First of all, as always, thank everyone for the reviews, and as always, Intimate Stranger, I appreciate the feedback, and I hope you enjoy the Mick/Coraline dynamic. For all you Beth/Josef lovers, she really didn't fit into this installment, but there's plenty of Josef to go around.
LA, 2:45 AM
"This better be good, Coraline," Josef growled into his cell phone, not appreciating his 2:00 AM blow job being interrupted.
The words he heard sliced into him, lust a distant memory. "I need your help. There's been silver bullets…fire. Both Mick and me are hurt." Coraline's voice trembled on Mick's name. "I'm not far from my old party house, within plain sight. Pick us up."
Josef didn't waste time with farewells. Well, not that he wasted time with 'em anyway, he admitted that as he drove personally to Coraline's old address in record time. Coraline was by the pool, cradling a lifeless Mick in her arms, her fangs extended, her eyes colorless. She was poised to tear any threat to pieces.
"Put him in the car," Josef told her. She obeyed wordlessly, climbing into the backseat with Mick, still guarding him. She told Josef everything in the early minutes of the drive. There were no bursts of hysteria, no buckets of tears, just concise narrative.
"Where's your gem of a sire now?" It was the first and only question he'd asked during her account of events.
"She bailed after the fire. Either she figured I'd learned my lesson, or figured the fire would do me in." Burns littered Coraline's body, and though she'd never mentioned it, since Mick was relatively unscathed, Josef knew she'd shielded his body through the flames.
"A little blood and you'll be fine," Josef told her thoughtfully. "The burns are relatively minor."
"I know the difference." They were both remembering Coraline's last experience, how she'd looked like a charred mummy. Josef had known at the time it was probably kinder to put her out of her misery, but based on sentiment he'd never verbalize, he couldn't bring himself to do it. "Will he be all right, Josef?"
"I'll consult my fucking crystal ball," he growled, pissed off at the whole situation, at Mick for playing the hero, at Coraline for coming back at all. "You just never give up, do you? You thought playing the human would have him rushing back into your arms? What you two have-correction, had, is a one-way ticket to the land of World of Pain. Do you remember last time? If not, let me refresh your memory. You got a brain-wave, kidnapped a kid, and then went up in flames, which yours truly had to rescue you from. Not to mention, what about my position in all this? I've been walking the high-wire from hell the last 22 years, playing dumb."
"Mick doesn't suspect you saved me," Coraline guaranteed him flatly. "And trust me; he's not curious about the details. All he cares about is being among his precious humans again. Overrated, I assure you."
"That's not the issue," Josef countered, voice snarky. "The point is, I put myself on the line for you, and you're up to your old tricks. When's enough ever enough for you, Coraline?"
"First of all, I don't answer to you, Josef." Coraline's voice was calm, but steel ran through it. She was absently stroking Mick's hair, never shifting her complete focus away. "I go where I want, and I leave when I want. You saved my life, and I'm grateful, but I've saved your sorry hide more than once over the decades, so don't start playing that card with me. As for my tricks, I'll save you the worry. I'm leaving."
"Leaving?" Josef echoed, nodding once. "Where you going?"
"London or Yorkshire, maybe. I'll drop you a line." They'd been keeping in touch for the last 22 years, Mick totally in the dark. The depth of deception hadn't bothered Josef on a moral level, it'd take a lot to burn his conscience, but on a practical level, it was a pain in the ass. The sheer intricacy of duping Mick had been huge. Josef preferred to play it up front, especially where friends were concerned, but for numerous reasons, he knew it was a secret best kept.
"You really love him, don't you?" Josef mused aloud. He'd known Coraline had it bad for Mick, that she'd wanted him, been obsessed with him, that there was plenty of passion to go around. All that stuff made for great drama, but he always figured Coraline wasn't capable of loving a man in that way, that the scars ran too deep. Well, if anyone was good at proving him wrong, it had always been Coraline.
"Doesn't matter," she dismissed tiredly.
"No, it doesn't." Well, one way or the other, love did bizarre things; he was living proof of that. Her too. Coraline, the mistress of self-preservation had risked her life for someone who once left her to barbeque. Life did have an off the wall sense of humor.
Josef's mind went back to the night Mick told him Coraline was back, shock almost sending the younger vamp into a daze. Josef played it cool, gauging the situation. When Mick mentioned the woman in question was mortal, he hadn't been bullshitting when he took the stance of Morgan not being Coraline. Of course, when he saw the object of Mick's agitation in the flesh, he knew his old companion had pulled the ultimate fast one. He'd cornered her, demanding the details.
Coraline had been relatively up front, more so than Josef expected. The cure? Temporary, no exceptions. Her intentions towards Mick? Benign, entirely. Her intentions towards Beth? Just good old-fashioned competition, nothing sinister. Josef had watched her like a hawk, knew her well enough to believe her. He'd decided to stay out of it, and then Beth came to him, demanding answers.
He'd told her the truth, or at least, the sections he could. He wanted her to know what she was getting into, but hadn't blown Coraline's cover, tried to steer Beth off the path as best he could. The blonde hadn't suspected he was holding back. She may have been bright, but he had centuries of experience under his belt. It had been child's play.
"I'm not leaving until I see for myself he's okay," Coraline's statement broke the minutes-long silence.
"I doubt he'll thank you for saving him, but it's your funeral." Josef's gut told him Coraline saved Mick for the sake of keeping him alive, not some hidden agenda. Mick probably wouldn't be as trusting.
"Josef, don't you think I've got the memo?" Coraline snapped. "If the male species was a college course, I'd have a Ph.D. And I know Mick better than any man. The game's over, I lost, fine. I just want to make sure that he'll be all right, and then he's rid of me for good."
Even as Coraline said the words, emptiness threatened to overwhelm her. Their relationship has always redefined dysfunctional, and there were a million times over their long history it would have been easier to walk away. Before Mick, the idea that any man (except perhaps the one currently driving the car) wasn't indispensable would have been laughable. It looked like the joke was on her.
With centuries of practice, Coraline repressed her impending grief, pouring all her energy into Mick instead. Josef drove them to Mick's apartment, and while Josef got him into the freezer, Coraline whipped him up a meal. She poured his usual slop into a bowl, removing her already bloody knife, slicing open her wrist, letting her blood flow freely. While vampires preferred the blood of mortals, as it tasted better and was more nourishing, there was sheer power in vampiric blood, especially Coraline's, who was over 300 years old. When his system got her blood in it, he'd absorb some of her strength.
Blackness threatened Coraline, already weak from the silver's curse, and her already spilt blood. "Don't!" Josef barked, anxiety dancing in his eyes, invading his expression.
"He needs it more than me." The off-hand comment was weak, but clear.
"Bullshit. Go feed, I'll play nursemaid." Josef opened his own vein, mixing his own blood to the mix. "Besides, my blood's a much superior vintage."
Gripping the counter to keep from swaying, Coraline smirked. "It packs a punch, I'll give you that. Christ, Josef, what's wrong with him?"
"Oh, nothing, he's just peachy keen," Josef growled.
"I mean besides the obvious. He's no stronger than he was twenty-two years ago." Strong enough to kick her ass, she could admit it, but he'd had an advantage. She'd just been trying to subdue him; he'd been going for the jugular.
"Because he's not feeding right." Josef handed her a packet from Mick's stash, exasperation rife in his voice. "The pansy wouldn't touch fresh blood if you offered him a million bucks, and priests get more action than him." The most fun way to ingest vampire blood was through a few rounds of sex with another vampire, but it sounded like Mick was above that, or trying to be. Virtue was all fine and good, but it was keeping him weak, keeping him from the strength due to a vampire of his years. "Who knows how he'll be when he comes out of it. There might be some side-affects."
Coraline loaded the needle with her meal, the idea of actually swallowing that swill enough to activate her gag reflexes. Gross or not, the blood replenished her system. She still felt off her game, but the traces of poison were overwhelmed, and she felt alert again. She noticed Josef prepping Mick's meal, and when she was done, filled the needle she'd used too. Why not? It wasn't like vamps could transmit disease.
Coraline snatched them out of Josef's hands. "I'll take them to him."
Josef rolled his eyes. "Reality check, sweetheart. Playing Florence Nightingale won't give your dysfunctional love story with Mick a happy ending."
"Thanks for the advice, couldn't manage without it," she tossed over her shoulder carelessly. She opened Mick's freezer lid, absently lowering the temperature a few degrees. She gently slid the needle under his skin, injecting the elixir of life into the vein at his wrist. She repeated the process, sighing. "Now, we wait."
They waited, then waited some more. Josef went into Mick's office to check his stocks, make a string of phone calls, barking orders. Coraline sat cross-legged by the freezer for two hours straight, ears strained, body poised for action. Mick would live; she could feel him healing, and relief tumbled down on her, but nothing other than an easing of posture visibly showed that. Coraline was never one to wear her heart on her sleeve.
"Here's another cocktail for him," Josef announced brusquely, shoving another dose at Coraline. "Feed him."
"So, what happened to you? One minute Mick's telling me you're dead, the next I see on the news you aren't." The question was absent-minded as she infused another pint of blood into Mick.
"I guess we both outfoxed the grim reaper. After enough years, you learn to get slippery," Josef mused tiredly. It was near dawn, and they both could feel it, especially Coraline. "Happy I'm live and kicking?"
"Fishing for compliments, huh? Are we going to hold hands now and get in touch with our inner feelings?" When he flipped her the middle finger, she laughed. "Yes, Josef, I'm glad you're still around. Lucky for you, it hadn't really sunk in yet, so I didn't get around to grieving. If you let me shed unnecessary tears, you'd pay, and pay through the nose." She moved to close the freezer lid.
"I'm shaking in my stylish shoes," Josef shot back. Neither of them were really in the mood for banter, it just beat the alternative. Luck was on their side, because Mick moaned softly, stirring. Coraline watched him slowly fight his way to consciousness intently, lowering the lid again, numbness seizing her. This was it.
"Nice of you to join us," Josef announced dryly, trying to cover up the rush of emotion Coraline could see trying to knock him over the head.
"Hurts," Mick croaked, eyes still closed.
"Well, it's reasonable that it'd be a tad uncomfortable considering you took a silver bullet to the head, pal," Josef drawled.
"Silver," Mick echoed groggily. He opened his eyes, blinked a few times, his stare landing directly on Coraline, who was standing over him. "Hungry." As hurt as he'd been, even with three injections, that was to be expected.
"Damn, but he's eloquent," Josef quipped, desperate to add levity.
"I'll get him something," Coraline offered quietly, grateful for the numbness blocking the torrent of feeling.
"Don't go," Mick weakly reached out for her, his hand falling heavily to his side again. "Stay, please."
What? That wasn't like Mick at all. Her mind worked furiously before coming up with the eternal answer. The cure, Mick's shiny gold dream of humanity, always the same old dance and song. He wanted his cure. "Spare me." Coraline's two words were two ice knives, and a kind of hurt settled in Mick's expression. Hurting a man was as much of a calling to Coraline as photography, but with Mick, any hurt she'd ever inflicted cut her twice as deep. That was a mighty lot of cuts, she knew. "You want to feed or don't you?"
Mick reached out again, managing to brush her arm with his hand, the contact whisper soft. Josef made a sharp noise of impatience, and left the room to do it himself. Mick's smoky eyes swept over her, taking her in, processing. Probably trying to figure out why I didn't leave him in the fire, she figured. Mick had once accused her of not having a heart, and if that were true, he would have been screwed.
"Want to know…" Mick rasped.
"Why you're alive?" Coraline guessed, taking his hand in hers. "Just take it easy, okay? You need-"
"I got to know…who are you?" The question had Coraline's gaze cutting abruptly to his. At first, she took it as a joke, a kind of 'Okay, who are you and what have you done with my ex-wife' type of thing. But she saw his expression was confused, his eyes blank, no kidding around. Holy shit…
"Oh, Josef, what were you saying about side-affects?"