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

Bum bum bum… Bum bum bum.

"Alright, alright," Mick called out crossly. "I'm coming!" He jogged down the stairs lightly, beeping the door open as he did. When he saw who it was that came in, however, he stopped mid-descent. "Beth! I thought… Steve told me you were spending the evening with Josh."

"I was but…" She stopped, an odd expression forming on her face. "Look, I don't want to talk about it."

Mick ran down the rest of the stairs and to her side. "Beth, are you okay?" He touched her arm, concerned. "What happened with you and Josh? Did he say something to upset you?"

"Mick, please…" she said tiredly. "I was hoping we could work on the case. That's why I came over."

Mick raised his eyes. Beth doing the evading? This is new. "Okay." He gestured for her to sit and strode into his kitchen area. "I'll make some coffee for you."

"Thanks. Coffee sounds great." She sank into one of his chairs and shed her coat, draping it on the arm of the chair.

"Long day?" he dared to ask.

She shot him a look. "Yeah. Something like that."

Mick decided to drop the matter. His questions only seemed to make her more tense, anyway. "So I looked at that footage you left. Anything in particular you wanted me to see?"

"I just wanted to get your opinion on it. Just in case we missed anything yesterday." She smiled at him, the gleam in her eyes returning. "I know enhanced vision is another vampire's curse."

"Along with perpetual coolness you mean."

She laughed and Mick felt her tension disperse like droplets of water. "So you didn't find anything?"

"No, but your cameraman certainly did an impressive job of weaseling himself into places where he wasn't wanted. Did he pick that up from working with you?"

Beth grinned. "Maybe." She leaned on the arm of the chair she was sitting on, facing Mick. "So tell me about the lead you were chasing this morning; the one that was so important that you stood me up."

Mick walked around the counter he had been standing at and handed her a clear mug of coffee. "Here. Careful though; it's a little hot."

Beth sat up to take the mug. "Thanks."

Mick ignored the urge the sit near Beth and instead, seated himself across from her, keeping a safe distance between them. "It was a body, drained and sloppily discarded in an alley. Josef was able to hold off the cleanup until I could get there and take a look for myself."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! When did bodies come into this?"

"I'd say about three weeks ago."

"Are you trying to be funny?"

"It's been efficiently covered up so you wouldn't have heard anything about it. But about three weeks ago, the body count suddenly rose."

"And by bodies, I assume you mean vampire… meals that haven't been properly taken care of."

Meals. He smiled at the term. "Yes."

"You think Shane's responsible for this?"

"No. Being a vampire isn't new to Shane—he has control. These people were drained by newly turned vamps."

"How do you know?" Beth asked, eyes wide with fascination. "I mean, if they're not rogue, then it's not obvious, right?"

Mick grimaced. "Rogue or not, there's no hunger like that of a newly turned vamp. Once you figure out it's blood that you want, you drink without thought until either your hunger is satiated or someone stops you."

"Were you like that?" Beth asked softly.

"… Yes. I tried to fight it but in the end… this monster was who I really was, who I really am…" She should have been disgusted but there was more compassion in her eyes and voice than Mick had thought possible. She really is full of surprises… if only… Mick immediately cut off that train of thought; no need to fantasize about something that would never be his.

"But you didn't ask for this gift… and you certainly didn't embrace hurting others."

He laughed mirthlessly. "If only you knew, Beth… if only you knew."

"What does that mean, Mick?"

"It means, like everyone else, I was once young and stupid. I may have hated what I had become but that didn't mean I wasn't intoxicated by the power I had."

Beth opened her mouth to respond but Mick silenced her with a glance. "Enough," he said, his voice coming out harsher than he had meant for it to. He softened when he saw her startled—almost hurt—expression. "I'm sorry… but I'm not proud of who I used to be. I don't want you to know the Mick that I was…" …because I'm afraid that if you do, you'll look at me the way I deserve to be looked at…

Beth nodded mutely. For a second, it looked as if she was going to add something, but she seemed to change her mind about it and clamped her mouth shut. "So about the bodies… if not Shane, then who?"

"I think Shane may be trying to sire but I don't know enough to be sure. It would help if I knew when he became a vampire."

"From what Anna told me, I think it was after he 'disappeared.' She didn't say anything about a sudden development of strange habits…"

Mick frowned. "He was turned before he kidnapped Gilly—I'm certain of that. That leaves about two months after he disappeared."

"Maybe he was turned right after he disappeared," Beth said suddenly.

"What do you mean?"

"Anna told me Shane had an affair and about a month before Gilly's birth, he broke it off. Or at least that's what he told Anna. But she had no way of knowing for sure… what if he disappeared because he had no choice, because he was turned?"

"Do you have her name?"

"Charlotte Thompson. But I looked her up," and here, she tsked disappointedly. "But I couldn't find anything out of the ordinary about her… She's normal down to the last hair."

"You researched her that thoroughly?"

"Well…" Beth blushed. "I didn't have much else to focus on…"

He laughed. "Well, you'd be surprise how 'normal' a vampire's life can look."

She groaned. "I was afraid you'd say that… I should tell you everything I found, shouldn't I?"

"It's a good start," he agreed.

"Maybe I should just leave you to do the research on a complex matter like this next time…"

Mick settled into his chair more comfortably as Beth began. He hoped dawn was a long way off.