From the CaseFiles of Mick St.John:A Looking Glass War PG-13

Post Reply
User avatar
librarian_7
Forever Moonlightaholic
Posts: 23481
Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2009 7:21 pm
Location: wherever Josef is
Contact:

From the CaseFiles of Mick St.John:A Looking Glass War PG-13

Post by librarian_7 »

AN: For Champagne Challenge #150, a celebration of the sixth anniversary of Moonlight; the theme was “Murder on the Sixth Floor.” I’m a little—make that a lot late on this one, but it’s finally done. And many, many thanks to the brave and beautiful Allegrita for making it better!

From the Case Files of Mick St. John: A Looking Glass War

Three a.m., and Josef and I were sitting around in his office, shooting the breeze. Gotta say, he may be a hardass when it comes to business, or protecting the tribe, but he’s a good friend. Even if he does give me an amazing amount of crap about my girlfriend. In fact, he was doing that then.

“So, boyo,” he said, “I thought the little blonde had you on a short leash these days.”

I didn’t rise to the bait, of course. I just smiled. “She’s out of town. Visiting her mother for a few days. She’ll be back in time for our anniversary.”

“And she didn’t take you along to meet the parents?” He tsked in mock—and mocking—disapproval.

“Beth’s mom might think I’m a little old for her,” I replied, dryly.

That got a chuckle. Josef paused to take a sip of the blood-flavored scotch we were drinking. One of the office freshies had just come in to give it an extra kick. I don’t feed fresh, but hey, she’d already pricked her finger, and I didn’t see the harm in her squeezing out a few more drops into my highball glass. She did it with a smile, without any fuss. I took her hand, briefly, to thank her. Josef would have expected no less, but I’ve have done it anyway. For his part, he called her over, and whispered something in her ear before he dismissed her, and you’d have thought he’d promised her a diamond. Who knew, maybe he had. Josef has some of the best freshies in town on payroll. And I’m not even talking about his special girls. Just the ones in the office crew are better than you’ll find anywhere else in the city.

After she left, he looked at me from under his brows, in that penetrating way he has. “You’re going to have to find a more permanent solution than ducking out of Thanksgiving dinner with a convenient cold,” he commented. His not-so-subtle way of telling me I was avoiding the—implications—of the discussion. I didn’t want to go into it. But sometimes you have to talk about the elephant in the room, or the vampire, before it bites you.

“It’s worked for me so far.” I took a drink, buying myself a little time. Damn, it was good scotch. Josef only stocked premier brands, and that little extra tang from the blood made it that much better. “Look, maybe you’re forgetting, but I met Beth’s mother once before. It’s a sure bet if she saw me again, she might not recognize the face—”

“Trust me, any woman would remember your face.”

“—whatever. Anyway, she’d recognize my name. It’s too dangerous.”

Josef looked thoughtful. Yeah, he can do that, sometimes. “You can’t claim to be the son of the Mick St. John she hired in the ‘80s?”

“Beth saw through that in about 10 seconds, when I tried it on her.”

“Worth a shot.” He shrugged.

“Look, we’ve talked about it. Beth isn’t ready to give up seeing her mother, and we’re both agreed that cluing her in to the existence of vampires, is not really the way to go.”

“Well, I can certainly agree with that.” He looked as though he were about to make another suggestion, when there was a discreet knock on the door. “Come,” he said, his voice raised a notch or two. He wasn’t yelling. I’m not sure he ever yells. He just uses a more authoritative tone of voice.

Louise, one of his personal secretaries, came in. She’s been with him for years. I think she’s one of the most efficient people on the planet, and up until that moment I’d have sworn that nothing could rattle her. Actually, she didn’t look rattled. She looked terrified. “Mr. Kostan, I’m sorry to intrude, but—something’s happened.”

“It’s all right, Louise. What’s up?”

“There’s been a murder. A murder on the sixth floor.”

Josef glanced at me, and then back at Louise. “Where on the sixth?” he asked, his tone sharp.

I’d swear Louise flinched, but when she answered, her voice was steady. “It was in the lounge.”

Josef rose, and his voice had focused to laser intensity. “Who?” he demanded. “Who was it?”

“The killer?”

“The victim.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know, sir. They didn’t say. But the head of security is on his way to report.”

“The hell with that. We’re on our way down.” He was out the door, expecting me to follow, before Louise could react. And calling the security chief on his cell.

The ride down from Josef’s office to the sixth floor was tense, to say the least. I could tell he took it as a personal insult that someone had been killed on his property, without his express consent. I didn’t know then how bad it was, but I reasoned that a murder in the lounge implied a human employee. Josef had some pretty ingrained feudal tendencies, when it came to his employees. He demanded utter loyalty, but he returned it as well. He’d deny it, claim cold ruthlessness, he was 100% vampire and all that; I’d seen him in action, and he couldn’t bullshit me. Touch one of his, and you’d better wish for a quick death. You wouldn’t get it, but you could wish.

The conversation with Emanuel—the security chief—was brief.

Without greetings, Josef asked, “How bad is it?”

His concise response was, “Bad.”

“Stay put.” Josef shut off the call with one slight motion, and glanced at me with a humorless half-smile. “Some days I miss being able to slam down the receiver.”

“Or beheading the messenger?”

“Too messy. A broken neck is more efficient.”

The elevator door pinged and slid open.

The sixth floor was a fairly typical rat maze of offices and conference rooms. Usually, due to both the high number of vampires employed by Kostan Industries and the international scope of Josef’s interests, even in the middle of the night the place would be humming with activity. Now? Dead silence, for most of the floor. A couple of heartbeats, down at the end of the hall, and a few of the small noises even vampires can’t help making as they move. We may seem silent, but there are always sounds of cloth on cloth, or even the impact of a body-sized mass moving in the air. It might take another vampire to hear it, but the sound is there.

Josef wasn’t stopping to assess the environment. He was moving down the main hallway, not at vampire speed, but quickly enough.

Finally, outside the door, he paused. “I’m going to need your help on this, Mick,” he said.

I had a fleeting moment to wonder what I was getting dragged into, and then the door opened and it was too late. The lounge was large, tastefully decorated with a variety of comfortable-looking couches and good art on the walls, and it reeked of blood. Some of that was coming from the body on the floor, a still figure covered hastily with a brightly colored throw, but there were literally dozens of other blood scents around the room. I could pick up the trace of many vampires, as well.

Clearly, “lounge” was a euphemism. “Lunchroom” might’ve been more accurate.

Josef nodded to a tall, ascetic looking black vampire. He appeared to be about 40. He also appeared to be extremely unhappy. “Emanuel. What happened here?”

The security chief shook his head. “I can’t tell you, Mr. Kostan. We preserved the scene, and cleared the floor.”

“All right. Mr. St. John is going to be handling this investigation.”

News to me. But—I wasn’t busy, and Josef and I had a standing fee agreement. He hadn’t stiffed me yet.

For now, he faded back a foot or so, relinquishing control of the scene to me. I sighed to myself, and began.

“Why not just call the Cleaners and get this cleared away?”

Emanuel narrowed his eyes. He didn’t much appreciate a stranger trespassing on what he considered his turf, and I’d never seen him before. He must be fairly new. Josef hadn’t been particularly lucky with his security people, the last few years. I guess that started almost 6 years ago when the chief had taken a bribe that resulted in the firebombing of Josef’s office. That guy had been fortunate enough to get himself shot before Josef figured out his responsibility for the incident.

“We don’t call in the Cleaners at Kostan Industries without Mr. K’s knowledge and approval.”

I nodded. About what I expected. “Okay.” I looked at the body. A large pool of blood had spread from around the head and shoulders. Looked like whoever killed her—and it was a “her,” judging by the slender ankles and feet shod in stylish high heels that peeked out from under the covering—had hit an artery. It must’ve flowed like a fountain. Probably her neck. Not a big surprise, in a building frequented by vampires, but the amount of blood on the floor might mean a human killer. Vamps had a tendency to be more careful about wasting food. Most of them were downright conservative about it.

“Who put that blanket on her?” Someone not current on forensic practice, clearly. Not that I was going to be doing trace evidence, but it was data.

Emanuel’s face gave away nothing. “She was found this way.”

“Really?” Okay, so the killer felt some remorse. Probably knew the victim. This was all Private Eye 101. You could learn that much watching police procedurals on CBS. I walked around the body, trying to keep my boots out of the blood. Josef was going to have to replace the carpet, for sure. In order to get close enough, though, I had to step in the edge of the blood. I always hated that squishing sound it made, once it got into the padding under the carpet. Squatting down, I took hold of the edge of the fabric and pulled it back from the corpse’s face.

It was the same girl who’d been in Josef’s office not an hour before. The same girl whose blood was in the drink I’d abandoned to come down to the sixth floor. There were two bloody holes in her neck, the blood not even beginning to dry. Her bright blue eyes, that had been dancing with joy when Josef whispered in her ear, were open and staring blankly, that pretty, smiling mouth slack.

“Tell me who did this to you, sweetheart,” I murmured to her. She didn’t answer. They never do. I’d have to find out by myself.

Time to abandon the visual, and trust to another sense. I closed my eyes and took a deep whiff, trying to sort out the various scents surrounding her. Sometimes, if I concentrate hard enough, I can almost sense the past, through the trail of aromas.

This time, I smelled the blood, first, could almost picture it pouring out of the wounds at her neck, her look of surprise as she fell to the floor while her life ebbed away with every beat of her heart. She had a scent of vampire on her. More than one. My scent, from taking her hand. And Josef’s, stronger. He’d embraced her, been close enough to speak privately. I put a hand down for support, trying to avoid touching her, and leaned over to smell at her neck. That was more confusing. There were both vampire and human smells mixed, at the sites where the artery was torn.

I looked up at Josef and shook my head. Emanuel had been right. This was bad.

“What do you think?”

“Your scent is all over her.”

“But—” Josef looked momentarily confused, and then he recovered. “Of course it is. And you know why.”

“I do. And I know you didn’t kill her.”

“That’s comforting. So who did?”

“Yeah, that’s the big question, isn’t it?” I stood up, dropping the blanket back over—I didn’t even know the girl’s name. I’d tasted her blood, and I had no idea what she was called. “Let’s talk.”

Josef was looking down at the body, his expression inscrutable. “Talking isn’t going to solve this.”

“What do you want me to do, Joz’f? Who am I supposed to chase down?” I paced a few steps away from the body. “She was with us—what, half an hour ago? So where is the security camera footage?”

Emanuel shook his head. “No cameras in here. Some of the vamps objected.”

I looked at Josef. He had the grace to look a bit sheepish. “This is the executive lounge. Trustworthy employees, and all that.”

“Yeah, right.” I went back to the girl, squatted and flipped the blanket back again. The slackness of death on those pretty features was obscene, but I wasn’t looking at her face. I was looking at the holes in her neck. I leaned in closer. The holes were the right size to be fang marks, and perfectly spaced. I touched first one, then the other of the wounds. A faint roughness around the edges, a barely detectable thickening of the fine-grained skin.

I sent a silent plea for forgiveness to this poor dead girl, before I spoke, for the lies I was about to tell. “Joz’f.”

“What?”

I shook my head. “You might as well get the clean-up crew in, get the mess cleared away.”

“What happened?” He didn’t look happy. Good. I hadn’t intended to make him smile.

I stood up, brushing my hands together in a move I’d seen Josef do a thousand times. “One of your guys got a little careless over lunch. No big deal.”

“So that’s it? Just—clear away the mess?” He looked furious, and behind him, I thought I caught a hint of a smirk on Emanuel’s face.

“Yeah, well, I’ve got a drink upstairs I’d like to get back to.” I wiped my feet against the carpet, trying to get the blood off my soles. It wouldn’t get rid of the scent, but I wouldn’t be leaving visible tracks.

Josef narrowed his eyes. He was starting to get the message. He nodded. “Fine,” he said shortly. “Upstairs.”

I thought he might start questioning me in the elevator, but I underestimated his self-control. He waited until we were back in our seats in his office.

“Okay, Mick, what’s going on?”

I looked at my drink. The blood had made the scotch slightly murky, and right at the moment, you couldn’t have paid me to down the rest of it, knowing that freshie downstairs on the sixth floor was being unceremoniously bundled away even as we spoke. She was going to vanish off the face of the earth, as surely as if she’d never existed. If she had a family, they’d never know what happened to her. Freshies worried, sometimes, about being turned into vampires—it was more likely, like this girl, they’d turn into statistics, instead.

“We’re not looking for a vampire. This girl was killed by a human.”

“At the risk of sounding repetitive, what now?” Josef held his drink up, regarding the amber light through the glass, and in a sudden, swift motion, drank it off in one gulp. He shifted his eyes over, catching mine. “It was her last gift, Mick. I’m not going to toss it aside.”

“Okay, okay. Look, I still need to know something.” I looked at Josef. His mouth was moving a little, as though he were savoring the last taste of the girl. “What was it you told—oh, hell, what was that freshie’s name?”

“Jewel. She called herself Jewel.” He snorted softly. “I imagine her real name was Jennifer, or Julia, or something. It’ll be in the HR files.” He paused, and I waited. No need to repeat my question. Josef sighed. “I told her I’d move her onto the preferred provider rotation.”

“And that’s a big deal?”

He shrugged. “She’d been in the general office pool for a few months. I tend to take regular samples from there, since you never know where you’ll find talent. I’d bitten her a time or two…and I thought she had potential.”

I shook my head. “I think that’s what got her killed, Joz’f.”

He muttered a curse under his breath. “And—how was it you put it?—‘clearing away the mess’ is going to help us find out who did it, how?”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “Trust me,” I said. “I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

I left my drink on the table, the blood in the scotch slowly settling to the bottom.

&&&

When I showed up at Josef’s office the next evening, the sun was still up, but just barely. The shadows had gotten long, and the night was closing in. Usually, that’s a good feeling for me, but tonight I was not looking forward to likely events. Chances were, before the night was out, there was going to be more blood on the carpet, and not in any kind of enjoyable way.

Over my years in the P.I. business, I’ve always found it’s better to look like I’ve got a plan, especially when I don’t. Which is most of the time. You fly by the seat of your pants in this game, and you’ve got to be ready to zig when the other guy zags. Sorry for the clichés, but sometimes they fit. I’m pretty sure Josef thought I’d be making it up as I went along, and he was about seven tenths right. I had some suspicions of who’d killed Jewel, and I’d had an idea or two on how to pick out the killer, but a lot depended on Josef’s habits.

He wasn’t in yet, and Louise offered to let me into his office—she might be a dragon with strangers, but we were old friends. This time, I declined. I hadn’t chatted with her in some time.

Josef had commented to me once that Louise hadn’t ever been a top tier freshie, but she was one of the best secretaries he’d ever had. Today, we made small talk for a while, as I watched her organize the day’s mail.

“Terrible thing, this girl getting killed,” I commented, breaking a silence that had fallen after the pleasantries had been exchanged.

She pursed her lips, and her fingers flew across her keyboard. “Yes, sir, it certainly is.”

“You know Jewel well?”

“Not—well. Mr. Kostan fed from her a few times, these last few months.”

“How does he work it, at the office?”

She shrugged. “It varies. Sometimes he looks at the list, and has me call in particular freshies, sometimes he samples from the office pool.”

I pondered that for minute. “Louise, when he—samples—does he go down and pick one of the freshies out of the pool, or do you just call someone at random?”

Suddenly, she was giving me her complete attention. I’m betting she had instructions to give me unrestricted access to information, but I could tell it went against the grain for her to talk about Josef’s private affairs. “Both. But I’m not sure what difference that makes.”

I shook my head and smiled at her, trying to ease her mind. “Probably none,” I replied. “I think I’ll go help myself to some of Joz’f’s good scotch.”

I could almost feel relief radiating off her, as she jumped up to unlock the office door. I didn’t really want a drink; it was kind of pointless, since the alcohol had no effect, but it was an excuse to let her get on with her work.

Besides, Josef got there less than five minutes later, finding me staring out his office window. He had a nice view. I might hate being a vampire, but I still find the fall of night one of the best hours of the 24. And here, above it all, I was watching the lights of the city come on, the streets and highways like brilliant veins running across the darkening landscape, listening to the distant, muted roar of the traffic. It was clean, pure. Yeah, I know that’s an illusion. But from up here, you didn’t have to think about the grime and pollution. I shoved my hands in my pockets and let my mind drift.

“I’m shocked.” Josef’s sardonic comment didn’t exactly take me by surprise, but I will admit I wasn’t expecting it.

“Hmm?”

“You’re not drinking up my scotch.” He sauntered across the room. Josef made an art form out of entrances and exits. Of course, he’d had a lot of practice. He paused for effect. “So, what’s the plan?”

I explained briefly what I had in mind.

Josef nodded. “Let’s do it,” he said.

But as we started out of the room, he held a hand across the door. “Mick—you know where this may end up.”

Yeah, I did. Vampire justice is pretty much blood for blood. And we were looking for a murderer. “I know.”

Sometimes I think Louise is telepathic, at least where Josef is concerned. All he did as we marched through the office was to make a slight gesture in her direction, and she dutifully picked up her clipboard and followed along. She doesn’t ask questions, she just works office miracles.

The sixth floor lounge looked a lot different than it had the night before. There was no body on the floor, for one thing. And somehow, in that short space of time, Josef had gotten in a crew to lay new flooring, right down to the concrete, and install a pretty lush looking series of Persian rugs. I’ll say this for it, when he throws money at a problem, the problem gets fixed, and in style. There were about ten young women, and three young men, lounging around on the new couches. Lots of exposed throats, lots of exposed wrists.

They all wore a sort of bored but anticipatory look while waiting to be called into service. Of course the boredom vanished the minute Josef and I walked into the room. These kids came on point like birddogs, at the sight of a vampire. And well, around there, Josef wasn’t a vampire, he was the vampire, and that’s Mr. Vampire to you, freshie.

Apparently there was a drill, and they all knew it. Every single one of them was standing, immediately, forming up into a slightly uneven line. I had hoped that I’d be able to tell immediately who was nervous, whose heart was racing in fear of discovery, but I realized there was a problem with that theory, right away. See, these freshies were all on the make, they all wanted to move up the ladder, and by up the ladder, I mean providing blood to a higher ranking vamp. Perhaps needless to say, Josef is about three rungs above the top of the ladder, in this town. His treatment of his special freshies is pretty much legendary. It’s a ticket to a lifetime of luxury and success, and benevolent protection, as long as you toe the line. So when Josef walked into a room of freshies, everybody’s heart started racing, everybody’s mouth went a little dry, their palms a little wet. And judging from a subtler perfume that was suddenly spreading through the room, a lot of them had their sights not just on his fangs.

I’m not sure I’d ever seen a group of more willing freshies in my life.

Josef looked over at me with a slightly amused half-smile. No way he wasn’t getting the same signals that I was picking up on. “What now, Mick?” he said. I had a nasty feeling he’d spotted the flaw in my plan a long time before I had.

I smiled back, even if I was grinding my teeth a little. “Now,” I said, “let’s narrow it down. Louise?”

She stepped forward, the picture of efficiency.

“Any of these freshies not here last night?” I asked.

She shuffled through a few pages on the clipboard, comparing the printout from last night with tonight’s. “Four of them.”

“I think we can dismiss anyone who wasn’t here last night,” I said.

There was a bit of movement in the line, but no one broke ranks.

Josef nodded. “Louise, read out those names, please.”

She studied her clipboard. “Derek, Elena, Sapphire, and—” she paused, frowning, and flipped a page to consult another list. “I’m sorry, Mr. Kostan. There’s an—ambiguity here.” She looked up at the line, and I watched as her gaze slid down it, stopping finally on a golden-haired beauty with bright blue eyes. She looked like the perfect freshie, and clearly she was no newbie in the life. Even from where I stood, the scars were clear.

But I was getting an odd vibe off her. Nothing I could pin down, exactly, but—off.

“Jocelyn—it is Jocelyn, right?” Louise asked. “Was it you or Jaclyn that was here last night? I can’t tell from the signature.”

“Uh—” The sudden heart rate spike was as noticeable as a billboard to me, and likely to Josef as well. I glanced at him. He was frowning. It was too simple a question for her to hesitate on.

“Sisters?” I asked Josef.

“Twins,” he responded.

I nodded to him deliberately. This girl—or her sister—had killed Jewel in cold blood.

Josef pointed at Jocelyn. “You,” he said, “come with me.” He turned on his heel and strode away, expecting obedience. I wasn’t quite so confident of her reaction, and hung back. She sent a desperate glance around the room, but the others were already distancing themselves, fading back and scattering. No one would meet her eyes.

She closed those pretty blue peepers for a moment, and her shoulders sagged. When she stepped forward to follow Josef, I could read defeat in the lines of her body.

Louise and I had brought up the rear of the little procession. She brushed her elbow against the sleeve of my coat, and I glanced over at her, curious at the carelessness. Very un-Louise-like, in my experience.

She shook her head, when she saw she had my attention. “This is a bad business,” she murmured, knowing I could hear her plainly. “They’re good girls.”

“So was Jewel,” I replied.

“Please help her, Mr. St. John. Two deaths won’t make this right.” She bit her lip. I could tell she was worried she’d said too much.

“I can only protect her if she’s innocent,” I said. Harsh, but true. Louise hadn’t seen that girl, lying on the floor with two holes punched in her carotid. She was the one I was working for here.

Louise shook her head, looking me straight in the eye. “Who among us is truly innocent?”

That stopped me, for a second. What was Louise trying to tell me? Something about Jewel? Something about Jocelyn? Or maybe, something about Josef? I tried to question her further, but she only gave me a tight-lipped, humorless smile, and a shake of her head. We were at the elevator, anyway, and she couldn’t talk to me even if she wanted, without adding other ears to her audience. All I could do was give her an “after you” gesture.

The ride down to six the night before had been pretty grim; the ride back up to the top floor was much, much worse. I was a little amazed, and more than a little impressed, that Jocelyn was able to stand so quietly. For all she knew, she was going to her execution. Freshies can be astonishing people, sometimes.

We marched in to Josef’s office. While he indicated that Louise should leave her clipboard and return to her usual duties, I was still trying to size up the girl, trying to figure out how to approach questioning her.

Turned out, Josef had a pretty direct method in mind. Over the years I’ve known him, I’ve seen him do some pretty dicey things. I’ve never seen him be truly brutal with a woman. I suppose I still haven’t. But a lot of things are possible when you can move as fast as we can. Even I barely saw him move. One second we were all standing in the middle of his office. Jocelyn had her hands clasped before her, her head bowed. She might’ve been praying. The next second, Josef had her pinned against the wall, his fangs run out and his eyes silver. Her knees were sagging, and I think she would’ve fallen if he hadn’t been holding her up.

“Why’d you do it?” Josef growled. “Did you think I wouldn’t know?”

“But I didn’t,” Jocelyn protested, her voice rising in panic. “Mr. Kostan, I swear I didn’t do it!”

Josef stepped back and folded his arms. “If it wasn’t you, who was it?”

Jocelyn looked down, not wanting to answer.

“You do know who it was, don’t you?” I picked up the clipboard off the desk where Louise had left it. The list of names. I flipped a few pages up. “Joz’f.”

“What?” His voice was flat, pissed off.

“This girl didn’t kill Jewel.”

He snarled at me. “She reeks of guilt.”

“No. That’s fear you’re smelling, not guilt.” I tossed the clipboard aside and looked at the girl. “It was your sister, wasn’t it? It was Jaclyn. She was here last night, and she deliberately scrawled her signature to create confusion. She didn’t want you, or anyone else, to know which of them was in attendance. It was supposed to be you here, last night, wasn’t it, Jocelyn? But it was Jaclyn instead.”

Jocelyn looked at me mutely, her eyes terrified.

“Why?” I said. “What’s the deal?”

She covered her face with her hands. I could smell the sharpness of her tears, and the stink of fear on her skin, stronger. “She—she said you’d never kill me, for something I didn’t do.”

Josef frowned. “Possibly not. It depends.”

I gestured him back. He wasn’t helping. “Joz’f. Let me handle this.”

He crossed his arms and looked disgusted. “You’re too soft, Mick. I can’t have this kind of thing in my own building.”

“I get that, Joz’f. Now let me work.” I turned my attention to the girl. For a while, I just looked at her. Except for her coloring, she looked nothing like Beth, but I had to wonder what my girlfriend would think about all this. It was a damned nasty situation. Finally, I gave one command. “Tell me about it, Jocelyn.”

The girl took in a long, shuddering breath. “She deserved it.”

“Buzz. Wrong answer,” Josef said.

I shook my head. “Let’s try that again.”

“You don’t understand,” she said. “It’s a snake pit down there. Everyone’s fighting to get noticed. Jewel was one of the worst. The backstabbing bitch.”

“That still doesn’t explain—”

She looked at me as though I were the biggest idiot she’d ever seen. “It was supposed to be my turn. Jaclyn was tired of the scene, but I still thought we had a shot. A shot at getting seen. Getting tasted by the right vampire. Then Jewel pulled one of her nasty little tricks, and I missed my chance. She got to feed the big boss, and I missed out.” She looked at me hopefully, but I didn’t really have any validation to give her.

When I was a kid, and girls got in these vicious quarrels, they called it a “looking glass war.” The phrase has fallen out of fashion, but I guess that sort of rivalry never ends. Back in my day, I don’t ever remember it going as far as murder. But the stakes were a lot lower, then.

“What happened?”

She shrugged. “Jaclyn just said, not to worry. She told me to stay home last night and she’d take care of things. She swore everyone would think it was one of the vamps.”

“She was almost right about that. But she missed her mark just a little.” Just enough I could tell the punctures weren’t made by fangs. It’s funny, the things that will give you away. “Where is Jaclyn now?”

Jocelyn shook her head. “I don’t know. Honest, I don’t know. She never came back home.”

I looked at Josef. “I think she’s telling the truth,” I said.

He was still looking pretty stormy. “Fine.” He almost spat the word out. And then, before I could stop him, he was up in Jocelyn’s face again. He pulled her into a rough embrace, and put his mouth down close to her throat. Only another vampire could have heard what he said to her, it was pitched so low. “I’m not going to kill you tonight,” he whispered, “but you’d better realize that you’ll never be close to a vampire again. And if your sister gets in touch, tell her that I have a long arm and a longer memory. Sooner or later, she’s mine.”

With that, he let her go, and she stumbled to the door. Then she was gone, and there was silence in the room.

After a minute, Josef looked over at me. “Well,” he said, “that sucked.”

“Yeah.”

“I am going to find Jaclyn. And I don’t think you want to be there when I do.”

“I think you might be right about that.”

Josef shook his head, and sighed. “You ought to know by now, Mick, it’s what we are. It’s what we do.”

He was right, of course. He’s always right. Vampire justice means blood. I’ve dispensed our sort of justice a thousand times. That doesn’t mean I have to like it.

“You know, Joz’f, I think I could use a drink.”

So that’s the way it ends. One freshie dead. One dismissed. And one in the wind. I can’t help but think about Jaclyn. She can never go home again, good as dead to her friends and family. Even the sister she was trying to help. She’s out on the road somewhere, looking over her shoulder, and never knowing when Josef’s going to catch up.

I wonder if she thinks it’s worth it.

I don’t. But what do I know? I’m just another vampire.
User avatar
darkstarrising
100% Moonlightaholic
Posts: 11014
Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2009 2:25 am

Re: From the CaseFiles of Mick St.John:A Looking Glass War P

Post by darkstarrising »

Wow! This was certainly worth the wait, Lucky!!

Mick's inner monologue is pitch perfect and his banter with Josef is spot on.
“Look, maybe you’re forgetting, but I met Beth’s mother once before. It’s a sure bet if she saw me again, she might not recognize the face—”

“Trust me, any woman would remember your face.”


Josef's got that right.

Chuckled at this:
Okay, so the killer felt some remorse. Probably knew the victim. This was all Private Eye 101. You could learn that much watching police procedurals on CBS.


Loved the description of how the freshies reacted when Mick and Josef entered the 'lounge':
They all wore a sort of bored but anticipatory look while waiting to be called into service. Of course the boredom vanished the minute Josef and I walked into the room. These kids came on point like birddogs, at the sight of a vampire. And well, around there, Josef wasn’t a vampire, he was the vampire, and that’s Mr. Vampire to you, freshie.


So true. And one of them is about to find out just what it means to piss off that vampire.

This story has it all, the banter, a little humor, and drama that results when a freshie is found murdered. There are a couple of twists, but Mick does his PI thing and the truth is found, Josef transforms from the Armani clad gentleman to vampire, one who doesn't tolerate the killing of one of his freshies.
Turned out, Josef had a pretty direct method in mind. Over the years I’ve known him, I’ve seen him do some pretty dicey things. I’ve never seen him be truly brutal with a woman. I suppose I still haven’t. But a lot of things are possible when you can move as fast as we can. Even I barely saw him move. One second we were all standing in the middle of his office. Jocelyn had her hands clasped before her, her head bowed. She might’ve been praying. The next second, Josef had her pinned against the wall, his fangs run out and his eyes silver. Her knees were sagging, and I think she would’ve fallen if he hadn’t been holding her up.
At first, Jewel seems the innocent, killed out of jealousy by another freshie. But the story is layered, showing that Jewel wasn't as innocent as she appeared. The freshie lounge was really a sort of snake pit, where few were content with their function, wanting to be attached to high level vamps.

Louise is a character that has many layers as well, and she walks a fine line between keeping her job with Josef and pleading with Mick not to have the guilty freshie killed. Still, Mick's final thoughts sum up the dangers of being a freshie, especially one that's earned Josef's anger:
So that’s the way it ends. One freshie dead. One dismissed. And one in the wind. I can’t help but think about Jaclyn. She can never go home again, good as dead to her friends and family. Even the sister she was trying to help. She’s out on the road somewhere, looking over her shoulder, and never knowing when Josef’s going to catch up.
Great story, Lucky, one that would have made a really good episode.
darkstarrising
Love – the universal language, the story of Moonlight
View My Fanfic Index

Image

Thanks to the talented and generous Phoenix for my beautiful banner!
User avatar
librarian_7
Forever Moonlightaholic
Posts: 23481
Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2009 7:21 pm
Location: wherever Josef is
Contact:

Re: From the CaseFiles of Mick St.John:A Looking Glass War P

Post by librarian_7 »

Ahhh, thanks, dsr! You know I really love your comments! Every once in awhile, I do like to do those episode-like stories. I thought about bringing Beth in as an "undercover Freshie" but couldn't quite work it in. Another time, perhaps...
User avatar
allegrita
Moonlightaholic Admin
Posts: 45960
Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2009 9:22 am
Location: Snuggled under the brown afghan, watching the fire

Re: From the CaseFiles of Mick St.John:A Looking Glass War P

Post by allegrita »

When you first told me about your story idea, I immediately thought it should go into Mick's case files. It has a lot of the feel of Wrong Turn, despite the fact that it's from a very different time. And eeeeeee, I love your "noir Mick" voice! :melts: :Mickangel: I can just hear him telling this story over a glass or three of good scotch. Looking a little sad, a little world-weary. This story evokes the tales of Chandler and Hammett, but you've brought it into the new millennium... and with the wonderful twist of being set in our favorite universe. And you're so good at creating a mood. I can see the story taking place in my mind as I read your words, you paint the scene so vividly.

Mick really ought to wear a Fedora for these stories. I bet he'd look fabulous in one. :melts: (We already know Josef would.) :hearts:
Image
User avatar
BlueEyedMonster
Fledgling
Posts: 471
Joined: Mon Dec 26, 2011 6:05 am

Re: From the CaseFiles of Mick St.John:A Looking Glass War P

Post by BlueEyedMonster »

Loved it and love the noir feel of the whole story. Very Mick and Josef at the vampire best, And yes Mick Beth's mother would indeed recognize you.

:clapping:
User avatar
GuardianAngel
Courtesan
Posts: 2455
Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2009 10:50 pm
Location: Right here. I think.

Re: From the CaseFiles of Mick St.John:A Looking Glass War P

Post by GuardianAngel »

I too love the noir feel of this and the peephole look into Josef's fortress.
Lucky wrote:Touch one of his, and you’d better wish for a quick death. You wouldn’t get it, but you could wish.
Yes, I do believe that to be true. I can hear a touch of respect in Mick's tone. Probably just one of the many reason's their relationship works so well.
Lucky wrote:“Come,” he said, his voice raised a notch or two. He wasn’t yelling. I’m not sure he ever yells. He just uses a more authoritative tone of voice.
Never really thought about it but so true. Yelling would be too out of control for Mr. K.
Lucky wrote:This was all Private Eye 101. You could learn that much watching police procedurals on CBS.
:rolling:

I can only imagine how snipy those women in the office pool were. Poor, stoic Louise must have been so tired of watching it.
Image
jen
Cleaner
Posts: 6411
Joined: Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:11 am

Re: From the CaseFiles of Mick St.John:A Looking Glass War P

Post by jen »

This was fabulous.

There were no winners here--except Josef and as every vamp, freshie and 'in on the secret' human in L.A knows (whether they like it or not):

Josef Kostan wins most of the time.

He insists on it.

Louise is a wonderful character. She was sensitive to the dynamics in play--after all, these were the waters she swam in. I suppose it suited Josef turn a blind eye to the cutthroat competition until things got deadly.

Great story! Thank you!!
Mick and Beth--two of the lovely faces of Moonlight
Image
Beautiful banner by the Fabulous Phoenix
User avatar
eris
Sire
Posts: 3501
Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2009 12:21 am
Location: somewhere... I think

Re: From the CaseFiles of Mick St.John:A Looking Glass War P

Post by eris »

Great one, Lucky. It read like an episode!
User avatar
cassysj
100% Moonlightaholic
Posts: 12740
Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2009 5:58 am

Re: From the CaseFiles of Mick St.John:A Looking Glass War P

Post by cassysj »

I really did feel like I was watching an episode. There is a dark side to freshie life and this showed the danger isn't always from fangs
Image
User avatar
LadyAilith
Fledgling
Posts: 354
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 2:53 pm

Re: From the CaseFiles of Mick St.John:A Looking Glass War P

Post by LadyAilith »

I really loved your story! It was perfect Mick noir. You've got his voice down pat! Thanks for the trip back in time. :hearts:
LadyAilith :rose:
User avatar
Lilly
Moonlightaholic Mod
Posts: 25373
Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2009 4:24 pm

Re: From the CaseFiles of Mick St.John:A Looking Glass War P

Post by Lilly »

Lucky!! What a gem this is! :yahoo: :heart:

Alle is right -- this absolutely belongs in the "Case Files." :yes: It may be a different time period, but the tone and the noir feel are a perfect match for your earlier piece. Most of my favorite parts have already been quoted by others. Loved the CBS mention. :laugh: And just like with the "wish for for a quick death" line, the phrasing here is Mick at his finest: :notworthy:
librarian_7 wrote:That guy had been fortunate enough to get himself shot before Josef figured out his responsibility for the incident.
What strikes me most, though, is the impeccable pacing and the seamless blending of dialogue and narrative. It was a pitch perfect combination. It truly did feel like an episode. A damn good one. :teeth:

This was SO worth waiting for. :notworthy:
Lilly

My Fanfic Index
Avatar from "Matasaburo of the Wind" © 2009 Alex Gross, used with the permission of the artist
User avatar
librarian_7
Forever Moonlightaholic
Posts: 23481
Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2009 7:21 pm
Location: wherever Josef is
Contact:

Re: From the CaseFiles of Mick St.John:A Looking Glass War P

Post by librarian_7 »

Thank you so much for the comments! I'm not sure I'd ever really thought of writing noir before Moonlight came along. Who knew? Although I will admit to a period of reading classic noir many years ago...and that surely has to have been an influence.
User avatar
cassysj
100% Moonlightaholic
Posts: 12740
Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2009 5:58 am

Re: From the CaseFiles of Mick St.John:A Looking Glass War P

Post by cassysj »

Freshiedom can have a very dark world and this is such a great peek into it.
Image
User avatar
librarian_7
Forever Moonlightaholic
Posts: 23481
Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2009 7:21 pm
Location: wherever Josef is
Contact:

Re: From the CaseFiles of Mick St.John:A Looking Glass War P

Post by librarian_7 »

Thanks, cassy! I always love it when a story gets bumped!
User avatar
allegrita
Moonlightaholic Admin
Posts: 45960
Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2009 9:22 am
Location: Snuggled under the brown afghan, watching the fire

Re: From the CaseFiles of Mick St.John:A Looking Glass War P

Post by allegrita »

Ooh, and this is a VERY good one! :clapping: I'm happy to have a chance to read it again!
Image
Post Reply

Return to “Mick and Beth”