Disclaimer: Moonlight and characters don't belong to me; I'm simply a fan having fun with the characters.

Darkness pressed down on Beth, unnatural, unrelenting. She couldn't see where she was, didn't know where she was, but she felt a growing sense of fear. The kind of fear she hadn't felt in 22 years. Beth inhaled deeply, trying to calm herself. She had to get out of this place, this too quiet darkness. She stumbled forward and to her horror, the ground crumbled beneath her.

Blurs of color rushed past her, swallowing the darkness. Wind whipped at her hair as she felt her body accelerating to a terrifying speed. Finally, the world stilled and the sensation of falling faded away. Beth was on her feet, unharmed, gasping for breath.

Daylight was all around her but when she looked around, Beth realized she was surrounded by soaring walls of barely framed glass. Beautiful, breathtaking, but Beth felt her breath catch for a different reason. The glass sparkled, the white interior was spotless. It couldn't be… there had to be a mistake. It was as if no time had passed, as if the house was still lived in. Beth knew that wasn't right; itcouldn't be right. She whirled around, only to find herself in a child's bedroom. The pink and white theme, the delicate leaf-patterned curtains, the white walls, the toys lovingly arranged—Beth felt the memories crashing back down on her.

"Hey honey."

Beth's eyes flitted across the room wildly; it was empty. Still, the voice sent chills rushing down her back and running down her arms.

"I'm going to take you to meet your new daddy," the voice cooed delightedly.

And suddenly, she was four years old again, huddled in a corner, watching as her guardian angel fought with her deadly-beautiful, deadly-strong captor. He won—it had been a terrible fight but he had won. Beth had known he would. After all, guardian angels always won, didn't they? But as he carried her away, as he distanced her from the nightmare, she couldn't help but stare back.

Beth watched with wide eyes as flames licked the warehouse and clung to the woman pressed against the inside of the door; it never once occurred to her that she could have closed her eyes, that it was over and she didn't have to look. She couldn't stop staring at those eyes…

…those terrible and beautiful eyes. Frosty blue, dilated. The eyes of the woman who had kidnapped her, the eyes of the man who had saved her. Eyes she thought she had imagined. Mick was huddled on the floor, hair drenched with sweat, blood streaked down his chin, and obviously in pain. But Beth's focus kept returning to his eyes, eyes she had thought she would never see again.

"What are you?" Her voice was soft, her heart was beating slightly faster than usual. But she wasn't scared; at least, not completely.

"I'm a vampire," he rasped harshly, resignedly.

The world seemed to stop for Beth. Impossible, yet not so impossible. Much like that night Mick had told her the truth about Coraline.

"That woman was murdered." Beth glanced up at him from where she was sitting.

"So was Coraline."

"By who?"

He closed the distance between them until he was standing in front of her. Beth kept her eyes on him the entire time. "By me."

Beth was silent for a moment, trying to gauge the circumstances. Her gaze flicked down, then up to his. "How did that happen?"

Mick's head shifted as he looked down her. "You don't know, do you?" His voice held a hint of wonder, yet it was infuriatingly calm.

Beth's voice rose a pitch. "How would I know?" Why did everything with him have to be a mystery, a half-truth? He trusted her, he had said, but clearly he didn't trust that she would stay, no matter how shady his past.

But now, she understood. The memory of the fire replayed in her mind. The woman burning in the flames. Except she hadn't been a woman. She had been a vampire. She had been Coraline.

How would I know… the words echoed in her mind, repeating themselves over and over.

Beth sat up with a jolt. She stared at her beeping clock. Was it really morning already? Her mind drifted back to her dreams. Every time she found just a little more of the truth, they came back. She wished she could talk to someone, someone who could help her sort it all out. Josh was out of the question. He would just think she was obsessing over Mick and get angry. She was glad that he hadn't spent the night, that he had been tied up at the office and she didn't have to explain why she was covered in a fine sheen of sweat.

"Beth, I'm really sorry. This isn't what I want but I have to do this," Josh had said apologetically over the phone.

"It's okay."

"I know we haven't been doing great lately but this is important," he rambled.

"Josh, it's okay. I understand."

"I want to make things right between us; I really do. I know what you must be thinking but I'll make it up to you, I promise. I—"

"Josh! It's okay. Really!"

"We'll talk tomorrow then?"

"Tomorrow," Beth agreed.

Beth felt guilty admitting it to herself, but Josh's call hadn't affected her much either way. These days, they were always putting each other on hold, promising to make it up later. What made her feel guiltier was that she had gotten use to sleeping alone, without Josh beside her. Maybe she even relished it. It had been easier than she had thought it would be.

Then there was Mick. Beth didn't doubt that he'd understand but talking to him would give her more questions than answers. But maybe that didn't matter so much anymore. She just wanted the truth, even if it led to more questions. Questions that she was sure she could find the answers to eventually.

Beth sighed and resisted the urge to flop back down on her pillow. She sat in the semidarkness, not bothering with the light her lamp could offer. She loved sunlight but there was something comforting about the darkness that prevailed in the early morning, before the sun had fully risen. Since her kidnapping, she had always felt safe in the darkness. The kind of safe she had felt in Mick's arms when he had promised to bring her home and again when he had saved her from Christian Ellis.

Finally, Beth roused herself from her thoughts. She rose to get coffee started and freshen herself up. She would talk to Mick, she decided.