86Moonlight: Darkness
Book 2 of the Moonlight Chronicles
Chapter 1
Everything Changes
Author's note: Hi folks! For those of you who don't have alerts set up, I wanted to post the 1st half of the first chapter of book 2 of 3, Moonlight: Darkness continuing the Moonlight story. For the complete story, please search for Moonlight: Darkness. If you haven't read the just completed Book 1, Moonlight: The Next Chapter, much of this won't make sense as it is a lengthy book with new storylines & new characters to go along with our much-loved original characters from Moonlight, the TV series. I hope you'll find the new book and read along. Enjoy!
Intro song: The Times, They Are A-Changing, Bob Dylan
Beth Turner sat at her desk, chin propped on one hand as her blue eyes studied the clock, her forehead creased in a frown. Two o'clock? How could it possibly be only two o'clock!? It didn't help that her one true friend in the office, Jamie Sommers, was out this week with what had been described as a family emergency.
What if it's about that missing family member? This had been nagging at Beth all week. She'd dropped the ball on that after promising to connect Jamie with Mick. Of course, all hell had broken loose shortly after that, but still…
With a sigh, she turned back to the computer screen in front of her, irritably flipping her long blond hair back from her face as she scanned yet another incomplete report from a detective who appeared not to give a crap. If they don't want to be doing this job, why don't they go flip burgers or something, she thought peevishly. As the only civilian investigator in ADA Ben Talbot's office, she was used to being out in the L.A. community, interviewing people, checking crime scenes, chasing down leads...
Not this week, though.
Ever since her return on Monday from the emergency leave she'd taken when Mick had been shot, Beth had been chained - unhappily - to this desk. "Every. Friggin'. Minute." she muttered aloud, then shot a glance around her cubicle to make sure that no one had overheard her talking to herself. Again.
She couldn't prove it, but Beth felt certain that her boss was punishing her for having been unreachable for over two weeks. Ben Talbot had been acquainted with her since her days as an online reporter for BuzzWire, a web-based news and tabloid service. He knew how much she abhorred being tied to a desk. It just wasn't in her high-energy, insanely curious nature to sit on the sidelines. When he'd hired her, he'd assured her she wouldn't be a glorified admin. He'd said he wanted someone who looked at things differently, saw what more conventional investigators might miss.
That was then. Now… Her relationship with Talbot had been strained ever since she'd returned to work. If she were being completely honest with herself, however, much of that tension came from her. Why had she let Josef talk her into coming back to work here instead of quitting? She sighed. Because he was right.
Kostan had appealed to her sense of outrage over Talbot's role in Mick's ill-fated trip to San Diego. He'd convinced her that there was cause for suspicion. That someone needed to be a mole in the ADA's office and keep an eye on what was happening, in case there was something going on that could spell more trouble for vampires.
Beth had agreed because she had not been able to shake the feeling that Talbot had somehow had something to do with the near-fatal ambush of Mick St. John and Carl Davis in the San Ysidro Desert. To be honest, however, she had no proof, nothing concrete on which to base this theory. Talbot's only apparent connection to the near-tragedy had been that he had been the one who sent the two men on the fact-finding trip to San Diego. Still...
The bottom line was, she didn't trust Talbot - which meant that she needed to be in the ADA's office to help protect Mick, Josef and their friends. The young woman had hesitantly mentioned her misgivings to Carl Davis when he had called her to arrange a time to visit the still-recovering St. John – leaving out the part about vampires, of course. The detective had heard her out, then countered her with his own view of the situation.
"Look, Beth, there is certainly no love lost between Talbot and me. I damn near punched his lights out the night Mick was-" The detective had paused, the nightmare images of that terrible evening still disturbing to him even then, several weeks later. There had been a long silence before he was able to compose himself enough to finish awkwardly, "Anyway, that night..."
When Beth had remained silent, he had continued, "Talbot was as shocked as any of us over what happened - and as puzzled about why. He may be a jerk and a dickhead, but he's not a murderer." He'd snorted, then added, "Let me amend that. He is a jerk and a dickhead - but not a murderer."
They had both laughed.
Davis had reiterated over and over that Mick had saved him from certain death. "If I thought for an instant that Ben had anything to do with what happened, you'd have to pull me off him - after I pounded him to a bloody pulp! I just think Mick and I were in a really bad place at the worst possible time. And I owe him my life. I'll never forget what he did for me."
Beth couldn't help wondering if Carl would still feel gratitude if he knew Mick was a vampire. Would you feel the same then?
That was unfair, of course. No one could possibly be prepared for the idea that there really were such things as vampires. She wasn't proud of how she, herself, had handled the revelation when she'd walked in on Mick, hurt and sick from being hit multiple times with silver buckshot from the gun of the ex-convict, Lee Jay Spalding. While he was rescuing your friend, Julia, from that psychopath. The memory still filled her with guilt.
"Please don't look at me."
She still remembered how horrified and frightened he'd sounded when she'd barged in on him in his penthouse, his pain-wracked body huddled over bags of blood. The look of anguish - and shame - on his face that night was etched into her brain forever.
At that stage in their relationship, she had had no idea that he was the man who had saved her as a child when she was kidnapped, but he'd already rescued her from a psycho graduate student hell-bent on killing her to protect his mentor. Yet, when she'd seen him - the eyes, the fangs, the blood - she'd asked him that terrible question, the one that still haunted her.
"What are you?"
Not "Who are you?" or "What's wrong with you?", but "What are you?" as if he were, truly, the monster she later learned he believed himself to be.
His answer had been simple - yet unbelievable. "I'm a vampire."
And how had she repaid her rescuer when his secret was uncovered? She'd turned tail and run, that's how. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, she'd panicked and fled, backing out the wide-open front door without taking her eyes off the injured man, afraid that if she turned to run, he might come after her. Without saying another word, she'd left him to cope with his injuries as best he could.
True, she had gone back later and confronted him - and her fears. But it had taken days... and several sleepless nights. Looking back on it and knowing what she knew now about vampires - but, more importantly, what she now knew about Mick and the kind of man he was - it was one of the most shameful moments of her life. He had been gracious and forgiving of her abandonment of him, which had made her actions worse in her mind.
No, the detective could not be faulted for being unprepared for the idea - and reality - of vampires.
With a start, Beth realized that a half-hour had flown by while she was deep in thought. She wanted to leave the office and this interminable work week behind her, and spend a quiet weekend with Mick. Not too quiet, it's been a week, you know, and that means… She blushed at the thoughts that filled her head and glanced around quickly, as if afraid that someone in the office might have somehow heard what she was thinking.
A week's recuperation meant that some of Dr. Spector's restrictions on Mick's activities would be lifted. Including sex. Initially, being back in his penthouse alone together hadn't been too difficult as the injured vampire was still weak and slept most of the time while his body healed from his horrendous injuries.
As the days went by, however, and he began to regain his strength, it had gotten increasingly difficult to be in such close proximity without being able to be physical. Accidentally brushing against one another, hands touching, catching glimpses of nakedness… It was becoming torture for them both.
Mentally shaking herself, she turned back to the task at hand. The sooner her work was done, the sooner this interminable Friday would be over. And tomorrow night...
Her lips curved into a smile as she contemplated the weekend ahead, a weekend with all of Mick's restrictions lifted. Yes, this Friday couldn't end soon enough...
You'll find the complete chapter 1 of Moonlight, The Next Chapter: Darkness in the new novel under that title.