Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Moonlight, anything that occurs in this fanfic from the show, or any of its characters. I do, however, own this plot. Yayz!
It had taken much convincing for Rory to accept the fact that she was now a vampire, but she had no choice but to accept it. It was almost ten o'clock at night now; she had spent the day listening to Mick talk about vampirism and how it would affect her. She had barely uttered a word since collapsing into the chair earlier, and now that Mick had finished talking, she found she had many questions.
"But…" she asked, still grappling with the idea of the whole situation, "why? Why me? Of all the people this could have happened to, of all the people he had to choose from, why me?"
Mick was silent for a moment before answering. "I don't know. Maybe you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe he saw you and took a liking to you. Maybe he'd been following you for a while. Vamps have all kinds of different reasons for turning people. If it wasn't you, it would have been someone else." Mick paused for a moment. "When I was turned-" he hesitated, then continued, "it was against my will as well. I never wanted this; it was thrust on me. So I know where you're coming from. But you just have to come to terms with it. It's been decades for me, and I still haven't completely come to terms with it."
"But there has to be a way back." Rory said, "There has to be some sort of cure. There just has to be!"
"There isn't." Mick said, looking at her with pity. He'd been where she was before. There was part of him that was still there, that hoped upon hope that one day he might be normal again. But he knew better. "Do you think that if there was, I'd still be a vampire?"
They were both silent for a while, and Beth, who had been sitting and listening, felt awkward. She looked for a minute as though she were about to say something, then shut her mouth, unsure of how best to start conversation again. The silence lasted several more minutes before Mick finally spoke.
"You should say here tonight, where I can keep an eye on you. It's gonna take you a while to get used to everything that's happening, so you should stay with me until you get the hang of things."
"Look, I appreciate the offer, but-"
"But nothing. You're gonna need help adjusting, and I can help you. Anyways, you need to stay where there's a blood supply so you're not tempted to feed off people."
"I just want to go home. Besides, I can't leave my cat alone like that."
"You have a cat?" Mick enquired.
"Yeah…" Rory replied, "What's so shocking about that?"
"Nothing." Mick said, "But you're gonna have to get rid of it."
"What?! No!" Protested Rory, "What's so wrong with me having a cat?"
"You're a vampire!" Mick said, trying to make her see. "Vamps can't be trusted with pets. One minute they're your best friend, the next they're a midnight snack."
"The cat came long before I became a vampire. The cat stays." Rory said with a tone of finality. Mick was becoming aggravated with her stubbornness, but at the same time, she was rather entertaining, as she reminded Mick so much of Beth. Suddenly remembering that Beth was there and not wanting to be a bad host, he decided to include her in this conversation.
"What is it with you women being so stubborn?" He remarked offhandedly to her. Beth, being jolted suddenly from her own thoughts, looked up at Mick in surprise. It took a minute for what he had just said to register, and when it had, she replied playfully.
"Guess it's just our nature." Beth grinned, looking steadily into his eyes. She was slightly disappointed when Mick looked away pointedly.
"Why don't you take Rory back to her place to grab some clean clothes and anything else she might need." After a moment's pause, he added, "but leave the cat."
Rory and Beth arrived at Rory's apartment at about ten thirty. As they grabbed an elevator to the third floor, Rory couldn't help but feel uneasy. Beth, however, seemed to notice nothing. They talked all the way up to Rory's apartment door about random things, hobbies, jobs, middle names, etc. When they reached her apartment door, the feeling of uneasiness swept over Rory again, more powerful this time.
"Hey," Rory remarked, trying to keep the fear out of her voice and to sound casual. "Do you feel weird right now? Like, really uneasy?"
"No." Beth said, barely hiding the worry that was creeping into her voice. "Why?"
"No reason." Rory responded.
"Look," Beth said, "what happened last night was really traumatic. You're probably still shaken up about it. It's perfectly normal to be afraid after something like that happened."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Rory said, trying to convince herself that that was what she was feeling. Yet she couldn't seem to shake the feeling that they were being watched. Rory inserted the key in the lock and opened the door. "Sorry about the mess." She said, stepping over two or three boxes while simultaneously flipping the light switch on the wall. Beth stepped inside too and looked around. Everywhere there were clothes and books and boxes lying around. Beth smiled. It reminded her of her college dorm room when she had been in school.
"It's okay." Beth answered, giving Rory a reassuring smile. "I'm a reporter. I live chaos."
Rory and Beth shared a laugh. It was the first time all day that Rory actually felt like smiling. She had been so tense and utterly confused and terrified that this single moment of laughter was a welcome respite. After a moment, Rory set to work shoving clothes from inside a large white dresser into a duffel bag. Hearing the sound, a black cat came running into the living room and jumped eagerly onto the arm of the sofa. He brushed up against her hand and purred. Beth smiled and scooped the animal up in her arms.
"This is your cat?" She asked, stroking his head while he purred affectionately.
"Yeah," Rory replied with a grin. "That's Lucky."
"Bit of an ironic name, don't you think?" Beth asked with a little laugh.
"There's a stigma against black cats, and I don't agree with it." Replied Rory, who giggled a little herself. When she had finished packing her duffel bag, she opened a can of food and put some water down for him. "That should be enough to last him until tomorrow." She said, going to take Lucky from Beth's arms. She was shocked when Lucky, who absolutely adored her, hissed and scratched at her. She withdrew her hands, looking hurt at the rejection. Beth looked visibly upset as well. "He doesn't recognize me now." Rory said, on the verge of tears. "I guess I really am a monster." She turned away so that Beth wouldn't see the tears that now flowed from her eyes.
"No, you're not." Beth assured her, and though she barely knew Rory, she wrapped her arms around her in a comforting hug. Rory cried for a while, and Beth reassured her.
Rory finally sniffed, wiped her eyes, and said, "We'd better get going." She grabbed her duffel bag and house key, and as she walked out the door, she turned to Beth. "Thanks. For everything. I know you barely know me, but you've really helped me out a lot."
"It's no problem." Beth replied, smiling. Suddenly, as she left Rory's apartment, she began to feel uneasy as well. It was as if she had stepped into a completely different world, one that was cold and fearful. She turned to Rory, who had the same uneasy expression on her face.
"You feel it too, don't you?" Rory asked, seeing the fearful look in Beth's eyes. Beth nodded. Rory quickly locked the door and began quickly toward the elevator. Beth followed, looking around her as they went. Rory stopped mid stride, and Bet ran into her. Rory smelled that same unfamiliar scent that she had smelled on her clothes that morning, the one that hung thickly in the air in Mick's apartment. She looked around her, realizing that the hallway was dark and full of shadows.
" Come out, come out, wherever you are." A voice called menacingly from the shadows. Rory felt her blood run cold as she realized that she recognized the voice. She began to experience more flashbacks from the night before. Frozen with fear, she stood rooted to the spot as the owner of the voice stepped out from the shadows. "Hello Rory. I was just in the neighbourhood and thought I'd stop by and see how you were doing. And I see you've brought a friend to join in on the fun."
Beth's eyes widened as her breath caught in her throat. She had to fight to get the word out, but when it left her throat it came out as a scream. "RUN!"
With that, Rory was jarred from her fearful state and found herself running. She outran Beth and realized only when she reached the end of the hall that Beth had fallen behind. She turned back to see Beth, still running, with her phone in her hand.
Beth managed to find a number on speed dial and call, all the while still running.
Jeff waited for a minute before pursuing. He loved it when they ran. The thrill of the chase was what he lived for. In seconds flat he had caught up to the blond and knocked her to the ground, knocking her cell phone from her hand.
Beth had dialed the number and heard his voice answer before her phone had been knocked from her hand. "MICK, HELP!" was all she had time to scream before she felt the fangs of the man who had pinned her to the ground pierce her neck.
Rory stood, transfixed by fear, watching.
Mick, who had been working in his office, ran to get the phone. Seeing on the Caller ID that it was Beth, he answered immediately. On the other end of the line, he heard her voice scream. "MICK, HELP!" He dropped the phone immediately, feeling panic rising in his stomach. Within seconds, he was out the door and on his way, having found out from Rory her address before she and Beth had left.
Rory was paralyzed by some invisible force. Try as she might, she wasn't able to move, and was forced to stand by and watch as her attacker now drained her newfound friend of blood. She smelled a familiar smell in the air, and the next minute Mick appeared beside her.
Beth was now nearly unconscious, and after he had taken everything in, Mick rushed at the vampire and threw him into a wall. He then ran over to Beth, who was lying facedown on the floor, and turned her over. He looked into her eyes, realizing in this moment how much he truly loved this woman, and felt a crippling fear at the idea that he could lose her. He looked up at Rory, who was still frozen in place.
"RORY!" He yelled, getting her attention. Rory suddenly found that she was able to move. "GET BETH TO A HOSPITAL. NOW!"
"MICK, BEHIND YOU!" Rory shouted, as Jeff lunged at his new competitor.
"GO!" Shouted Mick to Rory, while attempting to fight the unknown vampire off. With lightning speed, Rory grabbed Beth and ran out of the apartment. Within three minutes they were in front of the Emergency entrance. Rory rushed Beth inside, praying to god that she wouldn't die.
Mick watched out of the corner of his eye as Rory carried Beth to safety. As soon as Rory and Beth were gone, he lost what little composure he had maintained up to this point. There was a window at the end of the hall, facing the street West of the building. Mick grabbed hold of the unknown vamp's black trench coat and, with his vampire strength and speed, picked him up and ran him through the window, shattering the glass all over the place. Mick watched from inside as the vamp fell three storeys to the ground below. After remaining on the ground for a few moments, the vamp got up, brushed himself off, and ran off into the night. Mick wanted more than anything to chase him down and kill him with his bare hands, but he knew that even more, he had to get to the hospital and see what was happening with Beth. Taking one last look at the ground below, he ran with super-speed to the nearest hospital, where he knew Rory would have taken her.
AN: Yes, I know. I truly am evil. But I just can't help it. I love the cliffies. Not so much when I'm the one reading the story, but definitely when I'm the one writing it. So enjoy, and thanks to all of you fantastic readers out there who continue to support me. Oh and, wink wink, nudge nudge, it may help me to update if I get some awesome reviews. Again, thank you so much for reading and for your continued support.