The Sire, Part 8
Fandom: Moonlight
Characters: Mick/Beth/Josef
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: After last tv episode, "Sonata"; also inspired by "The Mortal Cure"
Summary: Mick realizes he had successfully sired another vampire long ago.
Author's Note: Seventh in my post-"Sonata" series. Thanks in advance for your feedback!
*Like to catch up on all my previous stories? The links are posted here: http://donnamour1969.livejournal.com/
**For this chapter, please pardon my French, literally! (Hopefully I didn't get anything wrong.)
The Inn at Versailles was a dead end, so to speak. The innkeeper was a vamp, and of course recognized that we were as well. Josef translated for us, and we discovered to our dismay that while Carrie had stayed there the previous night, she had left that morning. She’d said something about the rain making it a good day to explore.
“Carrie,” I heard Daryl say in anguish, under his breath. I wish we were still friends. Now, he wouldn’t want any commiseration from me. He went back outside to resume tracking her.
Josef got rooms for us for later, just in case.
A thought occurred to me. “Josef, ask the innkeeper where the Noailles family home is.” The vamp looked at us then with much suspicion, and a little fear. Josef reached into his pocket, then slipped him about € 5000. The guy was immediately much more forthcoming. We met Daryl outside and told him the news.
Back in the limo, Beth was, to my amazement, sitting and waiting patiently. “See,” she said, “I’m being good.” I laughed and kissed her cheek. She wiped off the cold rain I’d left on her face. I have to say I was enjoying the weather. I wondered briefly why the hell I stayed in LA.
Daryl stared morosely out the window as Josef relayed the address to the driver. It was just down the street. We were there in minutes and Josef instructed the driver to stop in front of the large white townhome, obviously dated around the eighteenth century.
“Well, shall we go in?” Josef suggested, buttoning up his trench coat. It wasn’t for the cold, it was for the Armani suit.
“Just like that?” Daryl asked in disbelief.
“Why not? I find the direct approach sometimes produces much greater results. Besides, I’m a lover, not a fighter, if you’ll remember.” He smiled for Beth’s benefit.
“Lance isn’t going to help us. He already hates me,” I said.
“But you’re family, Mick,” Josef replied sarcastically. “From what you’ve said, the vamp’s got an ego. He’ll admire our balls, uh, so to speak.” Then his eyes narrowed at me. “Do you want us to protect Carrie from Coraline, or Coraline from Carrie?”
Now that was a good question. So far, my motivation for the trip was to keep Carrie from trouble and, by doing so, somehow try to make amends to Daryl for what I’d done to him. I hadn’t really considered that Carrie could very likely kill Coraline. Beth was looking at me expectantly as well. I carefully avoided her eyes.
“I guess I don’t want either of them to die. Coraline helped me get the cure, Josef. Maybe she can help me find it again. ”
Daryl spoke directly to me for the first time that day. “What cure?”
Damn. Well, I’d opened my mouth. I sighed heavily, smoothing back the wet hair that was now dripping in my eyes. “Coraline’s family has a temporary cure for vampirism. When she was in LA last, I tried it. It works. And her family will kill to protect what little they have left.”
Daryl was floored, to say the least. “You never told me this. What was it like? Were you really human? How long does it last?” He sounded like me when I’d first heard of it.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want to risk Coraline’s family coming after you too. And it was great, Daryl. I could eat real food. I could sleep in a bed. I could walk on the beach in the sunlight.” I felt such longing again for that feeling of humanity, that I felt my eyes water. Not a very masculine reaction, I know, but I couldn’t help it. “I don’t know how long it lasts. It ended, uh, prematurely.” I caught Josef’s eye, and for once, he looked away. Not a good memory for us. Beth squeezed my hand.
Daryl was quiet a moment, looking back at Coraline’s home. “It would be a lot easier if we walked in and they were all human in there.” He smiled briefly at the thought.
“Yeah, it would be. But I kinda doubt they would be that stupid. Lance was a vampire last time I saw him, as was Coraline, by the way. They’re not going to leave the cure, or themselves, unprotected.”
“Well, I still say we go for the civilized approach, “Josef maintained. “We are seriously outnumbered if all seven vamps are at home. But if Carrie is in there, you’ll be able to smell her, Daryl. And who knows? We may be able to bargain with them.”
“You really think they’ll go for this?” Beth asked. “I mean, vampires can be vicious, horrible creatures.” The three of us vampires looked at her. She smiled sheepishly. “Present company excluded, of course. But you get my point?” We sat there listening to the soft rain and the soothing swish of the windshield wipers.
Daryl reached for the gun that was in his waistband, and relocated it to his jacket pocket. “We can be vicious and horrible too, Beth. Thanks for the concern, though.” He opened the car door. “It’s worth a try, Josef. Let’s go.” Josef nodded and climbed out after him.
I adjusted the silver stake and gun in my own pockets and moved to follow him out.
“Mick?” Beth whispered, holding my arm.
“Stay here, Beth. If we don’t come out in a couple of hours, go home to LA. Don’t even try to rescue us. Do you hear me?” I could see the tears gathering in her eyes. I knew how she felt. We were walking into a den of at least seven old and powerful vampires. The odds weren’t that great. I renewed my silent wish that she hadn’t come. I kissed her trembling lips and whispered my love for her. She held on tightly, reluctant to let me go. “Lock the doors,” were my last words to her. I placed another gun in her hand and smiled into her eyes, hoping to reassure her. Hoping to reassure myself. Through the tinted window between us, I saw her pull out and then replace the clip in the gun, then load the chamber. That’s my girl, I thought proudly. Forcefully, I pushed her out of my mind, and joined Josef and Daryl at the house.
At the top of the stairs to the front door, Josef pulled a cord that rang a bell somewhere inside. We were all sniffing the air, and could register that vamps lived here, but we couldn’t tell exactly how many. The odor of decay was strong.
No answer to the first ring.
“Well isn’t this anticlimactic,” said Josef.
Daryl took his ham-sized fist and banged on the door so that it shuttered on its hinges. That got results. The heavy oak door was abruptly pulled open. We were all looking straight ahead, but our gazes dropped to the tiny woman who had answered. She was perfectly formed, like a little doll dressed as a stereotypical French maid. A not-so-proper French maid, for while her stature was small, not so her other…attributes. Josef grinned from ear-to-ear.
“Well, bonjour to you, little one.”
“Bonjour, monsieurs.” And she revealed fine white teeth, complete with vampire fangs. I guess she was used to a certain type of visitor. She spoke English, thank God. “May I help you?”
“Are Lance or Coraline at home?” I asked.
She looked up at me with huge brown eyes that exactly matched her hair, which was styled demurely in a bun. “Oui, Monsieur, Master Lance is here. Please come in and wait while I announce you. And you are…?”
“Friends of the family,” Josef said. She looked at him consideringly and smiled in a slightly wicked way. Then she nodded and left us.
“I love France,” he remarked as he watched her black skirt sway as she went. We looked around the entry way, and the small parlor to the left, which was decorated with the light, finely-detailed furniture of Louis XVI’s time. I was no antiques expert, but everything looked original to me, from the golden damask wallpaper to the oriental carpets. It was all perfectly preserved, much like an old vampire. Speaking of which…
“Mick,” said Lance as he almost slithered down the stairs to meet us. We were all instantly on guard, trying hard not to incite a fight by any fang-baring. His one solid black eye just added to his general air of menace. “What brings you to fair Versailles? And you’ve brought friends. Please, come into my parlor.”
Said the spider to the fly, I thought.
“Yes. This is Josef Kostan and Daryl Morgan.” No one shook hands. He indicated that we sit on the silk upholstered sofas. We complied, but our hands were in our pockets.
Lance sniffed delicately. “I see you are no longer among the living,” he said to me, reminding us both that I had been painfully human when last we’d met. “If that is why you’re here, I’m afraid you’ll be very disappointed.”
“No. We’re here to see Coraline.”
He gave us a tight smile. “That might be difficult.”
“Why?” asked Daryl, always one to get to the heart of the matter. I could tell he had been surreptitiously testing the air for a whiff of Carrie. Lance’s evil eye alighted on him.
“She is out,” he replied simply, flicking off a piece of lint from his tailored trousers. At that moment, three more vampires joined us. As with Lance, they were tall and thin, with dark hair and eyes. They were each smiling pleasantly, as if happy to find morning callers. I wondered where the other two brothers were.
“Mr. Kostan, Mr. Morgan, and Mick, may I present my brothers, Jules, Jean, and Pierre.” They nodded politely and sat gracefully in nearby chairs. I noticed Josef’s eyes light up with recognition.
“Jules, long time, no see.”
“Kostan,” he replied, his accent much heavier than Lance’s. “At least a hundred years, I’m guessing. We had some good times, did we not, mon ami?”
“Sure, nothing like wine, women and song. Oh and blood. Lots and lots of blood.” He was actually smiling as they reminisced. He caught my annoyed glance, and suddenly became all business again. “I had no idea of your relationship to this family. By that I mean to Mick’s ex.”
“Aww..Coraline. She does have a penchant for mingling with the ugly Americans.” I had to reach out to restrain Daryl after that remark. Jules seemed to ignore our little drama, then he turned to me. “So sorry we didn’t send a gift to the wedding. Our invitation must have been lost in the mail.”
“The guest list was very small,” I replied politely, though my wedding and subsequent wedding night came unbidden to my mind.
Lance became suddenly impatient. “Enough of this! Why are you really here, and what do you want of Coraline?”
I looked at my friends. They both nodded at me imperceptibly.
“We’re here to save her.” Not exactly the truth, but hopefully an attention-getter. I wasn’t disappointed.
“From what?” So Pierre had a voice. The verdict was still out on Jean.
“From her past mistakes finally catching up with her,” I said.
“Well, you’ll have to be a little more specific,” said Lance, calm once again. “Listing them could take all day.” He met my eyes pointedly. “And you may not have that much time, brother-in-law.” At this point, I felt a fang-baring would be a good thing. My hand tightened on the gun in my jacket pocket.
“Now gentlemen,” Josef intervened, “we are here in good faith. We didn’t come for a fight. I would have sent someone else for that.” I hope they understood irony here in Versailles.
“Then why do you carry weapons?” Jean asked, satisfying my curiosity on his speech capabilities.
“We came prepared for anything,” answered Daryl. By his low level of excitement, I’d guess Carrie hadn’t been here.
“As I’ve said, you won’t be seeing Coraline or the cure, so you should head back to the US. You’re in our territory without permission; you’ll have no allies here.” Lance was through being polite. We were outnumbered, and this wasn’t going well. We’d have to do this thing the hard way.
“Let’s go,” I said to my friends. I turned to Lance. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you about Coraline.”
“We can take care of our own,” said Jules with complete confidence. I didn’t doubt him. “Farewell, Josef. Another time, perhaps.”
“Count on it, mon ami,” Josef replied grimly. The initial nostalgia had apparently worn off.
It took nerves of steel then to turn our backs on Coraline’s brothers and let ourselves out of their home. We left unaccosted, but I had the distinct feeling we would meet again. Outside, the rain had picked up again. As we neared the limo, I automatically listened and smelled. I heard no heartbeats within. Pulling out my gun, I grabbed the door handle and prepared for the worst. But I wasn’t prepared for this: Beth was gone. And the driver was dead.