Moonlight, The Next Chapter: Darkness

Chapter 16

Subterfuge

Author's note: Sorry for the delay, folks. Life just insists on getting in the way, but I'll try my best to do better! It IS heading into Derby time here in Louisville so there are tons of distractions... I won't lie, I'm worried about how they are going to get to that thermos before Carl does!

Intro Song: Liar, Three Dog Night

"Jamie, it's Beth. I'm sorry to be calling you so late but I need your help," Beth began as soon as Talbot's administrative assistant picked up the phone, her voice shaking despite her best efforts to remain calm.

"Beth, what's the matter? Are you okay? Is it Mick?" Jamie's voice switched from sleepy to concerned in the space of a heartbeat. Exhausted from the week just behind her and the stress of dealing with her double-life, she'd called it a night early. Her coworker's call had awakened her from a sound sleep.

"No... it's..." Beth paused and swallowed hard. She had to get this right. Her friend had to cooperate. "Jamie...do you trust me?"

"What?!" The startled young woman sat up in her bed, groping for her bedside lamp, squinting at the sudden light.. Her thin cotton nightgown was translucent against her light brown skin. "You aren't making any sense. Of course I trust you. What's going on?" Please don't let it be Durand. Don't let it be Crucis!

"This is going to be hard to understand but I need to ask you to do something for me. I can't explain myself and you're just going to have to trust me that it's the right thing to do."

"Beth, you're scaring me."

I'm scaring myself. "I'm sorry about that, Jamie. It's Carl. I need-"

"What's happened to Carl?!" Shivering, Jamie frantically scrambled for her hoodie, draped carelessly over the foot of her bed. She struggled into it as she talked, tugging the thick fabric over her mass of curly brown hair. "Is he all right, Beth?"

"He's fine, Jamie. He just left Mick's place and he's on his way home. But I need for you to stop him before he gets there!

"Stop him? What do you mean?" Now that she knew Carl was okay, Jamie's mind kicked into high gear. What had happened when the detective visited Mick St. John? Had the vampire revealed himself? Not possible.

"Jamie, I can't explain how I know, but it isn't safe for Carl to go back to his place right now. You have to keep him away until I call you back!" Beth's voice was frantic now. This is Carl's only chance.

Her mind replayed the scene at Mick's apartment after Davis left.

As soon as Mick had admitted the contents of the thermos in Carl's possession, Josef had exploded.

"Jesus Christ! What is this, the Laurel and Hardy show?! What the hell were you doing taking a thermos of blood with you? In a car! With a COP!" He had bellowed the last word, shooting up out of his chair to storm over to his friend.

"It was my idea, Josef," Beth had said in a small voice.

"What?!" The irate vampire had wheeled on her. "Your idea?"

"Mick's been in trouble before when he was out in the desert without blood - I didn't want him to take that chance."

"You didn't want him to." Josef's voice had grown icy. "Well, I'm so glad that you are calling the shots now for the vampire community. That takes the pressure off me," he'd growled sarcastically.

"Josef, I-"

"I don't need to hear any more, Beth. You've just signed your friend's death warrant."

"NO!" she'd cried, her eyes filling with tears.

"That's enough, Josef!" Mick had said sharply, stepping in between the two of them, still in his bathrobe and sweats.

"Yeah, you're right. It is enough. Enough to get Detective Davis killed. Dammit, Mick, you think I want to do this? I liked the guy." Josef had spread his hands helplessly. "But you tell me how else we handle this. You gave a cop a thermos of blood to open. How can that possibly be explained?! We don't have a choice."

Beth had chosen that moment to speak up. "What if we get to it first?"

"What?!" both men had chorused, looking at her as if she'd lost her mind.

Maybe she had.

She'd quickly explained her idea, born out of desperation.

"Would she do it without asking questions?" Josef's tone had been doubtful.

"No," Beth had admitted truthfully. "She'll ask questions - but I think I can get her to do it anyway. It'll work, Josef." By then, she'd been poised with the phone in her hand, waiting for his agreement.

With a sigh, Josef had nodded. "I'll get staked by the Council if they ever find this out," he'd muttered. "Or toasted like a marshmallow."

"Thanks, man," Mick had said gratefully. "We'll take care of this. I promise."

"Yeah, yeah." Josef had waved his hand and stomped over to the island to pour himself a generous glass of scotch. "I'll believe it when I see it. Oh, and I will see it - I'm not leaving until I know this is resolved." With a scowl, he'd moved back to his chair as Beth had frantically dialed Jamie's number.

Now he sat, sipping scotch and listening to the conversation with interest as the civilian investigator tried to convince her co-worker to intervene with Carl Davis.

"Jamie?"

The young woman huddled on her bed, hugging her knees as she thought hard. Of course, she would help if it meant Carl's safety. But she tried to think like Aleksa. How could she use this to her advantage?

"Beth, I- I just don't know. What am I getting myself involved in?" Jamie made herself sound doubtful.

"Nothing, Jamie!" Beth's voice rose and she got herself back under control with difficulty as precious minutes ticked by. "I wouldn't ask you to do anything illegal. It's not. It's just-" She thought fast and talked faster. "There's someone waiting for Carl at his house. It- it's a personal thing." Desperately, she wove a believable story. "You know Carl was married once, right? His wife had an affair with his old partner and it was ugly. The guy apparently got it into his head that Carl was back in the picture and he's at Carl's house, waiting to confront him. Mick found out about it and he rounded up some of his P.I. buddies to head over there. If Carl gets there first..."

"Why don't you just call Carl and let him know?!"

Beth sighed. "You know how these men are, Jamie." She cast a black glance in Mick's direction. "If I call him, he'll go right there and maybe get himself suspended again - or killed."

"No maybe about it," Josef muttered under his breath, earning a glower from Beth.

Jamie reached a decision. "Okay, Beth."

"That's great, Jamie." Beth blew out a sigh of relief. "But you have to call him right away, before he gets home."

"I'll do it...on one condition."

"What?!"

"One condition, Beth. I get to see Mick." Knowing that the woman on the other end of the call would be suspicious, she tried her best to convey that she was trying to help. "Look, this isn't for fun." She hesitated briefly. "I have information from a reliable source that Mick's in danger too and I need to let him - let you both - know what's going on. It's best I do it in person.." Her voice was firm, betraying none of the doubt she felt. What would she do if Beth refused? You'll still call Carl - but she doesn't know that. Time to play poker, Jamie...

Beth's startled gaze met Mick's. She knew that both vampires had been able to hear both sides of the conversation.

Without hesitation, Mick nodded. Whatever Jamie had to tell him, it was worth hearing her out in exchange for her help in saving the detective.

"I don't think-" Kostan began with a worried frown.

"Stop, Josef." Mick held up his hand to the L.A. vampire leader. "This is my call. It won't hurt to just talk to her - and if she can convince Carl to come to her place, that will give us time to get to that thermos. Beth, you tell her yes - but we call the shots on where and when."

Reluctantly, the billionaire nodded his acquiescence, swallowing his reservations. Yeah, because nothing bad can come of all this...

"All right," Beth agreed hesitantly. "Deal. Time and place of our choosing though. And you have to call Carl immediately, Jamie!"

"I will. I promise. I'll let you know if I have any trouble getting him over." Jamie thought back to their last conversation. This is going to be tricky. "But Beth..."

"Yes?"

"I have to talk to Mick this week. It's for his own safety." Jamie punched at the screen, disconnecting the call before Beth could argue.

Beth dropped the phone on the kitchen island with nerveless fingers and looked up at Mick anxiously, wiping her suddenly moist palms on the legs of her jeans. "I have no idea why she wants to talk to you, Mick."

"It'll be fine," he said soothingly, reaching out to pull her closer and put his arm around her. "She's just going to talk to me. No harm ever came from just talking."

Josef groaned. "Finagle's Law."

"What?" the couple chorused.

"Finagle's Law of Negative Dynamics. Basically, whatever can go wrong, will go wrong - at the worst possible moment - when you tempt fate with comments like 'no harm ever came from just talking'. I will say, though, that was a nice job of blackmail, Blondie."

"I didn't blackmail her!" Beth protested. "I...convinced her. If anything, she blackmailed me!"

"Sure, have it your way." The elder vampire waved his hand dismissively. "And look - now all you have to do is break into this cop's house without being seen, swipe the thermos without him noticing, get out of there without being caught...and you're home free," he sniped sarcastically.

"Back off, Josef," Mick almost snarled. "This isn't Beth's fault. It's mine. She didn't force me to take that damn thermos."

"She-" Kostan began, his eyes flashing anger.

"Oh, stop it, you two!" Beth shouted, exasperated. "We don't have time for a blame game here. We have to get to Carl's. And we aren't taking the thermos, Josef - that would be stupid. Carl Davis is a detective; he'd notice that it was gone right away. I mean, it's on his mind because he brought it up - thank god! We're just going to make sure it's clean as a whistle."

"You don't think he'd notice that?!" Josef decided to ignore the fact that he was letting a human woman tell him what to do - a human woman who had just, in essence, called him stupid.

"He'd have no way to know that Mick didn't already clean it out," Beth explained impatiently. "He obviously hasn't opened it yet - he said as much."

"And I did drink it all, so there would only be dregs left." Mick paused, then added, "We would have picked up on it if he had any inkling about us, Josef - you know that. So we can be sure he hasn't looked in it."

Kostan sighed. "Okay, I'm willing to give this a shot. You two had better haul ass. I just hope your friend is as persuasive as you are, Blondie."

Beth grabbed her bag and headed to the door, Mick on her heels. Abruptly, she stopped, looking her companion up and down. "You'd better get dressed. No point in calling attention to us."

Behind them, Josef guffawed. "Yeah, 'cause a vampire breaking into someone's house in the middle of the night is definitely not going to draw attention..."

"Oh, for crying out loud," Mick exclaimed, looking down and taking in the heavy bandages and bathrobe he still wore.. He flew up the stairs at blinding speed and was back down at the door in a matter of seconds, dressed in jeans and a henley shirt, the bandages discarded on the floor of his freezer room. "Let's go. Stay here, Josef."

"I wouldn't dream of leaving. It's just getting interesting..." Kostan said to the closing door, then turned back to his drink. Damn, I need to change that friggin' music!

End Song: Subterfuge, Rosetta Stone