Justine Ch. 05

Jeremiah picked up the phone and gave instructions, if they were followed to the letter, in a few minutes Malcolm would be no more and Jeremiah would have access to all of Malcolm's accounts even the ones that were supposedly hidden. With the additional money and Justine, Jeremiah could close his practice and give up his sideline business of turning human women and then selling them. The reality of it was, he could have stopped centuries ago but he was always convinced that he needed more.

Now that the issues with the woman Pam and Malcolm were settled, there remained one more issue, Mikhail. He couldn't be sent away since Justine hadn't been found and he was already suspicious about something. By his calculations, he had forty-eight more hours in which to locate Justine before any one else did, forty-eight hours to more wealth and power than he ever could have dreamed of. Jeremiah could almost hear the minutes ticking away as he planned his next move.

*******

Malcolm vanished to Pam's apartment already knowing that she wouldn't be there. He was so intent on trying to figure out where else she might have gone to that he didn't realize that he was in danger until he felt the sharp edge of a sword touching his skin and by then it was too late.

The assassin called Jeremiah to let him know that it was finished and then vanished leaving a pile of dust that had been Malcolm on the floor.

*******

Pam made her way to the office building constantly looking over her shoulder for any evidence that she was being followed, seeing none, she continued on her way. When she made it to the office, the next problem was getting in. She hid in the shadows trying remember what she knew about vampires and realized that she knew precious little. Like Justine, she didn't believe in them other than they made for a good story. It came to mind that they were supposed to be able to vanish from one place to another. With nothing else to lose, Pam closed her eyes, clicked her heels together and visualized herself in the basement of the office building.

At first, she felt a little tingle and tried again. It wasn't until an hour later that she was able to get into the office but not in the basement, which had been her goal. She was in the main office area. She hid beneath a desk when she heard footsteps approaching staying put until they disappeared. Pam looked in the direction that the footsteps had gone and realized that at night an entirely different world existed here... a vampire world and where there were vampires, there had to be blood.

She crawled from under the desk and headed toward the one place that they had never been allowed to go near as humans- the basement. She moved slowly not knowing exactly what she could and couldn't do and not wanting to attract attention. She reached the basement door and prayed that it wasn't locked whispering a word of thanks when it wasn't. Taking another cautious look around, she slipped through the door and down the stairs her eyes adjusting to the darkness.

She stopped halfway down the stairs when she heard a voice.

"Please, help us."

********

Quinn and Justine gave up on trying to move Buddy who appeared to be disappointed that the game was over.

So now what?" Quinn asked curious as to why they couldn't move a dog that appeared to weigh no more than seventy pounds.

For the first time since she had been turned, Justine didn't know how to proceed. If it had been just her, she knew what she would have done, laid low and then moved on. The human male had just complicated things, she knew that she told him that he had to leave but the reality of it was that he couldn't. It just wasn't safe and she was sure that she knew who tipped Jeremiah off, the woman that had followed them.

His name resonated through her head as clear as the ringing of a bell. He was now looking for the human male as well as her. That's why Buddy wouldn't let him out but there was another problem, the human had to eat and he didn't know what she was.

"Why couldn't you have just stayed the fuck away from me?" Justine asked Quinn angrily, "Do you even have an inkling as to how much danger you're in?"

"Me? What about you?" Quinn asked, "I can take care of myself...."

"Stupid human!" Justine hissed before she could stop herself.

Quinn gave her a curious look, "Stupid human?" he asked. "And just what in the hell are you?" he snapped back, "From what I can see you're a flesh and blood woman!"

Buddy sat up, watched the exchange as if there was a tennis match going on, and then laid down when it became quiet again.

Justine took a deep breath to calm her temper and to giver herself a chance to think.

"Look, Quinn..."

Buddy's growl interrupted her, "What is it?" she asked the dog.

******

Mikhail suggested that Jeremiah start checking out hotels not to help him, but so that he would have extra help in looking for Justine and the human male.

"Think about it, he is not able to tolerate the cold as she is and he was last seen with her." Mikhail said, "He is now under her protection and she will not allow him to leave. The only options are her apartment, her friend's apartment or a hotel."

Time was rushing by; Jeremiah would have agreed to bring in the National Guard if it would have helped.

"Do it and I want her found within the next forty- two hours!"

"Why within forty-two hours?" Mikhail asked interested, "We may not find her for days."

"That isn't acceptable!" Jeremiah snapped, "I paid you good money to find her and as of yet....."

"As of yet." Mikhail interrupted coolly, "you have yet to tell me the entire truth about anything. I will keep the money for that reason alone and you will pay me an additional two million dollars for wasting my time."

Jeremiah sputtered, "You can't do this! We had an agreement!"

"An agreement that you broke when you withheld information from me." Mikhail said, "Did you not read the contract? It explicitly states that there is to be full disclosure. Now, either you tell me why you really want this woman and her mate or I walk away."

Jeremiah weighed his options, telling Mikhail the truth was out of the question. If he did, Mikhail would take Malcolm's place as a competitor but with a major difference, he didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of killing Mikhail. With a perfectly calm expression, Jeremiah lied.

"Justine is my mate."

"Why did you say that she wasn't?" Mikhail asked seeing through the lie.

"I...."

"Spare me your lies and from now on, I am no longer under your employ."

Jeremiah watched helplessly as his best chance of finding Justine walked away taking a picture of her with him.

*******

Mikhail went back to the area where Justine and the human male had been spotted and began to walk. He didn't even try to pick up their scents because it would have been useless. He headed away from city hall and began stopping at every hotel that he saw and then backtracked in the opposite direction. On a whim, he headed toward Market Street and saw a motel 6. With picture in hand, he went in.

"Help you sir?" the woman behind the counter asked looking up from her magazine.

"As a matter of fact you can." Mikhail replied his voice low and seductive, "I am looking for my friend."

Mikhail showed the picture of Justine to the woman who looked at it carefully, "no, there's no one here who looks like that."

"You are certain?" Mikhail asked.

"I'm sure, I would remember somebody who looks like that." the woman replied.

"Why is that?" Mikhail asked.

"She's very pretty."

"And?" Mikhail probed and then his eyes flashed as he turned toward the door.