A/N: I am really happy with how this chapter turned out and hopefully you will like it just as much as I do. This is also my longest chapter so far. Hopefully my chapters will start to get a little longer as I go, but I make no promises. R&R and let me know what you think. I truly value what you, my readers, have to say.

Also I am so happy with the response that I have gotten so far for this story!!! It makes me very, very happy!! I love getting your reviews. I know that it really helps to keep me going and excited about writing when I get such wonderful feedback!!

I am not going to be responding to personal reviews here, for the most part if you leave a signed review, I will reply through the link provided. On with the story!!!

Disclaimer: I do not own Josef, Mick or anyone else that you may recognize. Riley and all of the others that come out of my head are of course mine. No copy write infringement is intended.

Chapter 3

I slowly opened my eyes. I was in bed, but I don't remember coming home this morning. I looked around and tried to find my cell, hoping it would remind me of whatever it was that happened a few hours prior. It took me a moment to realize that I wasn't in my bed, in fact I wasn't totally sure where I was. I stood up and walked to the door that was across the room. I opened it and walked into the bathroom. This wasn't mine, wasn't anything that I recognized.

I stopped when I heard the door in the bedroom open. I was starting to panic now. I didn't know what to do and I still couldn't remember anything from last night. All I remembered was going to work yesterday.

"Riley, are you in here. Its almost 8 in the morning. I have some water for you and there is breakfast out in the kitchen if you are hungry." It was a woman's voice, one I didn't recognize. "We really need to talk to you this morning Riley. Can you come out of the bathroom?" She sounded concerned but I still couldn't place the voice. However, seeing as she knew where exactly I was, there wasn't much sense in hiding.

I walked to the door and pushed it open. Waiting for me in the bedroom was the women who had been speaking to me. She looked slightly familiar but I couldn't seem to place her. She was probably 5'6", thin and had long light blonde hair. It was driving me crazy knowing that I couldn't pull her name. "Who are you? Where am I, why don't I remember anything?"

She smiled and took a deep breath. "My name is Beth; I'm Mick St. John's girlfriend. You passed out while you were at work yesterday and Mick didn't know where to take you. You're at our apartment. Mick and I would really like a chance to talk to you now that you're awake. Mick told me that all he could get out of you before you passed out were incoherent mumblings. Do you think you can come out into the other room with us and talk?"

As she spoke everything started to come back to me. Walking into Mr. Konstantin's office. Feeling pure terror as I saw him lift his mouth, dripping with blood, from the girl's neck. Running down the hall and into the elevator, where Mick was waiting. Begging him to get me out of there. Mick talking to someone behind me. Turning around to see my boss, looking a little more than disheveled, standing in front of me. I realized that if I had to try to explain all of what I saw to either of them, they would send me to the psych. ward automatically.

"I don't want to talk. All I want is to go home. I am leaving LA. I need to go, please just let me leave." I walked towards the door and tried o push my way out. Beth let me go without trying to stop me. I was half way down the hall when I heard her speak.

"Riley, you're not crazy. Mick and I, we talked to Josef. We know what happened, that is why we want to talk to you and part of the reason why Mick brought you back here." Her words had the desired effect. I stopped dead in my tracks. I was dreaming, that was the only explanation. There was no way that what I was hearing could be real. I was comforting myself in my dreams and I needed to wake up. I kept walking, wanting to get out of here, it didn't matter that I was trapped inside of a dream.

I was almost to the front door when I felt a hand on my wrist. I turned around and gasped when I realized that the hand belonged to Mick. I tried to pull my hand out of his grasp and keep walking. It didn't seem to matter how hard I pulled, however, I didn't get anywhere.

"Riley, we have to talk. I know what you saw and I know that you are probably scared, but we have to talk. Josef wants me to explain things to you. That in itself shows how much he actually cares about you, even if it is just for the work that you do for him. Please, Riley, just come and sit down."

"I am dreaming. That is the only explanation. I am dreaming and I want to wake up. Let me go and maybe if I can get out of this place I will be able to wake up. I just want to wake up." I was starting to panic. Everything felt so real, there were smells and sights that just couldn't exist in the dream world and my façade was starting to crumble. I needed to get out of here. I wanted to be as far away from all of this as I could, but he wouldn't let go.

"I am not letting you go until we have a talk and you understand what has happened. At this point, Josef and I are responsible for you. Until we have talked, you can't go wondering around. It would be best if you just sat down and listened to what we had to say Riley."

Everything around me started to crumble. I sank to the floor at the spot right in front of the door that I had been standing in. I couldn't move, I couldn't think. I was completely panicked. Mick picked me and walked with me over to the couch. He sat down across from me on the small stool and Beth finally came over and sat down next to me on the couch.

"Okay, Riley. I know this is going to be hard for you but I need you to tell me what you saw. I've already talked to Josef, but I need to know what you think you saw. So please, start from the beginning and walk me through everything." I could tell that Mick was trying to be gentle and make me feel comfortable. I could tell that my hands were shaking and I didn't know where to start. I took a deep breath and started from the papers that I had needed Mr. Konstantin to sign.

"I got a stack of papers from one of the lower floors in the office. They were important and needed to be sent out the next morning in the mail. I walked down the hall to Mr. Konstantin's office and knocked on the door. I heard a noise from inside but just figured that he was really trying to concentrate on whatever he was working on. I pushed open the door and told him that I had papers that needed to be looked over and signed." I continued to talk and go over in great detail what happened after that. I recounted everything that I saw, the blood and the girl, up until the elevator doors opened. Mick never took his eyes off of me and the girl, Beth, at some point took my hand and held it for comfort.

"That's all I remember, Mr. St. John. Frankly after I ran into you everything turned blurry. I know that it sounds crazy but I swear that is what I saw. I don't know what it was; all I know is that I want to get out of town. Now." Mick finally closed his eyes and sighed. When he opened them, I expected to see laughter. Instead I saw concern and worry. I didn't know what was worse.

"Thanks, Riley. Listen, I know what I am about to tell you is going to sound crazy but I need you to listen to me, alright? I need to know that what I am going to tell you is never going to leave this room. Can you promise me that?"

"Do you really think anyone would believe me even if I said anything? I am not looking for a reason to be sent to the mental ward. If you have an explanation for what I saw I will listen, but you never have to worry about me talking to anyone about this." I watched as Mick's face visibly relaxed and even some laughter and light heartedness began to show through.

"What you saw was the blending of a world that we try to keep hidden. Josef is a vampire." I saw him pause and watch for my reaction. I tried to keep my face as controlled as possible, although it was nearly impossible. I tried to take in what he had told me but this is one of those situations you never see yourself in. "Riley, I know that this is a lot of information to take in all at once. I know that it seems impossible but its not. There are over three hundred vampires in LA alone. I am one of them."

He paused and let me take in the information that I had been told so far. Josef Konstantin, the man I had been forking for during almost the past year was not human, and either was the man sitting across from me. I then had a realization. Beth was here, being told all of this information. Did that mean that I was the only human in the room? Great, instead of being psychotic, I was now paranoid. Sensing the direction my thoughts Beth turned to me.

"Riley, I am as human as you are. Mick and I met almost two years ago, when I was following up on a story that Mick was also looking into. I didn't know at that time what he was, but much like you, I walked in on Mick feeding. My boyfriend died a year and a half ago and Mick and I started dating about a month after. I have fed Mick on two occasions, but for the most part Mick gets his 'food' from a blood bank. And to take a guess as to what you were thinking, you are probably safer in this room than you are walking down LA streets." She finished and smiled at me. I couldn't help but smile back at her. She had nailed it on the head and had succeeded in calming me some what.

"If you get most of your food from a blood bank, then why was Josef drinking from that girl? Am I really safe with him? What happens to me now? How does someone become a vampire?" The questions started to pour out of me before I could stop them. I was getting myself worked up again and I could feel the hysteria setting in again.

"Riley, I need you to try and stay calm. I promise you won't be in any danger as long as you are with me. I am going to try to answer all of your questions, but I need you to try and keep from getting to worked up, can you do that for me?" I nodded in response and tried to slow my breathing. "Okay. I have more of a moral code than most of my kind. Unless a vampire is rouge, we normally don't kill. Accidents happen but most are able to keep good control over themselves. Josef doesn't have quite as strict a moral code as I do, but he is better than most. He has about 20 girls that rotate through; they all know what he is and volunteer to feed him. He wouldn't feed on someone who wasn't willing. Once you get a chance to talk with Josef, it is almost guaranteed that you will be put under his protection and once that happens no one in our world will be able to get any where near you. Actually, Josef is pretty well known throughout LA, and you should be safe from most any harm."

He paused again to let me take in everything. I think more than anything he wanted assurance that I wasn't going to pass out again. I smiled at both of them. "I am surprisingly, doing okay. It's a lot to take in. But then again, it's the only thing that makes sense. I just have one favor to ask. Can I get something to drink?" Both Beth and Mick laughed at that one. Beth then stood up and disappeared into the kitchen. Mick and I sat in silence. Beth came back with a glass of water and we started up again.

We talked for a good chunk of the day. It was 3:00 in the afternoon when we finally stopped talking. My head felt like it was spinning both from all of the information that I had taken in that day and lack of sleep. Beth showed me back to the room that I had been in when I woke. I lay down and was asleep before my head hit the pillow.