Chapter 2

Bullets Fly

After parking their cars, the four walked into the Café on the Corner, open 24 hours. Once the two women had coffee and their chocolate chocolate chip muffins the four found a seat outside to enjoy the warm night air. Nat took a bite of her muffin and couldn't help but sigh as the chocolate hit her taste buds. "This is soooo good. I know that Grace would love this. We will have to come back before we leave and get another one. Think we could take some home, Nick?"

"I don't see why not. We will stop by on our way to airport."

Nat looked at Nick with a twinkle in her eye, "You want a bite?" She broke off a small piece and put it on a napkin in front of him.

Nick eyed the piece like it was poison. "No thanks Nat. You should have it. I know how much you love chocolate. It would be a shame to waste it."

"Your loss, " said Nat as she popped the piece into her mouth.

Before anything else could be said, both Mick and Nick were suddenly on alert.

"Get down, Beth" Mick told her just as Nick told Nat to get down.

"Why?" they both asked at the same time, as they were being pulled down and shielded by the guys' bodies. Beth felt Mick stiffen as something hit his back and heard the gunshots.

"Nick and Nat" she said to Mick.

"They're all set," he told her.

Beth looked over and saw Nick shielding Nat just as Mick was shielding her. She saw Nick's eyes closed and his mouth jammed shut but it looked strange. She realized that she could see the tips of fangs poking into his lower lip. She gasped and saw Nick open his eyes, revealing yellow-green eyes instead of the ice blue she was used to when Mick was vamped out.

Mick was too concerned about Beth to notice that he was vamped out. "Beth you ok?"

"I'm fine"

Mick heard a low growl from Nick and looked into yellow-green eyes. Nat looked when she heard Nick growl and saw met Mick's ice blue eyes. "Nick, stop. You will draw attention to us. Is it over?" Just as she asked that question, new gunshots erupted and the coppery smell of blood reached them. "Guess not."

"Mick tip over the table to protect us and go and help them. Try not to get shot."

"Nick, you to as well. Stop other people from getting hurt. We will be fine. Let us know when it will be safe."

Mick tossed his phone to Beth, "Call Josef, tell him to meet us at my place with extra supplies."

After tipping over the heavy table, the two vampires went to stop the bloodshed. After looking through Mick's contacts she saw Josef's. She started talking before Josef could say a word, "Josef, its Beth. Mick said for you to meet us at his place and to bring extra supplies. We are the Café on the Corner and a gunfight just erupted. I don't know for what but Mick and Nick just went to stop it. We will explain when we see you. Much to complicated right now and even we don't know. Yes I know Mick owes you big time. When will we get there? As soon as we are done talking with the cops. Lucky for me, I know most of them. Should be between ½ an hour to and hour max. See you there."

Nat looked at her funny. "I'll have Mick explain. He's better than I am with Josef."

At that moment, both women noticed that it had quieted down. They heard Mick tell them it was ok to come out. They poked their heads out from behind the table. Beth ran to Mick and hugged him then started to inspect him. Noticing a few bullet holes in his shirt, she pulled his jacket from the chair beside the table and told him to put it on. Natalie was doing to same thing with Nick.

An uncomfortable silence descended on the group as they waited for the police. Didn't take very long. After talking with the officers about what happened and how Mick and Nick were able to subdue the gunmen they were allowed to leave. They headed back to Mick's loft. When they parked they noticed Josef's red Ferrari in Mick's spot. They exited the elevator and Mick unlocked his door. Josef was sitting on Mick's couch drinking a glass of blood. "Mick what did you do this time? I brought over your favorite" At the smell of blood and their extensive wounds, both Mick and Nick vamped out but Nick got a hold of himself and unvamped. "Who are your guests? Blondie didn't tell me you had company." Josef stared at Nick. "Nicholas Gerard? But that is impossible. You should be dead by now."

Nick stared at the "young" man in front of him. "Charles Edin? You should be dead as well."

Mick interrupted, "As much as I hate to interrupt, we need a little help here. I have a few bullets that need to come out as well as Nick."

Nat spoke up, "Do you have a scalpel and some cloths?"

"I have a few kitchen knifes in the drawer on the island and cloths are under the sink. Josef, think you could perform minor surgery? Let me get us some drinks before hand." Mick poured two glasses of blood from the containers sitting on the island. He placed one in front of Nick and took a big gulp from his. "Here are some forceps if you need them,' he told Nat placing them in front of her. He handed a knife and the other forceps to Josef.

"Blondie, maybe you should watch so you can do this next time and I won't have to be called." Beth came over and watched as Josef cut the healed skin and pulled out four bullets from Mick's back and three from his front. "All set" said Josef. Mick emptied his glass and refilled it along with Nicks. He put coffee on for the girls. He had a feeling it was going to be a long night.

Natalie finished with Nick about the same time that Josef finished with Mick. Mick ran up to get a new shirt for himself as well as Nick. He tossed it to Nick. Josef sat in one of the living room chairs and stared at Nick. "You were Nicholas Gerard weren't you?"

"I was," Nick said. "And you were Charles Edin. How come your not dead?"

"Oh you know, a little plastic surgery. A few organ transplants. You?" Josef replied.

"I am a vampire."

"Impossible. I don't smell any decay from you"

Nick looked puzzled, "decay?"

Beth took the other chair, Nick and Natalie sat on the couch and Mick brought in his office chair and sat next to Beth.

Beth spoke up, "I saw you but your eyes were different. They were a yellow-green not blue."

"When I vamp out they change from my normal color."

"Josef, how is this possible. He looked different from us. And how come we can't smell him?"

"What do you mean, "smell me?"" asked Nick. "I can't sense you like I do other vampires."

Nat had been observing Mick since the café, "Unless you are different species. Humans have different racial traits, I guess that it would make sense for vampires to have different races."

"That would make sense. I was trying to figure out what was different with you Nick. Your heart barely beats and your smell is off." Mick said.

Nick stared at Mick, "Your heart doesn't beat at all and your smell is off as well. But it smells different from Josef."

"Well Josef is old," Mick said.

Nick looked at Josef, "How old are you? You have be at least a 100 for us to have met back in the 20's."

"I am 400. You?" Josef asked Nick.

"Almost 800." Nick answered.

"OK. Let me wrap my head around this. If you have different physical appearances, what are the other differences?" Nat asked Mick and Josef. "Can you go out in the sun? What will kill you?"

Mick answered, "We can stand small amounts of sunlight. It won't kill us right away but it doesn't make us feel very good. Enough exposure and we will die unless we feed. Decapitation and fire will kill us. Stakes paralyze us, silver will sicken us and we are not allergic to anything holy. And we do not sleep in coffins but freezers"

"Freezers?" asked Nat.

"It keeps our body temperatures cool."

"Can you fly or hypnotize people?"

"No, but I always thought that it would be cool," said Mick.

"You cant' fly," Nick asked surprised.

"No, can you?"

"Yes, I can."

"What about you Nick. What are your differences?" asked Beth.

"I can fly. I sleep in a bed. Sunlight and stakes will kill me. Holy objects do burn me, and I can hypnotize people if they are not resisters" Nick saw Nat's face full of curiosity. "What is it Nat?"

"I wonder what the genetic differences are between you guys."

"You have a genetic profile on Nick?" Mick asked shocked.

"Yes, she does. The Toronto community knows that I want to be human. I don't want to be a vampire anymore."

Josef looked at Mick and shook his head, "Looks like you have a fellow sympathizer, Mick. On that note, I need to get back to my business. Have some people that I need to threaten to get some stocks. It was nice to see you Nick and nice to meet you Natalie."

Josef picked up his coat and left the loft.

Nick stared at Mick, "You don't want to be a vampire? Why?"

"I was turned by my ex-wife, Coraline. I didn't know what she was and on our wedding night, she turned me."

"You?"

"I want to be able to go out into the sunlight and eat food. Be able to have a family and know that I am immortal that way."

"How did you and Natalie meet?" Beth asked.

"He scared about 10 years worth of life out of me by waking up on my morgue table. He was trying to stop a pipe bomb and got himself killed for it. He sat up on my table and ran to the fridge where I kept some blood for comparison tests. He tried to tell me he was dead but I told him dead men don't walk or talk. You?"

"When I was little, I was kidnapped by Coraline. She wanted Mick back after he left her. Told him we could all be a family. He rescued me and staked her, then burned the house down. Then when the murders happened, Mick was watching me as I did the report and I saw him and went over to him. I didn't find out about him being a vampire until after Lee Jay Spaulding shot him with silver bullets and I went to help Mick. I ended up killing Lee Jay to save Mick. He took off and I found him here, feeding from a few blood bags. Mick has saved me from a few scrapes. Coraline escaped from the house, became human, and shared the cure with Mick. It only lasted a while though. A psycho vamp that was providing rare blood types to some vamps kidnapped Talbot and me. Mick was returned to save me."

"What was it that Coraline gave you to make you human, Mick?" asked Natalie.

"It was a type of compound that was developed during the French Revolution. It masked the signs of vampirism. And I don't have any of the compound here. Coraline took it with her and was captured by her older brother and returned to France. I can give you some of my blood if you like. It would be interesting to see a genetic profile."

"Nat, we need to get heading back to our hotel. The sun is going to rise in an hour and I don't feel like being a crispy critter or riding in the trunk. It don't' think it's very big."

Mick looked outside. "Please come back tonight. I have a feeling we have a lot more to talk about."

Mick escorted Nick and Natalie to the door. After closing it, he turned to Beth, "Well that was interesting night." He took a sip from his glass. "Beth spend the day here. I need to get some sleep and so do you. I don't want you driving home. You look so tired. Call Talbot and leave him a message letting him know what happened so he won't call and wake you up."

Beth called Talbot and left a message and told him that she will call him when she wakes up. Mick came downstairs with an armful of blankets and pillows and an extra shirt for Beth to sleep in. "I should just really buy a bed. I have a few extra rooms upstairs." He told her.

Mick handed the shirt to Beth and made up the couch for her. "Good nite Beth. If you need anything, I will be upstairs in the freezer."

"Nite, Mick. Sweet dreams."

"You too, Beth," he told her. I'll be dreaming of you, he thought.

Beth laid on the couch wishing that she could be curled up next to Mick.