First, I would like to apologize to my readers for recently pulling some of my BATB stories. I wasn't happy with them and decided to pull them for rewrites rather than continue on with something I didn't feel was up to standard. On a whim, I started this Moonlight fan fiction. I know that ML fans are as serious as BATB fans so if it the characters are a tad out of form or there are canon errors, forgive me. Like everything else, it's probably fluff but I appreciate your indulgence.

Aftermath Part 1

Josef looked down at the number on his caller ID in irritation as he recognized it instantly. It was Simone. Only last week he ended their relationship, preferring to keep things between them strictly professional. Josef Kostan didn't do commitment no matter how beautiful the woman. Bracing himself, he took the call, ready to get rid of her and return to the eager young woman beside him.

"Simone, what a pleasant surprise. I wasn't expecting to hear from you. I'm sorry but you caught me at a bad time..."

To his utter astonishment she interrupted immediately, effectively cutting him off. No one interrupted Josef Kostan. "Is Mick there?"

The emotional hitch in her voice made him sit up and take note. Simone Walker was one of the calmest, most levelheaded women he'd ever met. If she were emotional it could only mean whatever she had to tell him couldn't be good.

"No he isn't. What's wrong? Where are you? Why do you need Mick?"

She continued on as if she hadn't heard. "I've tried his apartment, his business line and his cell. He isn't picking up." Her voice broke slightly and he could sense her tears as she told him the rest. "I'm here at the hospital. Josef, it's Beth."

"I don't care if he's in the middle of a golf game you tell the hospital administrator that Josef Kostan said for him to get his ass moving! I don't care how much it costs or what it takes, I want the best damned specialist they have treating her! Beth Turner is a personal friend of mine! I've donated more money to that place than the budget of some small countries! It's about damn time they did something to earn it!" Josef slammed down the limo phone in frustration. The news from Simone had been as bad as he feared. Torrential early morning rain made a tractor trailer flip, causing it to land on several nearby vehicles, instantly crushing them. One of those cars had been a taxi Beth was riding in.

The doctor's report was even grimmer. "I'm sorry, Mr. Kostan. This isn't a matter of better doctors or even special equipment. Ms. Turner's injuries are incredibly extensive. In addition to a severed spinal column, crushed pelvis and legs, she suffered numerous facial lacerations, and several deep, penetrating wounds to her abdominal cavity that severely damaged her internal organs. Even if we could operate, she'd never survive the surgery. Most of the others involved in this accident including the taxi driver were dead on scene. Frankly, it's a miracle that she's lived long enough to make it this far."

Mick sat back nursing his whiskey as he waited for his quarry to show. The cocktail waitress shot him another flirtatious look, but he ignored her. The only woman in his life now was Beth.

Ever since their first night truly together when they became lovers at last, Mick had been happier than he could remember. For the past two months, they'd spent every available minute in each other's company. The very world around them seemed to cooperate since no major problems arose and even the issues at work for them both were minor. By necessity as with any relationship, there had been compromises like the new pull out sofa in his apartment and the small hidden stash of A positive Beth now kept in her refrigerator.

Yet, even as wonderful as things had been, Mick had to admit that the main issue between them hadn't gone away. She was still human and he was still a vampire. In fact, some of his vampire instincts where Beth was concerned were getting stronger day by day no matter how he tried to suppress them. The day before had been a perfect example.

Mick walked into ADA Ben Talbot's office to take Beth to lunch, only to find her engulfed in her boss' overly tight hug as he pressed his lips against hers. It might not have been so bad if Talbot hadn't shot the PI a smug smile of male challenge over her shoulder after the brief kiss ended. Beth had been irritated with her boss but oblivious to the real meaning behind his action. To Mick, however, the message had been loud and clear. The lawyer staged the whole scene for his benefit. Talbot was after his BETH!

In less than a heartbeat, Mick's possessive, protective side roared to life. It literally took all of his willpower and strength not to bare his fangs and tear Talbot's head off on the spot, regardless of being in public! Unable to contain himself for long, he stammered a vague apology to Beth about needing to leave town for a case and returned home to drink his refrigerator dry in a desperate attempt to restore his control before he committed murder in broad day light!

Mick was trying to figure out what to do next when a reprieve that felt almost Heaven sent came in the form of a phone call. "Hey, Mick? What's up? How's life treating you?"

"Fine, Garrett. You?" Garrett Duncan was a local bail bondsman who had used Mick's services from time to time to locate fugitives that proven particularly elusive. Mick didn't need the money, but he took on cases once in a while because it satisfied his predator's need for the thrill of the chase and gave him a break from his usual routine. If Garrett was calling, it could only mean he had a case.

"Got a crafty one for you, Mick; A real peach. Big time executive embezzled a bundle from his company and went on the run. He's been dodging my bounty hunters ever since. This guy is really tricky, knows how to cover his tracks. We thought we had him twice but he managed to give us the slip both times. I just got a hot tip that he might be hiding out in Vegas. Interested?" Mick accepted immediately.

That was what brought him where he was now; a seedy, run down watering hole on the edge of the city. A couple of dollars in the right places had garnered him the information that the fugitive had been spotted here recently in the company of a woman working there part time as a bartender. He'd been sitting in a back booth, surveying the room for nearly two hours. With a sigh, he checked his watch and resigned himself to a long wait.

"Did you do what I asked, Guillermo?" Josef asked his fellow vampire.

"Yeah. I found a Jane Doe at the morgue that's about Beth's height and build. She was a homeless suicide that jumped from a 12 story building. Her body is pretty mangled up too so it will take them a while to figure out it's not Beth." The unhappy expression on his face left no doubt he was not thrilled to be there. "Look, are you sure this is such a good plan? Maybe we should just wait until Mick gets back."

"We can't wait! Beth could die at any minute! It's now or never! This will work as long as we stick to what we talked about! Is Logan ready?"

" Yeah. Still, amigo. Mick's not going to like this!"

"Fine!" Josef snarled as he began to lose his patience. "Then when we find Mick, YOU can be the one to tell him Beth's dead!"

He straightened up instantly. "We better hurry, man. I'll go keep the nurse busy." Quirking a sardonic smile as he watched his suddenly eager friend go, the hedge fund trader slipped quietly down the hall, hoping his optimism wasn't misplaced. He wasn't prepared though, for what he found in the room.

Josef Kostan had seen much suffering in his life, but the sight of the tiny woman he had come to consider a friend so severely injured still struck him hard. Swathed in bandages, various tubes and wires ran out from her small frame keeping her alive. But his vampire senses told him it wouldn't be for much longer. Any lingering doubts he'd had about what he was planning to do faded at what he smelled there. The unmistakable scent of death hung heavily in the air.

He drew closer and called to her. "Beth?" Instantly, watery blue eyes struggled to peer out from the layers covering her face. The tube connected to the hole in her throat prevented her from speaking so he carefully took her hand, one of the few unbandaged parts left on her.

He spoke softly so as not to alarm her. "It's me, Josef. Can you hear me?" A slight squeeze gave him his answer. "I'll take that as a yes. We've been trying to find Mick, but we haven't been able to. You know you've been hurt, don't you?" Another squeeze. "Then you know why I'm here." His face betrayed a vulnerability and depth of emotion he rarely allowed to show.

"Hell, Mick's probably going to stake me for even coming here like this but I had to! I won't lie to you, Beth. You're dying. Even if you could survive, you'll never walk again. I know I should just let you go but I can't do that for Mick's sake as well as yours. He's been like a brother to me and losing you would kill him, maybe not his body but definitely his soul and that would be just as bad. I can't make you any promises. You're badly injured and you may not survive being turned. It also may not work. You know what happened the last time I tried to turn someone close to me. I can do this, Beth, but the decision has to be yours. What's it going to be?" He got his answer in another squeeze, this time along continuous one. With a sigh of relief, he went to the door and signaled Guillermo.

Mick returned to his car after a frustrating day. He'd waited for hours but the fugitive had never shown. Reaching in to the glove compartment he retrieved his phone. He'd left it there deliberately after ducking Beth's numerous calls since yesterday. He still couldn't bring himself to call her since he was no closer to any answers.

The messages at first had been simple. "Mick, Ben told me what he did and I told him what I thought of such an underhanded trick. You know it had to be a trick; I would never willingly kiss Talbot like that. We need to talk about this. Call me."

From there the tone had escalated until the one he'd received that morning. "Mick St. John, you'd better call me! So help me, we are going to talk about this if I have to stake you to keep you still while we do!" That one made him smile for the first time in two days.

A glance at his phone brought a surprise. He had almost a dozen messages, but none from Beth. Starting the car, he listened to the first. "Mick, it's Simone. I'm here at the hospital. Beth has been in an accident." He was at the airport before the last message finished.

"Did you get everything?" Josef inquired of his co-conspirator.

"Yeah, I got lucky. There is only one nurse on duty right now. I guess the rest of them are off elsewhere treating the other accident victims. I managed to get my hands on the paperwork in Beth's file. Logan already hacked the mainframe and erased everything there. As far as anyone knows, there's nothing here to prove that the Jane Doe isn't Beth Turner."

"Good; at least that's one hurdle cleared."

Guillermo, though, was still concerned. "But I don't understand it, Josef. Why go to all this trouble? I get the part about the body; Beth works for the DA and if she just disappeared, there'd be questions. But why go to through all this business about the records? I mean she'll be a vampire. She and Mick can just pack up, go somewhere else and start a new life together."

The elder vampire shot his friend in medical scrubs a look of disbelieving disgust. "Are you kidding me? Keep in mind who we're talking about here, my friend. Mick is the vampire who masquerades as his own son just so he could stay in L.A. You think he'll be upset Beth was turned? That's nothing compared to what he'll do if she's forced to give up her life and name against her will. Besides, you're forgetting that Beth was a reporter for Buzz Wire too. Who knows how many untold thousands of Internet crazed nerds have seen her lovely image? At least this way she won't have to worry about being recognized someplace else."

A faint buzzing for Guillermo's pocket cut off any further discussion. "That's Logan. He's ready. When he cuts the power, we'll have less than a minute before the backup system kicks in. The security cameras will be off and the staff will be distracted. That should be more than enough time for you to get down the back stairs and out the emergency exit at the bottom. It's the only way to get out of here without being seen. By the time the lights come back on, I'll have Jane Doe into position and it will look like she died during the blackout."

"Showtime, princess." Josef announced softly as he watched the other man remove the bandages, tubes and monitors at inhuman speed. Normally, a vampire trying to turn another went for the throat since it was the quickest way to end a life but Josef chose Beth's wrist instead. In her weakened state, even this small loss was enough to finish her time as a human. Quickly, as her heart beat began to fade he tore open his own wrist and fed her the blood that would change her forever.

He watched with growing approval and excitement as her battered and bruised face reshaped itself into flawless beauty. By the time the last of the wounds closed and her silvery eyes opened, he was practically beaming.

"Excellent! I love a dramatic story with a happy ending!" He announced in satisfaction.

Seconds later, the room was plunged into darkness. "That's our cue, Sleeping Beauty. Time for you and your wickedly handsome sire to go find the prince while the dwarves take care of the cleanup." Sweeping her up, he disappeared out of sight.

Mick made the journey back to Los Angeles in record time but the flight and cab ride felt like an eternity. He spent most of it trying to reach someone for information on Beth but to no avail. His calls to Beth's apartment and work had been equally fruitless. According to the DA's office, Beth called that morning to say she wouldn't be in. Even Josef wasn't answering. When he got to the hospital, he didn't bother to ask for directions. He could track Beth anywhere blindfolded. The moment the doors opened, he could smell her. Beth's lovely, delicate scent had always teased his senses, reaching out and wrapping around him like a warm summer breeze whenever she was near. Now, though, that scent was heavily mixed with the coppery tang of blood. His chest tightened and he fought for control while he vainly tried to deny what his senses told him. Somewhere in the building, his Beth was dying.

Mick's vampire instincts surged violently forward and it was all he could do to maintain his human appearance. He moved through the hospital as quickly as he could without attracting undo attention to himself. All the while, his only thought was Find my Beth Find my Beth Find my Beth until everything else around him faded.

As her scent got stronger, the lingering stench of death did as well. The implication almost sent him to his knees in anguish. His search ended in a hospital room where two technicians were uncovering a cadaver before transferring it into a body bag. He paused in the doorway, the strong odor of death causing his fangs to erupt briefly. A few deep breaths told him all he needed to know. A glance at the bed confirmed what he'd already sensed. The body wasn't Beth. He'd been so focused on finding her he'd hadn't realized she was no longer here but she had been and she hadn't been alone. The scent of another vampire, a familiar one also permeated the air. Intense emotion coursed through him as the implications of what had taken place finally sank in. While he was standing there, Ben Talbot approached him.

"I'm sorry, St. John. She's already gone. There was nothing anyone could do."

Mick didn't even deign to reply, shoving past the man roughly. He waited until he was outside the hospital to try one of the few numbers he hadn't called, his own apartment. Josef answered instantly.

"Hello, Mick. I've been waiting for your call."

He wanted to say many things to the person on the other end but a strange mixture of blinding rage and intense relief left him only able to utter a single word. "Beth." Fortunately, it was enough.

"She's here, Mick. Safe and sound. Hurry home, brother." With those words, the relief won out, sending him to his knees at last. So strong was the emotion that several minutes passed before he was able to get to his feet again and find his way back to home.

Mick's emotions were a seething cauldron. Grief, sadness and pain at what she'd gone through warred with guilt at not being able to prevent her suffering. There was anger as well, anger at the fates for her injuries, anger at Josef for what he'd done and anger at himself for not being there when she needed him most. But the worst emotion and perhaps the bitterest had to be the shame. For months, Mick had adamantly insisted he didn't want to turn Beth and would never condemn her to the kind of life he led. Yet when faced with the prospect of losing her forever, the strongest emotion he'd experienced at learning she was alive albeit as a vampire was overwhelming relief.

By the time he reached his apartment, the anger had the upper hand. He was through the door and up the stairs to the hidden freezer room in an instant. There, he found Beth stretched out in the place he usually slept. Josef was nearby, lounging in a chair sipping on a wineglass. Seizing him out of the chair, Mick lifted him off the ground, slamming and pinning him to the wall as his fangs erupted in a vicious snarl. To his credit, the other vampire didn't retaliate though he could have easily thrown his attacker across the room. He recognized his friend's need to strike out at something because of his emotions. If taking a hit or two would help Mick, he would gladly do so since he felt he owed it to him right now.

Someone else in the room had other ideas. "Mick, don't!" Her soft voice reached him through his anger as nothing else could. Slowly, he released the other man. She was kneeling, her body turned to him looking impossibly tiny in his oversized freezer. "This isn't Josef's doing. It's mine. He gave me a choice and I chose for him to turn me. I don't remember everything that happened after the accident but a part of me knew I wasn't going to survive."

Mick wanted to interrupt but her new, lush scent was intoxicating. Her porcelain skin shone like ivory silk, begging to be touched while her china blue eyes shimmered like sapphires. Beth as a human was achingly lovely; as a vampire, she was devastating. It was all he could do to keep himself in check long enough to let her finish.

"All I could think was I didn't want it to die. I know I said I didn't ever want to make this decision but when it came down to it, I decided I wanted to live. I know it sounds selfish, but I just couldn't leave you. I love you too much!" He went to her then, pulling her close and frantically kissing her with every fiber of his being. It was an embrace she eagerly returned.

Neither noticed as Josef slipped quietly from the room, firmly securing the front door of the apartment behind him as he departed.