A/N: This is post-Sonata and keeps to the original, except The List has not been delivered yet. This is my first try at a Moonlight story so I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1

She walked slowly down the path. It was rain and darkness, but she didn't need to see-she knew the way. Past the burnt-out buildings, the fields gave off a good earthen smell. She stopped to take in the night, lost in memories.

Her cell phone chirped and she smiled as she answered. "Oui?"

"Hello, dearest. Where are you? I have some news." the man said happily.

"I'm—I came to see Belle Terre."

"Why do you hurt yourself, sister? Nothing is left for you there."

"I have to come sometimes to pay respects. What is your news?"

"My schedule was changed and I'm going to Los Angeles tomorrow night. When do you leave?"

"I'm flying out of Strasbourg in two days." Her voice became warm, "It will be good to see you again, it's been too long. I'll text you my travel arrangements, oui?"

"Oui, d'accord mon cher. Adieu."

She clicked the phone closed and looked around her again. Her brother was right; there was nothing for her here. It was time to go. The vampire turned and walked into the night.

xxxxxxx

Josef Kostan listened impatiently to the accountant explain the latest quarterly earnings. Josef could read the documents as easily himself, but wanted to keep his staff on their toes by raking them over the coals every few months.

Josef's mind wandered away from the dry statistics as he thought about the current situation in L.A. More vampires were moving into the area, and that presented a security problem. Well, the economy's been bad for everyone, Josef thought. However, Kostan Industries was flourishing, and he was able to offer jobs to many of the influx. L.A. had always been pretty stable with a certain number of vamps, and Josef knew most of them. The new ones presented a problem. Keeping the secret was the number one priority, and sloppy or stupid vampires just made things more difficult. He needed to know everything happening in his town.

To make things worse, he just had a communication from the Council that a liaison official would be visiting, along with another Council-sponsored vampire. Just what he needed—someone to overlook and second-guess his decisions in hindsight. Josef knew the visit was prompted by the unusual number of vampire-related incidents that occurred in the last months, notably the fiasco with the Monahans.

Josef even heard rumors that the Council was considering setting up a West-Coast chamber since LA had the largest number of vampires outside the New York area. If that happened they would demand he be active in it and Josef had no desire to be any more involved with politics than he already was. He had a business to run.

Josef sighed and refocused on the accountant, "Please continue, Mr. Walter. Where is the reconciliation sheet for the project?" The nervous accountant shuffled papers before mumbling that he didn't have it available. Josef dismissed him with a look, and the man left quickly. Humans, Josef thought smugly, they are so easy to intimidate.

That made him think of the one human who wasn't intimidated by him, Beth Turner. Of course, Mick was always around to make sure Josef behaved well to her. He confined himself verbal sparring with the blonde and she gave as good as she got. He liked her, but would never say so out loud.

Josef dimmed the office lights and stood looking at the night view from his window. Thinking of Beth reminded him of Simone. The lovely lawyer had been pressing him to turn her for the last few months. Josef had considered it, but shied away from a firm answer. Simone was disappointed and asked to go to Vancouver to oversee a merger of one of his companies and a Canadian-owned consortium. Josef believed that vampires should support each other's businesses. After all, vampire or human, money was power.

Since then, Josef heard through the grapevine that Simone was seeing a handsome Canadian vamp. He finally had to admit to himself he was jealous, and missed her companionship. Simone was one of the few he let get past his barriers.

Josef moved back to his desk in the darkness. He had dozens of freshies and other women who would be happy to keep him company, but since Simone left, he wasn't interested in much more than feeding. If he spent too much time with any of them, they started to get possessive and emotional.

Except one. This brought him back to Beth Turner. Thinking of her gave him an idea and he smiled as he made a call.

"Mick St. John."

"Hey, buddy" Josef said, "Put Blondie on the phone; I need to talk to her."

Mick frowned. "Why do you want to talk to her?"

"Nothing bad, I'm not giving away any of your vampire secrets. I have an idea and want to see if she's interested."

Mick shifted uncomfortably in his office chair. "Beth isn't here, Josef. In fact, I haven't spoken with her in a couple of days."

"What? Trouble in paradise? What have you done now, forgotten her birthday or something?"

Mick growled. "It's none of your business. Everything will be fine, just stay out of it."

"Okay, okay," Josef smirked. "I have her number; I'll call her myself." He hung up on Mick's loud protests and punched up Beth's number.

xxxxxxxxx

It had been a long day and Beth was going to her car to head home. Work kept her mind busy, but she couldn't work 24/7. Whenever she had a free moment, all she could think about was Mick. The day he told her he loved her, she had been so happy. She loved him so much and now she knew he loved her, but did he really? That day he shut the door he kissed her with passion, pushed her up against the wall and she could feel his desire for her. Beth thought all her dreams were coming true and they would finally be together after all they had been through with Coraline and Josh. She had wanted him for weeks, but as he was kissing and touching her, he vamped and she could feel his fangs on her tongue. She hesitated a moment at the new sensation and Mick pulled away, making some excuse to leave.

Beth wasn't too upset then, telling herself they could consummate their love the next time, but whenever they kissed and Mick changed, he would pull back and stop. Beth even tried being the aggressor, but he just held her off and left. Now, weeks later they hardly saw each other except for any cases they might be working on. She didn't know what to do; it seemed they were back where they started months ago. Was there something going on he wasn't telling her, or maybe he just didn't want her blood? After all, he fed on Simone willingly enough, Beth thought, hurt. She knew something was very wrong, but didn't know how to find out if Mick wouldn't talk to her.

I'm going to drive myself crazy, as she shook herself from her reverie. She finished putting her stuff in the car when her cell rang.

"Hi, Blondie."

Beth smiled in spite of herself. "Hey Josef. What can I do for you?"

"I'm insulted! Do you think the only time I call is when I need something?"

"Usually and always." She commented dryly.

"Well, now I have something to tell you about and I think you're going to like it. Get over to my office ASAP; I've canceled my appointments just for you."

Beth frowned warily. "Oh. Um, is Mick going to be there?" She didn't feel up to seeing him tonight.

"No, is that a problem?"

"It's okay; I'll be there in 30 minutes."

Josef shut his phone thoughtfully. What's going on with those two?

Beth entered Josef's palatial new offices. She hadn't seen them completed after the bombing, and it was impressive. She was ushered into his private office and saw Josef on the phone, his back to her. She sat down; confident he would be able to smell she was in the room.

Josef completed his call and swung his chair around. "Hi, Blondie, you made good time."

"Well, you said what you had to tell me was interesting." Beth looked like her old Buzzwire self, ready for a story.

Josef came around the desk and sat in the chair next to her. He seemed excited. "I have an idea and I think it would right up your alley. With so many unknown vampires moving into the area, I need to keep track of them so there's no trouble."

Beth started to object, but Josef stopped her. "Now don't get in a twist, I don't mean spy on anyone. I just need to know who's who in case there are any issues that come up. The main focus of this job will be media control. I want to know what's going on regarding vampires on the internet, news media and anything else in the southwest region, then the country. We need to get the right spin and shut down any unwanted attention."

Beth looked thoughtful. "Hmm, that would be important, with Twitter and all the other sites on the `net. It's a good idea"

"Naturally, I only have great ideas," Josef beamed, "and you'd be perfect to do it, right? You would work with my PR department. You could make your own hours, work from here or home and get to be with Mick more."

"But, what about the ADA's office? I wanted to be there to keep an eye on things."

"Don't worry about it—we have a new 'ringer.' Jenny, the daughter of one of my former freshies is just finishing paralegal school. I've gotten her in the ADA's office as an intern. So all the bases are covered." Josef sat back, looking satisfied.

"Oh, okay." Beth looked down, not wanting Josef to see. With things the way they were with Mick, she wasn't sure she wanted to be working for Josef. "I'm going to have to think about it."

Josef felt her sadness and confusion. "What's wrong? I thought you'd be perfect for this. Is there something going on with Mick?"

Beth nodded, "I don't know what's wrong. It seemed like we were moving ahead, now he's back to where he was before."

"I thought he'd gotten over all that."

Beth sprang up from the chair and started to pace. "I thought so too, but I guess I was wrong. He won't even, I mean, he doesn't seem to want to come near me. He won't talk to me about it, he shuts down. I've tried and he gets angry, and we fight," she sighed, "I can't do this anymore. I want to move forward and he obviously doesn't."

Not good, Josef thought. "I can talk to him if you like."

She stopped pacing, turning to Josef with a sad smile. "Thanks anyway. He knows how I feel, now he's the one who needs to figure things out. Sorry to bother you with this," she said knowing how he hated emotions. "I'll think about the job offer," as she picked up her purse to leave.

"Please do, I'm a great boss," Josef smirked at her. On her way out she turned back to look at him.

"I once told Mick he needed to decide what he wants—that he might have all the time in the world, but I don't. I still don't." With that, she walked out.

Josef watched her go, thoughtfully. As much as he distrusted Mick's relationship with the blond at first, she had grown on him and now he felt she was good for his friend. He'd have to talk to Mick about it, but right now he needed to prepare for the Council officer. This time it was to be a female vamp, and he just hoped it wasn't one of the dragons he'd met on his previous trips to New York.

There would be meetings with the Cleaner and her group as well as several other prominent vampires in Los Angeles. He wished he could tell them that he had Beth on board for media control. Josef knew there were reservations about the human's involvement in vampire affairs, and he had hoped bringing her closer into the community would show her loyalty. Even though Mick was acting like an idiot, Josef knew how much his friend loved her and he didn't want anyone thinking Beth was trouble.

xxxxxxxxx

He hung up the payphone and chuckled. He took out a small spray bottle of cheap cologne and sprayed the telephone—that would keep the Cleaners from scenting him if they traced the number to the convenience store. He had also sprayed the dead girl with the same noxious odor. He started back to his car, sated with the blood from the hooker he found coming out of a bar into an alley. He could afford to buy bottled, but he couldn't go to his regular sources, he would be found. Now he was rather enjoying the evening stalk, it kept him on his toes.

He always made sure to choose different parts of the city to hunt and when he was done, called the Cleaners. It amused him that they were taking care of his meals for free. But, of course, they needed to keep vampire deeds from the humans.

He drove back to his small motel, and got back on his computer. He had to find out at much as he could before he could finalize his plans. His new ID said his name was John Murray. It was a good thing he banked the money Donovan Shepard gave him to be turned. The priest identity he used for years no longer existed, and Murray was enraged that his scam had been discovered. He had traveled the country, working in small parishes near jails and prisons and made good money from the criminals who could pay to be turned. Most of them didn't live too long in their vampire state without a sire, but Murray just moved on to the next one who would pay.

Now the Cleaners were on his trail, thanks to Mick St. John. His current disguise was good, but he needed to get out of town before he was found. Murray growled. He would see St. John suffer and make enough money to retire with. After all, St. John's best friend was the enormously rich Josef Kostan. He hunched over the computer again, confident his plan would work.