SB 15 - Rebonding (Mick's POV) (PG-13)

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francis
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SB 15 - Rebonding (Mick's POV) (PG-13)

Post by francis »

We took a cab to Waverly Place. It was a quiet neighborhood in Queens, mostly smaller brownstone or brick houses with the typical stairs in front and white windowpanes. Some of the streets had a view to the skyline of Manhattan.
I worked the doorbell and took my sunglasses off, taking a glance back at Beth, who was standing behind me, smiling. We were both curious what we would find here, if Josef was there.
A small middle aged afro american woman opened. She had a friendly face, but was guarded when she saw that we were strangers. „Can I help you?“
„Yes, we’re looking for Josef Kostan.“
„Noone by that name is here.“ she said absolutely convincing, but I had already smelled him around the corner. I steeled my face to hide a grin.
Beth kept pressuring the woman. But she insisted: „I don’t know what to tell you.“
It would be probably best if I played out my cards, to get her off the hook.
„How about Charles Fitzgerald? Do you know him?“
I hadn’t finished the sentence when Josef came up behind her. He dismissed her. She was looking at him frustrated and kind of protective. How was he able to always inspire such loyalty?
He didn’t look at me, but he smiled at Beth. He seemed surprised that I took her with me. Beth gave me a triumphant glance, but I kept my eyes on Josef. I didn’t want to miss anything.
His clothes were more casual than usual, no tie, no suspenders, just dark trousers and a blue shirt, half unbottened. It seemed to me like he was on a holiday. He grinned at me and raised his eyebrows in greeting. „You can run but you can’t hide.“
I smiled. He had me running after him from coast to coast, searching for clues, while a phonecall would have been enough. I would watch his back anytime, but he wasn’t really helpful. I enjoyed my little triumph that I found him.
„Not from me, Charles.“ I grinned at the last word and went past him to get out of the sun. He grinned back. For a moment it seemed to me as if he was glad I found him, as if he just had played a game, but he was way too tense for that to be true.

While he was leading us through a house that was decorated in some oldfashioned and elaborate decor, more fitting for a woman, I was scanning the rooms for the presence of others, but there was only the smell of Polly and the fade signature of one or two other humans, probably staff.
I informed Josef about our steps to find him, and that we talked with Whitley. He was evading again, he kept moving in front of us, not showing his face to me, not talking. I was tired of his games. „Will you tell me what’s going on?“
He opened the double door to a room. When he turned around his face was tense, like he had finally given up on hiding but was not sure this was a good idea. He seemed strained and uneasy, almost timid. Whatever he was hiding behind this door was important to him, and he had kept it from me for a long time.

We entered the room. The drapes were closed, and in the center of the room there was a bed. On the silk pillows lay a beautiful redheaded young woman, eyes closed, unmoving. She was surrounded by monitors and IV lines.
Josef spoke, his voice soft, almost breaking. „Mick, Beth, this is Sarah. Sarah Whitley.“

I was stunned. She hadn’t aged since 1955, and she had no heartbeat. He had tried to turn her, and something went wrong. He had kept her here, in a comfortable home, employing trustworthy people to care for her, and he had kept her a secret for over 50 years now. My mind tried to get the facts together while Josef sent Polly out and answered Beth’s questions.
He told the story of how he met Sarah and fell in love. Josef Kostan in love with a human! He looked at me with an apologetic smile. I swallowed hard. We weren’t so different after all. And still, how could this go so wrong?

Beth was awfully quiet during Josef’s story. What did she see when she saw Sarah? Did she see a woman in love with a vampire, or just a sad story of a love gone bad? Did she feel for Josef?
I felt for him, and was almost ashamed that I had been so angry with him that he didn’t trust me with this. But still, how could he live with something like this? What other secrets were buried inside of him that he had to keep hidden? I felt like I didn’t know even a particle of this old creature that I thought was my friend.

When he told us that he lived 350 years to find her, he suddenly seemed so vulnerable, forlorn, lonely and sad. And now I understood why he was so secretive, so sarcastic and paranoid. If any vampire got wind of this, Sarah wouldn’t be safe. The vampire council wouldn’t allow her to live on. Her existence was an abomination, a threat. Noone wanted to be reminded of what could go wrong, and noone wanted humans to see this.

Beth finally needed to know. „So, what happened to her?“
I answered for him. „He tried to turn her.“

But how could he do this? He killed the woman he loved, as surely as if he had shot her or chopped her head off. How could he try to turn her, take her humanity away, her chance to have children, her chance to live in the sun and with her family? How could he be so selfish?

He explained that she was begging him, that she wouldn’t let it go. And I remembered what Beth had read to me out of her diary. From her perspective it must have been something she wanted, be with him forever, share his life of the undead. Did he tell her what it would mean? How much she would give up?

She had a choice that I didn’t have. When Josef and I met in 1956 he was just a bored playboy and a pompous showoff to me. But I overheard a row he had with Coraline where he chasticed her for turning me. He told her I wasn’t cut out to be a vampire and that she had destroyed me. I was so wounded at that time, so dependant on Cora and angry that some stranger would talk to her about our most intimate issues. But thinking about it, this was the point in time when I realized that our relationship wasn’t working, that it was built on pretense and guilt, on constraint and raw passion rather than love and free commitment. What I had overheard gave me the power to leave Coraline, one piece at a time. It took me years, but I made it. Now, I wasn’t so sure anymore that Josef didn’t know that I was standing at the door back then. He must have smelled me. And he talked to me rather than her.

Was it the fiasco with Sarah that made him come to L.A. permanently? He had been living there on and off for decades, as Coraline told me. Was it the fact that he was still hurting about Sarah’s choice going wrong that made him furious about Coraline just taking what she wanted?

Josef was more open now to us than I had ever seen him. When he told us about the failed turning he was holding back tears, his face twitching, the hurt coming off him in waves. I tried to tell him that he did the right thing, that it wasn’t his fault. Whatever I personally thought about turning, she made the decision and it wasn’t his fault. Of course my words and Beth’s words didn’t really help. He had tried to hold onto her for decades now, and he was still hoping for a miracle.

He walked around the be towards us, and I just wanted to lay a hand onto his shoulders to show him that I cared, when the sound of crashing glass and wood made me spin around. Martan. I jumped towards Beth and pushed her to the ground, trying to cushion her fall by keeping my left arm behind her back. The killer shot Josef, then stalked towards him with a stake. I told Beth to stay down and hoped that this time she would listen to me. I had to make sure she was safe, that’s why I couldn’t prevent the attacker from staking Josef. For the record, Josef totally deserved it for making me come to New York in the first place. I would save his ass again, of course.

The man was confused, he obviously had the wrong information about vampires. I moved behind him in vamp speed and gladly set the record straight, vamped out already. He had no chance this time, I didn’t want to play with him any more. Beth’s panicked heartbeat from behind the bed made me angry, and I just threw him against the wall and snapped his neck.

Josef was lying there, a stake with a rippled bar deep inside his chest. It was a similar stake like the one Gerald Stovsky used on me. Was there some Vamps `R Us in L.A.? Josef braced himself for some additional pain when I pulled the wood out, and then took a deep breath. He gasped a „Thank you.“ It contained more than the one incident, it captured this whole mess.
I told him „You’re welcome.“ and I meant it.
No need to kill him for what he did and made me do. He was my friend, he had trusted me with one of his many secrets, and he knew that I would protect him whenever I could. That was enough for now.
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Re: SB 15 - Rebonding (Mick's POV) (PG-13)

Post by mitzie »

Great chapter!

Off to read the last one!!

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Re: SB 15 - Rebonding (Mick's POV) (PG-13)

Post by Fleur de Lisa »

I can only imagine how absolutely stunned Beth was when she heard the story of Sarahs turning gone wrong. Whatever illusions she may have entertained about being with Mick, were gone at that moment.
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Re: SB 15 - Rebonding (Mick's POV) (PG-13)

Post by moonshine »

Great chapter!!! I know I repeat myself but I do like it :biggrin:
I especially liked this one:
For the record, Josef totally deserved it for making me come to New York in the first place. I would save his ass again, of course.
:snicker:
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Re: SB 15 - Rebonding (Mick's POV) (PG-13)

Post by jen »

Wonderful. I really like your take of Josef.

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Re: SB 15 - Rebonding (Mick's POV) (PG-13)

Post by maggatha3 »

francis wrote: I felt like I didn’t know even a particle of this old creature that I thought was my friend............................................................................................................................
................................................................................................
He was my friend, he had trusted me with one of his many secrets, and he knew that I would protect him whenever I could. That was enough for now.
Wonderful, wonderful Mick POV!Now he must be a lot more confused than in the beginning of this story...yet, things seemed to be more clear in his mind at the end of the episode! :flowers:
-It never ends well...
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