Three Women - PG

A place for PNWgal's G to PG-13 stories
Post Reply
User avatar
PNWgal
Moonlightaholic Mod
Posts: 14732
Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2009 8:40 pm
Location: Stuck in the middle between Mick and Josef

Three Women - PG

Post by PNWgal »

This was sort of inspired by the end of FTP. Mick's musing on the three women that made him who (and what) he is today.

I hope y'all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Usual disclaimers apply. CBS owns Moonlight; I just like to play with their toys.


THREE WOMEN




Life was a series of moments, Mick mused. Standing on the precipice of his building, looking out over the Los Angeles night, all the moments he’d experienced rolled through his mind like the motion pictures his parents used to take him to see on Saturday afternoon matinees. Some moments were as fleeting as a heartbeat; some were as lasting as a lifetime. It struck him suddenly that the most monumental moments, the ones that marked the passage of his human and undead life revolved around women. There had been myriads he’d known…he’d taken their virtues, tasted their blood—and robbed them of their lives.

He remembered Alice Gentry. She had batted inky lashes at him in the cafeteria when he’d been a senior in high school. Cheerleader and homecoming queen, she hadn’t been so prim and proper with her skirt pushed up around her hips in the back seat of his father’s old Ford. His awkward hands had been damp with nervous sweat as he’d fondled her breasts, yet she’d proclaimed him the best she’d ever had when he was done. Looking back now, he thought she should have gone to Hollywood. She could have made millions as an actress.

There had been soft blondes, fiery redheads and exotic brunettes. He’d loved the 60’s and 70’s…free love had been the best thing to come out of the civil rights upheavals. Women burned their bras and opened their thighs for any man that winked at them; Mick lost count of the women he’d had during those decades. When Josef had taken him under his wing, the women had become more educated, higher class and much tastier. Josef’s taste was discriminating; no more drugged-out hippies or alcohol-drenched housewives. He’d shared many with the older vampire; their tender skin and sweet blood had sated both the man and the beast.

There’d been many he had, but only three he’d loved. The three women that had molded him, made him into who and what he was.

He thought of his mother.

His mother had been his first love, the rock on which he’d anchored his childhood. His earliest memories were of her laughing hazel eyes above him, gently shaking him awake from a sound slumber.

Rise and shine, Micky. You’re going to be late for school.

She’d held the family together through good times and bad; she’d kept them fed and clothed when his father had lost his job during the Depression. He remembered her face, amused yet terrified when his friends had brought him home to be patched up after he’d tumbled out of a Radio Flyer tearing down Smith Hill when he was eight. He remembered her disappointment when he’d pushed his sister off her bike, and he remembered her pride in him when he’d graduated high school. He recalled the day he came home from his job at the gas station and found her sitting at the kitchen table, tears on her face and an official-looking envelope in her hand.

It’s from the War Department, Mick. You’ve been called up.

She had kept him sane when he’d been shipped overseas. Through the screams of the injured and dying, the whistles of the bombs dropping and bullets flying, her letters from home kept him from losing his grip on reality. When he’d come home, shrapnel in his leg and horrors in his head, she’d sat silently for hours by his bedside when all he could do was lie there and stare at the ceiling. She had kept his father and Ruth from pestering him about the war, and she’d held his hand when he slowly began to open up about what he’d seen. She had glowed with motherly pride when he’d talked about the men he’d saved as a medic and had cried with him when he told her about the ones he’d lost.

She’d been warily happy when he told her he’d found the woman of his dreams. Her face had been luminescent with love when he’d stood before God and the witnesses and had spoken his vows to love, honor and cherish. It had been the last time he’d seen her when he was human. The next time he saw her, he’d been slinking outside the window of his childhood home. He’d watched her collapse into his father’s arms when the uniformed officer had told his parents their son had disappeared and was most likely dead. When she died, a part of him had died with her. He couldn’t even be there to bury her; he’d had to hide in the shadows as they lowered her into the ground.

He thought of Coraline.

Recollections of the first time he’d laid eyes on her assaulted his mind. She’d been wearing a dress the color of fresh blood and the black eyes she’d flashed at him held promises of hot nights, tangled sheets and sultry sex. The guys in the band had scoffed when his eyes had followed her lush figure across the dance floor.

Give it up, man. She’s way out of your league.

She drops more in a day at Saks’ than you make in a year. You don’t have a shot with a woman like that, St. John.


He had been shocked when she’d sashayed towards him with a bottle of champagne in her hand and a wicked smile on her face, asking him if he’d wanted to go for a midnight swim. Her aloofness had been wildly alluring and his hands had trembled when he’d slowly pulled the zipper down on her dress. She’d been naked beneath it and he’d gone hard as iron when she’d sauntered towards the pool in nothing but a pair of red shoes. She had turned around and beckoned him with a small smile as she’d toed off her shoes and had dived gracefully into the water.

She had played him with more skill than he’d ever played his guitar. She had pleasured him with teasing kisses and had inflamed his jealousy by bringing other men to his gigs. Her dark eyes would gleam with an almost sadistic joy as she would wait for Mick’s gaze to fall on her, then she would brush her lips against the cheek or her hands would stroke the thigh of the current man she was using to torment him. His band mates had commented his music had never been better.

The third time she’d stood him up, he’d gone to her, drunk on cheap whiskey and with lust for her burning in his gut. He had pounded on the glass, called out for her. When she had come out of the bedroom, she had stood on the other side of the glass, taunting him with her smiles, her words.

I’m sorry I stood you up, Mick. I’ll make it up to you sometime.

She’d turned and walked towards the back of the house. He’d followed her around the house, his eyes never leaving her dark figure as it moved through the rooms. When she reached the back of the house, the lust and rage had reached a fever point. When she’d tossed that smirk at him and turned to leave him, he’d thrown a chair through the window to get to her. That night, she’d done things to him with her lips, hands and body that no woman of her social status should know how to do. When he’d buried himself inside her, again and again, the words she’d whispered in his ear incinerated his soul. He was completely hers after that first night; he hadn’t realized until later just how lost he was.

She’d finally given in to his pleas and agreed to marry him. He hadn’t understood the almost predatory look in her eyes when she’d thrown her arms around him and pressed red lips to his.

Oh yes, I’ll marry you, Mick! We’ll be together forever, I promise.

When he’d carried her across the threshold of their honeymoon suite, he’d looked down into her beautiful features and thought his heart would burst with the joy of knowing she was his. When he’d set her on her feet, she had thrown herself into his arms. He’d been a little surprised at how strong she seemed when she ripped open the buttons of his dress shirt and sank her teeth into his chest.

Jesus, Coraline! Watch the teeth, will ya?

When they’d tumbled onto the bed, he had closed his eyes and drifted into bliss as she nuzzled his neck and stroked the spot where she’d left teeth marks. Suddenly his world had exploded into a flood of pain, and then black coldness as his life had ebbed away at the hands of his new wife. He had awakened to blood on his pillow and the sun burning his cold skin. A deathly pallor and fangs had greeted his horrified reflection in the mirror. As he watched, his eyes changed from their usual green to icy blue. A terrible hunger had begun churning in his gut, yet the thought of food disgusted him. He had turned to see the blood on his neck and his mouth had watered. Coraline had watched him, her eyes both loving and hungry.

I gave you a gift…the greatest gift I could give.

I joined us…for eternity. I love you.


He had run. He learned quickly to stay out of the sun, but he’d had to get away from Coraline, away from the monster she had made him. When she had found him huddled behind a car, he’d begged her to take it back, to make him who he was before. He’d pleaded with her to stop the pain, to kill him. He hadn’t wanted the horror, the curse of immortality, the horrible hunger for the blood of the young woman Coraline had brought him. Her hot blood had slid down his throat like glory and he’d been disgusted by it.

Over the years, she taught him to survive and to enjoy the thrill of the hunt. She had encouraged him to enjoy being at the top of the food chain, to embrace his power over the millions of humans at his disposal. She had no limits as to the humans she would take. Later, he would wear every human he’d killed like a millstone around his neck. Every plea for life, every scream of pain, every bit of suffering he inflicted was another strand in the hair shirt that continually chafed at his soul.

It would be years before he would learn at Josef’s hands that he didn’t have to kill to survive.

His love for her had been destructive, all-consuming…obsessive. They would tear each other to shreds, and then come together in violent bouts of fierce sex. When it became too much, he would leave her, sometimes for months. Sooner or later, his need for her, his desire to possess her overcame his common sense and he would crawl back to her, broken and repelled by his weakness.

He had finally had the courage to break away the night he walked into that abandoned cabin and saw the blonde girl in the white nightgown. Coraline had stroked the girl’s face and told him they could be happy—they could make a family. As he watched the tears run down the little girl’s face he could hear the snapping of the final thread that bound him to Coraline.

He thought of Beth.

Mrs. Turner had wrapped her arms around her daughter, hugging her as if she would never let her go. Beth’s somber blue eyes had met his over her mother’s shoulder. She had held him captive with that look of trust and faith, so easy for a child to have—and so easy for a child to lose.

Thank you, Mr. St. John. There’s nothing I can give you that can pay you for my daughter’s life. Thank you.

She had saved him, this tiny girl with the blonde hair and freckles. Her trust in him made him want to be a better man. He stopped hunting—he even had stopped taking his blood from the source and bought exclusively from the morgue or the blood bank. Her safety had become his life’s goal, his Holy Grail. The few photos he’d dared to take and keep over the course of her life he kept hidden in a file drawer. When the nights got too lonely, when his existence was too heavy to bear he took them out and surrounded himself with her light and goodness.

He knew he should have kept his distance from her that night at that fountain, but she drew him like an undead moth to the flame of her vitality. The first time she’d touched him, he had been surprised he hadn’t turned into dust in her hands. He knew it had been a mistake—he hadn’t allowed anyone to get this close to him for decades. He had slowly and reluctantly drew her into an embrace, closing his eyes as he inhaled her scent and took comfort in her warm closeness.

She had saved him, this beautiful woman with the independent spirit and blue eyes that saw right down to his shriveled soul. He had been dying in the desert and she had given him her blood, the source of her life, willingly and without question. She got around his defenses and under his skin in spite of his efforts to keep distance between them. The night she came to him, high on vampire blood, she had almost dissolved his determination to keep her at arms’ length. It took every bit of control he’d possessed not to strip her out of her dress and take her against the wet glass of his shower. But there had been a barrier between them that had nothing to do with vampirism.

She had told him to stay away from her when he had refused to save Josh. He had looked down at the blood covering his hands and had felt another burden added to the legion he already carried. He’d tried to make her understand that he wasn’t the guardian angel she’d seen him to be. In the flickering candlelight the night Josh had died, he had seen the first fissures in the solid wall of trust she had in him. He would have handed her a sword and offered her his head if it would have taken that look of revulsion out of her eyes.

I did a lot of bad things after I was Turned, Beth. Things I carry tremendous amounts of guilt about.

She’d forgiven him eventually and he’d accepted the apology in her eyes. He’d admitted his love for her to Josef and felt more liberated by the confession than he had since he had been Turned.

He then had to make a choice -his life for hers.

He held up a hand, squinting at it in the lucent moonlight. Lightly brown from his week in the sun, it would soon fade…as would the memories he’d been desperate to cram into every waking moment of his temporary humanity. Little did he know living would be so temporal. Giving up that precious life, asking Josef to take it from him…he’d hardly been able to bear it. But when he thought about that life, all it entailed, all he could see was her absence. All he could feel was the pain of loving her and knowing he hadn’t done everything he could to save her.

He hadn’t lied to Beth—he had no regrets. Losing his humanity was a small price to pay for keeping her safe, for being able to protect her. He’d rather live a thousand years in the night and feel the beat of her heart than live one minute in the light without her. Looking at her sitting across from him, watching her slip that strawberry between her lips, he knew he had made the right choice.

She knew what he was and loved him anyway. She’d seen him at his most vulnerable and she hadn’t turned away from him. He had committed what he had considered the ultimate betrayal of her trust—not Turning Josh—and she still wanted to be with him.

Three women had made him complete. His mother had molded him into the man he’d become—strong, courteous and loyal. Coraline had turned him into a vampire, into the monster he’d seen himself as for too long. Beth loved both, the man and the vampire. Loving her brought the two halves he’d long since accepted as light-years apart a little closer together. Loving her gave him something he’d never expected to have ever again—hope.

You may be right…I don’t know. Just give me a chance to figure it out…ok?

Beth had told him not to take too long.

You may have forever—but I don’t.

He wasn’t going to need forever. He was pretty sure he had it figured out now.
Image

Banner by the talented GuardianAngel


"It is better to keep silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." - George Eliot

"The dogs may bark, but the caravan passes on." - old Arab proverb

"Do the best you can do. Love many. Trust few." - Jack Ingram
User avatar
coco
Cleaner
Posts: 6983
Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2009 6:17 pm
Location: In my own little corner of Moonlight heaven :)
Contact:

Re: Three Women - PG

Post by coco »

PNW I love this one so much :D
Three women had made him complete. His mother had molded him into the man he’d become—strong, courteous and loyal. Coraline had turned him into a vampire, into the monster he’d seen himself as for too long. Beth loved both, the man and the vampire. Loving her brought the two halves he’d long since accepted as light-years apart a little closer together. Loving her gave him something he’d never expected to have ever again—hope.

You may be right…I don’t know. Just give me a chance to figure it out…ok?

Beth had told him not to take too long.

You may have forever—but I don’t.

He wasn’t going to need forever. He was pretty sure he had it figured out now.
coco's Fan Vids/coco's Graphic Art
Image
Avi by TugaFanatic & banner by me. Thank you.

"Maybe it was her blood in my veins that let me feel her. The beating of her very living heart. Or maybe, we've always been connected." Mick & Beth - Moonlight


coco's YT channel
coco's Vimeo channel
100% Moonlight Tumblr
:twothumbs:
User avatar
bluedahlia3
Rogue vampire
Posts: 1022
Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2009 1:30 am
Location: Strolling down a foggy street, collar popped up, emoting cigarette smoke

Re: Three Women - PG

Post by bluedahlia3 »

You've caught it all, haven't you? In one short story, they should put this up on SciFi, it captures the essence. Well written, nice to read. Great job, PNW. Great job.
"I'm only wearing black until they come up with something darker." LaCroix
Forever grateful to Trevor Munson for his gift.
jen
Cleaner
Posts: 6411
Joined: Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:11 am

Re: Three Women - PG

Post by jen »

Yea!!!!! (applause)

Love this.

Thanks!
Mick and Beth--two of the lovely faces of Moonlight
Image
Beautiful banner by the Fabulous Phoenix
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: Three Women - PG

Post by allegrita »

I like this. Not just the three most important women, but the glimpses of others in his past. I can see Mick looking at his life in terms of the women in it. They notice him, he notices them... :hearts:
Image
User avatar
Luxe de Luxe
Sire
Posts: 3285
Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2009 2:50 pm

Re: Three Women - PG

Post by Luxe de Luxe »

this was glorious, how did I miss this one?

Oh the pain of not being able to stand up for his mother at her funeral.

Just wonderfu P-gal, the darkness in this leavened by the sweetness of Beth at the end.
Image
Banner by the talented Hot Micks
User avatar
redwinter101
100% Moonlightaholic
Posts: 23759
Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2009 10:19 am
Location: lost in Moonlight, forever

Re: Three Women - PG

Post by redwinter101 »

In revealing his thoughts about these three women, Mick reveals so much about himself.

His remembrances of Coraline and Beth, and his hopes for the future are so beautifully clear and touching. All those years with Coraline and he finally understands their relationship.

But it's his memories of his mother, especially the wartime moments, that just break my heart. This is the Mick I want to have a long, happy, regular life, and it's the tragedy of this Mick that he's doomed not to have it:
PNWgal wrote:She had kept him sane when he’d been shipped overseas. Through the screams of the injured and dying, the whistles of the bombs dropping and bullets flying, her letters from home kept him from losing his grip on reality. When he’d come home, shrapnel in his leg and horrors in his head, she’d sat silently for hours by his bedside when all he could do was lie there and stare at the ceiling. She had kept his father and Ruth from pestering him about the war, and she’d held his hand when he slowly began to open up about what he’d seen. She had glowed with motherly pride when he’d talked about the men he’d saved as a medic and had cried with him when he told her about the ones he’d lost.
I make no apology for quoting such a massive chunk, because this is just beautiful. This Mick, in your hands, breaks my heart. The image of his mother sitting by his bedside in silence hour after hour, day after day, is poignant and incredibly moving. The thought of Mick finally opening up and telling her about everything he saw and did and failed to do makes me weep. All of which makes her grief and death so unbearable.
PNWgal wrote:Three women had made him complete. His mother had molded him into the man he’d become—strong, courteous and loyal. Coraline had turned him into a vampire, into the monster he’d seen himself as for too long. Beth loved both, the man and the vampire. Loving her brought the two halves he’d long since accepted as light-years apart a little closer together. Loving her gave him something he’d never expected to have ever again—hope.
That's such a beautiful ending, tying up the three stories, the three ages of this amazing man, and giving us all a little hope for his future.

Red
Image

Click here for my story index

"Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality" - Emily Dickinson
jen
Cleaner
Posts: 6411
Joined: Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:11 am

Re: Three Women - PG

Post by jen »

Fabulous.

Each woman had her influence on the man Mick would become, shaping what he wanted and what he didn't.

Thank you!

Jenna
Mick and Beth--two of the lovely faces of Moonlight
Image
Beautiful banner by the Fabulous Phoenix
User avatar
PNWgal
Moonlightaholic Mod
Posts: 14732
Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2009 8:40 pm
Location: Stuck in the middle between Mick and Josef

Re: Three Women - PG

Post by PNWgal »

Thanks, jen! :hearts:

Red... :hug: . Thank you for bringing one of my favorites to light.

I love WWII Mick, and I always think no one can love and understand a man like his mother. WWII Mick was full of hopes and dreams and had no idea what awaited him. I am so, so happy this Mick rang a bell with you. :smooch:
Image

Banner by the talented GuardianAngel


"It is better to keep silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." - George Eliot

"The dogs may bark, but the caravan passes on." - old Arab proverb

"Do the best you can do. Love many. Trust few." - Jack Ingram
User avatar
Marigold
Courtesan
Posts: 2482
Joined: Sun Oct 02, 2011 5:57 pm

Re: Three Women - PG

Post by Marigold »

This is a fantastic look at three of Mick's relationships, and at how they have defined his life. :clapping: The section about Mick's mom was very touching. :cloud9:
PNWgal wrote:As he watched the tears run down the little girl’s face he could hear the snapping of the final thread that bound him to Coraline.
I love this description. :notworthy:

Thank you, PNWgal! Very nicely done! :rose: :hearts:
Image
Fantastic banner by Kath40! Thank you!
jen
Cleaner
Posts: 6411
Joined: Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:11 am

Re: Three Women - PG

Post by jen »

PNWgal

This is so lovely.

In this relatively short story, you have distilled the essence of Moonlight down and given us a look at what made Mick who he is, and also expanded it with the wonderful, and entirely plausible look at his mother.

Wonderful, wonderful reread.

Thank you!

Jenna

:hearts: :flowers: :hearts: :flowers:
Mick and Beth--two of the lovely faces of Moonlight
Image
Beautiful banner by the Fabulous Phoenix
User avatar
PNWgal
Moonlightaholic Mod
Posts: 14732
Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2009 8:40 pm
Location: Stuck in the middle between Mick and Josef

Re: Three Women - PG

Post by PNWgal »

Somehow I neglected to respond to all the wonderful comments on this piece. Thank you...all of you. :ghug:
Image

Banner by the talented GuardianAngel


"It is better to keep silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." - George Eliot

"The dogs may bark, but the caravan passes on." - old Arab proverb

"Do the best you can do. Love many. Trust few." - Jack Ingram
jen
Cleaner
Posts: 6411
Joined: Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:11 am

Re: Three Women - PG

Post by jen »

Just lovely!

Lilah could also be added to this list, as she deserves to be included on any list of pivotal females Mick had known. She, too, changes the course of his life.

This. Was. Fabulous!

Thank you!

Jenna

:hearts: :flowers: :flowers: :hearts: :flowers:
Mick and Beth--two of the lovely faces of Moonlight
Image
Beautiful banner by the Fabulous Phoenix
Post Reply

Return to “PNWgal's Office”