Road Trip, Chapter 4
Title: Road Trip
Fandom : Moonlight
Characters : Mick, Beth, Josef, Simone
Rating : R, for some sexual content and strong language.
Spoilers: Post -"Sonata"
Summary: Tenth in my post-Sonata series. Josef hires an RV to take the gang across country to meet Simone's parents. Fun, humorous, and dangerous adventures await them. Told in alternating pov's of all the main characters.
A/N: Here’s another chapter for you this weekend, so if you haven’t read Ch. 3, please go back and catch up first. Thanks to those who have been reading and reviewing-I love you to pieces!
Warning: if you don’t like hearing about snakes or the harming of said creatures, you might want to skip parts of the end of this chapter. But be comforted: No serpents were actually harmed in the writing of this fanfic. ;) Enjoy!
Chapter 4
BETH
I awoke to the joyful sound of birds chirping. And to an empty bed. Mick must have gone back to his freezer sometime near dawn, and I hadn’t even realized it. The stress of the night must have really taken its toll, and I had obviously been exhausted. I was surprised also to discover that the RV was parked, and Josef and Simone were likely sleeping too, leaving me to my own devices. I decided right then that if I were going to have more time with Mick and my friends, I would have to start adapting to their schedule. But I was a morning person, and sleeping much past dawn was really sleeping in for me.
Sighing and stretching, I marveled at just how comfortable my pullout bed had been, which was likely Josef’s doing. One thing about Josef-he didn’t skimp on the creature comforts. After visiting the restroom I went to the kitchen area. Although I was the only one who ate solid food, Josef had stocked the kitchen with about anything I could possibly want. I opened one of the two the mini fridges (the other contained blood bags) and found a bottled orange juice. In a cabinet, I found a bakery box of muffins and pastries. I chose a chocolate éclair, grabbed a napkin, and opened the RV door to see where we had landed.
We were in a campground, parked beneath some trees. There was a picnic table in the shade and I went over to it to sit and enjoy my breakfast. One of the guys had left his machete on the table out of its scabbard, apparently having cleaned and oiled it from its use the night before. I shivered as visions of our Vegas adventure came crashing into my mind. I resolutely pushed them out of my mind and tried to focus on the here and now.
We were the only ones parked in our row, this being so early in the season, I imagine. It was a little nippy, and I zipped my hooded sweatshirt against the chill. Within minutes, two deer emerged from the trees, not afraid of me at all. I watched them with delight as they nibbled at something on the ground. Being a city girl, I didn’t see much wildlife around LA. Not of the animal variety, anyway.
I finished my yummy éclair and juice, then decided to explore the campground. I’d only gone a little way before I saw a sign indicating a shuttle stop to the Grand Canyon! I had never seen it before, and I wondered if the vampires would be game when they got up. True, they’d have to wear hats and sunglasses against the glare of the sun, but how could they resist seeing the Canyon since it was so close?
There weren’t very man amenities to the park, but I noted the shower area and planned to use them later to avoid waking the vampires. I waved to an older couple who were frying bacon and eggs on their campfire. It smelled heavenly. I returned to our site, and sat again at the table, wondering idly if my companions would sleep all day. It was then I heard the distinct rattling noise that could only mean one thing-rattlesnake. My heart picked up in fear as I leaned back slightly to try to see where the sound was coming from. The diamond back was coiled about six inches from my feet. It was all I could do not to hyperventilate and pass out right there, but the thought of the snake then being able to bite me had me fighting the impulse and trying to calm myself so I could think my way out of this. Then my eyes alighted on the machete.
Could I do it? The rattling increased. Hell yeah, I could do it!
I grabbed the machete and jumped off the bench seat right when the rattler struck, it’s fangs puncturing the wooden seat where my butt had been. I closed my eyes and brought the machete down. The rattling ceased. I slowly opened my eyes to see that I had cut its head off, and I let go of the blade, which was now stuck firmly in the wood. My heart was pounding like crazy, my face and upper body drenched in cold sweat.
Then I heard soft laughter coming from behind me. I turned around to see Josef, standing on the top step of the RV, a grin as wide as the Grand Canyon lighting up his face.
JOSEF
I awoke to the sound of birdsong. Good, God, was I in the fuckin’ jungle? I mean, early morning lawn mowers, garbage trucks and passing cars I could sleep through; nature’s soundtrack was annoying to the extreme.
I saw by the crack under the door of my darkened room that it was still light outside. I groaned in irritation. I turned over on my stomach, trying in vain to find a comfortable position. As much as I had paid for this freezer, it just wasn’t the same as home. You know how it is when you sleep in a strange bed, in a strange location. A freezer bed in an RV is the same concept for a vampire.
I went still and tried to listen to what was going on above the sound of the damnably happy birds, and I heard someone moving around in the belly of the Whale. The refrigerator opened. A cabinet. A very feminine hum. Beth.
I looked through the glass of my freezer bed and could make out in the darkness the form of Simone on her own bed. Poor Beth must be all alone out there. I realized in annoyance that I wasn’t going to be able to get back to sleep now, so I pushed open the glass and climbed out. I briefly thought of walking out into the kitchen area naked, but tamped that idea down with a smile at the thought of Mick catching me. So, I put on a red Polo shirt and jeans, using my vampire stealth to stay quiet and not awaken my sleeping angel, and slipped soundlessly out of our bedroom, closing the door softly behind me. Mick’s door was still closed. I hoped he was enjoying his sleep, because it would be his turn to drive today.
Beth had already left the RV and I peeked out the window to see her walking toward the showers we’d passed when we’d pulled in here about an hour before dawn. Guess she was taking a look around. The sun had been up long enough that I decided it would be best not to follow her. The clock on the microwave told me it was nine-fifteen. I’d only had about three hours of sleep.
I shrugged tiredly and opened the designated vampire fridge, noting by the crumbs on the counter that Beth had found the bakery box. Mick had said she had a sweet tooth. I heated up some blood in a mug to a perfect 98.6, and sipped my breakfast, watching some deer trying to blend in to the trees around our campsite. I knew some vamps who drank animal blood, and I had tried it on occasion, but it tasted a little too gamey for me. I brought my cup up in a silent toast to the deer, safe today from this particular hunter.
About this time, I saw Beth returning to the picnic table right outside our door. She sat serenely, facing away from me, her sleep tumbled hair falling loose around her shoulders, glinting in the dappled light of the sun through the juniper trees. I heard the snake the instant that Beth did, and we both instinctively froze. Then I woke up and padded barefoot to the door. At that moment, I really wished I’d thought to bring my shotgun. She was out of my sight for a moment, and I feared the worst, but I knew I had to move quietly so as not to startle the serpent.
Just when I opened the door, I heard the distinct chopping sound of machete meeting wood, and saw Beth standing back from the slaughter, her breath coming in deep gasps. I could smell her sweat and fear, but all I could do is smile in surprise at the unreal vision of the rattlesnake’s headless body thrashing a moment in the dirt. Beth’s head came around to look at me in the doorway, her heart skipping a beat at my unexpected appearance.
“Why did you decapitate that poor defenseless creature?” I asked, stepping down to join her.
“Defenseless, my ass! Why is it I can’t seem to escape fanged creatures trying to attack me at every turn?”
I laughed at her spunk, and at her good aim. The snake’s triangular head was about the size of her fist and she’d neatly severed it from its now lifeless body. The head lay in a little pool of blood on the bench, its eyes fixed blankly in death. I reached down and picked up the body from beneath the table. I watched in secret delight as she cringed as I kept pulling until all four feet of it stretched out. It had been a beautiful specimen, with distinct diamond markings. Beautiful, but their bite was very dangerous to humans. Vampires were immune. I pulled the machete from its sticking point in the bench.
“You know, between you, Simone, and I, we’re racking up quite a body count on this trip.” I threw the snake’s body into the trees, but lifted the head up gingerly with the side of the machete, holding it up to Beth’s face. “So, you want me to get this mounted for you?”
She looked at me in horror a minute, before realizing I was kidding. “I don’t suppose they have Cleaners for snake incidents. That’s okay; you’ll do. Please be a dear and throw that god-awful thing into the bushes before I vomit.”
I chuckled. “No, Mick’s gotta see this. He’ll be so proud. Your first kill, isn’t it? I’ll put it over here away from your sensitive eyes.” At her blank expression, I walked deeper into the trees and lay the head in the scrub.
When I returned, Beth was still in the same place, appearing suddenly to be afraid to move. She kept looking around on the ground for invisible snakes.
“Do their mates come and try to find them?” She wondered aloud, quite serious.
“Well, if his mate is anything like Yvonne’s fiancé, you might be fighting off a bigger, even more offensive animal.” I laughed at her terrified expression.
“Don’t worry,” I said, by way of comfort. “Most animals are afraid of vampires. I’ll go around the camp and mark our territory if you want me to.” I reached for my zipper.
I finally got a laugh out of her, albeit a little strained. Then her eyes grew mischievous. “No, that’s okay. I wouldn’t want to have to use your machete again.”
“Why Beth, thanks for the complimentary comparison. That snake was at least four feet long.”
We laughed together a minute and she finally got the nerve to tentatively walk to the other side of the table and sit on the other , blood-free bench. I smirked but didn’t comment when her feet came up to rest on the bench as well. I joined her at the opposite end and we sat in silence a moment, my bare foot toeing circles in the dirt.
“Have you ever seen the Grand Canyon before?” she asked at length.
“Yeah. Even rode down to the bottom on a burro. It was nighttime though.” She smiled, at the mental image of me on a donkey, I’m sure.
“Well, if you vampires aren’t up for a daytime viewing, I’ll catch that shuttle that’s advertised and go have a look.”
“I figured you’d want to. It’s a very American human thing to do. To me, it’s just a big hole in the ground. Believe me, if I wanted to see a bottomless pit, I’d have gone to North Hollywood.”
We laughed together again. This was nice, I marveled. I had the fleeting familiar thought that I wished I had seen her first, before Mick, but then I mentally chastised myself. I loved Simone more than anything, much the same way Mick felt about Beth. What I needed to do was start training myself to think of her as a sister, and channel my protective thoughts toward her as brotherly concern. I owed it to Mick. Oh yeah, and to Simone too.
I looked at the sun’s progress up the horizon, and how quickly it was warming up. It was starting to get uncomfortable for this vampire in the desert. I reluctantly got to my feet.
“I need to get inside out of this heat,” I told her. “You want me to carry you back inside? Just in case that snake’s honey makes an appearance, I mean.” Okay, flirting with her was clearly not a very brotherly thing to do.
She smiled, but shook her head. “You go on in. I’ll just enjoy the morning a little while. What made you get up so early anyway? Couldn’t sleep?”
The recent frustration of my early wakeup call had me grimacing in irritation all over again.
“It was those stupid birds, chirping so loudly. What the hell do they have to be so happy about? They’re in the freakin’ desert, for God’s sake. I know why they call Mother Nature a woman-she talks too much, especially in the morning, and she makes a nuisance of herself when a guy just wants to be left alone. She’s an interfering bitch, if you ask me.”
Beth absorbed my misogynistic rant with a narrowing of her pretty, blue eyes. “But you’d better be careful,” she countered, nodding in the direction of the snake’s corpse. “She’ll also bite you in the ass when you least expect it.”
“If I’m lucky,” I grinned, like the devil I was. I picked up the bloodied machete to take it inside for its second cleaning in as many days.
“Hey,” she started, then hesitated. “Could you uh, leave that out here?” I knew it pained her to ask me. There certainly were a lot of comebacks I could tap for that one. I decided to give her a break-she’d been through a lot lately.
“Sure thing, killer.” I laid it back on the table. But I couldn’t resist one more jab before I reached the top step. “Oh, and watch out for mountain lions; they have fangs too.” I hid my grin as I shut the door between us.
“Go to hell, Josef,” she said under her breath. But my vampire ears heard her clear as day.