"Saved your life?" Justine asked.
"Yes saved my life." Josephine confirmed.
David didn't say anything but kept Josephine's hand in his. He had known at some point the subject would come up but he hadn't expected it to be so soon.
Justine looked at David and then her mother and made a decision.
"We'll talk about that later." she said. "The important thing is that you're here."
David let out a silent sigh of relief. He needed time to regroup from his brief brush with true power. Justine was dangerous and so was the King for that matter. He was just wondering what the plan was for the rest of the evening when Quinn spoke.
"Our wives have a lot of catching up to do so that gives us time to talk."
David nodded, he knew exactly what the talk was about but he also knew that Quinn would wait before meting out any punishments. He almost wished that Quinn would wait until Justine was with him so that he would only have to tell the story once but then he understood. Part of the catching up that Josephine and Justine would do included her time with him. Quinn was acting as Justine's equal and was well within his rights to question him.
"Are you hungry?" Justine asked still holding Josephine's hand as if she were going to disappear.
"No, I don't think that I can eat yet." Josephine replied, "I want to hear all about you- You are so beautiful!"
"You both are beautiful." Quinn said his eyes warming when he looked at Justine and her mother. He was amazed at the likeness of the two women who looked like sisters instead of mother and daughter. What he found odd was that in human years, Justine was the older of the two since she was thirty-three when she was changed and her mother twenty-eight when she was taken.
He looked over at David and could tell that he was nervous but not exactly scared. He made no effort to put the much older vampire at ease and wouldn't until they talked. He followed Justine and her mother into the sitting room, kissed Justine telling her that he would see her later and left the room. David kissed Josephine, caressed her face and followed Quinn out.
Once outside of the room, the two men assessed each other. David found himself almost mesmerized by the green flames that danced around Quinn's eyes.
"Follow me." Quinn said walking away.
David hurried to catch up with him and followed him through the house not daring to ask where they were going. They ended up in the large indoor garden not far from where not long ago; he, Justine and the others anxiously awaited the arrival of the Queen Mother.
"Have a seat." Quinn said as he sat a picnic table.
David sat down across from Quinn and placed his hands on the table. He braced himself for the onslaught of questions and got ready to explain himself.
"Tell me about yourself." Quinn said.
"Excuse me?" David asked.
"Tell me about yourself- how old you are, things like that."
"I..."
"Okay... look, take a deep breath and calm down." Quinn said. "I'm not going to tell you that I'm not pissed but I'm not going to hurt you either. All I want for the moment is for you to tell me about yourself. Can you do that?"
Something in Quinn's tone made David square his shoulders. He was David Sheffield one of the biggest industrialists in Europe and he hadn't gotten there by allowing himself to be intimidated. His eyes blazed as he returned Quinn's assessing stare.
"Loo...."
"Ahh there you are." Quinn said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "That's much better... the meek, nervous thing doesn't work for you. Now, let's get this party started shall we?"
David's mouth dropped open, he had been baited and he took it hook, line and sinker. He had to wonder what Quinn did for a living in his human life.
"As you know, my name is David Sheffield. Josephine and I are only recently mated although we have been together for more than twenty-five years. I am the sole owner of Sheffield enterprises a company that I started in the 1800s."
"So you were turned is that it?" Quinn asked.
David wondered what Quinn was up to, it was obvious that he knew his background.
"Yes, that would be correct." David replied. "Why does any of this matter? What you really want to know is why I kept Josephine from her daughter."
In spite of everything Quinn found himself liking David, he had balls to talk to him as he just did.
"You're right, I do want to know those things but I also like knowing about people. I want to know what it was that made you make the decisions that you did- now talk."
David blinked, no one had ever ordered him to do anything, he did the ordering. He almost forgot who he was talking to but quickly remembered when he saw the cool flames in Quinn's eyes begin to heat up. He started with his childhood and ended with the night he was turned.
"Her cousin helped me through the transition." he concluded.
Quinn didn't speak for a long time.
"She's dead isn't she? Sylvia I mean." Quinn said.
"Yes she's dead and I know what you're doing. You're letting me know that I can't lie because you would know so lets as you said, get this party started."
"Alright," Quinn said smoothly, "Why did you keep Josephine away from Justine?"
********
Justine held Josephine's hands as she told her about the night that she was taken.
"I was so sure that you were just trying to get me to stay home. I thought that if I gave in once that I would be setting a precedent. It never crossed my mind that you were trying to warn me... The thing is I almost turned around. You had never acted like that before, I should have known."
"How could you? You made a decision based on something that was entirely possible. I would have made the same decision." Justine replied.
"You have to know that I would have never willingly left you." Josephine said crying. "I tried to fight him but I couldn't. Even when we were driving to his house, I tried to fight him. When we got there, there was a woman there. I looked at her and willed her to help me but she turned away-maybe she was one of his victims, I don't know but when he took me to a bedroom, I woke up. I can't explain it any clearer than that and I started throwing things at him. I only know this because of David, he didn't want me to remember but I needed to."
"When did he know about me?" Justine asked.
"He finally found out who I was about five years after he found me."
"He knew about me and he didn't tell you." Justine said softly. She could have allowed herself access to all of her mother's memories but she didn't because it wouldn't have helped either of them and they needed to mourn the loss of time.
"No, at first he didn't try to find out who I was because he didn't know who had done this to me or if they were still looking for me. I don't know why he finally decided to find out my true identity, that's something that you'll have to ask him about."
"I plan on it." Justine said. "I can understand why you didn't remember anything at the beginning, but what about later?"
Josephine hesitated but then answered the question.
"David kept my memories from me. He..."
"He did what?" Justine asked shocked.
"Justine listen to me.... At first, it was to protect me. Later and he will admit to this, it was out of fear and mistrust..."
"Fear? What could he possibly been afraid of?" Justine demanded and then softened her voice. "I'm sorry; I don't understand how he could have kept us apart like that."
Josephine stroked Justine's face and continued.
"I know and I was angry too but I think that he should be the one to explain his actions. Will you do something for me? Will you at least hear him out?"
"You love him don't you?" Justine asked.
Josephine gave her a small smile, "yes but as I told him, that doesn't and didn't change the fact that I was angry, hurt and felt betrayed."
"Have you forgiven him?" Justine asked.
"Yes but I don't think I realized that I loved him until I was kidnapped. While I was being held, the only things that I could think about was getting out of there so that I could find you and fix things with David. Don't get me wrong, I was angry and I still am to some degree but it won't get those years back but we have the future."
Justine listened to her mother's words and agreed that she was right on a number of points but she still wanted to talk to David. Him she would probe for lies and deceit, as she was sure Quinn was doing.
"Tell me about you." Josephine said, "When did your grandmother and aunt die?"
"After you disappeared, gramma looked for you. So did daddy and everyone who knew you. It was as if you just vanished from the face of the earth. The people at the nursing home remembered seeing you leave and assumed that you made it home ok. Gramma and Auntie hung pictures of you anywhere they were allowed to and after a few months' people lost interests. The thing is, gramma never lost faith, she always maintained to her dying day that you were alive somewhere and that you'd be back.
She died two years after you disappeared. Auntie kept looking for you. She called the police everyday looking for updates until they stopped calling her back and then she would go down there demanding to know what progress was being made. She got a job offer in New Jersey so we moved and we lived there until she died from a heart attack. I missed her so much! I can still hear her telling this boy or another to go away because I had to study."
"Did she ever meet anyone special?" Josephine asked.
"Not really." Justine replied. "She put all of her energy into finding you and raising me... she never gave up either. She made sure that I understood that you wouldn't have just left us for any reason. She told me every night how much you loved me and of the plans that you made for us. I can only hope that I've become a little of what you wanted me to be."
"Jussie... look at me." Josephine said softly. "When I first saw you after all of this time my first thought was that you were and are exquisite. There is no way that I can be and am disappointed in you; you have exceeded anything that I ever wanted for you. I'm only sorry that I wasn't around to see your accomplishments but what's important is that I'm here now and I'm not going anywhere. So tell me about Quinn." she said changing the subject.
The next hour was spent with Justine telling Josephine about Quinn and how they met.
"Persistent wasn't he?" Josephine asked.
"More like a pain in the ass." Justine replied laughing and then turning serious. "You know that I have to talk to David don't you?"
"Yes I know but Jussie... hear him out and I think that if I can find my way to forgive him then you can too. I'm not saying don't be angry or not to tell him how you feel but just listen to him before you make any decisions."
"I can and will do that." Justine promised. "I have something else to tell you. The vampire that took you away from me is here."
"What do you mean?" Josephine asked.
"I mean I... we captured him but at the time we didn't know that it was him that took you. He's in a cell downstairs."
"Why is he here?" Josephine asked.
She listened as Justine told her about Jeremiah and Malcolm Mathers.
"Malcolm is dead by order of his uncle. I've been allowing any of his victim's access to him to do to him what they will with the exception of killing him. Once we started looking for you, I told him that I would allow you to have the final say as to what happens to him."
"Me? Why me?" Josephine asked.
"Because you are the Queen Mother and he has harmed you. That he didn't know who you were is immaterial and he's hurt thousands of other women. There's no rush for you to decide, he isn't going anywhere and there are plenty of victims who would still like to see him."
Josephine sat silent for a long time before she spoke.
"I want to see him."
**********
Quinn listened to David without interrupting and when he was finished, he didn't say anything. He had heard all that he needed to hear now he would wait for Justine to talk to him and he wanted David to squirm a little longer.
