Ep. 2: "The List"

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"ML 2 VIRTUAL SEASON INDEX"

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Previously on ML 2 Virtual season...

EPISODE 1: *SECRETS*

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EPISODE 2 "THE LIST"

BETH: The past isn’t the only thing left behind. Sometimes it creates obsessions, which extend like shadows, clouding the mind so it prevents you from seeing reality. But the worst thing is that sometimes, when you manage to dispel the fog, you discover that there is just nothing more.

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10 days ago, in Paris (France)

Lance stroked the face of a battered Coraline, while a malefic glow illuminated his icy stare.

Lance: "Come sister! What were you expecting after you betrayed us twice? I warned you that your decisions would have consequences. You should have never revealed our secret to an outsider. After all, what have you accomplished? Nothing...You are going to give up your immortality for someone who does not deserve it, moreover, he doesn’t love you. You are so pathetic my sister!" He said as he squeezed slowly the neck of the vampire woman with his fearsome hands.

Coraline: “Are you going to kill me? Is that it? Ok, do it now! I want to end this quickly. Come on! What do you expect? Cut my head off, damn it!! That is the punishment for traitors, right? So, do it now, I’m not afraid, I won’t ask for mercy, I will not give you that pleasure.” She said the prisoner looking around defiantly.

Lance: “Please! Where are your exquisite manners, sister? We are your brothers, not butchers. And there is one thing more. I´m thinking that this death would not be appropriate to your rank, my dear. Listen to me. I think everyone should die as they have lived. And we have found a death for you. How can I say... maybe more sophisticated?” He took a metal box and opened it. Inside there was a syringe with a solution of amber. “You know my dear sister that the compound has many properties, but it also has its dangers. Over the years we have become familiar enough with their various shapes and capacities... isn’t that true my dear?”

The woman looked at syringe terrified, while struggling to let go of the chains that held her. Lance slowly approached the prisoner and whispered in her ear. "No, don´t worry dear, you will not die, not yet. First you will have the opportunity to see all the people that you knew or loved at some time, starting with the oldest, until you reach the person you love the most. It's a shame that at that time you´ll be so weak that you’ll only have the strength to see them die.”

And Lance began to introduce slowly the poison into the body of Coraline while one horrendous scream was exploding into that lugubrious room. ........ “NOOOOOOO!”

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Mick was half sitting on the couch in his living room, and Beth rested lying on him, playing thoughtfully with the hair on his bare chest. He was caressing her back gently under her blouse, while he was inhaling the intoxicating scent of her hair.

Mick: “Are you okay?”

Beth: “Aha...you make me feel so good when you love me.” He smiled and kissed her hair, there was silence and then she buried her face in his chest while he embraced her. "Sorry... I'm so sorry... but after all I know about her, I cannot show her mercy. When it´s about her, sometimes I cannot help feeling ...”

M: “Jealous?” He Interrupted her, searching her eyes while he gave her a lovely smile. She blushed slightly and winced at being discovered. Then, instinctively, she began to play with her hair, while she took her eyes off him. Then she felt him gently lifted her face to meet with the blue of her eyes and giving her a new seductive smile he said.

M: “Do you know something? You look so beautiful when you get jealous.” And then he slowly lowered his lips to hers, kissing her softly. “But you can be stop, baby, you have me so hooked, that I don´t ever want to leave you.” And he kissed her again, tasting her lips. “Umm... I love staying in the prison of your love, baby.”

B: “Really?” She asked as she smiled pleased

M: “Aha ... absolutely.” He whispered at her with a delicious mixture of tenderness and desire that drove her crazy. She put her index finger on the lips of the young vampire, and looking at his eyes and replied.

B: "I hope so." And they both smiled, than they melt in one kiss so deep, so passionate, that their desire arose in a need irrepressible.

Suddenly, someone burst into the room...

Josef: “Ahem ... Ahem ... Breaking the ice maybe? Umm, indeed, I think the ice has melted completely.” He smiled wryly.

M: “Josef! I cannot believe this! What are you doing here? Don´t you know how to call first?” Mick growled furiously and stood up with the speed of a vampire to hide Beth, who, was totally embarrassed, and was trying to take a more proper posture.

J: “Ok ... forgive me... just, I did not know that things had changed so much in these last few hours.” Joseph added as he stared at the open neckline of Beth.

B: “Oh my God!” Beth exclaimed totally blushing when she looked down at her blouse, and then instinctively, she turned around hastily to button the buttons while she wondered at what point it had been undone again.

J: “It's okay my dear. We understand ... And.” He smiled slyly. “I have to admit that I love the views.” The newcomer said this as he was approaching Beth and travelling by her silhouette with a lascivious gaze, which he don´t tried to hide.

M: “Josef!” Mick bellowed while he came between them again. If there was anything he could not stand was someone invading his sacred territory, and there is not something more sacred to him than Beth.

J: “Hey, hey ... It was just a joke, calm down, ok?” Josef apologized, as he was turning around with his hands raised in token of peace, and retreating a few steps. “Love is turning you a little possessive, a new facet of yours that is unknown for me." Then Josef changed his tone, it became more serious, while he diverted his gaze, keeping it away from the fury of Mick, who still had fire in his eyes. “I was worried about you, that is the truth. Guillermo has been calling you on your cell phone all day long, but you did not answer, so, he contacted me to see if something was wrong.”

Mick put his hands in his pockets and realized that he didn’t have his cell phone with him.

M: “Oh!! What the hell!! Maybe I left it on...”

J: Yeah... well ... I guess all these "emotions" can distract everyone.” Joseph said this interrupting Mick as he settled on the couch, which was empty at that moment. “And here you have the proof that my intentions were absolutely honorable when I came here.” But that did not calm Mick, who kept himself between his friend and Beth.

M: “Oh yeah, I have another idea about that. And tell me, do you know what Guillermo wanted?”

J: “Well, he wasn´t very explicit on the phone. I think that it was something about a murder...you know, crimes are your business and investments are mine.”

B: “Uh ...” Interrupted Beth, as Josef stood up politely. “I think I have to go, I have not seen my boss and I have to give him a report that he’s waiting for.” Then she approached Mick and kissed him on the lips. "I´ll see you later" She whispered in his mouth and then, looking at Joseph and she said smiling. “Have a good time , guys.”

And the two men stood staring her as she left. “What a woman, I mean friend!” Josef said.

“Oh yes.” Mick replied. “But, what the hell are you looking at?” Mick cried again as if he was just coming out of a kind of trance and he just found the hungry gaze of his friend on his woman. Josef just smiled mischievously as he dropped back on the couch and said. "What do you want? I'm not completely dead yet, my friend".

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MICK (voiceover): Maybe it's because I'm a vampire that I can glimpse the future ... Or maybe it's because when you have the rare privilege of touching happiness, you cannot help feeling fear or punishment for entering a place that has always been prohibited. The truth is that, on the way to the morgue, I had a strange sensation, a kind of vertigo like when you're off balance and falling over the edge ...

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In the Morgue…

Guillermo: “Wow! Is nice to see you again! I thought you disappeared too.”

Mick: “Also? Did someone else disappear?”

G: “Not exactly. Between yesterday and today, 3 vampires have died.”

M: “Wow! What a barbecue!” Exclaimed the detective, seeing the charred remains that were on the tables. “Maybe one, but three?”

G: “I´m not sure, but I´m afraid it is something more serious.”

M: “More serious? What do you mean?” Asked the detective.

G: “Look, at first it seemed like a traffic accident by speeding and alcohol. The car plunged into a ravine and caught fire with its occupants. That was what I thought in the first case, but the second accident in just a few hours, and under the same circumstances made me think about.”

M: “And ... why didn’t anyone call the cleaners?”

G: “That's where it gets strange. The bodies are not vampires, at least not now.”

M: “But you just said that there are three dead vampires.”

G: “Yes, They were ... But when they died, they were human. I analyzed his blood and no sign of vampire, there is just traces of alcohol. I do not know how he turned into a human, but I bet my head, their cups contained something more than just whiskey ... Take a look at this.” He said as he gave him a small test tube to check. Mick proceeded to smell it at that moment.

M: “Have you identified any of them?”

G: “Just one, in the first car. His name is Hank Mottola.”

M: “Mottola?”

G: “Yeah. Do you know him?”

M: “Yes, he was a "partner" of my ex-wife, you know. He was one bad ass. I don´t think I can mourn his death.”

G: “Any idea who, what or why?”

M: “I´m not sure but I’m afraid I do.” He furrowed his brow instantly. “Call me when you find out something else, Guillermo, and be careful.”

G: "Don´t worry, I´m always careful!” Said the coroner, pointing to a bag that was under the autopsy table. “But the next time, try to have your phone on hand, please ..." Mick turned around while he was putting on his dark glasses and with a half-smile said to him "Bye".

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Talbot was checking some data on your computer when he heard a sound in the hall. He stood up and hurried to where the noise was coming, but there was no one, only one envelope black, like the night before. Inside was a note:

"NOBODY CAN KILL WHAT IS ALREADY DEAD"

Hank Mottola: charged with robbery, fraud and murder. He died 2 months ago because of one acute pancreatitis.

Talbot checked to see if that name was on the list. And ... yes it was, but it did not appear to be crossed out. He looked inside the envelope, there was something more and he felt his heart skip a beat when he looked at it. There was a picture inside, the same picture that he had saved on his desktop.

T: "Oh my God ... It´s Anne!! But what the hell does that mean?" He turned the photo over and saw something written there:

"Help us and we will help you"

Then, the phone rang and, just a minute later, Talbot rushed off of his office.

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Paris, 3 days ago

“Sire, the prisoner has escaped.”

“Really, that´s absolutely perfect.”

“Sire, maybe we should send someone to…”

“No, it not will be necessary, Lance. Coraline is very predictable, her eagerness to protect St John will pave the way for us. Soon we will have that which we have sought and at that moment the mysterious man raised a cup with a strange liquid in it making a toast. "TO IMMORTALITY."

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BETH (voiceover): Sometimes one has the strange feeling that the ground he walks on, suddenly ceases to be steady and sure, it becomes quicksand and it surround you and drags you down, and any struggle is useless. In the end you will disappear into it.

Beth parked her car and caught the report. Talbot would probably be angry with her for making him wait so long, but with all that had happened with Morgan, the discussion with Mick and then, their reconciliation ... the truth was Beth had totally lost track of time.

On reaching the office, she saw the door open and the light on, but no one was inside. "How strange!" Talbot had assured her that he was waiting her in the office, that he had to tell her something important ...But. "Where would he go?”

Beth decided to wait right there. Coming in, she noticed the unusual disorder on the table. The computer was turned on, and there were some different papers mixed with some old newspaper clippings on his desk. But only one caught her eye, it was a little blurb circled in red:

"A HAPPY ENDING FOR THE TURNER FAMILY" Parents of little BT, thank publicly the courage to her rescuer, a private investigator called MSJ, which brought back their little daughter, the agonizing wait has ended.

BETH (voiceover): "My God, Talbot knows that."

Then, she noticed a half-open drawer, inside there was a red file. When she opened it she felt her blood turn to ice. There were all the pictures with which Foster wanted to blackmail her and a long list of names at the end of which there was one circled in red: Mick St. John.

BETH (voiceover): And the floor was broken under my feet and at that moment I felt myself disappearing.

Beth was paralyzed, not knowing what to do. "Maybe I should have never hid these photos from Mick, in the end it didn’t help and now it had become much more complicated." Instantly she thought of a one name… JOSEPH.

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Joseph looked the photos that Beth was showing him on her cell phone, without saying a word. The list, the photos about Mick´s accident, and all the old newspaper clippings about her kidnapping.

J: “Obviously Talbot has a personal interest in all of this and, somehow, it seems that his goal is Mick.”

B: “Yeah, I think so too. But there is something more, the photo of a little girl and on the back of it was something written in red. Let me search...yes here, look at this.” She show him the little screen again. "Help us and we will help you."

J: “Do you think you are being blackmailed?”

B: “Maybe. I do not know, this is so strange that I don’t know what to think. But clearly we cannot fix it like we did with Foster, not without arousing suspicion and I do not think that Talbot knows what he is getting himself into.”

J: “And what do you suggest?”

B: “We have to get rid of that file and you and Mick have to go away from here as soon as possible before Talbot discover what is really behind this list.” Beth immediately began to send a message to her bosses phone to let him know she would be late.

J: “Are you sure?”

B: “All I know is that Mick's life is more important to me than anything in the world.”

J:” But he will not go without you, Beth.”

B: “Yes I know, but he has to, there is no other solution. I'll stay here to watch Talbot, from here I can control him and find out what he knows and what he doesn’t. He must believe that I am on his side.”

J: “If you stay, you too will be in danger.”

B: “Talbot wouldn’t hurt me, I know that, don’t worry about that.”

J: “Maybe not Talbot. But ...What about the people who are behind all this?”

B: “I'll be careful.” She replied keeping, without fear, her gaze in his eyes. "This is my fault Josef ... In the end you were right. As long as Mick is with me, he will always be in danger. And if Talbot continues to investigate Mick and has that list in his hands, all of you will be in danger.”

And Josef kept his eyes fixed on hers, but his mind was lost somewhere known only to himself.

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Back home, Mick had the feeling that someone was following him, he turned carefully a few times, but ... nothing ... just darkness. When he arrived at his apartment, he noticed the door was open and a familiar scent had flooded the hall.

MICK (voice over) It´s curious, but every time that I smell trouble, there is always somebody nearby: “CORALINE.”

As he entered, he saw a beautiful woman dressed in black, she was waiting for him sitting on the couch.

I´LL SEE YOU ON THE NEXT MOONLIGHT

"SAYING GOODBYE"

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