The Unicorn (Challenge #138) -- PG-13

[librarian_7]

Another response to Challenge #138, “Still Human…So Human.” No infringement is intended….

The Unicorn

I should have known something was wrong, as soon as I opened the door. But I must not have been paying attention.—at least not to the human scent that stained the loft. Sadly, Mick had enough humans in and out of his place that one more vaguely familiar human odor didn’t really make a difference. I’d lectured him often enough about separating his place of business from his residence, but he followed a long tradition of not paying attention to me. Stubborn bastard.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering how I get into his place at will, let’s just say it involved dropping a load of cash in the right places. Someday Mick’s going to figure out that I have override codes for all his fancy electronic security systems, and we’ll fall back on Plan B. But until then…

Anyway, so I took enough of a smell, and a listen, to know I was the only thing moving in the place. Contrary to what you’ve seen in the movies, animals—mammals, particularly—don’t like us. In over 400 years I’ve never had to set a rat trap in my domicile, and you know what? Doesn’t bother me one bit. Not but what I’ve taken out a few rats in my time. Just happened that they had two legs instead of four.

Maybe, if I’d stopped to look more closely at that crumpled brown blanket on the sofa, given it a whiff, what I found in Mick’s hidden fridge wouldn’t have startled me so much. But it did.

In amid the neatly bagged units of whole blood, stood a frosted pitcher of orange juice.

What. The. Hell.

I couldn’t have been more surprised if I’d opened the door on a chorus line of singing leprechauns.

Okay, I thought, falling back on logic. Hear hoofbeats, expect horses. Not zebras. Probably, he expected Beth to be staying over—perhaps tonight—and laid in a few supplies to make her feel welcome.

I rejected that immediately. Mick has a lot of charm, on occasion, and I had no doubt he’d eventually tempt Beth into enjoying the delights of vampire sex, but he’d mentioned he'd be going to her mortal boyfriend’s funeral today, and even I am not quite that charming.

Not that I haven’t consoled a few widows in my time. Comforting the bereaved…it’s always easier when both sides have a reason to keep things discreet. And there are no jealous husbands to pop up unexpectedly. Although there was that one time…Madeleine neglected to mention to me that her husband’s exaggerated demise had been due to the attentions of another member of the tribe. It all worked out, though. Robert and I sat down about 20 years later over a nice goblet of blood and Cabernet Sauvignon and had a good laugh over the whole thing.

But I was getting distracted with reminiscences, not focusing on the problem at hand. Which was the presence of that alien substance in an open pitcher in a fridge meant only for chastely packaged blood. I couldn’t repress a delicate shudder.

I grabbed a bag of A pos—Mick has no appreciation for the finer blood types, despite my civilizing influence—and shut the door on that offensive vessel.

Possibly the scent of oranges still filled my nostrils, fooled my nose for a moment. Because I heard the door lock click, and the door open, right enough, but I was already turning to meet him before I heard the lump lump of a heartbeat, and the scent of warm blood moving through long-disused veins.

I thought for a second that L.A. was having a major tremor. “What—have—you—done?” I asked slowly. It wasn’t a horse, or even a zebra. More like a unicorn.

Mick gave me this face-splitting grin. I’d never seen him look like that, in all the years I’d known him. It was a genuine joy, and I felt a brief flash of jealousy. Not for his evident return to mortality; I had no use for that. But the joy, the joy was a different matter. That, I could covet.

“I –I found a way back,” he stammered.

Clearly.

“You—found—a cure?” Even as I asked, I thought how much I despised the term. “Cure” denotes disease, and I had long ago discarded the notion of my vampirism as a disease, or a curse. I prefer to think of it as an evolution. If, as some have speculated, vampirism is a virus, some sort of blood borne organism, maybe it’s a vaccination against mortality.

Anyway, Mick, still with that silly grin on his battered face, nodded. Sometime since he’d been re-mortalized, someone had beaten the crap out of him, and the marks were there for the world to see.

“Coraline brought it to me.”

“Ah, Coraline. The source of all good in your life.” My tone was maybe a little sharper than I’d intended. Mick winced.

“Yeah, yeah,” he said. “I know.”

“What’s her angle, Mick? What does she stand to gain by giving you back your—” disgusting “—humanity?”

He shrugged, with another grin, and I reflected that human Mick was going to get irritating, quickly. “She didn’t say, exactly.”

“Jesus, Mick. You’re telling me your ex-wife—the one you tried to kill—showed up on your doorstep with some unknown drug, and you didn’t ask questions, you just took it?”

“Somehow it sounds different, when you put it like that,” he replied. “But look at me! I’m alive again. You said there was no cure, and here I am. Human.”

“Oh, yeah,” I said, not bothering to hide my contempt. “She poisoned you.”

“I’m alive.”

“You’re dying. Forty, fifty years, and it’ll kill you.”

“Everyone dies, Joz’f. Even you, someday.” Now, that sounded more like the Mick I knew.

“I can count that ‘someday’ in centuries. Can you, now?”

The grin slipped a little. “The cure,” Mick said, “it’s not—permanent. Sooner or later, I’ll revert.”

I shook my head. “What are we going to do with you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Think about it. You think this is going to be popular with the vampire community? The ones that don’t hate you for having what they can’t, will hate you for having what they don’t want. And for now, you’re vulnerable. Human. Anyone could take you out like a cheap date.”

“I can take care of myself,” Mick said. It’s been awhile since I dealt with a sullen adolescent, but he was doing a reasonable facsimile of the species. I reflected that if I clouted him the way I wanted to, he’d likely sustain undue damage.

So I fiddled with my cufflinks instead, and said, “Right. Call me when you figure out how wrong you are.”

I heard him protest as I walked out, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned in 400 years, it’s that sometimes when you walk away, you have to keep going.

He’s going to figure it out. Whether it’s six months from now, or six days. And yes, maybe I’m angry that by rejecting what I’ve always seen as my salvation, he’s rejecting fifty years of my friendship by implication. But I’ll—live—with it, until he works it out.

I’ve got time.

[BlueEyedMonster]

I love Josef and you interpret him so well I can see him looking do disarmingly smug. Josef will always be there for Mick even when he irritates Josef to distraction.

Amazing writing as always.

[librarian_7]

Thanks, BEM! I have to think even the unflappable Josef would be taken aback at this turn of events.

Lucky

[francis]

I never would have thought that Josef could be surprised by anything, but this was taking him into something quite new. He recovered quickly, but you conveyed his confusion so well. Love that he pointed out how Mick should have questioned Coraline's motives. That irked me when I first watched that episode. "What, he's just taking this at face value? What is he thinking? Is he?"

[fairytoes]

Oh, I really enjoyed this story.

Thank you

[jen]

Of course this would be Josef's interpretation of the cure.

Mick is delighted, savoring even the pains and inconveniences of his new condition, but Josef sees it in an entirely different light. It should have occurred to me that Josef may take Mick's return to humanity as a personal rejection, but it never did. How very human of Josef (oops, tarpits here I come!)

It is interesting (and again, entirely plausible) that Josef would see down the road to the point where Mick would choose to abandon his treasured and longed for return to the mortal coil in favor of his vampiric abilities, but he also has the patience to wait for Mick to take the journey to discovery on his own.

Great story!!!

Jenna

[allegrita]

Lucky, this so perfectly Josef. For him to be slapped in the face by Mick's mortality in this way would be a huge shock. Huge enough that I imagine he wouldn't be able to hide his reaction from Mick. I'd always imagined that Mick told Josef over the phone. But it makes a lot of sense that Josef would drop in, as is his wont, and come face to face with that "unicorn." Of course, he recovers beautifully. He's Josef, after all. But this would be a hell of a blow, and I imagine that Josef would take it a little personally, at least initially. Especially since Mick so obviously jumped right into mortality without a thought of the consequences. (And I, too, was yelling at the TV when Mick just took Coraline's word and tried the cure...sheesh!)

I really like the fact that Josef immediately thinks about the consequences of Mick's new mortality in terms of the vampire community, and Mick's place in it. And he's taking the long view of Mick's fling with humanity, as well. I can see him thinking that this might be just the thing Mick needs to discover the benefits of the undead lifestyle. And I think he may be right. Even though Mick had only a week of mortality on the show, he was already beginning to miss his powers and to chafe at the limitations of a mortal body. If Mick had been given a few more weeks or months of mortal inconveniences, I wonder if he would've longed to revert to his "true" form again.

[cassysj]

This is perfect Josef. He would be.....insulted is the best word for Mick's choice and if you think about it just taking Coraline at face value would be alien to Josef.

[Marigold]

Well done, Lucky! It was really interesting to read a story about human Mick from Josef's perspective.

I love the title, and how it relates to the story.

He shrugged, with another grin, and I reflected that human Mick was going to get irritating, quickly.

Thank you! This is a great response to the challenge!

[AussieJo]

Brilliant! Of dear Josef will bide his time...... he knows Mick.

[darkstarrising]

This is an interesting view of Josef you show us, Lucky .....a wide range of emotions in rapid succession

He's surprised at what he finds in Mick's apartment, then horrified. He's right - Mick didn't think things through and has opened himself up to a lot of possible hurt from those who don't have what he has.

But I think Josef is more afraid than he'd ever admit - not just of the turmoil the cure could cause within the community, but of losing Mick to mortality. And maybe the reason he kept walking was so that Mick didn't see that fear...

[librarian_7]

Yes, Josef is the consummate actor. He's rarely going to let the real emotions he's feeling be seen on the surface, I think. And he had to have had a pretty complex reaction to Mick's choice.

I have to admit that until I was writing this, I'd never given much thought to Coraline's motivations...but even in TMC, Mick makes an assumption that Coraline had given him the cure to set him up for Lance. (Although I tend to agree with Lance's assessment that really, it wasn't necessary!)

[Lucy]

400 years teaches you a lot....and it's a good thing Josef is wise and patient with his "young one". GREAT scene...it should have been in the show.

[librarian_7]

Oh, thank you! That's quite the compliment.

Lucky

[Lucy]

Oh, thank you! That's quite the compliment.

Lucky

Well....it's the way you write...and although I try not to be repetitive with story comments (cause then it's like...."Can't you think of something else to say?") I could block the scene in my mind....(frustrated Director/Producer that I am)