Title: A Study in Scarlet
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Josef Kostan/Mick St. John
Fandom: Moonlight
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,408
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.

***

"Josef!" Mick's voice was loud in the silence of the burned-out building; he hoped that no one had heard him call his boyfriend's name. He had no idea if Josef was here, but some instinct had led him to this ruin, and he'd long since learned to follow that feeling.

Whatever had happened last night, he was going to find out about it. This was the second time in only a few months that he thought he'd lost the man he loved; but this time, he was almost positive that Josef was merely hiding and that he hadn't been killed.

But there was still that little voice in the back of his mind that kept piping up, insisting that Josef wasn't infallible and that he could be dead. Mick didn't want to listen to that voice, but it still came through loud and clear.

No, he told himself firmly, pushing the thought away. Josef wasn't dead. He couldn't be. If the man he loved was no longer a part of this world, he would feel it. He would somehow know that there was a gaping, empty void in his life that could never be filled.

He had felt that way when he'd thought Josef was dead after his penthouse had been bombed, but that was before he had acknowledged his feelings for the other man. Now that the two of them shared more than friendship, everything had changed.

If Josef wasn't his any more, he would be able to feel it. There would be a wound to his very sould that would eat away at him until he ceased to exist. Josef was his heart and soul; he didn't want to live on in this vampire existence without his lover by his side.

He didn't want to imagine what might have happened -- it was obvious that a bomb had been detonated in another attempt on Josef's life. He could imagine the scene, the screams, the blood; but he had to believe that his lover had made it out safely.

Mick closed his eyes, taking a deep breath; the scene in his mind was a study in scarlet. He could just imagine Josef's body among the others, broken and bleeding, his life essence seeping out to stain what was left of the plush carpet ....

No. No. He'd never accept that. Josef wasn't dead; he couldn't be. He'd feel it if he'd lost his lover. There was no reason for him to assume the worst; he'd done that before, and it hadn't been true. He wouldn't let himself think that way this time.

"Mick."

He spun around, his eyes adjusting quickly to the darkness behind him. Mick wanted to let out a sigh of relief when he saw Josef standing there, looking as though he was merely out for a stroll in the park rather than skulking around a burnt-out shell of a building.

"What are you doing here?" he asked in a harsh voice as he moved towards Josef. "Somebody tried to kill you for the second time with a bomb. You should be hiding, not out here in the open where anybody can get to you and try again."

Josef shrugged, shoving his hands into his pockets and regarding Mick with a quizzical expression. "You should know that I'm not going to hide in a hole in the ground or just sit around waiting for someone to come after me, Mick. I'm going to find them first."

The street light shone into the building as Josef moved forward; Mick almost gasped when he saw the blood that spattered the front of his boyfriend's shirt. "What the hell --?" Was it Josef's blood, or someone else's? He didn't want to ask.

Josef glanced down at himself, shrugging again. "Not my blood. A couple of vamps tried to stake me, but I've been around a lot longer than they have. They didn't count on me having such quick reactions. They thought I'd be in shock from the attempt on my life."

The light shining into the building was eerie; somehow, the scene around them seemed painted in blood red. Mick shook his head, blinking, wondering if that was his imagination, or if the lights really were that garish red shade.

He wanted to get Josef back to his apartment, get him out of those bloody clothes. He wanted to wash away all evidence that his lover had been in any kind of danger -- and then he wanted to hunt down whoever was responsible for that danger and kill them.

"Weird, isn't it?" Josef said softly, reaching out to touch Mick's cheek. "Any time somebody tries to come after me, you're always here to try to save me, even when I don't need the help. And to think that you're the younger one of the two of us."

"Yeah, like I'm going to let anybody take you away from me. Or hurt you in any way," Mick growled, trying to lighten the moment. "I might be the younger one, but I'm the alpha male. You're the fragile pretty boy I need to protect. And don't you forget it."

Josef laughed softly, shaking his head. "Fragile pretty boy? That might be what I look like, but you know better than that, Mick. I've never been fragile. Not since that first night I was turned. Appearances can be so deceiving, as you very well know."

Mick nodded, his throat tightening. Josef might not be fragile when it came to physical strength, but there was a gentleness about him that he tried hard to keep hidden. And that gentle side was a flaw that anyone who wanted to hurt him could easily exploit.

That wasn't going to happen. He'd protect Josef with his life.

Josef squinted up at the street lights with a frown. "That red light is freaking me out," he murmured, his gaze turning back to Mick. "Yeah, I like blood, but it's like somebody's trying to send us a message. And it's one that I don't like."

"So where are you going to go now?" Mick asked with a sigh, knowing that there was nowhere for Josef to go other than to his apartment. This was the second time that his home had been destroyed; he was just glad that his lover had what appeared to be unlimited funds.

He would have another place within a couple of days. He was used to rearranging his life, going from one place to another. It wasn't as though he hadn't done it before, but still, it didn't seem fair that he always had to look over his shoulder for trouble.

"Do I really have to answer that?" Josef asked with a chuckle, draping one arm around Mick's shoulders. "You know that I'll be staying at your place for a couple of days. Just until I can find another building. One that's more impervious to an attack."

"You might want to think about living in an army barracks," Mick grumbled, shaking his head. "If this happens again, I might make you do it. It'd be a lot harder for anybody to get to you. And you've got to start screening the people who work for you more carefully."

Josef cast him a look of horror, then laughed. "No way. You think I could get decent service in an army barracks? And the beds wouldn't be comfortable enough for me -- let alone big enough for the two of us," he murmured, his tone turning seductive.

Mick wanted to hold onto the feeling of frustration that had been building within him all night, but he couldn't. Not when Josef was giving him that come-hither look -- and when he knew exactly what they'd be doing when they got back to his apartment.

He slipped an arm around his boyfriend's waist as the two of them made their way out of the burnt-out shell of what had been Josef's home, the blood red light still shining into the wrecked building, casting a warning glow over them.

***