "No."

Before Marissa can move, Beth stomps as hard as she can on the vampire's foot. In surprise he lets go of her. Beth hauls off and punches him as hard as she can. His head snaps back and he flails as he hits the wall. He lets out a loud long roar. Marissa is moving before the vampire can pull himself together. She slams a stake into his chest. She looks back at Beth who's standing behind her with both guns pulled.

Josef and Mick both stand at the same time. "What are the odds?" Josef asks.

"Damn good. She's in trouble again." And they are both moving.

Matt watches them bolt for the door. "So, the stories I've heard about my new boss are true."

Guillermo snorts. "I've known her since she was human, and that woman has always been a handful."

Aldrich gets to the scene first. He looks at Beth. "Damn it what the hell is going on?"

She puts her guns away. "Not my fault."

Aldrich crosses his arms. "Beth, I swear."

Aldrich turns as he hears running behind him. Mick and Josef slow as they see Beth is fine and Marissa is standing over a staked vampire. "What happened?" Josef asks.

"I was looking for Sheila and this guy," she waves at the vampire with the stake in his chest, "he said he needed to talk to me. I asked him if it could wait a couple minutes and he said no. He grabbed me. I told him to let go and he jerked my arm. I stomped on his foot as hard as I could. He let go of me and I punched him. Marissa staked him before I could shoot him."

Josef shakes his head. He walks over and pulls the stake out of the vampire's chest. "Abner, what in the hell do you think you are doing? If Marissa hadn't been here, I can almost promise you'd be a pile of dust by now."

Abner sits up and points to Beth. "She's a damn menace."

"You think you can drag a woman around and not have repercussions? Think again. I repeat you're lucky all you got was staked. Now get your ass up. Mick and I would like to have a chat."

Abner snarls and gets up.

"Go into the second conference room upstairs." Josef says.

Mick walks over and hugs Beth. Josef kisses the top of her head. "Do you want to hear what he has to say?" Josef asks.

"Yes, but I need a couple minutes. Can you wait for me?"

"Of course, but try and make it quick."

She nods. "Will do." She turns to the crowd. "Has anyone seen Sheila?"

Sheila steps out of the crowd. "Right here."

Beth motions for her to follow her back to the corner where they started out. Before she can speak Sheila hugs her. "Good grief. I love the way you don't put up with shit from anyone."

Beth shrugs. "If you let people push you around, they don't stop. Now, I was looking for you when this broke out to ask you if you'd like a part time job. Before you answer, Matt said you are working part time at a bank?"

Sheila nods. "It's more of a brokerage firm. I'm the receptionist. People come in and I point them to the right person."

"How many hours a week do you work and if you don't mind if I ask how much you make?"

Sheila tells Beth who nods. "I can work with that. You said you were good with numbers. Have you ever done any actual bookkeeping?"

"Yes, but my references are outdated, and you know how that goes so I'm stuck doing reception work."

"I need a part time bookkeeper who can also be the office manager. The office manager part would just entail making sure office supplies get ordered. Same number of hours and I'll pay you five dollars more an hour. This is a new venture and your kind of taking a chance on me, but I'd like to have you on board."

Sheila hugs Beth again. "I'd love to. What are the hours?"

Beth shrugs. "It's pretty flexible as long as stuff gets done."

"In that case, since school doesn't start for another month, if you don't mind, I'll do both until a week before school. At that point I'll give the brokerage firm notice. That way I can bank a bit more money."

"That's fine. Can you be at the office tomorrow night at eight? Matt will be there so we can get him a code for the door and security can take his picture. We could do you at the same time."

"I will be there."

Beth hands over another card.

She sighs and turns to the conference room. Marissa falls in next to her, "I think you can probably walk with me. You aren't much of a secret anymore."

Marissa snorts. "No kidding. I think we need to talk to Josef about your security detail."

Beth stops and looks at her. "You're not quitting, are you? Josef will kill me if you're quitting."

Marissa laughs. "No, I'm not quitting, and neither is Bender. You'll see. It will be fine."

Beth and Marissa enter the room. Marissa steers Beth towards the end of the table away from the men and sits next to her. Mick smiles as Beth frowns but lets it go.

"I can't believe you let her get this out of control." Abner says.

Josef shakes his head. "She's not out of control."

Abner snarls. "She was going to shoot me."

"I wouldn't have missed either." Beth snaps at him.

"What do you expect, manhandling her like that." Mick says.

"Abner, you're what, just over five hundred?" Josef says.

"You know I am. I've known you forever."

"Abner, Beth isn't even forty and she's only been a vampire for a little over five years. Besides using a gun, how can she defend herself from old vampires, like yourself?"

"That's your job. You're her sire. Make her stay home and this wouldn't be a problem. You, and St. John have fallen down on the job. This female has no business talking back to her betters, never mind hitting me."

Beth takes one of her guns out. "Can I shoot him now?"

"NO." Josef and Mick say in concert.

"You better get used to it Abner." Josef says

"Why? What else have you allowed her to do?" he asks.

"She started a foundation to send female vampires to school. One requirement is they take self-defense classes." Mick says.

"They are done putting up with shit from people like you." Beth snaps.

"I suppose they'll learn to shoot too." Abner snarls.

Beth stands and leans forward. "Not until the shooting range is built."

Josef and Mick both turn with the same surprised look.

Beth sits and shrugs. "I wanted to wait till things calmed down and we had some of the current projects finished before starting a new one."

Mick sees Marissa bent over quietly laughing. "Stop it. You'll only encourage her."

Marissa grins at him. "Good. About time someone put something like this in place. To many male vampires are stuck in the time they were turned. Maybe it's time we drug their sorry butts into the next century."

"I wish Vanessa was here. She'd let me shoot him." Beth says.

Marissa starts laughing again. This time she doesn't bother to hide it.

"Josef, there are a lot of vampires that are not going to like this one bit." Abner says.

Josef stands and leans in. "Are you threatening me?" Josef wraps Mick, Beth and Marissa isolating them from the feel of his power. Abner goes even whiter as he feels the punch of Josef's power.

Jenny enters the room. She closes the door behind her and leans against it with her arms crossed. She's not doing much better than Abner, but she finds her voice. "Josef, you're freaking out the customers."

Josef snaps his power back. "I repeat. Abner are you threatening me?"

Jenny shakes her head and leaves not wanting to see what comes next.

"Nnnnoooo. Josef, I would never threaten you." He steadies himself. "Josef all I'm saying is we all have a good thing going here. The vampire community is loyal to you like I've never seen anywhere else. Mark my words this is going to tear things apart."

"You know how it goes. Anyone and I mean anyone who doesn't like the way I run this territory is more than welcome to challenge me. I'll take on anyone. Abner as you pointed out, you've known me a long time. You should remember what happened the last time I was off the chain. Anything, and I mean anyone who hurts Beth will wish they had come at me instead."

Mick decides to get the conversation back on track before Josef does let Beth shoot Abner. "What was so important that you had to jerk Beth around?"

"I was going to tell her what a bad idea this newspaper thing is. Josef, you can't let her do this."

"Abner I've got news for you; this was mine and Mick's idea. We instigated it and she's running with it. She's a journalist and a vampire so it's perfect for the job. On top of that the council is looking at it as a pilot project. If it goes well, they'll have them in all the territories." Josef says.

Abner stands and shakes his head. "You are all out of your minds. You're going to bring us to the attention of the government."

"Too late." Josef says.

Abner stares at him hoping what he thinks Josef is getting at is wrong. "They can't know."

"They do. Have for a long time." Josef says.

"If that's true, why don't they move against us? That doesn't make any sense."

"Think about the chaos that would cause. Bad for business, bad for governments, bad all around. Why do you think the council is so adamant that we police our own? As long as we keep a lid on things and don't do something stupid like have a war with the wolves it should be fine." He doesn't mention that Vanessa has long range plans and people seeded in the government.

Josef straightens. "you've said your peace. Not get out."

Abner stands and scurries to the door.

"Abner," Mick says. "If you approach Beth again without speaking to me, Josef or her bodyguards first, next time I will let her shoot you."

Abner nods and leaves as quickly as he can.

Beth is tapping the tabletop. She looks at Josef and Mick. "Maybe he's right. Maybe we should pare the newspaper back. We could still quietly have the foundation. Maybe all this is too much change for hidebound vampires."

"You scared?" Josef asks.

Beth grins at him. "No but he's right this is a great place you've put together. I don't want to be the reason it all goes to hell."

"You let me worry about the state of the territory. I put it together and I'll keep it together. I want you to write what you think is important. Do the same job you did when you reported on humans."

"If you're sure?" Beth asks.

"I'm sure. Mick and I will handle our end. You just do what you always do, write."

"Now that that's all cleared up. I need to talk to you about her security detail." Marissa says.

"You're not quitting, are you?" Mick asks

"What is it with you people? No, I'm not quitting."

Mick smiles. "Well, she is a handful."

"Hey." Beth says

"Josef, I think you need a regular around the clock security detail for the building. That way Bender and I can concentrate on Beth. I started thinking that going into tonight but after listening to Abner I'm more convinced of it."

Josef nods. "Agreed. I'll contact Victoria and set something up. If she doesn't have the people to spare right away, I'll use some of my security from my building downtown. Someone will be there starting tomorrow night." Josef turns to Beth. "Have you hired everyone you need?"

"Almost. Stephanie set up an email address and a dedicated phone line for tips. I need someone to monitor that, who can double as a research assistant for me and Ava. Eventually I'll have to hire another person but right now one should be enough. It might be hard because so many vampires aren't computer savvy but maybe Rose knows someone."

Marissa holds up her hand. "Wait, I was a research analyst at Langley. Granted it was a way back but unlike my peers I like computers and I'm good with them. Plus, because I started back in the day, I'm good with old tech like microfiche."

Beth looks at her confused. "You want to be my research assistant?"

"Yes, this is perfect. Does your research assistant get an office and is it big enough for two desks?"

Beth thinks about it for a minute. "Sure. It would be tighter than the other offices but it's doable."

"Listen. The second desk would be for Bender. I'm good at research and this would put both of us in the office with you. Bender and I would go through the tip line. A lot of times dangerous people like to scare their target first. If someone decides to go after you it may show up there first."

Mick nods. "Then you hand it over to me. I know this city better than either of you. I might be able to get a line on the person threatening her and head off the problem."

"The researchers office would actually be a security office. We could have a monitor that feeds in from the cameras in the lobby and parking lot." She looks at Josef. "There are cameras?"

He nods. "Yes. Keep talking. This sounds good."

"Besides the monitor for the camera's we'd need a gun safe, a small locking file cabinet and a coded lock on the door." She turns to Beth again. "Speaking of which I assume you have a gun safe in your office."

Beth winces. "No. I just never put them down."

"Well now that you're working, what I assume are going to be long hours in the office I'm guessing you will want to put them away. You need a gun safe as well."

Beth nods. "I can see that."

"What do you think?" Josef asks Beth. He's hoping she'll go along with Marissa's plan.

Beth thinks about it for couple minutes and can't find any problems. "You were really a research analyst?"

Marissa nods. "I really was, and I was good at it."

"Alright. I don't see why it won't work." Beth says

Josef nods. "Good. Did you buy the desk for that office from Fitzgerald's?"

"Yes. They were so nice Charise gave me the okay when we were looking over furniture for the office. I believe it's a Commodore model."

"Good. I'll have a second one delivered tomorrow night. When are you meeting Matt and Sheila?" Josef says

"We're all meeting at eight."

"The security monitor and the code lock for the door will take a couple days. Unfortunately I don't own that company, but I'll get them to put a rush on it. The gun safes can be picked easily enough, and I'll have them deliver a matching file cabinet. Anything else?"

"Not that I can think of."

"Let one of us know if there is."

Marissa turns back to Beth. "This is going to work really well."

Xxxxxx

Two nights later

Ryker sits back in the chair and stares at the phone. He glances around the room. "You're still sure you want to get in the middle of this?"

Kaida knows where he's going and nods. "We can bug out and no one would be the wiser."

Josef makes an impatient gesture. "Just do it. We've been over this, and we've got a good plan."

Ryker sighs and makes the call.

"Hello?" the computer says.

Ryker punches in a call sign for the original mission before he fell in love and went off the grid. Thirty seconds later he hears a human voice. "Didn't expect to hear from you again."

Ryker doesn't recognize the voice but that's not surprising it's been five and a half years. "I hear they want a meet."

"Yes, we'd be most interested in speaking with you."

"Here's the terms. I'll meet with two operatives, Chuck Van and Dennis Petersen, tomorrow night at one A.M. Here are the co-ordinates. No one else pops up or the meet doesn't happen."

"I'll have to go up the chain to get it sanctioned."

"You do that. I'll be there if the terms are met. This is the only chance." He hangs up, walks over to the Faraday box, and drops the phone, closing the lid. "I liked it better when we could remove the batteries and crush the damn things."

"Don't worry it will be disposed of, far from here."

Xxxxxx

Hope you like it.