You can flame me, I deserve it, my 1st chapter was horrible, you'd think I didn't even know moonlight, UHG! I look back on it in shame. I promise that will never happen again, my problem was I was writing it about 3am and hadn't had sleep for maybe 20 hours, for me that can do a lot. So again I'm sorry, I'm probably going to end up rewriting the whole thing just for some kind of way to keep a tiny amount of pride.

So again, sorry. --

P.S. I apologize for not posting in forever, life got in the way like a brick wall. I did manage to write the outline up though so posts should be sooooooo much sooner than this one. Oh and Moonlight does not belong to me…obviously

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Chapter II Threes a crowd, fours a fight

"That was the worse interview I think I've ever done," Beth sighed.

She walked down a set of granite stairs and back to her car, rubbing her forehead impatiently. Around her the day had shifted into night, shadows lurked in every corner, drawn out by the street lamps. The day had passed in a blur, another tick mark on the calendar.

"Who knew bombs could ever be made boring," Jack said, wrinkling her nose in distaste. "But that professor sure did the job, and very well."

She and Beth had headed to an interview at a nearby university after they left Beth's apartment. Beth was to meet up with the professor who taught pyrotechnics. He showed up two hours late and kept them there for another three with what had to be the dullest speech, even if it was about how to blow things up.

"Well he has the highest reputation as a pyrotechnic engineer in the area," Beth said "And with those recent warehouse explosions there was no question about getting his say."

"So was it worth it?" Jack asked raising an eyebrow.

Before she could answer Beth's cell phone rang. Startled she looked at its screen; it was Mo.

"Hello?" she answered.

Mo didn't bother with courtesies. "Beth there's been another bombing, I need you to get there right away."

"How long ago?" Beth asked. She instantly switched into reporter mode, pulling out a pad of paper.

The bombings had been a string of explosions over the last few days, destroying several large warehouses. Luckily no one had been killed; yet. The warehouses seemed to be chosen at random, leaving the police baffled for a motive.

"And where is it?"

"It was reported almost an hour, you had your cell off."

Beth grumbled. "That stupid interview took forever."

"Yeah well they cops haven't cleaned up yet, there's a body this time."

"That's different."

"Yeah no kidding, but they think it's still the same guy."

"Why?"

"There are pamphlets flying around again."

"You mean the stuff about purging the world from evil hunters?" Beth asked, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

"Yup, so get there quick, it's around Tenant Street."

Beth hung up the same time Mo did and pulled onto the street.

Next to her Jack was grinning wildly. Now the fun begins, she thought.

A few minutes later they drove up to a taped off crime scene. Police units, bomb squads, and canines were already beginning to leave while reporters began to swarm the area. Citizens swamped the collapsed building, there was even a stray dog sniffing at the remains. Black chard wood and scorched metal bit the air with jagged teeth, trying to maw apart the very sky. Fragments were buried into surrounding walls, scarring brick and metal.

"Alright let's get the scoop," Beth told herself.

Movement caught her eye and she suddenly remembered Jack. Smacking her forehead with her hand she mentally cursed herself for not questioning the teenager. It was a default of a good story, she forgot almost everything else.

"I keep forgetting you're here," she admitted to Jack.

Jack snickered. "That's okay, you're not the first. Come on, before everything's gone."

Beth tried to talk to her but was forced to follow as Jack got out of the car. She walked besides her, towards the yellow tape, again drawn into work mode. Suddenly a chill spikes up her spine and she notices someone is staring at her. She whips around to see a very familiar set of sunglasses teamed on her.

"Mick?"

"Beth?"

They both said in unison.

"What are you doing here?" Beth asked.

"Investigating for the warehouse owner." Mick replied.

Beth saw his head move slightly to look at Jack. Jack was staring back with a stone face, carefully hiding her emotions.

"Beth can I talk to you for a minute?" Mick asked urgently.

Beth looked at him confused. He was looking past her, at Jack with an almost frightened expression.

"Sure?"

Mick led her into the back of a nearby alley, away from everyone else, and whirled on her.

"Are you trying to kill yourself?" he nearly shouted.

Beth's mind flashed back to last night and she becomes cautious. "Why would you say that?"

"Do you know what that girl is? How did you even meet her?"

"We kinda just ran into each other and she's been hanging out with me ever since. What do you mean what she is?"

"Hello, didn't expect to meet one of my kind here."

A young man walked into the alleyway, his hands held behind his back like a soldier. Blonde hair hemmed a pale face and he had a smile that scared Beth. It was malevolent, coy, like he knew he could do anything and get away with it. Mick stepped forward and put Beth behind him, placing a protective hand on her shoulder. His face was cold and his eyes never left the boy's face.

"Hello Zach."

Beth watched in horror as Jack walked up behind the teen, her face as emotional as stone. Her own stance was defensive, her gaze full of hate. Obviously Jack knew who this person was but Beth feared what the stranger would do to her. He looked frightening enough to be capable of anything.

"Jacqueline," Zach said. His smiled widened but didn't get any friendlier. "I didn't expect you here. Who's your friend? I don't think I've seen him before."

"Leave," Jack told him coldly. "I'm not sure why you're here but I know you well enough to know it's not good."

"Now is that any way to treat a friend?" Zack asked feigning to be hurt. He then turned to Mick. "Nice snack you brought mind if I take the first bite? I haven't eaten all day."

Beth stiffened, fear coursing through her. Fangs unsheathed and eyes icy blue, Zach bolted towards her. Mick crouched down, and charged the vampire, his own fangs bared. They collide and both were thrown backwards, Mick towards the alley entrance and Zach into the nearest building. Before Mick could react Zach refocused on Beth his primal instinct taking over any conscious intelligence. Lust coursed through him and his vision tunneled to only her neck.

Beth took a shallow step backwards, knowing she was looking at death strait in its icy blue eyes. Her throat constricted and felt like sandpaper. She couldn't swallow or breath, the normal hyperventilation out of the question.

Zach smiled knowing he was a predator with its claws closing around its prey, and charged towards her, his fangs aimed at her neck.

Mick watched in terror as Zach neared Beth, his fangs zeroed in on her jugular. Mick's feet slipped against the slick concrete, unable to get a good grip on the smooth pavement. He couldn't move fast enough, he was too slow to save the one human he really did care about. Mick's personal nightmare flashed through his mind, Zach's teeth sinking into Beth's flesh, her blood draining onto the cold, hard, floor. Then her body lying still, pale, frozen like granite on the cruel ground, time ravaging it, melting the flesh off of her bones and slowly even disintegrating them. And he was unable to prevent any of it. Suddenly Jack was standing in front of Beth, her arm raised and Zach's teeth buried in her skin.

Without hesitating she pushed him backwards, snarling as she buried him in the brick wall. He hissed and gripped Jack's arm, twisting it to an unnatural position. It broke with a loud snap and Jack shouted as the pain laced through her arm and up her shoulder. She jumped back for a second before charging Zach again. His attention had turned back to Beth, the overwhelming sense of bloodlust clouding his judgment. Jack high kicked him in the head, sending him back into the wall, and pushed against his throat with her one good arm.

"You even look at this human," Jack snarled. "And I promise I won't just hold your throat."

Zach refocused and Jack took a step back and stared at him, daring defiance. He spat a glob of blood onto the ground and nodded his head at Mick. He had rushed to a terrified Beth's side and held her protectively.

"Be careful with this one," he gestured to Jack. "She'll surprise you, and not in a good way."

He winked at Jack who snarled loudly, then jumped into the air, grabbing the edge of a building and disappearing over its roof.

Beth and Mick watched him closely than turned to Jack who had sunken to the floor, clutching her healing arm. Her eyes were closed and her head leaned on the wall.

"You okay?" Mick asked.

Jack shook her head and a slight moan escaped from in between her lips. Her eyes flickered open to reveal they were still light blue and she stumbled to her feet, using her one good hand to grip the wall.

Mick persisted. "What's your name?"

"Jack," Jack answered in a breath.

"Hold old are you?"

She looked at him unsteadily. "What age do you want?"

Mick looked at her confused. "Both."

"Seventeen and a month."

Mick's eyes grew wide. "When was the last time you ate?"

"Two days ago," Jack responded weakly.

Suddenly her legs gave out from under. Instinctively Mick bolted to her side and caught Jack, wrapping his arm around her stomach to support her. He knew he needed to get some blood into her, a vampire her age needed to eat several times a day because they were trying to replace the blood they had lost when being changed. Not doing so could be fatal. They needed even more blood when injured or they wouldn't heal which was another fatal prospect.

"Easy," Mick told Jack calmly.

"Is Beth okay?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Mick looked at Beth who nodded, her eyes scared but filled with more concern then fear. "I'm fine," she told him. "I'm more worried about you."

Jack foggily nodded her head then nearly passed out from the movement, her weight held completely by Mick.

"I need to get her back to my place," Mick told Beth.

She surprised him by saying, "I'll meet you there."

Beth looked at him in the eyes, daring him to contradict her. Mick didn't want to though; he actually had to resist smiling. She had avoided him ever since Josh's death and he wanted a chance to explain his actions, his decisions, maybe beg for forgiveness.

"Get some work done first," Mick told her. "Don't get in trouble with your boss."

Beth nodded her head and walked back towards the blown up building. Normally she wouldn't hesitate going with Mick, the curiosity of a new vampire too great for her to resist. But as things were right now she needed some time to think, the situation was too weird, her relationship with Mick was too weird, her mind needed a second of normalcy to catch up. So happily she went back to do something she loved, bugging the heck out of people until they answered her questions.

After she left, Jack tried to take a stumbling step forward. "Thanks but I'm fine," she lied.

"You're falling over," Mick stated. "You need something to drink."

To her protest he grabbed her around the stomach and half dragged half carried Jack to the edge of the alley where he sat her on the ground. She leaned up against the stone wall and closed her eyes, cradling her still broken arm which hadn't healed due to the lack of blood. She was too tired to fight anymore.

"Wait here," Mick ordered.

Jack laughed weakly and smiled. "Cuz I can go anywhere."

Mick smiled back, he was beginning to like this girl. Less than a second later he pulled up to the edge of the alley with his car.

"Jack?" he called, stepping out of his car.

The young vampire was slouched on the ground, unconscious. Mick rushed over to her side and gently touched her forehead with his finger. It was warm with a fever, and her fangs could be seen tipping under her top lip. Her breath was heavy and underneath her eyelids her eyes could be seen moving, as if she was having a nightmare.

"Hang on Jack," Mick told her as he lifted her into the car.

He sped through nighttime traffic and made it back to his apartment in record time, moving at a speed that could hardly be passed off as human once out of the car. Unlocking his door he ran Jack upstairs and laid her in his own freezer then rushed back downstairs to grab a bag of blood. When he got back Jack was sitting up, gripping the side of the freezer to steady herself. She didn't respond when Mick walked in. Her eyes were foggy, confused, and she shook her head in an attempt to clear it, that, unfortunately, made it hurt even more.

"Hold still okay." Mick told her.

Jack didn't move in response, barely able to grip consciousness. To her darkness was creeping all around. She didn't like being unconscious, it wasn't like sleeping, sleeping you can wake up from but unconsciousness anything could happen and you'd be helpless to stop it. You were helpless.

Mick drew blood into a syringe, careful not to get any air. Jack could drink the blood but injecting it would get it into her system faster and bringing out a newborn's inner demon in a weak state was not a good idea. He wrapped a rubber band around her arm and sank the needle into her vein. Jack hissed slightly as the blood flowed into her, her fangs retracted and her breathing became easier. But her eyes were still foggy.

Mick looked at her in concern; she was only seventeen, and only a month as a vampire. She was still a kid.

"Where's your sire?" he asked her.

Jack rubbed her forehead. "Got me."

"You don't have a sire?" Mick asked.

It was impossible; any young vampire would turn feral the second they were left alone. Mick knew personally how difficult it was to resist blood when you were first turned, and that was with someone to hold you back. The fact that Jack was still sane was a miracle in itself.

Suddenly Jack turned and looked at him in the eyes. Her grey eyes were scared, lonely, and tired, looking more like pits of despair then pupils. Mick fully realized she had been completely alone for over a month after being turned into a monster, ripped away from a normal life she had been shoved into a nightmare with absolutely no one. Not only that but she was trying to deal with the normal overload of emotions all newborns experienced. Her moods had been swinging back and forth and she had managed to lock them in a box to keep from going out of control. Mick could tell that box was cracking and he knew Jack was going to need someone to keep her in check when it broke.

"Do you want to stay here?" Mick offered. He couldn't just let Jack go now, she needed someone, he was not about to push her back into the unending loneliness.

Jack stiffened slightly. "That depends," she said in a wary voice, "what kind of vampire are you?"

Mick looked at her in amazement. "You're worried how I eat?"

She stiffly nodded, caution etched into her posture. Jack knew she was young and stood no chance against any other vampire, the only reason she had won against Zach was because he had let her. He could have easily murdered her.

"Don't worry Jack," Mick told her dangling the back of blood.

Jack relaxed and chuckled slightly. "Thanks, yeah I'd like that. It's funny; I don't even know your name."

"Mick St John, we can do introductions when you're more awake."

Jack nodded her head then sank back down in the freezer, her eyes closing despite her protest. Mick kept guard over her as she fell asleep, watching with satisfaction as Jack's face finally became peaceful as consciousness overwhelmed her.

Life, for them all, was going to get interesting.

Buhahah!!!! This is the end!! No I'm kidding, it's not. Next chap will be up soon, sooner than this one was. Thank you for sticking with me and I seriously promise there will some interesting things going on later, I mean come one you can't have bombs involved and not have it interesting.