When a young college student is killed and left with two puncture wounds on her neck, hotshot Internet reporter Beth Turner (Myles) runs into Mick at the scene of the crime. Beth feels they know each other, but the mysterious Mick takes off before she can find out more about him. Beth spins the story in the natural direction, boosting a sudden interest in vampires.

Mick visits a vampire buddy at the morgue for information on the murder. The dead girl doesn't have the scent of vampire on her, and he begins to wonder whether it's a vampire attack at all. Meanwhile, Beth tracks down the girl's car and finds out her name.

When Beth runs into Mick at the girl's apartment, they discover the girl has a necklace with an Egyptian symbol for an ancient blood cult. The necklace also has a small vial of blood in it. Their separate investigations begin to lead them to the girl's social anthropology professor, Christian, and his vampire study group. Christian even boasts that he is a vampire and that he drinks human blood.

As Mick attempts to dig into the professor's secrets, Mick's 400-year-old vampire friend Joseph (Dohring) puts pressure on him to get Beth to back off from the story. No vampire wants his existence exposed, and her news reports are causing an uncomfortable interest in the subject. But backing off is the last thing Beth plans to do, and as she gets drawn deeper into the story, Mick knows he must save her.

A fresh spin on an old genre

CBS's Moonlight is unexpectedly good, sporting a terrific lead in Alex O'Loughlin and a fine twist on the vampire genre. Overall, the pilot, "No Such Thing as Vampires," offers a well-thought-out story that does a nice job of introducing the characters and Mick St. John's problem: What's a vampire to do when he falls in love with a human?

The reason Moonlight works is because of O'Loughlin's fresh appeal. He's a very modern actor, and although his character undoubtedly has a past, he's not especially tortured. It allows for humor in a way that past series Forever Knight and Dark Shadows never did. When Beth clocks him over the head thinking he might be the killer and Mick looks at her before he remembers to say "Ouch," it's funny.

As for Sophia Myles as Beth, she's appealing as the plucky girl reporter. Hopefully the character will be enriched as time goes on so she can be more than just a Lois Lane wannabe. And hopefully the series won't require Mick to save her in every single episode. The two do have some chemistry, and their scenes have some spice to them.

The rest of the cast is fine, except for Jason Dohring, who was charming on Veronica Mars but comes off here as annoying. He just has a couple of scenes, neither of which seems to fit with the rest of the story very well.

Beyond that, "No Such Thing as Vampires" is tightly written. The episode opens up with a clever Interview With the Vampire sequence that is funny and informative as it lays out the vampire rules. For example, sunlight doesn't kill them, although it will make them feel bad. Having Mick be able to walk around in the daylight offers a world of opportunities for the writers as well. Still, Moonlight shines brightest during the night scenes, which are beautifully filmed and which give the series its edge.

It's difficult to say whether Moonlight will succeed on Friday nights between Ghost Whisperer and NUMB3RS, but it's the best timeslot the producers of the series could hope for. CBS is premiering only four new series this fall, and it did not have to choose such risky material. Whether it succeeds is up to you.