"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.
