Title: In the Air Tonight
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Josef Kostan/Mick St. John
Fandom: Moonlight
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,609
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Josef Kostan or Mick St. John, unfortunately. Please do not sue.***
Mick frowned as he turned to look behind him, all of his senses alert. There was something strange in the air tonight, a feeling of menace that he wasn't used to. Los Angeles had somehow never seemed so dangerous as it did at this moment.
There was nothing behind him; his preternatural vampiric sight didn't pick up anything. Neither did his hearing, though he could swear that there was something just under the surface of the normal nighttime street sounds that he heard all the time.
That was the problem with how the night felt, he told himself, frowning again. There were sounds and scents just under the surface of the night air that made him pause, made the hairs on the back of his neck prickle. Sounds and scents that weren't usually there.
There was something menacing about the city tonight, though he couldn't quite put his finger on just what it was. It was nothing that he could put into words, just a feeling that made him uncomfortable, and made him feel as though he had to be on guard.
He turned around slowly, shoving his hands into his pockets and continuing his solitary walk. He would have said that he shouldn't be out here alone, but he knew how to take care of himself. And at least Josef wasn't walking around in the darkened streets.
He probably shouldn't worry about his boyfriend so much. After all, Josef was over four hundred years old. He'd survived a lot of time as a vampire, and he'd probably survive a lot more. But after the last threat on his lover's life, Mick was taking no chances.
It still terrified him to think that someone had been able to get to Josef, paralyze him with silver, and kidnap him. If one person could do it, then others might be tempted to try -- and he had no intention of losing his lover to some crazed vampire hunter.
A sound behind him made Mick whirl around, every sense straining, his fangs starting to come out. But there was no one behind him; the street was empty, the only living being that he could see -- or hear -- a stray cat that yowled as it disappeared behind a building.
Why was he so jumpy tonight? Mick asked himself, his gaze searching the street for anything that seemed out of the ordinary. Was it because he was still overly protective of Josef, and that he saw trouble behind every corner now?
Or was it just that he could somehow sense a menace hanging over the city, a foreboding that hadn't come all the way out into the open yet? The feeling had started a few days ago, and now it was so strong that he felt it on a constant basis.
He didn't have some kind of second sight. It was ridiculous to feel that this was some kind of premonition of disaster. But he couldn't shake the feeling that there was some sort of evil around, just waiting to leap out and attack him when he least expected it.
That was why he wanted to get to Josef as quickly as he could. But he didn't want to summon his ability for speed; he needed to confront whatever it was that felt so threatening, if it happened to show its face tonight rather than just continuing to taunt him.
Could Josef feel the same menace in the air tonight, at home in his apartment? Mick couldn't help but wonder if he should talk to his boyfriend about what he'd been feeling; Josef's senses were far older than his own, and far more sharpened.
If anyone might know where this sense of foreboding came from, Josef would. Either that, or he would discount it completely, say that Mick was being paranoid and laugh it off. He cuold see Josef going either way; it would be interesting to see which way he'd lean.
Josef would probably have chosen to ignore the menace in the air until the last attack on him, Mick thought, his brow furrowing. But even his nonchalant boyfriend had become more conscious of outsiders since that thwarted kidnapping attempt.
He didn't blame Josef for that at all. It must have been terrifying, to have been paralyzed by silver dust, to be conscious of all that was happening around him and powerless to do anything to stop it, or to help himself. Josef had been in that situation too often.
That was one of the reasons his lover embraced what he was, Mick told himself with a wry smile. Josef had been helpless to control what had been done to him, or what direction his life was taking, when he was human. He could control that as a vampire.
And Josef was the kind of person who needed to be in control. Mick had realized that from the first time they'd met -- and in some ways, it was a quality that he admired in Josef. There were times when he wished he could be more like his lover.
He usually managed to stay in control of situations when he was working -- no one could tell him how to do his job. But in his personal life, he hadn't always been good at staying in control -- and all too often, he had let other people dictate how he was supposed to live.
With Josef, that never happened. His lover would never try to force his will or his desires on Mick. But the women who'd been in his life in the past had been all too eager to use him for what they could get from him. He was well rid of them.
But Josef was a different kind of person entirely. Josef would never ask him for anything he didn't want to give; his boyfriend wasn't going to expect anything from him that wasn't freely offered. That was only one of the reasons he loved his boyfriend so much.
Another sound behind him made Mick whirl around again; this time, the fangs came out, his eyes glowing, every sense honed and at the ready for trouble. Out of the corner of his eye, he was sure that he saw a shadow moving away with preternatural vampiric speed.
So he was being followed, Mick thought as his gaze focused on the place where he'd seen that dark, menacing shadow. Normally, that wouldn't bother him -- but after the attack on Josef, he was more paranoid -- and more careful -- than usual.
Whoever was shadowing him was either looking to do him harm -- or they knew about his relationship with Josef and were keeping track of him to know when Josef wasn't alone. The thought sent a cold chill down Mick's spine; he didn't want to think of his lover being in danger.
Josef was used to danger, of course; he'd spent centuries hiding what he was. He had protections around himself. He wasn't going to be stupid enough to make some blunder and expose what he was to the world of humans; he was too smart for that.
But if the people who had found out what he was in the past sent anyone after him .... Mick shuddered, all of his paranoia coming to the fore. Josef could be in more trouble than he realized, or that he was willing to admit. He had to be kept safe, protected under a watchful eye.
Mick almost laughed at that thought. Josef would never let anyone 'keep an eye on him." If Mick wanted to do that, he'd have to go about it unobtrusively -- and even then, he was sure that Josef would guess what he was doing sooner or later.
No, he wouldn't be able to watch over his boyfriend and keep him protected. He'd have to trust that Josef could take care of himself -- but he could always talk with his lover about the feeling of foreboding that seemed to be in the air tonight.
Would Josef have felt it too? Mick was sure that he would; Josef was more perceptive than any other vamp he knew. His boyfriend was usually able to tell if there was some kind of danger around before he himself could, but Mick put that down to Josef having been around for so long.
Whatever was in the air tonight, he could feel it more strongly as he walked along. That menace had to be following him. Mick was sure of it. And if there was some malice aimed at him, he hoped that it would come out into the open and stop skulking in the shadows.
This was making him feel a lot more nervous than he probably should -- especially since the uneasy feeling didn't stop as he approached Josef's building. Could that menace be directed at Josef? Was it only following him because he could lead it to an intended target?
Whatever it was, he would find it and flush it out, Mick vowed, looking around him again as he went through the lobby doors into the building. And he would make sure that it never had a chance to touch his boyfriend, even if he had to put himself in more danger than he cared to face.***