Justine Ch. 05

Justine counted her available cash, she still had plenty and she still had to get to the bank. If she stayed longer that meant that she would have to go out to the store again and if she left, she had no idea of where they would go and she would still have to buy food. She looked over at Buddy and spoke.

"What do you think? And don't give me that I'm just a dog look either." she said. "Do we stay or do we go?"

Buddy sat up, stretched, wagged his tail and lay down again.

"I assume that means that we stay?" Justine asked.

Buddy's tail wagged in double time.

Justine picked up the room phone and waited for someone to answer. When the clerk finally answered, Justine told her what she wanted.

"I'm going out and if housekeeping needs to get in now's the time to do it."

A few minutes later Justine and Buddy were on their way to the store. This time she went to a different store, it was further away from the hotel but she didn't want to go the same place twice in a row. As much as she wanted fresh warm blood, Justine decided that she would make do with the blood from the containers of liver that she bought.

She hadn't gone very far when she realized that someone was following her.

*******

Quinn was freezing, his walk had taken him past City Hall and there was still no sign of her. He ducked into a coffee shop, ordered a large coffee with cream and sugar as well as a muffin and found a corner to sit in. He tried to remember the last time he felt the way he did at that moment, it was when he was still using, it was the same anxiety he felt when he thought that he wouldn't be able to find his dealer but in this case, it was a woman he was looking for.

He sat in the booth trying to figure out why he was so fascinated with this woman. It wasn't just that he thought her beautiful; he had seen plenty of beautiful women and had never reacted to them like this. It was as if this woman had a spell on him and if he didn't find her soon....

He sipped at the coffee holding the mug in his hands to warm them. "Go home" he muttered under his breath but even as he said it, he knew that he would keep looking for her. The last time he even remotely felt like this was when he first saw Amanda. He had followed her everywhere until she agreed to go out with him but this... it made what he felt back then almost non existent. If he didn't know any better, he would have said that he was in love with a woman that he didn't know. "Is that even possible?" he mumbled, "I don't even know her damned name!" he added as he put the mug of coffee down.

Just as he was about to leave, he heard the voice of a harpy-Leila.

"Mind if I join you?" she asked.

"The table is yours, I was just leaving." Quinn replied as he stood up.

"Please, I promise not to make any forward comments." Leila said, "in fact, I want and need to apologize to you for my behavior."

Quinn sat back down even though something was telling him not to trust her.

"Look, I'm sorry alright? I'm not used to men turning me down and I'm certainly not used to men talking to me the way that you did."

"How did you find me?" Quinn asked warily.

"I live near here and this is my favorite place to get coffee." Leila replied. "I stop in every evening on my way home and I saw you sitting over here."

He didn't believe her, he didn't know why but he knew that but while part of what she said was true, the majority of it was a lie. She did stop here for coffee and she did live nearby but the rest of it was a lie, she wasn't sorry and she planned to continue harassing him until either he quit and even then she wouldn't stop or he fucked her. When he thought about the latter option, he became almost physically ill.

"Do you accept my apology?"

Quinn hesitated, he wanted to tell her that he didn't believe her but though better of it.

"I'll accept if you'll agree that everything is to be kept on a professional level."

Leila gave Quinn a bright smile, "Wonderful! I promise to be a good girl."

"Good." Quinn said as he stood up to leave, "I'll see you at work."

Leila watched Quinn leave, her dark eyes glittering.

She wanted him and was determined to have him. She quickly got up and decided to follow him.

******

Justine stopped for barely a moment before moving on, whoever was following her was human and she even knew who it was, Quinn O'Dell. She didn't even question how she knew; she just accepted it as she had everything else. She looked down at Buddy to see that he was relaxed, just as she started to take off; she heard a voice behind her.

"Hey! Wait up!"

She debated as to what she should do; it was obvious that he wasn't going anywhere until he talked to her. Justine looked around and then looked down at Buddy again. Satisfied that they were safe for the moment Justine waited for Quinn to catch up with her.

"What in the hell do you want with me?" she asked before Quinn could say anything.

"Nothing.... I mean I don't know." Quinn replied.

"You don't know?" Justine asked, "This is the third time that I've seen you and I want to know why you're following me."

"Can I be honest?" Quinn asked.

"Yes."

"First of all, it's as cold as hell out here and you're not even wearing a winter coat....."

"I'm fine." Justine interrupted, "why are you following me?"

"You may be fine but I'm freezing my ass off," Quinn replied. "Can we go somewhere warm and talk?"

After hesitating for a minute, she agreed. Justine was also surprised to see that Buddy had taken to Quinn. His tail was wagging and he had a stupid dog grin on his face it was if he was saying, "I approve!" Justine ignored Buddy's obvious acceptance of Quinn and started walking. She didn't look at or speak to Quinn until they arrived at a small sandwich shop. As soon as she walked in her stomach roiled, the odors were just too much for her, they had to go somewhere else.

"I can't stay in here, the smells...."

Quinn didn't understand but didn't argue with her, "Where would you like to go?" he asked.

Several minutes later, they were sitting in an old abandoned house. Quinn wondered about her choice but didn't question her; he didn't want to give her any reason to send him away at least until after he had a few answers. When they were sitting, Justine gave a single command.

"Talk."

Quinn didn't know how to respond, now that he was with her, his tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth. He would have given anything for a sip of water.

"Why are you following me?" Justine asked.

"I... I think that you're beautiful and I wanted to get to know you and.... I can't stop thinking about you." Quinn said knowing that he was sounding like a babbling idiot.

"Do you know me?" Justine asked.

"No, I would remember someone like you." Quinn replied.

"Is this all that you wanted? To talk to me?"

"Yes, No, I don't know.... Could we have dinner or something?" Quinn asked nervously well aware of the hard on that strained against his jeans.

"I don't eat and it would be good if you stayed away from me."

"Why?" Quinn asked, "You don't go out with white guys?"

Justine's eyes flashed, one of her pet peeves was the thing that Quinn had just done, throwing up the race card.

"That has nothing to do with it!" she snapped, "it's just not a good idea and it's not safe for you to be seen with me. After this, stay away from me."

"I don't understand....."

Quinn was interrupted by Buddy's growls.

"What...."

"Shut up!" Justine hissed as Buddy crept toward the sound that only he and Justine could hear. The seconds turned into minutes as Justine waited with Quinn for Buddy to come back. Just as she was beginning to worry, Buddy returned with a satisfied look on his face.

"Let's go." Justine said to Quinn.

"What just happened?" he asked.

"There's a lot of.... People looking for me and if you want to stay safe then you stay away from me." Justine said as she walked through the house with Quinn on her heels.

"Will you at least tell me your name?" he asked ignoring the warning.

Justine stopped short and turned around so quickly that Quinn ran into her.

"You seem like a really nice guy and if things were different I would go out with you but things are... complicated and I won't risk your life needlessly so do us both a favor and go out with that woman that's been following us all evening."

"Woman? What woman?" Quinn asked.

"The one that's been following us ever since you stopped me, she's probably the one that got Buddy..... We've got to get out of here now!" Justine exclaimed as she reached for Quinn's hand and took off.

"Wait!" Quinn called after her as she dragged him along as if he weighed nothing.

*******

Leila was surprised to see Quinn in the coffee shop; it was a stroke of good luck. The decision to follow him had been a rash one but one that paid off. She now knew who her competition was and she just didn't get it, the woman Quinn was so obviously attracted to wasn't ugly but she was no beauty queen either and she was.... Fat wasn't the right word, voluptuous was more like it and she was black. Why that fact surprised her she didn't know, maybe it was because Quinn didn't seem the type to date outside of his race but in the end, it didn't matter.

As she got closer, she recognized the woman. Jeremiah Mathers was looking for; the very woman that she was to keep an eye out for at the old woman's house and she- Leila had found her the woman! Instead of calling Jeremiah right away, Leila followed them to the abandoned house and waited. Tired of waiting for them to come out, she took out her cell phone and began to dial Jeremiah's number. She had barely begun when she became aware of a dog standing in front of her.

"Shoo!" she said to the dog and proceeded to continue punching in Jeremiah's number only stopping when she heard the dog growl. Leila closed the phone and backed away dropping the phone in the process. Buddy chased her for a short distance, doubled back, retrieved the phone and chomped it to bits before going back to the house where Justine and Quinn waited.

Leila didn't stop running until she got back to the coffee shop. She had never liked dogs but none of them scared her as much as this one did. She suddenly realized that she dropped her cell phone and decided to go back for it. When she found it, she gasped, it was chewed into tiny little bits and scattered all over the ground. With no other options, Leila went back to the coffee shop to use the phone there.

Jeremiah answered on the first ring.

"What?"

"I know where she is or I guess I should say where she was." Leila said nervously.

"What are you saying?" Jeremiah asked impatiently. He hated dealing with humans because so many of them were like this one. Instead of saying exactly what she meant she had to pussy foot around the issue whatever it was.

"I'm saying that I saw her...."

"Where?" Jeremiah demanded sitting up in his chair.

"At an old abandoned house, she was with some guy...."

"Address!" Jeremiah snapped.

Leila gave Jeremiah the address her voice shaking. Then she asked about the reward money to which the response was a dial tone in her ear.

******

Jeremiah called Mikhail first and gave him the address and then several others to go to the house. He had no idea of what Justine could do. Like everyone else looking for her, Jeremiah was beginning to understand that there was something very special about her and he was determined to find out what it was. He made it clear that while she was to be incapacitated, that she was to be in no way harmed.

As he thought about his next move, a memory stirred in the back of his mind, it was more of a fairytale than an actual memory. The story was more for the females of his race so he hadn't paid much attention to it and now he was wishing that he had. He picked up the phone and called his mother, she told the story countless times to his sister and to any female children who cared to hear it.

*******

Mikhail listened to Jeremiah with interest, he would go to the address but he also knew that Justine wouldn't be there. The human male was an added twist and he wondered who he was that Justine had allowed him to get close to her and then there was the dog. He was convinced even without seeing the dog that it was her familiar and that meant that its strength matched hers and grew as hers did, they were a formidable pair.

He was also becoming aware that Jeremiah wasn't the only one looking for her and if he knew that then so did she. Mikhail stood, looked around the penthouse and vanished without taking any weapons with him. If by some stroke of luck she was still there, he wanted to show her that he meant her no harm. As he expected, by the time he got there, the trail was cold with the exception of .... And that faded just as he caught the barely there scent, she had erased the scent of the human male.

Jeremiah arrived just after Mikhail and fully expected answers.

"Well? Where is she?"

"You really didn't expect her to be here did you?" Mikhail asked.

"Well, no but what about the human male? Can't you follow his scent?"

"No."

"Why in the hell not? Jeremiah demanded.

"Because she erased his scent as well as hers." Mikhail stated calmly and watched the look of disbelief cross Jeremiah's face. "There's more, she has a familiar...."

"A familiar? When has a newborn ever had a familiar?" Jeremiah asked.

"It is not unheard of." Mikhail replied, "But it is rare I will admit."

"There's not even a trace of them?" Jeremiah asked as he looked around.

"No, but they can't have gotten far."

*******

Justine wanted to vanish but wasn't sure if she could with Quinn. Instead, she ran as fast as she could still dragging him behind her until they reached the motel.

"Hurry! Up the stairs!" Justine yelled as she dragged a now panting Quinn up the stairs, unlocked the door without thinking about it and pulled him inside.

"Wh... What's going on?" Quinn panted as he tried to catch his breath.

"What's going on that as soon as it's safe you're getting the hell out here and you will leave me alone." Justine said looking into Quinn's eyes.

"Look, whatever trouble you're in, I can help...."

"I don't want nor do I need your help." Justine interrupted, "what I do want is for you to stay the hell away from me."

They stood looking at each other with Buddy watching them.

"Fine," Quinn snapped, "Anyone with eyes can see that you need help whether you think that you do or not, my number is in the book if you change your mind."

Quinn moved toward the door and was stopped by Buddy. Every time Quinn moved to step around him, Buddy stopped him.

"Buddy move!" Justine commanded.

Buddy looked at her as if she hadn't spoken and plopped down in front of the door and closed his eyes. Both Quinn and Justine looked at him and then each other and tried to move the dog from in front of the door.

"Jeez, what do you feed him?" Quinn asked when he couldn't move Buddy an inch.

"N.... beef and chicken livers." Justine replied as she moved Buddy a few inches away from the door only to have him move back.

"Buddy! Move!" Justine commanded but to no avail, the dog simply refused to move.

*******

Pam put on the clothes that Malcolm threw at her and wondered just how much time she had left before her owner came for her. She had been unsuccessful in getting Malcolm to let her stay longer, he was frightened of her, she could smell his fear whenever he was close to her.

The one thing that she did know was that she couldn't allow herself to be taken away; if she did, she would never be seen again, the vampire who bought her would make sure of it. She had another thought; she couldn't be the only one that Jeremiah had turned into a vampire for profit, there had to be others. The names of various female attorneys' that had been fired came to mind and the names of several women that she had heard about on the news came to mind.

Pam made her decision. She was going to escape. She would figure out how to survive somehow, it Justine could do it then so could she.

She jumped when Malcolm came back into the room, "Change of plan." he said and walked out.

***** "Why didn't I think of this sooner?" Jeremiah asked an alarmed Malcolm, "We had the way to grab Justine right under our noses...."

"I don't like it." Malcolm said, "We should get rid of her."

"I never realized what a pussy you are." Jeremiah said and then continued with what he was saying. "Mikhail thinks that Justine won't show herself until she's ready and if we wait for that there will be no way in hell that we'll be able to capture her, we have to force her hand."

"And you plan to use Pam to do that?" Malcolm asked, "I'm telling you that it's not a good idea! I think we should just let her go..."

Jeremiah silenced him with a look, "we're not letting her go."

"What about her owner?"

"Taken care of, now go put that wench under lock and key." Jeremiah said.

"Why can't you just let this go?" Malcolm asked.

Jeremiah wasn't about to tell Malcolm what he found out about Justine. For one he wasn't completely sure that he believed it and for two, Malcolm may have been a pussy but he was an ambitious one, he wouldn't think twice about killing him and taking Justine for his own. However, before that could happen, her mate, her real one had to be disposed of and that is who Jeremiah believed the human male to be.

"Uncle?" Malcolm called, "why can't you let this go?" he asked again.

"Call it stubbornness," Jeremiah replied, "Now go and secure Pam."

*******

Pam looked around the room for a possible escape route concluding that the window, which was three stories up from the ground, was her only option. She quickly looked around not knowing how much time that she had left and made a decision.

She quickly made her way to the window and pushed until it gave an inch or so. She pushed harder until it opened wide enough that she could squeeze through. The cold air felt like heaven to her, even the odors of the outside world smelled like the sweetest bouquet. Counting to three, Pam jumped out of the window and was pleasantly surprised when she landed on her feet. Without looking back, Pam took off at a speed that she didn't know that she possessed.

Even before Malcolm reached the bedroom, he knew that something was wrong. His sense of alarm rose the closer to the bedroom he got. The first place he looked was in the bathroom, it wasn't until he went back into the bedroom that he saw the open window.

"Shit!" he cursed as he reached for his phone.

Pam ran until she reached the outskirts of the city. The one place that she knew that she couldn't go was her apartment and probably not Justine's either but she had to find someplace to spend the day and there was also the issue of feeding. She took off at a run forming a plan as she went... she would hide at the office, in the basement. It would be the last place that they would look for her.

Malcolm called Jeremiah in a panic, "She's gone! She jumped out of the window...."

"Slow down!" Jeremiah demanded.

"I came back to the room to lock her up but she was gone, the window was open."

"You go to her apartment and I'll send someone to Justine's." Jeremiah said, thinking that those were her only options. "And report back too me."

Jeremiah hung up the phone with a sense of foreboding. Inadvertently he had waken something that he thought of as a child's bedtime story and the window of capturing Justine and controlling her was growing smaller by the second. He cursed himself for even hiring her on, if he hadn't he wouldn't be in this mess. Still the prestige of having captured and mated one such as Justine....

Jeremiah decided to throw caution to the wind, if he could catch Justine the benefits would far outweigh the risks. The absolute worst that she could do to him was killing him, which could happen anyway. The next issue was Malcolm. He had to go. He was one more thing that stood in his path and the woman that got away... he no longer considered Pam a threat, with any luck she would be dead by morning. She had no clue as to how to survive as a vampire, none of their captives did. Her escape did one more thing, Mikhail wouldn't accidentally discover her, and she had just eliminated another threat to him.