Disclaimer: Not mine, unfortunately. Do you think that, if I owned Mick St. John I'd have time to write these stories over and above everything else I would be doing… wink wink

No, I didn't think so.

Love Set in Stone

Part 2

Beth slowly rubs her eyes before she tries to refocus on the computer screen before her. It was like every criminal in LA had decided to drop of the face of the earth this week. She hadn't had a single crime to report and had, instead, been sent to do a variety of fluff pieces. Not even Mick had had an interesting case this week and thus it had been completely uneventful. To say that Beth Turner was agitated would be an understatement. Just about ready to smash the screen in front of her, she heard Mo's voice reverberating through the office.

"BETH!"

Just about as hopeful as she could get, she grabbed her bag and jacket before heading to the office of her friend and boss. She would sell her soul if it meant Mo was about to present her with a criminal case. She needed something to do, and by something she didn't mean covering 'Adopt-a-pet' day at the nearest animal shelter.

She was in luck.

Walking into the office she could see the broad smile on Mo's face and she knew that she finally had something to grab on. Not only that, but Maureen didn't even offer her a seat. This had to say something about the case itself. '"Not to sound morbid, but please tell me we have something interesting here? Like, oh I don't know, a murder? Please don't send me on another fluff piece disaster!" Beth practically begged.

Mo nodded. "I just got the call. A girl's been murdered not far from here and it's a pretty strange MO. I also heard rumors that it's a high profile case because of something found at the scene. I need you over there yesterday! Go get me some more hits!"

Beth laughed, did a mock salute and practically flew from the office to where Steve was already waiting with the van started. Never had she been so thankful that he always made it to the damn thing before she did. Today it meant that they didn't have to delay.

"I hear we have something big to cover."

She smiled, winked and jumped into the passenger seat. "We do, so hurry that ass of yours and get in the van. I don't want to miss anything!" she scolded him playfully, almost giddy with the knowledge that she was finally getting on a case again. She was tempted to call Mick but something told her he'd be there soon enough. Besides, she didn't have the right to string him along when he most likely had better things to do. 'Keep telling yourself that, sweetheart.' Her minded chided her playfully, but she ignored it.

It didn't take long at all before the van finally pulled up next to a strip club and an alley bordering it. The alley itself was already sealed of with police tape, and she could see officers and CSI's mulling around, most officers just trying their best to keep the many reporters at bay. Beth frowned as they got out of the van and she surveyed the scene before her. How did things get this busy so quickly? So engrossed was she in watching the turmoil that she almost jumped when she felt someone tap her shoulder. She swung around coming face to face with Steve.

"You coming or should I simply do this one on my own?"

Tempted to be juvenile and stick out her tongue, Beth just laughed and grabbed the microphone, and began her search for a spot with a good view of the body. In between finding the perfect spot and doing her report, she also asked a few of the other girls that worked at the club questions about the victim. When she finally found the perfect perch she gasped at the sight. A young girl was almost naked, lying in a pool of blood in the alley. She had a stake through her heart and was wrapped in nothing but a thin layer of silver material. Clearly she wasn't a vampire…but who would do that to a human? She needed to call Mick…

"Beth, are we going to get started before the next century?" Steve was also getting a little exasperated. Why the hell did she keep losing her focus?

Drawn back into reality, Beth turned back to the camera, unsure what angle to use. Had she not known about Mick and real vampires she would, no doubt, have gone with 'vampire hunter on the loose in LA'. But now that would only be another risk to their well being and they were big enough risks all by themselves. They didn't need her help. Perhaps, for now, no angle was better. She would simply tell Mo' that she wants to see if it's a serial first. That should hold the dogs off long enough. With that final thought she lifted the mic and began to do her report.

"Tonight the alleyway being the Temperio Strip Club has become the sight of a cruel slaying of a young woman. According to some of the other employees at the club, Angela Marx, 25, had just ended her shift and was on her way home. When a few of them followed a while later they found her slain in the alley, wrapped in silver silk.

The police have, as yet, not made any comments, but it is clear that most of the Temperio ladies believe this to be a sexual predator on the loose and fear that he will strike again.

This is Beth Turner for Buzzwire."

She tossed the mic back to Steve. "Happy?"

He laughed. "Very. I'll go back to the van and upload the story." With that he left Beth alone to her snooping.

Beth watched him leave before turning back to where the girl was. Who would do that? Clearly someone who had an obsession with vampires, but why an innocent girl? First thing was first – she had to find Carl. He wasn't likely to give her much, but he always gave her a little nibble, even if it was off the record. She found him standing next to his car, a frown on his face. It didn't lift any when he noticed Beth coming determinedly toward him. There was no avoiding her and, for once, his reasons for wanting to was a little different.

"Hello Carl." She greeted him cheerily. "What can you tell me?" she looked back at the body.

"You know I can't tell you anything." The usual response.

"Come on. Off the record."

He looked over at her, raising an eyebrow. "How many times have I fallen for that?"

"Oh please. I always keep what you tell me off the record…at least until I find another source." She winked at him conspiringly and he sighed, leaning back against the car again.

"Fine, but I can't tell you much anyway. We are officially obligated to cooperate with these clowns." He waved his hands at two men in dark suits.

"FBI?"

"No. No agency I've heard of before. When the ring was found on the body they showed up and here we are." He was clearly pissed at being removed from command on his own turf, but sometimes shit happened. Beth, on the other hand, wanted to know more about that ring.

"What ring?" she pressed, but Carl had enough.

"I didn't get to see the damn thing. Please, go pester someone else and let me figure this out." He pointedly ignored her as she stared at him until she gave up and tried to get closer to the other men without getting noticed. She didn't see Carl staring at her. He did respect her and although he wasn't always happy with her methods she always got her story. She and that buddy of hers, Mick St. Something or other. Personally he didn't like the man much, he always seemed to be around Beth when they got themselves into a mess, but he also seemed quite capable of getting them both out of it too.

Beth, meanwhile, had been sneaking closer to the men in monkey suits, trying to see if she couldn't hear anything that helped with the case. She really wanted to know more about the ring. Crouching on the other side of a van she tried to make out as much of the conversation as she could.

"…it is owned?" the first voice, deep and raspy.

"It is. They looked up the owner and it belongs to a rather rich business man." The second, with an almost squeaky undertone.

"A business man that owns one of the Blood Stones? He must be a rich one." She heard the man laugh.

"Not one Tony. He owns them all. Always has." The laugh had turned into a choke.

"All thirteen stones? That's impossible! You'd have to have more money that the bloody queen of England!"

"I don't know about that, but what I do know is that I don't want anyone finding out about this yet. If someone is trying to send this guy a message I want to figure it out first. Keep that ring under strict lockdown – it'll cost the entire department ten years of salaries to replace it."

The conversation was interrupted by a new voice, but Beth was intrigued. Whatever this ring was, it sounded expensive. Much more than a piece of jewelry a stripper should be wearing.

"Tony, Jonas, lets get out of here. I let the locals handle the body, the ring is coming with us."

Not wanting to be found near their van she hurried back to the Buzzwire van, hoping they didn't see her. She found Steve sitting behind the wheel and he looked up as she opened the door.

"All done?"

Beth nodded and they headed back to the office. She had research to do…

Beth closed the door of the empty apartment behind her. God she was thankful Josh wasn't in town at the moment – she didn't need him berating her for going after a case that was probably best left alone. He still didn't understand that this was what she did – she got in trouble so that other people could know the truth. Besides, she had Mick, her secret weapon. Somehow he was always around when she needed him – something else Josh didn't quite like that much.

Cup of coffee in hand she sat down in front of the laptop, intent on finding out exactly what these 'Blood Stones' were. They sounded very rare and very expensive…thirteen in existence and all owned by one man in LA. It was almost to good to be true.

It took her a good hour to find something worthwhile; most of the sites she found only mentioned them in a sentence as rare or in a comparison. What surprised her was that the site she was staring at now was more about history than anything else. Still, it was better than nothing. She began to read, soon feeling like she was reading a bedtime story instead of doing research for a case.

Apparently thirteen exquisite red diamonds of almost perfect quality had been found centuries ago before a young nobleman bought them all, selling a good deal of his land and livestock to afford them. He'd had a ring and necklace made, the ring in the stone laid in white gold and as well as those in the necklace. He also had ever stone surrounded with the clearest diamonds, almost faultless. It had been a gift to his wife at the time. That was until she died in childbirth but a few months later. The nobleman had disappeared and, a few days later, so had the set. Since then it was only rumored to have been seen, odd glances here and there until it became nothing more than a myth.

Guess that was blown out of the water now. All that was left now was to find out who had the diamonds and how they'd come to possess them.

Her phone chose that exact moment to start ringing. Guillermo.

"Beth."

"Got the body. Feel like taking a look?"

Beth laughed. "Don't you usually call Mick?"

His voice turned serious. "I already called him. I just figured that, seeing as you are both almost always on the same case, you might just as well take a look too."

"Guillermo…" she didn't get the question any farther.

"No, she wasn't a vampire." The line went dead. Minutes later Beth was in the car and on her way to the morgue.

Mick had known about the body before Guillermo even called. He had just left Josef's office – the man was in a right state but Mick didn't have time to get the whole story. Someone had shown up and Mick had left without an argument. He could talk to his friend later. First he needed a drink – tense Josef was not a good way to start out the night. He would look into the jewels afterwards.

Thirty minutes later found him in front of his computer, searching for Beth's latest Buzzwire report. Recently she'd only been covering small stories and he didn't need a degree in psychology to see she was becoming very agitated. But tonight was different – there had been a murder and her video had been uploaded just under an hour earlier. He could almost see how she tried to leave any mention of vampires from her report although she must have recognized the oddity of the murder. He smiled as he looked at her on the screen, only brought out of his reverie when the phone rang. Guillermo.

"Mick, there's something…"

"I know. I'm on my way. Call Beth."

She had just as much right to see the body; this was her case after all. He turned of the screen and headed out of the apartment and to his car.

"Guillermo!"

The vampire looked up as Beth entered the room. Since she'd met Mick he'd seen her around more often…he only wondered when Mick would open his eyes and see her. Really see her. Dismissing these thoughts he beckoned her over to the body.

"I'd have thought Mick would get here before you did." He said as he moved to remove the covering over the girls face and the wound in her chest. Beth laughed.

"You haven't seen me driving yet."

"Good thing too." A voice said behind her and they both looked up to see Mick entering the room. "Starting without me?"

"Didn't have much choice, you were taking so damn long." Beth answered teasingly.

"You don't have long, can we get back to the body please?" Guillermo called them back and they both stood closer, expressions serious now, although he could clearly see Mick checking Beth over. God, he was as blind as a rock!

"She clearly isn't one of us, but someone staked her anyway."

"What about the material?" Beth asked as she looked over the body. There was something very familiar about the girl but she just couldn't place it.

"Just dye, no real silver. Still, it made its point clearly." Guillermo answered, bring them the material. Beth ran her hands over the smooth material that looked like silver waves as it moved.

"That has to be expensive…"

Guillermo nodded. "I'm no fashion freak, but that is. You should have heard that new intern, Mina. She nearly had a heart attack, going on about Chinese or Japanese silk or something. I'm just glad she decided to go home!"

Mick looked at the wound over her heart. "Whoever did this is no moron. He has perfect aim."

The others nodded. "Sending a general message to vampires perhaps?" Beth ventured.

"Possibly…" Mick looked up at Guillermo. "Anything else?"

He shook his head and Mick and Beth headed for the door. "It's really odd, this case…" she said, mostly to herself.

"How so?"

She shrugged at Mick's question. "Well, she's no vampire, she's not even an important figure. She's a stripper. Yet someone went through the trouble to stake her, wrap her in expensive material and place a ring on her finger of such importance that Carl was removed from command on the case."

Mick frowned. "A ring? I didn't see any ring in there."

"Oh, no. The others took it. Apparently it belongs to some rich business man that has all these rare diamonds in his possession. I dug around but most people just believe them to be a myth."

Mick stopped in the middle of the hall. "Did you happen to hear what they called the ring and the stones?" He had a bad feeling about this.

Beth nodded, a frown creasing her forehead. "Of course I did. They called them the 'Blood Stones'. Said there were…"

"Thirteen." Mick unterrupted.

Beth nodded, starting to get slightly worried. "How did you know?"

Mick only looked away before he took out his phone and beckoned for Beth to follow him. "I know who they're sending the message too."