Justine Ch. 12

Napoleon looked in the direction in which Justine and Quinn walked out and decided that Jeremiah was right, he had gotten off lightly. What Josephine would do to him, he didn't know but at least it was only her and not thousands. "You take the bed." he told Jeremiah. "I have the feeling that you need it more than I do."

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Josephine

Josephine reappeared in a part of London that she had never been to before. She hadn't thought about where she was going only that she had to leave. David had lied to her all of this time! He had kept her from her child and who knew what had happened to her and her sister... Where was she? Josephine wracked her brain trying to remember names becoming frustrated when she couldn't . How could she not remember the name of her baby who had to be thirty?

Josephine sobbed as she realized that her child wouldn't know her if she walked up to her. Questions ran through her mind, was she married? Did she have children? What did she do for a living? Was she still alive? She stopped to take stock of where she was and then looked down at herself. In her haste, she hadn't put on any clothes. She was as naked as the day she was born.

She took a quick look around and was relieved to find that she was alone. Seconds later, she was dressed in a long sleeved shirt, a pair of jeans and boots. She braided her hair as she walked toward what looked to be the direction town was. She could have vanished but the air felt good on her face. How cold it really was she didn't know, she didn't feel it but she figured that it had to be cold the way the first human she saw was bundled up

Her stomach grumbled but she ignored it. She had to get to Philadelphia, she thought to herself. "I might remember something." she murmured under her breath.

"Who do we have here?" a male voiced asked from behind her.

She froze and then kept walking hoping that he would go away. Suddenly, he was standing in front of her.

"Let me by." Josephine said.

"Where's your mate?" he asked smelling her, "Oh my, my, my newly mated at that." He added inhaling her sent again. "Who do you belong to I wonder? You smell like money."

Josephine panicked, she had never been out without David and by the time she thought to vanish, it was too late. She was on her way to one of the vacant buildings.

**********

David was beside himself with worry, Josephine had not surfaced at any of the places that they frequented and hadn't called anyone. Not knowing what else to do, he started calling anyone and everyone to help look for her. Within minutes, the streets of London were being searched. David vanished from where he was and went to the park; it was one of Josephine's favorite places. His hope was that he had missed her or that she arrived after he left. He ran to all of her favorite spots becoming discouraged when he didn't sense her.

"Call to me." he willed her, "Josephine, please call to me."

**********

Josephine huddled in the corner of the dirty room and tried to vanish.

"Give it up sweetheart, you can't leave, there are special wards and all of that so just relax while I figure out what to do with ya other than the obvious."

Josephine tried to vanish and soon gave up. As angry as she was with David, she would have given anything to see his face.

"Eppi!" a voice called, "where are you?"

"Down here and I got a surprise for ya, a tasty little morsel if I don't say so myself." Eppi replied.

Josephine heard the descent of the owner of the voice.

"What cha got?" he asked.

"Look over there." Eppi said as he pointed to the corner where Josephine sat.

The man, also a vampire walked over to the corner, took one look at Josephine and cursed.

"Eppi! We must let her go! Better yet we have to make sure that she gets home safe."

"What are you going on about?" Eppi asked going over the corner.

"We can't keep her! Don't you recognize her?" Freddie asked.

"No, should I?"

"That woman is David Sheffield's mate." Freddie replied, "And he isn't someone that you want to mess with."

"David Sheffield you say?" Eppi mused already seeing dollar signs in his head.

"Eppi listen to me!" Freddie begged, "I don't know what she's doing in this part of the city but I can guarantee you that he's looking for her. If we take her back maybe he'll give us a nice reward so that we can get us a nice place somewhere."

"And just how much of a reward do you think he's going to give us?" Eppi argued. "More than likely he'll give some pittance and then add a pat on the back. But you do what you want with the exception of telling anyone she's here."

Freddie looked down at Eppi's crotch and closed his eyes. If he as much touched her anymore than he had, he would be signing his death warrant.

"If I stay, "Freddie said, "You have to promise that you won't touch her in any way shape or form."

Josephine listened to the discussion and realized the vampire Freddie was only staying behind so that he could try to protect her. She would have to remember to tell David that when and if he found her... The proverbial light bulb went off in her head.

"If you ever need me just say my name and I will find you no matter where you are." He had told her this on more than one occasion and why she didn't remember before now, she didn't know. She closed her eyes and sent her thoughts to David including the name of the last street that she remembered being on and that he wasn't to hurt the vampire named Freddie. She opened her eyes, sat back and waited.

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Unable to rest, Justine tossed and turned. The need to know what happened to her mother the night Jeremiah took her grew until she couldn't stand it anymore. She tried to extricate herself from Quinn's arms but he only tightened them when she moved. She was about to vanish when she realized that he was awake and had been the entire time.

"What do you need?" he asked.

"I need to know what happened that night he took her." Justine replied.

"And you were going to go alone?" Quinn asked. "I thought that it was understood that we go through everything together." he added.

"I know but Quinn, this is my mother we're talking about! If I can't sleep because I'm thinking about her then he shouldn't be able to sleep either....."

"Let's go talk to him then." Quinn said kissing her as he got up. "One more thing before we go, I know that you're the top cheese and that's fine but in this room you aren't the queen but my wife. This is the one place where you can feel safe to do whatever you need to do and not be afraid of looking weak. This is the one place where I can openly take care of you."

"What do you mean openly take care of me?" Justine asked.

"I mean that I can touch you and it doesn't look like you need my support." Quinn replied.

"Is that what you think?" Justine asked, her dark eyes glowing. "Do you really think that I give a damn about what people think? Quinn, you're my husband in and outside of this room. If you want to kiss me in front of a roomful of people do it but don't ever think that outside of this room that I see you as less than you are. You are my husband no matter where we are or what we're doing. One more thing, this king/queen thing is a joint venture. As you said, we go through everything together and that includes this. Is there anything else that we need to clarify?"

"I think that about does it." Quinn replied as he tried to decide what to call the look in her eyes. Irritation he decided as he held out his hand to her.

**********

Jeremiah lay awake long after Napoleon had gone to sleep. He wondered how long it would be before the next woman came to see him and if the woman Napoleon bought was one of them. Somehow, he didn't think so but he couldn't be sure. There had been so many but if she were, maybe she would pass on her chance to spend time with him.

He knew the moment that Justine and Quinn walked into the room. Their combined power was almost overwhelming and it was sending out a message.

"We are as one and cannot be divided."

Jeremiah tried to remember if any previous couple sent out that message and couldn't remember any. Without being told, he stood and faced them. They stood side by side whereas before Quinn always stood back and to the right of her. Now they stood before him as equals hand in hand presenting a united front. Jeremiah's last thought before Justine spoke was that the vampire world as they knew it was gone. In less than two weeks, Justine had turned it upside down and she had only just started.

He looked at her and waited for the inevitable question that he was surprised hadn't come sooner.

"What did you do to my mother?" Justine asked, "And I want the whole story from the beginning to the end."

"All of it?" Jeremiah asked and then realized that his chance to end his misery had arrived.

By the time he was finished telling Justine and Quinn about that night, Justine was shaking. The room pulsed with her power. Pictures flew from the walls, her eyes... were the deepest black that Jeremiah had ever seen, and the flames surrounding them would have scorched him if he had been standing close to her. As it was, his eyes were watering profusely, the tears scalding hot as they flowed down his cheeks.

"Come on!" he urged silently, "Kill me, kill me, kill me....."

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Quinn watched and listened without comment. While Jeremiah talked, he could see and feel Justine's rage and pain build and got ready to intervene. He knew what Jeremiah was trying to do and he couldn't let it happen as much as he wanted the bastard dead. The heat of her rage burned him but he refused to let go of her hand.

"Jussie." he said softly, "don't let him goad you, he wants you to kill him."

However, she wasn't listening, she was listening to Jeremiah describe how her mother died while being raped. Suddenly, she raised her left hand and pointed a finger in Jeremiah's direction. The finger glowed...

"Justine! No!" Quinn cried out.

***********

Jeremiah watched as Justine raised her hand and pointed a finger at him.

"Yes!" he thought happily as the finger glowed red, "Yes!"

The next thing he knew, he was enveloped in darkness.

************

Justine looked over at Napoleon who had woken up during the commotion and had squeezed himself into a corner. She then looked down at Jeremiah and walked away.