Title: Deep Dark Secrets
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Mick St. John
Fandom: Doctor Who/Moonlight
Rating: PG-13
Table: DIY, 100_situations
Prompt: 20, Monster
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Tenth Doctor or Mick St. John, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

The Doctor looked around wildly for another way out of the alley other than the front entrance, but there was none. There was no way out, unless he suddenly happened to sprout wings. Unfortunately, that had never been one of his talents.

The strange man who he could have sworn had glowing eyes and fangs was still sitting on the ground, his gaze speculative as he looked up at the Time Lord. The Doctor wanted to back away and run for it, but he'd seen how fast this man could move.

He was sure that if he tried to make his way out of the alley, even running at top speed, this man would catch him within seconds. And given what he'd already seen, there was no guarantee that he wouldn't end up in a very unpleasant situation.

It took him a few moments to realize that he was still holding the wooden stake in his hand -- the stake that was covered with the other man's blood. He stared at it incredulously for a moment, unable to believe that he hadn't dropped it immediately.

When he did so, there was a hollow, ringing sound that seemed to echo through the alley, breaking the silence between the two men. The Doctor unwillingly brought his gaze back to the other man, staring at him without saying a word.

The man on the ground was the first to break the silence. "So." The word was short and clipped, not a friendly sound. "I don't know how much you saw -- or what you think you saw. The best thing for you to do is to forget whatever you think it was."

Slowly, the Doctor shook his head, making a decision that he wasn't sure he wouldn't regret later. Taking a few steps towards the man on the ground, he held out his hand to help him up, hoping that he wasn't making a dangerous mistake.

It seemed that he wasn't; the man took his hand and let the Doctor help him to his feet. "I'm okay. Really," he said, his eyes meeting the Time Lord's again. "It's not as bad as it looks. The myths aren't always true, you know."

The Doctor nodded slowly, taking a deep breath. "Given that I know what you are -- and that I've never actually believed in what you are -- I'm having a bit of a hard time adjusting. So I'm not having a hallucination or imagining things, am I?"

The man looked as though he was about to tell the Doctor that he was doing just that, then he sighed and shook his head. "No, you're not. Yes, I'm a vampire. Yes, we do exist. In greater numbers than you might want to think."

The Doctor wasn't quite sure what to say to that; coming back with "Well, I'm a Time Lord" didn't seem like something that would impress this man. But as he'd been told something that was obviously a deep dark secret, maybe he should respond in kind.

Before he could say anything, the man smiled -- a normal, human smile, with no fangs showing -- and held out a hand. "Anyway, hi. I'm Mick St. John. Private detective. And no, I'm not going to pounce on you and drink your blood."

"You're not?" The Doctor couldn't help feeling a little disconcerted by Mick's words. "But isn't that what vampires are supposed to do? Suck the blood out of poor unsuspecting .... people?" He'd almost said "humans." But he wasn't one of them.

"Maybe in novels and bad horror movies, but our real existence is very different from the sensationalism that sells books and tickets." Mick shrugged, wincing as he raised a hand to his chest. "I really should take care of this."

"It doesn't look as though it had much of an effect on you." The Doctor wanted to examine the wound -- but to his eyes, there was no wound left. There was blood -- a lot of it, at that -- but Mick didn't look as though he was hurt at all.

"Stakes to the heart don't kill us. They only cause paralysis -- until the stake gets pulled out." Mick's tone was almost amused. "Garlic doesn't work either. Or crosses. I actually like churches. They give me a sense of peace and quiet."

"Well, that answers some of my questions about vampires," the Doctor said with a laugh. He was rapidly starting to feel at ease with Mick; he might be what most people would term a dangerous creature, but he seemed friendly enough.

Mick raised an eyebrow, flashing a crooked smile at the Time Lord. "Any other questions you have? Such as how to kill us, or the big one -- why do we exist? I can't give you the answer to the second one. I don't have a freaking clue why we're here."

"If you're worried about me trying to kill you, then don't," the Doctor told him, his brow furrowing. "I'd say that you can probably be killed by some of the ways we read about. Fire or beheading, maybe? It would be hard to come back from something like that."

Mick nodded, looking serious. "Yeah, and coming back as a crispy critter isn't my idea of a great life." He sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets. "So -- tell me something about you, since I've just spewed out a lot of my history without being asked."

The Doctor considered for a moment; should he risk telling Mick who and what he was? There was a good chance that this man -- no, this vampire -- wouldn't believe him. After all, he'd found it hard to believe Mick's apparent secret when it was revealed.

But as Mick said, he'd already trusted the Doctor with the truth about himself. He owed Mick truth for truth -- even if that truth was something that he might not believe. "All right," he said, nodding and trying to sound calm. "I'm not human. I'm an alien."

Mick raised an eyebrow, looking skeptical. "You're an alien? Let me guess .... underneath that pretty hot exterior, you're a little green monster, and you're hiding a laser gun in that coat somewhere. You're going to demand that I take you to our leader any second now."

The Doctor shook his head, unable to keep back a laugh. "No, you've got it wrong," he said, wondering if Mick would believe what he was about to say. "I'm a Time Lord. I'm from the planet Gallifrey. I travel through time and space in my ship, the Tardis."

"Sure you do," Mick said, shaking his head and laughing. "If you were looking for something to outdo a vampire, I think you might have found it. Anybody else would think you were a monster if you told them that and they believed you, but I've had experience with real monsters."

"You aren't a monster," the Doctor said quietly, fixing his dark gaze on the other man. "You're something that's strange and unexplainable, but you're not a monster. You wouldn't have saved me from what I presume was a vampire attack if you were."

Mick didn't answer, standing there quietly for a few moments before he looked away and cleared his throat. "When he looked back again, his expression was less cynical, more open. "Do you have a name?" he asked, his brows raising in question again.

"I'm the Doctor." He didn't want to say more than that; he certainly wasn't going to reveal his real name, which Mick wouldn't understand anyway. "Not a medical doctor. Just the Doctor. And I'm telling the truth. I really am an alien."

He stepped closer to Mick, reaching out to take the other man's hand and press it against his chest. "Feel that," he said softly, his gaze holding Mick's. "I have two hearts. It's not a trick. It's not a figment of your imagination. I do have two hearts."

Mick looked down at his palm resting against the Doctor's chest, looking confused as he moved it to one side and then the other. He looked back up into the Time Lord's face, then back down at his hand again, as though he couldn't believe what his senses told him.

"You have two hearts." He looked up at the Doctor again, his eyes wide with disbelief. "Two hearts. How is that possible?" He took a deep breath, his hand dropping from the Doctor's chest to hang limply at his side. "You really are an alien, aren't you?"

The Doctor nodded, his gaze never leaving Mick's face. "Yes, I am," he murmured, keeping his voice quiet and calm. "And I'm offering to take you to the Tardis so you can have a chance to rest and get cleaned up a bit -- if you'd like to see the ship."

Mick looked unsure for a moment, but then his frown disappeared, turning into a smile. "Sure, why not?" He gestured towards the front of the alley, making way for the Doctor to exit the dimness back onto the more brightly street first.

The Time Lord only hesitated for a moment; he didn't want Mick to feel that he was uneasy at the thought of having a vampire, a creature that some would call a monster, walking so closely behind him. And really, he wasn't. Mick had already given him protection tonight.

"Why are you called the Doctor?" Mick asked as they emerged from the alley and the Doctor turned to the left, in the direction he'd left the Tardis. "It's not exactly a name. More like a title. And if you're not a medical doctor --"

"That's a long story," the Time Lord laughed, shaking his head. "I'll tell you sometime. I think we may have a good bit of that ahead of us." He was curious to find out as much as he could about this man -- though he wasn't sure just how many secrets of his own he would reveal.

***