Justine Ch 02

Justine woke up slowly and was slightly disoriented. It took her several minutes to remember what had happened to her and her best friend Pam. Somehow they had been turned into vampires, she didn't know by who but knew it was sometime on Thursday after they had dinner and drinks.

She lay still until the lethargy wore off and crawled off of the bed to go to the bathroom when she realized that she didn't need to, it was another question that was added to her rapidly growing list. She got into the shower staying in until the water ran cold, got out, brushed her teeth and braided her still wet hair.

She looked at her reflection in the mirror to see if there were any obvious changes in her appearance. She started with her hair and then carefully examined her face. She was blessed in that she never had skin problems but her skin looked even clearer than before. Her eyes were clear and the same color brown she noted with relief. She opened her mouth, looked at her teeth and was surprised that while they looked whiter, there weren't any fangs. "Where are they?" she asked herself as she continued her examination of her mouth. In the end she decided that the fangs only came out when needed,

She stepped back from the mirror and looked at her hands, they didn't look any different than before but like her teeth, Justine suspected that any changes would come when and if needed and wondered it she could change at will. Justine took a large breast in each hand and examined it, "thank god these didn't get any larger." she thought to herself as she looked at the rest of her body.

After she finished her self examination she threw on a pair of shorts, bra and a tee shirt. She had to find food; the hunger was just beginning and would progress quickly if she didn't take care of it soon. She once again wondered about the ease with which she was accepting the fact that she was a vampire, she was even more curious about how she knew the things that she did.

Justine grabbed a duffle bag and began to throw clothes into it; she had to leave her apartment and the sooner the better. She didn't know where she would go but if she stayed at her apartment someone would come for her. She grabbed her wallet and the petty cash that totaled over three hundred dollars and change and put them in her duffle bag. The last thing that she put in her bag was her cell phone and charger and at the last minute pictures of her family and Pam.

She put on a sweat suit and left her apartment for the last time. She hadn't gone very far before she realized that she had left just in time, someone was in her apartment.

*******

Pam woke up to find Malcolm staring at her with undisguised lust.

"Good evening Pam." he greeted pleasantly, "are you hungry?"

"No." she lied.

"Are you certain? The hunger pains should be beginning soon if they haven't already." he said with a teasing note in his voice.

"Why am I here?" she asked.

"Are you sure that I can't tempt you with breakfast?" Malcolm asked ignoring the question and biting into his wrist just enough that the blood oozed out.

Pam's stomach rumbled as the scent of the blood assailed her nose. She licked her lips and shook her head no as she closed her eyes. She went to move off of the bed and was surprised to find that she couldn't move, during the night she had been restrained.

"Why am I tied up?" she demanded.

"We can't have you trying to escape now can we?" Malcolm asked as he moved closer to her, "You are going to feed whether you want to or not." he added.

"NO!"

"Yes and then your training will begin."

Restrained as she was, Pam couldn't fight Malcolm off. He pressed his wrist against her mouth and waited for the hunger to take over. It wasn't long before Pam was greedily drinking from him and making sounds of enjoyment as his blood hit her tongue and trickled down her throat. As she drank, Malcolm wondered just how much he should tell her about her new life, if he told her too much she would at the very least try to escape or at the worst try to kill herself and that just wouldn't do.

He wondered about Justine. "Where is the bitch?" he asked himself and hoped that she was lying dead somewhere because she didn't know how to survive as a vampire. He had to admit that she made him nervous and always had, that was the reason for the dislike that over the months had turned to hatred. He tried to tell his uncle not to hire her but he wouldn't listen.

He thought back to the morning of the meeting, the way that Justine stared at him had unnerved him and increased his hatred of her. He hated anything that had the potential to scare him and Justine fit that criteria. The final blow had been when she looked up at them, waved and then smiled at them. Silently he swore at his uncle for hiring her although he understood why he did.

Justine Graves was intriguing and definitely easy in the eyes but there was something very different about her, something dangerous..... She was the kind of woman that his uncle Jeremiah Mathers was drawn to.

"Stop!" he hissed when he felt Pam's teeth bite into him. He had let her drink too much and now she would want to go back to sleep like a baby did once it was fed. It really didn't matter he decided, while she slept he would go to Justine's apartment and take care of business.

Pam was already almost asleep when he left the bed. By the time he was dressed; she was out cold and would be for a while.

*******

He had just missed her; he knew this because her scent was still strong. The question was where would she have gone? But a more important question was how had she gotten through the night without feeding? There had been no suspicious human deaths reported, he checked before he left the house.

Malcolm walked through the apartment which was immaculate except for the kitchen. It was a disaster area with food thrown all over the floor in Justine's attempt to calm her hunger. He caught sight of the porterhouse steak bone that was cleaned of every piece of meat that was on it and felt a sense of disquiet.

"Just who in the hell are you?" he asked quietly. For her to have figured out that she could obtain nourishment from raw red meat was remarkable. The feeling that Justine was much more than she appeared crossed his mind. "You're overreacting like an old woman!" he told himself, "It was just luck and nothing more." he added as he walked to her bedroom.

She left in a hurry he realized as he looked around the room. The dresser drawers were left open, the bed was unmade and most of her clothes were still there. He wondered if she had sensed his approach and once again disregarded any idea that she would have such skills. "She's one lucky bitch." he muttered as he went back to the kitchen and vanished from there to the street.

He looked in every direction trying to pick up her scent and becoming angry when he couldn't. "Who in the fuck is she?" he asked himself again as he looked around again.

*******

Justine found herself in South Philadelphia not far from the Italian market. The odors nauseated her making her rethink her decision about finding an abandoned house in the area to stay in until she figured out her next move. The first of the hunger pains hit her as she walked toward the subway station. Since it was a Saturday night and the streets were busy, that left out going down to the subway to catch rats but then she had an idea and headed toward China town.

As she walked she kept an eye out for potential places to hide out for the day. She had gone maybe eight blocks when she knew that she was being followed. Whoever they were she knew that they were human and that they didn't have good intentions. She kept walking acting as if she wasn't aware of their presence hoping that they would lose interest and go away.

After several minutes it became obvious that the group of men weren't going to go away. Justine walked faster as she had no desire to tangle with these men. She was already hungry and if one of them bled she wasn't sure that she could stop herself from drinking from him and possibly killing him.

"Hey you!" one of them called out to her, "stop!"

Justine kept walking and eased into a jog. It occurred to her that she had never jogged a day in her life and here she was jogging and not even becoming winded.

"I said stop bitch!" the voice shouted at her.

Justine picked up the pace and kept running but the group of men kept after her. She glanced behind her to see where they were and was angry to see that they were catching up to her. She sped up even more now aware that she was having no trouble seeing in the dark and that she was running on ice without difficulty.

She could hear the men falling behind and cursing because she got away but there was another issue. She was wracked with pain, she needed to eat, and she had expended too much energy trying to get away from the men. There was no other option, she looked around and ran into the closest abandoned house she saw. She did a quick check for other people before setting her bag on the dirty floor and calling to whatever animals lived in the house.

"Come out, I promise not to kill you." she said softly and then she waited.

A few seconds ticked by before a cat came out and walked up to her.

"I thank you for your assistance." she told the cat as she picked it up and bit into its neck. Tears of relief ran down her face as the cat's blood trickled down her throat and the pain began to ease. When she was finished with the cat she put it on the floor and stroked its head before calling for the next animal. By the time she was comfortable but not sated, Justine had taken from six cats and a dog.

Feeling much better she looked around the house and wondered if it would meet her needs. She picked up her bag and went to a door that she assumed led to a basement but found that it was a closet. She continued her search of the house while listening for signs of anyone coming. Eventually she found the basement and went down the stairs. There was one window to the front of the house but the back of the basement was so dark that no one would see her even if they were looking right at her.

"This will do." she murmured as she walked to the back of the basement. A few minutes later she had cleared a space for herself in one of the corners. The blood from the animals was already wearing off so she had to get moving. She called an animal to her, fed from it and then left the house looking around before she left.

*******

Quinn was restless. He had been indoors all day and was getting a touch of 'cabin fever'. He looked out of the window and then at the clock. He normally didn't go out at night but he was bored, he had spent the day on the internet searching for things in general; cost of living in various states and cities. He was more than ready to leave the "City of Brotherly Love" he had no real ties here and he had more than enough money to get settled somewhere else, the question was where.

Unable to settle down, Quinn decided to go out for a walk. It was early enough to get to China Town, eat a meal and order more for lunch and dinner for the next day or two. As he dressed to go out, he wondered if he should take his camera. He didn't have many nighttime pictures and it was one of the things that the guy who wanted to show his work commented on.

He packed up his equipment taking the least expensive equipment. He had been robbed once with the man taking everything. The camera had been quite expensive but fortunately everything had been insured and he was able to replace his equipment with very little cost.

He checked his cell phone battery before tucking it in his pocket and then checked the battery of the camera. Finally ready, Quinn left his small apartment making sure that he locked the door behind him. It was times like this that he missed his wife and little girl the most; both of them loved the winter and the snow. His heart hurt as he remembered what he considered to be a happier time although he was sure that Amanda would remember it differently.

He kept his wits about him as he walked and then wished that he had taken the bus or subway but he was almost to China Town and it would have been a waste of money and time to catch a bus now. He would splurge and take a cab back.

Quinn wasn't sure about what drew his attention to the woman walking in front of him. Maybe it was the speed in which she walked which was fast considering the snow and icy sidewalks or maybe it was the way that she was dressed which wasn't nearly warm enough for the twenty-five degree temperature. Whatever it was that had initially attracted his attention became unimportant as Quinn watched the woman hurry down the street.

For reasons that he didn't understand Quinn decided to follow her, he sped up trying to catch sight of her before she disappeared. Just as he rounded a corner he saw the woman go into a Chinese meat market. He caught just a glimpse of her face and wanted to see more of her.

He went into the meat market and walked around until he saw her. "Jesus." he breathed, "she's beautiful!" as if she heard him, the woman looked right at him and then looked away. Quinn's mouth went dry as he watched her; there was only one other woman that had done that to him and that was Amanda and now this woman who didn't even seem aware of her beauty.

He had to buy something to justify his presence so he went to the meat counter, stood next to the woman and bought two chicken breasts. He didn't cook and would give them to the old couple who lived next door to him. He paid for his purchase and left the market wondering how he could get in contact with the woman.

********

Justine knew that she was being followed but sensed that her pursuer meant her no harm. As long as he didn't approach her she would leave it alone. She stopped once to ask where the nearest Chinese meat market was and headed in that direction. As she walked she realized that she stuck out like a sore thumb, she was dressed as if it were a spring day but if she dressed like everyone else, she would burn up. She didn't know what to do about it unless she moved to a place where she could always dress as she was but she would think about that later. First she had to find a more secure place to live and she had to find Pam. She found the market without a problem and found someone to help her.

"Do you sell animal blood?" she asked.

"Yes we do but it is not fresh, it is....coagulated."

Coagulated blood didn't sound appetizing but for the moment she had no other choice.

"How much is it?" she asked.

She knew the moment the man following her came into the market; she turned and looked at him to let him know that she knew that he was there. She asked for four pints of the congealed blood not worried that it would spoil but concerned that she wouldn't be able to tolerate the taste and texture of it.

She didn't look when the man was standing next to her and ordered 2 chicken breasts. After he paid for his order Justine watched him leave and wondered if she had seen the last of him.

"Here is your order, do you want anything else?"

Justine looked at the meat in the cooler and took four of the thickest steaks just in case the congealed blood didn't work. She paid for her purchases with her bank card because she wanted to hang on to her available cash until she could get to the bank and make a withdrawal.

When she left the market she looked around and was about to walk away when she heard a voice behind her.

"Hi."

Justine ignored the voice and kept walking in hopes that the man would go away.

Quinn watched Justine walk away and made a decision, he was going after her.

"Hey wait up!" he called but Justine took off at a run.

*******

Malcolm sat in Jeremiah's office telling him that Justine had taken off.

"Taken off? She's a new vampire, where could she have gone?" He asked.

"I don't know and at the risk of beating a dead horse I told you not to hire her!" Malcolm replied.

"Yes you did and yes you are beating a dead horse and for once I agree with you." Jeremiah said.

"You're being awfully calm about this; did you hear what I said? She figured out how to get nourishment...."

"I heard you and I maintain that it was luck pure and simple. I doubt that she's made the connection, she's too new." Jeremiah said unconcerned.

"Ok, then how do you explain that she disappeared without leaving a scent? Is that dumb luck too?" Malcolm asked.

"I must admit that I don't have an answer for that, maybe someone is helping her." Jeremiah replied.

"Maybe but I don't think so, there's something about that woman...."

"You hate her, I get it but I don't understand why." Jeremiah said interrupting him, "did she turn you down or something?"

Malcolm threw his hands up in exasperation, "Damn it! Will you listen to me? That woman is trouble with a capital T and if we don't find her...."

"For God's sake!" Jeremiah exclaimed, "Stop clucking like an old woman and tell me how Pam's training is going."

Malcolm was going to say something else but thought better of it; Jeremiah wouldn't listen to him anyway.

"I'm going back now to begin her training in earnest, she'll be ready within two weeks time if not before but Jeremiah...."

"If what you're going to say is about Justine Graves I don't want to hear it." Jeremiah interrupted, "however, I would suggest that you get on with the training of Pam, two weeks will pass quickly."

Malcolm knew a dismissal when he heard it and stood to leave but he couldn't but help to issue another warning.

"That woman or whatever in the hell she is will be the death of all of us, you mark my words."

"Goodbye Malcolm." Jeremiah said ending the conversation.

After Malcolm was gone, Jeremiah poured himself another drink. Malcolm was right about Justine but he wasn't about to tell him that nor was he going to tell him that he was as nervous as he was. He already had people out looking for Justine and he would send more. What he would do with her once he found her he didn't know but she continued to intrigue him and that intrigue was growing by the minute.

Jeremiah picked up the phone, spoke to someone and hung up. If this person couldn't find Justine Graves then he was overpaid and she deserved her freedom for managing to evade him.

*******

Quinn watched Justine take off and realized his error, he shouldn't have approached her like that. The time to have spoken to her was in the meat market when other people were around. With nothing else to do, Quinn went to his favorite Chinese place and ordered enough food to last him for two days.

As he waited for his order her thought about the woman who was so inadequately dressed and who could move with a speed and grace that he had never seen before. When his order was ready, Quinn took out his phone and called a cab to take him home. He found himself hoping that whoever she was that she was safe and had someplace warm to go to. The temperature had dropped during the few minutes that they were in the store.

******

Justine didn't stop running until she was back at the house. After looking around she went in and went to the basement checking for signs of human life as she made her way down the stairs. She went to her corner, sat down and took out a container of the congealed blood. She sniffed at it, looked at it and sniffed again. "It smells alright." she thought as she tentatively touched the cold thick substance with her tongue.

She gave an involuntary shudder and wasn't sure that she could get the stuff down. Taking a deep breath she gulped down half of the container without stopping. She fought not to gag as the substance slid down her throat and made a decision, she wouldn't do this again unless there was no other option. She wouldn't waste what she bought but it was just disgusting.