Pilot

 is an unpublished unaired episode used to test the premise of the series by networks before official pickup.

Plot
Women are being tortured and murdered in New York. Beth Turner is reporting for BuzzWire and Mick St. John is investigating. Mick visits the morgue and Guillermo lets him see the body.

When Beth spots Mick at a second crime scene, she asks him about why he's there, and he gives her his card. She looks him and up and visits him at his apartment, and asks to do a human interest piece on him, but he declines because the publicity would hinder his ability to work. So instead she asks if he can be a source, and he agrees.

Flashback to Los Angeles in 1985. A crying mother asks Mick to find her abducted daughter. He recognizes Coraline's scent in the girl's bedroom. He goes to Coraline's mansion in Bel Air. He subdues an attack dog and kills a vampire guard. When he enters the mansion, he finds Coraline with the little girl.

Present day, Mick visits Josef.

Flashback to Los Angeles in 1947. Mick plays the trumpet in a jazz band when he meets Coraline. When they have sex, she changes him into a vampire. When he wakes, Mick is furious.

In the present, Mick sees some goth teenagers who are vampires on the streets. Josef gives Mick a lift in a limo.

Beth wakes from a nightmare of a fire. Later, she takes Lt. Carl out for pizza to repay him for tipping her off on the murders. He gives her some more information: the victims were given an anesthetic, so they would be conscious but not in pain as they were tortured.

Mick visits Beth at her place to use his powers to make her forget that they ever met, but he can't bring himself to do it. She calls him the next day and leaves a message, asking why he suddenly left. She says she's going to investigate the last known location of one of the victims, and she invites him to join her for dinner.

Beth visits the bar Griffin's and talks to an employee named Victor who inadvertently reveals that he knows the victims were drugged. As Beth tries to leave, she's attacked from behind by a different person.

Mick calls the restaurant where Beth wanted to meet him and learns that Beth never made it. He goes to Griffin's and confronts Victor. He finds Beth tied up in the back but he's stabbed in the chest as he tries to rescue her. Beth witnesses him standing back up, pulling the knife out of his heart, and continue to attack her attacker.

Beth passes out and recalls her abduction as a child, when Mick came and confronted Coraline to rescue her. Mick and Coraline fight and reveal their vampire forms. He drops his gun and is unable to reach it as Coraline attacks him, but Beth pushes the gun to him, and he shoots Coraline. He picks her up and throws her into the fireplace to burn to death. Beth comes out from under the bed and as they are leaving, Coraline, who is still on fire, opens door to come after them. But she collapses, and Mick turns and carries Beth away.

In the present, Beth wakes up at Mick's apartment. Beth realizes he's the one who rescued her as a child. She asks him what he is and he says he's a monster. He turns away but she hugs him.

Outside, Coraline is watching them from a rooftop. Josef takes her hand and leads her away. She is still scarred from the fire.

Cast

 * Alex O’Loughlin as Mick St. John
 * Shannon Lucio as Beth Turner
 * Rade Serbedzija as Josef Kostan
 * Amber Valletta as Coraline Duvall
 * James Black Lt. Carl
 * Benjamin Benitez as Guillermo Gasol

Major changes
List of major changes from the pilot to the series.
 * Title: Twilight. The series was later re-titled Moonlight.
 * Setting: New York, with flashbacks to Los Angeles. This was later changed to be set just in Los Angeles.
 * Actors: Most were recast. Josef was notably aged down.
 * Length: 25 minutes. The full episodes are 45 minutes.

Vampire abilities in the pilot that are not in the series:
 * Ability to see body heat. This allows Mick to spot vampires on sight.
 * Hypnotic gaze. Mick uses this to stop an attacking dog, and he nearly wipes Beth's memory of him.
 * Vampires appear as monsters in a mirror reflection.