Chapter Text
"Is that everything?" Beth shouted from downstairs.
Mick smiled to himself and shouted back. "I think so! And you know you don't have to shout, I'll hear you." He sensed her blush, and saw it in her face as her head poked up at the top of the stairs.
"I know, I'm still not used to it. Come on, our flight is in an hour, I don't want to miss it."
He closed the zipper on his suitcase and hefted it over a shoulder, gesturing that he'd follow her down the stairs. She turned around and headed swiftly out, grabbing her bags which were already neatly placed by the door. She waited in the hallway while he locked and checked the door, then took his hand as they walked out of the building together.
They'd agreed to take her Prius - he didn't want to leave his Mercedes in long term airport parking if he didn't need to, and as she was fond of reminding him, he did drive like an old man.
As they approached the car, he gently took her bags from her hand and shoulder, and easily lifted them along with his suitcase into the trunk. As he did so, she slid into the driver's seat and started the car, musing about how someone who could move so fast could always be running late. He had barely gotten his seat belt buckled before they were pulling out of the lot at speed.
Despite the LA traffic, Mick's apartment was close enough to the airport that it only took a few minutes to reach the parking lot. It also helped to have a billionaire friend - Josef had lent them his reserved parking space, absurdly close to the arrivals door.
They made their way in and got in the security line. Signs overhead proclaimed the current wait time: 30 MINUTES. Beth glanced up at them, nervously tapping a foot. They'd probably make their flight, but it would be much closer than she'd like. Mick leaned over to her.
"I haven't flown since before-" he gestured vaguely at himself. "I forgot about all the new security."
She tried to force herself to relax, leaning back into him. "I'm not sure you can still call it "new" after ten years."
"Ah, well, time. Used to be you could just go to Canada anyway, now there's all this passport business." He pulled his very fresh passport from his back pocket. "And this boarding pass-" he frowned down at his phone, swiping through apps.
"Hey, rule 2."
He held up both hands in mock innocence and grinned. "All right, all right. That was my "oh how the times have changed" for the day."
She smiled back and dropped a light kiss on his cheek as she fumbled in her pockets for her phone and passport. "Good. You're there-" she pointed over to an agent with a hand up, waving at them- "and I'll meet you back in the middle security line."
They each got their tickets scanned and met back up in the middle. Beth walked Mick through the process, anxiously checking her watch at intervals as they waited, shoeless, for their belongings to make it through the scanner.
"You know, we could've avoided this if we'd taken Josef's plane."
She scoffed at him. "Come on, you didn't want to take it any more than I did. We're not private jet people."
He chuckled back. "Fair enough. Just trying to take your mind off the time. We'll make the flight."
She glanced back to the scanner line to see their trays emerge from the X-ray, and briefly wondered what the repercussions were for leaning around the plastic barrier to grab them early.
"Nicholas Brabant, reporting for duty."
The chief looked up over a stack of paperwork at him, and grabbed a file seemingly at random. "Transfer from Ottawa, is that right?"
"Oh, uh, yeah. Yeah." He smiled his most charming smile at her.
She frowned back. "You remind me of a young detective we had a couple decades ago. Knight, I think it was. Nick Knight. I worked the day shift, so I never saw him much, but he had the same blonde hair." She shook her head. "Died in the line, though, shame."
He tried to look appropriately sad and wasn't sure he succeeded. "It's always a shame, I'm sorry to hear that. I don't mean to be rude, but, do you know who I'm supposed to be working with?"
She flipped a page in the file she was holding. "Yeah, the only other detective we have without a partner right now is Mike Celluci. He's a good solid officer, but he keeps getting partnered with real go-getters who get promoted out in year or so. You a go-getter?"
He wasn't sure what the right answer was, and opted for the truth. "I'm not looking to move on in a year, if that's what you mean."
She snorted and set the file down. "You'll find him over in the corner cubicle, he should be expecting you."
"Thanks." He turned and left her office, striding over to the corner cubicle. There, a tall man with disheveled dirty blonde hair was shoving things into his pockets.
"Michael?"
Mike Celluci whipped around to look at the newcomer. "Can I help you?"
"I'm Nicholas Brabant, you can call me Nick."
"Mike. You're just in time, we've got a fresh one." He finished shoving a notebook into a side pocket and started toward the door.
"Great. Do you want me to drive?"
Celluci paused mid-stride, confused. "I have the keys."
It was Nick's turn to look confused. He pulled the keys to his [[ car ]] from his pocket and held them up.
Celluci scoffed and resumed heading out. "I don't know how you do it in Ottawa, but we use the precinct cruisers here. Not personal vehicles."
"Oh, my mistake." Eager to smooth things over, Nick asked, "So, what's the case?"
Vicki Nelson slid her keys into the door, unlocking it with a soft click. The door opened to a beautifully furnished penthouse apartment, dimly lit. As she entered, closing the door gently behind her, Henry Fitzroy emerged from the bedroom, wearing nothing at all.
"Good morning, Vicki."
She grinned and mock-curtsied. "Good morning, your highness. Are we really calling it morning, if it's ten minutes after sunset?"
"Oh, semantics. Good morning is for a greeting upon rising from bed, no matter the time of day. It's the vampire's morning, isn't it?"
She thought about this for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, I suppose it is. So, do you have big plans for the "day"?"
He pulled a robe from a hook on the wall and drew it on slowly. "Well, I have a deadline coming up, my editor wants to see the new chapter by the end of the week." He paused, watching her as she set down her bag and made herself at home on his couch. He reached over to a newly-installed panel on the wall and slid a switch upward. The lamps on the side tables brightened considerably. Although his eyes were sensitive and he preferred the dim lighting, he knew she was effectively blind in it. But if she noticed the new switch or lights, she didn't mention it. "I was thinking it would be nice to feed as well."
She turned at that, a smile playing on her lips. "I thought you'd never ask. Would you prefer breakfast or dinner today?"
"Oh, I hear breakfast is the most important meal of the day." He backed into the bedroom, beckoning her to follow. She rose from the couch, removing her jacket and leaving it on her purse, and did.
An hour later, they laid together, nestled in each other's arms, sated. Henry brushed an errant hair from her face and, with a hint of regret, said, "Your phone is ringing."
Vicki groaned. "Let it."
Henry didn't want to be the voice of reason, but he spoke anyway. "It could be a client."
She groaned again.
"It could be Mike."
A third groan, but this time she got up. Henry swallowed, hating that that had worked.
Vicki made it to her purse on the last ring, stabbing at the green button. "Yeah?"
"Is that how you answer the phone these days? Isn't this your PI number too?"
"I have caller ID, dummy. I know it's you."
"Ah. Alright. I have a case that I could use you on." He gave her an address and she promised to meet him there in twenty minutes.
She tossed down the phone and went to put her clothes on. "You in?" She looked up to see Henry already fully dressed in the time it had taken to ask. "You know that's not fair."
He swept around to straighten her hair, lightly caressing her shoulders as he stepped back again. "Haven't you heard? Life's not fair."
She stuck her tongue out at him.
Mike hung up, sliding the phone back into his pocket, and walked back to the scene. He'd left his new partner, Nick, to do the basic interview of the store owner. He figured the guy didn't know anything they couldn't get off the CC-TV anyway, so even if the new guy bungled it, there would be no great loss.
It turned out he was right. As he met back up with Nick, a questioning look on his face, Nick just shrugged back. "Guy's in shock. He just kept repeating, "She just keeled over." I sent him off to the EMTs for some water and a blanket or whatever it is they do for shock."
Mike nodded. "This reminds me of a cold case from about a year ago. I hope you don't mind, I called in my old partner who was on the case with me. She might remember something useful - she was a great cop."
Nick sensed more to the story but didn't press. He nodded lightly and said, "Sure, the more the merrier. I'm going to go see if I can get the tapes, owner said he didn't mind us grabbing whatever we needed."
Mike looked surprised but pleased. "Well, that's a nice change of pace. Normally we have to warrant these guys out the wazoo to get anything these days."
Nick shrugged. "I've not found that to be the case. The general public is normally keen to help out in my experience." He headed behind the counter, disappearing into the back office area.
Mike pulled out his notebook and made a few notes summarizing the owner's information, then leaned on the counter to wait for Vicki, while the forensics officers swarmed around, taking pictures and collecting samples.
"Nothing on the tapes." Nick's sudden return startled Mike, and he jumped, knocking a display of gum off the counter. He tried to casually pick them up, but ended up scooping them roughly back into the cardboard holder.
"That's unfortunate, but I'm not surprised. If the guy said she just keeled over, there'd be nothing to see." He paused, trying to get a read on Nick. "So, rookie, what's the next move?"
Nick bristled at that. "I may be new to you, but I'm not new to police work. We'll want to get the coroner's report as soon as possible, and in the mean time, follow up with friends and family. Find out if she had any troubles that could lead to murder. And we should pull the other case file for cross-referencing."
Mike couldn't help but look impressed. "Yeah, that's what I'd recommend. Vicki will take the cold case angle, so you and I can start in on the friends and family." He glanced out the front window in time to see Henry's BMW pull into the lot. He rolled his eyes. He knew by now that Vicki and Henry were a package deal, but that didn't mean he had to like it.
Nick caught the eye-roll and turned to look. He saw a young man in his early twenties emerge from the driver's side and open the passenger door for a woman in her mid-thirties. She was wearing glasses but still seemed to be having trouble seeing - she took the man's arm as they walked in together. As they passed through the front door of the convenience store, Nick's senses prickled. The woman was ordinary enough, but the man - he closed his eyes and looked down, holding his instincts back. He could tell that the man wasn't human, and recognized a predator, though the exact nature was unclear. He didn't feel like any vampire Nick knew.
As they passed through the front doors of the scene, Henry's senses zeroed in on the cop behind the counter. He was used to the bright lights and hubbub of a crime scene by now, but this was something new. The blond man over Celluci's shoulder didn't smell human, and his heart did not beat.
Henry frowned, and stopped suddenly, pulling Vicki to a halt. She looked at him, question in her eyes. "What is it?"
Careful to look nonchalant, he guided her to the side, putting the front aisle between them and the new cop. "Do you know him?"
"Know who?" She turned her head rapidly, trying to see who he was talking about.
He stilled her head with a hand. "Have you no subtlety? Mike's new partner. Behind the counter."
"I can do subtle." She took a few steps back, pulled a magazine off the end-cap, stealing a look at the man, and walked back over to Henry. "Never seen him before. Why?"
"Don't panic."
"I don't panic."
"He's not human."
Her gun was in her hands, magazine drifting to the floor.
He gently pressed the tip of her gun down. "That's panic."
"How am I supposed to respond? I've spent the last year fighting every demon, devil, and boogeyman, and you tell me Mike's new partner isn't human? What is he?"
"I don't know."
The flight was uneventful, which Beth was grateful for. They'd managed to get a non-stop, so their total transit time was a little under five hours - not too bad at all. Takeoff had been smooth, although it turned out that the change in pressure made Mick pop his fangs involuntarily, which she was sure they'd laugh about later. The plane was six seats wide, one aisle, and they'd booked Mick the aisle seat, so there was barely any sun to worry about, even though the girl in the window seat insisted on keeping the shade open.
They touched down in Toronto, swore to the border control that they were just there for vacation, and collected their bags. To their surprise, a valet with a sign for Josef Kostan was waiting at Arrivals, and they sighed but followed him. Mick typed a quick text in the car, thanking Josef while reminding him that they didn't need any extra services, borrowing his Toronto apartment was plenty. Josef replied with two emojis: a winking face and a moneybag, which Beth laughed at. Mick didn't show her the other text, which used a lot more suggestive emojis indicating that they should make full use of the king sized bed.
They reached the apartment near sunset to find a full dinner prepared for Beth, and a selection of blood in the fridge with a note from Josef: "Fresh is better - text me if you change your mind." Mick crumpled up the note and tossed it in the garbage bin.
"This is nice," Beth gestured to the apartment between forkfuls of pasta. "I'm glad my cousin is getting married, it's nice to get out of LA for once."
Mick nodded, swirling his glass of A+. "It's nice of your editor to give you the extra time off."
Beth looked guiltily down at her plate.
"Unless - are you planning on working this week? I thought we were going to have a real vacation, do some sightseeing."
"You know Tim, he won't give us any more than the federal minimum, and I already took the time this summer. It won't be that bad, the deal was that if anything super juicy came up, he'd use me to investigate instead of just using the summary from the AP. Come on, how likely is it that a serial killer strikes Toronto just because we're in town?"
Before Mick could reply, Beth's phone rang. She set down her fork and answered it. Mick sipped his blood, politely pretending not to listen to both sides.
"Beth? It's Ashlyn. We're getting reports of a homicide at a corner store in Toronto, so Tim wanted me to remind you of your deal."
Beth sighed. "Thanks, Ashlyn. Go ahead and send me the details, I'll get into it."
"Yep, texting you now. I know you don't have video out there, but if there's enough to it, we'll do it as a feature. Try to get some stills if you can, otherwise we'll just get the graphic design guys on it."
Beth agreed and hung up, setting her phone down and looking up to see Mick already wrapping the leftover food and putting it in the fridge. Smiling, she got up and grabbed her purse, meeting Mick by the door with her hand out. He feigned innocent confusion for a moment, before holding a luxury car key above her hand. "Please don't get us arrested for speeding in a foreign country."
She turned her hand briefly to cross her fingers, and re-opened it. With a sigh, he dropped the keys, and they headed down to the apartment's underground garage.