Chapter 41

Warcraft

Intro song: War, Edwin Starr

"So, let me get this straight. There are thousands of people doing this on-line at any given time?!"

"Nope. Millions. This thing is massive!" Logan leaned back precariously in his desk chair, the frame protesting as he grinned at Beth and lectured on his favorite topic. "Warcraft has been around since the early 1990's and World of Warcraft was launched in 2001. Some people have been playing it the entire time."

"Like you?" Beth's blue eyes danced with amusement.

"Yup, like me. I told you guys - on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I rule World of Warcraft. Having vampire reflexes – and a high-speed internet connection - does give a person some advantages..."

"I guess there's a whole world out there I don't know anything about. Kind of pathetic when you consider that I worked for an on-line news organization." Beth chewed on a slice of pizza as she talked. She had, as Logan suggested, brought her own refreshments, kicking herself that she hadn't thought of the idea of visiting him sooner so that she could have asked Mick about bringing a selection from his stash of blood. The do's and don'ts of vampire etiquette were a mystery to her. A lot more complicated than bringing a bottle of wine...

In the hour that she had been there, they had joked, laughed, compared their taste in music... "Vampire Weekend rocks, Beth"... and talked about books and movies. Logan was, surprisingly, into chick flicks. "Only the good ones," he announced archly, refusing to define exactly what constituted a 'good one' in his mind. Not as surprisingly, he was also a huge Stephen King fan, showing her his hardcover collection of his many published works.

"I have some autographed ones, even though he doesn't do many of those," he had proudly pointed out. "One of these days, I'm going to meet the man. Nobody writes horror the way he does."

"Does he write vampire stories?" Beth had asked. She knew who the author was, of course - it would require living on another planet not to have heard the name 'Stephen King' - but she was not, ironically, a fan of horror literature.

"Well, he did one - 'Salem's Lot. Actually says it's his favorite book. I wish he'd done more. Anything to drown out the whole 'sparkly vampire' Twatlight saga noise. Thank god that seems to have died down."

Beth had choked on her drink, almost doing a spit-take with her diet coke as she roared with laughter. "Twatlight?! Seriously, Logan? Don't hold back now - tell me what you really think!"

"Well, I don't know how much you know about those books, Beth, but you have been around real vampires. Most writers get at least some things right, but there's no resemblance to reality in those books. Vamps that sparkle as they bask in sunlight? Vamps without fangs?! I mean, did she not read Bram Stoker?!" Logan had curled his upper lip in disgust. "It was just an excuse to write about a bunch of horny teens."

It was several minutes before Beth could regain her breath to speak again after that exchange. She had been surprised to find how much she was enjoying her time with Logan, fast coming to think of him as the geeky brother she'd never had – not that she intended to share that fact with him. That would freak him out!

"I'm almost afraid to ask, but what did you think of True Blood?" Beth had been a fan of the HBO series before she learned of the existence of real vampires.

"Weeellll... at least they had fangs. And the sex was good since it was on cable..."

Recalling a scene with a naked Alexander Skarsgård, she had to agree. But, nobody is as sexy as Mick... Bringing herself back from her brief Mick St. John fantasy, she focused on the task at hand. "So, World of Warcraft...what do I need to know to win, Logan?"

This time it was Griffen's turn to laugh. "Sure, Beth, no problem. I mean, the game only has like, twelve million players – some of whom have been playing it since it started – three game expansions, four realms, millions of avatars... I'll just tell you everything you need to know in the next five minutes and I'm sure you'll be able to play as well as any of them by the end of the evening!"

Beth gave him a playful poke. "Hey, I told you coming into it that I didn't know anything about it, smart ass! Just tell me how to get started – I mean, you have enough computers for us both to play, right?" She gestured toward his elaborate setup of desktop and laptop computers, monitors, scanners and other electronic gadgets. "What do you do with all these computers, anyway?"

Right now, I'm tracking your boyfriend. Logan had to bite his tongue to keep from blurting that out. Josef would kill him if he divulged Kostan's plan to Beth. The elder vampire had made a point of stressing secrecy regarding their activities to both he and Ryder. "I don't want Beth to know what we're doing. I know her. She's concerned enough as it is and if she knew I was worried, she'd chase after him. We'd end up looking for her in the desert too."

Having spent some time around Beth and seeing how close she and Mick were, Logan was sure Josef was correct.

"And, what is that noise?"

"Huh? What noise?" Logan came back to the present with a start.

"It sounds like a CB radio. Please tell me you don't talk with truckers, Logan."

He laughed uneasily. "Noooo, I'm a geek, not a redneck! It's just police band stuff. Sometimes I like to know what's going on out in the real world. You know, in case it involves vampires…" Pivoting his chair around, he spun the dial on a display behind him and lowered the sound to barely audible levels, even by vampire standards. Damn it! Josef was right – Beth was too smart for her own good. Time to distract her...

"So, you think you are ready to take on gamers like me in WoW, Beth? That's what we call it, by the way. I mean, we play pretty hard - you're likely to get killed off fast, especially since you don't know what you're doing."

"Then it's a good thing I've got you around." She felt a pang, remembering having uttered those same words to Mick when she first became involved in investigating cases with him. I wish he'd call...

As if Mick could read her thoughts, her phone, placed on the desk for quick access, began to vibrate and buzz. Dropping her pizza crust into the paper towel on her lap – Logan, predictably, had no plates - Beth dusted off her fingers and picked it up. The text from Mick made her smile and her fingers flew over the screen to craft a quick response.

Logan eyed her. "Don't tell me, let me guess. A message from our favorite P.I.?"

"Yes." Beth smiled without taking her eyes off the phone.

"Any news?" He tried to keep the question casual, but his hand hovered near his own phone, just in case an alert to Josef was needed. Beth had discussed Mick's road trip with Logan when she first arrived, giving him an abbreviated version of the case he and Carl Davis were working on. The vampire had done what he thought was a convincing job of pretending it was all news to him.

"Not much. They haven't found anything they didn't already know from the case file. They're on their way to the morgue now to take a look at the victims. He says he'll text me again after that." When she gave Logan the background on the situation, Beth had deliberately omitted any mention of the disagreement she and Mick had had over whether or not he should pursue the case, refraining from editorializing. Some things were better left unsaid...

Setting the phone back down with a deliberately nonchalant shrug, she said, "Okay, well, now that we know that he's still alive, show me how to stay alive in this game."

With a smile, Logan turned to the computer behind him and pulled up the World of Warcraft display. As he began to initiate Beth into the gaming world, he kept an ear cocked to the low murmur of the police scanner behind him. Come on, Mick, get your ass out of there.

Thirty minutes after they entered, a shaken detective, and a worried P.I. left the San Diego Department of the Medical Examiner. The pictures and descriptions of the desert murders hadn't prepared them for the brutal reality of viewing actual remains. Jagged flesh where heads had once been, small forms burned...

The factual descriptions provided by Chief Medical Examiner Linda Dyson had efficiently cataloged the viciousness and desecration, though she admittedly did not have an explanation for why some bodies seemed to have almost completely disintegrated, while others remained more or less intact.

"Maybe they were just interrupted before they could finish the disposal job," Mick had offered, trying to provide an easy explanation that might satisfy the coroner.

Dyson had nodded. "Quite possible. Honestly, we may never know that answer - at least, not until you apprehend the perps."

She did make clear that there were several distinct individuals in the dusty remains - her best estimate of this latest batch was four or five - but she could not be sure, given what she had to work with. "And, there were at least three children. All boys. From the skeletal remains, I would guess they ranged in age from around three to perhaps six."

Her face had been grim as she shared her information. No matter how long one was in law enforcement, the victimization of children always hit hard...

"You were awfully quiet."

Mick, who had been staring blankly out the passenger window of Escalade, mulling over the information they had received, snapped back to the present. "Huh? Oh – yeah, well, you're the one in charge on this trip, remember?"

The detective knew evasion when he heard it. "Nice try. Look, I'll admit I don't know you all that well yet, but every time I've been around a case with you, you've had something to say." The vampire's groan at Davis's jab brought a grin to the driver's face.

Mick, however, hadn't had to put much theatrics into his response. The stress of needing to watch every word coming out of his mouth, hostile treatment from Detective McGowan, and the catalog of horrors he'd seen at the San Diego Department of the Medical Examiner were all compounded by the fact he hadn't "eaten" since before they'd started on this excursion - and he could feel it in his bones. He surreptitiously eyed the gleaming silver thermos sitting temptingly on the rear floor behind the driver's seat.

Carl caught the look. "You hungry?"

Startled, Mick turned to look at the lieutenant, for a split second fearing that he'd let something slip. Then his more rational brain took over, and he realized what the officer was really asking. "Yeah," he admitted. "I could use a bite." He grimaced. Poor choice of words, St. John.

"Me too." Carl quickly checked his watch. "It's almost six now – good time to grab something before heading out to Border Patrol. There's a great burger joint here called Hodad's. I usually go to it when I'm out this way. It doesn't have a drive-through, so we'd have to go in and grab our orders – ."

Mick interrupted. "A burger sounds great... but, I've got this… stuff… I did promise Beth I'd try it to see if it helps with this damn heartburn. It's some cleanse deal – can't eat any real food until I'm through with it…" With a show of making a face, he added, "If that's what you want, though, Carl, go for it. I'll live vicariously through you."

A light buzzing from his pocket caused Mick to redirect his attention, whipping out his phone. Sure enough, there was a concerned text from Beth. He started typing in the promised message, trying to ignore his companion, who was smirking at him.

"I'd almost forgotten what it was like to have a keeper…"

"Knock it off, Carl," Mick snapped with unintentional animosity. He could feel his gums start to itch and his muscles begin to tingle - both familiar warning indicators that he was close to vamping. He forced himself to calm down, wondering at his own reaction, and why he'd become hostile so quickly. Take it easy – he didn't mean anything by it. And you really don't want to set off a cop…

The lieutenant whistled. "Geesh – I was just kidding. Sorry!" He shook his head. "I guess it just came out wrong. Gotta admit my filter for this stuff hasn't been so good since my divorce – "

"You were married before too?" Mick hadn't realized what he'd revealed until the words were out of his mouth. Too? What the hell is wrong with me today?!

Carl picked up on the statement. "Something else we have in common, eh?" he asked bitterly. The detective noted Mick's reaction, and how the man seemed to retreat into himself afterward. So that explained why the P.I. was hesitant to discuss Beth – and why he was so testy over being teased about his relationship with her. Poor bastard, he was probably as fucked over as I was.

Mick was surprised at the palpable fury he felt from the detective. Everything about him, from his cadence to his scent, reeked of anger in that moment. He was intrigued in spite of himself. "So… I take it things didn't end very well?"

"Well, I had my ass handed to me by the ex-bitch," Davis spat out venomously. "Let's see… We got married… she generally made my life hell for the seventeen months, thirteen days and twelve hours we stayed together… found out at the end she'd been screwing my now-former partner for several months, even though she told me over and over that she'd never get involved with a cop again if she had it to do over. Oh and just for added fun, most of the precinct knew about it but nobody let me in on it, stand-up guys that they were."

The detective smacked the steering wheel with the palm of one hand to release some of the frustration he felt at the memories. "Life at the precinct was sure fun when all that came out. And she did her best to screw me over in the divorce. Then kept showing up at the precinct to see him when she knew I'd be there. That kept on happening until I requested a transfer. So yeah, I'd say 'didn't end well' is an extremely accurate observation – and a hell of an understatement."

Carl thought about his passenger, and his earlier reaction after just a mention of his former marriage. "Sorry to dump on you like that about the ex – you'd think three years would have made things a little better by now." He forced a smile. "Probably makes yours sound like a walk in the park."

"Well, I'm not sure I'd say that exactly, but it sounds like you had a hell of a time and I'm sorry to hear it," Mick offered with genuine sympathy. Too bad he couldn't make Davis feel a little better regaling him with tales of his ex-wife, but... Not too sure he'd appreciate a story about a vampire spouse. He'd already divulged more than he had intended.

Besides, Coraline was a subject he didn't even broach with vampires. Beth was the only human who knew some of the sordid tale – and he planned on it remaining that way. He blew out a tense breath; thoughts of Coraline were best not entertained. Nothing good can come of that. Time to deflect the conversation…

"What about Jamie? You two sure looked cozy in the office."

Carl cleared his throat noisily. "Did we? Well… she is really cute." He glanced at Mick, catching the other man's raised eyebrow. "Okay, okay, she's gorgeous. But she is a little... strange."

Mick detected the hesitancy and thought about his own concerns about the woman and her motives. He seized the opportunity to compare notes. "Oh? How so?"

"She's really closed off about certain things. I know, I know, when you first meet someone, there's that natural caution. I just… I just get the feeling she's not telling me everything. I don't mean that small stuff like snoring, or allergies. I mean, I feel like - "

"Like she's not quite who she says she is." This was a statement, not a question.

Carl nodded. "Yeah. I mean, to work at the DA's Office, Jamie had to pass background screenings, behavioral profiling, drug testing – it's brutal, like getting on with the police force - so I'm sure that there isn't anything criminal or psychological going on there. Just… my gut says she's in a… a situation." He snorted. "Just what I need, a woman with problems."

The vampire shifted in his seat to face his driver. "Tell you what… if you want, when we get back, I could do my own digging for you."

Davis threw a startled look in Mick's direction, a perplexed expression crossing his features. "That seems a bit extreme."

"Not as extreme as you might think." Mick held up a hand to stop the rebuttal he could see the officer was forming. "Before you say no, just let me say you'd be surprised. Pre-screening prospective significant others is all the rage now. A good portion of my new business is people doing just that. At first, I admit I thought it was kinda creepy – but when one of my prior clients found out that the dream beau she met online was a wanted killer in another state, I became a believer really fast."

Carl's eyes grew big at the disclosure, and his mouth dropped open. "Are you shitting me?!"

Mick shook his head vigorously. "Hey, I'll give you the guy's name and you can go look it up when you get home." He rubbed at the stubble on his chin with one hand. "Most of the time, it turns out the person is okay, so my client can pursue whatever relationship with some measure of confidence – or, at least with some warning. I don't usually make this offer – at least not for free. But, considering that we both have, shall we say, battle scars – I'm thinking a deeper peek into this lady's background is in order and I'd be happy to do it for you. Professional courtesy – scarred ex-husband profession, that is," he added.

The lieutenant's mouth twisted into a crooked grin. "Not such an exclusive club, I'm guessing. Let me think about it. I might take you up on that."

Satisfied, Mick sat back in his seat. Whether or not Carl was interested in investigating Jamie Sommer's background, he resolved to do some digging on his own behalf – and Beth's. It's time I find out what you're really up to, Jamie.

"So… your thoughts about our visit with Dyson?"

The tragic images again flowed through Mick's mind, causing him to wince and shut his eyes to flush away the thoughts. Even vampires had their limits. "If it's just the same, I'd rather not discuss that before dinner – even a liquid one."

"Agreed. So, on to Hodad's, and then, Border Patrol."

Mick mentally ticked off the last item on their trip. Then…home.

"You are going to die if you insist on going there."

"I don't care. I'm going."

"Arrgghh! Have you not listened to anything I've been telling you for the last hour?!" Logan pushed his hands into his curly hair and yanked hard, then showed Beth the light brown strands in his hand. "You are literally driving me to pull my hair out, you know that?"

Beth laughed up at her instructor, glancing away from the computer screen where she was manipulating her avatar. She turned back just in time to see that same character stretched out on the ground, an ugly troll standing over her.

"Damn it!"

"I told you, Beth!" Now it was Logan's turn to smirk. His reward was a punch in the arm from his companion. Over the course of the evening, Beth had frequently resorted to mild pummeling in her arguments with her World of Warcraft tutor. He rubbed his shoulder after this latest attack. "Man, does Mick know how violent you are?!"

"Logan, that's one of the things he likes about me," Beth purred seductively, smirking at the look of embarrassment that appeared on the vampire's face.

The last two hours had flown by as the two unlikely friends bonded over the computer game. Not that they hadn't had their share of conflict. Just the process of creating her avatar for the game had taken over 20 minutes and generated several heated exchanges. Beth had been more concerned with how her character looked than she was with its abilities. When Logan had impishly informed her that looking cute was not going to save her in that particular world, she had sniffed and replied haughtily, "As if it ever has in this one!"

"Yeah, right." Logan had responded dryly. "I suppose Carl Davis would have let you onto all those crime scenes just the same if you were some two hundred pound chick with bad acne."

The comment had prompted Beth to stick her tongue out at him. So this is what having a big brother is like – I like it!

They had finally completed creation of her World of Warcraft character and moved into game play. Beth, however, had been unable to take more than a few steps without being killed, and her frustration level was increasing by the minute.

"Beth, I keep telling you – a target with a red selection circle will attack if you get too close. You don't have enough strength yet to take anybody on so you have to stay away from them."

"But, they are coming to get me, I'm not going after them!"

"Well..." the vampire drawled, "...maybe you made your avatar too good-looking." He immediately shoved against the computer desk, the force sending the roller chair he was occupying flying across the room – just in time to miss her latest swing at his arm. He returned hesitantly, keeping an eye on her as he pushed the chair back across the painted concrete floor with his feet.

"I'm never going to get out of here, Logan. Maybe I made a mistake, hooking up with the Alliance."

"No," he patiently explained again. "Remember, if you'd chosen the Horde, we couldn't work together or help each other. You couldn't even talk to me without learning a new language."

"Well, I don't see you helping me much, so maybe I should consider switching sides. Maybe the Horde is just... better." Beth eyed him speculatively, deliberately needling him to provoke a response.

Logan groaned. "Okay, okay, you win. I'll come help you. I just wanted you to get the hang of moving your avatar around in the environment first, but at the rate you are getting killed off, that's never gonna happen. Let me get in there."

He rolled over to grab his laptop and position it next to the desktop computer Beth was on so that he could help her with controls if need be. He grinned as he fired up, secretly delighted to be coming to her aid - in the game at least.

As for real life...I don't wanna have to rescue you too, Mick.

End song: Rescue, Hunter Hayes

Author's postscript: So…what do you think? Much ado about nothing? Or some ado about much…?