No Boundaries - part four (PG13)

[Shadow]

Disclaimer: Moonlight is not mine and no copyright infringement is intended.





IN BETWEEN
sixteen and . . .






No Boundaries
part four




Ben Talbot was in a vile mood when he got back from his meeting with the mayor. As he’d expected, Emma Monaghan’s escape had somehow become his responsibility. No matter that he’d tried to have her held where she was for long enough to find out more about her, and had been summarily overruled. That thought made him frown. Most likely, in spite of her escape, he could attribute her peculiar strength to hysteria or drugs. She was a high profile figure, after all, at least in the world of college sports. But he couldn’t help but wonder, especially now that he’d seen that list, if something else had been involved. Her name had been crossed off the list, and so had her husband’s. Had she actually escaped at all?

As he pulled into his parking place, he slammed on the brakes. A young woman was standing between the painted lines, a thin woman with shoulder-length dark hair. She gave him a half smile and stepped out of the way, waiting for him to finish parking. Irritated, he climbed out of the car and glared at her. “What’s your problem?” he asked.

She raised her eyebrows in a way that seemed oddly familiar. “Don’t you recognize me, Ben?”

When he heard her voice, it came to him immediately. He’d once known her extremely well. “Good God. Olivia?” She was almost completely unrecognizable - the last time he’d seen her she’d had short blond hair, and she hadn’t been nearly so thin.

The woman nodded.

“What are you doing in L.A.?”

“What do you think?” she countered.

The same thing she’d been doing in Chicago, he supposed. Hunting vampires. “Did you send me that list?” he demanded.

“Got it in one.”

“Hell.” He gestured to her, and they both got into the car. Doors closed, windows sealed, they sat for a moment staring at each other.

“What happened to you, Ben?” she asked at last. “Don’t you care about what happened to Sarah any more?”

“Of course I do,” he replied angrily.

“Then why did you leave? Why did you stop fighting?”

“I had my reasons.”

She looked at him disdainfully. “You came across your first female vampire, she gave you a sob story, and you gave up hunting and went off to New York. Not much of a reason, if you ask me.”

Ben didn’t answer. It was quite possible that Olivia was right. The young woman who’d cowered before him, two and a half years ago, could have been hundreds of years old for all he knew, and might have killed thousands of people. But she’d reminded him so much of Sarah. She’d told him she had been turned against her will. Which could, so easily, have happened to Sarah. So he’d let her go, and he'd turned his back on the little legion of hunters he’d been involved with.

He didn’t tell Olivia any of this. Her whole family had been killed by vampires, and he wasn’t sure she’d ever been entirely sane after that. “I kept my eyes open in New York,” he told her. “In fact, that’s why I’m here now. Following a lead.” Much good that had done him; he couldn’t make head or tails of Mick St. John.

“You don’t need leads any more. You’ve got a whole list of names.”

“How do I know it’s legit?” He had serious doubts about that, in fact.

“I’m telling you that it is.”

“So Emma Monaghan is a vampire?”

“Was a vampire,” she corrected him. “She’s dead now.”

Ben frowned, thinking about the way the police van had been ambushed – he supposed Olivia, or other hunters, must have caused the accident, taking Emma Monaghan from police custody by force. He didn’t like what had been done, but that wasn’t his biggest concern right now. Instead he asked, “Exactly how did you get so many names?”

She grinned at that. “I have my sources.”

“I’d like to know what they are.”

Her grin changed to a frown. “I’d like some help with the list. How about I start at the top, you start at the bottom? You’ve already been nosing around Mick St. John.”

Ben shook his head. “I’m not convinced he’s one of them.” Pierce Anders notwithstanding, if even one person on the list was questionable, the entire list was nothing but a question mark.

“Didn’t you get that picture I sent? He was hit by a car. He got up and walked away.”

“So you're the one who sent that,” Ben said. “I wasn’t sure what to make of it. His face was blurred, and photographs are easily faked.”

Olivia stared at him, looking perplexed. “Why do you even have doubts? What more do you want?”

“Fewer contradictions, for one thing. Look, Olivia - I phoned up Carl Davis, a police detective who knew St. John pretty well. He saw him eat food, and saw him with injuries. And did you know St. John got shot a few months ago? There are photographs of his wounds in the police record, and Davis witnessed them in person. And I’ve personally seen the man with half-healed wounds on his face. So I think any reasonable person would have a few doubts.” And I also saw him save a teenage girl from jumping off a roof, and saw him carry that little Fordham boy out of the basement. Admittedly, the fact that he’d broken down a brick wall to reach the boy was fairly strong evidence for the vampire theory, but then, the mortar had been pretty fresh.

“So he’s a good actor and he knows how to make himself look injured,” Olivia said derisively. “How do you know he didn’t get shot with silver bullets?”

“I don’t. That’s the problem. I don’t know. There’s evidence both ways, and I don’t know what to believe.”

Olivia gave him a peculiar smile. “There are always ways to be certain.”

“Right. If I stake him and he dies, then what do you know, he was human after all. I certainly don’t like the guy, but I’m not taking that chance.” He eyed Olivia. She would take the chance, no doubt of it. She looked more than a little crazed. “Look, why did you come to me, anyway? Why don’t you just contact the L.A. hunters and get their help? Or bring the Chicago people in on it?”

“They don’t trust me,” she muttered. “They won’t even look at my information. But if you give it to them, they’ll join us, and then we can finally get revenge, proper revenge. Ben, you know what vampires did to my family! My God, they did the same thing to Sarah! This is the best opportunity we’ve ever had. How can you just let it go?”

“I’m not letting it go! I need proof, that’s all, and I don’t see any here.”

“I can prove that St. John is a vampire.” Anticipating his objection, she said, “Without involving him personally or taking any chances. In fact, I can prove that all of them are.”

“How?” he asked suspiciously.

“I’ll show you. All you have to do is come with me. Agreed?”

He hesitated. If the other hunters would no longer work with Olivia, if they didn’t trust her, there had to be a reason for that. Had she simply gotten too erratic for the others to be willing to deal with her, or had something worse happened? Her information probably wasn’t reliable these days, and it was doubtful whether it would be of any use to him. But he could evaluate her proof for himself when he saw it, and make his own decisions from it. Finally he said, “Agreed.”

She nodded, pulled out a phone, and punched in a number. A faint male voice answered, the same voice, Ben thought, that he’d heard on the phone last night. “It’s on,” Olivia told him. “Move in now.” The man gave her an acknowledgement, and Olivia pocketed the phone. “Let’s go,” she said to Ben. “I’ll give you the directions.”
















Mick felt strangely numb as he hurried toward the parking garage, Beth at his side, her hand in his. His emotions had been all over the map this last day, from despair to ecstasy, and he hardly knew how to react to this new crisis. He wasn’t sure he’d even taken in the scope of the disaster, not yet. Ever since he’d been turned he’d known that this could happen, that his secret could come out, that he might have to flee or be killed. He’d seen it happen to others; he’d listened to Josef’s harrowing stories from the past. But until Emma’s threat, he’d never even imagined a disaster on this scale. And now, even though he’d kept her from revealing the secret, everything was falling apart anyway, coming to pieces. How would hunters deal with such a large number of vampires, anyway? How organized were they, how prepared? Would fires suddenly start breaking out all over the city, while most vampires were still asleep in their freezers? He shoved the images out of his mind, trying not to think of how Josef’s office had been blown apart.

Beth’s hand tightened on his as they entered the parking garage, and he glanced down at her determined face. As huge as this problem was, moving on was going to be easier to face than he’d imagined. He’d always dreaded the possibility of having to flee from Los Angeles, because it would mean leaving Beth behind. But now, since she’d be coming with him, he knew he could endure it. He ought to insist that she stay here, away from him – it would be dangerous for her to be at his side. But he suspected that it might be even more dangerous for her to stay here alone. Talbot knew how close they were, and hunters had little mercy for humans who had relationships with vampires.

Losing Jacob, though, and Robert . . . oh God, that was going to hurt. He’d been planning to visit the Fordhams over the weekend, and now that wouldn’t happen. He’d promised Jacob he’d look out for him, and now that would be impossible. Would it be safe for him to hire someone to keep an eye on Jacob, once things had settled down? Or would the Fordhams be safer if he had nothing at all to do with them ever again?

Beth squeezed his hand, then let go of him as they both got into the car. But he could still feel the awful tension in her body. He set his own fears aside, to try to ease hers.

“Hey,” he said, pulling out into the street. The sun was bright, and he put on his sunglasses. “It’ll work out. Thanks to you, we’ve got some warning.”

She nodded, but didn’t look convinced. “I hope it’s enough to help. The last thing I tried to do didn’t work out so well, did it? It was all for nothing. That photograph got out anyway.”

“It wasn’t all for nothing. Foster was planning to publish those photos. You kept that from happening.”

“He must have distributed them somehow, or else Ben wouldn’t have that photograph in his files."

“I don’t think so. I think Talbot got it from the same place he got the list.”

“What, from the leak in the Cleaners? But how would they have gotten it?”

“Think about it. The guys Josef hired must have called the Cleaners to . . . well, take care of things. The Cleaners would have picked up Foster’s camera as well, and any memory cards he might have had with him. He probably had those photographs on him, which means the Cleaners had access to them.”

In spite of the reference to Foster’s death, this did seem to make Beth feel better. “It’s so weird to think of the Cleaners betraying you,” she said.

“Yeah, it is. I never would have imagined it possible, actually.” Of course, they might be wrong about the whole scenario, but Mick didn’t think so. He glanced ahead at the traffic on the freeway and decided to stay on the surface streets; at this time of day, this route would probably be faster.

Beth had fallen into a deep silence. She hadn’t said a word about Elaine, hadn’t even asked who she was. Considering the situation, maybe she was willing to put that off until a quieter moment. But Mick was more desperate than ever for her to know.

“Beth,” he said, “I need to tell you about Elaine. I should have told you about her a long time ago. I wanted to tell you, more than anything. I was just afraid that it would hurt you to hear about her.”

Beth looked extremely uncertain, but she gave him a faint smile. “Well, if she’s Logan’s girlfriend, I assume that means I don’t need to be jealous of her.”

“You definitely don’t need to be jealous of her.” Mick stopped for a red light, taking a deep breath. “When we were at Jackson and Emma’s house, you asked me a question.”

“I asked if you’d ever turned anyone.” Her voice was a little flat.

“The answer’s yes,” he said. The light turned green and he accelerated through the intersection, searching for the right words to explain, to make her understand. “Once. I did it once. And it turned out badly, very badly. For her, for me . . . for everyone nearby. That’s why I swore that I’d never do it again, not for any reason. That’s why . . .”

“Why you wouldn’t turn Josh,” Beth murmured. “It was that bad?”

“Two innocent people died that night. And we were lucky. It came very close to being a lot worse.”

Beth sat in silence for a time. Mick saw her face change as different thoughts crossed her mind, and he wished he knew what she was thinking. Finally she said, “So it was a woman you turned.”

“Not a woman. A girl. She was seventeen.”

“When did this happen?”

Mick was about to answer, but terror suddenly shot through his body, a fear that completely overwhelmed him. Images flashed through his mind and the road vanished from his sight. He couldn’t even feel the steering wheel under his hands. His freezer lid flew open and they were there, they’d caught him, they were dragging him out and no matter how he fought he couldn’t escape . . . he heard someone screaming, screaming . . .

“Mick! What is it, what’s wrong?”

He gasped and saw the interior of the car again, the road ahead, Beth’s hands on the steering wheel by his, keeping the car steady. She was looking at him with deep worry. But they hadn’t caught him. It wasn’t happening to him. Hunters had not caught him in his freezer; they hadn’t dragged him out of it to kill him.

It didn’t happen to me. It happened to Elaine.
















Olivia directed Ben to a seedy residential neighborhood near the ocean, its streets full of battered old houses with unkempt yards and sagging fences. He pulled up in front of a little house with peeling white paint and a dead lawn, and parked behind a gray van.

“This is it,” Olivia said.

“This is what?”

Instead of answering, she pulled out her phone again. “Is everything ready?” she asked the man on the other end, and Ben heard him say that it was.

“What exactly is ready?” he asked as they walked to the door.

“The proof you need.” The door had been kicked in and was hanging loose on its hinges; Olivia pushed her way inside. “This is a vampire’s house,” she said quietly.

Ben looked around. They were standing in a tiny kitchen, old enough that the appliances were harvest gold. Ben’s mother had had harvest gold appliances, when he was a little boy . . . Olivia opened the refrigerator and gestured silently at its contents. There were blood bags inside, and nothing else. Olivia closed the refrigerator again, then took a filled syringe from her pocket and held it up.

“My people have restrained the vampire,” she said. “This – this is something special. A truth drug that works on vampires.”

“Where did you get that?”

“I told you, I have my sources.”

“And you’re totally sure you’ve got a vampire, and not, say, his human roommate?” He still sometimes wondered if he’d always gotten it right, back in the day.

Olivia shook her head, as if she found his skepticism hard to believe. “You can ask her that yourself.”

“Her?”

“You’re not going to have a problem with that, are you?” Olivia opened the kitchen door and stepped into a small living area.

A girl lay sprawled on the floor, chained with silver, held securely by bolts that had been set into the floor. Ben looked at her uneasily. She looked so young, only a teenager, caught forever in that ugly-duckling phase that Sarah had fortunately outgrown. Two men stood nearby, weapons in their hands, watching blankly as Olivia lifted the syringe and knelt at the girl’s side. The terrified girl fought against the chains, but she was held fast, no matter how desperately she struggled. Ben wanted to look away, but he was mesmerized; he watched without a word as Olivia pushed the girl’s hair aside, slipped the needle into the vein at her throat, and injected the drug. Then Olivia stood up, pocketing the empty syringe.

“We’ll give it a couple of minutes,” she said. “Then you can ask her anything you want.”

The girl looked up hopelessly at Ben, and he quickly turned away.















“Mick,” Beth said. She kept her hands on the steering wheel, glancing from his face to the road and back again. “Mick, can you hear me?”

He nodded at last, and he seemed to realize where he was, what he was doing. But for long seconds he’d been in the grip of some kind of nightmare, and he’d nearly crashed the car. They would have crashed, if Beth hadn’t grabbed the wheel. Now, as he tightened his hands on the wheel and took control again, she cautiously let go.

“What happened?” she asked. “You seemed so far away . . . I thought you were going to pass out.”

Mick looked terribly grim. He’d put his foot on the gas and was taking each turn faster, pausing at the intersections only long enough to make sure there wouldn’t be a collision.

“They have Elaine,” he said tightly. “They’ve taken her.”

“You could feel that?”

He nodded. “I’m her sire. And we’re close.”

“Then she’s still alive?”

“She’s still alive. I just don’t know for how much longer. I have to get her out of there. I have to.” He was breathing heavily, and she’d never seen him look so shaken. Frightened, she watched him for a moment, her head spinning with questions that couldn’t be asked, not now: Why did you turn this girl? Why would you ever turn anyone? What does she mean to you? Then she abruptly came to her senses and pulled out her phone. None of that mattered – not now. All that mattered was Mick, his desperation and his fear, and she had to help him any way she could.

“Who are you calling?” Mick asked.

“Josef.”

As she’d hoped, Josef answered his phone on the first ring. “It’s Beth,” she said quickly. “Something’s gone wrong. We haven’t gotten to Elaine’s house yet, but Mick just nearly passed out. He says they’ve taken her . . . he could feel it. He’s going to try to save her.”

“Tell him to wait! Mick! For God’s sake, give me time to get there and help you.”

“There isn’t any time, Josef.” Mick rounded another turn, entering a poverty-stricken residential neighborhood. “They’ll kill her. You know that.”

“Mick . . .” Josef let out a curse, and then said, “Mick, I’m on my way. I’ll get there as fast as I can.”

There was a click at Beth’s ear, and a dial tone. She put the phone away and looked up beseechingly at Mick. “Can’t you wait for him?”

“No. Beth, I don’t know why she’s even still alive! If I wait for Josef, she’ll die. And I can’t let her die. . . ” His eyes were a little unfocused, as if he were lost in memory. “She isn’t just my fledgling, Beth. She’s my daughter. I can’t let her die.”















Ben tried not to stare at the girl as they waited, but he still found himself watching her as he nervously paced back and forth across the linoleum floor. “So young,” he muttered under his breath, but Olivia heard him.

“Ben, come on. Don’t fall into the same trap you did before. This vampire was born in 1950; she’s twice as old as you are.”

It was always so hard to believe. Ben couldn’t look at the trembling girl any longer. He gazed around the living room instead. There wasn’t much to see – a bed, a shabby plaid couch with a guitar leaning against it, a chair with a pile of papers on the cushion, a computer desk - and in a small adjoining room, an industrial freezer. He walked to the freezer and lifted the lid. It was empty.

“That’s where my people found her,” Olivia said. “Asleep in her freezer. I don’t think that leaves much room for doubt, do you?”

Ben frowned, irritated. Suddenly he just wanted to get this over with. “Has it been long enough?”

“Sure. Go ask your questions. I’d suggest you also ask her who her sire is.”

Ben walked back to the huddled figure of the girl. She would have been naked in the freezer, but they’d dressed her in pajama pants and a robe. Probably on his account; Olivia had to know he wouldn’t be comfortable questioning a naked girl, vampire or not. He dragged a kitchen chair to her side and sat down on it. One of the men loosened her chains far enough for her to sit up, and then held her forcibly in a sitting position, facing Ben. Her eyes weren’t frightened any more, at least. She was looking vacantly past him. That must be the drug; she wasn’t fighting the man who held her, either.

“Tell me your name,” Ben said quietly.

“Elaine. Elaine Grace.”

Ben winced a little. Her name had been on the list; for some reason he remembered that. The last name Grace had caught his eye. “Are you a vampire?” he asked.

“Yes.” Her voice was toneless.

“Who turned you?”

“Mick.”

“Mick who?”

“Mick St. John.”

Well, after all Olivia’s build-up, he could hardly say this was a surprise. But still he felt disappointed. For Beth’s sake, and for his own, he’d really wanted to be wrong about Mick St. John.

“Why did he turn you?” he asked. Why would anyone turn a teenager into a vampire? It was even more obscene than a normal turning. Elaine seemed bewildered by the question, though. Right. He was asking about someone else’s motives, and she couldn’t answer that with the literal truth. “Did you want to become a vampire?” he asked instead.

“No! No, how would I? I didn’t know . . .”

Another young girl turned against her will, and in this case, since she was under a truth drug, this one probably wasn’t telling him a story. This was the truth.

“What happened the day you were turned?”

“Night,” she murmured, swaying in her captor’s arms. “It was night.”

“Okay. What happened the night you were turned?”

Her face clouded over. “There was this man. He attacked Chloe.”

“Was it Mick who attacked Chloe?”

“No. A man. I don’t know who he was. I tried to stop him, and he cut me . . . he had a knife. It hurt, it hurt so much! So much blood . . .”

“Then what happened?”

“Chloe ran and got Mick. He tried to help me; he said he’d take me to a hospital. But I knew it was too late for that. I was bleeding to death . . . I could feel it.”

Ben felt ill. It was actually pretty obvious why St. John had turned this girl, even though she’d have been better off dead. How hard would it be to watch a teenage girl bleed to death in front of you?

“So you were turned into a vampire,” Olivia said abruptly, taking over the questioning. “How many people have you killed?”

“Two people,” the girl whispered, tears in her eyes. “Chloe, I killed Chloe. Mick said it wasn’t my fault. He said it happened because he couldn’t stop me, because he wasn’t ready. But I was the one who did it.”

“Did this happen the same night you were turned?” Ben asked. That was when vampires seemed to be the most violent, when their killer instincts were the strongest.

The girl nodded, and Olivia glared at Ben. She didn’t seem to care much for his line of questioning.

“How old are you?” she asked Elaine.

“Seventeen,” Elaine murmured.

Olivia looked furious with this answer, and lifted a hand as if to strike her, but then she glanced at Ben and lowered it. With an edge in her voice, she asked instead, “When were you born?”

“May 20, 1950,” the girl recited.

“When was Mick St. John born?”

“1922. I don’t know the day.”

“How many people has he killed?”

“I don’t know.” She looked up earnestly. “I don’t think his sire ever tried to stop him, and he feels so guilty. He wants to make up for it. But you can’t, can you? It haunts you forever. I keep seeing what I did to Chloe. It doesn’t go away.”

It doesn’t go away. No, it never did. It was hard for him to keep from feeling for this hopeless, helpless girl, who truly seemed to regret what she was, what she’d done. But there were images in his mind as well. Images of Sarah when he’d found her, lying motionless in a doorway in a pool of blood, her throat torn apart and her eyes wide open, glassy with death. He’d never been able to stop seeing the blankness in those eyes. Ben put his head in his hands. No, it doesn’t go away. Those images haunt you forever.















Beth could hardly breathe, she was so shocked by Mick’s words. Daughter? She swallowed, remembering the first time she’d asked him how people became vampires, when she’d asked if a sire was anything like a parent. In this case, it was obviously very much so . . . and like any parent would be, Mick was out of his mind with fear for this girl. Beth tried to imagine why he would have ever turned a seventeen-year-old, and wondered if it had been anything like what had happened to Josh. Why else would he have done such a thing, unless the girl had been dying? He’d saved her, the only way he could, and now . . . now he was going to try to save her again. It had gone badly the first time, he’d said, and she didn’t think she wanted to know exactly what he’d meant by that. Please, oh please, let things be better this time.

Mick turned one more corner and finally began to slow down.

“Are we close to her house?” Beth asked. She didn’t want them to be close. Not yet. She wanted Josef here to help, preferably with a large number of his vampire friends.

But Mick nodded, pointing ahead. “There.” He drove slowly past the little house he’d indicated, but he didn’t stop. A gray van was parked in front, and behind it was a car she clearly recognized.

“Mick,” she whispered. “Behind the van . . .that’s Ben’s car.”

His hands tightened on the wheel, and a look of fury crossed his face, but he said nothing. He turned right at the next corner, then right again, circling around to the street behind Elaine’s house. He parked there, glanced quickly toward his goal, and then looked back at Beth. Her heart was beating fast, so very fast. Mick was going to go in there, to try to save his fledgling . . . his daughter. Beth knew she wouldn’t be able to talk him out of it, and she didn’t intend to try. He was Mick; he would do this even if he didn’t know the girl. It was part of the reason she loved him. But did he really have any chance of surviving this? The people who had Elaine were vampire hunters. They knew perfectly well how vampires could die; they would have stakes, silver, even fire.

Mick opened the glove compartment, just as he had so many months ago, and handed her the gun that was hidden within it. “It’s loaded with silver,” he said, “but that’ll work just fine on humans too.”

“No, Mick! You take it. You’ll need it.”

“I have my own weapons.” He reached under his seat, opening a hidden compartment that Beth had never noticed before. He pulled out another gun and a handful of stakes. Tucking the gun in his waistband, and two stakes in his pocket, he handed her the last stake. “Just in case,” he said. “Since the Cleaners seem to be involved in this mess.”

Numb, she took the stake. Mick was poised to leave, every muscle tense, but he hesitated a few seconds longer. She reached out to put her hand to his face . . . please, not for the last time. She felt the touch of his fingers against her cheek in turn, the urgency in his kiss as his lips pressed against hers. “Be careful,” she whispered. Come back to me; oh please come back to me. She looked into his eyes, trying to memorize what she saw there, trying not to let the images of their night together overwhelm her. She couldn’t hold him back any longer. She had to let him go.

“You too,” he said softly, and then, with a slightly desperate look, he added, “Stay in the car. Please. Stay safe.” He held her for a heartbeat longer, and then he was gone.

Beth looked in the direction of Elaine’s house, but he’d already disappeared. She sat very still for a moment, trying to do what he wanted, so he wouldn’t have to worry about her on top of everything else. But she couldn’t; she couldn’t bear it. He’d told her to stay in the car before, and each time he’d gotten into terrible trouble, trouble she’d been able to save him from because she’d gone after him anyway. She couldn’t leave him out there all alone, when there might be something she could do to help him. She’d be careful, and she’d be cautious, but she was going in.

She stowed the weapons he’d given her in the pockets of her coat, and got out of the car.










-

[francis]

OMG, please! Mick is going into a deadly situation on his own, and Beth is with him. What will Ben do now that he has so much insight into everything? He feels compassion for Elaine, yet he also saw Sarah slaughtered by a vampire. He already mistrusts Olivia and her motives, will it be enough to keep him from killing Mick and Elaine? Will Olivia and her henchmen kill them? Will Josef and his helpers be on time? I can't wait to read the next part.

[wpgrace]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

Not Elaine! Oh nononononononono!

And... when Mick said daughter, is he meaning as in vamp-sired, or is she a product of one of his human flings? It never occurred to me before, but the age would work!

But no! No! Save Elaine! Mick has to save Elaine!

I am totally ascared, dear Shadow. I have not been so wrapped up in a ML plot since the Show!

But Elaine!

[jen]

Shadow

This is wonderful!

I'm mesmerized by the elements coming together here. Ben's involvement with vampire hunters (albeit reluctantly). By his past actions, he has shown that he is not without compassion.

Evil, evil cliffie!

Looking forward to the next chapter!

Thank you!

Jenna

[seamus3333]

Here comes Beth out of the car with weapons yet! I don't want to see Ben killed but now he knows too much (if he lives, will he fire Beth?) Olivia's a nut job Mick can kill her. Or, will she stake him? Come on, Josef... There can't be a mole in the Cleaners; I'd rather face Josef than the Head Cleaner...Great chapter.

[Shadow]

OMG, please! Mick is going into a deadly situation on his own, and Beth is with him. What will Ben do now that he has so much insight into everything? He feels compassion for Elaine, yet he also saw Sarah slaughtered by a vampire. He already mistrusts Olivia and her motives, will it be enough to keep him from killing Mick and Elaine? Will Olivia and her henchmen kill them? Will Josef and his helpers be on time? I can't wait to read the next part.

Thanks francis! And a few of those questions will get answered in the next part . . . which hopefully will be ready in about another week.

[Shadow]

And... when Mick said daughter, is he meaning as in vamp-sired, or is she a product of one of his human flings? It never occurred to me before, but the age would work!

Wow, Grace, you always see things in here that I had never noticed! It hadn't occurred to me either that Mick was still human when Elaine was born.

Still, Mick definitely means vamp-sired when he calls Elaine his daughter.

I have not been so wrapped up in a ML plot since the Show!

[wpgrace]

And... when Mick said daughter, is he meaning as in vamp-sired, or is she a product of one of his human flings? It never occurred to me before, but the age would work!

Wow, Grace, you always see things in here that I had never noticed! It hadn't occurred to me either that Mick was still human when Elaine was born.

Still, Mick definitely means vamp-sired when he calls Elaine his daughter.

I have not been so wrapped up in a ML plot since the Show!

Apparently you underestimate the seriousness with which I take your little universe.
And I love Elaine and Esme. Love them. Would seriously miss them. Just sayin'.

[Shadow]

I'm mesmerized by the elements coming together here. Ben's involvement with vampire hunters (albeit reluctantly). By his past actions, he has shown that he is not without compassion.

Ben seemed so interesting (and contradictory) on the show . . . I had the feeling that he suspected a lot, but had some conflicting ideas about what he should do about it. Sure do wish we could have seen more of him . . . . Thanks so much, Jenna.

[Shadow]

I don't want to see Ben killed but now he knows too much (if he lives, will he fire Beth?)

Now that's a good question! I think Beth's job is probably already on pretty shaky ground . . . .
Thanks so much for reading, seamus!

[Shadow]

Apparently you underestimate the seriousness with which I take your little universe.
And I love Elaine and Esme. Love them. Would seriously miss them. Just sayin'.

It is so, so awesome how well you know this little universe!

(Though I do hope you won't be able to predict exactly what will happen next . . . . )

[susieb]

Shadow, you are a cruel and sadistic woman to leave us with such a cliffhanger!

[wpgrace]

Apparently you underestimate the seriousness with which I take your little universe.
And I love Elaine and Esme. Love them. Would seriously miss them. Just sayin'.

It is so, so awesome how well you know this little universe!

(Though I do hope you won't be able to predict exactly what will happen next . . . . )

Well, since THIS chapter blew me away, shocked me to the core, and left me all and , I think your grand scheme is perfectly safe from my now-addled and Mick-loving brain.

I eagerly await the next chapter and shall (sorta) bravely face, with Mick, whatever fresh hell awaits him.

And just wanna thank you for having continued this story. I don't think I have done that yet...

[Shadow]

Shadow, you are a cruel and sadistic woman to leave us with such a cliffhanger!

So true! I know it was evil, but really, the other possible place to end the chapter was even worse . . .

[Shadow]

Well, since THIS chapter blew me away, shocked me to the core, and left me all and , I think your grand scheme is perfectly safe from my now-addled and Mick-loving brain.

Yay! Thank goodness it hasn't all been too predictable! I'm not sure how grand a scheme it is, but as long as its secrets are safe . . . .
Sooo glad you're ready for the next part. I'm going to try to get it up by the weekend again.