47Moonlight, The Next Chapter: Darkness
Chapter 26
Revelations
Author's Note: There are a lot of revelations in this chapter. The story – and the characters – let me know it was time - and it took a long time to write it the way I wanted it. There's a very long scene between Mick, Beth and Jamie – one of the longer ones I've written – but there was a lot to talk about! Some things may answer many of the questions you've had – but others will probably raise more questions than they answer!
I hope you enjoy it – and I'd really love your feedback so I know if I'm hitting the mark here.
Intro song: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, Cyndi Lauper (trust me on this, it's great)
Gabrielle lay on her side in the pre-dawn Sunday light, her head propped up on one hand as she watched the sleeping man beside her. His well-muscled chest rose and fell in a steady, peaceful rhythm. She could hear his heart beating and see his pulse in his carotid artery. She was drawn to this man, not because she wanted to feed on him but because she was, if she were being honest with herself, falling for him. It didn't hurt that they had amazing sex together. Toe-curling, mind-blowing sex.
Dammit.
Wasn't this what she'd been searching for? "I don't know," she whispered.
His breathing changed. Without opening his eyes, Matt Cassidy whispered back, "I do." A smile was already on his face as he cracked one eye open slightly, his thick eyelashes casting a shadow on his cheek.
"No, you don't," she said quietly.
"I don't?"
"Ha! Don't commit to something until you know what it is!"
"Point well-taken. So, what is it exactly that I said 'I do' to?"
"You don't really know me. You just think you do."
"I disagree. Vehemently." He rolled onto his side, facing her, propping his head up to mimic her position. "I have talked more with you in the last 2 days than I have in a year of being with any woman I've had a relationship with! I know you, Coco," he insisted.
She just shook her head at him. No you don't. If you did, you'd run screaming from this bed… For the first time in her entire existence, she regretted being a vampire. But if she weren't, she'd have never met this man at all…
"Hey." Matt reached out to touch her cheek. "I don't know about other relationships you've been in, I'll give you that. Maybe they were jerks or didn't appreciate the woman in front of them. I won't pry, that's up to you to decide what to tell me. But that's not me. I see you, Coco. And," he added, when he saw her open her mouth to respond, "before you accuse me of giving you some line, I mean it. You are the most interesting, well-read person I've ever met. You are the one who should probably be a teacher." He sighed, allowing his hand to drift down to rest on her slender hip. "I do have to admit though, you are incredibly beautiful, which does complicate matters."
Gabby smiled in spite of herself. "How does the fact that I don't look like the Bride of Frankenstein complicate matters?"
He snorted. "I'd say you are pretty far away from looking like a monster. I can say, with confidence, that you are pretty much at the opposite end of the attractiveness scale from the Bride of Frankenstein! But you know, self-deprecating humor is the most endearing kind, so... Are you trying to make me fall in love with you?"
I don't know.
"Love is too complicated. I'm just trying to get you to like me a lot."
Matt threw back his head and laughed hard. He had a delightful belly laugh that she already loved to hear. "Well, I think you've succeeded," he finally managed to get out.
With a playful punch at his arm, she said, "You didn't answer my question. So, how does that complicate matters?"
"In my experience with beautiful women – which I assure you is extremely limited - they tend to be very wary and cynical with men. I'm sure you've heard every possible pick-up line there is and had countless declarations of love, am I right?"
Gabby thought back over her long history. "Probably even some you've never heard of," she conceded.
"There you go. Makes a person distrustful. If I were a beautiful woman – a stretch, I'll admit!" he added when he saw her smirk. "If I were, I'd suspect every man I met of just wanting to get into my pants."
Her smile was cynical. "And you'd be right."
"Men!" he exclaimed disparagingly, causing them both to laugh. Then he sobered. "That's not what I'm about, Coco. I got all that out of my system long ago."
"Oh yeah?" she retorted cynically.
"I'm not saying I wasn't like that once upon a time - men are immature jerks, after all – but I'm done with all that. I'm probably older than you so I've sown my wild oats, as people like to say. I'm attracted to people of substance. People that I can have lifelong relationships with, at least as friends, if not more…" His tone had shifted and he stared at her intently, then reached out to touch her cheek. "I mean that, Coco. I think I've been looking for you for a long time. I just didn't know it."
She didn't know whether to laugh or cry, hug him or punch him. The voice inside her head screamed at her. You are going to be terribly hurt, Gabby! You are a monster and someday you'll have to tell him. When you do, he'll never look at you like this again… Maybe she should just tell him now. Get it over with. It would mean no more lovely encounters like this but at least it wouldn't make it even harder when he eventually left her after more time together.
"I can almost assuredly say that you haven't been looking for me, Matt. I have…baggage… Lots of it." The face of the human prisoner she'd killed in front of the Council floated through her mind.
"Tell me, then. Let's get it all out in the open so we can deal with it. Please…" He was almost begging now. "Coco, I know it sounds crazy after such a short time, but I- I'm falling in love with you. I want you. There's nothing you could tell me that would make me change my mind about you!"
Wanna bet? Tell him, Gabrielle. Get it over with, rip off the band-aid.
"Hold me," she demanded. When he drew her close, Gabby snuggled tightly against him, pressing her cheek over his heart. She didn't want to see Matt's face when she told him she was a monster.
"First of all, you can't be older than me. I'm 125 years old…"
"Thanks for agreeing to meet." Jamie Sommers gratefully accepted the mug of coffee Beth offered. She hadn't slept much the night before, worrying about how this encounter would go. "I hope I didn't mess up your Sunday plans."
"No, it's fine – and it's us who need to thank you for your help last weekend. We think the world of Carl and…" Beth hesitated, throwing a look of desperation at Mick, who jumped in.
"And I was worried about him. You can blame me, not Beth, for screwing up your weekend. I realize I never got the chance to explain why…"
"No," Jamie said quietly, sipping her coffee. No chicory, but still good. "You didn't." On the way over, she had decided to take her cue from the two of them. But she was not about to make it easier for them to lie. When the opportunity presented itself for her to divulge more, well…
Mick raised an eyebrow at Beth. Something was definitely off here. He launched into the story he and Beth had concocted. "Right before we called you, I got a tip from an informant I've worked with a lot over the years. He was recently released from prison and his cellmate was some guy Carl had arrested and put away long ago for attempted murder. My contact told me that the guy had been obsessed with getting revenge on Carl. Talked about it all the time. He called me to say he'd been contacted by the con – he'd been released a few hours before and was looking for a gun. He knew we worked together so he wanted to let me know so I could warn Carl. I was afraid that the thug could show up at his house at any time."
Not bad, Jamie thought, still sipping her coffee. If I didn't know better… "That's very concerning, of course, but I don't understand why you wouldn't have wanted Carl there? He could have arrested the creep."
"I just thought it'd be safer for him if he wasn't there. It was Carl that the con was gunning for, not me. He didn't know me from Adam, so I could approach him more easily."
"So what happened?"
"I…stopped him." Brilliant response, St. John. Does this sound as lame to her as it does to me?
"Meaning…?"
"I, uhm, gave him a few reasons why coming after Carl wasn't…nutritional…for him and then gave him the opportunity to leave L.A. and never come back."
"But he's a convicted felon who's just been paroled. He can't leave the area without permission." She was almost enjoying herself as she watched Mick twist himself into a pretzel, trying to make his tale hang together. Almost.
Shit. If Jamie didn't work at the ADA's office, this part would be easy. He had to finesse the rest of the story. "His type doesn't much care about what parole officers think, Jamie. He was already planning to skip town – after killing Carl. I just gave him an escort to the border. If he ever comes back, he knows I'll be ready for him."
Before Jamie could respond, Beth stepped in. "I know you'll will keep your feelers out to make sure this guy never gets near Carl, won't you Mick?" She gazed up at the tall vampire, a smile on her face. This is going to work. It has to…
"Absolutely. You can count on me, Jamie. I don't want anything to happen to him; Carl's a good guy. Besides, it's hard to find someone with the same taste in music as me," he added with a grin.
"Thank you. I appreciate that." Jamie set her coffee mug down on the island. "I also appreciate the effort you put into concocting that story." A shiver ran down her spine as she stared into the eyes of the vampire she was confronting. She could only hope that her impressions of him – and Beth – were correct and that no harm would come to her.
"What are you talking about?!" Beth broke in before a startled Mick St. John could respond. "I was with Mick when all this happened. He's telling you the truth! Why would we lie?" Her voice raised on the last word, more than she had intended. Her fear for her new friend was real – she knew all too well what happened to people who threatened vampires' secrets. This is all my fault for insisting Mick take a damn thermos of blood to San Diego…
"I know, Beth."
"What do you mean?" Don't say it. Please don't say it.
Jamie steeled herself. She felt like the next words she uttered would change her life forever. She turned to face Mick and said again, quietly, "I know. I know you're a vampire, Mick. I've known since before we even met at the office."
The couple in front of her appeared frozen in place, their faces stricken.
"Jamie- " Mick began, his tone sorrowful, as if he'd just heard that his best friend had died. Behind him, Beth had tears in her eyes.
She held up her hand, interrupting him. "Before you say anything, let me explain. Please? I mean you absolutely no harm. I- I just want to help."
"Help?" Beth blurted, outraged. "Help with what, Jamie? I-"
"It's okay, Beth. Let's hear her out, okay?" Why not? This couldn't get any worse, could it? Don't ask that… "We'd better sit down." Mick headed for the sofa, grabbing Beth's hand and squeezing it reassuringly as he pulled her along with him.
As soon as they were all seated, Jamie began to speak. "First of all, I want to assure you that I haven't shared your secret with anyone and I don't intend to. Like I said, I'm here to help, not hurt."
"Who are you really, Jamie? Because it's clear you aren't just an admin, looking for a friend in a new city." Beth's voice held a note of bitterness as she added, "Tell me why you used me to get to Mick."
"It wasn't like that, Beth. I mean-" Be honest. "I mean, it started out that way, I admit it. But I like you – a lot. I wanted us to be friends. I still do. And I didn't start working at the ADA's office just to meet you. I started working there because my organization had pinpointed L.A. as a potential danger zone for vampires and they've had success tracking what's going on in different locations when they've been able to place personnel in D.A. offices."
Mick leaned forward, his eyes glittering dangerously. "Who do you work for, Jamie?" He could hear her heart hammering in her chest. She was certainly nervous – but since she knew he was a vampire, that was also understandable. But was she telling the truth? He had no idea.
Well, now it gets real. The young woman took a deep breath to calm herself. "I am part of an organization called Auxilium. It's been around for decades, mostly an underground operation. It's not very large and the majority of us are volunteers." She hesitated, then added, "Everyone who works for Auxilium knows about vampires."
"What does Auxilium want?" There was an edge to Mick's voice and his eyes were several shades lighter than they had been just a moment before.
Beth caught his tone and laid a hand comfortingly on his arm. Now it was her turn to reassure him. They needed information and Jamie was the only one who could supply it. Scaring and threatening her wouldn't get them what they sought.
The vampire responded to her touch. Catching himself, he leaned back, his eyes returning to their normal blue hazel. In a less threatening tone of voice, he asked his question again. "Sorry. What's the objective of Auxilium?"
"Auxilium is committed to protecting vampires. In fact, auxilium is a Latin word that means 'aid' or 'assistance'."
He retorted disdainfully, "Okay, someone was cute with the name. But what does that even mean? Give us assistance how exactly?"
"Mainly we try to protect you from an organization called Crucis."
At the mention of Crucis, Mick jumped up and began to pace agitatedly. Crucis again! He stopped, towering over the young woman seated in the armchair, and demanded, "Tell me what you know about them!" The edge in his voice was back and he saw Jamie shrink back in her chair, obviously frightened of him. He wasn't proud of it but, dammit, how was it that this human knew more about this organization than he did? Fuck, Josef!
"I- I don't know all that much, Mick. I'm more of a low level field worker for Auxilium so I'm not privy to everything. I do have some actual exposure to Crucis though." She proceeded to tell the story of her experience in New Orleans during and after Katrina, first with CHOIR, then with Crucis. She ended with a recounting of her recruitment by Crucis, her gradual understanding of what they were really about, then her fleeing New Orleans, and subsequent decision to go to work for Auxilium. "I was on the run for several years until I felt certain that no one from Crucis was coming after me. I still didn't truly feel safe though – and I was furious at what they had done to my life. I also thought what they were doing was wrong. I still do," she added quietly. "When I was working for them, I'd heard a lot about what a pain in the ass Auxilium was for them, so I decided I wanted to check them out. I've been part of their organization ever since."
Beth broke in. "Christophe Durand is the head of CHOIR. Is that why you were afraid of him when he showed up at Talbot's office?"
Jamie looked at her friend sorrowfully. Is she still my friend? "He's not just head of CHOIR, Beth. He's a monster who's had many people killed – humans and vamps. He's head of Crucis too."
The silence in the room was deafening as the couple tried to process what Jamie was telling them. Mick sat back down next to Beth and put his arm around her as if trying to shield her from all this.
I was going to bring him to see Mick, Beth thought over and over. The idea nauseated her. She might have brought a murderer into their home and put his life in mortal danger. "Why didn't you tell me!" she burst out. "Mick could have been killed!"
Now it was his turn to calm her, squeezing her closer to him reassuringly. "But I wasn't, Beth."
"I wanted to tell you!" Jamie cried. "But I report to others - higher ranking leaders in Auxilium. They make the decisions about who gets what information, not me. I had to wait until I was given the okay to approach you. Besides," she added defensively, "before we got to know each other, would you have let me talk to both of you? Would you have believed me?"
"I'm still not sure I believe you," Beth shot back angrily.
"What reason would I have to lie? Why would I put myself in danger by confronting a vampire?"
"That's my question too, Jamie." Mick responded quietly. Cool and calm, St. John. That's how you get information… "Look, I can understand your wanting revenge on this Crucis organization for disrupting your life, and I get that you would feel safer by being part of Auxilium. But why do you really care what happens to vampires? And even more importantly, why would Auxilium care?"
"Before I made the decision to join Auxilium, I talked to a lot of their field operatives. I wanted to be sure that they really meant what they said about protecting vampires, and why. Got to be good friends with some of them – and most of them were killed. Crucis sees people who help vampires as every bit as bad as vampires themselves. People like you and I, Beth." Jamie looked sadly at her. "They have no qualms about killing humans, including my friends. I wanted to avenge them." Her curls bounced on her shoulders as she looked at the vampire. She smiled slightly. "I'm not nearly as good a church-going southern girl as I let on. I have a dark side too."
"Revenge…For me, that's a dish that's tasty hot or cold. If I can't live for love... I'll live for revenge." Josef's words to her as they waited to see if Mick would live or die came back to Beth. Revenge was, indeed, a powerful motivation. "I understand revenge as a reason, believe me. But what about Mick's other question – why does Auxilium care what happens to vampires?"
Jamie sighed. This was where things got complicated. As if they weren't already more complicated than a Rube Goldberg machine… "I'm going to tell you what I was told by Auxilium leaders. I'll also tell you that I don't know for certain that this is the truth. I can say, though, that I've had my antennae up ever since I was fooled by CHOIR. And everything I've seen and heard since I joined Auxilium – every action they've taken – supports what they told me. But I've been fooled before so…"
"Understood,. So tell us." The vampire's words were clipped. Next to him, he could feel the tension in Beth's rigid body.
"The founder of Auxilium was a guy named Tim Wales. He found out about vampires accidentally. Came upon one who was, uhm..." She shifted uncomfortably on her chair. What's considered an insult in the vampire world? She had no idea.
"Drinking blood?" Mick filled in her sentence. When she nodded, he gave her a slight smile. "That kinda goes along with being a vampire. You won't offend me."
"Thanks," she responded gratefully. "I- I don't want to offend you, believe me. Anyway, yes, he was drinking but it was being done with the consent of the…donor, I guess you would say?"
Now Mick couldn't help himself; he smiled more broadly as he said, "We call them 'freshies'.
"Oh! I did not know that! Anyway, the story I was told was that North knew the, uhm, freshie, and she helped convince the vampire not to kill him. They all became friends. Both men loved her, but she eventually married the human. A few years later, she became ill. Some form of incurable cancer, I believe. North and the vampire started brainstorming about how vampire blood might be used as a cure for illnesses like that. They agreed to work on it together in hopes of finding a way to help her."
"And did they?" Beth was intrigued in spite of herself.
"No. At least not in time to save North's wife. It was a long time ago; science and technology weren't what they are now. She had been so hopeful and excited about what they might be able to do to save her that the two men who loved her didn't want to give it up. They decided to keep working on a way to use vampire blood to cure diseases as a- a kind of tribute to her, I guess." She fell silent.
"And so Auxilium…?" Mick prodded gently.
Jamie shook her head. "Sorry. They formed Auxilium as a non-profit. North came from a wealthy family so he provided the start-up funding. Part of the agreement was that they would protect one another. The vampire would shelter North from other vamps and humans that might try to do him harm – and, in return, he would keep their secret and give assistance when needed to help the vampires survive in the human world. At first, it was just North and a few trusted advisors, but over time, more people joined the effort, both as employees and supporters."
"They wanted to help vampires?" Beth was incredulous.
"No, not really," Jamie corrected her. "In the beginning, it was kind of like CHOIR, I guess, because people who worked there didn't know the full story or reason behind Auxilium. They only knew the organization was dedicated to working with a certain group of people that they had determined possessed what they called 'genetic idiosyncrasies' that showed promise in research toward curing various diseases. And of course, the identities of those individuals were shielded. For research purposes. At least, that's what everyone was told, according to people I talked to who were around before me."
"And now?" Mick was intrigued with the story in spite of himself.
"Like I said, everyone who is still part of the organization knows the truth. Over time, the leadership brought more people into their circle and shared the truth. Individuals they didn't think they could trust were given packages and asked to leave. This all happened around the time of the housing crisis and financial crash. One of my acquaintances said they were told it was a downsizing because of the drop in donations so no one questioned it too much."
"But that didn't come from your bosses. Did they tell you anything?"
Jamie bristled at Beth's tone. "They told me almost everything! The only part they didn't mention was about telling people they were let go because of the financial crash. That happened right before I joined – remember, I was on the run for a couple of years after Katrina, which hit in August of 2005. That was about the time they started leveling with people they were sure they could trust. The rest they weeded out over the next couple of years, so by the time I came on board in 2009, everyone left with Auxilium knew the truth. I filled in a few of the details myself by asking some questions. It was a pretty lean operation for quite a while, but they've been working on building it back up…in order to re-establish contact with vampires."
Mick raised an eyebrow at the last comment. "Re-establish? What happened?"
Jamie shifted uneasily in her chair. "That is the one part I don't really know much about. I've heard two different stories - one was that when North died and the vampire he'd worked with didn't trust Auxilium leadership, so he cut ties. The other-" She hesitated. Don't leave anything out. They have to know that they can trust you. "- the other is that the vampire was killed and they've never had success in connecting with another who would work with them."
"Is that your job then? To make a connection with me?"
"I have two jobs. One is to facilitate introductions for my leadership with the highest ranking vampires in the L.A. community – and that would be you and Josef. They would be the ones to talk to you about joining forces."
Beth was startled to hear Jamie describe Mick as one of the two highest ranking vampires in L.A. She'd never thought of him that way. What else have I been missing? With effort, she dragged her attention back to the ongoing conversation between Jamie and Mick.
"And the other?"
"To keep my ear to the ground and identify ways that we can help keep vampires safe."
"Why here? And why now?"
"We are trying to get positioned with high-level vampires in many large communities, not just L.A., but it's been hard. I just happened to get an opportunity."
"Through me!" Beth couldn't quite get over her outrage at what she saw as having been used by the New Orleans native. "You never did have a 'missing' uncle, did you?"
Jamie looked guilty. "No, and I'm sorry for misleading you, I truly am. But it wasn't so much that you gave me the opportunity, Beth. It was the attack on Mick." She turned to the vampire. "I'm sure that you're fine now and the invalid act is just for show, right?" Without waiting for an answer, she plunged ahead. This was her one chance with the couple, and she was determined not to blow it. "That attack on you had to be orchestrated by Crucis. Carl told me about it – how badly you were hurt, how you mentioned silver to him…and he found a silver bullet casing at the site."
Mick jumped up off the sofa again at those words. "Carl didn't tell me that!"
"Carl didn't tell anyone that – except me." She smiled wryly. "I don't think he'd have told me either, but he'd had a lot to drink. He called me the night you were…I mean, the night everything happened. I went over to see him because I was worried about him. He was really torn up about it, Mick. He felt responsible for your safety and thought he hadn't done his job. He was fixated on the shell casing he'd found."
"That's not good." The vampire resumed pacing up and down in front of the sofa, running his hand worriedly through his hair. "Where is it now?"
"As far as I know, he still has it. I know he hasn't shown it to anyone in the department – and I also know he has no intention of doing so. He's convinced that Talbot had more to do with the ambush than any of us know and he's determined to get to the bottom of it. It's pretty much an…obsession with him now."
"So the ambush – and its aftermath - gave you the opportunity to make contact. But what's the reason behind the urgency? Why now?" he repeated.
"Because," Jamie said softly, avoiding their eyes, "Crucis has something very big planned. We don't know all the details but we know they are organizing an attack on vampires around the country. They plan to wipe you out. All of you and any human who helps you," she emphasized, glancing at Beth.
Mick stopped pacing, looking down at the stricken face of his lover. What have I done to you, Beth? What kind of danger have I put you in? "It'll be okay," he said, striving for a tone of reassurance.
"Really?" Beth challenged him. "An entire organization is devoted to wiping all of you out and it'll be okay? How exactly will it be okay, Mick?" The fear in her voice – fear for him - was palpable.
"Well, they haven't been successful so far, and from what Jamie says, they've been trying for a long time."
"This time may be different." Tell him the bad news, Jamie. He needs to know. They need to know.
Mick wheeled on her. "How is it different now? What else haven't you told us?!"
"Crucis has a lot of true believers – fanatics who think that vampires are some creatures spawned in hell or something. A scourge that has to be wiped off the earth before you annihilate humans. That's the way they think. They've always had a small army of committed followers, but they didn't always have the resources to carry out any of their plans. Now, they do."
"What's changed?"
"Crucis was given an endowment of many millions of dollars not long ago. Our intelligence said it was over $300 million, although we haven't been able to verify the exact amount yet. The way the stock market has been, it's probably well over that by now. Enough to bankroll whatever plot they've concocted…"
"Fuck. Me." Mick said.
"Fuck us all," Jamie Sommers amended solemnly.
End song: Marching the Hate Machine Into the Sun, Thievery Corporation