"Well?" Jeremiah demanded, "Where the fuck is she?"
The two men looked at each other but didn't speak; they were too terrified to say anything.
"Do not make me ask again." Jeremiah said softly.
"I... I mean we came to the door and they were gone." one of the men said.
"Why did you come to the door? Did you not understand my instructions?" Jeremiah asked his tone almost reasonable.
Only one of the men noticed the tic in Jeremiah's left jaw and knew that it didn't bode well for them and began to back away.
"Stay." Jeremiah said softly.
Immediately the man stopped frozen in place wanting to run but unable to move.
Jeremiah circled the men and looked them up and down as if trying to decide whether they were idiots or not.
"Who made the decision to come to the door?"
"I... I did." The man standing closest to Jeremiah replied.
"What part of do not approach did you not understand?" Jeremiah asked in a deceptively soft voice.
When the man didn't reply Jeremiah stopped in front of him.
"Do you have any idea of what you have done?" he asked. "Of course you don't, you're nothing but a stupid human who cannot follow simple directions!" His voice, which had started out softly, was now loud and filled with anger as he grabbed the man by the lapels of his jacket and shook him so hard that his teeth rattled.
The other man stood frozen in place, terrified. He had heard of Jeremiah's temper but hadn't seen it until now.
"Sir, please... I think I know where they went." he said, his voice almost a whisper.
Jeremiah looked at him, his eyes blackened with rage. He lifted the man that he had just shaken and threw him as hard as he could across the room. The other man grimaced and let out a soft sob when he heard the sickening thud of his friend's body hit the wall.
The truth was he had no idea of where Justine and Quinn had gone and was going to lie. If he managed to escape Jeremiah Mathers, he would move far away and never work for another vampire for as long as he lived.
"Where are they?" Jeremiah hissed as he reached for the man who tried to back away.
"The woman's apartment!" he squeaked.
"What woman? Pam?" Jeremiah asked.
"Yeah! Her place! He agreed even though he had no idea of who Pam was.
"You are sure of this?" Jeremiah asked.
"Yes sir!" the man said enthusiastically.
"Then you won't mind going with me." Jeremiah said smoothly, his eyes still black.
"N...no sir." the man stammered as he realized that he hadn't really saved his life but had in effect just ended it.
Jeremiah grabbed the man by the scruff of his neck and dragged him out of the house. Within minutes, they were at Pam's apartment.
Jeremiah dropped the man to the floor and casually walked around.
"No one seems to be here." he said as he walked from the kitchen to the bedroom, "I thought you said that they were coming here."
"I must have heard them wrong." the man said, "Please Mr. Mathers... it wasn't my idea to go to her door! I tried to stop him but he said that you would pay us more if we had her...."
The man blubbered and begged for his life for a full ten minutes before he realized that he was alone. He got up from his place on the floor, looked around and bolted for the door. He was leaving on the first bus or train headed out of Philadelphia and he was never coming back.
********
Quinn was doubled over fighting nausea while Buddy sat at his side offering moral support. They had been in Justine's apartment for approximately thirty minutes and he was still dry heaving. Justine was in the kitchen cleaning up the mess from the last time she was there and taking stock of her food supply. The issue of blood for her and Buddy remained unsolved and Quinn contacting a friend was out of the question. This left only one option, she had to be the one to go out.
After rummaging through her freezer, she found a package of hamburger that would be good for Buddy but wouldn't do much for her. She was already hungry although she had eaten not long ago but she wasn't at the critical point... yet.
"Mint tea" she thought as she looked through her cabinets. Finding the tea, she set about making Quinn a cup to settle his stomach. She found herself quite impressed with how quickly he was adapting to what had to be a very new and trying situation for him.
The calendar caught her eye as she walked past the fridge. "Had it really been just a week?" she murmured. In many ways it seemed much shorter than that and in many ways it felt like a lifetime since she was human. A week ago, she was going to be buying her first brand new car and eating a porterhouse steak in celebration. Now she was no longer human and others who she now knew to be vampires were chasing them.
It took Quinn to point out to her that there had to be more to it, Jeremiah Mathers wouldn't waste his time on one escaped newly born vampire unless she was important. He wouldn't have hired a hunter to look for her either and then there was Pam, where was she?
She was so lost in her musings that she didn't realize that she no longer heard Quinn dry heaving. She carried the hot tea to the living room frowning when Quinn wasn't there.
"Quinn!" she called, "I made you some mint tea!"
She frowned when there was no answer and then realized that Buddy was missing as well.
"Quinn!" she called again as she walked back to her bedroom thinking that maybe he was in the shower.
"Damn it!" she swore when she realized that both Quinn and Buddy were gone.
*******
Quinn looked back at the kitchen and heard Justine puttering around. His nausea had passed and he felt good enough to start thinking about the blood situation. He inched toward the door and was stopped by Buddy who like before became an immovable object.
"Come on," Quinn whispered, "she needs blood and you know it."
Buddy refused to move and no amount of coaxing helped. Quinn grabbed Buddy by the collar and pulled as hard as he could while keeping an eye out for Justine.
"Look, she's your mistress isn't she?" Quinn asked, "And aren't you supposed to help her? She needs blood and if you won't let me go alone then come with me."
Buddy actually seemed to be considering Quinn's suggestion. He looked around Quinn as if looking to see where Justine was and then he moved.
A few minutes later, they were on the street walking toward center city.
As they walked, Quinn called several of his old dealers hoping that one of them would be able to help him with a contact.
"Mikey! Hey, it's Quinn! Yeah, I've been clean for a while. No, I'm not looking to score... well not drugs anyway. Blood, yeah human blood, ok thanks man."
It wasn't until the third phone call that he scored.
"Brucie! Quinn O'Dell here, I heard that you know someone who deals in human blood. Cool! How much? Two hundred a unit? What's in it? Gold? "
As they talked Quinn did a mental count of the cash in his wallet, there was barely enough for one unit.
"Alright, how soon can he meet me? An hour? I'll be there."
"It's our lucky day." Quinn said rubbing Buddy's head and headed for the nearest bank machine.
********
Justine cursed Quinn for his stupidity and called him every name in the book that she could think of and then she cursed at Buddy, he definitely should have known better but at least he was with him. She closed her eyes and wondered if she could get a fix on Quinn by smell and then wondered if she could reach Buddy. She decided to take the path of least resistance and call out to Buddy since her bond with him was already strong.
"Buddy!" Justine called out in her mind, "get your asses back here! I know that you can hear me damn it!"
She knew that Buddy heard her because she felt and heard his response, "we are fine."
"That's just great now get back here now!" she sent back.
"soon." was the one word response.
"Where are you?" she asked and closed her eyes. "Holy shit!" she exclaimed when she realized that she was seeing through Buddy's eyes. She could see Quinn talking on the phone as he looked around although he had no idea of whom he was supposed to be avoiding. "Stay put, I'm coming to you." she sent, "and don't you let him leave!" she added.
On a whim, she grabbed both her and Quinn's bags and teleported to the corner where Quinn and Buddy were apparently waiting for someone.
"What in the hell do you think you're doing?" she hissed from behind Quinn startling him so bad that he almost dropped his phone.
"Don't do that!" Quinn exclaimed. "What are you doing here? People are looking for you!"
"Not only me you idiot!" Justine hissed, "You too now let's go before someone sees us!"
"Not yet." Quinn replied, "I scored some blood for you and Buddy... here it comes now."
A black SUV pulled up to the corner and stopped. A tall lanky white man got out of the vehicle, looked at Quinn and then at Justine.
"Damn dude! She's ...."
"You got the blood or not?" Quinn asked not liking how "Bones" as he was called was looking at Justine.
"I got it." Bones replied not taking his eyes off Justine.
Quinn stepped between them blocking Bone's line of vision, "How much do I owe you?"
"I got five units at two hundred each, that make a thousand but if you give me a few minutes with your lady friend, I'll knock two hundred off."
Quinn felt a rage that he couldn't explain as he went for Bone's throat, "She is mine and don't you ever forget it!" he hissed into the startled man's face as his hands tightened around his neck.
Justine looked around; she had to stop this before someone saw them.
"Quinn, let him go." she said softly, "he is nothing to get caught over."
Seeing the SUV gave her an idea. Looking at Bones, she spoke softly, "invite us to your home."
"We're not going anywhere with him!" Quinn protested still holding on to Bones.
"Yes we are." Justine said, "Aren't we?" she asked Bones.
"Of course you are! Jump in."
"Quinn let him go so we can get out of here." Justine said firmly.
Buddy let out a soft growl that got Quinn's attention; he had learned that whenever the dog growled, it was a warning of some kind. He let Bones go and shoved him aside so that he, Justine and Buddy could get into the SUV.
"Take us to your most secure place." Justine said as she settled into plush seat of the SUV.
