Human Error, Chapter 10: Conclusion
Title: Human Error
Fandom : Moonlight
Characters : Mick, Beth, Josef, Simone
Rating : R
Spoilers: Post "Sonata"
Summary : 8th entry into my post "Sonata" series. Beth has found what she hopes will be a good use for her leftover Black Crystal, and Mick struggles with whether to use Coraline's gift.
Disclaimer : I'm using these characters for fun and not for profit. No infringement intended.
A/N: So sorry I haven’t posted in awhile. I’ve been totally swamped this past week. So here it is at last-the conclusion, twice as long for double the enjoyment. Thanks to all who have read and posted. I’ve enjoyed writing for “Moonlight” again. Please let me know what you think!
Chapter 10
BETH
When the ship had docked back in Long Beach, Josef’s limo was there to meet us. The four of us climbed in, Josef no longer in a wheelchair, but still weak from the broken arm and beating he took back in Mexico. His face was a little less puffy, but the white of one eye was blood red and his bruises were multicolored and no doubt painful. I was civil to him, but I avoided his eyes and snuggled into Mick’s side for the trip back to LA. I was still having trouble getting over my brief stint in jail because of him.
Simone and Josef sat opposite us on the soft leather seats, Simone mothering him unmercifully, while Mick and Josef fell into their usual light banter. I’m sure my silence was noticeable to everyone, but no one pressed me on it. I never was very good at hiding my feelings.
“Ya know, Mick,” Josef was saying, “I learned something on this trip.”
“Just one thing?” sniped Mick good-naturedly, helping himself to the blood Josef still kept in the limo’s small fridge.
“I think I want to buy a cruise ship.”
“All you went through, and that’s all you learned? You’re seriously warped, Josef.”
“No--no. Listen. It could be a vamp cruise line. The cabins would be equipped with freezers, the outside decks would be totally shaded, the pools kept cold. All-inclusive blood and booze. Freshies optional. Vampires would come from far and wide to ride my boat.”
“Uh, huh,” replied Mick skeptically. Simone and I just looked at each other and rolled our eyes.
“What would you name it?”Simone asked indulgently.
“Hmmm….that will require some thought. Kostan Cruises? No, too boring. Artery of the Seas? Fangri-la? No, I got it-The Love Bite. Any ideas, Beth?” He asked, noting my cool expression. He was trying to stir things up, as usual.
“How about Titanic, or Lusitania? No, those names are already taken. How about, Mexican Nightmare?” I suggested sarcastically.
“Beth-“ Mick and Simone chastised at once.
“No, let her talk,” Josef stopped them. His expression was serious, but his eyes twinkled obnoxiously. “Let’s clear the air. I know she’s pissed with me. Wouldn’t want that to build up. That pretty blonde head of hers might explode.”
There was a silent beat as everyone waited for my reaction. “Josef, you are a lame excuse for a human being.”-I heard Simone’s offended gasp-“I’m sorry, Simone, but you know I’m right. You totally wasted some of Mick’s precious cure on this idiotic attempt to be something you’re not. You are a vampire, Josef. You’ve been one for what-four-hundred years? And maybe this is none of my business, but seeing that you landed us in a Mexican jail, I think I have a right to interfere just this once.” I was looking straight at Josef, avoiding Mick and Simone’s eyes, but I could hear Mick’s little snort of laughter at that last statement.
“Anyway,” I continued, “If you had just done what Simone asked and turned her into a vampire a long time ago, this never would have happened. And now, once we get home, and Mick turns you back-“
“Okay, let me correct you on a few points, Beth,” interrupted Josef, all seriousness now. “First, let me say that I’m really sorry about the bar and jail thing. It was stupid for me to attack security guards from a wheelchair in a foreign country, but I think I paid for that, don’t you?” At my faint blush, he continued.
“And secondly, I disagree that this experiment was a waste. I’m trying to see what it’s like to be human again, so that maybe that will make me a better vampire. Sounds crazy, I know, but like I told Mick, now that I’ve embarked on this human journey, I plan to see it through. I think I’d regret it if I didn’t. Mick’s not gonna re-turn me.”
Simone and I were both in shock at this little tidbit. I was the one who could finally speak. “So you’re telling me that we have God-knows-how-long to suffer through the fallout of Human Josef? I don’t think any of us can survive it.”
He laughed. “Yeah, least of all, me. Look, what it all boils down to is I did this for Simone, and now I’m also doing it for me. I’ll understand if you and Mick want to stay away from me a few months till this wears off, but I hope it hasn’t come to that. I’m going to be more careful from now on. I hope that Simone will tough it out with me, though.” He turned to look at her, his pathetically damaged face as irresistible as an injured, wet puppy. I guess that’s when I melted. Or maybe it was when Simone gazed at his current ugliness with unconditional love, leaning into him to carefully kiss his sunburned cheek.
“And as for turning Simone-well, that definitely is none of your business-with all due respect, of course.” His smile belied his blunt words, and I saw in his eyes the old Josef, the vampire that I had come to love like a brother.
I sighed in defeat. “Okay, I guess I should put into practice that old expression my grandma used to tell me: ‘To err is human, to forgive--‘“
“Divine,” Josef finished for me. He reached out for my hand, and I gave it to him, still a little amazed at the warmth of it. We both smiled, fully understanding one another, and all was forgiven. Mick planted a kiss on my temple.
I know, I know. I’m a sucker for happy endings. I just hoped there was one in store for Mick and me.
MICK
Josef’s limo dropped Beth and I off at my place; I would take her home later. She had whispered to me in the car that she needed to talk to me about something. I had a feeling I knew what. This catastrophe with Josef had to have affected her feelings about the cure and how I was going to use it. Actually, it had affected me too. I’d given it some thought, and I hoped my solution would meet with her approval. With Beth, I never knew what was going on in that complex mind of hers.
I set down our luggage inside my door and followed her to the couch. Her normally expressive face was a complete blank to me, but she sat on the couch in her customary position-legs beneath her, throw pillow in her lap-I felt happy because it never got old seeing her so comfortable in my apartment. I offered to get her a drink, but she declined, so I sat down next to her, automatically taking her hand.
“What’s up, Beth?”
“That bombshell Josef dropped in the limo-why didn’t you tell me you weren’t going to turn him?”
So that was what was bothering her. “It wasn’t my announcement to make. He likely wanted to tell Simone in his own way. I know how you girls talk.” I smiled to ease the jibe, although it was undeniably true.
“If you’d told me it was a secret, I could have kept it, you know. I’ve kept your secret for a year.”
“Must be some kind of record for you,” I teased. She looked like she was about to get mad, but I diffused it by leaning in for a kiss. Yeah, I have my ways of manipulation, I’m not gonna lie. When she was suitably temperate again, I waited to hear what else was on her mind.
“Mick, about the cure…did the trip bring you to any conclusions?”
I sighed and looked away. Here it goes. “Yeah. I’ve been thinking about it a lot. And I want to ask you something, but I don’t want to be too presumptuous…”
“You know you can ask me anything,” she prompted. I looked into her eyes, wide and blue, not expecting in the least what I was about to ask her.
“When do you plan on having a baby?” To say she was taken aback was an understatement. She looked down. She looked away. She looked back at me, answering my question with one of her own.
“Why do you ask?”
Okay, ball in my court. “I don’t need a specific date and time or anything. I just want to know your future plans. Generally speaking. I mean, I’m sure you want a family-“
“Yes.” She hesitated a moment. “And I want one with you. If that’s even possible.”
“I don’t know, Beth. I mean, if I were to remain a vampire, it would be impossible for you to have a biological child with me. But if I took the cure…Well, the truth is, I have no idea if I could father a child that way.”
“Three years.”
“Huh?”
“I want a baby in about three years. Before I’m thirty. With you. Does this answer your question?”
“Yes,” I told her, feeling embarrassed. “Beth, if you could wait three years, I could be a vampire to protect you, then use the cure and try to-you know, we could try to-“ I’m begging you, please save me, I was thinking. She laughed at my awkwardness. Sometimes I still felt hopelessly trapped in the 1950’s.
“Yes, Mick. I can wait.” She looked down at our entwined hands, then met my eyes again. “Believe me, a week ago, I wanted you to use the cure right away so we could hurry and get on with our lives-our human lives. But seeing how hard it’s been for Josef, how hard it’s been for the rest of us to feel like we’re nothing more than his glorified babysitters-I came to a realization.” She was looking at me intently now. She took a deep breath. “I want you to-to stay a vampire. You make me feel safe, and I don’t want to lose that. I’m being selfish, I know, because ever since you were turned, you’ve hated what you are. You are a man and you are a vampire, completely intertwined now. I don’t want you to be like Josef, and totally forget what it was like to be human, but I want you to know that I’d miss the vampire part of you, because it is you, Mick.” Her delicate human hands came up to press against my cool, vampire cheeks. “I love you, fangs and all.”
I continued looking into her eyes, trying to absorb the unbelievable things she was saying to me.
“But you just said you wanted to have a child with me,” I countered. “Have you suddenly changed your mind?”
She shook her head. “No. I want that experience. I want it all, Mick. In three years, we can try. Maybe you could go on the cure on and off throughout his life. We would tell him what you are, and he could decide what he wants to do with his own life. And maybe then…you could turn me too.” She said the last so softly, that had I not had super hearing, I might not have caught it.
“No, Beth. You can’t mean that.” She obviously hadn’t thought this through. I didn’t want to contemplate feeling her beautiful warmth turn cold, watch her give up on food and sunlight, have her lose her friends by moving or by outliving them. This couldn’t be what she really wanted. Could it?
“I’m not absolutely sure, Mick. But I can see the possibilities now. When we were in that Mexican jail, I couldn’t help but think that if I were a vampire, no cell could have held me. I could use my incredible vampire powers to escape. You wouldn’t have to worry about me so much. You wouldn’t have need of protecting me.”
While I could see the merit in this, I still didn’t think it was worth losing her humanity. I had a sudden vision of how things might be now. She was going to start pressuring me to turn her. Could our relationship survive that, especially if I dug in my heels and refused her?
“But don’t worry; I’m not going to pressure you.” Clearly she could read minds now. “I still want a baby, and that’s not possible with both of us vampires. So, I’m willing to table this for now, if you are. Three years is a long time.” To a human maybe, but not to me. Those years would pass before I knew it, and we’d be right back here. But on this subject I was a coward, and I could certainly stand some distance from the decision for a while.
“Okay,” I told her, reaching over to brush a stray lock of soft hair from her eyes. “Three years.” No matter what drama or trauma we were going through, I was ever conscious of her beauty, of how it affected me. Our eyes held, hers darkening with sudden desire. I’m sure I must have been looking at her with similar feeling. I tossed the pillow away and pulled her onto my lap so that she was straddling me. Our mouths met, and I had the crazy, familiar feeling that I was drowning. Drowning in her passion, in her warmth, in the love that threatened to overwhelm us both.
Clothes joined the pillow on the floor, and she resumed her position on my lap, both of us naked now. I joined with her in one thrust, and we moved together in perfect synchronicity while I reached down between her legs, touching her in the way I knew would have her screaming my name in my ear. She shuddered and trembled around me as she came, and I felt my face turning. Next thing I knew, my fangs were clamped onto her neck, and I drank the ambrosia that was Beth, feeling my own climax hit all at once, then wash over me in wave after wave. She collapsed upon me when I withdrew my mouth, and I licked her wounds gently to seal them.
“Were you this good in bed when you were human?” she asked me breathlessly. Now how does a guy answer that?
“Well, I would hope so,” I laughed quietly, rubbing her smooth lower back in lazy circles. “I never got any complaints, anyway.”
She joined my laughter, her body shaking sexily with it. “I highly doubt there was any biting involved back then-well, at least not any bloodsucking anyway. And we weren’t together when you were human for a week, so I’ll just have to take your word for it.” Her unintentionally sensual movements were doing wonderful things to where our bodies were still connected. I already wanted her again.
“One thing I do know is better,” I said as a gasp of realization escaped her. I had her on her back, moving in and out of her warmth again in seconds flat. “Vampire stamina is a beautiful thing.”
Beth’s only reply was a moan of satisfaction. I smiled. Sometimes it was damn good to be a vampire.
Three months later…
I was sitting in my office, finishing the paperwork on a case I’d just closed, when I sensed the approach of a vampire. The scent was familiar, and one I hadn’t smelled in awhile. I glanced at the security monitor by the door, and noted with relief the face of my long-time friend as he used his own remote key to come in unannounced. Not that he had to, what with his signature smell of old vampire, French cologne, and cigars making him immediately identifiable to me.
He came in and sat in the chair across from my desk. “A funny thing happened to me on the way to the bathroom this morning…” Josef began conversationally.
My overwhelming happiness at his return to “normal” nearly prevented me from keeping a straight face.
“Do tell, my friend.”
“As I was saying, I was naked and in great need of the facilities-“
“Too much information,” I injected. He ignored me, as usual.
“And, reaching down for my morning ball scratch, I noted they were once again made of solid steel.”
I raised one eyebrow in disbelief. “Oh, really? And have you ever known your testicles to be in this condition?”
“Actually,” he confided, “I’ve had difficulty even finding them lately. But suddenly, they were there again, big as a bull’s and twice as powerful.”
“I’m so happy for you,” I said, the smiles we were both holding back finally breaking through. We looked at each other in mutual relief.
And so ended three and months of gross human error. Oh, it had been a little less eventful than the first week, except for when he sliced off the tip of his finger when he attempted to cook dinner for Simone. Or the time he was knocked unconscious by a basketball in the ill-advised pick-up game with three vampires and his arm still in a cast. Other than that, he seemed to have survived the experience relatively unscathed.
“So, what? You going to Disneyland now?”
“Haven’t I already been there the last three months? No, Mick, I can finally go back to work. My board members had threatened mutiny, and business has really suffered in my absence. And, as for my love life…well, let’s just say that I made it up to Simone this morning in a big way. Several times.”
“Good for you, Josef. I mean it, man.”
“Yeah. And next time I even look like I’m going to do something stupid, you have my permission to stake me till the impulse passes.”
“Can I get that in writing?”
“Of course not. And another thing-I’ve agreed to turn Simone.” I felt my face go blank at this announcement.
“Should I get that stake now?” I asked hopefully.
“I really don’t think this qualifies. It’s what’s best for us both now, Mick.”
“Is this going to be a ceremonial occasion?” Sometimes a vamp turning was made into a big deal, with witnesses and a tasteful party.
He shook his head. “No, a private thing-not even inviting a few close friends. We might try that later, though,” he grinned suggestively. He knew orgies were not my thing. Except for that one time in Milan in the ‘70’s…
“Well, I hope it goes well. You scared?” Of course we were both thinking of Sarah.
“To death-so to speak,” he replied honestly. “But we’ve come to the point where either this is going to happen, or she’s going to leave me. And I don’t think I could go on without her, Mick. When I was human, she stood by me, despite the hell I put her through. She’s the one for me. And, since Beth is already taken…”
“That she is, Josef, and often.” It felt so good to have him taunting me again. He laughed.
“My God, I feel like the weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders. I can bite people now, then turn right around and kick their asses if I want to. It’s damn good to be a vampire, I have to tell you.”
I smiled inwardly, remembering how I’d had similar thoughts recently. “I couldn’t agree with you more, Josef,” I told him, setting out the scotch and two glasses. We had a lot to celebrate.
THE END
A/N: For my next trick, I’ve challenged myself to write something totally different and daring-a story told completely from Josef’s point of view. Mick, Beth, and Simone will play integral parts, or else, what fun would that be? Please be on the lookout for “My Fair Vampire,” coming soon to a “Moonlight” fanfiction site near you.