Justine Ch. 16

"David Sheffield? What does he have to do with this?" Jeremiah asked interrupting Josh again.

"He's her mate but as I was saying, she broke the wards and I don't know how."

Jeremiah wasn't listening. He knew of David Sheffield and of how ruthless he could be. The fact that the vampire had been human at one point and was relatively young for a vampire did nothing to comfort him. David Sheffield was the male mate that he had to worry about or as he corrected himself, the male that could put him out of his misery. His hopes were dashed by Josh's next statement.

"He wanted to kill me." he said. "The only thing that stopped him was her... so why are you here?" he asked hoping for a little quid pro quo.

Jeremiah started to tell him that it was none of his damned business but thought better of it; his new "friend" might remember something useful. Jeremiah gave Josh a very watered down version of his crimes but Josh wasn't stupid, he knew that there were vampires who bought and sold other beings. He even knew a few of the big fish. The plans for a deal began to form in Josh's head but he needed to know more about the queen.

"What's she like?" he asked.

"A bitch." Jeremiah replied but didn't elaborate.

"Okay... what else can you tell me?" Josh asked.

"That if you're planning on trying to make a deal with her to forget it. Chances are that whatever information you have; she already has it. If I were you, I'd take whatever sentence she gives you, serve it and move on." Jeremiah replied.

Josh gave Jeremiah a dubious look, "She can't know everything." he said. The disbelief was evident in his voice as he continued, "no one and I don't care who they are can't know everything."

Jeremiah shrugged. He didn't care what the idiot next to him believed or didn't believe, he would find out soon enough.

"I would also make one more suggestion." Jeremiah said, "Whatever you do, don't lie to her; it will only make things worse for you."

"He's right." Justine said as she appeared in front of Josh's cell making him yelp in surprise.

The first thing that Josh noticed was Justine's eyes. That alone convinced him that the woman that he and his cousin had held captive was a relative. When he looked at her face, he knew that they were mother and daughter although they could pass as sisters. Josh glanced over at Jeremiah who was sitting on his cot watching with interest to see what he would do.

Josh turned back to Justine and did what had worked for him for centuries. He flirted with her.

"Aren't you the lovely one?" he asked with a smile on his face. It helped that he really did think that she was lovely.

"Tell me about my mother." Justine said in response, "and don't lie."

"I like that...."

That was all that Josh got out. Justine silenced him and froze him in place with a thought as she was suddenly standing in front of him, her eyes blazing with impatience.

"The next time you open your mouth," she said, "it will be to tell me what you know and you will keep your lame ass flirtations to yourself. Got it?"

Josh blinked to let her know that he understood. As soon as she removed the compulsion, he began to talk a mile a minute giving Justine some information that he hadn't given Jeremiah.

"Her eyes were black like yours but they had purple flames around them but they didn't start out that way... they were brown."

"When did they change?" Justine asked.

"I don't know for sure." Josh confessed, "at first I wasn't sure because they changed back and forth but then they stayed black with those purple flames around them."

"Guess." Justine demanded. Suddenly it was important that she know when the eye change began. "If I remember correctly, it started not long after we found her. It was then that the control went from us to her. By the time we were about to decide to leave, she had complete control even though she was trapped."

"Did you or your cousin hurt her?"

"NO! we didn't touch her like that!" Josh exclaimed.

"Calm down." Justine said. "I know that you didn't even though your cousin wanted to."

"How do you know all of this?"

"How I know doesn't matter." Justine replied. "I also know that you want to bargain with me so lets just put our cards on the table shall we? What do you think that you know?"

Jeremiah sat up straighter and found that he was hoping that Josh came out on top. It wasn't because he liked him or even cared about him; it was because he wanted someone to beat Justine.

"A proposal if I may." Josh said smoothly fully recovered from his surprise. He waited for Justine to grant him permission to continue.

"Go ahead." Justine replied.

"If I am able to inform you of one thing that you have no knowledge of, you will give me a much reduced sentence and I get to spend that time at a nice place."

"And if you don't?" Justine asked warming up to the game.

"Whatever your original sentence was, I'll accept it." Josh replied.

"Not good enough." Justine replied, "you will accept my sentence and you will lose your gifts permanently. Any time that you even begin to think of kidnapping another person whether they be human or otherwise, you'll burn where you stand... do you still want to play?"

Josh had a moment of uncertainty but the gambler in him won out.

"I accept your terms my queen." he replied.

"Let's start... what do you have to offer?"

"I have knowledge of others who have and are making a profit of turning and selling human men, women and.... Well at any rate, this is what I have to offer."

Justine smiled at him and offered him another chance to back out of the deal. Jeremiah knew that Justine already knew about whomever Josh was going to tell her about. Foolishly, Josh accepted the deal.

"Russell Webb."

"In a cell in New York, he is waiting to begin his sentence."

"Lionel Marsh."

"In the cell next to Russell Webb, his sentence will be carried out at sunrise." Justine replied.

With each name that he gave, Josh realized that he had lost and that his life as he knew it was over. Ten names later, he went silent.

"Is that all?" Justine asked.

"That was it." Josh replied.

"My sentence is as follows," Justine said, "you will spend the next three hundred years at the facility in Newark, New Jersey. As I said you will never regain your powers and if you even begin to think about going back to your old life in or out of prison, you'll burn. Any questions?"

Josh couldn't speak. He dumbly nodded his head realizing that he had actually gotten off easy. He had kidnapped royalty and just because he didn't know, it didn't mean anything. Justine could have killed him as was her right.

"Your ride will be here shortly." she said and then she was gone.

"Damn!" Josh exclaimed, "she is so fucking hot!"

Jeremiah looked at him in disbelief, she had all but castrated him and the man was thinking about her in a sexual way. He just didn't understand it.

********

Maurice made sure that Regina and Jon were settled before going to meet the queen. Gremlin wanted to go with him but Maurice declined.

"She will see it as fear and I can't allow that, I'll be fine."

Reluctantly, Gremlin agreed but didn't like it.

Maurice kissed Regina and then Jon goodbye and left. As soon as he approached the house, he began to feel a drain on his gifts. By the time he was inside the gates, his gifts were gone. He wasn't concerned about it because he knew that they would return when he left the house. He also knew that when she chose him to be one of her guard, they would return and were more than likely be enhanced.

He couldn't deny that Regina was right; he hoped that the queen and her mate would accept him as part of their day guard. Next to Regina accepting him as her mate and giving him beautiful children, it would rank as the happiest day of his life.

He picked up the phone at the gate and waited for admittance wondering what the new queen was like.

*******

Justine and Quinn had just showered, made love and showed again when the intercom buzzed.

"Justine?" Pam called, "Your guest is here."

"We'll be down in a few minutes, take him to the study and offer him something to drink."

"Will do." Pam replied, "Anything else?"

"Yes, have Violet and Edward meet us there too."

******

Maurice walked around the study stopping to look at the books that lined the bookshelves. The goblet of red wine sat on the tray untouched as continued his inspection of the study. He sensed Justine and Quinn's arrival seconds before they appeared behind him.

"My queen, my kind." he said with a bow. "Maurice Delgado at your service."

Violet and Edward appeared shortly thereafter and stood next to Quinn and Justine. Delgado blinked in surprise. In all of his centuries alive, he had never heard of two queens and kings in the same room and wondered what it meant. The second thing he noticed was the way each couple was dressed. Quinn and Justine were dressed very causally, he in jeans and a tee shirt, her in a sweat suit. Violet and Edward were dressed as if they were going to a formal gathering.

Of the two couples, he was drawn toward Quinn and Justine. They were more like him in that they didn't see the need to flaunt what they had.

"Mr. Delgado." Justine said, "this is Violet and her husband Edward, you may recognize them as the queen and king that ruled before Quinn and I. Violet and Edward this is Maurice Delgado, he's here to explain to us why he withheld knowledge of my mother for three days." Justine said.

For the first time since he came into being, Delgado felt nervous. The power that emanated from Justine and Quinn overshadowed that of Violet and Edwards' to the extent that theirs felt almost non-existent.

"Please sit down." Justine said politely but Delgado could see that it wouldn't take much to anger her.

"Thank you my queen."

When they were all sitting, the niceties ended.

"Start talking." Justine said, her tone cool.

Maurice balked at her tone but kept his peace, it wouldn't do to chastise the queen and he fully understood her tone. He told them about the initial phone call from David making sure that they understood that at the time he didn't know who Josephine was.

"When did you know?" Quinn asked.

"When I saw the alerts." Maurice replied. "I immediately started calling David but I couldn't reach him. I even had certain members of my family looking for them. We concluded that David had taken her to a warded place; it's the only explanation. I've been calling every number that David has ever since."

"Why did you wait three days before calling someone?" Justine asked.

"I'll give you the same response that I gave Mikhail." Maurice replied. "I wanted to give him a heads up. I am convinced that he doesn't know who his mate is. I was and am afraid that if he isn't warned and they are approached, he'll protect her and the possibility to them both being hurt increases. I was going to offer to meet them somewhere and to bring them to you."

"You do know that you could be charged with treason." Justine said.

"I know that." Maurice replied, "but I also know that even though you're angry, you understand why I did as I did. My one and only goal was to bring David and your mother back safely. When I saw that it wasn't going to happen, I called and offered my knowledge and resources toward the search of your mother."

"You still could have called and met the same goal." Justine said.

"Possibly." Maurice conceded, "but at the time I went with what felt right and what seemed to be in the best interest of all involved. David, your mother's mate asked me to begin the search for you, your grandmother and your aunt. I was going to tell him when I reached him that I had found you but my question is this... are you going to charge me with treason or will you allow me to serve you to the best of my ability."

In spite of her anger, Justine liked Maurice. That he didn't lie or try to sugar coat the reasons for his decision made her respect him. She liked his confidence and that he wasn't put off by being in the same room with four powerful vampires.

"Alright Mr. Delgado." she said after several minutes, "I don't like that you didn't call. You should have and you know it but... I understand your reasoning. Consider yourself warned that if you ever withhold anything again, there will be consequences and I won't care what the reason is. Do you understand me?"

"I understand but let me make myself perfectly clear." Maurice said. "If I have to keep something away from you to keep you safe, then I will and if I die because of it... then so be it and the only thing that I ask is that my mate and children are cared for."

Justine's respect for Maurice increased ten-fold. She had known who and what he was as soon as she saw him. She also knew that he meant what he said; he would disobey her if he felt it was in their best interest. She looked over at Violet and Edward and then at Quinn. Ever so briefly, she touched their minds. A resounding yes came from all three of them.

"I want you to keep trying to reach them." she said. "And I want a direct phone call from you the moment that you reach them; Mikhail will be your second phone call."

"Understood." Maurice said as he took out his cell phone to add Justine's number his contact list.

"It's already there." Justine said. "Quinn's number is there as well. How is your mate's evening sickness?"

It was a polite inquiry but Maurice knew what it was, it was the queen's way of letting him know that he wouldn't be able to hide anything from her.

"She's feeling much better, thank you for asking." he replied. Justine, he realized had just accepted him as part of her guard. Even as they spoke, he could feel his gifts trickle back into him and as impossible as it seemed, they were stronger than before.

"Glad to hear it." Justine said, "and I would like to give you a word of advice. You and Mikhail are alike in many ways and I can see the two of you butting heads. Find a way to work together, an eternity is a long time to be butting heads."

"That is very true." Maurice conceded. "I'll do my best."

Justine nodded, "good, now get back to your mate, she's worried about you."

After he was gone, Edward spoke, "I knew Comte St. Germaine but I didn't realize that he still had living relatives. We are very fortunate to have one such as Delgado."

"Just curious," Quinn said, "how did you know that he was related to St. Germaine?"

"All of the St. Germaine's have a very distinctive mark on the left earlobe, Delgado had it. No one else has that mark and any of Delgado's children and their children will have that mark. Even centuries from now that mark will never lose its power."

"Cool... so now what? We just wait?" Quinn asked.

"That's all we can do." Justine said quietly.

********

David put his arms around Josephine, kissed her and vanished from the island. They reappeared in another one of his homes that he kept off the grid and warded it as soon as they were inside. After making sure that Josephine was comfortable, he began checking his voice messages. He concern grew as he listened to message after message from Delgado.

"David god damned you! Call me! It's urgent!"

He turned on his cell phone to find his voice mailbox full of the same messages as well as his email. He looked at the time stamps and saw that the messages that had been calm at first and had grown in intensity started on the same day that he took Josephine to the island.

He checked on Josephine who was napping in the bedroom, shut the door and dialed Maurice's number.

"Delgado?"

**************