More evil cliffies to come!

Note: This contains another show reference. I couldn't help, but put it in.

Fighting Back

Mick stood frozen, his cell phone still at his ear. Josef and Adriana had heard the conversation as well and they were watching him for some reaction.

Josef approached Mick, cautiously. "We're going to find these bastards. We're going to get Beth back." Josef grabbed Mick's shoulder, in a reassuring gesture. "But first we need to come up with a plan of action."

Mick nodded. Slowly, very slowly, he lowered his phone.

"We need to find out where Beth is. Or better yet, where they are taking her," Josef continued, trying to calm Mick. He distinctly remembered being thrown against a van a little while ago, and he didn't care to relive that experience. His shoulder blades still hurt.

"Mo," Mick said under his breath.

"What?" Josef didn't understand. What's Beth's boss got to do with anything.

"You said Mo had a tracer on Beth, right?" Mick asked Josef in a pleading tone.

"Yeah… oh….Yes! Mo has a tracer on Beth. Call her. She will know where Beth is," Josef rejoiced.

Mick pulled out his phone and started to dial, then hung up. "Wait, you should call, Josef. Mo thinks you and Beth are married, so the concern coming from you would be more appropriate."

Josef pulled out his phone and dialed. "Hello, is this Maureen?… This is Josef Konstan, Beth's husband." Josef's mouth went a little dry at 'husband,' but he continued, "I was wondering if you could send me the coordinates on Beth's cell phone. She's working on a story, but… Oh, I see. You already know. Well, in that case, I would feel much more at ease, if I knew where she is."

Mick was impressed with Josef's concern, He really is worried about Beth. Maybe they bonded more than I thought…

Josef exchanged contact info with Mo. "Thanks. This means a lot to me." Josef hung up.

"Now, what's the plan?" Adriana asked.

"Well," Josef replied, "Mo is sending me the tracer information now. Then Mick and I are going to go rescue Beth."

"What about me?" Adriana asked.

"You are the Agency's primary target. You'd be walking into a trap."

"But, I could-" Adriana started to protest.

Josef cut her off, "No, Adriana. I can't lose you too."

The room was silent. Josef flushed and looked away. He never lost control of his emotions like that.

Adriana approached Josef. "I'm right here, Josef." She grabbed his hand. He looked back up at her. She continued, "I'm right here, and that is where I am going to stay… safely, right here." She kissed him. "Now, go save Beth."

Josef gave Adriana a weak smile and cupped her face in his hands. He pulled her in for another kiss and said, "Thanks for understanding." With that, he and Mick left Adriana to tend to the freshie.

They headed for the garage. Mick was checking the tracker Mo had sent Josef. "This look likes they're taking her to the desert East of here."

Josef looked at the coordinates. "That's not on the map. They must be off the main road."

Mick surveyed Josef's garage. None of the high-end sport cars looked up for a little off-roading. "Uh, Josef, what are we going to drive?"

Josef smiled. "I have the perfect vehicle." He led Mick through the garage, to the extended garage. He explained, "I keep my less used cars in here… Here we are. Don't you think she'll do nicely?"

Mick looked at an array of classic cars, a T-bird, a Bel-Air, a Stingray… but what Josef was pointing to was a new, bright yellow, Nissan Xterra. The SUV looked slightly out of place. Mick smiled, pondering, Does Josef own anything that's inconspicuous?

"Why do you even have this?" Mick asked as they climbed in.

"I'm not sure… when I saw it, it just called to me… like a past life or something…" Josef mused as he backed out of the driveway.

Beth felt the SUV stop. She had regained consciousness a few minutes earlier. The last blow to the head had really hurt, and she could feel blood streaming down her face. She remained still, trying to figure out what her captors were going to do with her.

The door opened and the man stepped out. The dry musky scent of sagebrush washed over her. We must be in the desert, she reasoned. She risked it and opened her eyes. She couldn't see much from her current position, on the floor of the back seat of the SUV, but she didn't dare move. She closed her eyes and listened.

The man was talking to the woman. "How are we going to do this? Do you want to make it drawn-out and painful?"

"No," the woman responded, "Make it quick."

"But, boss, that's not a much fun," the man complained.

"It's guaranteed. Kill her fast, hide the body and let's get out of here. We don't want to risk being caught, or her surviving some crazy torture. Have you ever seen a Bond movie? Mr. Konstantin is going to pissed enough, let's not insight him to passion."

"Fine," the man said disappointedly. "I'll start digging the hole. Make sure she doesn't wake up."

Beth heard the man walk away and start digging. He's digging my grave! Beth panicked. She opened her eyes to see if she could find anything in the car to help her. All she could see was the woman's hand dangling over the seat back and her purse next to her on the floor. She noticed something shiny on the woman's finger. That's Josef's ring! But why is this woman wearing it? Beth was positive it was the same ring she had been wearing earlier that day.

Beth dared to move her head, ever so slightly, to the see the door. I need to get out of the car. Then I need to get back to a public place. Wait… they're vampires. I can't run from them. Shit. I need a stake or silver… Beth felt the small mirror Josef had given her under her right hand. Oh, Josef, please forgive me… She clutched the mirror.

Mick kept checking the tracer every few seconds. His heart was pounding wildly. Beth's phone had stopped moving. That meant one of two things; either her captors had thrown the phone out, suspecting that it would be traced, or two, they had stopped.

The second, while more dangerous, was also more promising. If Mick and Josef could get there in time, they might be able to rescue Beth, but if all they found was her cell phone, they would have to go about the old fashioned way of tracking.

Mick prayed that Beth was still alive. A stopped car, miles from the highway, in the desert, in the middle of the night could only mean one thing… a body dump.

Josef was driving as fast as he could, his earlier concern for safety thrown out the window. In the last 48 hours, Beth had become very close to him. Josef had lost many people in his past and he was not going to let another slip through his hands, especially one that meant so much to Mick. If Beth didn't survive, Josef couldn't imagine Mick ever recovering.

"Nearly there… nearly there…" Josef muttered, checking the tracker for location. He swerved off the highway and speed off into the desert.

Beth waited. Her timing had to be perfect for her plan to work. The male vamp was still digging. He had reached a hard layer of soil and was banging away with his blunt shovel. Beth clutched the mirror with her sweaty hands.

Timing it with the man's swings, Beth swung the mirror at the woman's head. The blow landed in time with the shovel. The woman gave a low moan and crumpled forward. The male vamp didn't notice. Beth grabbed the mirror, which had cracked with the force of the blow. She pulled Josef's ring from the woman's finger and bolted from the SUV.

The male vamp looked up at the sound of the car door opening. He saw Beth. Beth tried to run, but the vamp caught her easily. He grabbed her from behind, lifting her off the ground. "Where you goin, sweetheart?"

Beth struggled in vain. The vamp was too strong. As she struggled, the mirror shards in her hand scrapped the vamp's arm. He screamed in pain, letting Beth go.

Beth turned on him. He was grasping his arm. The shallow cuts had not healed. Beth used the jagged mirror as a knife. She nicked his neck. Blood gushed out and the wound wasn't healing, the silver backed mirror had done the trick. Quickly, before the vamp could recover, Beth plunged half the broken mirror into the vamp's chest.

The vamp jerked backward, howling in agony. Beth continued to push the fragment until it was entirely sunk into his chest. The vamp collapsed, the arid ground of the desert soaking up his blood. He was paralyzed and unable to heal from the silver.

Beth took a shaky breath and looked around. She was hoping for some sign of life, but only the darkness stared back. Beth moved towards the SUV. That's when she noticed the woman in the front seat was no longer there.

"Looking for me?" the woman's voice hissed in her ear.

Beth turned, slashing the remaining piece of the mirror in an arch as she turned. The woman laughed.

"Awe, honey, you're going to have to do better than that." Suddenly the woman was in Beth's face. "See, you just paralyzed my mate, and now…" the woman slapped Beth's face, leaving fingernail trails. "I am going to get the pleasure of killing you, slowly."

Beth took the opportunity to stab the woman. The woman deflected Beth's blow, but the mirror cut her hand. The woman snarled and backed away from Beth.

"Now you've done it," the woman screeched. She lunged forward knocking Beth over. Beth hit the side of the SUV and crumpled to the ground. The woman was standing over her before she could register what had happened. The woman picked Beth up and threw her into a sagebrush.

The sagebrush scratched and cut Beth's arms and legs. She tried to pick herself up, but the woman was on top of her again. Beth tried again with the broken mirror, but the woman slapped if from her hands.

Beth watched as her last, and only, defense flew into the night. The woman laughed wickedly and she raised Beth out of the brush. "You are going to feel your death," the woman snarled. Her fangs extended and her eyes went pale blue.

Beth looked into the face of a monster. The woman wore an evil smirk that showed off her razor sharp fangs. Pure malice and hatred were reflected in her eyes. Mick is nothing like her, was all Beth could think.

In a last ditch effort Beth kicked out with all her might into the woman's stomach. The woman groaned and doubled over, but she didn't let go of Beth. As Beth struggled against the woman's grip, the woman seized Beth's throat.

In a feat of inhuman strength, the woman lifted Beth two feet off the ground. Her arm fully extended, holding Beth by the neck. The woman continued to laugh as Beth kicked and jerked. Slowly, Beth vision began to blacken…

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