Thank you to all those who reviewed the first two chapters. You really inspired me to carry on and write the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it (no 'cure' in sight, Redlioness62 !).

The dark side of forever

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of any part of Moonlight- this is purely a not-for-profit fanfiction to pay respect to a great show I am gutted was cancelled.

Chapter 3

Even with swinging by the market to restock her vegetable rack, cleaning all the mirrors in her apartment and reorganising her guest room cupboards, Beth was still left twiddling her thumbs waiting for the sun to set. She put on a fresh pair of cream slacks and a black sweater. She tied her hair back into a loose bun, secured it with a jewelled dragonfly clip and dug a turquoise scarf from the recesses of her wardrobe. A fresh attempt at concealing her perpetually dark-circled, red-rimmed eyes and a dot of gloss to her bottom lip and she was pleased with the result. She was not dressing up for Josef, she told herself, but this was not going to be a pleasant evening and looking like something the cat dragged in was not going to help her keep her nerve in a showdown with the ever-composed Josef Kostan.

Darkness fell, and Beth swept out of her apartment. The waiting had given her time to remember exactly how incensed she was about Josef's unwanted interference in her life. Now, she was on a mission to put her foot down once and for all.

It was creepy knowing that Harry or another of Josef's disciples was probably watching her from some concealed dark spot, as she pointed the Mercedes in the direction of the hills. Pulling up outside the gigantic embellished gates at the end of Josef's driveway was an uncomfortable reminder of the past, which Beth tried to shake off as she told the voice on the intercom system her name.

'Drive right on up, Miss Turner.'

Steeling herself, Beth crawled up the long and elegantly lit driveway and pulled the Mercedes up right at the bottom of the stone steps leading to the front doors. The house, which Josef had once told her was designed especially for him, could have been a modern monstrosity with anyone else at the helm. As it was, the place was all clean lines and simple elegance, managing to be at once impressive but less aggressive than, for instance, the skyscraping city tower block of offices housing Josef's L.A. business concerns. She and Mick had spent countless evenings here; at one time, she had felt right at home in Josef's luxurious home.

Before she had even removed the key from the ignition, a figure appeared at her window, opening the car door and offering a hand to her.

'Thank you, Harry,' Beth said, with a tight smile, begrudgingly accepting his assistance and watching a human valet whisk the car away immediately.

The English vampire frowned slightly.

'You are upset about last night, Miss Beth?'

'I'm just upset full stop,' Beth said. Out of an inbred sense of politeness, she could not help but add, 'Thank you, though, for getting me home safely.' She gave Harry a small smile. 'Don't take this the wrong way, but I hope I won't be seeing you after tonight. So, thank you.'

Harry nodded, reserved as Beth remembered, but quite at ease.

'Don't mention it, Miss Beth. Shall I take you to Mr Kostan now?'

Beth let Harry usher her through the front doors and straight through the main body of the house, where Josef did his entertaining. She was willing to bet a large number of beautiful young 'freshies' were warming up to get the night's partying underway in there, though it was early yet. Beth could hear the music and tinkling laughter drifting out as she followed Harry down the marble corridor and up the grand spiralling staircase. Soon, Beth knew where they were headed.

Harry knocked on the solid oak door of Josef's first floor private study.

Beth had been in this room many times before, but it had been over six months since she last came to Josef's house at all. For an extremely old vampire, Josef looked as handsome and youthful as ever. His tasteful Armani lounge suit was without a crease; he looked smart, beautiful and completely deadly. Beth could never tell exactly how he achieved that, but she could almost narrow it down to the strength and poise of his body, the ethereal paleness of his skin and the ageless chasm yawning behind dark, sparkling eyes. He was standing at the window, but moved towards the centre of the room when Beth stepped inside.

'Beth,' he greeted her with a languid smile, as if it had not been months since they last spoke. 'You look beautiful.'

'Liar,' she returned, wanly.

'No,' he said softly. 'Really. It's good to see you.'

He stood directly in front of her, slid one finger under her chin and tilted her face up to meet his gaze. Against her will, Beth's eyes glistened with unshed tears.

'Josef…' Her voice wavered. Beth could remember all the reasons that she was angry with him, why she would never forgive him, but, looking into Josef's eyes, the one reason why she was inextricably bound to him was forefront of her mind. Mick.

In what seemed like the very next second, he suddenly snapped out of the intense stare and smiled pleasantly.

'Can I get you a drink?'

'Josef,' she continued, ignoring his question, with a firmer voice now. She had blinked the wetness out of her eyes. 'I'm not staying. I just came to tell you to stop having your people follow me.'

'Ah, yes, Harry mentioned you were not too happy with your security detail.' Josef's lifted hand to rub his forehead, and suddenly it was as if he let the mask slip away. Beth realised Josef was tired, too. In whatever way vampires get tired. He looked at her and said quietly: 'I can't say I'm surprised at your reaction; I do, after all, know you pretty well, Beth. But I'm not sorry for trying to protect you. I'm glad Harry was there last night, when that guy-'

He broke off, not bothering to finish the sentence. Crossing to the mini-bar, he poured two generous glasses of brandy, and held one out to Beth. When she did not move to grasp the tumbler, he stepped in front of her and leaned to place the glass on the sideboard she was next to, just by her hand. He took a long drink from his own glass, and looked back at her.

'We used to be friends, Beth. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm kind of discerning. A lot of enemies, not so many friends. Of course I'm going to use everything in my power to keep you safe.'

Josef let his gaze drift to the wall behind her, then focus in on the drink she had not touched. 'It's what Mick would have wanted,' he said, so quietly he might not have meant to say it aloud.

Beth had walked into Josef's study with righteous anger burning in her gut. Then, the wind had gone from her sails and a sort of exhausted stasis had come over her. She simply didn't feel she had the energy or will to fight with Josef, she was just sad and empty. Now though, the fiery rage burst back into her stomach and her heart expanded painfully. All the pain, misery and fear of the last eight months surged up inside her, and it was almost unbearable.

'Don't,' she said, her voice tight with white-hot anger. 'Don't say his name. You do not get to say his name.'

Pain flashed in Josef's eyes, and that face, false with youth and innocence, twisted into something boyish and vulnerable. Beth refused to acknowledge what she knew to be deceit.

'You had a friend. You had the best friend, the best person I've ever…' She broke off, furiously rubbing traitorous tears from her face. 'Mick was a better friend than someone like you deserves. How dare you throw your money and connections at me, like you have any right to be my friend, to try to protect me? With all your wealth and power and international connections, centuries of accumulation and networking, how do you dare speak of using that power, when you refuse to use it to save Mick?'

It was no use. The tears were free-falling down her cheeks, making her skin blotchy and red and her voice choked. Josef was looking like every word from her mouth was slicing into his flesh, but Beth continued undeterred. Too much had been suppressed for so long, and there was no stopping it now the dam had burst.

'And I begged you,' Beth cried, almost screeching at the pale, silent vampire. 'He's your best friend. Why are you such a coward? Why won't you help him?' She slammed one fist ineffectually against the sideboard, sloshing whisky onto the polished oak. Her voice quietened, as the strength drained from her. 'Why won't you help me?' she asked, plaintively.

Josef looked aghast at the sobbing blonde woman. He shifted uncomfortably where he stood, took a few steps towards her and reached out. Almost on instinct, his arm went to her shoulder, but something made him stop and pull back at the last moment. He settled for standing close, his eyes half shut in pain, shaking his head from side to side.

'Beth,' he said, and her eyes rose to meet his, pleading silently. He shook his head slightly. 'We've talked about this.' His voice was oh so gentle, like someone talking to a scared creature in the wild, hoping the calming tone of voice will stop an otherwise vicious attack. 'You have to accept reality. Mick is… Mick's dead, Beth. He's gone. It's not healthy for you to go on like this, deluding yourself that-'

'You don't know that,' she bit out at him. 'Not for sure. We can't be sure. There was never a-'

'What? A body?' Josef said, quietly. 'Beth, Mick was a vampire. There wouldn't be a body left.'

'I know that.'

'Then-?'

'How do we know what happened when Lance took him? There's still hope, Josef. Until I see some kind of proof, or hear Lance say the words that he killed Mick, I refuse to believe it's true.'

Josef sighed, heavily.

'Do you think I want Mick to be dead?' he asked, and his voice was so sad it would have chilled Beth, if she was not already consumed with her own feelings. 'Mick was like a brother to me. If there was any hope… But there isn't. Lance is an ancient and extremely powerful vampire. You don't just go up against him and expect to survive. He didn't track down and abduct Mick to have a few strong words with him, Beth. That's not how it works.'

He turned to her now, his voice getting stronger, more intense. He gripped Beth's shoulders, even though she tried to shake off his hold.

'You must stop this,' Josef told her. 'You must accept what has happened. If you ask too many questions of the wrong people, if you try anything stupid to get to Lance, he will have no hesitation in killing you. You are nothing to him. He will not even blink.' Josef shook her shoulders, hard, for good measure. 'I cannot let Mick down on this one,' he explained, desperately. 'You can't die, Beth. Please, don't fight me on this.'

Beth was gritting her teeth in frustration.

'If there was anything I could do I would do it,' she replied, doggedly. 'I would risk my life to get him back. But you,' she glared at Josef. 'You won't do anything. You won't risk your own skin to find out for certain if Mick is dead or alive. You could find out where Lance is. You could do something. And all you can talk about is giving up on Mick and keeping me safe. It means nothing!'

'You know I checked every source I had,' Josef argued. 'No-one could find any trace of Mick after Lance took him. This is how the vampire world works, Beth. Mick angered someone too powerful. He paid the price in blood.'

Beth shut her eyes, biting hard on her bottom lip. When she felt like she had her emotions under control, she looked at Josef, drawing herself up in front of him. He looked tired, and sad, but she didn't care. She didn't understand how he could give up so easily. Beth was no fool: she knew that Lance was not someone to go up against. Mick had been incredibly brave and noble, and she loved him so much for it, but he had also been foolhardy. Still, despite Lance's reputation and Josef's prioritisation of self-preservation, Beth had stupidly believed that, for Mick, Josef would take a stand.

She had been wrong, and although this news was eight months old, the reality that she was on her own stabbed through her like brand new pain. She was alone and she was too weak, too human, to do anything to help Mick. Josef, who had all the power, who walked, traded and thrived in that night world she could not access, had faithlessly abandoned Mick to his fate.

'Josef,' she said, in a low voice that sounded terrible to his ears. The two of them locked gazes, electricity practically crackling between them, so charged was the air. 'I hate you. I never want to see you again. I swear to God, if I find you have anyone following me again, I will find a way to hurt you.' She paused, and swallowed hard. She enunciated the next words very clearly. 'Leave. Me. Alone.'

Josef continued to stare at her for a moment. Then, he re-arranged his face into a perfect, blank mask, devoid of emotion. This might be the face he used when signing a mundane business contract, was the thought that flashed through Beth's mind.

'Fine,' he said. 'If that's what you want.'

'I mean it, Josef.' She didn't believe for a moment that he would actually give in.

He nodded, brusquely, and sat down behind his desk. Perfectly calmly, he said to Beth:

'I'm here if you change your mind. If you need anything: money, anything-'

'I won't.'

Josef dipped his head to that. He gave a tired half smile,

'Goodbye then, Beth Turner.'

Nothing's changed, Beth thought grimly. I haven't had his support for the past eight months, and I don't have it now. I'm no worse off after tonight. Still, there was a strange, clenching feeling in her stomach, like something awful was happening. Like she was closing the door on her last glimmer of hope.

Without answering his goodbye, Beth spun and stormed out of the study, practically running through the corridor, down the staircase and through the ground floor rooms until she burst out onto the front driveway, gasping for air. She didn't care if Josef could hear every tremulous breath and quickening heartbeart of her escape.

Beth Turner was not about to give up on the man- the vampire- who had saved her life in every way possible. She had used every human resource she could beg, buy or steal access to, but she had reached the end of the road. If Josef would not help her, she would have to find another way.

Josef watched from the window as Beth drove Mick's car back down his driveway and out of sight. He could hear it for a little while longer, before the sound blended with the rest of the L.A. noise and he turned back into the room.

Harry was watching his master, his chiselled face calm but quizzical.

'Would it not be better to tell Miss Beth the truth, Sir?' Harry asked. 'About everything you have done to try to save Mick ? Surely, she would not feel as she does at the moment?'

'No,' Josef said sternly. 'Beth must never find out.'

'I see,' Harry said. 'You want her to believe Mr is dead. Even though you know that is not true.' His smooth voice was neither reproachful nor forgiving.

Josef slumped into the plush executive's chair at his desk.

'If what I'm trying to do doesn't work,' he explained to the English vampire, 'which it probably won't, Mick will die anyway. Beth has already suffered through enough. I refuse to get her hopes up on such a slim chance and I will not let her find out what Lance has done to Mick these past months, if he's only going to die horribly anyway.'

'You are protecting her,' Harry stated.

'She's the only person I have left worth protecting,' Josef said, then looked surprised at himself for voicing that to the hired help.

'Even though Miss Beth hates you now?'

'Yes, well,' Josef smiled grimly, 'as long as she's alive to hate me, I don't care. Looking after her is the least I can do for Mick, in any case.'

Harry raised an eyebrow, but did not comment on the sense of Josef's scheming.

'Sir, Miss Beth's security detail?' he questioned his boss, just before his solid frame disappeared through the door. He paused, and caught the pointed look that Josef threw his way. 'Very well, Sir,' Harry confirmed. 'It will remain in effect. I'll make sure she doesn't see any of us again.'

'That, I think, is essential,' Josef noted wryly, to the bodyguard. 'I'll be leaving in the morning, going back to France. I expect regular updates.'

'Of course,' Harry nodded, demurely. A shiver went through him at the thought what awaited Josef in Europe. He paused, turning in the doorway to look at Josef. 'Sir?'

'Hmm?' Josef glanced up.

'Good luck,' Harry said, seriously, and shut the door behind him.

Thanks for reading and I would love to have your comments/ reviews.